Senate Proceeding on Dec 14th, 2009 :: 3:32:05 to 3:46:30
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3:32:01 to 3:32:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: closes the doughnut hole and fulfills his promise. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: if i could ask my clue two colleagues through the chair, if it is their understanding that the president fully mr. baucus: mr. president, if i might respond to the leader,

3:32:05 to 3:46:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Ensign

3:32:24 to 3:32:46( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: that is my full understanding. mr. dodd: madam president, that is my understanding as well. madam president, i'd -- oh, i see ... the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. ensign: madam president, i want to address a few of the things that were on the floor just now. but i want to start with talking about how this health care bill

3:32:47 to 3:33:08( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: will affect small businesses. small businesses are the engine that drives our economy. we know that they're struggling right now. the president met with some bankers today over at the white house because many of the large banks aren't loaning money to the small businesses. we all know that. many small businesses are just

3:33:09 to 3:33:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: ruggling to keep their doors open. one of the reasons that small businesses are a little nervous right now is they don't know if this bill goes into effect what the -- what that massive effect is they're uncertain about the future. well, let me tell you a few things.

3:33:31 to 3:33:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: first of all, we all know that there's a $500 billion tax increase contained in this 2,074-page bill that is before us today. in that, there's an mandate -- $28 billion. this is what the congressional budget office has

3:33:52 to 3:34:14( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: said about that $28 billion: small businesses, but it goes further to say that the workers in those small businesses would ultimately bear the burden of those fees. that's a direct quote. this bill also discourages small businesses from hiring folks.

3:34:15 to 3:34:36( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: c.b.o. went on to talk and say, employment loss would be concentrated amongst those in the low-income categories. well, do we really want to do that to folks out there that are really struggling right now? we've heard across this country record numbers of people signing up for food stamps, for welfare, for all the various unemployment

3:34:37 to 3:34:57( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: insurance, all the various government subsidies that are out there to try to help people through a tough time. do we really want to keep them from getting the job? the payroll -- medicare payroll tax is $54 billion in this bill, will hit one-third of all small

3:34:58 to 3:35:18( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: business owners. those small business owners that it'll hit employ about 30 million people in the united states. and pu you put a tax on somebody, especially during a recession, you're going to inhibit them from investing in their business and creating jobs. i've heard many people from the other side of the aisle talk

3:35:19 to 3:35:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: about t it is not a good time to raise taxes. and yet in this bill we're raising taxes. sometimes they call them fees, they call them other different things, but they are taxes. this bill also will require small businesses to buy a government-approved insurance plan. so even for those small

3:35:41 to 3:36:01( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: businesses who currently have a plan that they like, works for them and their employees, they can afford it, they tried to do the right thing, that plan just doesn't quite meet the government because it was a little more after bare-bones plan, they're going to -- this bill will

3:36:02 to 3:36:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: require them to spend more money on a hher level of coverage maybe than they could afford. what will that do? well, if they're barely getting by now, barely keeping the doors open, and you require them to spend more money on health insurance, some people may be laid off or the businesses may close and they all may lose their jobs.

3:36:24 to 3:36:44( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: most people in this body have never operated a small business. i've built, owned, and operated two different small businesses, veterinary clinics. i understand how difficult it is for a small business owner, especially when you're just starting out, and you're investing, you're putting everything you had, all that

3:36:45 to 3:37:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: hard work and the few profits you make, you plow them back into the bissments you're trying to expand, you're trying to hire the next person, and you are he trying to grow your -- and you're trying to grow your business. when the government comes along and puts extra taxes and extra burdens on you, it makes it tough. that's not what we should be doing, especially during this

3:37:10 to 3:37:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: time of recession. well, this plan also -- this bill before us also caps what are are called flexible spending accounts at $2,500. now, flexible spending accounts are used by a lot of small businesses, but they're also used by just a lot of federal employees. they're used by a lot of people, and they're especially used by a

3:37:31 to 3:37:52( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: lot of people who have serious chronic diseases. so you can put, if you're a federal employee, for instance, you can put $5,000 into a splebl -- into a flexible spending account and then you can pay for out-of-pocket expenses for approved, for instance, health care expenses. this bill caps that at $2,5 a

3:37:53 to 3:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: year, and so for those maybe -- maybe somebody who has multiple sclerosis, somebody who has diabetes, somebody who has a chronic disease that requires a lost medical attention, you're hurting those people who need th that's not something we should be doing. but that's exactly what this bill does. now, let me talk about some of

3:38:14 to 3:38:35( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: the general provisions in this bill a not just how it affects small business. we talked about it a lot on the floor. we know thi there is a $500 billion cut in medicare. folks on the floor were just talking about the doughnut hole for senior citizens and the prescription drugs on medicare

3:38:36 to 3:38:57( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: part-d. well, medicare advantage is a place where they're cutting $120 billion out of medicare advantage. most medicare advantage plans have no doughnut hole. and yet they're taking $120 billion out, cutting those services. according to c.b.o., there will

3:38:58 to 3:39:18( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: be a 64% reduction in extra benefits by the year 2016 for those seniors who have medicare advantage. 10 million seniors in the united states today have medicare advantage. they've chosen -- they weren't forced into it. as a matter of fact, it was a new program, and seniors don't like change that much. and yet they saw an advantage.

3:39:19 to 3:39:40( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: they didn't have to pay their they didn't have to pay -- they didn't have a doughnut hole. many of them got vision and dental servicessings and yet their benefits are going to be cut by 64% because of this overall, because of the way the smoke and mirrors are used, it

3:39:41 to 3:40:02( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: says that this bill only costs $849 billion. well, the reason that the costs are hidden -- first of all, billion is a huge number. but it'sctuall a $2.5 trillion spending bill. and the reason is because when you look at fully implemented --

3:40:03 to 3:40:25( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: right now a lot of the benefits don't start right away. but the taxes start right away. so when you look at the full ten years with taxes, benefits, and everything, it is a $2.5 trillion bill. it is a massive increase in the federal government.

3:40:26 to 3:40:47( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: just as an example, within the 2,074 pages of this bill, there are almost 1,700 new places wheret gives authority to the secretary of health and human services to make health care decisions for the american people 1,700 times it gives the secretary of health and human services the authority to make health care decisions for the

3:40:48 to 3:41:11( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: american people. if that's not a massive government expansion into our health care field, i don't know what is. there's also about a $500 billion i new taxes. you can put up the quote -- this fi

3:41:12 to 3:41:33( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: this is a quote by president obama on his health care promises. he said, "let me be perfectly clear, if your family earns less than $250,000 a year, you will not see your taxes increased a single i single dime. he said "nothing in this plan will require you or your employer to change the coverage

3:41:34 to 3:41:54( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: or the doctor that you let me rep our plan requires you to change what you have." and thirdly, he said, "under the plan, if you like your current health care insurance, nothing changes, except your costs will go down by as much let me take especially this first vote.

3:41:55 to 3:42:16( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: these are the going to be -- that are in this ll. there's a 40% insurance plan tax tax, there's a separate insurance tax on top of the insurance plan tax. this is the one, by the way, that several of my colleagues were just talking about that the

3:42:17 to 3:42:37( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: unions are all up in arms about. this is the cadillac plan that they talk about that's going to be taxed and most union members have this cadillac plan, and their plans are going to be taxed at 40% above a certain dollar figure. and bause it's not indexed to inflation, by the end of a decade, most americans' plans

3:42:38 to 3:42:59( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: will be subject to this 40% tax. there's also an employer tax. but as the congressional budget office said, employers -- this actually gets shifted down to the workers. there's a drug tax, so every time you purchase drugs, the taxes are passed on. so all of us are going to be paying more for there's a laboratory tax.

3:43:00 to 3:43:21( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: every time you go in, there's a tax on the lab, lab fees. all of the things end up raising health care premiums. there's a medical device tax, there's a failure to buy insurance tax, there's a cosmetic surgery tax, and there's an increased medicare tax. now, the thing about this is,

3:43:22 to 3:43:43( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: remember that first quote where president obama said he would not raise taxes on making $250,000 or less? that was for families and indivi year or less. 84% of the tastles taxes in this bill will be paved by people making less than $200,000 a

3:43:44 to 3:44:05( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: year. 84% of the taxes. now, madam problem with this bill, it contains a sense of the senate on medical liability reform. the presid? president -- the president talks about in his address on health care reform that we need to do something on

3:44:06 to 3:44:26( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: medical liability reform. the us is a sense of e let me show you. this is how much money this health care bill saves with their sense of the senate. zero. with real reform, the congressional budget office said real medical

3:44:27 to 3:44:47( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: liability reform would save $100 billion in this country between the government, what the government spends and what the private $100 billion. so, madam president, the problems with this bill are numerous, we could and on. but we really do need to start over.

3:44:48 to 3:45:08( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: we need to more of this step-by-step approach, this incremental approach where both sides can agree on some of the reforms we need to do without destroying our current health care system. we do need to do medical liability reform. we need to agree -- it's in this bill -- about eliminating preexisting conditions.

3:45:09 to 3:45:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: we need to agree on an incremental approach on rewarding people for healthier behaviors. if you're a nonsmoker or if you have the proper body weight -- in other words, you watch what you eat -- it's cheaper to insure people who are nonsmokers and people who are not obese.

3:45:31 to 3:45:52( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: it's about $1,400 a year for a nonsmoker versus a smoker, for somebody who is in the proper body weight versus somebody who is obese. we also need to allow small businesses to join together, join together in a way that they can take advantage of purchasing power the same way t businesses do.

3:45:53 to 3:46:14( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: now, madam president, those are incremental reforms that won't destroy the quality of our health care system, that won't take the cost for small businesses and put that cost on small businesses. this is something that we should do. this is something we can do.

3:46:15 to 3:46:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: but the only way to do stop the bill we have before us. the only way to do it is to sit down together not as republicans or democrats, but sit down together, come up with the ideas that we can both agree on that will actually help the health care system in america.