[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 16]
[Senate]
[Pages 21182-21183]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, as we all know, the President will be 
here tonight, and he will get a warm reception, as Presidents always do 
when they address the Nation from the Capitol. It is a short trip from 
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, but it is always meaningful whenever a 
President from either political party speaks to a joint session. So we 
welcome him.
  He picked a good topic. Americans are extremely skeptical about the 
health care proposals the administration and Democrats in Congress have 
been talking about over the past several months. And they are 
understandably baffled by some of the arguments that have been used to 
promote them.
  Americans don't understand how a massive expansion of government will 
lower costs, as the administration claims. They don't understand how 
$500 billion in cuts to Medicare won't affect the millions of seniors 
who depend on it. Americans don't understand how they'll be able to 
keep the health plans they have if government is allowed to undermine 
the private market. And they don't understand why the administration 
doesn't seem to be listening to these and many other concerns.
  Americans want specifics. They want solid assurances about what 
health care reform would mean for themselves and for their families 
and, just as importantly, what it won't mean. Americans have been clear 
about what they don't want to see in health care reform. Now they want 
the administration to be clear with them.
  One thing that is already apparent in this debate is that the problem 
isn't the administration's sales pitch. The problem is what they are 
selling. Americans are rightly concerned about a rush to hike taxes on 
small businesses, cut seniors' Medicare benefits, and add trillions of 
dollars in more government spending and debt. For months, the President 
and Democrats in Congress have been describing their plans for reform. 
The status quo is unacceptable. But if August showed us anything, it is 
that so are the alternatives that the administration and Democrats in 
Congress have proposed.
  Tonight, the President has an opportunity to reframe the debate, but 
only if he recognizes that the Democrats' original plan for health care 
reform doesn't wash with the American people. When it comes to health 
care, Americans don't want government to tear down the house we have. 
They want it to repair the one we have. That means sensible, step-by-
step reforms, not more trillion dollar grand schemes. It means 
preserving what people like about our health care system, not 
destroying it all at once or starving it over time.
  A government takeover on the installment plan--or a ``trigger'' as 
some are calling it--is still a government takeover. It is a bad idea 
now. It will be a bad idea whenever the trigger kicks in. Proponents of 
a trigger say that it might not be needed. But you can be sure of this: 
if Democrats are in charge, they will pull the trigger at some point. 
Let's be honest. Letting Democrats decide whether to pull the trigger 
on government-run health care is like asking the pitcher, not the 
umpire, to call the balls and strikes.
  Proponents of a trigger also say that Republicans approved one for 
the Medicare drug benefit. What they don't say is that ours was 
designed to ensure competition, not to stifle it. That trigger would 
have prohibited the government from being a fallback plan. This trigger 
would make the government the regulator, the payer, and a competitor, 
and put the taxpayer on the hook for its cost. Don't be fooled: 
proponents of government-run health care realized last month that 
``government plan'' had become a dirty word, so they latched onto a new 
way to describe the same thing: a trigger. Americans aren't confused by 
the Democrats' reform proposal. They are not asking for a new sales 
pitch. How many ways do they need to say it: Americans oppose a 
government takeover of health care, regardless of what it is called.
  Over the past several weeks, I have visited with doctors, nurses, 
seniors, hospital workers, small businessmen and women, and countless 
others citizens across Kentucky and throughout the country--none of 
whom would call our current health care system perfect. But all of them 
are worried about so-called reforms that would undermine the things 
they like about the American health care system.
  People are concerned about a proposal that would raid Medicare rather 
than strengthening and preserving it. Most of the Democratic proposals 
we have seen would increase taxes on small businesses. People don't 
understand why the administration would even entertain the idea of 
raising taxes on the businesses that create jobs in a country that has 
already lost millions of jobs since January.
  Every Democratic proposal we have seen expands Medicaid, a program 
that is administered by the Federal Government but largely paid for by 
the States. Republican and Democratic Governors cannot believe the 
administration is proposing a massive new expenditure at a moment when 
many of these States cannot even pay the bills they already have.
  Many of these States are struggling just to survive in the current 
economy, and yet Democratic lawmakers in Washington want to spend 
billions to expand Medicaid and then send the bill to the States. No 
wonder so many Americans think lawmakers in Washington are totally and 
completely out of touch.
  Most States are constitutionally required to have a balanced budget. 
This means if the Federal Government forces them to increase spending 
on Medicaid, they will have no choice but to either cut services or 
raise taxes. That means Americans would be hit twice, first by the 
taxes on small business, then by the higher taxes from State 
government, all from massive overhauls they do not want.
  People do not want risky, sweeping changes that increase the national 
debt and do not solve the problems we have. That is why I have been 
calling instead for commonsense reforms that build on the current 
system, for things such as ending junk lawsuits on doctors and 
hospitals that drive up health care costs, lowering the costs for 
individual consumers by equalizing the tax treatment for individuals 
and businesses, and incentivizing healthy living to prevent diseases 
and to treat problems early.

[[Page 21183]]

  For years, Republicans have sought reforms that would increase access 
to care, reforms that had the strong support of the American people, 
whether it was proposing to let small businesses pool their resources 
together to get the same competitive rates as big businesses or by 
establishing health savings accounts that give people greater control 
over their care and their dollars. For years, we have pushed for 
medical liability reform and called on Congress to strengthen Medicare 
and Medicaid by fixing these necessary but financially strapped 
programs.
  Most Democrats have resisted most of these incremental changes, 
hoping the day would come when they could create a whole new dramatic 
scheme from the ground up under government control. This summer they 
actually tried to do that, and the American people told them to try 
again. Their message has been loud and it has been clear: No more 
spending money we do not have on programs we do not need. No more debt. 
No more government expansion. And no government takeover of health 
care.
  Americans do not want us to walk off the field. They want us to 
recommit ourselves to the reforms they want. If Democrats agree, we 
will be their partners. If they resist the pleas of the American people 
to start over, we will not. All of us have heard a lot from the 
American people last month. Now is the time to show we were listening.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. MARTINEZ. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The 
Senator from Florida is recognized.

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