John Chafee

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I move that the Senate disagree with the House amendments and agree to a request for a conference, and that the Chair be authorized to appoint the conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask that the Chair lay before the Senate a message from the House of Representatives on S. 440, a bill to amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for the designation of the National Highway System, and for other purposes. The PRESIDING OFFICER laid before the Senate the following message from the House of Representatives: Resolved, That the bill from the Senate (S. 440) entitled ``An Act to amend title 23, United States Code, to provide for the designation of the National Highway System, and for other purposes'', do pass with the following amendments: Strike out all after the enacting clause, and insert:

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today it stand in adjournment until the hour of 2 p.m. on Monday, September 25; that following the prayer, the Journal of proceedings be deemed approved to date, no resolutions come over under the rule, the call of the calendar be dispensed with, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and there then be a period for morning business until the hour of 3 p.m, with the Senators to speak for up to 5 minutes each with the exception of the following: Senator Bennett for up to 45 minutes; Senator Dorgan for up to 15 minutes. I further ask that following morning business at 3 o'clock, the Senate begin consideration of H.R. 2099, the VA-HUD appropriations bill.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. I am the only one here. If you want to have more time, as far as I am concerned, you can add my question time on. Where did you get this figure about a $1,700 increase?

Mr. CHAFEE. I wonder if the Senator would yield?

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I want to correct a few inaccuracies that were in the statement of the distinguished Senator from Connecticut. I am confident that these were unintentional, but they were delivered with considerable vigor so I think I might take this opportunity to rebut then. The Senator from Connecticut said not one penny from these savings in Medicare go into the trust fund. That just plain is not so. Every single nickel, every single penny saved under the part A, the reduction in the payments to the hospitals, the reductions in the payments to the other providers, the providers dealing with the hospitals' side, all go into what is known as the hospital insurance fund, or part A. Every single penny--I am not sure of the exact amount in billions of dollars, but of the total $270 billion, a very substantial, I will not say half, but I suspect close to half will go into that part A hospital insurance trust fund. When the Senator says with all the vigor he can muster that none of that is going into the trust fund, that just plain is not right. Now, second, the Senator says 51 percent of the tax cuts are going to the rich. That is a very interesting statement because in the Senate we do not have any idea what the tax cuts are going to be. All that we have done in the Senate is to say that up to $240 billion of tax cuts can take place. That means there could be zero, there could be $1 or there could be $240 billion. No one has said so far--the Finance Committee that deals with the tax cuts has not come up with any proposals dealing with what the tax cuts will be. Some say they want $500 credit for every child. Now, if that is adopted, no one is suggesting that 51 percent of that is going to the rich people. Every taxpayer, even taxpayers who pay $501 will get a $500 credit, so they pay $1 in taxes. [[Page S 14144]] Indeed, the person who pays less than that, I presume would not only get a refund but get some kind of an income tax credit in addition to the regular $500 credit. Who knows what we will adopt? Knowing how legislative bodies are, I suspect that we will go right up to the $240 billion. No one has decided that yet. No meetings of the Finance Committee have taken place in connection with taxes. No decisions have been made. It is total nonsense to say that 51 percent of the tax cut is going to the rich under any Senate plan.

Mr. CHAFEE. We happen to be in the Senate, and they announced a plan today. We do not have to debate on the floor of the Senate what the House plan is. We have a Senate plan. I happen to know what the Senate plan is, and it is not $2,700. Now, if you are talking Jack Kent Cooke, one of the richest men in America, and if he continues taking the part B, yes, he will pay more and he jolly well ought to pay more; 75 percent of Jack Kent Cooke's medical bills are being paid by the taxpayer. [[Page S 14143]]

Mr. CHAFEE. It is not right.

Mr. CHAFEE. I wonder if the Senator will yield for a question.

Mr. CHAFEE. Let us not talk about the House. We are in the Senate. The Senate bill was announced today. The part B premium of 31.5 percent is going to stay at 31.5 percent. Is it going to go up with inflation? Yes. Thirty-one and a half percent of the cost will remain at 31.5. Is it going to stay exactly the same dollar figure as last year or 2 years ago? No. But under any administration, Democrat or Republican, it will increase. Now, the second part is about the deductible. There is no increase in the copayments. They remain exactly the same, at the 20 percent. On the increase in the deductibles, over the years with inflation, the deductibles have gone up. Under this program, they would go from $100 to $150. That is certainly no $1,700.

Mr. CHAFEE. Then that is even more inaccurate.

Mr. CHAFEE. If you want to talk about the persons in the upper categories--

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Now, Mr. President, we have the opportunity to hear the distinguished Senator from West Virginia.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I now ask the Senate stand in adjournment under the previous order, following the remarks of Senator Byrd.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. For the information of all Senators at 3 p.m. on Monday, the Senate will begin consideration of VA-HUD appropriations bill. The managers of that bill have indicated that Senator Bumpers is prepared to offer his amendment on the space station on Monday. The majority leader has indicated that any other Member who is intending to offer an amendment to VA-HUD appropriations bill should be prepared to offer that amendment on Monday, so the Senate may complete action on the bill at the earliest possible time. In addition, the majority leader has indicated there will be no rollcall votes on Monday, and any votes ordered in connection with the HUD-VA bill would be postponed until after the weekly party luncheons on Tuesday.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of the House message to accompany S. 440, the national highway bill, that the Senate move to disagree with the House amendments and agree to a request for a conference, the Chair be authorized to appoint the conferees on the part of the Senate.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I want to express my support for the measure before us today. We have been working on this for many months. I am pleased we are finally able to approve a bill with bipartisan support. This bill is very conscious of the needs of children, a group I strongly believe should be cared for in any welfare program. The measure before us contains additional money for child care and requires States to continue to maintain their financial effort for the life of the bill, for the 5 years. Senators Breaux and Dodd were very helpful in those issues. Under this measure, States would also be prohibited from denying benefits to single custodial parents with young children who do not work because the parents do not have child care. This provision is extremely important for the protection of these very young children. The last thing we want to have happen is for parents to be placed in the untenable position of having to choose between leaving their children unsupervised while they work or losing their entire cash benefit. I would like to note that S. 1120, the bill before us, does not make any changes in the foster care and adoption assistance programs. It has long been my belief that the Federal entitlement for these programs should continue and we should not roll back the Federal protection parts of the foster care and adoption assistance. Those entitlements are continued in this legislation. On the subject of children's SSI, the Senate bill retains the concept of cash assistance for poor, disabled children and does not go as far as the House in scaling back eligibility. I am pleased that the Senate chose to take a more balanced approach to this issue than the House. Most of the children in this program are severely disabled. Were it not for SSI, they would not be able to remain at home with their families. I would like to thank Senator Domenici for his contribution to this bill in two areas--particularly in providing for the maintenance of the effort by the States. Senator Domenici led that effort. I also thank him for his help in removing the mandatory family cap. Under the Domenici approach, which we adopted, the family cap remains an option for the States. There is no evidence that denying benefits to women who have additional children while on welfare has any impact on birth rates. Senator Domenici spoke forcefully on that. Finally, I praise our majority leader, Senator Dole. But for his extraordinary efforts to find a common ground, we would not be here today. That is no easy feat, given our differences when we started out. I thank him for his able leadership and the fact that we were able to achieve a bipartisan bill today.

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, what the WIC Program is, for those who do not know, it is a nutrition program, as the distinguished senior Senator from Mississippi said, a nutrition program for women, infants, and children. Furthermore, invariably, at least in my State, it takes place in a setting where you might say it is one-stop shopping, where a mother can come and her infant child will be cared for and, in addition, can get some nutrition advice from experts. As the distinguished Senator from Mississippi said, this is really proven out to be a money saver in the long run. If we can keep these infants healthy and get them off to a good start, savings to the Nation in the form of medical care are very, very significant in the long run. So I am happy this was able to be worked out the way it was. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I want to take this opportunity to thank the managers of the bill for the increase that they have given to the WIC Program. I think the WIC Program is an outstanding program, and I think it is worthwhile. Its value has been evidenced by the fact that the distinguished managers of the bill have given it a very nice increase for the upcoming year. So I want to thank the senior Senator from Mississippi and the senior Senator from Arkansas for the additions to the WIC Program which they provided in this legislation. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CHAFEE

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

Mr. CHAFEE

Mr. CHAFEE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes between the second, third, fourth, and fifth rollcall votes-- second, third, and fourth rollcall votes.

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

Mr. CHAFEE. The amendment is agreeable.

Mr. CHAFEE. I yield back the remainder of my time.