[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11846-11847]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




PROTECT WOMEN'S HEALTH FROM CORPORATE INTERFERENCE ACT OF 2014--MOTION 
                               TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 459, S. 
2578, the Protect Women's Health From Corporate Interference Act.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 459, S. 2578, a bill to 
     ensure that employers cannot interfere in their employees' 
     birth control and other health care decisions.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the 
Republican leader, if any, there will be a period of morning business 
until 6 p.m. this evening, with Senators permitted to speak therein for 
up to 10 minutes each. There will be no rollcall votes during today's 
session of the Senate. The reason for that is last week we were able to 
get a few things done. We were able to do some things around here the 
way we used to do them.
  I know my Republican colleagues lament how things used to be. Well, I 
was there. I know how things used to be. One of the things we used to 
do is we would work out pieces of legislation, as we did on terrorism 
insurance. We have a number of people who worked hard on that: Chairman 
Johnson, Senator Schumer--he worked with Ranking Member Crapo--and they 
came up with a way forward on an important piece of legislation. There 
will be some amendments. We will finish that legislation this week--
very important, important to our country, important to our economy, 
important to the construction industry. So I was very happy to see that 
done. So there are no votes tonight, and that is the reason for that.
  There will be no rollcall votes during today's session, as I 
mentioned. The next rollcall votes will be tomorrow at noon. Those will 
be two cloture votes on nominees to be members of the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission.


                          Suing The President

  Mr. President, the Republicans have made a decision on a lawsuit 
against President Obama. It is difficult to understand how they have 
become so desperate that now they are talking about: Our issue of the 
day is not the minimum wage. Our issue of the day is not that women and 
men get the same amount of money for doing the same work. The issue of 
the day is not the crippling debt that is staggering this country; that 
is, student loan debt. Extended unemployment benefits--that is nothing 
they are focused on. I could go through a long list of what is 
important to the middle class that they simply are ignoring. So what 
are they doing to solve the problems of this country? Suing the 
President.
  Mr. President, listen to what they are suing him about. They have 
been broadcasting for weeks their intention to sue the President, but 
they just did not know why. That is what they said, not I. Now, after 
misstep after misstep after misstep, they know why they are suing the 
President; they want to litigate ObamaCare.
  The Acting President pro tempore has done a remarkably good job of 
calling out Republican Senators when they come to the floor and make 
these ridiculously false statements, and I appreciate that. I think 
everybody in the country, if they do not, should appreciate what the 
junior Senator from Connecticut has done.
  House Republicans have identified President Obama's delayed 
enforcement of employer obligations in the Affordable Care Act as the 
centerpiece of that frivolous lawsuit. This provision, which affects 
companies with 50 or more full-time employees, ensures that employers 
pay their fair share if their employees receive health subsidies. But 
listen to this: The irony, of course, is that this specific provision, 
which is in the bill that became law, came about as a result of the 
Republicans wanting to put it in the bill. Senator Grassley, Senator 
Enzi, and former Senator Snowe--this was something they worked on with 
Senator Baucus and other Members to come up with this bill. They placed 
it in the bill. It became law.
  Even more absurd is the fact that Republicans in Congress have long 
targeted this specific provision of comprehensive health reform. In 
fact, just after President Obama announced the delay of the employer 
provision, House Republicans voted on legislation to do the exact same 
thing--delay the so-called mandate. So they are suing the President of 
the United States because he did what they wanted him to do--delay the 
mandate.
  Every word I have spoken I wrote down in my own handwriting. That is 
what they wanted to do. They wanted him to do this. He did it and they 
sued him for doing what they wanted him to do. They could have 
applauded him.
  House Republicans are trying something worthy of daytime television's 
``The People's Court'' on one of those channels you do not watch very 
much. There are a lot of court channels, but this would be one where 
you would really have to be desperate to watch. They would not put it 
on a channel that made any common sense.
  So, to sum it up, Republicans create an employer obligation provision 
in the Affordable Care Act. The Affordable Care Act becomes law. 
Republicans vilify the employer provision they

[[Page 11847]]

themselves authored. Republicans demand that the employer provision in 
ObamaCare be delayed. President Obama agrees to delay the employer 
provision, and House Republicans sue President Obama for delaying the 
employer provision. Is this weird? Is this weird? I can answer my own 
question. Yes, it is weird.
  This is the behavior we have come to expect from the Republican Party 
that is determined to do one thing: undermine this President. No matter 
the issue, even when they ask him to do it, they oppose him on it. They 
sue him this time.
  We have seen this so often in the Senate. It is not just in the 
House. Last week the Republicans filibustered a bill on which there 
were 26 Republican cosponsors. That is a new one. More than half of the 
Republican Senators put their names on a bill and then turned around 
and voted against it.
  With this provision in the health care law, House Republicans are 
ignoring the fact that they gave President George W. Bush a pass for 
doing the exact same thing--delaying a specific provision of a 
congressionally passed health care law. Then President Bush, through 
Executive order, waived Medicare Part D penalties for seniors enrolled 
after the deadline. He did this by Executive order. Republican 
leadership in the House did not consider suing President Bush for his 
administration's delay of health care law. So they chose now to do 
this. Why? Because it is President Obama.
  While Republicans accuse President Obama of Executive overreach, they 
neglect the fact that he has issued far fewer Executive orders than any 
two-term President in the last 50 years. President George W. Bush 
issued 291 Executive orders. President Clinton issued 364 Executive 
orders. President Reagan is the record holder; he issued 381 Executive 
orders. President Obama is not close to their records. He is 109 behind 
President Bush. He is 182 behind President Clinton. He is 199 behind 
President Reagan. What is the President's tally to date? As I have 
indicated, he is behind them all--an 8-year President. He has issued 
only 182.
  Republicans' disdain for President Obama and health care reform has 
prevented them from accepting the obvious: ObamaCare is proving more 
and more successful every day. It seems as if every week--sometimes 
every other day--there is some new study or survey showing how good 
ObamaCare is, how it is helping American families.
  Mr. President, the Commonwealth Fund:

       The uninsured rate for people ages 19 to 64 declined from 
     20 percent in the July-to-September 2013 period to 15 percent 
     in the April-to-June 2014 period. An estimated 9.5 million 
     fewer adults were uninsured.

  That is big-time stuff.

       Young men and women drove a large part of the decline: the 
     uninsured rate for 19-to-34-year-olds declined from 28 
     percent to 18 percent--

  Remember when everybody said young people will run from this. They 
are not running from this. They are running to it--

     with an estimated 5.7 million fewer young adults uninsured.

  That is so important. Because of the high cost of health care 
previously, young people--many of them--would not do it. Mr. President, 
5.7 million more would not sign up for any kind of health insurance. 
And what happens? Young people do not realize they get very sick also. 
They get into accidents also. Bad things happen to young people, as 
they do to middle-aged and older people. And younger people are signing 
up for ObamaCare.

       By June, 60 percent of adults with new coverage through the 
     marketplaces or Medicaid reported they had visited a doctor 
     or hospital or filled a prescription; of these, 62 percent 
     said they could not have accessed or afforded this care 
     previously.

  That is stunning. It is no wonder--it is no wonder--we have fewer and 
fewer Republicans coming down here giving these speeches about how bad 
ObamaCare is.
  A Gallup survey: ``In U.S., Uninsured Rate Sinks to 13.4% in Second 
Quarter.'' This deals with millions of people.

       The uninsured rate in the U.S. fell 2.2 percentage points. 
     . . .

  When you have 300 million people, 2.2 percent is a lot of people.

       The previous low point was 14.4% in the third quarter of 
     2008.

  So it is well below that.
  The RAND Corporation: ``Changes in Health Insurance Enrollment Since 
2013.''

     . . . . overall, we estimate that 9.3 million more people had 
     health care coverage in March 2014, lowering the uninsured 
     rate from 20.5 percent to 15.8 percent.

  Stunningly important numbers.
  So the evidence--not the shrill statements made by my colleagues over 
here bemoaning the fact of how terrible things are--all the evidence 
indicates that the Affordable Care Act is helping millions of 
Americans. You can say anything you want, but facts are nasty things. 
They are nasty to the point that they are factual. Do not believe all 
these crazy statements when there is no basis for it. It is helping--
this ObamaCare--Democrats, Republicans, and Independents. It is helping 
residents of blue States, red States, and purple States.
  How about the State of Kentucky, the home State of our Republican 
leader? Well over 400,000 Kentuckians have signed up for coverage 
through the Affordable Care Act. That is not a State with the 
population of Illinois or New York or California or Texas; it is a 
sparsely populated State.
  Four hundred thousand Kentuckians have signed up for coverage. Even 
Republicans love it. The Commonwealth Fund that I referred to found 
that 74 percent of newly insured Republicans are happy with their 
ObamaCare health coverage, but instead of embracing the good that 
ObamaCare has done and working with Democrats to address any necessary 
fixes, Republicans would rather file a foolish and meritless lawsuit.
  Is there anyone who believes this lawsuit has some basis? It is a 
sham--an effort to appease the tea party radicals in the House of 
Representatives. One Yale law professor was questioned on why the 
lawsuit is receiving so much media attention. Here is what he said: ``I 
see this every day now, being covered as if it's, as if it's somehow 
not a joke.'' It is a joke.
  Another law professor from Harvard said: ``The lawsuit will almost 
certainly fail, and it should fail, for lack of any Congressional 
standing.'' Imagine how many lawsuits there would be if House 
Republicans could sue the President every time they disagreed with him 
about something--or some future President--but there is no reasoning 
with the radical Republicans in the House or the tea party-driven 
Members of the Senate.
  House Republicans would rather waste taxpayer dollars than accept the 
fact that their constituents, their very own neighbors, are benefiting 
from health care reform.
  This is a phony trial that will come up. It is a show trial. It is 
what Republicans want.
  I guess that is what they want, but if that is truly what they want, 
they should go talk to Judge Judy. I think she would throw this case 
out in half a second. The Congress is no place for inane, politically 
motivated litigation. I think Judge Judy would agree.
  It is expensive and wasteful. It is wasting taxpayers' hard-earned 
money on something that is without any merit. Enough is enough. The 
fight over ObamaCare should be long since ended. The law is here to 
stay and, more importantly, newly insured Americans, all who have 
signed up, not only those who are newly insured but those who have 
signed up who had insurance before, want the law to stay just where it 
is.


                       Reservation of Leader Time

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, 
leadership time is reserved.

                          ____________________