Department Of Defense Appropriations Act, 2010

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, I rise to speak today on H.R. 3326, the Defense appropriations bill for fiscal year 2010. I appreciate all of the hard work that goes into the formulation of this bill and commend the leaders of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, Mr. Inouye and Mr. Cochran, on an outstanding product.

It is a product that does justice to the men and women who wear the uniform of the United States in defense of peace and liberty. It is a product that does right by our military families who we must never forget also serve.

I would like to take a few moments to share some comments about what this bill means for the fighting men and women in my State of Alaska. Alaska is home to about 21,000 men and women who serve on active duty. Add to that number approximately 4,700 members of the National Guard and Reserves.

The bill that is before us supports the soldiers of Fort Richardson, Fort Wainwright and Fort Greely; the airmen of Elmendorf Air Force Base, Eielson Air Force Base, Clear Air Force Station, and 18 radar sites in remote, rural areas of the State; the Marine detachment hosted by Elmendorf Air Force Base; and Naval Special Warfare Center Detachment in Kodiak.

It supports units big and small. Units like the 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team, of the 25th Infantry Division based at Fort Richardson near Anchorage which number in the thousands of troops.

The 4th Airborne Brigade Combat Team is known as ``the Spartans.'' This Spartan Brigade will be spending Christmas in Afghanistan.

Also in Afghanistan this Christmas are 11 members of the Alaska Air National Guard 176th Wing who left Anchorage on November 5 after serving an early Christmas.

We wish you well this Christmas. We are thinking about your families and we collectively pray for your safe return.

Mr. President, I mentioned Christmas. We know that we are upon the holiday season, although in this Chamber it certainly doesn't feel that way. There is no sense of giving and sharing and the general cooperation and cheeriness that comes--at least in my family--with the holiday season.

I think we have to also, as we approach the holidays, think about what is going on throughout the country as we face an economic recession. Families are choosing to do differently this year. They are squeezing back on their family budgets, and they are making some different choices--some hard choices. I think it is fair to say that folks are probably looking at us in Congress and saying: We wish they would be doing more of the same, making some of these hard choices when it comes to spending.

To put it into context in terms of what we have seen in Congress this past week or so, last Sunday--less than a week ago--we passed a $1 trillion-plus spending bill. These were six different appropriations bills, and three of those six bills were not subject to Senate amendment and debate. We went above and beyond the regular order and produced an omnibus package. Again, it was a package in excess of $1 trillion in spending or about a 12-percent increase over the previous year.

Shortly before that, about a week prior to the action on the omnibus, the EPA, the Environmental Protection Agency, issued an endangerment finding. This endangerment finding--for those who are following this issue, I think many recognize that the potential cost to this country, the financial burden that could be placed on this country if we advance through the regulatory process, as opposed to the legislative process, these regulatory burdens, I think it is clear the costs and impact to this country and our Nation's economy are truly dangerous.

When we talk about an endangerment finding coming out of EPA, it is just that--it endangers our economy, it endangers jobs, and it endangers the competitiveness of those of us in this country.

Again, people are looking at this and saying: What is going on in Washington, DC? Don't they realize we need to be working to save and create jobs? We need to do positive things that will help us as a nation and our economy, not those things that legislatively, or through regulation, would hurt us.

Now we are in the midst of trying to move through a health care bill in the final days before Christmas--a $2.5 trillion reform package that, at this point in time, we are not quite sure what is in it. But when it is revealed, it is possible we will have about 36 hours to review it, to understand it, and to appreciate the implications for us in our States and the impact to our economy.

Again, one of the aspects we do know about this is that the framework we are operating off of is one that will increase taxes on small businesses and individuals in this country. It will cause cuts to Medicare at a level that is incomprehensible, almost $ 1/2 trillion. For all that we can tell, it is going to increase premiums.

Alaskans are looking at this package and saying: This isn't the reform we thought the Congress was going to be giving us.

Following on the track of the spending, we are going to be discussing increasing the debt limit. Again, people in the rest of the country are wondering: What is going on in Washington, DC. What is in the water that is causing them to spend at levels that are almost uncontrollable?

Our reality is that you and I are not going to be facing the financial consequences in the outyears so much as our children. During the holiday season--I have kids, and I still try to keep their presents secret. So I have a tendency to rat-hole them away, hide them.

The one thing we cannot hide from our children this Christmas is the fact that what they will be receiving is an incredible debt. That is not a ``gift'' that we can afford to give our children. When it comes to the discussion about the health care bill and the consequences of it, there have been a great number of journalists who have been opining and commenting. We certainly have kept the press busy with this.

There was an article on the opinion page in the Washington Post a couple days ago by Michael Gerson. He made a statement that I would like to read. He states:

The entire Democratic health reform effort is foundering, as its deep bow enters the shallow channel of fiscal reality. And that splash you hear is the sound of various groups being thrown from the ship to lighten the load. Instead of beginning with affordable, realistic objectives, President Obama and the Democratic Congress set the goal of guaranteed, comprehensive coverage for everyone. This requires a lot more money in the system, which must come from someone.

Then I go to an article in this morning's Hill magazine. For this one, the headline is ``Senate Plan to Tax Health Plan is Bad Policy.'' It starts off:

Millions of working Americans will pay thousands of dollars more in taxes under the Senate proposal that taxes healthcare benefits to finance reform.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this excise tax will affect one in five Americans.

Millions more will have their health benefits cut and see their costs go up. This is the opposite of healthcare reform.

You might think that was an article that I might have written or that some of my Republican colleagues wrote. Actually, this article was penned by Jim Hoffa, who is the Teamsters' general president, and Mr. Larry Cohen, the president of Communication Workers of America.

Mr. President, my point in saying this is that as people understand more and more about what is contained within this health care legislation, they are coming to understand the impact to them and to their families. They are quite anxious because they know that as the years go out, the costs don't go down, the costs only go up.

We are concerned in Alaska about access to care. I have stood on this floor many times and talked about how, in Alaska, we simply do not have the Medicare providers that we need to see the people in my State, particularly in our largest communities. We just learned that one of the medical clinics in Anchorage has made an announcement. They issued a letter to their patients saying that Northwest Medical had four practicing physicians who were seeing Medicare patients earlier this month, and three of the four physicians opted out of Medicare, resulting in 550 Medicare beneficiaries being without a physician.

What is happening is that they are calling us for a doctor's appointment. The problem is that we can't get them in anywhere either. We have one facility in Anchorage where they are taking new Medicare-eligible individuals. When we did a count--the institute of economic research did a count as to how many providers in Anchorage, AK, were taking new Medicare individuals. It was 13. We heard from a provider just last week that she is opting out. These three make a total of four. This is simply not sustainable.

For us as a Senate and as a Congress to be moving forward in the name of health care reform, any provision that will further jeopardize access for the people of Alaska or the people of rural America or all over this country, that we would do anything that would jeopardize their access is foolish. It makes no sense.

We must stop this reform effort. We must do our job in Congress to provide the people of my State, and all of our States, real health care reform that reduces the cost, provides for access, and does right by the American people.

With that, I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source