Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, a famous Washington figure once wrote a book entitled ``Slouching Towards Gomorrah.'' If you were to describe what is happening in the Senate procedurally, we would call it lurching toward cloture. The cloture rules in the Senate require 30 hours between votes, and as a consequence we find ourselves in the early morning hours trying to finish this bill before the Christmas holiday, and it calls for the Senate to convene at extraordinary times, as we did this morning, but it is for a good purpose.

This is to bring to a close a debate which has gone on for more than 3 weeks. You have noticed more and more Republican Senators now coming to the floor with ideas and amendments, and the obvious question we have to ask is, Where have you been? For the first 21 days of debate on this bill, the Republicans offered four substantive amendments. They offered six motions to take the bill off the floor, send it back to committee, and quit the deliberations, but only four substantive amendments. Now they say they are just brimming with all of these notions and ideas that can improve this bill. They had the chance. In fact, they had more than a chance. They were invited into this process early on.

I would say to the Senator from Texas, she knows that 3 of her colleagues met over 61 times with their Democratic counterparts trying to come up with a bipartisan approach, and they couldn't. We also know that in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, the Republicans came and engaged in more than 50 days of deliberations in that committee and offered and had accepted more than 150 Republican amendments to this bill. We were not excluding Republicans from the process; they excluded themselves. When it came time for a final vote in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, not a single Republican Senator would vote for it. Senator Coburn of Oklahoma offered and had accepted 38 amendments to this bill and wouldn't vote for it. Other Senators were the same. They had their chance, and they didn't use their chance. In fact, the record shows now that after almost a year of deliberations, we have one Republican Congressman from New Orleans, LA, who voted for the House health care reform proposal, and one Republican Senator, Ms. Snowe of Maine, who voted for the Finance Committee proposal. To say the Republicans have been actively engaged in this process is a misstatement.

Here is why we have to go forward, even if we have to meet at 7 in the morning or even if we have to meet this Christmas week. When this bill is passed, we know from the CBO several things will occur. First, 30 million Americans who currently don't have health insurance will have the peace of mind of knowing they have health insurance. Secondly, we know 94 percent of the American people will finally be insured--the highest percentage in the history of the United States. We know the rates for health insurance premiums will start to come down, as they must, so businesses and individuals can afford it. We know that, finally, consumers across America will be able to stand and fight back when health insurance companies turn them down in their moments of need.

We say in this new amendment we are going to say to health insurance companies: You cannot deny coverage to anybody under 18, any child, for a preexisting condition. That is going to bring peace of mind to millions of American families who understand that without this they couldn't get the health insurance they absolutely need for their children.

Let me address quickly this notion that this is somehow a mystery amendment. This amendment has now been before the American public for at least 70 hours on the Internet. The bill itself has been before the American public now for more than 3 weeks on the Internet. You can find it not only on the Democratic Senate Web site, you can find it on the Republican Web site. They put our bill on their Web site because they don't have a comprehensive health care reform bill. They put ours up for people to read. There has been ample opportunity for people to read, dissect, and to be critical of it and raise questions about it. Before our final vote, America will have had its chance to read and understand the import of this effort and this effort is substantial.

This is something we have built up to for decades. To finally put the Senate on record as to whether we are endorsing the current health care system in America that is unaffordable, discriminates against people, and leaves so many behind, a system that currently rations care and says to 50 million Americans you have no coverage, and to millions of others that you have coverage that will not be there when you need it--we have to bring that to an end.

As Senator Harkin said the other day in closing the debate, this is a real debate over whether health care will be a right or a privilege in America. If you believe it is a privilege for those who are wealthy and well off, then, of course, you will vote against this. If you believe it is a right that should be extended to more Americans, I hope you will join us in supporting it.

I yield the floor.

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