[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21039-21041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       LISTENING TO THE PRESIDENT

  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, we have two speeches by the President 
of the United States today and tomorrow. The speech today is to the 
schoolchildren of America, and the one tomorrow night is to us--to a 
joint session of Congress and to the country.
  For the last several days, there has been a small uproar about the 
President's speech to schoolchildren. In some ways, that is very 
understandable. The country is very wary right now of more Washington 
takeovers. We have seen takeovers of banks and insurance companies and 
car companies and student loans and even farm ponds and health care, 
and all of a sudden some people may have thought the President was 
intending to take over the classrooms of America as well. That was 
compounded by the fact that the early lesson plans--probably drawn up 
by someone either in the White House or the Department of Education--
made the speech seem more about the President than about the children 
and inviting the children to help the President fulfill his goal of the 
way he wants to transform America.
  Well, all that has been changed. The lesson plan has been altered. 
The President has released a copy of his speech. I read it this morning 
in Tennessee on my way coming up. It is a good speech. It is about the 
importance of studying and education. It is about how the President 
grew up, which is an inspiring story, as is the case with almost all of 
our Presidents.
  So I am glad the President has spoken to the schoolchildren of this 
country. Of course, the President of the United States ought to be able 
to speak to the schoolchildren of America. President Reagan did it. Not 
long after he was elected, he talked about how our country was founded. 
When I was Education Secretary in 1991, the first President Bush did 
it. He talked primarily about drugs, with a warning about the dangers 
of drug use. Presidents should speak to our students, but, of course, 
parents and teachers should decide whether the children hear the speech 
and in what context they hear it.
  Tomorrow night, when the President addresses the country, no one has 
to listen to him, except those of us, perhaps, who volunteered to serve 
in the Congress. We will be here. Millions will listen out of respect 
to the office, but some could turn off their televisions, some could 
just read about it, some could listen to the commentators talk about 
it, and some could watch it on the Web. Children have a different 
situation. They are captive in their classrooms and they are 
inexperienced, so we rely on parents and teachers to use their good 
judgment to decide whether any speech is appropriate for children to 
hear and in what context.
  If I were a teacher, I would jump at the chance to take advantage of 
this speech. I believe I would put up a picture of Reagan and one of 
FDR and one of Abraham Lincoln, and I would talk about the Presidency 
and I would talk about how he is the agenda setter and how the 
President's election--this President and other Presidents--represents 
the unique American characteristic that anything is possible for

[[Page 21040]]

any American of any background. I would point out that there is a 
Congress as well and the Congress often disagrees with the President. 
And then I would put up a picture of the leader of North Korea, and I 
would say: There is the dear leader of North Korea. If you criticize 
him, you go to jail. If you criticize the President of the United 
States, you have a constitutional right to do that.
  I believe we need more teaching of U.S. history and civics in our 
classrooms so our children can grow up to learn what it means to be an 
American. The lowest scores high school seniors have in America are not 
in math, they are not in science, they are in U.S. history. So we ought 
to take advantage of opportunities for children to learn about history 
and about civics, but parents and teachers ought to be in charge of it. 
They should decide in what context it is done, and I hope a great many 
have taken advantage of that and will take advantage of that.
  There is a second speech, tomorrow night, which the country is 
looking forward to, and that is about health care. Here are my hopes 
for that speech.
  First, respectfully, I would say to the President, I hope he says: My 
fellow Americans, let's start over. It is obvious we need health care 
reform, but it is also obvious that most Americans, or at least a 
majority, aren't comfortable with the direction in which we are going. 
So since this affects 17 or 18 percent of our economy, since it affects 
the 250 million Americans who have health insurance, let's start over. 
This has gone from being an issue to being something personal, or as we 
say in Tennessee, they have gone from preaching to meddling. That is 
why at the town meetings, which would normally attract 30 people, we 
have had a thousand people show up, because their health is at issue 
and they want to know what is going on. So it is a very healthy thing 
for people to show up and ask questions, and I hope that the President 
has heard the American people and that we start over.
  Next, I hope the President says: We will start with cost--the cost to 
you, Mr. and Miss American, the cost to your government. Health care 
costs too much for you to buy your policy, and it is about to bankrupt 
the government unless we do something about it. So that is where we 
will start.
  Third, I hope the President will say: One of the lessons I think we 
have learned--not just during the last several months while I have been 
President--if I were President Obama--but in President Bush's time and 
before that is that we don't do comprehensive very well. We found that 
out in immigration. We had a bipartisan effort here on immigration. We 
tried hard to solve a problem only the Congress can solve, and we 
failed. By the time it came up for a vote, it just fell around our 
necks. We have tried it with health care. We have tried to bite off the 
whole thing at once, and I think it is more than we can chew. We have 
been trying it with economy-wide cap and trade for climate change, and 
it looks as if we are biting off more than we can chew there as well. 
That should be no big surprise. This is a huge country--300 million 
people--an economy that produces 25 percent of all the wealth in the 
world, so diverse that if we were to put ourselves all in one room, it 
would explode, which is why it is such a good reason we have such a big 
country.
  So I hope the President will say we don't do comprehensive well. We 
have heard the American people, so let's see if we can agree on a few 
things. Let's go step by step in the right direction, which is one good 
way to get where you want to go--step by step to re-earn the trust of 
the American people, starting with health care.
  I can think of some things on which I believe we have bipartisan 
agreement in the Senate which would make a difference: Small business 
health insurance--allow small businesses to pool their resources. It 
has been estimated that you could offer insurance to a million more 
workers at a lower cost. That is one thing. Make it possible for people 
not to lose their insurance. If they are able to buy insurance, make it 
possible for them to buy insurance if they have a preexisting health 
condition--we could probably do that. Allow people to buy insurance 
across State lines. The Presiding Officer and I were both Governors. We 
are jealously protective of States' responsibilities and rights. But 
maybe we need to allow insurance to be bought more often across State 
lines to make it available to more people and less expensive. Junk 
lawsuits against doctors--that increases the cost of health care from 1 
percent to 10 percent, depending on whom you believe. But we could take 
that step. It is an important step in the right direction. As far as 
those who are uninsured, about 20 percent of those who are uninsured 
are already eligible for existing programs. We could see if we could 
find ways to help them sign up for programs that already exist. Step by 
step in the right direction will help us get where we need to go in 
health care. Step by step will re-earn the trust of the American 
people.
  Fourth, I would hope the President would say: Let's do this in a 
bipartisan way. There is some talk of just ramming this through the 
Senate with a bare majority of votes. I hope that doesn't happen. It 
would be bad for the country and it would be bad for the majority 
party, if I may say so. The reason it would be bad for the country is 
it would be a bad bill.
  The way our rules work, the Parliamentarian, who is a very wise 
individual, would end up writing the health care bill because he would 
have to make all these decisions about what was germane and about what 
fit in the bill. For example, he might have to say: Well, you can't put 
a provision about preexisting conditions in the bill under the Senate 
rules. All you can vote on is whether to raise taxes or cut Medicare. 
Now, that would be a very unappetizing vote, I would think, for many 
Members of the Senate, and it would be a very bad health care bill, 
which would cause me to think that such an unappetizing vote would be 
bad medicine for those who insisted on ramming it through. But it would 
be bad medicine for another reason. It would be thumbing our nose at 
the people of America who have been trying to say to us over the last 
several weeks: Whoa. Slow down. This is my health care you are talking 
about. Let's make sure we do this right. Start over, and let's take it 
step by step.
  Health care is not the only issue. Health care is the entry into a 
larger issue, which is too many takeovers, too much debt, too many 
czars, and the American people would like for us to settle down and 
deal with this issue. Some of the people have said over the last few 
weeks that the American people didn't know what they were talking 
about; that they thought there weren't any real issues out there. I am 
afraid that is wrong. When you have the Mayo Clinic and the Democratic 
Governors and the Congressional Budget Office telling you that you are 
headed in the wrong direction, maybe you are. When you read about a new 
trillion-dollar debt added to a debt that is already going to double in 
the next 4 or 5 years, maybe you are going in the wrong direction. When 
the New York Times editorial says the new program is going to be paid 
for about half by cuts in Medicare, that is a serious issue for the 40 
million people on Medicare.
  There are 177 million people with employer insurance, and they worry 
they might lose that employer insurance. People are worried that they 
might be dumped, if they are low-income, into a government program that 
already exists called Medicaid, which 40 percent of the doctors won't 
serve because they are underpaid, or they are worried they might be 
dumped into a new government program, if they are middle income, and 
they might not want to be dumped into a government program. There is 
worry, especially among older Americans, because someone might say: You 
are 70 years old and you can't have a hip replacement. And there are 
employers who in a recession aren't interested in paying more of an 
employer tax. And the Democratic Governors and the Republican Governors 
have said: Don't send us more costs for Medicaid or we won't be able to 
afford it here. We will have to raise taxes. And Federal taxes would go 
up.
  Those are real issues. Those aren't made-up issues. Those are all 
part of

[[Page 21041]]

the bills that are making their way through Congress, and that is why 
people are saying: Whoa.
  Finally, I hope President Obama will say: I am the President. I am 
the agenda setter. I am going to take charge of this debate.
  The President and his team are very smart. We admire them very much. 
But in some ways, it reminds me of a Harvard Law Review meeting, with 
everyone sitting around the room thinking of very bright ideas and 
nobody getting anything done. When you are dealing with a big and 
complex issue such as health care, the President needs to clear the 
decks, set the agenda, tell us what to do, and sit down with the 
Democratic leader and the Republican leader and say: What can we do? 
And then the President, I respectfully suggest, needs to say--as 
President Eisenhower did half a century ago when he said, ``I shall go 
to Korea''--that health care is the issue. I am the President, here is 
what I think we should do, and I am going to stay on this issue until 
it is done. Now, a Governor knows--and most Presidents know--that if 
they say that and do that and stick to it for as long as it takes, they 
can very usually wear everybody else out. The President may not get 
exactly what he wants. Of course, he probably won't. But there might be 
improvements to the bill. When the Democratic majority in Tennessee 
used to improve my proposals, I could either attack them or say: You 
have improved my proposals. I usually said: You have improved my 
proposals, gave them credit, and went on to the next issue.
  So people all over America are alarmed, some are even scared about 
Washington takeovers, debt doubling and tripling, and I suggest the 
right course for us is for the President to say: Let's start over with 
health care. Let's go step by step to re-earn the trust of the American 
people. Careful steps in the right direction are a very good way to get 
where we want to go, and I hope he tells us exactly what those steps 
should be.
  I made a statement at the 75th anniversary of the Great Smoky 
Mountains National Park last Wednesday. It is our most visited national 
park. Secretary Salazar was there. He did a beautiful job, only 
exceeded by Dolly Parton, who was there and who made all the rest of us 
completely irrelevant by her performance. But to have that great park 
for 75 years in the Eastern United States, where 9 million people 
visit--three times as many visiting our great western parks--is a great 
advantage for our country. I am grateful to the Secretary for coming, 
and I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a copy of my 
remarks.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

 Statement of U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander at the 75th Anniversary of 
                the Great Smoky Mountains National Park

       Newfound Gap, Tenn.--U.S. Senator Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) 
     delivered the following remarks here today at the 75th 
     Anniversary of the Great Smoky Mountains National Park:
       ``Governors Bredesen and Perdue, Secretary Salazar, Dolly 
     Parton, my colleagues in Congress, fellow friends of the 
     Smokies, in 1934 a ranger wrote a memo identifying the 
     wildlife he had found in this new park. There were 100 black 
     bears. Today there are 1,600. There were 315 wild turkeys 
     then. The other day I saw 21 outside my home two miles from 
     the park boundary. 75 years ago there were 12 whitetail deer 
     in Tennessee and six in North Carolina. Today they're 
     everywhere. Then there were no peregrine falcons, no river 
     otters, no elk in the Great Smokies, but they are all here 
     today.
       ``25 years ago, as Governor, I spoke at the 50th 
     anniversary. There was no law then controlling acid rain and 
     no organization called `Friends of the Smokies.' Today, acid 
     rain laws are working and the `Friends' have contributed $28 
     million.
       ``So what should we hope for as we look to the 100th 
     anniversary? I hope we have finished cleaning the air so 
     that, instead of seeing smog, we can always see the blue haze 
     about which the Cherokee sang; and that we will have done 
     more to celebrate the way of life of families who lived here; 
     that we will have become better students of the remarkable 
     environmental diversity here--more different kinds of trees 
     than in all of Europe, new species discovered every year; 
     that we do a better jobs of creating picturesque entrances 
     and encouraging conservation easements along the park 
     boundaries to protect the wildlife and the magnificent views. 
     And I hope there are more private contributions and federal 
     dollars to protect and maintain one of the dozen most visited 
     places in the world.
       ``India has its Taj Mahal, Italy has its art, England its 
     history, but we have the Great American Outdoors. Ken Burns 
     says our national Parks are `America's Best Idea.' Well, then 
     the Great Smokies must be the very best idea of all because 
     so many more people come here.
       ``Just as remarkable, I believe, is how we who live here 
     feel about the park. We feel like we own it because our 
     families did. We love it because we grew up hiking here or 
     adopted it as home. And we are proud we gave this park to the 
     country for others to enjoy.
       ``The psalmist wrote, `I will lift up mine eyes unto the 
     hills.' There are 151 cemeteries in the Great Smokies, 
     usually on a hilltop, closer to God. The headstones face east 
     because, as mountaineers will tell you, `You don't want to 
     have your back to Jesus when he comes again.'
       ``There was a reverential feeling among the thousands who 
     came to Cades Cove on a beautiful Sunday afternoon in June to 
     hear fiddles imitate bagpipes as the Knoxville Symphony 
     played `Amazing Grace.' At the 50th anniversary, I tried to 
     explain that feeling this way: `These mountains . . . (Blount 
     County) . . . my home . . . are where I enjoy being, where I 
     swap people for nature and feel closer to God . . . when I am 
     here, it helps get the rest of my life in a little better 
     order.'
       ``That is why I celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Great 
     Smoky Mountains National Park.''

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