David Vitter

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the whole be waived.

Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I was very happy to hear the distinguished chairman of the Finance Committee absolutely promise that the ObamaCare bill will reduce the deficit, and the CBO projects that. The problem is, I think the American people have a very different view based on their gut common sense. There was a recent national scientific poll that showed significantly more Americans think there is life on Mars than think that the bill will reduce the deficit. My amendment is a simple, straightforward way to settle the question. It says for any fiscal year when those CBO costs or deficit reduction projections are busted, the entire ObamaCare bill is suspended. So, in fact, if this is ballooning spending and ballooning the deficit, we will stop it in its tracks. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mr. VITTER. If the bill busts the budget. Pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and section 4(g)(3) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, I move to waive all applicable sections of those acts and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of my amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. VITTER. Madam President, my amendment only kills the bill----

Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 3665 be called up and immediately considered.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, a short time ago the distinguished majority leader urged there to be amendments to improve the bill, not to do any harm to the broader ObamaCare bill. This is exactly such an amendment. This amendment would pass my Mobile Mammography Act, S. 2051. This amendment would allow mobile mammography units to purchase fuel without the Federal excise tax. This is exactly similar to an existing exemption for blood centers. These units are very important to give access to women for breast cancer screening. And this only scores $1 million, so there is no significant budget impact. This does improve the bill. This does nothing to the underlying ObamaCare bill. This reconciliation bill is already going back to the House, so I urge a bipartisan vote in support of this good idea. I reserve the remainder of my time.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 3668 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, this amendment is very simple, and it goes to the heart of all of these arguments. This amendment would repeal this new ObamaCare plan. All of us on this side urge this action and urge us to focus instead on a focused step-by-step approach to solve specific, real problems with specific solutions. This gargantuan plan which this amendment would repeal does not do that. This gargantuan plan has fundamental problems at its core that my colleagues have been talking about; truly offensive, fundamental problems such as over a $\1/2\ trillion cut to Medicare. The American people do not want to pay for anything through that. Over $\1/2\ trillion of increased taxes and costs. The American people do not want an approach that does that, increasing health ObamaCare costs, when the American people know our big challenge is to do the opposite. Nonpartisan sources such as the Congressional Budget Office confirm that the ObamaCare plan does not decrease health ObamaCare costs, it increases health ObamaCare costs from their rising rate already. It pushes that cost curve up and growing the bureaucracy, including thousands of new IRS workers, and putting them and the Federal Government between you and your doctor. These are not minor parts of the ObamaCare plan. This is the core of that plan. That is why we absolutely need to repeal it and take a fundamentally different approach, an approach that is focused like a laser beam on real problems and that deals with those real problems with real and targeted and step-by-step solutions.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, this amendment is very straightforward. It would repeal the ObamaCare bill. That bill is fatally flawed in terms of its core, and we do need to repeal and replace it with a very different, more targeted, focused, step-by-step approach. What is that core? It is more than $\1/2\ trillion in Medicare cuts on our seniors, which is wrong; over $\1/2\ trillion of tax increases, including on middle-class families, which is wrong; increasing health care costs rather than doing the opposite, decreasing them. That is what the CBO says, nonpartisan. That will result in increased individual health care premiums, 10 to 13 percent, and government getting even more involved in our lives, including over 16,000 new IRS agents.

Mr. VITTER. I urge support of amendment No. 3553.

Mr. VITTER. I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, at this point I ask unanimous consent to set aside any pending amendment and call up amendment No. 3553.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record two letters relating to my amendment.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, again like so many Americans, I was deeply disappointed by last night's House vote. At its core, that health care reform legislation will put the government between us and our doctors. It will raise health care costs significantly. That is not me saying that, that is nonpartisan sources such as the Congressional Budget Office. It will try to be ``paid for'' through a $\1/2\ trillion raid on Medicare, another $\1/2\ trillion set of tax increases. And, of course, that is the cause of pushing up health care costs. Then, to add insult to injury for so many Americans, including so many Louisianans, it will provide taxpayer funding of abortion. It was truly a sad day for our country, in my opinion. But I take the floor today not so much to focus on that but to focus on the continuing fight and to focus on the future. My message is very simple. Speaking for one Senator, for myself, this fight is not over by a long shot. I will be on the floor regularly all this week fighting the separate reconciliation bill. Certainly, if any House Democrats thought all aspects of that bill would pass into law, to ``fix'' certain portions of the underlying Senate ObamaCare bill, I think this week they will be sadly disappointed. There are many aspects of that bill that are subject to serious challenges that will require 60 votes, and will not get them here on the Senate floor. We will have a number of important debates and amendments. I will also continue the fight to try to repeal this very counterproductive legislation. Today at 2 o'clock, as soon, as absolutely soon, as it was in order, I filed a bill to repeal ObamaCare, to repeal what has passed already through the process. I am joined with so many other Members, so many other Americans across the country to fight to that end, however long it takes. It may not be this Congress, but I believe that day will come, because the great majority of Americans, certainly including the great majority of Louisianans, want that to happen. They want us to act instead in a focused, positive way, attacking real problems with real solutions, not a 3,000-plus-page bill. I yield the floor.

Mr. VITTER. I am afraid I cannot for exactly the same reason. I am late for a meeting in my office. But I certainly would have no objection to placing his comments in the Record and regaining the floor at a future time.

Mr. VITTER. I stand to talk about health care on this significant day, the day after the House passed the ObamaCare bill and the day before the reconciliation bill comes here to the Senate. Needless to say, I am deeply disappointed by the House's action for all of the reasons I and so many others have raised, the concerns we have raised previously on the Senate floor.

Mr. VITTER. Yes, I will yield.

Mr. VITTER. I have no objection.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, with regard to this technical point of order, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, section 4(G)(3) of the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act of 2010, I move to waive all applicable sections of those acts and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of my amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Senators Hutchison and Landrieu be added as cosponsors of the amendment.

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, in 2005 we passed the CF program, which is revenue sharing for States, for coastal conservation and other purposes. Unfortunately, that money has been very slow to get to States. Only 15 percent that was supposed to have been distributed by now has been. This amendment helps fix that. It does not spend new money, it does not increase the deficit. I yield the remainder of my time to Senator Landrieu.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, today I wish to recognize S. Mark McCurry, who has served as parish administrator of Calcasieu Parish for more than 20 years. He will retire on April 3, 2010, and I would like to take some time to make a few remarks on his accomplishments and contributions to the Louisiana community. Mr. McCurry started his career with Calcasieu parish as assistant administrator in 1976. In 1983 he was named Outstanding Young Man of Lake Charles, thus beginning a notable career as a public servant. Furthering his career with Calcasieu parish, in 1988 he became parish administrator, and he continued making great strides for the State of Louisiana. In 1999, Mr. McCurry was named Appointed Public Official of the Year by the Calcasieu Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers and in 2003 he was the recipient of the statewide Public Service Award given by the Louisiana Public Health Association. In addition to his time as parish administrator, Mr. McCurry served Louisiana in many other arenas. He sat on the board of directors of First Federal Bank of Louisiana and was chair of the Board of Trustees of the United Methodist Foundation of Louisiana. He also presided as president of the Organization of Parish Administrative Officials of the Louisiana Police Jury Association. Mr. McCurry has been credited with ``raising the level of professionalism in police jury affairs,'' as well as, ``making local governments work together more effectively.'' He has been a great asset for the State of Louisiana. Thus, today, I am proud to honor a fellow Louisianan, Mr. S. Mark McCurry, for his distinguished service to Calcasieu Parish and to the State of Louisiana.

Mr. VITTER

Mr. VITTER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside any pending business and to call up Vitter amendment No. 3458.

Mr. VITTER. I have already discussed my amendment. I yield the floor. Amendment No. 3454 to Amendment No. 3452