[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 29580-29581]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           HEALTH CARE REFORM

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, first, I wish to extend a welcome to 
the President, who is coming to the Capitol today to meet with 
Democrats on the subject of the health care bill.
  So far, they have voted to cut Medicare three times--cuts they 
previously described as immoral and irresponsible; cuts that made it 
impossible for the President to keep his pledge that people who like 
their plans can keep them; cuts that will reduce the quality of home 
health care; cuts that will reduce benefits for nearly 11 million 
American seniors on Medicare Advantage; cuts that raid Medicare instead 
of fixing it; and cuts the American people vehemently oppose.
  Democrats are in a tough situation on this bill. They want to expand 
the government's reach into health care, but they do not have the 
money, and they don't have the support, more importantly, of the 
American people. So what did they do? They decided to take the money 
they need out of Medicare, and that has only made their health care 
plan even less popular with the American people.
  The Gregg amendment, which we will vote on later this afternoon, will 
help reverse the damage of last week's votes. The Gregg amendment says 
Democrats can't raid Medicare, which is already in serious trouble, in 
order to pay for their $2.5 trillion bill. The money going out of 
Medicare's hospital insurance trust fund already exceeds its annual 
income. It is already drying up. By 2017, the hospital insurance trust 
fund will not be able to pay full benefits, and that is before our 
colleagues get their hands on it. This program needs to be fixed, not 
pillaged to create another one.
  So the Gregg amendment prohibits using money from Medicare to pay for 
any new government programs, for expanding existing programs, or for 
subsidies. Instead, it directs that any money from Medicare be put back 
into Medicare to strengthen and preserve it for future generations so 
we can keep our promises. Frankly, this is common sense.
  Americans don't want this bill to pass, and they certainly don't want 
it to pass at the expense of the roughly 40 million American seniors 
who depend on Medicare. The Gregg amendment would keep that from 
happening. A vote for the Gregg amendment is a vote to keep our promise 
to seniors.
  We are also going to have a vote today on the Ensign amendment. The 
amendment is simple: It is designed to ensure that injured patients--
not their lawyers--receive the vast majority of any settlement in a 
medical malpractice suit. It says that since lawsuits should benefit 
patients, not lawyers, lawyers can't take more than one-third of the 
recovery their clients receive. In other words, the lawyers can't take 
more than one-third of what the client gets.
  These are responsible limits. Moreover, they were written by a 
Democrat and supported in the past by 21 of our current Democratic 
colleagues, as well as the Vice President, and they would drive down 
costs, which was the original purpose of reform.
  The independent Congressional Budget Office has said comprehensive 
liability reforms would save the taxpayers more than $50 billion. The 
Ensign amendment is a step in that direction.
  We will offer a better, step-by-step reform to end junk lawsuits 
against doctors and hospitals later in the consideration of this bill. 
I am hopeful my Democratic colleagues will support it again, since so 
many of them have supported it in the past.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Illinois is 
recognized.

[[Page 29581]]


  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
leader time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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