Unanimous Consent Agreement--H.R. 2638
Floor Speech
UNANIMOUS-CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 2638 -- (Senate - July 26, 2007)
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Mr. CORNYN. I appreciate that, Mr. President.
Mr. President, one of the concerns I think many people have about the dramatic expansion proposed by the Senate Finance Committee's adding an additional $35 billion on top of the existing $25 billion commitment for State
health insurance plans in the SCHIP program is that it bears remarkable resemblance to a plan originally proposed by the health care task force of President Clinton, and particularly the one that has come to be known--and I don't know whether she takes pride in this title or is offended by it, and I certainly don't mean any offense, but sometimes known as Hillary Care.
This was a plan, as we will all recall, that grew out of a task force chaired by the then-First Lady which I think states very clearly its goal to start the role of Federal control of health coverage with kids first, or children, and then to add employer groups, individuals, and then Medicaid recipients. So that instead of the current 50 percent of health care in America today paid for by the Federal taxpayer and the Federal Government, it would grow to 100 percent, which would simply preclude any private marketplace and the individual choice that goes along with it for individuals.
Mr. President, just so you don't take my word for it and that it is made clear, I will offer from that task force report page 22, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the record following my remarks.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
(See exhibit 1.)
Mr. CORNYN. Clearly, in this document, you will see that it does say that this proposal phases in universal coverage starting with Kids First. It says Kids First is really a precursor to the new system, and then other populations it proposes to phase in are employer groups, individuals, Medicaid recipients, and the like.
So I think that is what a lot of us are concerned about. And perhaps Senator Clinton, now that she is a Member of this body, will talk to us a little bit about it and what her intentions are, what the intentions of the proponents are of the Finance Committee bill because there are some very serious concerns.
I will yield in a moment to the Senator from South Carolina, who has been so active in this area, but I think, as he will explain, there are a lot of us who would like to see not just additional money being provided for children's health insurance but that literally we make as our goal to provide each and every American access to their own health insurance, along with the individual choice and the freedom and the portability that will provide.
I know the Senator from South Carolina has done an awful lot of work on it--I have learned a lot from him in this area--and I think it is an important time to start this critical debate, and not just stop with the expansion of the SCHIP program, but to seek as our goal to provide each and every individual access to health care coverage of their own choosing.
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