[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 145 (1999), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12788-12790]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                WORK INCENTIVES IMPROVEMENT ACT OF 1999

  Mr. JEFFORDS. Mr. President, the time has come. Our friends with 
disabilities have waited patiently. Our bipartisan coalition has 
remained united. The last obstacles have been resolved. Assurances have 
been given. I am referring to our pending consideration of the landmark 
legislation, S.331, the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.
  When I came to Congress in January 1975, one of my legislative 
priorities was to provide access to the American dream for individuals 
with disabilities. It was not an easy task. I learned quickly that 
providing access for Americans with disabilities was complicated.
  It involved providing access to education, it involved removing 
physical barriers, and it involved ensuring access to rehabilitation, 
job training, and job placement assistance.
  It required obtaining access to assistive technology and health care. 
Most importantly, access to the American dream for people with 
disabilities meant gaining the opportunity to choose and to participate 
in the full range of community activities. Moreover, it involved making 
sure that the Federal Government, along with other entities, be made to 
comply with laws affecting access for people with disabilities. We have 
made tremendous progress in the last 24 years.
  The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, the Rehabilitation 
Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Assistive Technology 
Act have changed, and will continue to change lives. Children with 
disabilities are being educated with their peers. No agency or 
individual, including the Federal Government, can discriminate against 
individuals on the basis of disability in employment, transportation, 
public accommodations, public services, or telecommunications.
  Job training and placement opportunities for individuals with 
disabilities are ever expanding because of the reforms we achieved in 
the Work Force Investment Act of 1998 and because of low unemployment 
rates. I am proud of these accomplishments.
  Today we will address the biggest remaining barrier to the American 
dream for individuals with disabilities--access to health care if they 
work.
  I began work on the Work Incentives Improvement Act more than 2 years 
ago. Since then, I have learned a great deal. I suspect the same holds 
true for the 77 other co-sponsors of this bill. People with 
disabilities want to work, and will work, if they are given access to 
health care. This bill does just that--it gives workers with 
disabilities access to appropriate health care--health care that is not 
readily available or affordable from the private sector.
  People with disabilities want to work, and will work, given access to 
job training and job placement assistance. This bill does just that--it 
gives individuals with disabilities training and help securing a job.
  The Work Incentives Improvement Act gives people with disabilities 
the power to control their own destiny, the power to pay taxes and 
return the investment that society has made in them, and most of all 
the power to go to work.
  First, I must thank my bipartisan co-sponsors Senators Kennedy, Roth, 
and Moynihan the original co-sponsors of this bill who made a 
commitment many months ago to work together to create a sound piece of 
legislation to address this real problem for millions of Americans with 
disabilities. Such commitment represents the best of what the Senate 
can accomplish when sound policy is placed above partisanship.
  I also thank the additional, original 35 co-sponsors of this bill and 
the subsequent 45 co-sponsors who represent a total of over three 
quarters of this body, perhaps a Senate record on health care 
legislation.
  Over the last two weeks, the Majority Leader has been the driving 
force who urged us to work out policy differences that were delaying 
Floor consideration. We did so through good faith efforts that 
broadened support for the bill and reduced its overall modest cost.
  In particular, I want to recognize Senators Nickles, Bunning, and 
Gramm for their willingness to reach consensus with us on policy 
without compromising the integrity of the legislation, thus, allowing 
S. 331 to move forward.
  I especially thank the over two hundred national organizations that 
offered time, energy, and ideas to create and support a bill that will 
improve the quality of life for millions of Americans with disabilities 
who want to work.
  One at a time, we each have come to understand the importance of 
health care and a job to individuals with disabilities. Sometimes the 
power of common sense and the voices of reason transcend politics and 
help us to forge new policy that will make America a better place for 
all of its citizens. The Work Incentives Improvement Act is the right 
policy at the right time, and we all know it.
  Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, I am pleased to be an original cosponsor 
of S. 331, the Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.

[[Page 12789]]

  This historic initiative, which Republicans have been working on for 
many years now, has strong bipartisan support and will help tear down 
the barriers that prevent disabled Americans who want to work from 
reaching their full potential and achieving economic independence.
  Approximately 8 million American adults receive more than $73 billion 
a year in cash benefits under the Supplemental Security Income and the 
Social Security Disability programs, making these disability programs 
the fourth largest entitlement expenditure in the Federal budget. In 
Maine, there are close to 55,000 people receiving more than $335 
million each year in cash disability benefits under these two programs. 
If only 1 percent, or 75,000, of these disabled Americans were to enter 
the workplace, Federal savings in cash benefits would total $3.5 
billion over the worklife of these individuals.
  While surveys show that the overwhelming majority of adults with 
disabilities want to work, fewer than one half of 1 percent of them 
actually do. The reason is very simple: The current law contains 
disincentives that prevent these people with disabilities from going 
into the workforce. I know that the Presiding Officer has been working 
on this issue for several years and shares our concern.
  Removing the barriers that prevent Americans with disabilities from 
working will not only assist these individuals in their pursuit of 
self-sufficiency, but it will also contribute to preserving the Social 
Security trust fund.
  Advances in medicine and technology, coupled with civil rights laws, 
have made it possible for more and more people with physical and mental 
disabilities to enter the workforce. These are people who genuinely 
want to work. They have the skills and the talents necessary to 
contribute greatly to the American economy, but they currently face a 
Catch-22. If they leave the disability rolls for a job, they risk 
losing essential Medicare and Medicaid benefits that made it possible 
for them to overcome the obstacles that prevented them from entering or 
reentering the workforce in the first place. Moreover, many of these 
individuals' lives depend on the prescription drugs, the technology, 
the personal assistant services and the medical care that they receive.
  Let me put a human face on this problem which is facing too many 
Americans with disabilities. In Bangor, ME, I know a young man in his 
20s who unfortunately suffers from a severe mental illness. The good 
news is that if he takes his medicine, which is very expensive and is 
now covered by Medicaid, he can hold down a part-time job. He very much 
enjoys working. He enjoys the skills he is learning. He enjoys the 
companionship. He enjoys the sense of pride he feels when he works. 
Unfortunately, if he goes to work, he loses the very Medicaid coverage 
that provides the essential prescription drug that he needs to enable 
him to work. He should not face that kind of dilemma.
  The truth is that no one should have to make the choice between a job 
and essential health care. The Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 
will create and fund new options for States, to encourage them to allow 
people with disabilities who enter into the workforce to buy into the 
Medicare program and the Medicaid program so that they can continue to 
receive the essential prescription drugs they need which enable them to 
work, and the personal assistant services and the medical care upon 
which they depend. It will also allow workers who leave the Social 
Security Disability Insurance program to extend their Medicare coverage 
for 10 years.
  This is tremendously important since many people returning to work 
after having been on SSDI either work part-time and, therefore, are not 
eligible for most employer-based insurance, or they work in jobs that 
simply do not offer health insurance. Allowing these disabled Americans 
to maintain their Medicare coverage, and to maintain their Medicaid 
coverage in some cases, will serve as a tremendous incentive for them 
to return to or to enter the workforce.
  Other provisions of this legislation incorporate a more user-friendly 
approach in programs, providing job training and placement assistance 
to individuals with disabilities who want to and are able to work.
  Our legislation gives disabled SSI and SSDI beneficiaries greater 
consumer choice by creating essentially a ticket that enables them to 
choose whether they want to go to a public or a private provider of 
vocational rehabilitation services. The bill also provides grants to 
States and organizations to help connect people with disabilities with 
the appropriate services, and it funds demonstration projects and 
studies to better understand and identify the policies that will 
encourage and enable work.
  Mr. President, this legislation is an investment in human potential 
that promises tremendous returns. By ensuring that Americans with 
disabilities have access to affordable health insurance, we are 
removing a major barrier, a significant disincentive that too often 
keeps them out of the workplace.
  The Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999 will both encourage and 
enable Americans with disabilities to be full participants in our 
Nation's workforce and growing economy and, equally important, it will 
allow them to reach their full potential. It deserves our strong 
support and the President's signature. I am very proud to be an 
original cosponsor of this landmark legislation.
  Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I rise in support of the Work Incentives 
Improvement Act of 1999. I was an original cosponsor of the Work 
Incentives bill when we introduced it last year, and again this year, 
and was at the White House when the President endorsed the bill.
  Almost nine years ago, the Americans With Disabilities Act became 
law. On that day, we told Americans with disabilities that the door to 
equal opportunity was finally open.
  And the ADA has opened the doors of opportunity--plenty of them. 
Americans with disabilities now expect to be treated as full citizens, 
with all the rights and responsibilities that entails. And they are 
participating in American life like never before in our Nation's 
history.
  But we have not been as successful in employment. Far too many people 
with disabilities who want to work are unemployed. More than eight 
million people between 18 and 64 are on SSI and SSDI--and less than 
one-half of one percent of them return to work each year.
  Clearly, there are barriers to be torn down.
  Let me tell you the story of a young woman from Iowa named Phoebe 
Ball. Phoebe just graduated from the University of Iowa and she was 
shocked when she found that if she took an entry level job paying 
$18,000, she would suffer a huge loss--her health insurance.
  Phoebe wrote an article for an Iowa City newspaper. Here is what she 
said:

       I want off SSI desperately . . . I want to work. I want to 
     know that I have earned the money I have . . . I don't feel 
     good about the money the government sends me each month. I 
     don't feel entitled to it because I know what I am capable 
     of.
       My parents and my society made a promise to me. They 
     promised me that I can live with this disability, and I can. 
     . . . What is limiting me right now is not this wheelchair, 
     and it's not this limb that's missing. It's a system that 
     says if I can work at all, then I'm undeserving of any 
     assistance, I'm undeserving of the basic medical care that I 
     need to stay alive.
       . . . What is needed is a government that understands its 
     responsibility to its citizens . . . then we'll see what we 
     are capable of, then we will be working and proving the worth 
     of the ADA.

  Mr. President, the Work Incentives Improvement Act is a well-crafted, 
comprehensive bill that would be the answer to Phoebe Ball's dilemma.
  It provides health care and employment preparation and placement 
services to individuals to reduce dependency on cash assistance;
  It creates new options for States to allow people with disabilities 
to purchase Medicaid coverage;
  It lengthens the current period of extended eligibility for Medicare 
coverage for working disabled individuals; and
  It establishes a return to work ``ticket'' program that will allow 
people

[[Page 12790]]

with disabilities to secure the best possible services they can find to 
get and keep jobs.
  If only 1 percent--or 75,000--of the 7.5 million people with 
disabilities, like Phoebe, who are now on benefits were to become 
employed, Federal savings would total $3.5 billion over the work life 
of the beneficiaries. That not only makes economic sense, it also 
contributes to preserving the Social Security Trust fund.
  Mr. President, the disability community and members from both sides 
of the aisle here in the Senate have wholeheartedly endorsed this bill. 
The Work Incentives Improvement Act has 78 cosponsors. 78! Rarely do we 
see in this chamber such broad bipartisan support.
  The Work Incentives Act will open the door to full participation by 
people with disabilities in our workplaces, our economy, and our 
American Dream, and I urge all my colleagues to support it.
  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I rise to speak in support of S. 331, the 
Work Incentives Improvement Act of 1999.
  This is the most far-reaching Social Security disability bill to come 
before the Senate in a generation, and it's going to give thousands of 
men and women who are trapped in the disability program the tools they 
need to return to work.
  While it's not a perfect bill, it's still a significant step forward.
  Right now there are over 4\1/2\ million Americans on disability. Four 
and a half million, Mr. President. And of this group, less than one-
half of 1 percent will return to work.
  Many of these folks have permanent conditions and need assistance. 
But, many of these people want to return to work, and can return to 
work. For them, the disability program has become a black hole that 
swallows everyone who falls in. With proper training and 
rehabilitation, many of these people could work. But the disability 
system is not working for them.
  Because of problems with the current program, they face too many 
hurdles, too many disincentives, in trying to return to the workforce. 
That is a tragedy.
  Some of us have been fighting for a long time to improve the Social 
Security Disability Program. When I chaired the House Social Security 
subcommittee, we held numerous hearings on disability.
  And we learned there are indeed many, many disabled who want to 
return to work, and can work. But they're afraid to try. They're afraid 
to try because returning to work often means losing their health care 
coverage.
  Many other disabled workers could return to their jobs if they had 
the proper training. But because of backlogs and problems in the 
current vocational rehabilitation system, they have not been able to 
get the assistance they need.
  The bill before us today will change things for the better. It 
removes barriers that discourage the disabled from returning to work. 
It helps harness the power of the private sector and competition to 
help provide training for the disabled. And it extends basic health 
care coverage to help them make the difficult transition back to work.
  It represents a fundamental, revolutionary change for the disabled 
community.
  As an added benefit, this legislation will have money for Social 
Security--big money. For every 1% of the total number of disabled who 
return to work, we save $3 billion for Social Security. The legislation 
before the Senate today has the potential to literally save billions 
and billions for Social Security.
  Mr. President, last year, the House did pass my disability bill by a 
vote of 410-1. Unfortunately, the bill was tied up in the Senate by 
some shenanigans and it died. That was a tremendous disappointment to 
me, and to be honest, I didn't think we would be back to talking about 
a disability bill in the Senate for a long, long time.
  But we are back here today, and I am proud that the disability 
provisions in the bill before us largely borrows from my old 
legislation. The bill's sponsors did make some further changes to their 
bill at my request that I think improves it, and I appreciate that.
  But we still have a way to go. And there are several conditions that 
have to be met for me to support any conference report.
  The bill has to be fully paid for with other spending reductions. 
Under the unanimous consent agreement, the conference report has to be 
fully offset, and contain no new taxes. I intend to stick by that 
agreement.
  I also want to see changes that the sponsors negotiated with me on 
the ticket maintained in the final conference report. I appreciate 
their working with me, and I think our efforts have produced a better 
bill. We shouldn't move backward in the conference report.
  This is a good bill, but it is not perfect. And we still have to hear 
from the House. But we are making progress. I'm eager to move forward.
  I urge support for the bill.

                          ____________________