Department Of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, it has become clear that our health care debate is entering the twilight zone. We have such a challenge in this Nation of individuals who have no health care, small businesses struggling to provide health care, and large businesses that are having a difficult time competing and producing products in America for the world because of the accelerating price of health care.

So often, over the last couple of months, I have heard colleagues come and attack this effort to repair our broken system. Those repairs are essential to our family members. They are essential to our workers, to our small businesses, and to our big businesses. We have had very strange stories shared in this Chamber--stories, as my colleague from Hawaii mentioned, about death panels, a creation in the mind of the former Governor from Alaska, having nothing to do with anything that happens to be in any bill before this body. We have had strange stories about benefits provided to individuals who are here undocumented, in direct opposition to the straightforward language that is in the House bills and the Senate bills.

We have had strange stories about a murky government takeover, when the heart of this plan is to create the same sort of marketplace that gives 8 million Federal workers access to multiple private plans, to create that same marketplace and access for every single American. Now, in the last day, there is something even more strange: an attack on States that are having the most difficult time in this recession.

We are deep in the twilight zone when Members come to this body to attack efforts to assist the States most severely damaged by this recession--the States of Michigan, Rhode Island, Nevada, and my home State of Oregon.

Oregon is having a difficult time for a host of reasons. We are a State that does a lot of trading, and a lot of the countries we trade with have had year-over-year recessions even worse than our own. For example, South Korea, 20-percent year-over-year drop in gross domestic product.

We have a timber industry that provides a lot of dimensional lumber to build houses and build commercial buildings around this Nation. The collapse of building has damaged it severely.

We have a wonderful section of our economy involving growing fruits and growing Christmas trees, and the Mexican tariffs have hit that very hard. Add it all up and Oregon is one of the four States worst hit.

I read a few weeks ago that if we include the underemployed as well as the unemployed, Oregon is the single worst hit State in our Nation.

I applaud the efforts of Members of this Chamber to say we have a broken health care system and we are going to repair it. They are absolutely right. I am pleased to be a member of that team working to make those repairs.

I applaud the Members of this Chamber who said we must help those States worst hit by this recession, continuing a great American tradition. When a State is hard hit by drought, we reach out and assist. When a State is hard hit by a hurricane, we reach out as a nation to gather and assist. When a State is hard hit by a flood, there is a natural disaster called, and we as a nation respond. When an earthquake strikes, as a nation we are there.

Now we have another disaster, an economic disaster, that is hitting particularly hard in four States. I applaud the efforts to reach out and assist those States together as a nation, as we have so many other States in so many other circumstances.

Let's pull this conversation out of the ``Twilight Zone.'' Let's come together, as we have so many times before, to take on the challenge of a broken health care system, to take on assistance to the worst hit States and help them adjust to providing Medicaid that is so urgently needed by their populations.

Thank you, Mr. President.

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