National Defense Authorization Act For Fiscal Year 2010--Continued
Floor Speech
NATIONAL DEFENSE AUTHORIZATION ACT FOR FISCAL YEAR 2010--Continued -- (Senate - July 14, 2009)
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Mr. WICKER. Will the Senator yield?
Mr. ROBERTS. I am delighted to yield.
Mr. WICKER. I thank the Senator from Kansas for his remarks. I think it is interesting and perhaps symbolic that his cell phone was ringing off the wall or off of his belt when he was beginning to make his remarks. I think perhaps that is symbolic of what we are beginning to hear in the Senate as well as in the House of Representatives from the public. It is not just from the rightwing; it is from Main Street media. It is from the Washington Post last Friday. It is from liberal commentators such as Michael Kensley last Friday who say: Let's slow down on this.
I think what the American people might be saying is that they have gone through this hierarchy of decisionmaking and that this is not the kind of health care they were promised last year. We were told health care would save money for Americans. Now we are hearing it is going to cost $1 trillion to $2 trillion, perhaps even $3 trillion. We were told that if Americans were satisfied with their insurance, they would be able to keep it. Now we are told they would be moved into a public plan. We didn't hear about cuts to Medicare when this was being debated last year in the Presidential campaign, and we certainly didn't hear about higher taxes on middle-income Americans.
So I was glad to help the Senator from Kansas avoid taking those phone calls while he was speaking.
Mr. ROBERTS. If my distinguished colleague--well, I will take back my time and yield back for any comments he may want to make. The person on the other end of the phone call, was he for the health care bill or was he against it?
Mr. WICKER. Well, I would not have presumed to answer the Senator's phone call. I simply put it back in the cloakroom. But I am hoping it is symbolic of the American people--
Mr. ROBERTS. Whether for or against, I hope the Senator from Mississippi would have explained that we both have some real concerns, and we hope we can get real health care reform.
Mr. WICKER. I thank the Senator.
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