Health Care Reform

Floor Speech

HEALTH CARE REFORM -- (Senate - October 08, 2009)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would respond to the distinguished Senator from Tennessee, of course not. The American people are smart. They can understand that these numbers are not going to add up. As our Republican leader said this morning, this bill that was reported in the newspaper and scored by the Congressional Budget Office yesterday will never see the light of day. So this is a work in progress.

We are committed, I think on a bipartisan basis, to reform our health care system. But the goal--and we need to keep our eye on the goal--is to bring down the cost and to cover people who currently are not covered. This bill, unfortunately, does not accomplish those goals. But we are going to keep working with our colleagues, if they will be open to our suggestions. But I have to tell you, as a member of the Finance Committee, virtually every suggestion Republicans made during the amendment process to this bill was voted down on a party-line basis.

I came to the floor to talk about one of those amendments the Senator from Tennessee mentioned, where we asked merely that the bill--once it is reduced to legislative language and the cost is determined--be put on the Internet for 72 hours. That was voted down along a party-line vote. But I thank the Acting President pro tempore and other folks on the other side of the aisle, eight of whom have written to the majority leader saying that makes sense to them. So I hope we will build a bipartisan consensus for more transparency in the debate.

I have also come to the floor to talk about how it makes no sense to cut Medicare benefits for 11 million Medicare beneficiaries who happen to be engaged in the Medicare Advantage Program in order to pay for this bill. Why would you take $ 1/2 trillion from Medicare, which is on a pathway to bankruptcy by 2017, in order to create a new government program? It can only make sense inside the beltway and if you voluntarily suspend your powers of disbelief. It does not make sense across the country. That is why it is so important to have these discussions, ask these questions, have transparency.

Today I wish to ask another question: Will the health care proposals, such as the Finance Committee proposal and others, break the President's promise of not raising taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year? Unfortunately, the Finance Committee bill does, in fact, raise taxes on families making less than $250,000 a year. So the President cannot keep his promise if we pass this particular legislation.

For example, this bill imposes a penalty on individuals who do not meet the Washington-imposed mandate that will be enforced by the Internal Revenue Service. The Internal Revenue Service is going to impose a penalty on you if you do not have health insurance that meets the Washington-imposed mandate.

According to the Joint Tax Committee, the penalty initially included in the bill would especially hit middle-class families hard. They found that at least 71 percent of the penalty would come from people earning less than $250,000 a year.

The bill also increases the penalty from 10 percent to 20 percent for Americans who use a portion of their health savings account for purposes other than qualified medical expenses. It seems to me we ought to be encouraging more people to use their health savings accounts rather than less. But as I discussed yesterday on the telephone with the CEO of Whole Foods, John Mackey, he said the health savings accounts--they call them wellness accounts, which are overwhelmingly successful and voted on every year with the satisfaction rate of some 85 percent or more by the employees of Whole Foods, headquartered in Austin, TX--will be an illegal plan under this mandate. Insurance premiums, of course, will go up in the process.

This bill also raises the floor on deductions of medical expenses to 10 percent from its current level of 7.5 percent. So you will be able to deduct less of your medical expenses if you have serious health care expenses, which means your taxes will go up. If you can deduct less, your taxes will go up.

The committee did, I would point out, consider an amendment that was
intended to bring the bill in line with the President's promise not to raise taxes on people making less than $250,000 a year, and it was voted down along party lines. Republicans were for it and Democrats were against it. This amendment would have protected families who earn less than $250,000. But, as I say, it was voted down.

In addition to imposing taxes on people the President promised not to impose taxes on, this also imposes additional so-called industry fees, which experts have said will ultimately be passed down to consumers in higher insurance costs. So instead of making insurance more affordable, this bill would actually make it less affordable and head in the wrong direction. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Tax Committee both confirmed these fees would be passed along to consumers and ultimately raise insurance premiums.

So my question for today is: Will these proposed health care reforms break the President's promise not to raise taxes on those making $250,000 or less? Unfortunately, the Finance Committee proposal, which we will now apparently vote on on Tuesday of next week, does break the President's promise.

But Republicans stand ready to work with our friends on the other side if they will accept some ideas on how to do this to bring down costs and to cover more people to make health coverage more affordable. But so far all those suggestions have been rejected along party-line votes.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source