[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10775-10777]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       SMALL BUSINESS JOBS AND TAX RELIEF ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 341, S. 
2237.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 341, S. 2237, a bill to 
     provide a temporary income tax credit for increased payroll 
     and bonus depreciation for an additional year, and for other 
     purposes.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I know Senators are anxious as to what is 
going to happen here today. The Republican leader and I have been in 
close contact the last several days. We are fortunate that we are now 
in a position to complete work today. We should be able to do it 
quickly. It all depends on the cooperation of Senators.
  We actually know the House is planning to vote around 12:30 today. 
They could do it more quickly. They could do it as late as 1 o'clock. 
We have the ability, now that the papers have been filed over in the 
House, to act before they do, as we have done before. So we will have 
to see how the morning moves on.
  We are working on a consent to have votes in relation to the 
transportation conference report this morning. I know Senators have 
called me and, I am sure, the Republican leader on a number of 
occasions. As soon as we have something firmed up, we will let everyone 
know.


                          Health Care Decision

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed 
that no family should live one illness or one accident away from 
bankruptcy. The Court decision is not a victory for Democrats or 
President Obama, it is a true victory for the American people. Let me 
give you a few reasons why that is the case, and just a few.
  Since the act was signed by President Obama, more than 6 million 
young people have signed up for their parents' health plan. Why is that 
important? As most people know--in the Senate, at least--I am from 
Searchlight, NV. It is a very small community. Someone I care a great 
deal about was the assistant postmistress there. Her husband has been 
around town. They have been together for many years. They have a boy 
named Jeff. I can remember, when we first had our home in Searchlight, 
he would help us as a young boy, climbing up into a Joshua tree and 
putting up Christmas tree lights.
  Well, he has grown past that. He was in college and doing quite well. 
He started getting sick. He had just turned 23. As embarrassing as it 
was, he had to go to a doctor to find out what was wrong. He had 
testicular cancer. That happened a matter of weeks after he was no 
longer on the insurance plan of his parents. They had no money. They 
were desperate to help their boy, and they did everything they could to 
help him.
  He had two or three surgeries. His life was saved. It really put a 
dent in what limited savings they had. She worked part time in the post 
office. He had worked down at the Mohave generating facility, which 
closed. So they had limited means. It was very difficult on what 
savings they had been able to accumulate.
  That will not happen anymore. He would have been able to complete 
college because the magic age is not 22 anymore, it is 27. So that is 
one thing, and 6 million young Americans have taken advantage of that. 
They will not have to have the problems Jeff Hill had. He is doing OK 
now. He recently married. But it was a struggle for a long time, 
physically and emotionally. Because children can now stay on their 
parents' insurance until they are 26, no young person will have to 
defer his or her dreams to take a job that offers insurance.
  Since health reform took effect, 5 million seniors have already saved 
about $600 each on prescription drugs. The doughnut hole is being 
filled. Maybe people watching this presentation here today do not know 
what the doughnut hole is, but every senior citizen knows what it is 
because it costs them lots of money.
  Because of this law now no longer being debatable as far as whether 
it is going to stand--it is the law of the country--millions have 
gotten free wellness checks and cancer screenings. They could never 
have done that before. Millions--free wellness checks and cancer 
screenings. That means millions of seniors have more money in their 
pockets for food, gas, and the electric bill. Frankly, a lot of them 
would not have spent that money anyway; they would have just worried 
about whether they had cancer or whether they should wait a while to go 
see the doctor for their annual physical which was way overdue. It 
means millions of seniors, if, in fact, they are spending for this 
wellness check, will not have to anymore, and they can use this money 
for food, gas, and electric bills.
  Hundreds of thousands of businesses already offer their employees 
health insurance using tax credits. They are doing the right thing.
  Since Congress passed the law, insurance companies can no longer put 
profits ahead of people.
  It is no secret that the insurance companies have been lobbying for a

[[Page 10776]]

long time. Now 17, 18 years ago, they lobbied against the Clinton 
health care plan. They were very effective. ``Harry and Louise'' ads 
defeated that legislation. They spent millions of dollars. They tried 
to defeat this legislation, and they have been lobbying hard. I do not 
know how they expected to affect the Supreme Court, but maybe they have 
ways none of us understand. I think they wasted their money.
  In the future, insurance companies will no longer be able to put 
profits ahead of people. They can no longer discriminate against 
children with preexisting conditions.
  I served in Congress with a man named James Bilbray, and we have been 
friends since I was going to law school back here--Jimmy Bilbray. He 
has had a wonderful career in politics in Nevada. But he and I as young 
men back here were raising our little kids together. We were going to 
law school. We both worked here on Capitol Hill. His little boy Kevin 
got so sick. He was just a baby--just a baby. He didn't know what was 
wrong. He had a diabetic coma. This little baby had diabetes. Kevin 
lived to be about 20 years old. He had a diabetic reaction when he was 
taking a shower, fell over the stop on the bathtub where the shower was 
and drowned--it killed him. He died. Kevin Bilbray. He had diabetes.
  Of course, getting insurance was always a problem for that family. No 
longer. No longer. If a child like the Bilbrays', like little Kevin, 
has diabetes, they will not have to worry about, can I get insurance? 
And not only will it apply in the future--it applies right now to 
people under age 18, but in the future everybody who has a preexisting 
disability will be entitled to insurance. They cannot be denied because 
of a preexisting disability.
  It is not only diabetes, it is heart defects. I know he never talks 
about this, but I know about it. Senator Durbin had a child who from 
the time she was a baby had a heart defect. She was sick her whole 
life. Dick and Loretta lost their girl a couple of years ago. She was 
40 years old, thereabouts. Her whole life, she had a heart defect. In 
the future, people like that will be able to get insurance. They cannot 
be denied.
  Right over in the LBJ Room yesterday morning, at my ``Welcome to 
Washington,'' there were a number of people there. The granddaughter of 
someone with whom my oldest brother went to school--Teddy Vasquez's 
grandchild--was there. Why? Because she was there representing her 
brother, who has cystic fibrosis.
  I do not know if the Presiding Officer has ever before been around 
anyone with cystic fibrosis, but, as I explained to them over there 
yesterday morning, one of my son's coaches had a son who had cystic 
fibrosis. They would have to beat on his chest. They had this process 
to try to loosen the stuff that accumulates in the lungs because of 
this disease. Kids used to not live very long with this. We are doing a 
lot better now. We have some medicines. But in the future, anyone with 
cystic fibrosis will not be denied insurance because of this dread 
disease. Now, if you are under 18, you cannot be denied insurance 
because you have this dread disease.
  Insurance companies can no longer raise your rates for no reason. How 
many times have we heard stories about insurance companies raising 
rates for no reason other than they wanted to? And there was no way to 
stop it. They can no longer drop coverage if you get sick. They did 
that. They can no longer do that. That is now against the law of this 
country.
  Millions of Americans are already seeing the benefit of this law, and 
soon 35 million more who cannot afford health insurance will have 
access to reasonably priced insurance and quality care. Here is how it 
works. Each State will set up its own health insurance marketplace 
called an exchange, which will offer a menu of private insurance plans 
from which people can choose.
  The Presiding Officer is a relatively new Senator here. I have been 
in Congress now for a long time. Every year, we get a menu of options, 
like all Federal employees. Senators do not get treated any differently 
than any other Federal employees. We get a number of options as to what 
we want to buy, the price of one up here or down here. That is what we 
want for everybody in America, something just like the millions of 
Federal employees have. That is what we will have.
  We will offer a menu of private insurance plans from which people can 
choose what they want. Once these exchanges are in place, insurance 
companies will no longer be able to discriminate against any American 
with a preexisting health condition, just as I have talked about. They 
will not be able to deny you insurance because you are sick. They will 
not be able to charge you more just because you are a woman. That is a 
fact. They will not be able to do it anymore or because you do not 
already have insurance. If you cannot afford the premiums, you will get 
a tax credit to help pay for them.
  But what if you are one of the 250 million Americans who already have 
insurance? Nothing will change--nothing. Nothing will change except you 
will no longer have to worry that if you lose your job, you will lose 
your insurance. Nothing will change except that if you get cancer or 
have a stroke, your insurance company will not be able to deny you 
lifesaving care because you have reached some arbitrary lifetime cap.
  These are not theoretical. A man in Las Vegas was a car racer. He was 
not racing a car, but somebody hurt him. He became a paraplegic. He got 
along pretty well. He needed a lot of care. He arrived at some lifetime 
cap. He had an insurance policy. He had his own insurance. They cannot 
do that anymore. That provision on this lifetime cap will help untold 
hundreds of thousands of people.
  Nothing will change, except when one gets a checkup and preventive 
will be free--a provision that has already helped 54 million Americans 
with private insurance.
  You will be able to keep your plan and keep your doctor. But now 
you--not the insurance company--will be in control.
  By August, almost 13 million people will get a rebate check from 
their insurance company because it spent too much on administrative 
costs and not enough on health care. They can't any longer put all the 
profits into these multimillion dollar bonuses and salaries people got. 
They cannot do that; 80 percent of what they get has to be put into 
helping people get well.
  It is so very important to explain to people what is in this bill. 
Are these things people want to take away? I don't think so. They can 
yell and scream about ObamaCare but explain these individual 
provisions. This money will come back in August. I was listening to 
public radio this morning, and they interviewed someone who ran an 
insurance exchange, I think they called it. He was waiting by the phone 
for this decision to come out yesterday. He was so happy because CNN 
and FOX announced the case had been overruled. He was so happy. But 
when he learned it was actually still in effect, he was very sad. Why? 
He said: We will not be able to pay our salaries as much as we had.
  He was paying a lot for salaries for the bosses and not enough money 
into taking care of people.
  The Affordable Care Act is already helping millions of Americans--
seniors on Medicare, children with heart conditions, and students 
following their dreams.
  In the coming months, millions more will benefit from this law. That 
doesn't mean the law is perfect. We all know that. We are willing to 
work next year, and if there are problems to work out, we are happy to 
work with our colleagues to do that.
  But now the Supreme Court has spoken; it is time to renew our focus 
on the most pressing challenge facing America: the high unemployment 
rate we have. Too many Americans are struggling, and Congress cannot 
afford to waste time refighting old battles. We need to work together 
to put Americans back to work.
  As a side note, these people who talk about repeal, it would cause 
the loss of 400,000 jobs. If we look at all the job statistics in the 
past year, some of the

[[Page 10777]]

most significant growth is taking place in health care. I don't think 
we want to lose 400,000 jobs right off the bat.
  Thanks to cooperation on both sides, I am glad to say the Senate will 
vote sometime today on the Transportation bill conference report. It is 
a wonderful piece of legislation that includes student loans and the 
problems we have had with flood insurance. These things will be 
completed fairly early today. The Flood Insurance Program being 
extended will allow millions of home closings to go forward at a time 
when our real estate market is beginning to rebound. Preventing 
interest rates from doubling on 7 million students was a major priority 
for all of us.
  Passing the 2-year, 3 months Transportation bill will create or save 
2.8 million American jobs--many of them in the hard-hit construction 
industry. It will also restore millions of miles of crumbling roadways, 
railways, and bridges. It is very important. It streamlines the process 
and gets rid of a lot of the ability for entities to stall the 
construction of these much needed roads. I had an experience similar to 
this in Nevada. That is why it was important to Senators Boxer and 
Inhofe.
  This has been a very productive week. It has been a fruitful session 
that we have had. We have passed a bipartisan farm bill and have taken 
a hard look at how we are going to make the Postal Service better. The 
farm bill was very difficult and took a long time to get done.
  I am optimistic the Senate will remain in the spirit of cooperation 
during the next work period, when we consider a number of other 
important job creation measures and other things we need to do.
  I hope my colleagues have a constructive week at home. We have a lot 
of work to do, and I understand that. I hope everybody is safe and 
happy, and I certainly extend my recognition to the State of Colorado, 
which has had devastating fires, and the West is having real problems. 
They have about 200 fires burning as we speak. Eleven of them are major 
fires. We have to make sure we give the firefighting people the 
resources to do this. I was happy, within the past month, to be part of 
a program to advance the purchase of these tankers to fight these 
fires. We were able to do that.
  When we come back to work in 10 days or so, everybody has to 
understand we have a lot to do to ensure this country's economic 
future. I look forward to taking up the challenge together.

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