[Congressional Record Volume 166, Number 132 (Monday, July 27, 2020)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4507-S4508]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTION
By Mr. ROMNEY (for himself, Mr. Manchin, Mr. Young, Ms. Sinema,
Mrs. Capito, Mr. Jones, Mr. Alexander, Mr. King, Mr. Portman,
Mr. Warner, Mr. Perdue, Mr. Cornyn, Ms. McSally, Mr. Rounds,
and Mr. Sullivan):
S. 4323. A bill to save and strengthen critical social contract
programs of the Federal Government; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. ROMNEY. Mr. President, I rise today to propose the TRUST Act of
2020. This is bipartisan legislation. It is sponsored by 14 other
Senators, both Democrats and Republicans, and supported by 30 Members
from each party from the House.
Its purpose is to preserve the Social Security and Medicare trust
funds, among others, both of which have been pushed closer to
bankruptcy due to the pandemic. The Committee for a Responsible Federal
Budget projects that Medicare Part A will now become insolvent in only
4 years, and the Social Security retirement trust fund by 2031.
Under the law, insolvency would trigger drastic benefit cuts, or, if
approved by a future Congress, draconian tax hikes. Our TRUST Act is
designed to save these trust funds in addition to other vital Federal
trust funds.
The TRUST Act also addresses our ballooning national debt, a burden
which has become even greater due to the COVID-19 crisis. The CBO
projects that the Federal budget deficit will be $3.7 trillion this
year. Our national debt will exceed $27 trillion. That could eventually
mean backbreaking interest payments, runaway inflation, or national
financial calamity.
Modeled loosely after the Simpson-Bowles fiscal commission, the TRUST
Act would create a process to rescue these funds. Under the bill, an
individual rescue committee would be created for each of the trust
funds. Each committee would be tasked with drafting bipartisan
legislation that would provide for its solvency.
Members of the rescue committees would come equally from the House
and the Senate and equally from each party. If the majority of a
committee supported a solvency plan and if at least two members from
each party endorsed that plan, it would be brought, on an expedited
basis, to the floor.
The TRUST Act has strong bipartisan consensus among Senators and
Members of the House, as well as policy advocates across the political
spectrum, from Freedom Works to the Brookings Institution, as well as
from Alan Simpson and Erskine Bowles
This is the right time to act. Our trust funds are approaching
insolvency even more rapidly due to the pandemic. More importantly, if
we don't act now, it will never happen before we face an overwhelming
crisis. One of the lessons the COVID-19 crisis has taught us is that it
is far better to prepare and hopefully prevent a crisis than to wait
for a crisis to fall upon us.
The TRUST Act is the only bipartisan, bicameral solution that has
been proposed to save our trust funds and to restore fiscal stability.
I urge this body to work in good faith to advance this proposal as part
of additional pandemic relief
______
By Mr. SCHUMER (for himself, Mrs. Murray, Mr. Brown, Ms. Baldwin,
Mr. Durbin, Mr. Casey, Ms. Rosen, Mr. Menendez, Mr. Leahy, Mr.
Reed, Mr. Van Hollen, Ms. Smith, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr.
Blumenthal, Ms. Klobuchar, Mr. Kaine, Ms. Warren, Mr. Heinrich,
Ms. Harris, Mr. Udall, Mr. Markey, Mr. Merkley, Mrs.
Gillibrand, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Cardin, Ms. Stabenow, Mr.
Booker, Mr. Wyden, Ms. Duckworth, Mrs. Shaheen, and Mr.
Bennet):
S. 4328. A bill to require the Comptroller General of the United
States to conduct a study and report on data quality, sharing,
transparency, access, and analysis; to the Committee on Health,
Education, Labor, and Pensions.
Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 4328
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PROTECTING DATA QUALITY, SHARING, TRANSPARENCY,
ACCESS, AND ANALYSIS.
(a) Inquiry and Submission of Findings.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 7 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General of the
United States (referred to in this section as the
``Comptroller General'') shall initiate an inquiry into any
changes or interruptions in data quality, sharing,
transparency, access, and analysis resulting from the changes
to COVID-19 hospital data reporting requirements initiated by
the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the Department of
Health and Human Services on July 13, 2020.
(2) Submission of findings.--Not later than 45 days after
initiation of such inquiry, the Comptroller General shall
present its findings to the Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, the Committee on Energy
and Commerce of the House of Representatives, and the
Department of Health and Human Services, in oral briefings,
which shall detail--
[[Page S4508]]
(A) what is known about any changes or interruptions in
data quality, sharing, transparency, access to data, and
analysis or access to relevant analytics, including whether
such changes increased, decreased, expedited, or delayed such
quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or
access to relevant analytics, for--
(i) the public;
(ii) State, local, Tribal, and territorial health
departments;
(iii) hospitals; or
(iv) Federal agency officials, including officials within
the Department of Health and Human Services and Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention; and
(B) what is known about whether there was any impact to, or
interruptions in, delivery of supplies, including personal
protective equipment, ventilators, and COVID-19 therapeutics,
to States or other entities resulting from changes to COVID-
19 hospital data reporting requirements described in
paragraph (1).
(b) Access to Reporting System.--For purposes of the review
required under this section or any other audit, evaluation,
or investigation authorized by law, the Secretary shall,
within 7 days of the date of enactment of this Act, provide
the Comptroller General with direct access to the systems
used for the reporting of information referred to in this
section, including to all information collected, stored,
analyzed, processed, or produced in or through such systems
used for such purposes. For purposes of this subsection, the
term ``direct access'' means secured access to the
information technology systems maintained by the Department
of Health and Human Services that enables the Comptroller
General to independently access, view, download and retrieve
data from such systems.
(c) Addressing Issues.--Not later than 7 days after the
Comptroller General submits the findings to Congress under
subsection (a)(2), the Secretary of Health and Human Services
shall address data quality, sharing, transparency, access,
and analysis, and access to relevant analytics for the
public; State, local, Tribal, and territorial health
departments; hospitals; and Federal agency officials,
including officials within the Department of Health and Human
Services and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to
fully correct any decreases or delays reported under
subsection (a)(2) by the Comptroller General and ensure that
data quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or
access to relevant analytics are equal to or better than they
were as of July 12, 2020.
(d) Report.--Not later than 18 months after the date of
enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall submit
to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions of
the Senate and the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the
House of Representatives, a report regarding the impact of
changes to COVID-19 hospital data reporting requirements
initiated by the White House Coronavirus Task Force and the
Department of Health and Human Services on July 13, 2020. In
preparing such report, the Comptroller General shall collect
information from relevant stakeholders, as appropriate. Such
report shall--
(1) detail any known changes or interruptions in data
quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or
access to relevant analytics for the entities described in
subsection (a)(2)(A), including whether such changes
ultimately increased, decreased, expedited, or delayed data
quality, sharing, transparency, access, and analysis or
access to relevant analytics;
(2) describe challenges faced by hospitals, States,
localities, Indian Tribes (as defined in section 4 of the
Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25
U.S.C. 5304)), urban Indian organizations (as defined in
section 4 of the Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25
U.S.C. 1603)), territories, Federal agencies, and the public
resulting from such changes;
(3) describe the extent to which such changes may allow for
manipulation of the data in a manner that results in
hospitals, States, localities, Indian Tribes (as defined in
section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education
Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)), urban Indian organizations
(as defined in section 4 of the Indian Health Care
Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603)), territories, Federal
agencies, and the public receiving different information than
what was provided to the Department of Health and Human
Services;
(4) assess the extent to which such changes increased or
decreased the number of hospitals reporting data and the
completeness and quality of data reported by hospitals;
(5) determine whether any States deployed the National
Guard to assist in hospital data reporting, as suggested in
communications from the White House Coronavirus Task Force
and the Department of Health and Human Services on July 13,
2020, and whether any such deployment had a measurable effect
on the speed, content, or quality of such reporting;
(6) describe the decision-making process within the
Department of Health and Human Services that led to the
changes initiated on July 13, 2020, including--
(A) the role of the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention in such decision-making;
(B) any analysis conducted by the Department of Health and
Human Services or the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention that assessed the quality and completeness of
different data streams (including the National Healthcare
Safety Network, TeleTracking, data reported by States to the
Protect System of the Department of Health and Human
Services), prior to July 13, 2020;
(C) any external input into the decision-making process,
including from other Federal agencies, States, localities,
Indian Tribes (as defined in section 4 of the Indian Self-
Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304)),
urban Indian organizations (as defined in section 4 of the
Indian Health Care Improvement Act (25 U.S.C. 1603)),
territories, or hospitals;
(D) the public health justification for the changes; and
(E) any other justification for such changes; and
(7) assess the process used to address any decreases or
delays in data quality, sharing, transparency, access to
data, and analysis and access to relevant analytics as
required under subsection (c).
(e) Interim Report.--Not later than 6 months after the date
of enactment of this Act, the Comptroller General shall
submit to the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate and the Committee on Energy and
Commerce of the House of Representatives an interim report
providing information on initial findings under subsection
(d).
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