Max Baucus

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BAUCUS. As long as it is equally divided between the two sides.

Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, if my good friend would allow me to interrupt to propound a unanimous consent agreement so Senators know when votes are going to come up, and then continue.

Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that once this agreement is entered, it be in order for Senator Kerry or his designee to be recognized to offer the majority side-by-side to the Johanns motion; that the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Kerry amendment; and that upon disposition of the Kerry amendment, the Senate then proceed to vote in relation to the Johanns motion; that no amendments be in order to the Kerry amendment or the Johanns motion; further, that upon disposition of the above-referenced amendment and motion, the Republican leader's designee be recognized to call up an amendment related to the Lincoln amendment No. 2905; further, that on Sunday, December 6, after the Senate has resumed consideration of H.R. 3590, the time until 3:15 p.m. be for debate with respect to the Lincoln amendment No. 2905, and the Republican amendment identified above; with the time on Sunday equally divided and controlled, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; that at 3:15 p.m., the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Lincoln amendment No. 2905; that upon disposition of amendment No. 2905, the Senate then proceed to vote in relation to the Republican amendment related to the Lincoln amendment; that all of the amendments and motions covered in this agreement be subject to an affirmative 60-vote threshold and that if any achieve it, then they be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that if they do not achieve that threshold, then they be withdrawn; that prior to the second votes covered in this agreement, there be 2 minutes of debate; that after the first vote, each succeeding vote covered here be limited to 10 minutes each; provided further that no other motion be in order, except a motion to reconsider a vote with respect to the above-referenced amendments and motion.

Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I might say, that is our understanding on this side as well. Amendment No. 2926 to Amendment No. 2786

Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, I call up the Kerry amendment which is at the desk and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, this is very simple. A vote for the Johanns amendment is a vote for the status quo. What does that mean? It means seniors will continue to pay higher and higher premiums, higher cost sharing due to wasteful overpayments. A vote against Johanns means we can extend the solvency of the Medicare trust fund that helps benefits. I think we are for seniors in this body. I urge a vote against Johanns.

Mr. BAUCUS

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, we are beginning our fifth day of consideration on the health reform bill. We will be in a period of debate only until about 11:30 a.m. Pending now is the amendment by the Senator from Rhode Island, Mr. Whitehouse, on fiscal responsibility. Also pending is a motion to commit by the Senator from Utah on Medicare Advantage. It would be my hope that the Senate will vote on these matters today. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, experts and economists of every political stripe agree that preserving America's long-term economic security means reforming the way we provide and pay for health care. Health care spending makes up one-sixth of the U.S. economy. Future generations can expect the burden of insurmountable debt if we fail to act. The fiscal challenges we may face in years to come pale in comparison to the threat of uncontrolled Federal health care spending. The chart behind me essentially shows that. The chart shows the percentage annual growth rates beginning in 2004. The red is the economy, the blue is health care costs. Clearly, over time, especially as the economy dipped during this great recession, the gap between economic growth and health care spending has widened. Projections are that in future years they will widen more and more. As you can see out to 2018, the total economy is projected. Near 2018 the economy is above 4 percent and health care spending is 7 or 8 percent. Doing nothing means health care spending continues to grow faster than our economy. That is what that chart shows quite dramatically. Doing nothing means entitlement spending more than doubles by the year 2050. That is taking one-fifth of our gross domestic product. But it is not simply the Federal budget on the line, it is the family budget too. Incredibly, in total we are spending 80 times as much on health care today as we did five decades ago--80 times more on health care today than we did five decades ago. Now family budgets are breaking under the strain--already. That is going to get worse if we do nothing. The cost of the average family health care plan will reach $24,000 in the year 2016. That is not too many years away from now. This represents an 84-percent increase over 2008 premium levels. That means, if we do nothing, in fewer than 10 years most families would have to dedicate half of their household budget to health insurance. For years we have heard the warnings from Federal budget experts. Now we are hearing every day from folks back home who simply cannot afford the care they need. We have an obligation to act. Now we have an opportunity to act. The country's leading economists and Federal budget experts laid out strategies and options for getting costs under control. We have taken their recommendations to heart. There is a lot of agreement among those who study these issues of what we must do. Now we have a bill that does what they suggest. It also passes the test of fiscal responsibility. We have many reasons to vote for this bill. It protects and even increases Medicare benefits for seniors. It achieves near universal coverage in less than 10 years. That means it achieves the goal of virtually everybody having health insurance in that period of time. It slows the growth of Federal health care spending. It stops insurance industry discrimination and, based on independent, nonpartisan analysis, makes a serious dent in our Federal deficit. This chart behind me represents what 2 weeks ago the Congressional Budget Office and Joint Committee on Taxation confirmed in no uncertain terms, that deficits go down under this plan. The official cost estimate reads as follows: The Congressional Budget Office and the Joint Committee on Tax estimates that on balance the direct spending and revenue effects of enacting this Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act legislation would yield a net reduction in Federal deficits of $130 billion over the years 2010 to 2019. That is represented by the green bar on the left. It is a net $130 billion reduction during the first 10 years of this bill. In addition to reducing the Federal deficit, in the first decade, the CBO also tells us that the bill decreases the deficit by a much greater amount, by $650 billion, in the second decade. According to the CBO, this bill also slows the growth of Medicare costs, which has been a principal goal in our Medicare debate since day one. Medicare spending would grow 6 percent annually instead of 8 percent annually. In other words, Medicare would continue to grow but, unlike today, it will grow at a sustainable rate. Of course, no projections, even from the Congressional Budget Office, can be certain. We can safely say this bill will put us on the right track. We can safely say this bill is better than doing nothing. No honest assessment challenges the case for acting now to slow the growth of Federal spending. No honest assessment challenges the case. And no honest assessment of this bill challenges the CBO analysis. I have not heard one. I have not heard an honest challenge to the CBO analysis, nor have I heard of a good, honest case for not acting now to slow the growth of Federal spending, which means we have many reasons to pass health care reform, not the least of which is the long-term financial health of the economy and our Nation. But the reasons for passing this are much more than simply facts and figures. This is about Americans from every corner of this great country, struggling to make ends meet, forced into bankruptcy by medical tragedy. This is about stopping insurance industry discrimination; this is about saving Medicare for our seniors and reducing the deficit for our grandchildren. I don't know which other Senators wish to speak. Senator Bingaman wishes to gain recognition in the time we have. Let me ascertain how much time we have and how many speakers we have.

Mr. BAUCUS. I yield 15 minutes to the Senator from New Mexico.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, how much time remains under the control of the majority?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 10 minutes to the Senator from Massachusetts.

Mr. BAUCUS. We might be able to find extra time, too, if the Senator is looking for extra time. Right now, according to the number of Senators who want to speak, that is all we have in this first block. But sometimes we can work things out--if the Senator wants to talk a little longer. But right now it is 10 minutes.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield 8 minutes to the Senator from Wisconsin, the chairman of the Special Committee on Aging.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, how much time remains for the majority?

Mr. BAUCUS. I ask unanimous consent that there be an additional 5 minutes on each side.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I yield the remaining time to the Senator from Oregon, which should be 10 minutes.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, how much time is remaining on the majority side?

Mr. BAUCUS. And on the minority side?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I reserve the remainder of the majority time.

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, if I may, I ask unanimous consent that we extend for an additional hour the period for debate only with no further amendments or motions in order during the hour; and that the time be equally divided between the two sides, with the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the second 30 minutes.

Mr. BAUCUS. I believe there is 3 minutes remaining on the first block, on the majority side?

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, I think I will use my 2 minutes 20 seconds.

Mr. BAUCUS. OK. I want to make three basic points. The Senator from Arizona talks about, gee, all these Medicare Advantage plans have dental and vision coverage. He goes on to say, so do Members of Congress. The fact is that is not automatically true. The fact is Members of Congress choose among various private plans. Some plans offer dental and vision, some do not. Aetna is a company that Members of Congress could choose from under FEHBP and others that Members of Congress can choose from. Those do provide dental and vision coverage. But there are others--I think Blue Cross and Blue Shield does not provide dental and vision coverage. I make that point because this is exactly what we are trying to set up in these exchanges. People could participate in the exchanges, where they would buy private coverage and they could choose among various private plans which coverage they want. Do they want a plan that covers dental and vision, or not? That is exactly what we are trying to do in the exchange, as is the case for Members of Congress. Medicare Advantage plans do provide dental and vision. I think that is great. I see my time has expired. At the appropriate time I wish to go into greater detail and explain why what we do in this bill I think makes eminent sense.