Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, I came to the floor to join in this. I can't understand this. It amazes me that the other side thinks the American people are so stupid that they are going to believe you can take $500 billion out of Medicare and that it is going to be good for the American people and that it is going to be good for the system. In addition, what has been discussed about this phony smoke-and-mirrors accounting, the American people understand this. Most importantly, we have heard from the American people over and over: Don't touch our Medicare. When they say ``our Medicare,'' they mean our Medicare. This isn't a gift from the Federal Government. There was a bipartisan coalition of Republicans and Democrats who brought the Medicare system online in America. They made a contract with the American people. If you work, you are going to contribute into the Medicare trust fund, and your employer is going to contribute into the Medicare trust fund. It is going to be there for you to be used when it is necessary for Medicare purposes.

My office is flooded with phone calls saying: You politicians, leave your hands off our Medicare.

I have watched this process over the years and have seen people try to raid Medicare for substantially less than what we are talking about here. We are talking about $ 1/2 trillion that is being stolen from Medicare. Where is the media on this? They tout this bill, that it will do this and it will do that. Nobody ever talks about the downside of a $ 1/2 trillion theft from Medicare. The American people are smart. They understand what is being done.

Anyone who supports this is going to pay the price for this in November. I guarantee you, your seniors at home, even young people and people who are middle-aged who are looking forward to Medicare are going to ask: Did you vote to steal money from my Medicare?

You better be ready to answer that question. Don't give them an answer with the smoke and mirrors, that by double accounting somehow taking $ 1/2 trillion out is going to make Medicare better. The American people are smarter than this. You are going to find that out this fall.

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Mr. RISCH. Thank you, Mr. President.

I rise in support of my distinguished colleague from Idaho. He has brought to the floor the language that the President of the United States gave to the American people in order to convince them to vote for him for President of the United States. It was a serious promise. It was a serious commitment. He said: I will not increase the taxes on individuals making less than $200,000 a year or families making less than $250,000 a year. My good friend from Idaho points out there are numerous provisions in this bill that break that promise.

I am disappointed the President has done this. I am disappointed he will not take responsibility for it. I am disappointed he did not point it out when he signed the bill. He talked only about the good things it did. The President should--he really should--keep the commitment he made to the American people. If we are going to have a country where people have faith in their government, particularly in its Chief Executive, they have to believe what he said.

My good friend from Idaho has indicated he is going to bring a motion to
commit the bill to get all of these out of there. I want to talk about one that is very focused. I am only going to talk about one of these taxes the President of the United States is raising on people who make less than $200,000 a year. The reason I bring this one to the floor is this is a direct assault on some of the most vulnerable people in this country.

This particular increase in taxes is on 14.7 million people who earn less than $200,000 a year and who have had substantial medical bills during the year. How this bill does it, it simply changes the percentage which you can deduct on your income tax return if you incur medical expenses. It is not a slight amount. It is $15 billion that this tax takes from some of the most vulnerable people in America.

The President of the United States promised he would not raise taxes on people who made less than $200,000 a year. He made that promise, and this provision in the bill--in the bill that has been signed into law by the President--breaks that promise, and it breaks the promise not just on people who make $200,000 or less a year, but it breaks the promise as to the most vulnerable people in America.

The provision in this bill the President signed into law this morning affects 14.7 million people. Today, 14.8 million people take this deduction. They are people who have been injured, people who have been sick, people who suffer from diseases, and they take this deduction because the Congress of the United States has deemed it appropriate that when you expend this kind of money, and you are in this vulnerable a position, you should be entitled to deduct it from your taxes. This bill changes that.

When the President of the United States put the pen to that bill this morning, it was in direct violation of his pledge not to increase taxes on people who make less than $200,000 a year.

So what do we have here? We have a bill that is reaching into the pockets of 14.7 million Americans and taking directly out of their pocket $15 billion, in direct contravention of the promise the President of the United States made to the American people when he stood up and asked them to elect him. Not only does it do that, it hurts the most vulnerable people in America.

My fellow Senators, I urge that you vote for this motion when it comes up for a vote. And it will come up for a vote. It will help constituents in every single State in America. It will put that $15 billion back in the pockets of some of the most vulnerable people in America. It will restore the promise the President of the United States made to these 14.7 million people--many of whom voted for the President, and voted for the President believing he would take care of them and see that their taxes did not increase. We can help the President keep his promise that he broke this morning when he signed that bill.

I yield to my good friend, Senator Brownback.

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Mr. RISCH. Very briefly, I wish to speak about one of these tax increases for 73 million people. This morning when the President signed the bill, he bragged about how they were going to give subsidies to 13 million people so they can buy insurance. He is absolutely right. But as frequently happens, we didn't get the whole story. The whole story is there are 163 million Americans who are not going to get that subsidy and whose taxes are going to go up. How many of those make under $200,000 a year? There are 73 million Americans who make under $200,000, from that little sleight of hand, who will see a tax increase.

Thank you.

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