Senate Proceeding 07-30-09 on Jul 30th, 2009 :: 4:24:55 to 4:44:55
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Speech By: Saxby Chambliss

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Saxby Chambliss: above reasons i will cast a no

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vote on the confirmation of

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judge

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with that, i would yield

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floor. a senator: mr.

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the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. dodd: mr. president, i ask -- may i inquiree're in morning business? am i correct? the presiding officer: the senator's correct, but we have 10 minute grants. mr. dodd: i appreciate. i ask unanimous consent that andrea harris an andrew garrett,

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the staff of senator k office be granted floor privileges for today's session of the senat the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: i thank -- thank you. i have about health care and i do so this evening with a note of some sadness, i have been told that

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there will be no markup of the finance committee bill next week on health care. and i know senator baucus has worked hard at that and i know other members of that committee have been working to try and reach some understanding in all of that. an leave here, i gather, next week after the conclusion of the

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nomination process for judge sotomayor for a month-long recess to our respective states or whatever other obligations our colleagues may have. so i am saddened by that. i believe there's a good possibilit and let me try to find a good note in all of this, there are five congressional

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committees between the house of representatives, the other body and ourselves, that have some jurisdiction over the health care debate. three of those committees reside in the other body. the house of representatives, that is, the commerce committee, labor and education committ and the ways and means committee. i'm told by tomorrow those three committees will have completed

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their jobs. they will have reported on a bill. there are two committees in the united states senate with jurisdiction. the bulk of jurisdiction over health care resides in committee chaired by our colleague from massachusetts, senator kennedy, who is not with us, as most americans know b battlehat he's ongoing today

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with cancer, with brain cancer. in his absence i've been asked to act acting chair in that committee. we completed our work in that committee. the only committee remaining to do some work is obviously the finance committee. the five c of business tomorrow will have completed their now that doesn't mean the work

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is completed. -off obviously a -- obviously a lot of work remains in melding these bills together to come up with the thorny questions that remain on how do we structure the health care system in our nation to go from a sick care system, which it is today, to truly a health care system to deal with the issues of costs and to try and manage these

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issues so we bend that cost in the coming decades and beyond in a different direction than we're headed today, and i'll talk about that in a minute, obviously to improve the quality of health care which all of us care about. while we have great quality of health care in man country, there are numerous areas where the outcome, the

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overall health condition, the life expectancy of americans is far less tn it ought to be. the access to health care, the affordability are still the primary goals. we're working hard to try and reach that point. so four out of five committees will have acted. the fifth, we that result at some point here or some manner in which we can

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move forward with this critical debate in our nation. so this evening, mr. president, i want to spend a few minutes talking about where we are on a couple of these issues. i've discussed on previous gatherings my thoughts on aspects of the legislation. and let me share where this debate is.

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there's a strong case to be made. we know the economic argument, i'm going to get to that in a minute, but there's a moral case to be made as well for health care reform. and it's a maybe it doesn't impress economists or actuaries, but there is a moral obligation and the nation as blessed as ours is

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with great resources and great wealth and abundance of resources na we live in the the history of mankind, inheriters of the incredible work of those who came before us who sacrificed greatly, including their very lives to produce the kind of

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live in today but it has been a remarkable story for little more than two centuries that has resulted in one of the great miracles in world history. to produce a nation with a vast majority of the population can live with financial security, good job opportunities, the ability to raise families with security, despite what we've

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gone through in recent yrs. nonetheless, there's a sense of stability and security about being an american. in many ways, we're the envy of a good part of the world. so it's important as we think of this debate about health care to remind ourselves what others have g of results that leave us with a level of lifestyle unmatched

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anywhere else around the globe. but yet in spite of all of that great news we should also note that 45 million of our citizens, many children, by the way, go to bed every night without health care coverage and the wealthiest nation in the history of mankind no one should

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be denied, in my view coverage of health care because of a preexisting condition. what is a preexisting condition? a determination that you had a problem health-wise before and therefore, the insurance company will deny you coverage because of the preexisting condition especially when that excuse is used by so many insurance companies to avoid covering victims of domestic violence, friends.

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or those suffering painful of long-term illnesses -- those proceed existing conditions. the wealthiest of nations in the history of mankind, no one should have to choose between paying their taking a sick child to the doctor. and i wish that were just minor

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cases, small antidotes. it's not. regardless of which state you represent, every one of the represented families who every single day make those kind of choices on paying that electrical bill, cutting back on that diet for the family because they have to make a choice about whether or not they can that sick family member.

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no one should have to lose a home or go into bankruptcy because their medical bills are too high. i know the presiding officer has heard me on previous occasions in recent times talk about this statistics and let me just repeat them quickly: 62% of all bankruptcies in the last several years health care crisis

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related, 62% to 65% and of that 62%, 75% of the people had health insurance. when i first saw those numbers of 60% to 65% of the bankruptcies because of a health care crisis i assumed that the overwhelming majority of people who fell into that situation must be those without any kind of health care coverage at all.

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it pained me to learn that 75% of those coverage and despite that they ended up in financial ruin, having to go interest bankruptcy to survive economically. the wealthiest nation in the world, mr. president, one that spends far more on health care than anyone else, some $2.5 trillion a year, we now rank

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37th in the world in medical outcomes. that is in terms of our overall condition, health wise as a people, like we now have the first generation of children growi up in the united states that we' now told by studies done by major children's health facilities, health care facilities that we are about to encounter for the

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first time in 225 generation of children who will live less healthy lives than their pains. that's never happened before in the history of our country. each generation of americans has been able to improve the quality of health care of their children even throughout the difficulties of the 20th century every generation did better on that

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score. we're about to be the first generation that will have children less wealth off -- not financially although that may be the case -- but in terms health conditions. i don't know of anyone in this generation who wants to leave a legacy low-income that. because we couldn't figure out how to deal with health care we

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left our where they will have less healthy lives than we have had. i don't think care what your politics are or where you're from want to be referred to in history because we couldn't our children. so mr. president, there is a moral case for health care that,

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i know, is dispensed with or dispelled by some because it's really not serious people don't ta the economics. i think as a people we ought to talk about it because it motivates people, and all o share that common concern that we believe in this great country of ours that we ought to be able to do a better job of taking

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care of our tell low citizenr citizenry regarding a health care crisis. today i want to make the case that this reform in addition to being the right thing is also the smart thing, the very sma thing to do. it's smart, mr. president, it's a matter thing to do for our federaleficit, just listened to my colleague from iowa talk

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at bout the deficit. i think he is right, we need to confront that issue. six months ago an american president assumed office, how quickly we forget, having inherited the largest deficit accumulated not just by any president but by every previous president combined. that's a remarkable trac record.

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it's one deficit than your predecessor but over the previous eight years the administration that congresses that experted them accumulated a deficit this eight years that exceeded the accumulated by all previous 43 presidents in history.

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so all of a sudden, barack obama arrives in town six months ago, on january 20, and gets handed this gift from the administration: a mountain of debt accumulated. and all of a sudden, now, this is the big issue we hear about. where were those voices over the past eight years as that debt

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accumulated day after day and all of a sudden want to lay this as the doorstep of a new president arriving in town. but if you are concerned about it, and i believe my colleagues are, then one certain way to add to it is to do nothing about health care. that's -- just leave town for another month without having addressed this issue in any

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concrete and thoughtful manner. because clearly if you do t themount of deficit in this country will accumulate. we spend, mr. president, 16 cents of eve $1 on health care today and i don't know of a single expert who would tell you that by the do, we will be spending as much

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as 30 cent to 40 cents of every dollar on health care if we do nothing. and there is a danger of that. i know we are all painfully aware. the bill which passed our committee two weeks and two days took a long time; we spent five weeks on we had 23 sessions and went

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through some 60 hours, by the way, on that one month from start to finish, actually, four weeks. almost 60 hours, 23 sessions on 13 days. we actually considered 287 amendments over that month-long process day in and

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we accepted 161 amendments offered by friends on the republican side and many were technical and many were very substantive amendments. we went through a long processed considered at length, long debates, 23 of us, a quarter of the united states senate sitting on the committee chairedy senator kennedy to consider various ideas within our

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jurisdiction. very large and row best and robust marketplace for small business owners can go to for their employees o themselves. our bill is a smart thing to do for business. too often today, you have to choose between reducing coverage

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for employees or laying off worries because they cannot afford to our bill, the one we passed, now, no longer if our bill were adopted as i believe it will would any small business in our country be forced to act as health insurance experts. no longer will they be denied affordable health insurance opposites under our legislation

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and no longer would small businesses be discriminated against because they ploy someone with a preexisting condition or who suffers a sudden unexpected health crisi thus driving up the premiums for everyone else, all their employees, making it too costly or making it impossible to provide that kind of coverage. not only does our bill which we

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passed two weeks and two days ago, do we give small business somewhere to turn to for insurance options but we give them the financial assistance to individual employees and $2,000 for families that every small business would get to assist them in that very business of trying to provide for families.

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we offer a credit to small businesses trying to do the right thing by providing insurance to their employees. that's been in our bill. it's written. it's there. we can get that bill up and pass it here, i'm confident the body, the other body and we give employers a healthier, more productive workforce. i point out, mr. president, that

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in many parts employers only have one choice or two choices to go to for health care coverage to their employees. that's all that existed for them when they want to shop to fine out what's available. under our marketplace idea incorporated in our bill, you would have a wide range of openings to choose from, a private carrier, offering different packages at different

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level of costs allowing that employer to shop on behalf of his or her employees ande give them the credit to make it available financially to do so. our bill does a lot, more than anyone else, when it cops to small are businesses in on country. for those employers who are happy, as many are with the ps

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th maybe they have negotiated low prices and a wide network of providers as exists in some parts the country, under our bill, nothing changes for you, under our bill. you keep the insurance as long as you choose to renew it. that's your business. we change none of keep that. and if you are a smaller employer and you want to change

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that and you want better plans, we p and the options to have more choices. most of us, mr. president, we believe reform is a smart thing to do for the american consumer, those employers and those employees. some of our fellow citizens are getting a comes to their insurance. they like the doctor they have,

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they like the hospital they go to when they need one, they like the insurance plan they have. and about their health care to change and they shouldn't have to worry about that. our bill if you like your doctor, you like your hospital, you like your health care coverage, you keep that as the business who wants to plan that under our bill that we

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wrote two weeks and two days ago. the 900 pages in the bill we worked on for almost five weeks and considered the 300 amendments before us. some of our colleagues have tried tocare americans into believing our bill will force a change upon them. mr. president, it is just not true.

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that's a falsehood and being dishonest to the american people. the bill this we crested in the health, pensions committee won't make you change your doctor or your insurance plan. if you like what get to keep it. the only change you may see is there may be more money back in your pocket as a result of what

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we provide and the options available for people to make at lower costs. here is what our opponents won't trillion you: if we don't take action, keep the status quo, go back to the and never deal with thi you may very well lose the ability to see the docto like. that is at risk with inaction.

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if we don't take action, we very well lose the good insurance plan you have. if you don't take action you may very well find yourself unable to get the kind of care you need, when you need it. if we don't take action in the united states congress, families with insurance will continue to pay that hidden tax of $1,100 that the average family does

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every single year to cover the costs of up at hospitals. in our cup, you g country you get care, but the cost on average is $1,100 a fa that's a tax we pay today. provide the kind of plans we adopted in our bill and others

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are considering to see to it that have to fall on families. further, mr. president, if we don't take action, the premiums will continue to rise faster than your wages and if you don't my state of connecticut a few days ago wit company raising rates 32%. i wish that were uncommon.

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the rates this my states the last six years have 46% and since 1996 in the country, they have gone up 86% -- vastly out12reu7ing the raout-- outstrippingthe rate of inflation with no send in sight. for those that say we ought to postpone this and it is not

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necessary, we ought to deal with the defic on these matters, consider what's going do happen if we don't move and if we don't come together and get this job done. on every one of these issues if we don't take action, no matter how secure you may feel today, you may lose that insurance, you may lose that coverage, you may find yourself unable to go to that doctor or that hospital you