To express the sense of the Senate.

SA 2654. Mr. GRASSLEY proposed an amendment to the bill S. 2020, to
provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 202(b) of the concurrent
resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2006; as follows:

At the end of title IV, add the following:

SEC. ___. SENSE OF THE SENATE.

(a) Findings.--The Senate makes the following findings:
(1) As many as 44,000,000 Americans are estimated to lack
health insurance during the course of the year, many of whom
are uninsured for a short period of time while a smaller
number face longer periods without coverage.
(2) Rising health care costs contribute to the problem of
the uninsured and make it more difficult to find a simple
solution to make health care affordable.
(3) There is not a one-size fits all solution to address
health care coverage issues.
(4) Businesses have competing needs for their resources,
including investments to ensure their competitiveness and
providing health care coverage for their employees and
dependents.
(5) Lower tax rates on dividends and capital gains saved
24,000,000 families an average of nearly $950 on their 2004
taxes, including about 7,000,000 seniors who saved, on
average, $1,230 each.
(6) These pro-growth tax cuts have spurred economic
development and job creation and have been partly responsible
for an increase in tax receipts.
(7) Of the more than 30,000,000 tax returns that included
dividend income, those with adjusted gross income of less
than $75,000 accounted for 64 percent, or over 19,000,000 of
such returns.
(8) Of the nearly 23,000,000 tax returns that included
capital gains, 62 percent of these returns, or about
14,000,000, had less than $75,000 in adjusted gross income.
(9) Allowing taxes to increase will make it harder for
employers and individuals to afford health care insurance,
leading to more individuals without health insurance.
(b) Sense of the Senate.--It is the sense of the Senate
that the Senate should--
(1) prevent an increase in taxes on millions of Americans
by not allowing the tax policy enacted in 2003 to expire; and
(2) extend tax policies that have proven to enhance
economic growth, create jobs, and improve business' and
individuals' ability to afford health insurance coverage; and
(3) address the multiple aspects of our Nation's health
care crisis, including the need to make health care more
affordable, to expand coverage, and to strengthen the health
care safety net by--
(A) promoting the use of health care technology, which will
help reduce medical errors that contribute to higher costs
and promote greater efficiency in care delivery;
(B) providing new financial assistance and tax credits to
make health insurance more affordable;
(C) creating financial incentives for young adults to
purchase lifetime, portable health insurance;
(D) expanding health insurance coverage options for low-
income entrepreneurs and self-employed individuals;
(E) increasing access to specialty care within the health
care safety net by providing a tax deduction to physician
specialists who provide care for patients referred from
health care safety net providers;
(F) reducing regulatory burdens on health care safety net
providers that lead to higher administrative costs and a
diversion of funds that could be spent on patient care; and
(G) improving outreach efforts to maximize participation of
eligible beneficiaries in Federal health care safety net
programs.
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