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Floor Speech

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I have been called many names--some nice and some not so nice--Governor, Senator, husband, Dad; but my favorite is Grandpa.

When I first became Governor back in 2010, Ann and I had no grandchildren. Fast-forward to today, and we are blessed with seven beautiful grandkids.

As I speak today, my daughter is using in vitro fertilization, or IVF, to grow her family. As a grandpa, of course, I am thrilled.

And thanks to the people of Florida, I have also had the opportunity as a U.S. Senator to do what I can to make this amazing science that helps bring beautiful babies into the world more accessible and affordable for millions of Americans.

The truth about IVF is that it is one of the few unifying policies that almost all Democrats and Republicans agree with. Earlier this year, a ruling of the Alabama Supreme Court concerned many of us, myself included. Thankfully, the Republican-controlled Alabama Legislature swiftly updated their laws to ensure IVF is protected for citizens of their State.

Right after the ruling, I introduced a resolution with my colleague in the House, Kat Cammack, which outlined the overwhelming support in Congress for IVF and the millions of families using it to grow their families. We built on that resolution by then introducing the IVF with HSAs Act to expand access to IVF by doubling the contribution limits of health savings accounts, or HSAs, and expanding eligibility to utilize them by decoupling them from traditional high-deductible health plans. The real-world impact of my bill is that millions of Americans will be able to save more money in tax-free accounts to pay for medical expenses like IVF.

We should all be able to agree that it is a good thing for more families to have an opportunity to grow. So many of us here are parents and grandparents. We should all be able to agree that more babies is wonderful. That is why I am here to ask for unanimous consent to pass my bill. If the Senate is serious about ensuring opportunities for families, we can start today by allowing this good bill to get sent over to the House, where I am confident it will pass, and we can send it to the President's desk for signature.

Madam President, I am going to wait for Senator Wyden.

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. 4771 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration. I further ask that the bill be considered read a third time and passed and that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table.

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Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, I appreciate my colleague being here.

First off, here is the positive. I think we all support IVF. I support IVF. I have a daughter going through it right now. I am glad IVF is legal and available in all 50 States, and there is no actual risk of it going away. I think we all know this.

What I propose is the IVF with HSAs Act. It is going to expand access to IVF by doubling the contribution limits of Health Saving Accounts, and it is going to expand eligibility to include them by decoupling them from traditional high-deductible health plans. The impact of this will be millions of Americans will be able to save money and have better access to it in tax-free accounts to pay for medical expenses like IVF.

That is all positive. The opportunity we have here is not about whether IVF will be here tomorrow or next year or 5 years from now. Everyone knows IVF is here to stay. Today, our opportunity is to help more people use IVF to grow their families. But Democrats, unfortunately--my colleagues--decided to block this bill.

I know my Democratic colleagues are going to call up for a vote tomorrow a bill, but it seems like it is just scoring political points. They are going to bring up the same bill that didn't pass before. And what is frustrating to me is--I support IVF; I think all my colleagues support IVF--there wasn't an attempt between Democrats and Republicans to write a bipartisan bill that we could actually get a bill that we could pass.

The last 2 months have just been spent, basically, political posturing. I know it is an election year. I hope the Democrats are going to get serious about doing something that will help benefit hard- working people.

I am disappointed, but I thank my colleague for being here.

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