FDA Food Safety Modernization Act--Motion To Proceed

Floor Speech

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SECOND OPINION

Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, a couple of weeks ago, Americans voted. They voted for more jobs, for less spending and, of course, for smaller government. As you know, I have come to the Senate floor week after week to give a doctor's second opinion about the health care law. Polling shows that 58 percent of Americans voting on election day still want to repeal and replace the President's new health care law.

Americans have made it clear they oppose this new policy that put Washington between patients and their doctors. The day after the election, President Obama was asked about his health care law's impact on the election. He didn't seem to understand the message from the American people. It appears to me that the President continues to believe the American people liked his policy but just didn't like his sales pitch.

Well, in the President's first year alone, he participated in 42 press conferences, gave 158 interviews--including 5 Sunday shows all in 1 day--held 23 townhall meetings and had 7 campaign rallies. In fact, there were only 21 days in that entire first year when the President had no public or press events. Clearly, the American people heard the President's sales pitch; they just didn't want to buy his product. Nevertheless, the President and this Congress proceeded to force this new health care law upon the American people, and they paid a heavy price in the 2010 elections when Americans voted for candidates who vowed to overturn the President's new law.

Republicans have listened to the American people and are committed to ensuring that America's health care system continues to remain the best in the world. As a physician, as well as a Member of the Senate, I listened carefully to the discussions and the debate during the entire campaign season. I listened to what candidates had to say on both sides of the aisle, I listened to what Americans had to say all over the country, and I put together something called United Against Obamacare. It is a compendium of comments and statements made by the 13 newly elected Republican Senators to this body who will take office within the next 2 months. Let me read sentences taken from statements each of them made about health care.

I view the health care bill as the single greatest assault to our freedom in my lifetime.

The thing that worries me the most about this bill, 2,000 pages of all kinds of mandates, huge new government control of health care, is that in time--and it won't be much time--the government is going to intervene between patients and their doctor.

That first sentence was by Senator-elect Johnson and the next sentence was from Senator-elect Toomey.

I don't want the government to tell me what is acceptable and unacceptable about my health care options. I want my doctor to tell me what's best for my care.

That statement was made by Senator-elect Boozman.

It is not supported by the American people. They do not want one size fits all health care.

A statement made by Senator-elect Coats.

Government control of health care will reduce competition, limit personal choices, and increase overall costs.

A statement made by Senator-elect Hoeven.

I think premiums will rise, and as people begin to deal with the penalties of Obamacare, we will have more loss of jobs.

That was Senator-elect Rand Paul. Next:

We're becoming less competitive every time government increases the cost of being in business--and if it's a problem for a large business, my small business men and women will have even greater struggles to overcome.

That was Senator-elect Moran. Next:

I do not think that 12 new taxes and cuts to Medicare are in the interest of the people.

That was Senator-elect Kirk.

It's going to bankrupt America, it adds $2.5 trillion to our debt in the long term.

That is Senator-elect Rubio.

That's why it's important to keep the repeal effort alive. What we owe is not a Republican issue or a Democratic issue. It is an American issue.

Senator-elect Ayotte.

Every possible means must be applied within Congress as well as through the application of the Constitution and the law to stop full implementation of this legislation.

Senator-elect Lee.

I have proposed over a dozen health care solutions to help reduce the cost of health care.

Senator-elect Blunt. And in conclusion:

I can tell you at least one thing coming ..... When it comes time to vote to repeal health care, I vote yes.

Senator-elect Portman.

That is United Against Obamacare and statements made by the men and women who were recently elected to the Senate on the Republican side of the aisle.

We will fight to repeal the law and replace it with legislation that will help patients and providers and taxpayers.

During his recent press conference, President Obama also said that if Republicans have ideas for how to improve our health care system, he would now be happy to consider them. Well, it would have been nice if he had considered our ideas during the last 2 years but better late than never. Since the President was sworn in, Republicans have proposed a host of proposals that will improve health care in America. Today, I wish to walk through some of the Republican ideas that are strongly supported by a majority of the American people.

First, if Congress wanted to truly demonstrate that it got the message--if it truly wanted to demonstrate that it got the message--the House and the Senate would immediately repeal the President's new health care law. Senator DeMint currently has a bill that would repeal the health care law in its entirety. By passing this law, we could ensure that the American people will get the reform they want.

It is unlikely that Democrats will vote for a straight up-or-down repeal bill, and even less likely that the President would sign it into law. So I wish to talk about other Republican proposals that would eliminate some of the most egregious portions of the President's new health care law.

Senator Hatch of Utah proposed the American Job Protection Act. It repeals the health care law's job-killing employer mandate. It strikes relevant sections in the health care law forcing employers to provide health insurance to their employees or face a penalty.

Senator Hatch has also introduced the American Liberty Restoration Act. It repeals the health care law's individual mandate--the mandate requiring all Americans to buy health insurance. The Federal Government has never before forced the American people to purchase a product, a good, or a service they may not want. We should overturn this unconstitutional mandate.

Senator Johanns introduced the Small Business Paperwork Elimination Act. It repeals section 9006 of the health care law. Section 9006 requires business owners to submit separate 1099 reporting forms for each business-to-business transaction totaling more than $600 over the course of a year. Small business owners now, with this law, have to file 1099 forms for basic business expenses, such as phone service, Internet service, shipping costs, and office supplies. This only serves to increase the cost to own and to operate a business. Why? Because, according to the law, they will then be able to provide $17 billion more in taxes to pay for this unwanted health care law.

Senator Cornyn introduced the Health Care Bureaucrats Elimination Act. It repeals the health care law's Independent Payment Advisory Board. This bill would remove the unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats from their position of making Medicare payment and reimbursement decisions.

Senator Enzi offered the grandfather regulation resolution of disapproval. This resolution overturns a new Obama administration health care law regulation. President Obama repeatedly promised: If you like what you have, you can keep it. This so-called grandfather regulation breaks that promise. The new regulation was supposed to spare businesses already providing health insurance to their workers many of the higher costs of new mandates imposed by the health care law. If businesses lose this so-called grandfathered status, then they will be required to comply with all the new insurance mandates in the law. This includes requirements to offer a Federal minimum benefit package and to waive copayments for certain services. This will force our small businesses to change plans and increase costs.

In fact, the regulation--and it is a regulation where they took two pages of the law and blew it into 121 pages of regulations--the regulation estimates that fully 80 percent of small businesses can expect to lose their grandfathered status based on the extensive regulations the administration wrote. This is a job-killing, wage-cutting regulation. Certainly, this is not the reform the American people were promised.

Also, just this week, Leader McConnell is filing an amicus brief regarding the health care litigation that is currently pending in Florida's Federal court. His brief argues that the individual mandate is not authorized by Congress and that the Government cannot use the commerce clause to force citizens to buy a product.

This list of ideas represents only a fraction of the Republican ideas currently on the table. If the President is serious about working with us, he will consider our constructive proposals. If not, he will continue to see the American people strongly speak out against his expensive, overreaching, and ideological agenda.

I yield the floor.

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