mr. chambliss: i would ask unanimous consent that senators cornyn, graham, isakson, and myself be allowed to have a colloquy for this first hour from 1:30 until 2:30. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. chambliss: madam president, here we are on our 21st legislative day. less than four weeks on the most major piece of health care legislation ever proposed in the history of our great country. that's less than four weeks that we've been on this bill that seeks to change the way health care is delivered in america and also seeks to change the way that individuals have access, both to health care itself, as well as to insurance. during this period of time, and we're headed, i might say, too, towards a passage of this bill, here in the senate over the next couple of days. i don't remember in my 15 years in the united states congress, both in the house and in the senate, of any major piece of legislation such as this being debated and ultimately brought to a final vote within such a period of time. i've been involved in farm bills that have been on the floor for longer than this. any

mr. isakson: i think the senator from texas is exactly right. and i'll be the first to say i'm in the process of reading the 400-some-odd page managers' amendment so i haven't read all of it yet. and it does take out the public option which, by the way, it was originally in and it may still appear at some date in the future. that was a real killer. that raised tremendous costs. in fact, it made it more beneficial for a company to not provide insurance and pay the fine to put people in the government option. but that's not in this bill now and i understand that. but let me tell what you is in the bill. what is in the bill are a number of taxes on a number of small businesses that produce medical devices. and medical treatments. well, now you know as well as die that when the government raises your taxes, you have to raise your price to the consumer. so what does that mean? it's not lowering the cost of health care, it's through the tax mechanism raising the cost of health care either to the insurance company that's in the exchange or to medicaid

mr. isakson: i ask the quorum call be vitiated. mr. akson: i rise to take a few minutes to talk about a couple provisions of the bill that are very important to my state of georgia, but in particular also point out something important for us to recognize as members of the united states senate. in this appropriation is an appropriation to the office of economic assistance for for $40 million. that money is appropriated to be competitively granted back to communities for various economic difficulties they have suffered. one of those communities is heinzville, georgia, in liberty county which is the home of fort stewart. fort stewart is the base through which most of our troops who serve today in afghanistan and iraq pass through, and many are trained. it's an outstanding facility and a community with a town the population of about 29,000. it's a rural county near the coast and the great port of savannah where almost all the materiel and equipment is shipped from the united states of america to the theater in the middle east. a few years a

mr. chairman. we will bring in more reinforcements. >> senator isakson. >> thank you mr. chairman. first of all tankless to all of you for your service and commitment to the country and i know the last thing you want to talk about is july 2011 but i do want to try to focus on something. i've been very impressed with what you said yes today and the armed services and but you have said today. i saw you this morning on fox, with regard to this july 2011 date. secretary clinton said just as we have done in iraq we will execute this transition responsively taking into account the conditions on the ground. you have said today secretary gates that the goal is to clear, hold builded transferrer which is what we did in iraq. we transferred up 40 and now the iraqis are in control and i think that is the goal all this one. the problem of the shai levin date is the concern that there's one constituency we are not talking to yet. were talking to the american people want to win income home. we are talking to the afghanis and karzai yes byd take responsibility. we are not going to be your surroga