Max Baucus

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 2645 to Amendment No. 2530

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, the Senator made my point. It is a race to the bottom. I urge rejection of the amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Yes.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, this amendment effectively eliminates State insurance protections. The States with the least regulation would become the home of private health insurers who sit back and watch a race to the bottom. States would be inclined to--and encouraged to-- pass regulations that are very weak, and that would mean the insurer could qualify in that State and then market anyplace else in the country. It is totally opposed to the current system, where each State has its own insurance regulations. One can argue whether that is a good system, but that is what it is. We should not, at this point, adopt this amendment, which has the effect of appealing the current structure and allowing a race to the bottom in health insurance coverage.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, it is pretty clear we have one more vote that I am aware of before final passage. There will be a little bit of intervening business that should not take much time. So we are about done.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all pending amendments be withdrawn, with the exception of the DeMint amendment No. 2577; that no further amendments be in order, except a managers' amendment which has been cleared by the managers and the leaders; that upon disposition of the DeMint amendment and the managers' package, Senator Dole be recognized for 5 minutes to make a budget point of order against the substitute amendment; that once the point of order has been raised, Senator Baucus be recognized to move to waive the applicable point of order; that upon disposition of waiver, if waived, then the substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read the third time, and without further intervening action or debate, the Senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I urge adoption of the amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Cardin be recognized for the purpose of offering an amendment that also has been cleared on both sides.

Mr. BAUCUS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Kerry be recognized now to offer a sense of the Senate, which will be agreed to.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, this world is filled with irony. It is ironic, frankly, that we are here in this situation. But, essentially, first, I support what the Senator is trying to do. We reported this same provision out of the Finance Committee, as the Senator stated, at an earlier time as part of that small business-minimum wage package. It was then paid for. I say to my friends and my colleagues that we will find a time to do this provision. It is part of the extenders package. Extenders are taken up at the end of the year. That is when we put them all together and find out what we want to do, not here on this legislation. It is not paid for. This costs $5 billion. I do not think it belongs on this bill. I, frankly, have to now raise a point of order. Mr. President, I raise a point of order that the pending amendment violates section 201 of S. Con. Res. 21, the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2008.

Mr. BAUCUS. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, just assume that you are a person who is maybe in one city and move to another town or have relatives in one city or town in the same State. You don't know what the match is going to be. You don't know whether you qualify or don't qualify. I don't understand this amendment at all. I am really quite astounded that we would want to even countenance doing something like this. Essentially it says: OK, MSA, State, you don't get the 300 percent match rate in Medicaid. You get 200 percent. You get Medicaid which is adjusted by cost of living, and MSA with a county or a State. I don't get it. I think we have to get some simplicity, some continuity, allow some people to have some idea of what the law is. I urge Senators to not support the amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I don't think we want to do this. This requires--it mandates--that States deny kids coverage under the program if their employer offers health insurance. It requires it. I don't know where we have those kinds of requirements today in the health care area. Senior citizens are not required to sign up for Medicare Part B. There is no requirement. Why should we require States to prevent children's health insurance coverage if by chance the child's family is offered private health insurance? The private health insurance may be inferior to what the child would otherwise get in the program. The benefits might be much less. Who knows what doctors are available. Who knows? I don't think we want to require States to prevent families and low- income kids from getting CHIP coverage simply because an employer offers health insurance. That is not a fair choice. I think we should, therefore, reject the amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, since the Senator took an extra minute, I ask to respond and then get to the vote. Essentially, this amendment forces kids to use premium assistance in two negative ways. One, it forces them into private coverage. They may not want it because the private coverage might be worse. Second, this amendment has the effect of forcing premium assistance to buy HSAs. I don't want to encourage it at this point because HSAs are better for the healthier and wealthier and not low-income kids. I urge the amendment not be agreed to.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, this is not wise. I do not think we should adopt this amendment. What does the amendment do? Basically it would require at least 34 States would have to resign their successful Children's Health Insurance Programs in ways that force children into potentially inferior coverage; that is, their health insurance coverage would be worse than under SCHIP. Why? Because sometimes private health insurance requires deductibles or limits hospital stays, may prevent insulin from being available for diabetes. It forces premium assistance. It forces people into coverage they may not want. I don't think we want to do that. Second, it would force children to take the premium assistance to purchase HSAs. That is not a good idea. HSAs work better for wealthier Americans, healthier Americans. We are talking about low-income kids, and they have to spend a lot of money on high-deductible HSAs. I don't think it is a good thing to do. We are here to help kids. We are not here to force kids into private coverage plans and use their premium assistance to buy HSAs. I urge the amendment not be agreed to.

Mr. BAUCUS. Does the Senator wish to speak for 1 more minute?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I understand there is 2 minutes allowed equally divided prior to the vote; is that correct?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, we are close to 7:45. I suggest that the voting begin now.

Mr. BAUCUS. No objection.

Mr. BAUCUS. What did the Senator request?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I understand we have worked on another amendment, a Senator Wyden amendment, on juvenile diabetes. I understand it has been worked out all the way around. I urge the Senator to offer it now so we can get that out of the way, and the Senator from Oklahoma can then speak.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for her efforts on this amendment. She has worked very hard on it, and I urge the adoption of the amendment.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask that at this time Senators Klobuchar and Coleman be granted 10 minutes for a colloquy.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of the next group of votes, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 240, Timothy DeGiusti, of Oklahoma, to be a U.S. district judge; that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided between the chairman and ranking member; that the Senate then vote on the nomination, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate return to legislative session.