Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users

TRANSPORTATION EQUITY ACT: A LEGACY FOR USERS

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CITIZENS' HEALTH CARE WORKING GROUP

Mr. WYDEN. Mr. President, Senator Hatch and I are taking this time to prepare our colleagues in the Senate and the public for a health care revolution that is long overdue. Right now, just over the river in Arlington, a group of dedicated citizens from every corner of the country is preparing to do something that has never been done before, and that is to tell the American people the hard truths about where nearly $2 trillion in health care goes each year and then to walk the public through the tough choices that must be made to create a health care system that works for all Americans.

The Citizens' Health Care Working Group was created by a law that I wrote with Senator Hatch. That law is just now beginning to be implemented. Beginning this week, the American people will have a place to go to find out more about the working group. I encourage them to take the opportunity to go to this Web site and learn about a very fresh approach to delivering health care for all of our citizens.

For 60 years, our country has tried the same thing. Literally from Harry Truman in 1945, in the 81st Congress, through 1993 and 1994 in the Clinton administration, the effort was to write legislation in Washington, DC. Then the American people would find it hard to understand, various interest groups would attack the legislation and each other, and everything would die.

Under the law I have written with Senator Hatch, this approach is turned on its head. Instead of starting in Washington, DC, the Health Care That Works for All Americans law begins outside the beltway. I would say to the Senate, I think health care reform has been like getting dressed in the dark for both the public and for policymakers. The American people have never been told where the money is going, so how can they, in a thoughtful way, offer suggestions on what needs to be done to improve the system? Without this essential information from the American public, how then can policymakers write legislation that thoughtfully addresses the public's concerns and garners the public's support?

This time, beginning in the fall, that is going to change. In senior centers and libraries, at business organizations, online and offline, a Health Care Report to the American People will lay out the facts for the first time. The public is going to be told in understandable language the facts as to where the $1.8 trillion spent each year on health care goes.

Then the American people will have the opportunity--again offline and online--to give their ideas about how to create a health care system that works for everyone. For the first time, public involvement will be followed by political accountability.

Under the law, once Americans learn where the health care dollar is going and they have the chance to talk about how they would rather spend those dollars, Congress must follow up. All the committees of jurisdiction have to hold hearings within 60 days of the recommendations coming from the citizens of our country.

Once there is a clear citizens' roadmap to health care that works for all Americans, it will be hard for Congress to reject the citizens' health care needs. Congress can continue to ignore what the citizens are calling for, but with genuine public momentum behind this effort, Congress will ignore the citizens at its peril.

For the first time, with this approach, there is the potential to create a true juggernaut to get a bill a President of either political party can sign. It is about time.

If Americans do not have their health, we all understand nothing else matters. Before I had the honor of coming to the Congress, I served as director of the Oregon Gray Panthers. I saw then how important it was that a fresh, innovative approach be taken in this area.

Two weeks ago, the chairman of Starbucks sat in my office. This is a company that gets it when it comes to health care. They are doing something that is hard for any company to do, providing health insurance not only to their full-time employees but to their part-time workers. They have done this because their founder, Howard Schultz, remembers what it was like to grow up in a family at risk because they did not have health care. He believes a secure, covered workforce contributes to his company's great business success. But Howard Schultz will tell us, just as other concerned business leaders will tell us, they may not be able to keep that commitment if costs continue to grow exponentially.

What I appreciate about what Starbucks is saying is they are not waiting for the bottom to fall out. Mr. Schultz has come to Washington to ask that the Congress and the executive branch partner with businesses that want to do the right thing and to cover their employees. He does not have all the answers, but he told me and Senator Hatch as part of this bipartisan law that makes a break with 60 years of failure in this area, he wants to try fresh approaches. Since millions of Americans come in contact with Starbucks each week, that is a pretty darned big contribution and an indication of what the business community is willing to do as we take a fresh look at coming up with health care that works for all Americans.

Frankly, what we have heard from Starbucks and others is exactly the kind of teamwork we wanted when we wrote the law. We are talking about a unique approach where the public has the facts, where the public gets a chance to weigh in, where Congress then has to act. This kind of approach, where you rewrite the book with respect to health care reform, is long overdue. There are going to be tough choices. Senator Hatch and I have acknowledged that at the very beginning. Certainly end-of-life issues present us with some very difficult, gut-wrenching concerns but establishing this kind of process is, in the view of myself and Senator Hatch, absolutely critical if our country is to move and to move quickly to deal with the health care challenge in the days ahead.

This health care wrecking ball is not going to hit in 2040 or 2050, colleagues. We are going to get clobbered on New Year's Day 2007 when 70 million baby boomers start retiring.

I see my friend Senator Hatch is here and Senator Inhofe has been so kind to give this time so I will wrap up. I encourage each Senator to urge their citizens at home to get involved with the Citizens' Health Care Working Group. They are going to be getting out into the communities across the country, making their information available online. This is their Web site. I encourage Senators to have folks at home ready to pitch in.

I thank my partner in this effort, Senator Hatch. If we look at the important health care legislation in the last few years, Senator Hatch's name is virtually always on it, whether it is programs for kids or how to address issues relating to pharmaceuticals. I could not have a better partner in the Senate as we try to break new ground in health care.

I yield now so Senator Hatch can have the time. I do it with my thanks.

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