Tax Relief Extension Reconciliation Act of 2005

TAX RELIEF EXTENSION RECONCILIATION ACT OF 2005

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the ranking member of the committee, Senator Baucus of Montana, for yielding a few minutes to me.

We are in the process of considering an important tax bill, the reconciliation bill. The chairman of the Finance Committee, the Senator from Iowa, is on the floor now. I am about to offer an amendment which I have offered before. Senator Grassley is aware of this amendment. I am hoping this time to win his support for the amendment. Let me tell my colleagues very briefly what amendment No. 2701 will do. I know the time will come when we can make a specific offer of these amendments.

We have choices to make on the floor of the Senate just as families across America have choices to make every day. We have to take a limited amount of Federal revenue and decide who will receive it. In this case, we are talking about who will receive a tax break. The tax break is rather substantial for the wealthiest people in America. We can't quite put our finger on how many may benefit from this tax break that will give them added benefits if you claim capital gains or dividends as income, but we know that the amount is substantial. In fact, the estimates I have suggest that over a 2-year period of time, the extension on capital gains would cost some $20 billion. That is the reality.

So we have to decide whether giving a capital gains tax break to the wealthiest people in America is the best expenditure of America's resources. The only way to make that choice is to take into consideration what else we might do with that money. My amendment No. 2701 makes a specific suggestion, and here is the reasoning.

There are 9.1 million children in America without health insurance. Not having health insurance has its consequences for these children. According to the Center for Studying Health System Change, uninsured children, when compared to privately insured children, were 3 1/2 times more likely to have gone without needed medical, dental or health care; uninsured kids are four times more likely to have delayed seeking medical care; five times more likely to go without needed prescription drugs; 6 1/2 times less likely to have a usual source of care.

Let me give a hard number. From the year 2003, 6 million children in America went without needed health care. The President last night challenged us and America to do something about health care in America. The amendment which I am offering does something directly.

While Congress has failed to address the overall problem of health care coverage, we should, at the very least, take steps to extend the coverage of health insurance to our children to make health insurance accessible, affordable, and quality health insurance coverage.

Kids are the least expensive people to insure. The average cost to cover a child under the SCHIP program is $93.25 a month. So the total cost to the Federal Government to cover all 9.1 million children in America under SCHIP would be about $7 billion a year.

Remember that figure I mentioned earlier. The capital gains tax break going to the wealthiest people, primarily to the wealthiest people in America, is going to cost us, over a 2-year period of time, $20 billion. We could cover all the kids in America for 2 years for the cost of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts and still have money left over for deficit reduction.

My amendment will make it possible for all States to do what my home State of Illinois is already setting out to achieve: Make sure every child in my State has health insurance.

I salute my Governor, Rod Blagojevich, who has engineered this approach. If Illinois achieves it--and I believe we can under his leadership--we will set a standard for the Nation. It will be inexcusable for States and for our Nation not to insure all the children.

If you are going to extend health insurance across America, wouldn't you start with our kids?

My amendment would provide grants to States, safety-net providers, schools, and other community and nonprofit organizations to facilitate the enrollment of 6.8 million children currently eligible for SCHIP but not enrolled.

It will make all uninsured children in America eligible for the SCHIP program.

It will establish a grant program under which a State may apply for a waiver to expand coverage of children in their State.

It will encourage States to cover all insured children by providing them with an enhanced matching rate under SCHIP if they submit a plan to cover all children.

The majority of the benefits of the capital gains and dividend tax cuts go to households with incomes over $1 million a year.

Think about that. Do we want to provide a tax cut for families and households making over $1 million a year or do we want to provide health insurance for 9 million uninsured children in America? That is our choice. It is a choice on which we can vote.

With amendment No. 2701, Members of the Senate can make that choice. So like families in America, we will decide our priorities. A family has to decide whether it is going to buy a big car or a small car, an expensive vacation or a modest one. We have to decide whether households making over $1 million a year are a higher priority than 9 million uninsured children. We have to decide whether giving those households more money to put into their savings account, the opportunity to perhaps buy another home or another car or a boat or some luxury item is more important than basic health care for children.

I think it is a pretty simple choice, and I hope that my colleagues on both sides of the aisle will remember what the President told us last night: Health care is a priority for America. If it is a priority, with amendment No. 2701, we will be able to move this country closer to the goal of full insurance. Out of 46 million uninsured Americans, we can make sure that the 9 million most vulnerable children are covered.

I think this amendment speaks to the priorities Americans want us to address. There is no special interest group standing outside the door begging for health insurance for children. There are plenty all around Washington begging for tax breaks for millionaires. To whom are we going to listen? The special interest groups for the millionaires or the children of families across America who need health insurance?

We should make giving kids a healthy start in life a priority over giving millionaires the high life.

I yield the floor.

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