mr. barrasso: mr.president, i ask the reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: how much time do we have remaining? the presiding officer: 7 1/2 minutes. mr. barrasso: thank you. we have a number of colleagues on the floor, and we believe this amendment is absolutely critical because it goes specifically to the heart of the promises that have been made to the people of our home states and the people of the country. and the promises made to the 8 5% of americans that have coverage that they like is that their costs would actually go down. but yet as i travel around my state and around the country, i see people who are very worried that this bill that cuts medicare for our seniors, raises taxes on all of us, is loaded with sweetheart deals is going to cause their people's health insurance premiums to go up at a time when they believe that the quality of their care will go down. a senator: would the senator yield? mr. barrasso: yes. mr. gregg: i want to make one po

mr. barrasso: of course. mr. coburn: the problem is that it's highly unlikely congress will ever effectuate those cuts. if that's true, then that means there's $5 billion in costs that aren't accounted for. so, one, iter a going to undermine the trust fund and actually lessen the available funds for seniors today, or you're not and you're just using a ruse to say we're going to charge this to our children and grandchildren. having been in this body nor over five years, this body ot's: we recognize there are difficulties in health care. we recognize that the number-one difficulty -- keeping somebody from getting care -- is the cost of care. this bill does nothing for that, and i would go back and worry that when the president said we'lloo to six weeks and now we're less than a week later and he's ramming it through, what is it the american people want us to do? do they want us to create another entitlement system when every entitlement system we have today is bankrupt, and in creating that steal from the bankrupt

mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. eld the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. barrasso: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. barrasso: i ask that the quorum call be stopped at this point. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent to place into the record the letter that senator mccain referenced from the 85,000 doctors across the country opposing the bill. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, madam president. with that, i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. wyden: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: madam -- mr. merkleym president, i rise today to honor my colleague and good friend, oregon state treasurer ben westland who passed away

mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: quorum call, senator. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. barrasso: i ask i be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today because the senate committee of environment and public works will soon be meeting to discuss the nomination of mr. arthur elkins to be the inspector general at the environmental protection agency. i support mr. elkins moving out of committee and today he has truthfully answered all of the questions that i have posed to him. before the full senate votes, i do have some additional questions based on a report that i am releasing today. mr. president, as ranking member of the subcommittee on oversight and the senate environment and public works committee, i care a great deal about ensuring oversight over the agencies within our jurisdiction, the most important of

mr. barrasso: well, madam president, i am not aware of that article. i look forward to hearing about it from my colleague. mr. mccain: may i just mention to my friend, dr. barrasso, the undersigned state of national specialty societies representing more than 85,000 physicians and the millions of patients they serve are writing to oppose passage of the patient protection and are afordable care act. the changes that were recently proposed by president obama do not address our many concerns with this legislation and they, therefore, urge you to draft a more patient-centered bill that will reform the country's flawed system for financing health care while preserving the best health care in the world. i just want to ask my friend, dr. barrasso, isn't it true that if -- that included in this legislation remains the so-called doc fix, that there will be a 21% curt in doctors' payments for medicaid, the treatment of medicare enroll year, and there is no one in america that believes that that cut will actually be enacted, which then makes this entire -- the enti

mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i just heard the republican leader talk about the issue of health care in america and the goal, which we heard so much about, of getting the cost of care under control. mr. president, i practiced medicine for 25 years in casper, wyoming, was in wyoming yesterday visiting with physicians, visiting with nurses, visiting with those who are patients as well as those who are providers and talking with them about what's happening in this country and in this body with the discussion about health care in america. and the legislation. and no matter who i talk with in wyoming, when they look at this massive 2,000-page bill and they think about it and then they ask questions about it, they say how in the world is this actually going to get the cost of care down? how is this going to help them save money? because as they read it and they look at the rules and the regulations and the new mandates for more bureaucracies, they say it's going to be more government employees at the time whe

mr. barrasso: thank you. and it's a privilege to be here on the floor with my -- with my colleague from arizona, because he talks so well on this topic. and he knows it so very well expens thousand read this -- and he knows how to read this legislation and look through the nooks and the crannies. and i will tell all of you and tell my colleague that i spent some of my time sunday visiting a friend, a veteran from world war ii, ted lee, in the hospital. he broke a rip and he's recovering and he's bothered by a -- he broke a hip and he's recovering in the hospital and he's bothered by a lot of things in washington. he's recovering from surgery and he said why are they taking my medicare money to start a new program and how in the heck did they get all of these votes that they needed to get this bill passed? and he said, has it been vote buying, has it been sweetheart deals, is it a culture of corruption in washington? those are questions that are being asked by people all around the country. which is why when t

mr. barrasso: well, madam president, i am not aware of that article. i look forward to hearing about it from my colleague. mr. mccain: may i just mention to my friend, dr. barrasso, the undersigned state of national specialty societies representing more than 85,000 physicians and the millions of patients they serve are writing to oppose passage of the patient protection and are afordable care act. the changes that were recently proposed by president obama do not address our many concerns with this legislation and they, therefore, urge you to draft a more patient-centered bill that will reform the country's flawed system for financing health care while preserving the best health care in the world. i just want to ask my friend, dr. barrasso, isn't it true that if -- that included in this legislation remains the so-called doc fix, that there will be a 21% curt in doctors' payments for medicaid, the treatment of medicare enroll year, and there is no one in america that believes that that cut will actually be enacted, which then makes this entire -- the enti

mr. barrasso: i heard that just this morning. we had a number of county commissioners from wyoming here in washington, and they were at a speech yesterday given by the speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, and she told these county commissioners, this group from all around the country that we need to first pass the bill so that then later the american people will know what's in it. she said this to them, and they laughed, they laughed at the speaker of the house at this meeting yesterday because these are county commissioners. they know they're not going to vet on something that the people in the community don't though about. -- don't know about. people in the community come, they want to know what's going to be discussed, and they vote on it. the people of america know what's in this bill. they know this bill will raise taxes by $500 billion. they know this bill is going to cut medicare for our seniors who depend upon medicare by another another $500 billion. they know that they are going to be paying for this thing for ten years

mr. barrasso: i would absolutely like to do that, because wyoming clearly is a rural state, long distances between patients and the hospitals. and just this sunday, just two days ago, i was visiting the elk horn valley rehab hospital in caspar, wyoming, down the road from the wyoming medical center, to see a friend of mine, ted l lee. ted is now in his 80's. ted is a veteran of world war ii. ted actually drove a jeep for eisenhower, who was a general at the time. and ted has been back to washington as part of the honor flights, as we honor our world war ii veterans. ted had fallen at home on the wyoming ice and snow and had broken his hip. his wife jackie called my wife bobbi and i at home over the weekend to say ted was in the hospital, would you stop by. ted's a terrific guy, i repaired his shoulder, i operated on his leg when at the age of 70 he jumped from an airplane to show he could jump out of an airplane with a parachute. and i replaced both of jackie's knees. i know these people like hospital, and i wanfamily,and id and -- i went to the hospital to see ted and said, what are those

mr. president, in fact, it will. i agree with my colleague, dr. barrasso, who supports a patient-centered approach. real health care reform should ensure a doctor and a patient can work together to the best efforts and health of the patient. as i said before, we're still going to have third-party paye payers. we've got to put the patient back in charge of their health care. that is the only way that we're going to reduce costs. there is a common thread throughout our governmental programs that has led to entitlements to expand and expand and expand and that is people do not have what's called skin in the game. and if i'm not paying, i don't care. but if i have to go out as a consumer, if the government would give me a tax credit to go buy health insurance, all of a sudden i'm in the game. if i have a reasonable deductible where i have to pay a little when give to the doctor, all of a sudden i'm in the game and i'm not going to ask for a procedure i don't need. and i'm going to sit there and talk with my health care provider about whether or not this is something that i really need. now, if you tell

committee regarding employer mandate, the barrasso amendment regarding premiums, next the grassley amendment regarding executive personnel should be in the exchange. mr. gregg: what the senator is asking is that the voting order be in the order that they were offered? mr. baucus: that is correct. that's my intention, but there's no request at this time. mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana is recognized. mr. baucus: mr. president, i yield ten minutes to -- mr. gregg: may i just make a point? i spoke inappropriately. i believe the senator from tennessee will want to submit his amendment back for the record. he had withdrawn it. could we do that? i would ask unanimous consent that the pending amendment be the senator from tennessee's amendment. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. baucus: reserving the right to object. mr. president, i might ask if the understanding be that the motion -- earlier amendments, that this motion be set aside until a time to be determined by the leaders. mr. gregg: why don't we make that on every amendment that we offer? mr. baucus: that would be f

mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent that the order -- mr. burris: i ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be reunderstand is. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. burris: i ask to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. burris: thank you, madam president. my colleagues and i have spent much of last year debating the issue of health care reform. after nearly a century of false starts and broken promises, democrats came to congress determined to enact comprehensive reform. we felt confident that this time we would not fall short, as our predecessors have done. this time we would deliver the changes that the american people have been demanding for so many years, but over the course of the debate an unfortunate pattern emerged. a pattern of obstructionism and delay and scare tactics designed to derail our efforts to make a difference. my democrat colleagues and i worked hard under president obama's leadership to craft sweeping legislation, but our republican friends were not interested