Floor Statements

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from North Carolina. It is a privilege to be a member of her class and the class of distinguished colleagues of freshmen, and I commend her as well for her leadership in this discussion this morning, adding onto the role the freshman class is playing in advocating for health care reform for the American people.

I would like to speak this morning about a key national indicators system.

As we know, America is said to lead the world in health innovation. It can create the finest medical devices, the most effective drugs to treat diseases and advanced processes and procedures to care for patients. It is this wide range of remarkable innovations that has resulted in today's $2.3 trillion health care industry. But despite all of our medical achievements and technologies and the private and public money we spend on health care, we do not lead the world in health outcomes.

We need to innovate not only in the way we treat patients but in the way we create and implement health care policy. For that reason, one of the most promising provisions in the draft health reform measures about to come before us is the creation of a key national indicators system.

When illness strikes, we expect a health care team to carefully collect information from the patient and then consult the wide range of information available to them to achieve the appropriate diagnosis and treatment. That careful and complete process should yield the best possible course of treatment and recovery.

We need the same kind of approach in the creation of wise health care policy. In particular, we need measures to identify what is wrong with our current health care system, including what is driving the increasingly high cost of care. Abundant research and reports have analyzed such questions. What is missing is a central, independent organization that can analyze all of the research performed by various organizations and make that information readily available to Congress, to the executive branch, and the American people. That is an indispensable part of successful health reform. It will give decisionmakers easier access to all the knowledge available and eliminate wasteful spending of the hard-earned dollars of American families.

Senator Kennedy and Senator Enzi, in a strong, bipartisan effort, understood the need for this vital resource, and they designed a key national indicators system to provide it. It will be a nonpartisan, independent agency with a public-private partnership. It will foster better relations and relationships between members of the legislative, statistical, and scientific communities and will lead to greater transparency and accountability for spending on national health programs. Without such a resource, we will be at a serious disadvantage in fully understanding emerging health risks and in assessing whether the intended result is being achieved or adequate progress is being made on the health care challenges facing us.

The key national indicators system will make all its data available on a newly created, widely accessible Web site in the health care context. This unprecedented accessibility of data will assist the public in understanding what information was used by politicians in creating health care policies. It will enable policymakers to see whether progress is being made in health reform. And it will permit practitioners and researchers to use the information for the greater benefit of patients and consumers of health and medical care.

Significant progress in this area has already been accomplished. Over the years, the Institute of Medicine has been able to identify five drivers of health care quality and costs: first, health outcomes; second, health-related behaviors; third, health system performance; fourth, social and physical environment; and fifth, demographic disparities. The institute has recommended 20 specific indicators for measuring these five drivers of health care quality and cost. These indicators were carefully selected to reflect both the overall health of the Nation and the efficiency and effectiveness of our health care industry. However, the institute lacks an implementation system that can use these indicators effectively to guide future policy and practice. That is the goal and that is the mission of the new agency, the key national indicators system, we propose.

Here is one example of how this legislation will improve our health care system. A recent study conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health found that using a simple checklist during surgical procedures resulted in a one-third reduction of complications from that surgery. Reports such as these are made public, but you have to know where to look in order to access this information. The key national indicators system will take these reports, compile them, disseminate them, and make them available to the public. So any time a bill is being developed, a congressional office can go to this Web site and see all of the research that has been conducted on the topic in order to make economically sound decisions for the American people.

Currently, Congress and the executive branch continue to follow old habits. We tend to reinvent the wheel with every major new bill that is introduced. That approach leads to wasted time, wasted energy, and wasted money. Old habits are not good enough to achieve tomorrow's goals. By developing this indicator system, a process will be in place so that the efficiency and effectiveness of government spending on short-, medium-, and long-term problems can be determined quickly and in a fiscally responsible manner.

Our current system is unsustainable. It creates unnecessary confusion when Americans can least afford it. We need a system that will provide insight, foresight, transparency, and accountability. We will not be doing our job for the American people if we allow their money to be spent without assessing the cost-effectiveness of the various programs being developed.

By creating the key national indicators system, we can reassure all Americans that we did our required due diligence and that our health care reform bill will truly work for them.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I thank the distinguished Senator from California and the Senator from Tennessee for allowing me to make a brief statement on a very important event that took place in this Capitol just yesterday.

I was privileged and deeply moved to witness a ceremony in the Rotunda of this building at which Edward W. Brooke, the distinguished former Republican Senator from Massachusetts, was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal.

This award, as you know, is the highest bipartisan award that Congress can bestow. The award to Republican Senator Brooke was the result of legislation sponsored by two history-conscious Democrats: Representative Eleanor Holmes Norton of Washington, DC, and Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts, who served with Ed Brooke in the Senate for many years.

Senator Brooke was a trailblazer, a bridge builder, and a statesman. The grandson of a slave, he grew up in a segregated neighborhood not far from this Chamber. But he rose to become the first African American elected to the Senate.

I am proud, and the citizens of Massachusetts are proud, to have sent Ed Brooke to Washington. We saw yesterday what our State saw in him long ago: his strength, his wisdom, his decency, and his deep commitment to meeting the needs of the American people.

Ed Brooke was elected as a Republican, but the people of Massachusetts did not see him as a strident party man. They saw him as a great American and a model politician. They supported him because they understood that difficult times require statesmen who can work across party lines.

Returning to the Capitol yesterday, at the age of 90, Senator Brooke spoke powerfully about this Senate as a place where Members of both parties can and must work together for the common good. That was the spirit of the Senate in which Ed Brooke served. That was the spirit of the Senate that Ted Kennedy embraced, and the spirit that led to countless bipartisan accomplishments. It is a spirit we desperately need to revitalize as we work our way through the needed reform and repair of our broken health care system.

As an elder statesman of the Republican Party, this is what Senator Brooke said yesterday:

I'm here to tell you that politics is not an evil thing.

It's a good thing, and when used properly, it does good

things. I think of the awesome responsibilities of the House

of Representatives and the U.S. Senate in these years of

crisis. Three wars that we're in, and an economy that has

taken such a long time to turn around, and the lack of

adequate safe housing that we promised the Nation back in

1949, clear air and clear water, a health care bill.

Speaking to the Senate and to the House he went on:

You have awesome responsibilities. Not only this country,

but this world looks to you. When Republicans and Democrats

get together, they can do anything! And the country is

waiting for you to do anything. They just want relief. You

have that responsibility. You have that authority. You are

the people on Earth who are going to save this country and

save this world. Think about that. We have got to get

together. We have no alternative. There is nothing left. It

is time for politics to be put aside on the back burner.

With those words, the several hundred people in the Chamber came to their feet and cheered and applauded.

Like Senator Brooke, I have the perspective of someone who has spent the last few decades in private life. I can report that American families are deeply troubled by the economic hardship of the present and by the uncertainty of the future. It gives them no comfort to see the Senate so politically polarized and unwilling to come together in common cause without regard to politics to solve the critical problems before us.

As I said in my maiden speech in this Chamber 2 days ago, as the health care debate moves forward, we who are privileged to serve in this historic body on both sides of the aisle have the opportunity and the obligation to take the long view, to put partisan politics aside, and come together to seize this unique and critical moment in our history.

I have had the privilege in the past to serve as chairman of the Democratic Party of the United States, so I am no stranger to partisan politics. But I like to think I also know when it is time to put partisanship aside and work together.

As President Obama said yesterday, while we grace Senator Brooke with this honor today, perhaps a better tribute to him would be to embrace that spirit: to compete aggressively at the polls, but then work selflessly together to serve the Nation we love.

No words could serve as a better summons to the historic debate on health care that lies ahead of us. We are poised to enact the most significant domestic legislation since the civil rights era. I know each and every Senator has deeply held beliefs about how we can best reform our health care system and that those deeply held beliefs will sometimes collide. We should and we will have a vigorous debate in this Chamber. But that debate should reflect a level of cooperation that is equal to the magnitude of what is at stake for American families. It should reflect a spirit of teamwork and collaboration that we always saw in statesmen such as Ed Brooke and Ted Kennedy. Our times, and our Nation, demand nothing less.

I offer my sincere congratulations to Senator Brooke. I thank him for his service to this country and his wise counsel to those of us who are serving in the Senate today.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to have the remarks of Senator Brooke at yesterday's Congressional Gold Medal ceremony printed in the Record. I commend them to my colleagues, and I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the following op-ed article written by Doug Flutie and printed in the Boston Globe on October 17, 2009, be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I thank Senator Begich for his leadership this morning on important issues that are concerning the American people. I thank the Senator from Alaska and my other colleagues in the freshman class for advancing the important measures that the American people are anxious to see enacted to improve their health security future and their economic future as well. I also thank my colleagues for their kindness and courtesies in welcoming me to the Senate and to be a part of this impressive and distinguished team as we do what is our responsibility for the American people.

This morning I wish to address a legislative initiative that will assist our senior or infirm citizens as part of our health care reform initiative.

Today in the United States, there are approximately 200 million people who are elderly or disabled. These individuals are some of our most vulnerable and often they are forgotten. But they always had a friend and advocate in Senator Ted Kennedy. He was the premier legislative innovator.

Senator Kennedy understood the current system is not working; that it cried out for innovation. He knew it was wrong that in order for individuals with disabilities and the elderly to receive the services and support they needed, they had to stop working, spend down their savings, abandon their dreams, abandon their homes, and possibly go into a permanent facility--all the wrong incentives for individuals who deserve dignity in those fragile years. All this, he felt, was directly contrary to our idea of living the American dream.

Senator Kennedy was not one to sit idly by. He acted. He acted to try to help as many of these men and women as possible. The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act--known as the CLASS Act-- was at the heart of his efforts to help people with functional limitations and their families obtain the services and support they needed in order to keep their independence and continue as active members of their communities. I am honored to take up that worthy cause.

Here is how the CLASS Act will help the middle class. Under the act, a worker in Massachusetts or any other State can choose to pay into a voluntary insurance program through affordable payroll deductions. After 5 years of those deductions, they would be eligible for a daily cash benefit of $50 if they became disabled. That money can make a huge difference in allowing a disabled person to live with independence and with dignity. For example, it can pay for having a ramp installed in their home or pay for needed transportation or purchase a computer to work from home and remain self-sufficient.

Some have said this innovation is unsustainable; that it is just another government benefit that will become unaffordable in the years to come. But the Congressional Budget Office and other independent auditing agencies estimate the CLASS Act will be able to maintain its solvency for 75 years. The plan is self-funded and is a cost saver for Medicaid since fewer people would need to push themselves into poverty in order to enroll in Medicaid and receive the care they need. The CLASS Act will correct that disincentive.

The CLASS Act is a realistic answer to the serious problems of our current system and it is important to the lives of millions of Americans. Disability could suddenly strike any of us in the years ahead. As we work to provide health insurance to the tens of millions of Americans who do not have it, it is hard to understand why we should not meet the needs of millions of people with disabilities and the elderly who desperately need our help.

I hope very much that our colleagues will support the CLASS Act as an innovative and necessary part of the current health reform bill, and I look forward to further opportunities to advance this measure, and ultimately as a part of the needed health reform bill that is coming to the floor that will help and serve the American people through its ultimate enactment.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

Madam President, as the Senate prepares to debate the critical reform of our Nation's health care system, I am privileged to stand at the Massachusetts desk from which the voice--that unmistakable, booming voice--of the most effective legislator of our time was heard throughout this Chamber that he loved for nearly a half century.

The voice of Senator Edward M. Kennedy called out against injustice, denial of opportunity, and needless suffering of every kind. Sometimes with humor, sometimes with indignation, he spoke skillfully and tirelessly as a champion of working families, the poor, the disabled, and those engaged in a constant struggle for economic and social justice.

Of all the issues on which he led the Senate and our Nation, the one Ted Kennedy called the cause of his life was the battle for affordable, quality health care. He saw the need as universal--made real by experiences deeply personal. He was the father of three children who faced serious illnesses and received the finest health care in the world.

He understood firsthand the anguish of a parent who learns that a child is gravely ill. He found it unacceptable that some Americans receive quality health care while millions of others do not.

For almost 50 years, his voice thundered in this Chamber and across the Nation with a clear and compelling message: affordable, quality health care must be a basic right for all, not a privilege for the few.

In Senator Kennedy's own maiden speech in this Chamber, he noted the conventional wisdom that freshman Senators should be seen and not heard. But he felt compelled to speak out on the Civil Rights Act of 1964 because it was the defining moral issue of that time.

As the newest of freshman Senators, who is honored to stand briefly in his place, I have no doubt about my obligation to Senator Kennedy, to the values and friendship we shared, to the citizens of Massachusetts, and to the country we love. So I am grateful for this opportunity to speak out at another defining moment for our Nation, on what I and Senator Kennedy believe to be the moral issue of this time.

At this moment, we are closer to realizing the long-held dream that all

Americans have access to quality, affordable health care than at any time in our Nation's history. By seizing this moment, we will, at long last, put America on equal standing with other nations that long ago assured their citizens quality, affordable health care as a matter of right.

Despite the urging of Republican and Democratic Presidents alike, from Theodore Roosevelt to Bill Clinton, the United States remains the only industrial Nation that has yet to guarantee health care for all its citizens.

It has been 40 years since Edward Kennedy gave his first speech on this issue. In an address at the Boston University Medical Center, he declared the time had come to establish a national plan to provide affordable and quality health care for every American.

Rough estimates at the time suggested 25 million were without any coverage. Today we have 46 million uninsured Americans.

In the four decades since Ted Kennedy issued that challenge, despite the expenditure of trillions of dollars and a passing of a generation, millions of Americans worry each day whether their health insurance will be there for them and for their children. They fear their insurance company will drop them if they are sick or set limits on their coverage that will leave them destitute. They wonder if their insurance will be adequate and if they are but one serious illness away from bankruptcy.

They ask why insurance companies are permitted to charge higher premiums for women than for men. They are afraid, if they lose their jobs, they will be unable to get new insurance because they have a preexisting condition. Worse, tens of millions of our fellow citizens go to bed each night praying their children will stay well because they have no insurance at all. They work hard, they play by the rules, they do everything possible to provide for their families, but they need every penny to put a roof over their heads and food on the table. In the end, they simply cannot afford health insurance.

After decades of falling short of the mark, quality, affordable health care for all Americans is, at long last, within their reach. Thanks to the leadership of Senator Reid, Senator Dodd, Senator Baucus, and others, in combining the bipartisan work of the Health and Finance Committees, and thanks to similar work being done in the House of Representatives and the leadership and support of President Obama, we are closer than ever to fixing our broken health care system.

Yes, there are issues yet to be resolved. In the days ahead, I, too, will advocate for a public option because we need to stimulate competition and reduce costs in the health care marketplace.

I will also speak for the so-called CLASS Act, a voluntary, self- funded, self-insured, deficit-reducing plan that will protect millions of Americans against the crushing cost of long-term services and support so necessary in their senior years.

But as this debate moves forward, we who are privileged to serve in this historic body, on both sides of the aisle, have the opportunity and the obligation to take the long view, to put aside partisan politics and come together to seize this unique and critical moment in our history.

Bipartisanship works for the people. Only 3 years ago, with Senator Kennedy's guidance, Democrats and Republicans in Massachusetts worked together to adopt a health reform plan approved by a Democratic legislature, signed by a Republican Governor, and implemented with essential support from a Republican President.

The experience of Massachusetts was bipartisan. It has helped to shape the legislation this Senate will soon consider. Our national legislation draws ideas from both sides of the aisle and from all parts of the political spectrum. Similar to our Massachusetts reform, it will make a lifesaving and cost-saving difference for millions of Americans, whatever their station in life and whatever their political persuasion.

It is regrettable that efforts for reform in the Senate and the House have been under assault by special interests that have a financial stake in our failing health care system. As part of that opposition, they have attacked the success of our reform in Massachusetts. But let me set the record straight.

First, because of our bipartisan reforms, less than 3 percent of the Massachusetts population is without health insurance today, lower than any other State.

Second, the most respected independent fiscal watchdog concluded that Massachusetts implemented its reform in a fiscally responsible and financially sustainable way.

Third, unlike every other State, employer-based health insurance is increasing in Massachusetts.

Finally, according to a recent statewide poll by the Harvard School of Public Health, 79 percent of the public, and practitioners in every sector of the Massachusetts health care system, including physicians, strongly supports our bipartisan reform.

Let me quote a recent message from a Massachusetts doctor:

You will be glad to know that I just saw the very last

uninsured patient in my panel of about 300 patients for whom

I am the primary care physician. He is a 62-year-old diabetic

electrician from Mattapan. He finally got his insurance last

month--with help of [the reform law], we are now finally

getting his eye exam, his blood work, and refilling all his

prescriptions.

That is just one example of a substantial difference a bipartisan health reform measure has made in the lives of the people of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. That is the kind of substantial difference bipartisan reform can make in the lives of people all across America.

I am the 100th Member, the most junior Member of this distinguished body. But I am hopeful that a newcomer's perspective will be received as a constructive contribution to this debate.

Let me be candid. At this moment, when American families are imperiled by economic hardship and uncertainty, it gives them no comfort to see the Senate so politically polarized over an issue that should be bringing us together on their behalf.

The accelerating health care and health costs crises strike fear in the hearts of the average American family. These crises should not be dividing this Chamber; they should be uniting us. These crises do not discriminate in their impact on our constituents. They are the common fears of Republicans and Democrats, Independents and the unenrolled, old and young, urban and rural, businesses large and small, workers organized and unorganized, the self-employed and the unemployed, married and single, straight and gay, and Americans of every ethnic or racial heritage.

These are the people we are honored to represent. They expect us to work together in their common interests and, I submit, they deserve no less.

Years from now, history will look upon this debate and record that this was our opportunity to act on a defining domestic obligation of our time. During the coming weeks, I hope each of us will take the long view, think beyond the politics of the day, and come together in good faith to do what is right for our people.

When I accepted my oath of office a month ago, much was made of my being the 60th vote for health reform. This debate should not be about one party reaching 60 votes. It should be about 100 Senators reaching out to each other to reform a health care system that will better reflect the true values and character of our Nation.

As this debate continues, we would do well to pause for a moment to hear Ted Kennedy's voice in the quiet of our hearts. You and I know he will urge us to seize this moment to come together in this common cause and to make sure, at long last, that all Americans will have access to the quality, affordable health care they have long deserved and now so urgently need.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, Congress will pass an exceptional bill today. I know that Senator Kennedy would have been proud of this responsible legislation and the ways in which it benefits our Armed Forces and our country.

The bill specifically honors the sacrifice of our men and women in uniform, and it includes provisions to put mechanisms in place to strengthen our current defense operations and our national security. I commend my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee for their leadership on these issues, and I am honored to serve on the committee in Senator Kennedy's place.

I wanted to spend a moment praising our colleagues for agreeing to include another important provision in the bill, the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I know Senator Kennedy would have been especially pleased by its inclusion. It is an extremely important bill and was especially important to Senator Kennedy.

He worked on it for years to close the loopholes that have prevented effective prosecution of these flagrant crimes that terrorize entire groups of communities across America.

As Senator Kennedy said so well:

We want to be able to have a value system that is worthy

for our brave men and women to defend. They are fighting

overseas for our values. One of the values is that we should

not, in this country, in this democracy, permit the kind of

hatred and bigotry that has stained the history of this

nation over a considerable period of time.

The statistics about hate crimes are shocking and shameful. For far too long, law enforcement has been forced to investigate these vicious crimes with one hand tied behind its back. The Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act gives Federal, State, and local law enforcement agencies the real power and authority they need to combat these brutal acts of domestic terrorism.

The bill makes it clear that the time is now to stand up for all victims of hate crimes across America. It would not have advanced this far without the dedication of Senator Kennedy and other key colleagues, especially Senator Reid, Senator Leahy and Senator Levin. I also praise the incredible and tireless advocacy of Matthew Shepard's mother, Judy. She educated all of us about the immense impact of such crimes, and I know how much Senator Kennedy admired her for all she's done to make sure that no other families have to endure the horror she faced in the loss of her son.

I know that it is unusual to include such a measure in the defense bill. But the rule of law will be stronger in America because of the inclusion of the Matthew Shepard Hate Crimes Prevention Act in this year's National Defense Authorization Act. I look forward to it becoming law as soon as possible.

Mr. President, I welcome this opportunity to bring to the attention of my colleagues in the Senate that today is the 40th anniversary of the founding of the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy at the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy Studies at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

I especially want to recognize the leadership of Betty Taymor, the remarkable founder of this program.

Because of Betty, more than 700 women have been educated in the programs of the center. It is incredibly admired today on the local, State, and national levels, and it is an honor for us to join in congratulating Betty for her unique achievement.

My colleagues and I in our State delegation in Congress have sent a letter to Betty congratulating her on this impressive milestone of public service in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and our Nation. I look forward to the center's continuing leadership and achievements in the years ahead and I ask that our letter be printed in the Record. The information follows:

Ms. Betty Taymor,

Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy, McCormack

Graduate School of Policy Studies, University of

Massachusetts--Boston, 100 Morrissey Boulevard, Boston,

Mr. President, yesterday evening, President Obama delivered another eloquent tribute to Senator Edward M. Kennedy. I am sure my colleagues will be pleased and touched to see it, and I ask unanimous consent that excerpts from the tribute may be printed at this point in the Record. I also ask unanimous consent that a series of tributes to Senator Kennedy from ``The Hill'' newspaper on August 29, 2009 may be printed in the Record.