mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, we had indicated to senator reid and senator durbin that we wanted to see if there were not a way to develop some path forward on the health care bill, and i'd like to at this point propound a consent agreement that might well give us a way to move forward on some of the amendments that have been pending for quite some time, some of which are both supported and opposed on each side. having said that, i ask consent that after the vote on the adoption of the pending conference report, the senate resume consideration of h.r. 3590 under the following order -- two hours of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and following the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to a series of stacked votes in relation to the following amendments or motions -- a baucus sense of the senate amendment related to taxes, the pending crapo amendment, which i might add parenthetic

mr. mcconnell: what time? mr. reid: i think at 1:30.'m glad that we got the balancing back and forth of the unanimous consent request finally settled on these matters. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. burris: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. burr: thank you, mr. president. and i will continue from where i was. i'll pick up a couple of paragraphs above, and, for the record, i might repeat. as i said, history recalls the debate of this issue furious and it was not without struggle and it was not without compromise, but in the end, we achieved one of greatest, most enduring public policy successes in american history. 30 years later, mr. president, the same values led this party and this senate to take up a bill known as the medicare act. again, the fight was not easy. and compromise was necessary to realize our vision. but, once again, this body under -- and this party brought historic change to america. these hard-fought programs have been the valued cornerstone of our domestic

mr. mcconnell: madam president? mr. reid: i ask the amendment be considered read. mr. mcconnell: i object. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: it is my understanding the bill needs to be reported at this time. the presiding officer: report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes amendment numbered 3276 to amendment number 2786. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. reid: madam president, before offering the amendment, the so-called manager's amendment, i've spoken with my republican counterpart. i would ask consent that the democratic senator on my side be allowed to speak for up to nine minutes prior to my offering the amendment. mr. mcconnell: madam president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: thank you, madam president. i have not given up the floor, madam president. mr. mcconnell: madam president, parliamentary inquiry. the presiding officer: the minority leader is recognized for a parliamentary inquiry. mr. mcconnell: what is the

mr. mcconnell: would my friend yield before making opening remarks? i was wondering since it is thursday, my colleagues plan to be here saturday and sunday but would phraoeubg to know whether there will be an opportunity to go to church sunday morning? mr. reid: i think we would come in somewhere around noon on sunday. i indicate to my friend that it appears that we have the -- the next opportunity for amendment will be when we complete this. it's my understanding that senator ben nelson is ready, has an amendment. i think we've given it to your staff. this may be one where it's

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i want to associate myself with the remarks that the majority leader made about all of the people that work at the capitol during the difficult an intense time. we thank you very much for your outstanding service. it's early and i'll be brief. the most obvious problem with the bill before us is it doesn't do what it was supposed to do. the one test for any bill was whether it would lower costs. this bill fails that test. it's also clear that even many of the people on this side who are going to support this bill don't like it. otherwise, the democratic leaders wouldn't have had such a tough time rounding up the votes. otherwise, democratic leaders would not have had to have votes in the middle of the night or at crack of dawn or over the weekend or even during a blizzard. otherwise, they wouldn't be rushing it through congress on christmas eve. the first time this body has had a vote on the day before christmas in more than a century. this debate was supposed to produce a bi

mr. mcconnell: i would be happy to yield to the senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: first, the senator is absolutely right to point that the bennet amendment is a shell game, a charade, and a farce. that there will still be half a billion in the first ten years, but it's actually $3 trillion over the period 2010 to 2029 that will be cut off of medicare. earlier the majority leader came to the floor and said that a memo that i send around -- which was fairly innocuous to our fellly members which outlined the rights of other members with regards to floor activity and most of these issues are tied to the budget, which in the covering letter it said that we as a minority must use the tools we have to insist on a full, complete, and fully inferred debate on -- and fully informed debate on the health care legislation. i would just ask, is it not reasonable that we should have a full, complete, and fair debate on this health care bill? mr. mcconnell: i would say to my friend from new hampshire, we know that this bill was produced by democrats in committee, and then i

mr. mcconnell: all right. mr. president, i'll go ahead and make my opening remarks and i don't know when the chairman of the finance committee wanted to make this -- did he want to make a speech in connection with it as well? a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: i say to my friend from kentucky, not likely a speech, but i'm more than prepared to wait until you give your comments and at the conclusion of your comments, i'll make the request. mr. mcconnell: i would say to my friend from montana, it would be helpful to do the consent agreement if he wanted to speak to the issue later. mr. baucus: other senators would like to speak too. the senator from new mexico would like to speak too. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, reclaiming my leader time. the longer over debate on health care goes on, the clearer the problem becomes is that the problem that the democrats are having is not with some of the provisions that we're hearing on the news. the problem is the fundamental o

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i want to associate myself with the remarks that the majority leader made about all of the people that work at the capitol during the difficult an intense time. we thank you very much for your outstanding service. it's early and i'll be brief. the most obvious problem with the bill before us is it doesn't do what it was supposed to do. the one test for any bill was whether it would lower costs. this bill fails that test. it's also clear that even many of the people on this side who are going to support this bill don't like it. otherwise, the democratic leaders wouldn't have had such a tough time rounding up the votes. otherwise, democratic leaders would not have had to have votes in the middle of the night or at crack of dawn or over the weekend or even during a blizzard. otherwise, they wouldn't be rushing it through congress on christmas eve. the first time this body has had a vote on the day before christmas in more than a century. this debate was supposed to produce a bi

mr. mcconnell: stphr-pt. the presiding officer: the republican leader -- mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: tonight marks the culmination of a long national debate. passions have rung high, and that's appropriate. because the bill we're voting on tonight will impact the life of every american. it will shape the future of our country. it will determine whether our children can afford the nation they inherit. it is one of the most consequential votes any of us will ever take, and none of us take it lightly. but make no mistake, if the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, they wouldn't be forcing this vote in the dead of night. here are just some of the deals we've noticed. $100 million for an unnamed health care facility at an unnamed university somewhere in the united states. the bill doesn't say where. and no one will even step forward to claim it. one state out of 50 -- one state out of 50 -- gets to expand medicaid at no cost to itself while taxpayers in the other 49 states pick up the tab. the same senator

mr. mcconnell: yes, mr. president, the reason we're in this snarl is because my good friend, the majority leader, has got this issue all tangled up with the debt ceiling extension and a health care bill that there is this rush to pass before christmas, a 2,100-page bill. no one has seen the final version yet. so all of these things are all tangled up together. our advice would be to quit trying to pass this health care bill before christmas that's got an artificial deadline to pass something that most of us haven't seen, do the necessary business of the government, and do what senator snowe has recommended continuously, which is that we pass the bill on a bipartisan basis with a broad coalition of support. i believe my time may have expired. the presiding officer: your time has expired. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. the majority leader. mr. reid: i yield three minutes to my friend from illinois. mr. durbin: i would just say that it is difficult to reconcile the statements that h

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: reserving right to object. and i will not be objecting. i want to make clear that the majority leader and i will have four votes tomorrow. not just two. four. bearing that in mind, i do not object. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. baucus: i might say reserving the right to object on this side, that's our standing on this side as well. madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: i call up the kerry amendment at the desk and ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from montana, mr. baucus for mr. kerry proposes amendment number 2926. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that i be allowed to proceed just for a moment here prior to the vote. the presiding officer: is there objection? so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i want to say to my good friend, the majority leader, we have been anxious to have health care votes since tuesday and we've had the crapo amendment pending since tuesday. you have said repeatedly -- and i agree with you -- that this is -- the health care issue is extraordinarily important and that we should be dealing with it and debating it, so it is my hope that somehow through our discussions, both on and off the floor, we can get back to a process of facilitating the offering of amendments on both sides of the aisle at the earliest possible time when we can get back to the health care bill. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i'm happy to respond through the chair to my distinguished colleague. i think it's pretty evident to everyone here, not only on what's ha

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: could i say, at the risk of being redundant, and i don't want to get into a spirited debate with my friend and colleague over this, but the facts are we were just handed a 100-page lautenberg amendment an hour ago, i have 39 members interested in that, it is impossible for me to clear voting on an amendment 100 pages in duration i just got an hour ago. i was hopeful that it may be a good way forward that we vote on the crapo amendment which everybody understand, that has been out there since tuesday and the sense of the senate resolution that is fairly brief, i assume, a very brief sense of the senate that the senate baucus was going to measure. both sides fully understand those two measures. they're not 100 pages long and enormously complicated and we didn't just receive them. so i don't want to get into -- an extensive back and forth with the majority leader. but i would say to him, through the chair sincerely, it strikes me a good way to just get started would be to vote

mr. mcconnell: will the senator yield? mr. mccain: gladly. mr. cconnell: i recall our good friend the majority leader telling us on november 30 that we would be here the next two weekends and then i recall my friend telling us that we'd be here this weekend. my assumption is we were here to deal with the important issue that the majority leader has been indicating to everyone is so important, that we must stay here and do t and we're prepared to be here and vote. and vote. in fact we've been trying to vote for a couple of days now and the a been difficult to get votes. mr. mccain: could i ask the republican leader, maybe we -- if we're not going to have a vote, maybe we ought to have a vote to table the impending imp- pending amendments? i know new orleans is very nice this time of year, but perhaps we ought to stay here and get this job done. mr. alexander: a couple nights ago -- i think it is important to reflecten the season we have here. a couple nights ago the senator from arizona gave an impressive speech in front of the capitol for lighting

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, reserving the right to object -- and i will object -- look, we've been told by the majority that the single-most important thing we could do is to work on weekends and try to pass this health care bill, which according to the cnn poll that came out last night, the american people oppose 61% to 36% before christmas. now, we're here. and we're prepared to work. we'd like to get back on the health care bill as rapidly as possible and vote on amendments to the bill. it either is or i it isn't important for us to be here before christmas. so my members are not expected to take a break tbr this. we've been told by the majority all year long this is really important. first we had to get it done before august, then thanksgiving. now we have to get it done before christmas. we're here, ready to work. i object. a senator: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: mr. president, i note that there is nobody -- oh, i'm sorry. the sen

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: i would like to proceed under my leader time. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: yesterday may have been a seminal moment in this debate. we heard from c.m.s., the centers for medicare and medicaid services. they did an analysis of the reid health care bill. a rather detailed analysis. the important part i would just summarize. it says -- "we estimate that total national health expenditures under this bill would increase by an estimated estimated $234 billion during the calendar years 2010-2009. in other words, it will increase the deficit. now, we know it was a letter to chairman baucus from six democrats on september 17, 2009, saying -- "there are many wide-ranging options to address the broad and complicated issue of runaway health care costs, and we pledge our support to you in making the necessary and stuff decisions. this is our number one priority. if we pass health care reform legislation without addressing the issue of health care s

mr. mcconnell: stphr-pt. the presiding officer: the republican leader -- mr. mcconnell: mr. president?ing officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: tonight marks the culmination of a long national debate. passions have rung high, and that's appropriate. because the bill we're voting on tonight will impact the life of every american. it will shape the future of our country. it will determine whether our children can afford the nation they inherit. it is one of the most consequential votes any of us will ever take, and none of us take it lightly. but make no mistake, if the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, they wouldn't be forcing this vote in the dead of night. here are just some of the deals we've noticed. $100 million for an unnamed health care facility at an unnamed university somewhere in the united states. the bill doesn't say where. and no one will even step forward to claim it. one state out of 50 -- one state out of 50 -- gets to expand medicaid at no cost to itself while taxpayers in the other 49 states pick up the tab. the same senator who cut th

mr. mcconnell: madam president? the presiding officer: republican leader. mr. mcconnell: madam president, senators on both sides acknowledge thatd health care bill we're -- that the health care bill we're considering is among the most significant pieces of legislation any of us will ever consider. i think, i would argue the most significant piece of legislation certainly in my time here. so it stands to reason that we'd devote significant time and attention to it. indeed, some would argue that we should spend more time and attention on this bill than most, if not every previous bill we've considered. the majority obviously disagrees. why? because this bill has become a political nightmare, a literal political nightmare for them, as evidenced by more and more public opinion polls, including the "wall street journal"/nbc poll this morning. they know americans are overwhelmingly opposed to it so they want to get it over as quickly as possible. americans are outraged that the majority took their eyes off the ball. americans were told that the purpose of reform was t

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. just say to my good friend from west virginia, i spoke -- i'll wait until senator hatch is through. i spoke this morning on this remarkable record of achievement. we're all proud of the -- of your service to your state and to our country: i sent you a note including my remarks this morning about this remarkable record you have now achieved. and of course you broke the record of the senator from arizona, and one of his successors is here on the floor and would like to address that matter as well. mr. kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: i thank the leader for yielding briefly. i prematurely congratulated senator byrd yesterday for breaking the record of carl hayden who has up till now held the record who was in the house of representatives until arizona became a state and served all the way until i believe it was 1968. senator byrd reminded me it is not until tomorrow at whatever hour it was. i said, well, i think you'll probably make it. and of

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: first, i want to extend a welcome to the president who is coming up to the capitol today to meet with democrats on the suggest of the health care bill. so far, they have voted to cut medicare three times, cuts they previously described as immoral and irresponsible. cuts that made it impossible for the president to keep his pledge that people who like our plans can keep them, cuts that will reduce the quality of home health care, cuts that will reduce benefits for nearly 11 million american seniors on medicare advantage, cuts that raid medicare instead of fixing it, cuts the american people vehemently, vehemently oppose. democrats are in a tough situation on this bill, mr. president. they want to expand the government's reach into health care, but they don't have the money. and they don't have the support more importantly of the american people. so what did they do? they decided to take the money they need out of medicare, and that's only made their health care plan even less

mr. mcconnell: i thank my friend from oklahoma. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i'll be very brief. madam president, americans woke up yesterday stunned to read that democrats have voted to end debate on the latest version of the massive bill while they were sleeping. they'll be stunned again when they learned about the second early morning vote to advance a bill that most of them oppose. americans are right to be stunned because this bill is a mess. and so is the process that was used to get it over the finish line. americans are outraged by the last-minute closed-door, sweetheart deals that were made to gain the slimmest margin for passage of a bill that is all about their health care. once the sun came up, americans could see all the deals that were tucked inside this grab bag and they don't like what they're finding. afterall, common sense dictates that any time congress rushes, congress stumbles. it's whether senator so and so got a sweet enough deal to sign off on it. well, senator so and so might have gotten his deal, but the american people have

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. connell: i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, republicans are fully engaged in the health care debate. it's our view that there's no more important work we can do here than to show americans what the democratic plan for health care would mean for them. and once we return to the debate, republicans will be ready with two important amendments. one of those amendments, by senator crapo, would enable the president to keep one of the pledges he's made as a candidate and as president about what the democratic plan for health care reform would look like. he said that no family -- no family making less than $250,000 a year, and no individual making less than $200,000 a year would see a tax increase of any kind. of any kind. the crapo amendment would ensure that that promise was kept. another amendment, by senators hutchison and thune, would ensure that none of the taxes imposed by

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: first, i want to extend a welcome to the president who is coming up to the capitol today to meet with democrats on the suggest of the health care bill. so far, they have voted to cut medicare three times, cuts they previously described as immoral and irresponsible. cuts that made it impossible for the president to keep his pledge that people who like our plans can keep them, cuts that will reduce the quality of home health care, cuts that will reduce benefits for nearly 11 million american seniors on medicare advantage, cuts that raid medicare instead of fixing it, cuts the american people vehemently, vehemently oppose. democrats are in a tough situation on this bill, mr. president. they want to expand the government's reach into health care, but they don't have the money. and they don't have the support more importantly of the american people. so what did they do? they decided to take the money they need out of medicare, and that's only made their health care plan even less

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: mr. president i rise to make some observations about a matter that occurred here in the senate earlier this afternoon. mr. president, the plain language -- the plain language of the senate precedent the manual that governs senate procedure, is that unanimous consent of all members was required before the senator from vermont could withdraw his amendment while it was being read. unanimous consent. earlier today the majority somehow convinced the parliamentarian to break with the long-standing precedent and practice of the senate in the reading of the bill. senate procedure clearly states -- and i quote -- "under rule 15 paragraph 1 and senate precedents, an amendment shall be read by the clerk before it is up for consideration or before the same shall be debated unless a request to waive the reading is granted." it goes on to state that -- quote -- "the reading of which may not be dispensed with except by unanimous consent. and if the request is denied, the amendment must be

mr. mcconnell: i'm wondering if the senator from maine thinks that may even be possible given the magnitude of these medicare cuts that we're hearing complaints about all across america? ms. collins: mr. president, the minority leader brings up a very good point. the republican leader i know is familiar with the analysis that was done by medicare's own actuary that says that one out of five hospitals -- and these are likely to be the small rural hospitals that are so important in our states. one out of five would be so jeopardized by these cuts that they may not survive. and what else will happen is that physicians are going to have to start turning away medicare patients. mr. mcconnell: i ask my friend from maine, isn't that beginning to happen in some states already before we even take this additional step? ms. collins: it is. my friend from kentucky is exactly right. in my state, there are already severe shortages of primary care physicians, particularly in the more rural areas of the state, the northern, eastern, and western parts of the state. their practices are full to start with, an

mr. mcconnell: i ask my friend one more question. s this the same bill that back in 2005 that my counterpart, the majority leader, decried as immoral? mr. mccain: as i recall, that's exactly it. i think the senator from new hampshire recalls that debate. mr. gregg: if the senator will yield. absolutely. i was chairman of the budget committee at the time. as the republican leader is alluding to, we attempted to reduce the rate of growth of medicaid by $10 billion on a a $1 trillion base over five years. less than .1% i believe it was. it was opposed aggressively by the aarp and it was opposed by the other side of the aisle. not one member of the other side of the aisle voted for that. and do you know what that change was going to be? it was going to require that wealthy people who benefited from the part-d drug benefit would have to pay part of their premium rather than getting it all for free. so that warren buffet, for example, would actually have to contribute to his health care drug benefit, assuming he is on part-d. maybe he isn't

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican is recognized. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, the american people have now seen what democrats in congress plan to do with seniors' health care. they've looked on in total disbelief as the majority voted again and again and again to slash medicare by nearly half a trillion dollars. inhincredibly, these cuts repret just part of the pain caused by this bill. in addition to punishing seniors, it would punish businesses. at a time when one out of ten working americans is looking for a job, this bill would hit employers are job-killing new taxes and mandates. and it wouldn't do anything to lower long-term health care costs. this is the latest thing business owners expect -- this is the very last thing business owners expected from this bill. it's the last thing america needs in the midst of a recession. and it's just one of the reasons more and more business groups are stepping forward and speaking out against this job-killing bill. yesterday i mentioned a letter signed by ten major trade groups pleading with us not to impr

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. cconnell: mr. president, with americans now really focusing in on the health care debate, it's important to take a step back and recall where we started, because somewhere -l along the way democratic leaders took their eyes off the ball. it's a good time to remember what this reform debate was all about. the goal of this legislation, by all accounts, everyone agreed the goal was to lower the cost of health care. this is what the president has to say. it's a direct quote. "the bill i sign," according to the president, "must slow the growth of health care costs in the long run." that was july 22 of this year. yet where we are nearly five months later, the administration's own scorekeeper, the c.m.s. actuary -- that's the center for medicaid and medicare services actuary -- says the democratic bill will actually drive costs up, exactly the opposite of what the debate was all about in the beginning and exactly opposed to what the president indicated on july 22, that he wouldn't sign such a

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, reserving the right to object, and i will be not be objectin o, i see the assistant majority leader on the floomplet i think it would be helpful as soon as the majority leader or someone on that side could indicate at what point during the day tomorrow and at what point during the day on sunday we might be having additional votes. it might be helpful to our colleagues on both side of the nile terms of planning for the weekend. mr. reid: mr. president, we're going to come in at 10:00 in the morning. at this time it appears that we will have senator lincoln offer an amendment and i would hope that we can be ready that the time to have whatever the minority wants to in regard to that amendment. and then we are going to have an amendment offered by the republicans, and i would hope that we can dispose of those two amendments tomorrow, maybe in the early afternoon, by maybe 2:00, 3:00 start voting on them. mr. mcconnell: so am i correct in assuming that the votes are most likely

mr. mcconnell: stphr-pt. the presiding officer: the republican leader -- mr. mcconnell: mr. president? officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. mcconnell: tonight marks the culmination of a long national debate. passions have rung high, and that's appropriate. because the bill we're voting on tonight will impact the life of every american. it will shape the future of our country. it will determine whether our children can afford the nation they inherit. it is one of the most consequential votes any of us will ever take, and none of us take it lightly. but make no mistake, if the people who wrote this bill were proud of it, they wouldn't be forcing this vote in the dead of night. here are just some of the deals we've noticed. $100 million for an unnamed health care facility at an unnamed university somewhere in the united states. the bill doesn't say where. and no one will even step forward to claim it. one state out of 50 -- one state out of 50 -- gets to expand medicaid at no cost to itself while taxpayers in the other 49 states pick up the tab. the same senator who cut that

mr. mcconnell: mr. president -- the presiding officer: is there objection? the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: reserving the right to object. i have to object. i would like to say to my good friend the majority leader, i thought over the last couple of hours, we'd get consent to have votes on the mikulski and murkowski amendments but i had indicated to him and i want to say publicly, we have a number of speakers who are interested in speaking on the medicare issue and the mccain amendment. so i will not be able to lock in the mccain amendment or the side by side that i gather under this consent, my good friend the majority leader, may offer. i would still like to be able to get the two votes earlier referred to, the mikulski and murkowski amendments, but, regretfully, i can't even lock those in right now. but i would like to be able to do that as soon as possible so at least we can get those two votes at some point reasonably early in the day and turn back to -- to debate on the mccain amendment. i might say that we -- we want to vote on the mccain amendment. we certainly have no des

mr. mcconnell: reserving the right to object. i want to be sure that the senator is aware, that the subs treat amendment will be -- substitute amendment will be limited to an actual amount when it is offered. mr. reid: that's right. and if there's any amendments here that would pass, it would be be a part of it. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: reserving the right to object. i wonder why under that consent is propounded whether the secondary amendments would be in order to the orders on that list? mr. reid: no. mr. baucus: i suggest the absence of a -- i do not object. the presiding officer: hearing no objection, so ordered. the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: i want to recognize two young pages who are actually on the floor with us today. martin shabin o&m icalla, stayed until the -- volunteered to stay until the senate adjourned and sacrificed some of their christmas vacation and volunteered their service during the weekend before thanksgiving break. we have pages on the r

mr. mcconnell: i would ask the senator from arizona is this the same aarp that i recall opposed a $10 billion reduction in the rate of increase in medicare spending back in 2005? mr. mccain: i would say to my colleague they not only opposed it, they got all of their members fired up in opposition to it. we all heard from them back in 2005. and these were reductions in spending. these weren't -- this was not not $438 billion taken out of medicare and put into -- in to create a new entitlement program of $2.5 trillion. mr. mcconnell: i ask my friend one more question. is this the same bill that back

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader is recognized. mr. nnell: over the past several days, americans have seen in vivid detail what supporters of this plan plan to do to the medicare program for seniors. they plan to use it as a giant piggy bank to pay for an entirely new government program, and yesterday we heard floated for the very first time that they want to radically expand medicare. so what's becoming abundantly clear is that the majority will make any deal, agree to any terms, sign any dotted line that brings them closer to final passage of this terrible bill. they entertain adding new experiments without any assessment of the impact that the deal making will have on the american people or our economy. they are, for lack of a better term, winging it on one of the most consequential pieces of legislation affecting our country in memory. well, let me suggest to the majority, americans would much rather we get it right than scurry around, scurrying around throwing around untested last-minute experiments in order to get 60 votes before

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. is recognized. mr. mcconnell: it certainly is the case in a country of 300 million people there are differences of opinion, and you'll see them on full display here in the united states senate on this monumental 2,0 # 4-page -- 2,074 page scheme that would expand the reach of government deeper into our lives, raise taxes, increase health care premiums and cut medicare for seniors. on the other side are the american people. we know, mr. president, from all the surveys that we've seen, the american people are opposed to this bill. they're astonished that we are trying to pass a bill that is clearly opposed by the american people in every survey that's been published. americans do support reform, but this isn't the reform that they were asking forks and it's not the reform they were told they could expect. in fact, it's pretty clear by now that the american people were sold a bill of goods when the administration and its allies here in congress said their health care bill would lower costs and help the econ

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, with apologies to my good friend from montana and connecticut, i was unavoidably detained at the opening. and i would now like to give my opening remarks. the presiding officer: the senator has the floor. mr. mcconnell: the challenges of the ongoing war in afghanistan are immense, but americans believe in the mission, and they trust the advice of our commanders in the field to see that mission through, so i support the president's decision to follow the advice of general petraeus and general mcchrystal in ordering the same kind of surge in afghanistan that helped turn the tide in iraq. these additional forces will support a counterinsurgency strategy that will enable us to begin the difficult work of reversing the momentum of the taliban and keeping it from power. the president is right to follow the advice of the generals in increasing troops. and he is also right in increasing the ability of the afghan security forces so they can protect the people. by doing both, he's ma

mr. mcconnell: it makes this bill, in addition to all its other problems, a job killer. with unemployment at 10%, a big tax increase on a variety of different americans, as senator mccain just pointed out, in addition to all its other problems -- its substantive problems, process problems, it's a job killer in the middle of a difficult recession. mr. coburn: i say to my colleagues, the lack of transparency, one of the things my friend, president obama, said he wanted to have is transparency. there's been no transparency in this process. if there's not going to be transparency in the process, we ought to at least have it transparent to the american people for 72 hours. even the quote from the chairman of the finance committee is i think it's impossible to certify that any senator will fully understand. here we're going to have a 2,000-plus-page bill and the chairman of the finance committee says tepbgz's going to be -- tepbgz's going to be -- it's going to be impossible for any senator to certify they fully understand this bill. if we don't understand it, you can bet the

mr. mcconnell: if that were not bad enough -- and it may have been referenced here on the floor before i came out -- we have an announcement from the congressional budget office just today that may well have been referred to by my friend from north carolina. this is a congressional budget office director's blog today. and here's the headline: "correction regarding the longer-term effects of the manager's amendment on the patient protection and affordable care act. c.b.o. has discovered an error in the cost estimate released yesterday -- yesterday -- related to the longer-term budgetary effect of the marine's amendment." they go on to say they were about a half a trillion off in looking at the long-term effects beyond the ten-year win tkoerbgs which further illustrates why we ought not be rushing this thing through and we ought to have further opportunity to skoefr what other -- to discover what other problems are in it in addition to the ones what the senator from north carolina has outlined with regard to special treatment for some states. mr. burr: if we waited another day to vote, we

mr. mcconnell had to say. >> make no mistake that this will affect our americans lives. and they forced through a vote, and expecting that americans are not paying attention. and we see from the data that americans are overwhelming opposed to this bill. this bill is a train wreck of historic proportions. but they are so eager to claim a victory, they will do anything to jam it through in the next few days. host: let's go to your calls and see what you have to say, michael from louisiana. good morning, michael. caller: yes, ma'am. host: what do you think, is health care being rushed? caller: yes, ma'am, i believe with senator mcconnell and i think that the public option should be put back in the bill, i would hate to believe that i live in a socialist country. host: do you feel that if they ç put that back in, that our country would have a chance? caller: i believe so, otherwise our options would go down. host: the public option has been stripped from the bill. and senator ben nelson said he will not vote for anything that includes a public option. let's go to joe from ma

mr. mcconnell: mr.t, the majority leader has signaled that we will finally unveil -- that he will finally unveil the most significant piece of domestic legislation in modern history sometime on saturday and force a vote in the middle of the night about 36 hours later. this is truly outrageous. this will be a bill that none of my constituents have seen, that none of the majority leader's constituents have seen, that none of you have seen, and that nobody outside the capitol has seen. you could fit into a phone booth the number of people who have seen this bill that will affect the lives of every single american in the most profound way. every american should have an opportunity to know what their senators are voting on before anyone can see it. i doubt if anyone in this chamber could defend the secrecy surrounding this bill. earlier this week the president said -- quote -- "i think it's important for every single member of the senate to take a careful look at what's in this bill." up fortunately there's

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i thank the senator for yielding for my comments. i would ask that my comments appear at the appropriate place in the record, not to interrupt senator baucus's comments. we've now had a very, very clarifying vote on the senate floor about the direction of our friends on the other side with regard to our health care system. yesterday all but two of them voted to preserve nearly half a million dollars in cuts to medicare, the health program for our seniors. in the run-up to that vote, they said these cuts weren't really cuts appeared that medicare advantage in particular isn't really a part of medicare, arguments plainly contradicted by the text of the bill itself, by the department of health and human services, by the independent congressional budget office, and by the experience of seniors themselves. seniors do not want senators fooling with medicare. let me say that again. seniors do not want senators fooling with medicare. they want us to fix it, to strengthen it, to preserve it for future generations, not raid it like a giant pig

mr. mcconnell: mr. president, reserving the right to objects. and i will not object. i would like to point out we've had difficult oi actually on both sides getting to the two votes that are designated in this consent agreement. our side of the aisle, republican side of the aisle, was prepared to vote on both of those amendments tonight and then a problem developed on the other side, which i understand, because we had a problem on our side earlier, but i do just want to make it clear that republicans were prepared and fully ready and willing to vote on the two amendments in the consent agreement tonight. mr. president, i do not object of. mr. vitter: reserving right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i certainly concur with the distinguished majority whip's goal of more amendments and more votes. with regard to this very important screening and mammography issue, my goal has been a very, very focused one. i have a filed second-treed -- decked-degree amendment that has a focus, that is, i b

mr. president -- >> that was senator mitch mcconnell from kentucky. he's the minority leader now. let's listen to the majority leader, senator harry reid from nevada. >> more and more americans have come down with the flu, or even developed diabetes, suffered a stroke more and more americans who have a skin condition are dying rather than being cared. and much more of our attention has consumed this health care debate and the national study than by harvard university found that 4500 times this year more than 120 times per day, an average of 10 every ten minutes, an american died as a result the numbers are numbing. they don't even include those that have had health insurance but died because they couldn't afford a plan that met their most basic needs. they are the only place that they are dying for lack of possible. to make matters worst, we are paying for that privilege. so do numbers that can't afford. medical bills are the leading cause of bankruptcy in america. we have before us the ability to provide quality health care to every american and we have the ability to treat our u

speaking mentioned mitch mcconnell. >> mr. president, the plain language, the plain language of the senate precedent, the manual that governs the senate procedure is by unanimous consent of all members was required before the senator from vermont could withdraw his amendment while was being read. unanimous consent. >> shortly after that senator durbin explained the democratic perspective. >> as they were reading it came to our attention senator sanders of vermont had authority under senate rules to withdraw his amendment and stopped reading. i wasn't aware of that because i can't recall that ever happened since i've been here but i made a point since many years ago i was parliamentarian of the illinois state senate and tried to read the rules time to time. rule 15 section 2 in the senate, standing rules of the senate it says a motion must be withdrawn or modified by the mover at any time before the decision of an amendment or ordering of yellmac dee dee, yays and nays. >> and kate hunter of congressional quarterly both sides a

mr. president, i ask for five minutes of time off of senator mcconnell's time, the minority leader's time, the republican leader's time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brownback: thank you, very much, mr. president. i thank my colleagues for this opportunity to address the lautenberg amendment, in favor of the lautenberg amendment. i oppose the base bill, i oppose the health care bill overall. i've spoken a number of times on the floor in opposition to the overall bill. it's way too expensive, cuts medicare, raises taxes, inserts the funding of abortion in. it's something we haven't looked at for 30 years because we've had hyde language that they've not funded -- that we've not funded abortion and instead this does and puts it in and it's going to i think result in poorer health care for a number of americans. the issue i rise on today is on the lautenberg amendment and in support of the lautenberg amendment. this is an amendment that we have seen in this body four times previously over the last ten years. each time the lautenberg amendment has passed overwhelmingly and tha

mr. president last week, my counterpart, this thing which republican leader, senator mcconnell called the health care crisis "manufactured." the american people mr. president would beg to differ. i have said on this floor before on several occasions that last year's 750,000 people filed bankruptcy. that is true. i said previously that half the people that filed bankruptcy filed because of medical expenses. but we have learned a report that came out last week that that number is too small. that realistically it is about 70% of the people that filed for bankruptcy, filed because of health care costs. i have also said on this floor that at the people that filed for bankruptcy because of medical expenses did so even though they have insurance. we learned last week of that number is also too small. is 62%, 62% of the people that filed bankruptcy because of medical expenses who were already insured. now, mr. president is that a crisis in america? 750,000 people filed bankruptcy. about 70% of them filed because of health care costs and 62% of those who filed for bankruptcy because of health care

mr. president triet >>> now conference on senate health care legislation as minority leader mitch mcconnell and senator john mccain. following that, democrats jack reid and mark begich talk with reporters about defense spending. >> well good morning, everyone. the majority leader signaled that he is going to unveil tomorrow morning the most significant piece of domestic legislation in memory. and his goal after introducing the measure in the morning presumably would be to force a vote. some 36 hours after that. what we know for sure at the moment we have seen the pelosi bill and reid bill but none of my constituents are his constituents, not senator mccain's constituents, none of you, in fact no one who couldn't be collected in a phone booth has seen -- if i can find it. here it is. have seen the missing bill. [laughter] which is a mystery to virtually everyone apparently up to and including the assistant democratic leader of the samet. so dismissing bill will be strong presumably. we will see some time in the morning. and in 36 hours we will begin to run. as we've pointed out repeatedly, t

mr. president, this debate is not over. there's la champ to vote against this bill. the senator mcconnell said last night, any single senator on the other side of the aisle can stop this bill. or everyone who votes for will own it. i yield the floor. >> mr. president. >> senator from nebraska. >> mr. president, let me start my comments today i complementing the gentleman from texas. i thought she did an excellent job by shining the light on some name that is now gathering a lot of intention because the manager's amendment is out and we can read the words and we can start to understand the special deals that were cut to get the votes, to make this happen. so i applaud you for standing here so courageously. mr. president, my state, the great state of nebraska has been pulled into this debate and i want to start out today by saying here on the senate floor that night and enormously proud of my state, probably like all united states senators in reference to their states. i'm enormously proud of the people of nebraska. i've gotten to know them well. i was their governor and on a more localized

and she writes that for many congressman, mitch mcconnell and others she is going to give them a dvd of "mr. smith goes to washington" so they can see the proper use of a filibuster. next caller from alabama, go ahead. caller: the overall, 60% unfavorable opinion of the health care bill, and the democrats have still forced it through. the democratic leadership, harry reid and what not. i'm sorry, i'm a little bit nervous. but how ben nelson and others had to get the big basically, "give me" gives in order to push it through. i think it will be a big defeat in the 2010 elections. >> the following -- host: a follow-up to the health care story. he also writes in this piece, a little background on the longest session. here is jacksonville, fla., bruce, your foot -- favored political story of the year. caller: i would have to go along with the debacle of the health care bill. the jump in net was on earlier that was speaking about, you know, the republicans not contributing anything. well, i guess he did not watch television because they had the closed-door secret sessions and no republicans were