[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 22578-22579]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HEALTH CARE WEEK X, DAY III

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, over the past several months, the 
American people have made their voices heard in the debate over health 
care. Everyone is frustrated at the high cost of even routine services 
and procedures. But the good news is this: everyone agrees that these 
are real and pressing issues and that Congress can and should do 
something to help.
  Unfortunately, the Democrat plan being contemplated here in Congress 
is not content simply to address the problems at hand. Instead, this 
plan uses these problems as an excuse to dismantle the current health 
care system, slap together a new one as quickly as possible, and force 
it on the American people whether they like it or not.
  That is what is going on this week in the hearing room of the Finance 
Committee.
  The U.S. Congress is hashing out the details of an enormously 
complicated bill that calls for a massive expansion of Washington's 
role in the health decisions of every single American. And when they 
are done, they plan to rush this so-called reform through Congress and 
force it on a country that is overwhelmingly opposed to it.
  But there is really only one thing Americans need to know about this 
legislation: When all the talking is through, what is left is this: a 
trillion dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and 
threatens the health care options that millions of Americans enjoy.
  The administration has been telling Americans for months and months 
that if they like the coverage they have, they can keep it. Whoever 
believes this apparently is not familiar with the bill that Democrats 
in Congress want the President to sign. If they were, they would 
realize that it creates a new government standard for coverage, and 
that anyone who falls below that standard will be forced to buy a 
different health plan.
  Government would tell you which plans you can have and which ones you 
can not, and if you do not like the plan they suggest, then you will 
have to send a check to Washington. You will get taxed. That is 
government expansion. Americans do not want it.
  Americans are worried about spending. It seems like every time they 
turn around they are hearing about another trillion-dollar spending 
bill coming out of Washington. Well here is another. Once again, it is 
being rushed through Congress, and once again, we will not have enough 
time to read it. They made sure of that yesterday. My Republican 
colleague from Kentucky, Senator Bunning, offered an amendment to give 
senators the time they need to study the details. Democrats struck it 
down.
  Taxes are already high enough. They are about to get higher. This 
legislation will lead to significantly higher taxes on just about 
everybody in America. If you have health insurance, you are taxed. If 
you do not have health insurance, you are taxed. If you need 
prescription medicine, you are taxed. If you need a medical device, you 
are taxed.
  All these taxes would be bad enough if they were not so hard to 
understand.
  For months we have been hearing that the goal of reform is to lower 
costs. Yet any school kid in America can tell you that raising taxes on 
something raises its cost. And every nonpartisan, independent study we 
have seen confirms this basic economic principle. Despite all the talk 
of lowering costs, all these higher taxes mean that, as a result of 
this legislation, health care costs are headed in one direction, and 
that is up.
  What is worse, the Joint Committee on Taxation and the Congressional 
Budget Office say that some of the worst taxes would fall squarely on 
the backs of consumers: not on the rich, but on ordinary Americans who 
are already struggling through a recession.
  Seniors take a serious hit from this legislation, either through cuts 
in services that millions of them currently enjoy, or by being forced 
off the plans they have. All told, this bill calls for nearly $140 
billion in cuts to Medicare Advantage; nearly $120 billion in Medicare 
cuts for hospitals that care for seniors; more than $40 billion in cuts 
to home health agencies; and nearly $8 billion in cuts to hospice care.
  Everyone agrees Medicare needs reform. This is not reform. This is a 
massive raid on a program millions of seniors depend on in order to 
cover the cost of another new government program. This bill uses 
Medicare as a piggy bank to pay for this experiment.
  There is no question that Americans want health care reform. They 
want lower costs. They want greater access. They want commonsense 
reforms, like a plan to get rid of junk lawsuits on doctors and 
hospitals and to level the playing field when it comes to taxes on 
health plans. But what they are getting from Congress instead is a 
trillion-dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and 
threatens the health care options that millions of Americans now enjoy. 
And here is the worst part: they are being told that all this has to be 
rushed through Congress on some artificial timeline.
  Americans have been asking us to slow down. Congress is doing the 
opposite.
  This is not how Americans expect us to do their business. We need 
nonpartisan groups like the Congressional Budget Office to tell us how 
much this legislation will cost and how we would pay for it, and we 
need to slow down and get it right. We need to give Members of Congress 
the time they need to understand what they are going to be voting on. 
And we need to give the American people the time they need to 
understand this legislation too. This bill is too big, too costly, and 
too important to allow anything less.
  I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Gillibrand). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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