[Congressional Record Volume 170, Number 143 (Monday, September 16, 2024)]
[Senate]
[Page S6048]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 4771

  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I have been called many 
names--some nice and some not so nice--Governor, Senator, husband, Dad; 
but my favorite is Grandpa.
  When I first became Governor back in 2010, Ann and I had no 
grandchildren. Fast-forward to today, and we are blessed with seven 
beautiful grandkids.
  As I speak today, my daughter is using in vitro fertilization, or 
IVF, to grow her family. As a grandpa, of course, I am thrilled.

  And thanks to the people of Florida, I have also had the opportunity 
as a U.S. Senator to do what I can to make this amazing science that 
helps bring beautiful babies into the world more accessible and 
affordable for millions of Americans.
  The truth about IVF is that it is one of the few unifying policies 
that almost all Democrats and Republicans agree with. Earlier this 
year, a ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court concerned many of us, 
myself included. Thankfully, the Republican-controlled Alabama 
Legislature swiftly updated their laws to ensure IVF is protected for 
citizens of their State.
  Right after the ruling, I introduced a resolution with my colleague 
in the House, Kat Cammack, which outlined the overwhelming support in 
Congress for IVF and the millions of families using it to grow their 
families. We built on that resolution by then introducing the IVF with 
HSAs Act to expand access to IVF by doubling the contribution limits of 
health savings accounts, or HSAs, and expanding eligibility to utilize 
them by decoupling them from traditional high-deductible health plans. 
The real-world impact of my bill is that millions of Americans will be 
able to save more money in tax-free accounts to pay for medical 
expenses like IVF.
  We should all be able to agree that it is a good thing for more 
families to have an opportunity to grow. So many of us here are parents 
and grandparents. We should all be able to agree that more babies is 
wonderful. That is why I am here to ask for unanimous consent to pass 
my bill. If the Senate is serious about ensuring opportunities for 
families, we can start today by allowing this good bill to get sent 
over to the House, where I am confident it will pass, and we can send 
it to the President's desk for signature.
  Madam President, I am going to wait for Senator Wyden.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, as if in legislative session, 
I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be discharged 
from further consideration of S. 4771 and the Senate proceed to its 
immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read 
a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered 
made and laid upon the table.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.
  Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, let me go to the policy issue. I know 
this is very important to my colleague from Florida. And when families 
are wrestling with this issue, they have the sympathies of all of us.
  Here is what concerns me: Families struggling to afford IVF will get 
virtually no benefit from the Scott proposal that more than doubles the 
annual contribution limit. That is the bottom line. Families struggling 
get virtually nothing from this.
  I have just felt--and I am sorry that we started a little bit early 
because I wanted to hear Senator Scott's remarks. I just think, if you 
look overall, Republicans have just had no interest in protecting in 
vitro fertilization or reproductive rights.
  The fact is, Donald Trump, some time ago, claimed that he was going 
to require insurers to cover IVF. As far as I can tell, not Senator 
Scott, but Republicans generally basically never thought he was serious 
about it, which is the case for all of these proposals, virtually, that 
he is making, sometimes more than one a week.
  So my view is, the money that this bill would cost is better spent on 
extending the expansion of the Affordable Care Act's premium tax 
credits because they actually lower the cost of health insurance for 
typical families. That is what we want to do: lower the cost of health 
insurance for typical families. By the way, that is set to expire at 
the end of next year unless Congress takes action.
  So for those reasons, Madam President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Florida.
  Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I appreciate my colleague 
being here.
  First off, here is the positive. I think we all support IVF. I 
support IVF. I have a daughter going through it right now. I am glad 
IVF is legal and available in all 50 States, and there is no actual 
risk of it going away. I think we all know this.
  What I propose is the IVF with HSAs Act. It is going to expand access 
to IVF by doubling the contribution limits of Health Saving Accounts, 
and it is going to expand eligibility to include them by decoupling 
them from traditional high-deductible health plans. The impact of this 
will be millions of Americans will be able to save money and have 
better access to it in tax-free accounts to pay for medical expenses 
like IVF.
  That is all positive. The opportunity we have here is not about 
whether IVF will be here tomorrow or next year or 5 years from now. 
Everyone knows IVF is here to stay. Today, our opportunity is to help 
more people use IVF to grow their families. But Democrats, 
unfortunately--my colleagues--decided to block this bill.
  I know my Democratic colleagues are going to call up for a vote 
tomorrow a bill, but it seems like it is just scoring political points. 
They are going to bring up the same bill that didn't pass before. And 
what is frustrating to me is--I support IVF; I think all my colleagues 
support IVF--there wasn't an attempt between Democrats and Republicans 
to write a bipartisan bill that we could actually get a bill that we 
could pass.
  The last 2 months have just been spent, basically, political 
posturing. I know it is an election year. I hope the Democrats are 
going to get serious about doing something that will help benefit hard-
working people.
  I am disappointed, but I thank my colleague for being here.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.

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