Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act--Motion to Proceed--Resumed

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, I would like to follow up on the wonderful comments made by the minority leader. Specifically, I want to talk about the health care law and the ways that taxpayer dollars are now being wasted and spent in what appears to be a propaganda campaign by this administration to promote a health care law the American people--at least the majority of them when asked about it-- think should be found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court and so many Americans want to see repealed and replaced.

Over 2 years ago, President Obama and Democratic leaders in Congress--in this very body and across the Hall--jammed a health care law through Congress that was drafted completely behind closed doors. We all recall Nancy Pelosi famously saying at the time: First you have to pass it before you get to find out what is in it.

I have come to the floor week after week after that with a doctor's second opinion about the health care law to make sure the American people know what is in it. Week after week there have been more things found out about the health care law that has made it even more unpopular today than it was at the time it was passed and signed into law by President Obama.

Americans knew what they wanted. They did want health care reform. They wanted to be able to get the care they need from the doctor they want at a price they can afford. Yet when I go to townhall meetings and meetings in other communities across my home State of Wyoming and ask the question: Do you think under the President's health care law you will be paying more or less for your health care, the hands go up that they are going to be paying more. Then I ask them: Do you think the quality and availability of your care is going to go down under the health care law? Again, the hands go up.

That is not what Americans want, not to pay more and get less. Yet that is what the American people are receiving under this health care law. So I will continue to deliver this second opinion on the Senate floor so we can continue to talk about what is going to be the impact on Americans' lives as a result of the health care law.

Now, for over 2 years, the news about the law has not been good for those who support it, and the country has had opposition to the law continue to increase. Today 56 percent of Americans oppose the President's health care law.

One may ask: Why is that? Well, there are a number of reasons. One is the health care law is adding to the national debt. We heard the Republican leader talk about the incredible national debt the American people are facing. The health care law has increased premiums that people have to pay for their own insurance directly as a result of the health care law being passed. The President promised: If you like what you have, you can keep it. But actually the health care law has made it harder for workers to keep their employer-sponsored health care coverage.

People want to have choices. They want to have patient-centered care. Yet this health care law established an unprecedented board with unelected bureaucrats who will, by their decisions, have a direct impact on whether patients can get to see a doctor or whether they can receive care.

When I look at the incentives that are part of this

health care law, to me, the incentives actually appear to encourage employers to either fire workers or stop providing health care coverage. To me, this health care law is discouraging to students who otherwise might pursue a career in the medical field and potentially provide care for Americans.

In my opinion, this is a law that has actually weakened, not strengthened, Medicare. It has done that by taking $500 billion away from our seniors on Medicare, not to help strengthen Medicare but to start a whole new government program for someone else.

The Medicare Actuary came out with a report last Friday to say that when we actually get into a realistic assessment of the impact of this health care law on Medicare, it weakens it. It shows Medicare going broke sooner than initially thought. This report has a realistic look at the impact of the health care law on Medicare and shows that it will make it that much harder for our seniors on Medicare to get the treatment they need and to actually get to see a doctor to find someone to care for them. The implementation of this law, which takes $500 billion away from Medicare, is not to strengthen or save Medicare but to start a whole new government program for someone else.

So I could go on and on with legitimate complaints about the law. We made it clear for over 2 years that the law is bad for patients, bad for providers, nurses, and the doctors who take care of those patients, and it is terrible for taxpayers.

This week we got a response to our long list of serious issues, responses from the administration and members of the administration. What they are doing is essentially doubling down on the President's failed law. Instead of addressing the serious concerns the American people have about the law and about their own health care, the White House has come to the conclusion they have actually done a bad job of educating the American people about the law. So now, just months before the Presidential election, the 2012 election, the administration has just signed a $20 million contract for a private PR firm to educate the American people about the law.

Of course, this is taxpayer funded. So let me repeat: The Obama administration is not even going to acknowledge any of the real problems with the law. Instead it is going to spend 20 million taxpayer dollars on press releases and more government propaganda.

It is important to remember this isn't the first time the White House has spent millions of taxpayer dollars on trying to spin this law. They realize it is unpopular, but are they addressing the fundamental flaws? No, they want to do more public relations.

In fact, this administration spent $700,000 on an advertisement starring Andy Griffith, the television star, about how the law will impact Medicare. The Internal Revenue Service spent nearly $1 million in taxpayer funds to pay for 4 million postcards to promote tax credits in the law for small businesses. Of course, what we have seen, and what the President would say, and I would say, is fewer and fewer small businesses than anticipated found they were not able to qualify for the so-called benefits of the health care law.

So what we have seen is the President's law continues to be unpopular, and now the administration chooses to spend taxpayer dollars to try a public relations campaign to make it more popular instead of dealing with the fundamental problems.

So here we are millions of dollars later, and it is clear that the White House still has not learned what most Americans understand--good policy is good communication. When a law is good, it sells itself and Americans immediately reap the rewards and appreciate what has been done. But when a law such as this health care law is a bad one, there is no way another slick PR campaign, paid for with taxpayer dollars, can make it look any better.

The American people deserve real solutions to their health care problems, not more Washington spin. Yesterday I called on the President to cancel this program immediately, to retain the taxpayer dollars and use it to pay off the debt, use it as part of lowering the deficit. Don't send it to a PR firm to try to spin this law.

We need to repeal this law. We need to repeal this health care law and replace it with a better plan. Instead of wasting millions of taxpayer dollars on this PR campaign, we need to go back to the drawing board. Americans deserve to be able to get the care they need from the doctor they want and at a price they can afford. That is what I will continue to talk about on the Senate floor as I offer a doctor's second opinion about the significant failure of the law that passed the Senate, was crammed through the House, and was signed by President Obama 2 years ago.

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