Service Members Home Ownership Tax Act Of 2009
Floor Speech
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I just heard my colleague from Montana talk about jobs that are going to be lost, and the jobs are going to be lost if this bill passes.
There was an article in the Wall Street Journal that quoted the Federation of Independent Business, a wonderful organization that works so well with small businesses in this country. Their prediction is that if this passes--if this passes--the mandates in this bill will mandate that employers provide
health care. This is going to cost 1.6 million jobs by 2013.
Then I got an e-mail from a friend in Dubois, WY, who says that if this bill passes, he knows he is going to lay off workers--quite to the contrary of what my colleague from Montana says when he says it is going to help keep people working.
At a time when the country is experiencing 10 percent unemployment, at a time when the people's No. 1 concern is jobs and the economy of this country, we are now embarking on an additional spending spree when our national debt is at the highest levels ever.
I disagree with my colleague from Montana. I think, contrary to what he suggested--he said: I am not just blowing smoke--I believe we will lose jobs if this passes.
Mr. BAUCUS. Will the Senator yield for one brief minute?
Mr. BARRASSO. When I am finished with our comments on this side.
Mr. BAUCUS. I thank the Senator.
Mr. BARRASSO. I also heard the majority whip come to the floor and say the Republicans have only offered four amendments. I offered 19 amendments. So I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that I be allowed to call up my amendment No. 3148 to protect individuals facing skyrocketing premiums.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. BAUCUS. Reserving the right to object.
Mr. BARRASSO. The purpose of this amendment is----
Mr. BAUCUS. Reserving the right to object, and I will object, we have been----
Mr. BARRASSO. Regular order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request?
Mr. BAUCUS. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. BARRASSO. So we have a 383-page amendment brought to the floor, read on the floor yesterday. I worked my way through it, along with my staff--383 pages. And the majority whip comes to the floor and says the Republicans have not offered amendments. I just tried to offer one, unsuccessfully, and it has been objected to.
So I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that I be allowed to call up amendment No. 3153 to protect young, healthy persons from increased insurance premiums.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, clearly this is a stunt. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending--and these are--I just heard the comments--these are amendments that are aimed to keep the President's words that we will get insurance premiums under control, people will notice their premiums go down, that we will make it better for people, easier for people. The Democrats ought to accept all these amendments because they are intended to do just that.
I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that I be allowed to call up amendment No. 3146. This amendment deals with individual mandate penalties and creates personal accounts for young people who are penalized and they have to pay a fee and a fine if they do not obey the individual mandate, and that would go into an account for them so they could use that money to buy their own health insurance.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. BAUCUS. Reserving the right to object, this is the fourth time today Senators on the other side----
Mr. BARRASSO. Regular order.
Mr. COBURN. Regular order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. BAUCUS. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, I understand this is going to improve Medicare. I heard the chairman of the Finance Committee say this is going to make Medicare stronger. I believe Medicare patients ought to have the freedom to contract and the right to privately contract for medical services with the physician of their choice.
If, as the chairman of the Finance Committee has now recommended in his statement, it doesn't work out the way it is suggested--I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and I be allowed to call up amendment No. 2984, Medicare patient freedom to contract.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. BAUCUS. For the fifth time, I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, that is why I am not surprised when I read polls that say negatives abound in polls about this bill, written in secret, brought to us just a little over 24 hours ago with a 383-page amendment, one that is now not going to be allowed to have any amendments offered.
I just offered four different amendments aimed to strengthen the health care system of the country. Each time, the chairman of the Finance Committee is not even interested in hearing what the amendments are about.
The people of Wyoming say: Don't cut my Medicare, don't raise my taxes, don't make things worse for me, especially in these economic times. This is a bill that is going to cut people's Medicare by $500 billion, it is going to raise their taxes, and it is going to make things worse for the people of Wyoming and this country. That is why the front page of a local newspaper has a story, ``Doctor Shortage Will Worsen.'' Great concerns.
Even the Actuary of Medicare and Medicaid says that if all of this goes through--and this is before we had the 383 new pages--if all of this goes through, one in five hospitals is going to have significant problems within the next 10 years and one in five doctors' offices may have to close. That is why this health bill is scary.
For anyone who has not had an opportunity to read Dr. Coburn's, Senator Coburn's article in the Wall Street Journal, an editorial, Thursday, December 17, I recommend the editorial to them. It is titled ``The Health Bill Is Scary.''
I ask unanimous consent to have this editorial printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the Record
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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, here you have it. We have a bill that is going to be voted on at 1 in the morning on a Monday morning. Why? Because the people who are proposing the bill are scared to let the American people know what is in it. That is why public opinion has soured on this proposal to the point that it is at the lowest level ever, with just 32 percent of Americans in favor, just less than one in three. Less than one in three Americans supports what is being proposed.
I believe each one of my amendments would have raised the level of support, would have made this better for American taxpayers, for American citizens, for American patients, for the patients who depend on our health care system, for the providers who give the care, and for the people who pay for it.
I see my colleague from North Carolina ready to rise. I am so happy to be joined on the Senate floor by these two wonderful colleagues who have a great bill of their own that has gotten very little hearing, very little opportunity, certainly no opportunity for a vote on the Senate floor.
As my Senate colleague from North Carolina gets his microphone ready to go, I will say that to be held to a false deadline of Christmas Day on something as important as a bill that is going to impact the health of every person in this country, impact one-sixth of the economy of the United States--it is much more important that we get it right than that it gets rushed through with speed and secrecy, with not being able to offer amendments when a 383-page amendment by Senator Reid is dropped on the table yesterday and a vote is going to be held at 1 in the morning on a Monday morning.
It is astonishing that we do not have bipartisan support, people working together to find solutions. It is astonishing when you have a body such as this of 100 Members, 2 of whom are physicians with 50 years of experience practicing medicine, working with the system, fighting against insurance companies and fighting against the government, two physicians who know that you do not want anybody between you and your physician, you do not want a government bureaucrat, you do not want an insurance bureaucrat, you do not want anyone. But what we are looking at is the worst of all possible worlds.
I ask my colleague from North Carolina if he has some additional thoughts.
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