[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17955]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. CORKER. Madam President, I rise to speak about where we find 
ourselves today. This is a momentous time in our country's history, as 
all of us in both bodies on both sides of the aisle find ourselves 
focused on the issue of health care reform. In the middle 1990s, I had 
the tremendous honor of serving the State of Tennessee in a position 
that allowed me to oversee the State's Medicaid Program and many other 
programs in our State that focused on the needs of many of the 
underserved. Since that time, I have been convinced that we, all of us, 
have a moral responsibility to do everything we can to ensure that 
Americans of all walks of life have the opportunity for affordable, 
quality private health insurance.
  I have probably attended 50 meetings in the last 90 days working with 
others toward that end. I am convinced that there are at least 90 
people in this body who share the goal of ensuring that Americans of 
all walks of life have the opportunity for affordable quality health 
care. It is my hope that we will end up with a bipartisan solution.
  I have been disappointed in the results, though, of legislation that 
has come forward thus far. My sense is that the House of 
Representatives is promoting a bill that does not meet the mark. The 
HELP Committee just passed out, on a party-line vote, a bill that, 
again, does not meet the mark. What concerns me is there are so much 
that we could agree on, yet we tend to focus on what is out of bounds 
and does not take us to the place we would all like to be. It is to 
that end that I rise to talk about this issue.
  All of us know that our country has seen unprecedented debt levels. 
The leader of the Senate Republicans just spoke about that issue. The 
President in some ways found himself in this place, but on the other 
hand, since being in office, he has accumulated debt on top of debt for 
future generations. All of us understand that our biggest obligations 
exist in entitlements, with Medicare and Social Security. Most of us 
thought, as we came into this Congress, that one of our major focuses 
would have to be to get entitlements under control so that while we are 
doing this unprecedented short-term spending, which I oppose, at least 
the world community would realize we are trying to tackle our long-term 
obligations so they would continue to buy our bonds in order that we 
could go on here in this country.
  I hoped strongly we would focus on that, and last Congress we had a 
bipartisan bill, by the way, supported by Republicans and Democrats, to 
do that.
  What has happened, though--and this is pretty unfathomable to me--is 
that during health care reform, what has been focused on is Medicare, 
which has a $38 trillion unfunded liability, a program where the 
trustees have said that it is insolvent and is going to go into the 
hole in a huge way in 8 years. What is being discussed in this body, 
and what has already been agreed to by many on the House side, is 
taking money from Medicare, a program which is insolvent, one that, 
instead of taking money from, we should be trying to make solvent, but 
we are taking money from that program to create a whole new set of 
entitlements that will add incredible amounts of debt to our country's 
balance sheet.
  It is almost unfathomable to believe that people in this body would 
be looking to make a program that is insolvent even more insolvent by 
leveraging it to create another program.
  For that reason, because I know the Finance Committee is in meetings, 
in small groups but also as a committee, to try to figure out a way to 
solve this health care problem--and it is my hope that they will do it 
in a way that makes sense, in a way that builds bipartisan support--I 
have delivered today to the majority leader a letter signed by 35 
Senators making this body, making the President aware of the fact that 
we will not support further jeopardizing the Medicare Program by using 
it to leverage a new entitlement. It is my hope that in delivering this 
letter, while we have 35 signatures at this moment, there will be more 
added. While these are all Republican signatures, I actually think 
there are many on the other side of the aisle who question leveraging 
an insolvent program for a new program. I have delivered this letter in 
the hopes that the Finance Committee, the leadership on the Democratic 
side of the Senate, and the President will seek a solution that is 
different than taking money from this insolvent program that aids our 
seniors to create a new entitlement.
  One of the most discouraging issues is, it is my understanding--and I 
hope I am wrong--that the folks who are talking about using Medicare 
money to create a new entitlement are not even dealing with SGR. Every 
18 months, we sit down and discuss the doc fix. Doctors all across the 
country call us wanting to make sure that their payments are not going 
to be cut by 21 percent this year. So each year we kick the can down 
the road and solve that for a year, year and a half, because of 
budgetary constraints. It is my understanding that what is being 
discussed at this moment is taking money from Medicare, leveraging a 
new program which will add increasing debt, and not solving that 
problem even during the 10-year budget window this legislation will 
deal with.
  Again, I have attended every meeting I have been asked to. I went to 
the White House yesterday. I met with a bipartisan group last night. I 
believe that this country does need to figure out a way so that all 
Americans can access affordable quality health care. I know all 
Americans are concerned about the cost of health care. I stand here as 
one Senator committed to doing that in the right way, but I also stand 
here with 35 other Senators saying that to do that and make another 
program that exists more insolvent is not acceptable. I oppose that. I 
hope that is not used to create a new entitlement.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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