Daniel Moynihan

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I first express my great appreciation to the chairman. Members may have seen the affection with which he is held on our side of the aisle. I have said I will never fail to seek opportunities to congratulate his generosity. I have the names of members of our staff we thank, including David Podoff, Russell Sullivan, and Maury Passman, who is leaving, and others who have worked so hard. I particularly thank Frank Polk and Joan Woodward on your side. I also wish to thank Dr. David Podoff, Staff Director and Chief Economist; Russell Sullivan, Chief Tax Counsel; Chuck Konigsberg, Chief Health Counsel and General Counsel; Maury Passman, Tax Counsel; Stan Fendley, Tax Counsel; Anita Horn, Tax Professional Staff Member; Mitchell Kent, Tax Legislative Research Assistant; Kristen Testa, Medicaid Professional Staff Member; Jon Resnick, Health Legislative Research Assistant; Liz Fowler, Medicare Professional Staff Member; Julianne Fisher, Assistant to the Minority Staff Director; Jewel Harper, Receptionist; and our interns: Alison Egan, Patricia Daugherty, and Noam Mohr. Further Modification to Amendment No. 1426

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, this measure was thoroughly discussed in the Committee on Finance and is well understood on our side. I support the chairman in the existing provision of the bill.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the pending amendment is not germane. Accordingly, I raise a point of order that the amendment violates section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the pending amendment is not germane. I therefore raise a point of order that the amendment violates section 305(b)(2) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974.

Mr. MOYNIHAN

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Yes.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. We are delinquent and derelict and behind the times.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Sure.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Again, I emphasize that this was a bipartisan effort, with Senator Chafee on the Republican side. And I say to him, semper fi. On that note, I yield to Senator John Kerry. Mr. KERRY addressed the Chair.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I make a point of order against the amendment that we are about to vote on under section 305 of the Budget Act on the grounds that it is not germane.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Three trillion dollars is the Department of Treasury figure.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, this side of the aisle yields all our time back.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. The Senator from California has made her point.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Start with the $3 trillion and think what that would add.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I believe another vote is scheduled. Motion To Recommit

Mr. MOYNIHAN. I think there was not. Were there such a debate and discussion, it would have been chilling.

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

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. I yield myself 3 minutes. I want to comment on the history that our distinguished friend, the senior Senator from Massachusetts, makes about the origins of the Medicare program. He was the Senator at the time. I was a member of the administration at the time and was involved. A basic decision was made, and thank goodness it was, that Medicare, medical assistance to the aging, would not be a poverty program. It would not be dependent upon income. The idea was that programs for the poor inevitably become poor programs. I think this has been the case over the years. The second point I make deals with 1965 and the years that led up to it. The pharmaceutical revolution in ways began with the discovery of penicillin in London in the 1920s, and medications of the kind we know today have become a whole new phenomenon in medical care. There was a time when hospitals were about all you could do for ill people. Now so much more can be done, principally through pharmaceuticals. Indeed, if you had to make some bizarre choice between providing hospital care and providing the full range of pharmaceuticals, one could very well choose the latter. The Senator spoke of five lifesaving medications which are unavailable to people who instead go to hospitals where they can receive consolation, but no true treatment. This is a very wise and necessary motion. This Senator, for sure, will support it. I yield the floor.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. The Senator's proposal is entirely agreeable. I cannot, however, let pass the notion that Texas may be the only State in the Union where a former professor of economics refers to himself as a sometimes schoolteacher. But that is the way it is. We look forward to hearing all he has to say.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. The measure before us, which is moderate by the standards of the proposal of the Senator from Texas, would cost in the outyears, in the second decade, $3 trillion.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, the Senator from New York, on behalf of the Finance Committee, is honored to yield to our distinguished friend and long-time colleague, Senator Kennedy of Massachusetts. We welcome him back to the debate.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Forgive me, sir. I withhold that. I think the Senator from Rhode Island wishes to speak.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, I think our distinguished friend and colleague, Senator Hollings, is next.

Mr. MOYNIHAN. Mr. President, off the bill we yield the Senator 2 minutes.