[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2814-2815]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           TAX EXTENDERS ACT

  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, we are going to have an amendment on the 
floor in just a moment that simply requires the Senate to post every 
time they create a new program and every time they spend money outside 
of pay-go so that we truly are transparent with the American people 
about what we are doing.
  With great fanfare, we passed pay-go. We made it a statute. The last 
three bills in a row, we have allocated up to $120 billion outside of 
pay-go. With all the claims, with all the fanfare, we said we are going 
to now start paying for everything we do, and the first three bills to 
come before the Senate, what do we do? We simply say: Rules off; 
doesn't count; we are going to spend our grandkids' money.
  For the life of me, I do not understand the controversy around this 
amendment. It is about us being transparent with the American people. 
No more games. No more saying we are doing one thing and doing another. 
All this amendment says is, when we violate our own rules and we spend 
money we do not have and we do not pay for programs by eliminating 
programs that are not effective, that are not a priority, that we are 
going to list it on our Web site. Nothing could be simpler.
  We have offered the Secretary of the Senate our staff to do that 
work. It takes about 5 minutes a day to post that information and 
probably 5 minutes every third or fourth day. We will happily pay for 
that or we will offer one of our staff to put that information on the 
computer.
  We are going to have a side-by-side amendment that does nothing. We 
understand that. That gives people a way to not vote for our amendment.
  If we want to solve the problems in America and we want to solve our 
financial problems, the first thing we have to do is have real 
information about what this body is doing. This amendment will do that.
  I yield back the remainder of our time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nebraska.
  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
my amendment No. 3431 be in order when we return to H.R. 4213, with up 
to 10 minutes to speak regarding that amendment.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I object on behalf of the managers who are 
not present at this time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. Mr. President, I still ask for up to 10 
minutes to speak on behalf of this amendment, even though the action 
has been heard and registered.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator may speak.
  Mr. NELSON of Nebraska. The amendment I rise today to speak on is 
straightforward. It would provide an offset for all known emergency 
provisions included in the bill, H.R. 4213. The amendment would direct 
the Office of Management and Budget to rescind $35 billion in 
unobligated American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds on a prorated 
basis. The amendment would exclude military construction and veterans 
affairs stimulus funding from the rescission.
  This rescission would offset all remaining nonemergency items in the 
American Workers, State, and Business Relief Act, which is H.R. 4213.
  As a result of my amendment, all provisions in the bill would be paid 
for minus the emergency extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA.
  My colleagues on the other side of the aisle just made the best case 
I have heard for this amendment. They raised concerns about the 
underpayments for Medicare and Medicaid patients and patient care. In 
this underlying bill, doctors would have their fees increased for 
payment purposes so the concerns that were raised by my colleague from 
Arizona would be, in part, answered by the increased payments the Mayo 
Clinic was not receiving and, therefore, made the decision to reduce 
their care to Medicare patients.
  It seems to me it would be appropriate to support this bill. I 
suspect they will not, but it would seem appropriate to support this 
bill then and also support having it paid for under pay-go rules 
applying to the unused stimulus

[[Page 2815]]

funds that would be available through this act.
  If we are going to see that Medicare patients are treated and are not 
excluded from treatment, it is going to be because the providers are 
adequately compensated. That is one of the provisions of this bill. 
What we are seeking to do is to make sure that is paid for, among other 
things.
  The Governors of the States have come to us and said they cannot 
afford to make their part of the Medicaid match that they are required 
to make under the Medicaid Program that is approved in virtually every 
State. As a result of that, a good portion of this bill is seeking 
money to pay the States, compensate them for that unfunded mandate that 
the States are currently facing.
  In other words, they come in and say: You forced us to do this. We 
don't have the money to do it. We are asking that you make it good. You 
pay for it.
  The challenge is, if Medicaid is decreased or payments to providers 
are decreased, then the concerns they raised about the Medicaid Program 
underfunding providers will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. It seems to 
me there is an opportunity for the other side to take a very positive 
look at this particular bill.
  I can look at it positively if we pay for it. My concerns are that we 
pay for the nonemergency provisions within this bill, that we pay for 
the FMAP fix, that we pay for the other parts of this bill minus the 
emergency extension of unemployment insurance and COBRA. That would 
make us consistent with the pay-go rules we forced upon ourselves--I 
think appropriately so. But it is important that we follow the rules we 
set for ourselves. This is one of the ways we do it--by paying for 
these nonemergency items in the underlying bill.
  That is my argument. That is why I have offered this legislation. I 
think it is unfortunate the other side has chosen to object to it, but 
they have and that is it. The amendment will fail unless the other side 
finds that it makes sense to simply begin to pay for things. I thought 
the other side was interested in seeing that these requirements are 
paid for, particularly when they make such a strong case for the 
payment to physicians for Medicare and Medicaid patients. That does not 
seem to be the case.
  I yield the floor. 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. ISAKSON. 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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