Floor Statements

I object.

Mr. President, this is a very interesting amendment, since I have had this amendment the last two times a budget went through the Senate. Senator Conrad, the chairman of

the Budget Committee, has offered this alternative, but I would note that it contains an instruction that he himself, as chairman, should come up with the savings.

This is a very odd instruction that we put in the budget resolution because it does not say where the savings will occur. I hope he has no intention of raising taxes on other Americans to pay for this amendment.

I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mr. President, there is a modification at the desk to my amendment. The Chairman has been notified.

This is the third time I have addressed on the Senate floor this amendment, the unfair tax that has been on the senior citizens of this country since 1993 when the additional 35 percent was put on. This time it is paid for, not like the last one we voted on. This time it is paid for in my modification.

It specifically states it is paid for by an across-the-board cut in discretionary spending. We do not touch the entitlement spending, but discretionary spending is cut by the amount of money we need to pay for this cut for our senior citizens.

This is the real cut of taxes for senior citizens. The last one was a ``cover some part of your body'' rather than the real kind of tax cut.

But the other one did not pay for it.

Mr. President, I am proud to be introducing legislation today with Senator Stabenow that will benefit many of the teaching hospitals across the Nation, including 20 facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Teaching hospitals play a critical role in educating, inspiring, and preparing our young doctors to meet the challenges of their new profession. Although necessary, this training adds to the cost of patient care. That is why Medicare pays these hospitals for its share of cost of training new physicians through payments known as direct graduate medical education payments--or DGME payments.

Unfortunately, there is some inequity in how DGME payments are calculated. The legislation we are introducing today takes steps to adequately reimburse all hospitals for the cost of training new physicians.

Teaching hospitals initially reported their direct costs to the Department of Health and Human Services in the mid-1980s. These reported amounts are now the basis for which each teaching hospital is reimbursed.

Unfortunately, there was a disparity in the types of costs each hospital reported, which has lead to large variations in payments between hospitals. Hospitals are also being reimbursed on data that is 20 years old.

To help rectify this problem, in 1999 Congress established a floor for calculating Medicare payments for DGME at 70 percent of the national average. In 2001, Congress raised the floor to 85 percent of the national average.

The legislation Senator Stabenow and I are introducing today would bring all of Medicare's DGME hospitals up 100 percent of the national average over a 3-year period. This would affect about 600 hospitals across the Nation that are currently being reimbursed below the national average, including the 20 in Kentucky.

I am glad we are introducing this legislation today and hope my colleagues can take a close look at it. Adequately paying our teaching hospitals is critically important, and this bill would benefit many hospitals across the country.

Mr. President, I am proud to be introducing legislation today with Senator Stabenow that will benefit many of the teaching hospitals across the Nation, including 20 facilities in the Commonwealth of Kentucky.

Teaching hospitals play a critical role in educating, inspiring, and preparing our young doctors to meet the challenges of their new profession. Although necessary, this training adds to the cost of patient care. That is why Medicare pays these hospitals for its share of cost of training new physicians through payments known as direct graduate medical education payments--or DGME payments.

Unfortunately, there is some inequity in how DGME payments are calculated. The legislation we are introducing today takes steps to adequately reimburse all hospitals for the cost of training new physicians.

Teaching hospitals initially reported their direct costs to the Department of Health and Human Services in the mid-1980s. These reported amounts are now the basis for which each teaching hospital is reimbursed.

Unfortunately, there was a disparity in the types of costs each hospital reported, which has lead to large variations in payments between hospitals. Hospitals are also being reimbursed on data that is 20 years old.

To help rectify this problem, in 1999 Congress established a floor for calculating Medicare payments for DGME at 70 percent of the national average. In 2001, Congress raised the floor to 85 percent of the national average.

The legislation Senator Stabenow and I are introducing today would bring all of Medicare's DGME hospitals up 100 percent of the national average over a 3-year period. This would affect about 600 hospitals across the Nation that are currently being reimbursed below the national average, including the 20 in Kentucky.

I am glad we are introducing this legislation today and hope my colleagues can take a close look at it. Adequately paying our teaching hospitals is critically important, and this bill would benefit many hospitals across the country.

No more than 15 minutes.

I will yield.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be set aside and that my amendment No. 4192 at the desk be called up for consideration.

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

Mr. President, I spoke about this yesterday, and I have brought it to this Chamber before on numerous occasions. In fact, the Senate adopted a very similar amendment by unanimous consent last year, and it passed on a recorded vote 2 years earlier.

My amendment would repeal an unfair tax that Congress enacted in 1993. The Congressional Budget Office has said that over 15 million senior citizens are affected by the taxation of Social Security benefits. When Congress created the Social Security Program to provide income security for seniors, part of the structure of that program, and one of the reasons for its popularity, was that benefits were not taxed. I will say that again.

Social Security benefits were not taxed when the program was created. In 1983, the Greenspan Commission and Congress decided that half of the benefits of some seniors should be subject to taxation and, in 1993, raised that amount to 85 percent of the Social Security benefits that a senior citizen receives.

This tax affected supposedly ``wealthy'' seniors, with incomes above $34,000 for single seniors, and $44,000 for a couple. Those are supposedly wealthy senior citizens. The goal of this seemed to be to impose a type of means testing on Social Security beneficiaries--in other words, tilting the benefit structure in favor of low-income seniors, making it more like a welfare program.

This is the kind of change Senator Patrick Moynihan often warned Congress about. But the Ways and Means Committee and the President ignored his warnings. If that was the goal, the legislation was fundamentally flawed. The $34,000 and $44,000 amounts were not indexed for inflation. I can assure you that seniors earning these amounts do not consider themselves wealthy at all--particularly with the increased cost of prescription drugs, rent, or mortgage payments, gasoline, particularly with unleaded regular being $3.20 a gallon now, heating oil, and even food prices that seniors are experiencing today.

My amendment is fairly simple. It drops the tax back to the pre-1993 level, starting in 2008, this year, in this budget. This means the 85 percent tax would be eliminated, and the maximum amount of Social Security benefits that could be taxed would be 50 percent. The revenue from the 1993 tax was applied to the Medicare trust fund.

My amendment would make the trust fund whole by offsetting the cost of the tax rollback by $89 billion over 5 years, with an adjustment to function 920 of the budget.

The inspector general's and the CBO's budget operation report identified over $300 billion in potential savings on Government programs over the next 5 years. I believe the committee of jurisdiction can review wasteful Government spending in order to offset this extremely important tax cut for America's seniors. This was an unfair tax on our seniors when it was enacted, and it is time we repeal it.

Think of this now. A senior citizen, single, with an income of $34,000 receiving maybe $36,000 from Social Security and other income, and they have to pay 85 percent tax on that Social Security benefit--85 percent. That is the largest, highest taxation of any benefit we receive from the Federal Government--85 percent of anything. Say I receive $36,000 from the Federal Government in Social Security benefits and other income. On the $34,000 I receive from Social Security, 85 percent of that is taxed at the normal rate that I would pay in whatever tax bracket I fall under. The same goes with a married couple. Married couples, both seniors, both have unusual expenses as far as prescription drugs, and some have prescription drugs amounting to maybe $1,000 each per month--maybe $1,000 each per month, home heating oil, gas and electric to heat their homes or cool their homes, groceries-- all these things add up for our seniors today. This tax is completely and totally unfair to the senior citizens we have today.

I urge my colleagues to support this amendment, as many have in the past. This is something that should have been done a long time ago. I have tried, since its inception in 1993, to get this repealed back to the 50-percent level. I have not been successful. The majority, last year, accepted this amendment by unanimous consent. It went to the conference committee and was kicked out. They accepted it, said they would try to do it, and then because of the cost it was kicked out.

What does that tell our senior citizens in the United States--that they are second-class citizens; they have to pay more on their Social Security benefits than anybody else. I don't think that is fair. I think it is time that we did something about it.

So, please, I ask my colleagues on the Senate floor, help us this year finally repeal this unfair tax that we added to our seniors in 1993.

Mr. President, I will ask for the yeas and nays when the amendment comes up.

Madam President, I was assured I would have time at 5 o'clock to speak for up to 10 minutes.

Madam President, I wish to speak today as a member of the Senate Budget Committee. I had hoped the budget that was presented before the committee last week was going to be fiscally responsible and would help to address the mounting financial problems families face today, problems such as the rising cost of filling up a tank of gas, increased expenses for health care, and declining equity in the family home. Instead, this budget before us assumes Congress will allow the largest irresponsible tax increase in the history of the United States to go into effect. At $1.2 trillion, it would be the largest tax increase in history, and taxes would go up $2,300 on 43 million American families, $2,200 more on 18 million senior citizens, and $4,100 more on small businesses. Because of this, I was not able to support the budget resolution in committee, and I will be forced to vote against it here unless some drastic changes are made.

This tax increase will hit family budgets hard. Let me tell my colleagues what $2,300 means to most American families. The family budget--and we are talking about groceries now--$2,300 is enough to buy 8 months of groceries. Next, we have the bills for gas and electric for heating; $2,300 a year is enough for 43 million American families to buy enough gas and electric for 1 year's heating. It is almost enough money for American families with two cars to buy gasoline at $3.20 a gallon for unleaded regular for almost an entire year. We should not, at this time, be placing more of a burden on the American people with a huge tax increase. Instead, we need to pass a budget that includes progrowth policies to help balance the family budget.

This budget proposal increases spending by $210 billion in discretionary spending--an increase of over 9 percent of what we spent in fiscal year 2008. Under this budget, we will see a $2 trillion increase in the debt of the United States by 2013. That is more than $6,000 in extra debt for each and every American citizen.

At $3.08 trillion, this budget resolution calls for $10,165 of spending for every man, woman, and child in America--all 300 million of us. But there are only about 130 million taxpayers who file an income tax return. Of those 130 million, only about 14 million had an average income liability of over $10,000 in 2005. Of these, about 11 million had gross incomes between $100,000 and $200,000. That leaves 3.5 million taxpayers--no more than 2 percent--with an income above $200,000. These wealthy few are paying an extraordinary 50.1 percent of all Federal tax revenues. But even if you taxed away half of their income, the additional revenue would not add up to enough to balance the budget and pay for programs in mandatory spending this budget resolution assumes over the long term.

The idea that money can be found in a mythical source of funding called the tax gap is unlikely as well. The chairman of the Budget Committee repeatedly has noted that the IRS estimate of the gross tax gap is close to $345 billion per year. However, the idea that anywhere near this amount of money can be raised by closing the tax gap is simply an illusion. It is nothing more than a figleaf meant to conceal the intent of spending beyond the means of the Federal Government.

The truth is, we are not really serious about this, and the proof is that we do not have a proposed penny more in this budget for the IRS than the President does in his budget. It would be difficult to drive the long-term history level of voluntary compliance from 85 percent, where it is now, to nearly 100 percent in order to tap into this mythical source of funding because that is what it would take to raise $345 billion per year. But it is hard to see how it can be done without a vast increase in the size of the IRS.

We also need to pass a budget that includes the necessary funding to help us stop our addiction to foreign oil.

In 2005, Congress enacted a comprehensive national energy plan--the first step toward energy independence. Nevertheless, this year has been a difficult year for Americans facing much higher energy costs. The policies we enacted in 2005 needed to be backed up with Federal funding in the budget, but this budget resolution fails to address important alternative-fuel technologies and other oil replacements.

One of our top priorities should be on our most abundant domestic fossil fuel: coal. New technologies will make burning coal both cheaper and more efficient. We are even developing coal-to-liquid technology that can create a synthetic transportation fuel from coal. American coal reserves will be our best tool to overcome our reliance on Middle Eastern oil.

I have three amendments I wish to propose to this budget resolution.

First, I wish to offer an amendment that will repeal the unfair tax Congress enacted in 1993. I have brought this issue before the Chamber before, so it should be familiar to many of my colleagues. In fact, the Senate adopted a very similar amendment by unanimous consent last year, and it passed by a recorded vote 2 years earlier.

When the Social Security Program was created, benefits were not taxed. In

1983, Congress decided that half the benefits of some seniors should be subject to taxation and in 1993 raised that amount to 85 percent of the Social Security benefits. Today, more than 15 million seniors are affected by that taxation of benefits. In 1993, the tax was intended to reach only wealthy seniors by the income levels which were set at $34,000 for a single and $44,000 per couple. This is hardly wealthy today.

My amendment is fairly simple. It drops the tax back to the pre-1993 levels, and it is paid for by an offset of $89 billion over 5 years by an adjustment in function 920. Over $300 billion in potential savings on Government programs over the next 5 years has been identified by the inspectors general report and the CBO options report. And it is my hope that the committees of jurisdiction will review wasteful Government spending to offset the repeal of this tax increase on America's seniors. It was unfair then when it was enacted, and we need to repeal it now. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

The second amendment I plan to offer, together with Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska and Senator DeMint, will make room in the budget to permanently extend the tax incentives for adoption that we enacted in 2001. This is a critical kitchen-table, family-budget issue for many middle-income families in Kentucky and across the country who are contemplating the adoption of a young child or facing costs of adoption. By helping to ease this financial burden, we can encourage the development of more stable families and provide a brighter future for thousands of children.

This important goal prompted us to act in 2001 when we passed these important adoption incentives in the form of tax credits. In 2005 alone, 85,000 families, 77 percent with an adjusted gross income of under $100,000, claimed $319.5 million in adoption credits.

Mr. President, I would like to mention the last one, and I will be finished. I ask for 1 additional minute.

Mr. President, last year the Joint Committee on Taxation scored the cost of my bill, the Adoption Tax Relief Guarantee Act, at $4.5 billion over 10 years.

The last amendment I wish to discuss will require the budget resolution to balance the Federal budget without Social Security taxes. For too long, we have been relying on payroll taxes to pay for general Government spending. As we all know, 2017 is the year in which Social Security obligations begin to equal payroll tax contributions, but our problems are likely to emerge much sooner.

In 2011, payroll tax contributions to the Social Security trust fund will begin to decline. Each year, we are going to have a problem, and by the year 2044, we will be paying 72 percent of the assigned benefits right now on our Social Security unless we address the Social Security spending in our current general budget.

I thank the Chair.

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

Mr. President, I request that the time I use in morning business not be counted against any of the Democratic time that has been set aside.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in opposition to pulling our troops out of Iraq based on political timetables conceived in the Senate.

I have voted against similar measures in the past. I intend to vote against them again this week. These bills do nothing more than tie the hands of our commanders on the ground while pandering to special interests here in the United States--antiwar groups.

These are the same commanders who are risking their lives daily that our mission in Iraq can continue to succeed. And our mission is succeeding. General Petraeus is succeeding. Violence in Iraq is at the lowest since the insurgency began. Suicide bombings are down 70 percent. IED attacks have been cut in half.

The surge is working. Since it began less than a year ago, we have succeeded in putting al-Qaida on the run, while rooting out the terrorists neighborhood by neighborhood. In return, Iraqis have partnered with U.S. troops, forming their own security forces, and stabilizing their own neighborhoods. These efforts have served to unite torn communities, such as Anbar Province, and pave the way for political reconciliation.

The other side has said for months the surge has failed because it has not created an environment for political progress in Iraq. Well, they are wrong. The correlation between the surge and security is obvious. In the past few weeks, as we continue to see increased stability throughout Iraq, the Iraqi Government has made great political strides.

On February 13, the Iraqi Council of Representatives passed three key pieces of legislation: An amnesty law, the 2008 budget, and a provincial powers law. These political milestones are made possible by Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds reaching out to each other and working to find solutions that represent all Iraqis.

This is General Petraeus's counterinsurgency at work. It worked when he was commander of the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul, and now it is working all across Iraq.

So I ask my colleagues across the aisle: Why, when you see our mission in Iraq is succeeding, and the Iraqi people are making real political progress, do you want to pull the rug out from underneath our commanders and our troops?

Last July, the Senate overwhelmingly supported, by a vote of 94 to 3, a sense-of-the-Senate amendment stating that it is in our national security interests that Iraq not become a failed state and a safe haven for terrorists.

Well, wake up. Cutting and running from Iraq will only benefit the terrorists, while jeopardizing our national security and that of the Iraqi people.

Make no mistake, Iraq is the central battleground in our fight in the global war on terror. This is not just my opinion. Osama bin Laden has called Iraq the ``central front'' in his war against America. He knows that the premature withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq will strengthen his terrorist organization, enabling him to set up training camps in that country.

Although it has been over 6 years since we have experienced a terrorist attack on U.S. soil, we must never forget that there are those out there who wish to do us harm on a daily basis. And those who wish to do us harm will benefit if we pull out of Iraq and leave a failed state behind.

Al-Qaida and its allies flourish and multiply in the chaos of failed States with no rule of law or respect for human rights. Instead of debating a cut-and-run strategy in Iraq that has already failed on the floor of this Senate four times, we should be focusing on how to provide the defenders of our freedom--our commanders and our troops-- with the necessary tools to complete their mission.

Last week, I had the opportunity to meet with the new commanding general of the 101st Airborne at Fort Campbell, KY. Located on the southern border between Kentucky and Tennessee, the Fort Campbell community has felt the effects of deployments and casualties.

Right around 200 soldiers from Fort Campbell have given their lives for their country. Thousands of good men and women have spent tours of 15 months away from their families--some four, some three, others two, and some one: tours of 15 or 12 months from the 101st Airborne in Iraq.

Speaking with the commanding general only reinforced my belief that we have some of the finest patriots serving in our Nation's military. The brave men and women who answer the call to defend our Nation, and the families and communities who support them, are our most valuable national asset. I do not want to see their unbelievable efforts in Iraq fail. We as a nation have invested too much to hand a big victory to al-Qaida in Iraq.

This political show needs to end.

In April, General Petraeus will report back to Congress on the state of our mission in Iraq. As Senators who voted in support of his confirmation, we owe him this opportunity to present his report to us, instead of cutting him off at the knees right before his report. We should show him the respect of listening to his report. We owe an honorable man, who has spent--I want you to remember this--who has spent most of the last 5 years away from his family in Iraq to see that freedom in America is preserved.

I urge my colleagues to join me in giving General Petraeus this opportunity and opposing these bills.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to honor my friend from Mississippi, Senator Trent Lott. Trent and I have been friends since my first year in the House in 1987.

He was the minority whip in the House during my first year in Washington, DC. Now that we are in the Senate together 20 years later he is my minority whip again.

Trent and I have enjoyed our time together on Wednesday afternoons in Chowder and Marching. My wife Mary and I have enjoyed spending time with Trent and his lovely wife Trish. Trent and Trish are college sweethearts and two of the great warming personalities in our Senate family.

We are proud that members of the Lott family call Kentucky home. Trent and Trish often come to the Bluegrass State to see their son Chet and his family.

He has served the people of Mississippi well for over 30 years. After the devastation of Katrina, the gulf coast region had no stronger advocate than Senator Lott.

Trent has risen from humble roots in his beloved Pascagoula to one of the top leaders in Congress. I know his family and the people of Mississippi are proud to call him one of their own.

Mr. President, I would like to thank Trent for his contributions to the Senate and wish him and his family well as they open a new chapter in their lives.

Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to the Fort Campbell Varsity football team from Fort Campbell, KY. On December 8, 2007, the Fort Campbell High School Varsity football team won the Class 2-A State Championship in Louisville, KY.

For the young men on this team, this is not just a trophy; it is an affirmation that with hard work and determination, anything is possible. To accomplish this goal the members not only have to juggle long practices and games, but they continue to achieve academic excellence. Not only are these young men excellent athletes and students, but they pride themselves in giving back to their community for all the support they have received by doing community service, fundraising, and school public relations.

Fort Campbell, KY, is proud to be home to the 101st Airborne Division and 160th Special Operations Airborne Division. Many of the players on the Fort Campbell Falcons have loved ones currently serving our Nation abroad. I am confident that these loved ones would be proud of what the Falcons have accomplished this season.

The citizens of Fort Campbell, KY, are fortunate to have the 2007 Class 2-A State Champions and families living and learning in their community. Their example of hard work and determination should be followed by all in the Commonwealth.

I am very proud of the accomplishments these young men have made. I would like to congratulate the members of the Fort Campbell High School Varsity football team for their success. But, also, I want to congratulate their peers, coaches, teachers, administrators, and dedicated parents for the support and sacrifices they have made to help the Fort Campbell High School football team make their dreams a reality.

Mr. President, it is with great admiration and respect that I take this time to recognize a dear friend and one of Kentucky's most distinguished citizens, Judge Clyde Middleton, on his 80th birthday.

Born January 30, 1928, Judge Middleton achieved a commendable record of public service to Kenton County and the Commonwealth of Kentucky. A graduate of the U.S. Naval Academy and a retired Navy captain, he later earned an MBA from my alma mater, Xavier University, and a juris doctor from Chase College of Law in northern Kentucky. Judge Middleton served with distinction as a Kentucky State senator and judge executive of Kenton County, and still today is very active in his community. He and his wonderful wife Mary are the proud grandparents of four grandchildren.

Mr. President, I am honored to have had the opportunity to recognize the dedication of Clyde Middleton to his community, and ask you to join me in honoring him on his birthday.

Mr. President, today I pay tribute to Jerry Parks of Georgetown, KY, for being recognized on USA Today's 2007 All-USA Teacher Team.

For 10 years USA Today has selected K-12 teachers nationwide for the All-USA Teacher Team. This year the nominees were judged on how well they recognize and respond to the needs of their students as well as the effectiveness of their teaching methods. Each team member demonstrates dedication and enthusiasm for educating the youth and future of this great country.

Mr. Parks, a seventh-grade social studies teacher at Georgetown Middle School, was recognized in the top 8 of 20 teachers on this national team. His creative hands-on teaching techniques produce students who value education and are eager to learn more. Mr. Parks also holds a doctorate in theology and has had several teacher guides published. Because of his commitment to education, Mr. Parks established student scholarships with the profits from these publications. His passion for teaching serves as an inspiration to his peers and to teachers everywhere.

I now ask my fellow colleagues to join me in congratulating Mr. Parks for his remarkable achievement and his devotion to educating young minds. Our Nation can look forward to a brighter future because of individuals like Jerry Parks.

Mr. President, I invite my colleagues to join me in congratulating Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior High School of Villa Hills, KY. Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior High School is recognized as a 2007 No Child Left Behind Blue Ribbon School.

The Blue Ribbon Schools Program has been celebrating high achieving schools for 25 years. Established in 1982 by the U.S. Department of Education, the program has recognized more than 5,200 schools since its inception. This year 11 Kentucky schools join this distinguished list, and I am proud to say that this is the second time Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior High School has been a worthy recipient.

By demanding excellence from each and every student, Villa Madonna

Academy Elementary and Junior High School truly celebrates the blue ribbon standard of excellence that the No Child Left Behind Program strives to achieve. Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior High School exemplifies what our Kentucky schools can achieve when we have enough faith in our students to challenge them to their full potential.

I congratulate Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior High School on this achievement. The administrators, teachers, parents, and students of this school are an inspiration to the citizens of Kentucky. I look forward to all that Villa Madonna Academy Elementary and Junior High School accomplishes in the future.

Mr. President, I wish to talk about the Children's Health Insurance Program, known as SCHIP. In Kentucky, it is known as