[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 17]
[Senate]
[Pages 22730-22731]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      HEALTH CARE WEEK X, DAY III

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, Senators are still hashing out the 
details of the Democrat health care proposal that they plan to bring to 
the floor, and it isn't getting any better.
  Americans wanted us to work together on reforms that improve the 
system we have. What they are getting instead is a bill that creates an 
entirely different system in which government plays a bigger and bigger 
role in people's health care decisions. They are slapping this plan 
together as quickly as possible, and then they are going to 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.
  Supporters of this bill are watching the clock. They know the longer 
it sits out there, the more Americans will oppose this trillion-dollar 
experiment that cuts Medicare, raises taxes, and threatens the health 
care choices that millions of Americans now enjoy. That is why they 
struck down a commonsense amendment this week that would

[[Page 22731]]

have given the American people 72-hours to look at the details of this 
legislation.
  They are rushing it through, hoping no one gets to see the fine 
print. Why else would they deny this 72-hour amendment that gives 
people the time they need to read a 1,000-page bill? Why else would 
they be dismissing anyone who raises a peep of opposition? Why else 
would they be asking people to forward fishy e-mails to the White 
House? And why else would the administration order an investigation 
into a private company for telling its clients the truth about what 
this legislation would mean for them?
  More and more, it seem like supporters of this legislation just don't 
believe that the American people know what is best for themselves, so 
they want to keep them in the dark about the details. But that is not 
the way democracy works. And that is why Republicans sent a letter to 
the Department of Health and Human Services yesterday calling on the 
HHS Secretary to rescind the gag order that it placed on companies that 
want to tell seniors how health care legislation will affect them. 
Seniors deserve to know what is in this bill, and insurers should be 
free to tell them.
  But until that gag rule is lifted, we will tell seniors ourselves, 
because it hits them hard. It cuts services that millions of seniors 
currently enjoy. It could force seniors off the plans they have with 
nearly $140 billion in cuts to one popular Medicare plan; it calls for 
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 isn't reform. Lawmakers 
want to use Medicare as a piggy bank to pay for their experiment, and 
seniors are going to suffer for it. The response we keep getting from 
the administration is that hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to 
Medicare won't affect services. Who can blame seniors for scratching 
their heads over that one? How do you cut half a trillion dollars from 
something without anybody noticing the difference? Seniors, rightly, 
just aren't buying it.
  Americans want reform. They want lower costs. They want greater 
access for people without insurance. And they want Congress to deliver 
commonsense solutions to all these problems. What they are getting 
instead is a trillion-dollar experiment that cuts Medicare, raises 
taxes, and threatens the health care options that millions of Americans 
now enjoy. And they are being told it all has to be done as fast as 
possible to meet some artificial deadline that no one can explain.
  Americans want us to slow down, and Congress is putting its foot on 
the accelerator. Americans want to know what this bill would mean for 
them, and Congress won't let them read it before a vote, won't even 
allow them 72-hours to look over the details of a 1,000 page piece of 
legislation that will affect one of the most significant aspects of 
their lives. Americans have concerns about what they're hearing, and 
they are being told to shut up, sit down, and take the health care we 
give you.
  This is precisely the kind of condescending attitude from lawmakers 
in Washington that ordinary Americans are tired of. This is the kind of 
thing they are protesting and speaking out against across the country. 
And over the last few months, Congress hasn't given them any reason to 
believe that their concerns aren't exactly right.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. COCHRAN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. 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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