John McCain

Mr. McCAIN

Mr. McCAIN. My absolute favorite.

Mr. McCAIN. To be clear, the amendment of the Senator from New Hampshire is exactly the same as the White House sense-of-the-Senate amendment and the Bennet amendment, only it has the actual force of law.

Mr. McCAIN. May I ask the Senator from Texas, is it not true that it is the State of Texas that is the demonstration project for medical malpractice reform?

Mr. McCAIN. May I say in the immortal words of Howard Dean, the former chairman of the Democratic National Committee--he put it simply: The reason why tort reform is not in the bill-- Talking about this bill-- The reason why tort reform is not in the bill is because the people who wrote it did not want to take on the trial lawyers in addition to everybody else they were taking on, and that is the plain and simple truth. Now, that's the truth. I totally agree with Howard Dean. I could not agree with him more.

Mr. McCAIN. The Senator from Alabama.

Mr. McCAIN. Our Republican leader is here on the floor of the Senate, and he can speak for himself, but I am sure he would appreciate the opportunity if the President would come and sit down and meet with us. I think we are all ready to have a meeting with him. Perhaps we would be able to give our input and recommendations as to what we need to do to get this bill unstuck. That was, as I recall, the campaign. And I am getting tired of going down memory lane here, but that was going to be the ``change.'' That was going to be the change in Washington. We are going to change the climate. We are all going to sit down together, Republicans and Democrats. Well, I think on this Sunday afternoon, we are all available, are we not, I would ask the Senator from Kentucky?

Mr. McCAIN. And we could do that, perhaps in the most effective fashion, if we sat down with the President and made some of the very points he made in his State of the Union Message. I want to turn to the Senator from South Dakota, but I want to mention something first on this issue of tort reform I have never quite gotten over. One of the most famous cases of the 1970s, and I think it spilled over into the 1980s, was agent orange, the defoliant that was used during the Vietnam war and which caused so many physical problems for our Vietnam veterans who were exposed to it. It was a big class action suit the trial lawyers won. The trial lawyers got paid off first, and Vietnam veterans died before the money was distributed to them. I will never get over that.

Mr. McCAIN. I will recognize the Senator from Texas, who will be presiding next, and wish to add one more comment.

Mr. McCAIN

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Utah, the Senator from Kentucky, the Senator from New Hampshire, the Senator from Georgia, the Senator from Florida, and the Senator from Wyoming be allowed to participate in a colloquy.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, very quickly, I wish to remind my colleagues that the AARP continues to be referred to as endorsing this legislation and supporting it and opposing amendments that would have done things that they in the past have supported. So I urge my colleagues to look at this Washington article--one of my favorite sources of information and opinion, the Washington Post: But not advertised in this lobbying campaign have been AARP's substantial earnings from insurance royalties and the potential benefits that would come its way from many other reforms. So we have been looking into that, and guess what. The AARP endorsement of more than $400 billion in Medicare savings--according to its own financial statements from 2008, AARP generated 38 percent of its $1.1 billion in revenue or more than $414 million in royalty fees. They also obviously will--if we take away Medicare Advantage, then Medigap sales will have to go up because that provides for the services that are being taken away. So under the AARP, they would generate in their endorsements--they have generated $414 million, putting them in fifth place of all of the health insurance companies in America behind United Health, Wellpoint, Aetna, and Humana. So we have before the body an amendment that would modify any health insurer's remuneration to the same level as the salary of the President of the United States. So I ask unanimous consent at this time that the AARP executives be added in under the effect of this pending amendment from the Senator from Arkansas.

Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I also understand that Walmart sells health insurance policies. They are based in Arkansas. I ask unanimous consent that Walmart be included in this curb on excessive remuneration that will now place them under the same level.

Mr. McCAIN. It is not complicated. It is pretty simple. It is people who sell health insurance.

Mr. McCAIN. I am sorry the Senator from Montana cannot understand that they are people who sell health insurance as well. AARP does, Walmart does. If we are going to have this kind of demagogic amendment, then we should include them, especially Walmart, that does a lot of business.

Mr. McCAIN. I would say to my colleague they not only opposed it, they got all of their members fired up in opposition to it. We all heard from them back in 2005. These were reductions in spending. This was not $438 billion taken out of Medicare and put in to create a new entitlement program of $2.5 trillion.

Mr. McCAIN. As I recall, that is exactly it. I think the Senator from New Hampshire recalls that debate.

Mr. McCAIN. One would think so. There are two doctors in the Senate; there are lots of lawyers, two doctors. Both of them have hands-on experience. I don't know if Dr. Barrasso has seen this morning's New York Times, another of my favorite sources of news information and opinion. On the front page this morning: ``Home Care Patients Worry Over Possible Cuts.'' I understand the purpose of health care reform as proposed by the other side is to reduce health care costs. Is there a way to reduce health care costs better than treating people at home than instead of in a hospital? I am curious about the Senator's experience.

Mr. McCAIN. If it is taken out of your time, just exactly as you responded when someone asked if you would yield for a question from them yesterday. Is it taken out of your time?

Mr. McCAIN. I ask unanimous consent that the time for the Senator's question not be taken out of the time that is allotted to us.

Mr. McCAIN. My response is, I don't know what deal has been cut in Senator Reid's office, as the deal was cut with the pharmaceutical companies and the deal was cut with the AMA and the deal was cut with the hospital association. But I know what the effect is. I know what the effect is. The bill would slice $55 billion----

Mr. McCAIN. The House bill would slice $55 billion over 10 years for projected Medicare spending on home health services while the Senate bill would take $43 billion. I know that. But I don't know the details of the deal that was cut over where the white smoke comes out. I don't know what the deal was. I know what the deal was with PhRMA. I know what the deal was with PhRMA. They told them they would oppose drug reimportation from Canada, and they told PhRMA they would not allow competition for Medicare patients. So I don't know the deal that was cut that bought them, but I know deals have been going on, and I know they are unsavory. I know people, such as the lady who was just referred to, Bertha Milliard, are not too interested in seeing their home health care cut.

Mr. McCAIN. I don't know what the deal was----

Mr. McCAIN. I don't know what the deal was, but we will find out, just like the deals that were cut with all of these other organizations.

Mr. McCAIN. This place is full of lobbyists. I can't walk through the hallway without bumping into one of their lobbyists. If the Senator keeps interrupting, he is violating the rules of the Senate. He needs to learn the rules of the Senate.

Mr. McCAIN. I would like to finish my answer to you, if I may; that is, I don't know the deal that was cut with them, but we will find out. I know Bertha Milliard was not there when the deal was cut that generated that letter. That is my answer.

Mr. McCAIN. I will yield for one more, but we have other Senators who wish to speak.