[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 6]
[Senate]
[Pages 7520-7521]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the problem with the Enzi bill is laid out 
in great detail in a report filed by the minority of the HELP 
Committee. This is not a question of my not liking the bill, it is not 
a question of Democrats versus Republicans, it is a question of the 
bill not being good. It is not a good bill, as indicated by 41 
attorneys general. Forty-one attorneys general have signed letters 
saying the Enzi bill is not good for their States. These attorneys 
general are from Democratic States and Republican States. Insurance 
commissioners from around the country have acknowledged that the bill 
is not a good bill. The bill is opposed by 206 different advocacy 
groups and health care organizations, disability groups, and 
professional organizations.
  For example, we know that the American Association of Retired People 
opposes this legislation. I was able to speak to Mr. Novelli a couple 
of times about this bill while it was moving through the system, and 
AARP believes the bill is very hurtful to senior citizens, as well as 
the Small Business Majority, the National Health Council, and the Lance 
Armstrong Foundation. As I said, more than 200 different organizations 
think this legislation is bad for the American people.
  I have been led to believe that when this bill is brought to the 
floor, the 30 hours doesn't expire postcloture on the motion to proceed 
until sometime this afternoon. We have agreed to go to the bill at an 
earlier time. But it is not going to give the people in our country the 
opportunity to move forward on progressive, strong legislation. We will 
be stuck with the Enzi bill, and AARP doesn't think it is going to go 
anyplace. The amendments will be controlled by Senator Enzi. If he 
likes the amendment, he will allow us to offer it. If he doesn't, he 
won't. I submit that is not the way we should move forward on 
legislation brought forward during Health Care Week dealing with health 
care reform.
  There are many issues related to health care we need to deal with. 
There are issues that are so fundamental to what is going on in the 
country today, and we believe the proposal put forward by Senator 
Lincoln from Arkansas, the ranking member of the Finance Committee, 
Senator Baucus, and of course a person who has worked very hard on this 
legislation for months, Senator Durbin, should be the legislation we 
debate. But it will not be. We should have the opportunity to offer 
amendments relating to postponing the May 15 cutoff line of the 
eligibility for Medicare drug benefits. That is not going to be 
allowed.
  We should be able to offer legislation dealing with the ability of 
Medicare to be competitive and bid for drugs at a lower price. That 
won't be able to be offered.
  We should be able to offer an amendment dealing with stem cell 
research, giving hope to millions of Americans. We won't be able to do 
that. That is unfortunate.
  Walking into the Chamber today, I was asked by someone: Tell us what 
you stand for. I think, rather than what I stand for, what we stand for 
as a minority, it is who we stand for. I think that is the direction we 
should be focusing: Who do we stand for?
  There are lots of people we stand for. We stand for parents with no 
health care. We stand for those people with maladies who are crying out 
for some research on stem cells so we can move forward finding cures 
for these diseases--Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes.
  We stand for children who are attending failing schools because the 
Bush administration refuses to put money into the schools that needs 
it. It is reported today that very soon there will be 10,000 schools in 
America that will be failing. I don't think that speaks well. Why are 
they failing? It is because of this Leave No Child Behind Act that the 
President pushed so hard.
  We stand for the soccer mom who, today, someplace, is going to fill 
up her vehicle with gasoline and find the price is prohibitive. Rather 
than filling up her tank, she will fill it half full, enough to get 
through maybe the rest of this week, because the cost of gasoline is so 
high.
  We stand for the high school graduates putting off being able to go 
to college because they simply can't afford the tuition. During the 
last 5\1/2\ years of this administration, college costs have gone up 40 
percent. Student aid has been cut. Pell grants have been cut.
  We stand for the guardsman who is concerned because he has been 
called back for the second tour of duty in Iraq. Reading the Washington 
Post today, I find that two Nevada soldiers were killed in Iraq 
yesterday, both from Las Vegas, a 46-year-old man and a 26-year-old 
man--killed yesterday.
  We stand for the grandparents who are concerned about the debt this 
country is accumulating, recognizing their grandchildren will be forced 
to pay this debt. How big is the debt? During the 5\1/2\ years 
President Bush has been President, the national debt has almost 
doubled, now approaching $10 trillion. We just raised the debt ceiling 
to $9 trillion, and through some shuffling in the Republican-dominated 
House they have, in the last few days, raised that to $10 trillion.
  We stand for senior citizens who are unable to have the proper 
medicine to take care of themselves.
  The part that is so concerning is that we are doing nothing in this 
Congress to address the issues. There are editorials running around the 
country today talking about the majority, the

[[Page 7521]]

Republicans, not raising issues of any kind because the debate is one 
they know they can't win. We need to be focusing on the high cost of 
energy and high cost of education. We need to focus on global warming, 
and we are not. It is being ignored because in the minds in the White 
House, it doesn't exist. We need to focus on this staggering debt. 
Remember, during the last 3 years of the Clinton administration, we 
paid down the debt. We were spending less money than we were taking in. 
That is certainly not the case now.
  We are going to have a so-called debate on health care this week, but 
it is a so-called debate. It is really not a debate because we are 
being prohibited from offering amendments of significance. We are going 
to be forced to focus only on the Enzi legislation, which is a flawed 
bill. It is so flawed that it took the minority in the HELP Committee 
about 250 pages to outline the problems with this legislation. Usually 
minority reports are very short. This one is not. It is not because the 
consequences of the Enzi bill are so significant. This report looks at 
every State and indicates how every State is hurt as a result of the 
Enzi legislation.
  I look forward to maybe a change of heart. Maybe there will be the 
ability for us to offer amendments. That doesn't appear to be the case. 
I hope that it is the case, that we will be allowed to offer 
amendments. That is the way we should deal with Health Care Week and 
not be stymied at offering amendments to this legislation, amendments 
that would really help--help those people who need help, not only with 
the hope of curing dread diseases but with the hope of 46 million 
people in America who have no health insurance, the senior citizens who 
hope they will be able to get prescription drugs at a lower rate, but 
because of the Medicare bill passed by this Republican-dominated town, 
Medicare cannot even negotiate for lower prices. They have to go to 
Rite Aid and buy their drugs like everyone else. HMOs can negotiate to 
lower prices because the legislation was directed toward managed care, 
not those Medicare recipients who badly need help.

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