Floor Statements

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first 30 minutes, the Republicans will control the final 30 minutes. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Department of Defense authorization bill.

Pending is an amendment dealing with the airplane, the F-22. That amendment has been offered by Senators Levin and McCain, the two managers of this bill. The President has indicated if the F-22 language stays in the bill, he will veto it.

A decision has to be made today as to how we are going to dispose of this amendment, either by passing it or by moving beyond it in some way. We will recess today from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for the weekly policy lunches.

There will be no rollcall votes after 2 or 2:30 today.

Mr. President, I think nearly every one of us has gone to the doctor and taken home advice to help us get better or to live healthier. Maybe at one point in our lives, we were told, for example, to exercise more. Maybe we were told to cut something out of our diet, lose some weight, add something to it, gain some weight, change your diet in some way.

Maybe we were prescribed medication for a short while or for a long while. People within the sound of my voice in this Senate Chamber all have been to doctors, and many are taking medicine now. It is not always easy to hear the advice doctors give or to follow the advice they give. It is never easy to change your lifestyle, even if you know you will be better in the long run.

But you also know the risk of not following your doctor's orders and the consequences of not taking your medicine. The costs of doing nothing are far greater. You know that if you do not do something this time, the news after your next checkup may even be worse; it will take even more drastic steps or more difficult changes to get healthy again.

Well, America has had its checkup, and the prognosis is not promising. Our health care system is sick. It is not healthy. Our doctor's orders are very clear: If we do not start taking better care of ourselves, it is only going to get worse. This is the message America has.

The costs of health care today are staggering. Families in every part of Nevada and in every State feel this every day. But the costs could get much higher. If we do not act, they will get worse, much worse, much higher.

If we do not act, they will get higher.

The average American family today pays twice as much for its health care then it did a decade ago. If we do not act, less than a decade from now those costs will double again. Families are not making more money, but they are paying more trying to get healthy and to stay healthy. If we do not act, less than a decade from now you will spend almost half your family's income on health care. No one can be expected to afford that. No one should have to afford that.

After a while, the trillions of dollars millions of families spend start to add up. Our country spends on health care twice as much per person than any other developed nation on the planet. Health care costs consume almost 20 cents of every dollar we spend. That is of every dollar spent in America. If we do not act, in a generation it will consume more than one-third of every dollar.

You may be fortunate enough to afford health care this year, but if we do not act, you may not be able to say the same next year. If we do not act, your children will likely not be able to say the same when they grow up.

Last Thursday, I was in an event with Senator Murray, where she got notice from the State of Washington that 135,000 people who are beneficiaries of a health insurance plan in her State got a notice that the average rate of increase to the 135,000 recipients of health care in that plan will have an increase on an average of 17.5 percent.

Staggering. We have all read the charts and seen the numbers repeated by those who oppose fixing our broken health care system. There are charts and there are conversations all toward maintaining the status quo, keeping things the way they are. But it is as if they have not bothered to do the math on the costs of doing nothing.

Health care reform is economic reform. That is why we want to lower skyrocketing costs and bring stability and security back to health care. That is why we are committed to passing a plan that protects what works and fixes what does not. I am encouraged by the cooperation and commitment of several Republican Senators willing to work with us to get that done and to get it done before it is too late.

I appreciate the tireless work of our Finance and HELP Committees, Democrats and Republicans, as they write a prescription for America that will work. I had a call last night about 10 from Chris Dodd, indicating the progress that has been made in the HELP Committee.

Republicans have offered hundreds of amendments--hundreds of amendments--and they are working their way through those. Those Republican amendments sometimes improve the legislation. For example, Senator Dodd said he was very pleased they were able to work something out on bio-generics--that is a prescription physicians get--and there is some real activity out there as to how that is going to be treated.

An amendment offered by Senator Hatch was adopted by the committee. I appreciate the work of our Finance and HELP Committees as they write a prescription for America that will work.

I still aim to bring the bill to the floor this month, but it appears somewhat to ignore the doctor's orders. I wish I could say they do so at their own peril. Yet if a handful of Senators stand in the way of the change we so drastically need, urgently need, they will endanger not just them but all of us. They will endanger families of every background, businesses of every size, and our Nation's collective future.

We have already seen what happens when we do nothing. Over the past 8 years of inaction, the cost of health care rose to record levels, and the number of Americans who cannot afford insurance did the same. Senator Patty Murray's story is certainly relevant. For the 135,000 people in the State of Washington, a 17.5-percent increase, on average, of their policies, is what they have to pay.

For the millions of families who file for foreclosure because they cannot afford both their house and health care, not acting is not an option. For the millions of Americans who file for bankruptcy because their medical bills grow higher and higher and higher, not acting is not an option. For the millions of Americans who have skipped a doctor's visit or treatments they need to stay healthy or who never fill a prescription their doctor gives them because health care is simply too expensive, not acting is not an option.

Our health care system is not healthy. Americans' physical health and America's fiscal health are at stake, and not acting is not an option.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, we will begin consideration of S. 1390, the Department of Defense authorization bill. At 4:30 today, the Senate will turn to executive session to consider the nomination of Robert Groves to be the Director of the Census and debate the nomination for 1 hour.

At 5:30 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the nomination. Under an agreement reached last week, if cloture is invoked, all postcloture debate time will be yielded back and the Senate will immediately proceed to a vote on confirmation of the nomination. I expect that if cloture is invoked, the vote on confirmation would be a voice vote.

Upon disposition of the nomination, the Senate will resume consideration of the Department of Defense authorization bill. As previously announced, there will be no rollcall votes after 2:00 or so tomorrow afternoon.

Mr. President, the coming weeks are a critical time, not just here in the Congress but in our country. This month we will work to stabilize our broken health care system and lower costs for the middle class. This month we will also discuss, debate and, I am confident, ultimately confirm President Obama's outstanding nominee, Judge Sonia Sotomayor.

These goals require both sides to work together. I repeat. These goals require both sides to work together. Each will require all of us to work in good faith. If we are to do what our country needs us to do, we must work as partners, not partisans.

We have said all along we strongly prefer to fix health care as one collaborative body, not as two competing parties. I had a positive meeting with four senior Republican Senators about the road ahead for health care, and it is health care reform we talked about. We finished the meeting and there was a general agreement we needed health care reform, and it should be done on a bipartisan basis, not resort to what we call reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority.

I appreciate very much the commitment of those four Republicans to getting this done. I look forward to more Republicans showing the same commitment.

The Finance and HELP Committee chairmen are working tirelessly to mark up the health care bills. Our goal remains the same. We would like to see those bills on the floor in July. I hope our Republican colleagues will work with us to achieve that goal.

Just as our commitment to a bipartisan plan has not changed, neither have our principles about that plan: lowering skyrocketing costs, and bringing stability and security back to health care. We are committed to passing a plan that protects what works and fixes what is broken. A plan that ensures that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep it.

We will make sure people can still choose their own doctors, hospitals, and health plans. Americans need affordable health care they can count on. Too many families live just one illness or one accident or one pink slip away

from financial ruin. The cost of inaction is too great and the status quo is no longer an option. The status quo simply is not something we need to look to.

On another subject, today is a historic day in America. Right now, they are having opening statements in the Senate Judiciary Committee, Democrats and Republicans, regarding Sonia Sotomayor. She will, later today, testify before that committee as President Obama's nominee for the highest Court in our country. As we all know, she is the first Hispanic American to do so.

Judge Sotomayor has a wide range of experience, not just in the legal world but in the real world. Her understanding of the law is grounded not only in theory but also in practice. Her record and qualifications are tremendous. She has worked at almost every level of our judicial system--as a prosecutor, as a litigator, a trial court judge, and appellate judge.

That is the exact type of experience we need on the Supreme Court. When she is confirmed, she will bring to the bench more judicial experience than any sitting Justice had when they joined the Court.

Judge Sotomayor has been nominated by both Democratic and Republican Presidents. She has been confirmed twice by the Senate with strong bipartisan support. Her record is well known and well respected. We are committed to ensuring that she has a rigorous and reasonable confirmation hearing. We expect both sides to ask tough questions and we expect both the questions and their answers to be fair and honest before she is confirmed.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 94, S. 1233.

Mr. President, Senators Coburn and Feingold have an amendment at the desk, and I ask unanimous consent for its consideration; that the amendment be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the committee-reported substitute, as amended, be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that the bill, as amended, be read a third time.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to H.R. 2965, the House companion, which is at the desk; that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 1233, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof; the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that upon passage of H.R. 2965, S. 1233 be returned to the calendar, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. tomorrow, July 14; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and then there be a period for morning business of 1 hour, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; further, that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of Calendar No. 89, S. 1390, the Department of Defense authorization bill; then I ask the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus luncheons.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a period for the transaction of morning business. Senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. There will be no rollcall votes during today's session of the Senate.

Mr. President, many Americans are fortunate to have health insurance to help them pay for their prescriptions, treatments, or even doctor visits. Like any kind of insurance, we hope we never have to use it, but it is comforting to know it is there. But what happens if the system designed to give us that sense of security and stability is not itself secure or stable? Where does one turn when that certainty is taken away? That is the fear too many middle-class families in America have. They see the jobs around them disappear. For some, one of those jobs may be their own job. They see their paychecks get smaller, or they struggle each week because that paycheck simply does not go far enough. They may have insurance today, but they don't know if they will be able to say the same tomorrow.

Too many families in the greatest country and the largest economy in the world, by far, live just one illness or one accident or one pink slip away from losing that sense of security--their health insurance.

Far too many families have to make a decision when their children get sick: Do they buy them new school supplies or do they buy them clothes? Do they buy some extra groceries for the family or are they going to be able to take them to the doctor? As I say, do they get them new clothes when they grow out of their old ones or do they get the treatment they need to stay healthy or even to get healthy? Far too many hard-working Americans have to make a choice when their doctor gives them a prescription for chronic illness, or what insurance companies like to call a preexisting condition. Do they get that medicine or do they add that little piece of paper to a top of a mounting pile of bills they cannot afford to pay?

What about small businesses, those entrepreneurs in big cities and small towns that innovate, invent, and fuel our economy? They do have a choice to make. Do they hire new employees? Do they lay off more hard- working Americans or do they just simply cancel their health insurance for their employees because it is too expensive? Businessmen and businesswomen do not have a lack of insurance because they are cheap or they do not care about their employees, they do not have health insurance because they cannot afford it. It is too expensive.

Taking your child to the doctor, filling a prescription, and giving your workers health insurance should not have to be choices. They should not end in question marks. That is exactly why we are working to bring stability and security back to health care. Health care reform means making sure every American can afford access and care. Reform means making sure that if you lose your job, your health care will not go with the job you have lost. It means if you change jobs, your health care stays with you. Reforming health care means that if your mother had breast cancer or you had minor surgery last year or your kid gets allergies every spring, your insurance company cannot say: I am sorry, you are just too much of a risk for us to

cover anymore. Health care reform means lowering the cost of care and keeping it low. It means improving the quality of care you get and keeping the quality high. It means that premiums you pay every month will not go up just because your insurance company feels as if they should.

Senator Patty Murray of Washington told a story. I was at an event with her yesterday. She got up yesterday morning to find in the Washington press an insurance company that insures 135,000 Washingtonians will have a 17.5-percent increase immediately in their health insurance premiums. That is an average. Some are higher, some are lower. Reform means the premiums you pay every month will not go up just because your insurance company feels like it. It means keeping costs stable so the price of staying healthy does not fluctuate like a gallon of gas. It not only means making sure you can keep going to your family doctor or keep your health care plan if you like it but also that you can afford to do so.

No one can predict when the next accident might come, when one might get laid off. We don't know when we will get sick or when one of our loved ones will get sick. But we can put people in control of their own health care.

A doctor's first job when someone comes into the emergency room is to stabilize the patient. When it comes to addressing the emergency care in our health system, our job is to do the same--stabilize it. We have to cure the uncertainty in health care. We must fix our broken health care system so that when you open your medicine cabinet, you can be certain the prescription you need to get better will be there. When you open your wallet, you should be certain you can afford to go to the doctor. And when you open that small business in your hometown, you can be certain you can hire employees to grow your company, put your ideas into motion, realize your American dream, and have your employees covered with health insurance.

The status quo is ruining our country's financial stability. Right now, one-sixth of every dollar spent in America goes for health care. If we do not change this, by the year 2020--that is a little over 10 years away--it will be 35 cents of every dollar spent will be on health care. It will bankrupt our country. We must change this.

I ask my Republican colleagues: Let's not make this a partisan issue. Let's work together. That is why I so appreciated a number of valiant Republicans on the Finance Committee working together to try to come up with a health care plan that can be supported by Democrats and Republicans in the Senate. We can do it alone. Democrats can do it alone. We do not want to do it alone because it would be under something we call reconciliation, and it changes the rules. And instead of being able to do a large amount of health care, we are only going to be able to do a little health care. We want to work with our Republican colleagues. This is not a partisan issue. People losing their health care are not Democrats, Republicans, or Independents; they are Americans, whether from the State of Oregon or the State of Nevada.

The Presiding Officer represents the State of Oregon. There is extremely high unemployment in Oregon, higher than in Nevada, and we are over 11 percent. In 1 month, we went from 10.4 percent to 11.3 percent unemployment. So the people losing their jobs, losing their health care in Oregon and Nevada and all the rest of the States are not partisans. They want something done to restore their jobs, to get them new jobs, and to give them health insurance, if they do not have it, and make sure it is not taken away from them.

I reach out to my Republican colleagues to join with us in this necessity of doing something about health care. This is not something we are looking for work to do. We are doing it because it is absolutely essential. Right now, I repeat, one-sixth of every dollar spent goes to health care in America. If we do not change this, in just a few years it will be 35 cents of every dollar. We cannot sustain that.

Mr. President, it is my understanding you are going to open morning business.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 169, the nomination of Robert M. Groves to be the Director of the Census for our country.

Mr. President, I now send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be waived.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that on Monday, July 13, at 4:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to executive session, and there be 1 hour of debate prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination, with the time divided as follows: 15 minutes each for Senators Collins, Shelby, and Vitter, with 15 minutes equally divided between Senators Lieberman and Carper; that at 5:30 p.m., the Senate vote on the motion to invoke cloture; that if cloture is invoked, then all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate immediately vote on confirmation of the nomination; that upon confirmation, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; no further motions be in order; the President then be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. President, are we in morning business?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendars Nos. 195, 196, 261, 262, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 276, 277, 278, and 279; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; that no further motions be in order, that any statements relating thereto be printed in the Record, the President of the United States be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session.