[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14945-14946]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HEALTH CARE EXCHANGES

  Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I come to the floor today, because 
Americans all across the country today are speaking out about their 
personal experiences with the ObamaCare exchanges yesterday. Instead of 
it being as easy as buying something from Amazon, which the President 
had promised, Americans ran into roadblocks and technical disasters 
State after State.
  Instead of getting good coverage, their computers crashed. These were 
not just glitches, they were system failures to the point that in the 
Casper Star Tribune, on the front page today, it was talking about 
people spending time working their way just trying--on the computer--
one little section had a little cartoon at the bottom. The one guy 
worked so hard trying to work the computer that he ended up getting 
carpal tunnel syndrome, while trying to get through the computer to 
find out more about the costs of the Obama health care law through the 
exchanges.
  The Obama administration has had 3 years to prepare for the launch 
that occurred on October 1. Even if the technology finally gets fixed, 
the issue of health care will not. After people finally get a chance to 
examine what is being offered to them when they make a decision about 
enrolling or not under the mandates of the law, Americans are still 
going to find that the exchanges do not match the President's promise.
  Let's think about what those promises were. Last week, the President 
was in New York with Bill Clinton. They had what seemed like an 
infomercial to me. What the President said is that: Most people will be 
able to shop and compare. For many people it is going to be cheaper 
than an average cell phone bill.
  The people are not going to find that it is cheaper, even with 
government subsidies, than the average cell phone bill.
  The President has also said: The process is going to be as easy as 
Amazon. Even if the administration is able to paper over the many 
problems with the exchanges, it is not going to be as easy as shopping 
on Amazon.
  Remember, from the beginning the President said: If you like your 
doctor, you can keep your doctor. We are now seeing in State after 
State that the exchanges are such that, to try to get costs down, they 
are limiting the market in a way and the networks in a way that fewer 
doctors are included, fewer hospitals are included.
  That is causing an uproar. Instead of doubling down on a broken 
system, the President should grant all Americans a 1-year delay--the 
exact same delay he gave their bosses.
  The President talks a lot about a ``fair shake'' for all Americans. 
We heard it in his campaign speeches, and we hear it as he goes around 
and talks to groups. He uses the words quite frequently.
  ObamaCare, unfortunately, delivers the exact opposite. What the 
President has done unilaterally is gone outside the law to grant 
special deals to almost everyone except to people who need it the most, 
which is the hard-working American public. He basically, I believe, 
shut down the Federal Government in order to continue his own policy of 
his health care law, picking winners and losers. This can't continue.
  The good news is that today, after once again attempting to lead from 
behind in a crisis, the President is finally having congressional 
leaders down to the White House within the next hour to meet with him. 
This is an opportunity for the President to do the right thing, to open 
the government, and to finally deliver fairness for Americans under the 
health care law. After all, if we are going to give people's bosses a 
break from the mandates of the health care law, the President ought to 
give hard-working men and women of America the same break. The same for 
Members of Congress. If the President decides that his own 
administration, White House employees, and Members of Congress have 
special treatment under the health care law, that shouldn't be so. That 
should be eliminated.
  I do want to talk for a minute specifically about the government 
shutdown. Over the past week Senate and House Republicans have voted 
overwhelmingly for legislation passed by the House of Representatives 
that keeps government operations running. It keeps parks open, and it 
keeps Americans working. Senate Democrats have overwhelmingly rejected 
these proposals and have allowed to have the government shut down, to 
have the gates closed at America's national parks, and to have critical 
services for America's veterans go unfunded through the Veterans' 
Administration.
  Today or tomorrow the Senate will have the opportunity to pass 
legislation from the House that will immediately open our parks, fund 
services offered through the Department of Veterans Affairs, and 
provide time-sensitive funding for the National Institutes of Health. 
We should pass these bills. We should make sure Americans can use these 
essential government services right now.
  I also would like to talk for a minute about another looming issue 
that is important to the American people, to our Nation, and one that 
the President has recently addressed. Later this month Congress will 
begin debate on the President's sixth debt limit increase, the sixth 
time he has come to increase the debt limit in his 5 years of office. 
The President has said he is refusing to negotiate on this issue. 
Instead, I believe the President should accept that our country can no 
longer avoid a bipartisan agreement to reform entitlements. The 
President can no longer avoid a bipartisan agreement to

[[Page 14946]]

reform entitlements. It is the President's job, responsibility, 
obligation, and opportunity to lead the effort.
  If the President is unwilling to seriously deal with our country's 
debt, Congress is left with little choice but to use the debt limit to 
force him into fiscal solutions. The debt ceiling is merely a symptom 
of a much larger illness, which is Washington's addiction to spending. 
On spending, the status quo is not sustainable.
  It is interesting how the President has seemed to change his tune. 
The President gave a number of speeches in the Senate when he was a 
Senator. We can go back and see what he said about raising the debt 
ceiling. He said that adding to the debt--of course, this was when 
George W. Bush was President--his key word was ``irresponsible.'' 
President Obama as a Senator said it was unpatriotic--raising the debt 
ceiling--unpatriotic and unacceptable. This was Barack Obama in this 
body, in this Chamber, in 2006. President Obama--at the time a 
Senator--actually called raising the debt ceiling ``a failure of 
leadership.'' Isn't that what the President himself should be accused 
of right now as he tries to do what he so vehemently objected to when 
he was in the Senate?
  How bad is the situation? Well, in September the Congressional Budget 
Office reported that in the long term defense, education, 
infrastructure, and all discretionary spending will be squeezed by 
entitlement programs as well as interest on the debt. Over the next 75 
years discretionary spending will increase by 39 percent. This makes 
the sequester cuts look like child's play. Medicaid and other health 
spending increases will be by 159 percent; interest on the debt 
increases 823 percent; Social Security spending rises by only 37 
percent only because CBO assumes drastic benefit cuts in the year 2033.
  The President recently spoke about making cuts, though, to 
discretionary spending. That number is underestimated. The President 
failed to mention that by refusing to make much needed changes to 
entitlement programs, he is guaranteeing that these investments, as he 
calls them, will continue to shrink.
  Entitlement reform is needed not only to preserve other Federal 
spending but in order to slow our ever-expanding debt. President Obama 
has bragged that he is no longer setting up the record-setting deficits 
he did in his first 4 years. Those self-congratulatory statements will 
be short-lived, as the Congressional Budget Office has predicted that 
deficits will soon start to rise unless real reforms are made today. 
Without real reform, America's debt will continue to grow, and 
America's interest and entitlement payments are on course to overwhelm 
the entire Federal budget.
  The American people deserve to hear the truth about the tough choices 
we must face together as a nation. They also deserve an open and honest 
discussion about how we are going to make those choices. The President 
and congressional Democrats ought to rethink their strategies of 
leadership via blame game and saving via spending.
  The President and Democrats have an opportunity today at the White 
House to put the games aside and work with us on opening the 
government, on delivering fairness for all Americans, and on actually 
reducing our debt. I hope they use this meeting to finally do what is 
right and to help the American people.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HARKIN. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________