Statements On Introduced Bills And Joint Resolutions

Floor Speech

STATEMENTS ON INTRODUCED BILLS AND JOINT RESOLUTIONS -- (Senate - April 12, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

By Ms. COLLINS (for herself and Mr. HARKIN):

S. 1099. A bill to amend chapter 89 of title 5, United States Code, to make individuals employed by the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission eligible to obtain Federal health insurance; to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President. I rise to introduce a bill that would solve a serious health-insurance problem for some Americans who work on Campobello Island, Canada, near the Maine border, at a park that honors the memory of President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

Ten residents of the State of Maine are employed on that beautiful island by the Roosevelt Campobello International Park. The park centers on the spacious summer cottage that FDR loved and visited often, from his childhood in the 1880s up to his last trip in 1939. Today, the Roosevelt cottage and the park draw thousands of visitors from around the world.

The Roosevelt Campobello International Park was dedicated in 1964 as a memorial to President Roosevelt, and is funded by both the U.S. and the Canadian Governments under terms of a treaty.

Unfortunately, the drafters of the treaty did not address the need for health insurance for park employees. As a result, the State Department concluded in 1965 that those employees ``shall be subject to the relevant Canadian labor laws.'' Based on that State Department opinion, the U.S. Civil Service Commission--precursor of the Office of Personnel Management--determined that the employees were not eligible for Federal Employee Health Benefits Program coverage.

Meanwhile, even if the employees could join the Canadian health plan, the park's location makes it impractical for them to seek medical treatment in Canada. The closest doctors and hospitals are in Maine, and the only access to the park is from the United States.

Consequently, the employees have relied on a small-group insurance plan negotiated by the Park Commission and have paid for their own insurance. But as with millions of other Americans, drastic increases in premiums have made that small-group plan unaffordable for the Park employees. The result is a genuine hardship for them and their families.

My bill will resolve this problem simply, by making these employees eligible for FEHBP health insurance. This is a matter of equal treatment as well as compassion. Full-time employees of other joint-responsibility parks on the U.S.A.-Canada border, like Glacier National Park, are already eligible for coverage under the FEHBP.

Adding this handful of employees to the rolls is a negligible cost to the government, but a huge relief for these deserving citizens.

I am pleased to be joined in this effort by Senator HARKIN. He serves ably on the Roosevelt Campobello International Park Commission, and so understands the problem faced by my Maine constituents employed at the park.

I hope that our colleagues will join us to support this bill so that the American citizens maintaining a park honoring a great American President will be treated fairly. I ask unanimous concent that the text of the bill be printed in the RECORD.

There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the RECORD

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source