[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 21]
[Senate]
[Pages 28718-28719]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. REID. Madam President, my friend, the Republican leader, is 
living in a different world than most everyone else. For him to lecture 
the Senate on debt is beyond the pale. He, one of the Republican 
leaders during the last years, voted at every opportunity to spend more 
money in Iraq, without a penny of it being paid for--$1 trillion it is 
now said to be--on a war of choice and not a penny of it paid for. To 
lecture us now on debt, when not only the war but the other actions of 
the Bush administration drove this country into deep debt? If one read 
the papers today or listened to Newsday, you will find economists all 
over America said the stimulus is working. Only 25 percent of the money 
has now been spent, and they recognize that but for the stimulus, we 
would be in a worldwide depression. That is all over the news today.
  To focus on an editorial by a man who has been retired for many years 
and writes a column once in a while is not where we should be. Where we 
should be is recognizing America deserves a debate on health care 
reform. Last year, 750,000 Americans filed bankruptcy. Over half of 
those bankruptcies were because of medical expenses. Over half of the 
people who filed for bankruptcy because of medical expenses had health 
insurance. Do we need to do something on health insurance reform? Of 
course, we do.
  It speaks volumes to recognize that insurance rates over America 
during the last few months are skyrocketing. Why? Because the insurance 
industry has an insatiable appetite for more profit. How are they able 
to do this when other businesses can't do it? They can do it because 
they are exempt from the antitrust laws of this country. The only 
business, other than Major League Baseball, that has that is the 
insurance industry. We are going to take a look at that in this 
legislation. Shouldn't we at least talk about it?
  My friend the distinguished Republican leader is saying he doesn't 
think we should even have a debate on this issue, even though last year 
750,000 Americans filed bankruptcy, most of them because of health 
expenses.
  In addition to that, the morning news indicates that longtime 
conservative Republican Tommy Thompson, longtime Governor of the State 
of Wisconsin, Cabinet officer in the Bush administration, the Secretary 
of Health and Human Services, endorsed the legislation we will vote on 
this afternoon. To show it is bipartisan, Richard Gephardt, former 
Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, endorsed this, and 
many others.
  Anyone who says this legislation contains an entitlement expansion is 
obviously someone who has not read the bill. One of the things we have 
in this legislation is a provision called the CLASS Act. What does it 
do? It allows someone to voluntarily pay $120 a month into a fund. They 
do it for 5 consecutive years. If they become disabled, there is money 
there for them. Ever since I have been in the Congress, we have been 
looking for a way to take care of the aged, infirm, and disabled. It is 
not an entitlement; it is voluntary and fully paid for, as is the rest 
of the bill.
  To talk about all this debt--I don't know what world, what sphere 
they are living in. The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan 
organization--not always good--I wish they would have come up with some 
other numbers because we got no credit for all the wellness things we 
do in this bill that will save lots of money. We received no credit for 
that. But in spite of that, everything in the bill is fully paid for. 
It reduces short- and long-term debt. It expands coverage. This chart 
says ``94 percent,'' but it is actually 98 percent because CBO does not 
give us credit for people in Medicare. So 98 percent of Americans are 
covered. It contains insurance market reforms, and lots of them. It 
contains delivery system reforms.
  The key elements of this health care reform bill, I repeat: It 
reduces short- and long-term deficits, expands coverage, promotes 
choice and competition, reforms the insurance market, and improves 
quality of care. All we are asking today is to have a debate on it. Why 
would anyone be afraid, in the greatest debating society, supposedly, 
in the world, to debate health care? What are they afraid of?
  He said anyone who votes for this is going to have a lot of 
explaining to do. That is really Orwellian. Have a lot of explaining to 
do if they vote to allow the debate to continue? I think quite the 
opposite. I think any reasonable human being would feel the same way. 
Shouldn't we debate health care reform in America today, with 50 
million people uninsured, and this legislation is going to take care of 
98 percent of Americans?
  This legislation looks out for small businesspeople. Right now, most 
small businesses don't have health insurance for their employees. Do 
they not have health insurance because they are mean or cheap? No. They 
can't afford it. The insurance industry has made it impossible to pay 
for because of their huge profits.
  Someone not voting to allow the debate to continue is going to have a 
lot of explaining to do. Even though my friend is Orwellian and said 
that if you vote to allow debate to continue, you will have a lot of 
explaining to do, how could you be a Senator and be afraid to debate 
health care reform?

[[Page 28719]]

  Simply, this legislation, on which we will vote on a motion to 
proceed to this evening at 8, saves lives, it saves money, and it saves 
Medicare--a pretty good deal.

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