mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: madam president, do i need to request permission to speak as if in morning business or can i speak even though the the -- the appropriations bills are on the floor? madam president, i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: madam president, we here have in front of us appropriations bills. we have heavy matters of the deficit. we have heavy matters of how that we're going to get the united states government to bring its fiscal house in order. i remind the senate that it was the last time that we have had a surplus was in 2001, and if we had been wise and had not cut the revenue of this country so significantly, we could have been good stewards of that healthy surplus and we could have paid off the national debt over a 12-year period, and we wouldn't be where we are today, but we are, and in these matters that are weighing heavily on us, it seems that our attention is being continuously diverted to other things, such

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i have been listening on c-span 2 in addition to having the privilege of being over here on the floor, to this debate that's been going on. the debate that's been going on ever since the summer when we in the committee were fashioning this legislation. and i must say that to hear one side of this debate, i wouldn't recognize all of those hearings that we had last summer and all the markup that we did in the finance committee last september, because what has been presented to the senate and what has been presented to the public through press conferences by the opposition to this bill in most cases just simply is not correct. i want to give a couple of examples here this evening. in attacking this and saying what a dastardly thing that this is going to do for the country and how this is going to increase cost and raise taxes, each one of these things can be refuted. but it is a typical tactic that when you want to attack something and tear it down, you go after a specific ite

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to speak on the bill and in part respond to the minority leader. at the end of the day, why are we staying around the clock discussing this bill with the intent that we are going to pass the bill? it is simply that we cannot continue as we are. we are in a system whereby insurance is not solving the nation's health needs. all you have to do is talk to a doctor, and if they haven't already pulled their hair out, they are about to, in that when they want to give a certain treatment to a patient, they feel like they have to negotiate with the insurance company and, in fact, the insurance company often is dictating to them what treatment and what drugs they can or cannot do. or, look at the simple little cases that we hear about that are just absolutely simple cases but catastrophic because someone is in the middle of treatment of something and they get a notice that their insurance company is going to cancel them, or they have lost their job and they are desperately try

mr. nelson, a democrat, has a big problem. the bill taken up this week by the committee would cut medicare payments to insurance companies that care for more than ten million older americans, including nearly one million in florida. the program known as medicare advantage is popular because it offers extra benefits including vision and dental care and even in some cases membership in health clubs or fitness centers. quote, it would be intolerable to ask senior citizens to give up substantial health benefits they are enjoying under medicare, said mr. nelson, who has been deluged with calls and complaints from constituents. quote, i am offering an amendment to shield seniors from those benefit cuts." pretty simple. pretty simple. the senator from florida believes that there would be cuts to the medicare advantage program, and he was able to get into this bill an exemption for some, i believe, 800,000 -- i've got the number here -- oh, 950,000 enrollees, i believe it is, in medicare advantage in florida. so what the -- admirably

mr. nelson of nebraska,aye. mr. nelson of florida,aye. mr. pryor,aye. mr. reed of rhode island,aye. mr.reid of nevada, [laughter] mr. reid of nevada,aye. [laughter] mr rich, no. mr. roberts,no. mr. rockefeller,aye. mr. sanders, mr. schumer,aye. mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby, ms. snowe,no. mr. spector,aye. mr stabinow, aye. mr. tester,aye. mr thune, no. mr udall of colorado,aye. mr. udall of new mexico,aye. mr.vitter, no. mr.voinivich, no. mr. warner,aye. mr. webb,aye. mr. white house,aye. mr. wicker,no. mr. whiden, aye. mr. bennett of utah, no. this is a hutchinson,no. mr. cochran,no. mr. bennett of colorado,aye. [no audio] mr. sessions,no. [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [applause] mr. sanders -- [laughter] >>yes? >> mr. sanders, aye. mr. shelby -- no. [no audio] [no audio] >> and the other senators wishing to go toward change their vote? the amendment is passed. [no audio] >> i had a restless night worrying about bipartisanship and i think i found a way tested. nowhere in history have we found a way to make health care more affordable than today. this is a victory for t

mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. nelson: madam president, my cosponsor, senator hatch, will appear some time later and speak in favor of amendment 2962. he's not able to be here at the moment. before thanksgiving break, i voted with a number, and majority actually of my colleagues in favor of beginning this debate. debate is essential in our democracy. it keeps our country resilient and strong through changing times. before that vote, some argued here on the senate floor that we shouldn't hold this open and full debate. they seemed to suggest that obstruction was better than action. some also argued here on the floor that the november 21 vote was really about abortion. they were wrong. that vote was just whether to begin a debate on an issue that has consumed the american public. now is the time to start debating the issue of abortion as we're addressing many other issues in health care reform. madam president, i'd like to discuss the amendment that i proposed along with a bipartisan group of colleagues who include se

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to speak on the bill and in part respond to the minority leader. at the end of the day, why are we staying around the clock discussing this bill with the intent that we are going to pass the bill? it is simply that we cannot continue as we are. we are in a system whereby insurance is not solving the nation's health needs. all you have to do is talk to a doctor, and if they haven't already pulled their hair out, they are about to, in that when they want to give a certain treatment to a patient, they feel like they have to negotiate with the insurance company and, in fact, the insurance company often is dictating to them what treatment and what drugs they can or cannot do. or, look at the simple little cases that we hear about that are just absolutely simple cases but catastrophic because someone is in the middle of treatment of something and they get a notice that their insurance company is going to cancel them, or they have lost their job and they are desperately try

mr. nelson: mr.nt, i rise to discuss the bipartisan amendment which i have proposed with senators hatch and the presiding officer and others. as my good friend and colleague from utah has so eloquently explained, our amendment mirrors the language offered by representative stupak that was accepted into the house health care bill. our view is that it should become part of the senate health care bill we're debating as well. it's a fact that the issue of abortion stirs very strong emotions involving strongly held principles all across america from those who support the procedure and those who do not. and we're hearing that passion at times here on the senate floor. but we're not here to debate for or against abortion. this is a debate about taxpayer money. it's a debate about whether it is appropriate for public funds to, for the first time in more than three decades, cover elective abortions. in my opinion, most americans and most of the people in my state would say "no." and as it is currently written

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, i want to speak on the bill and in part respond to the minority leader. at the end of the day, why are we staying around the clock discussing this bill with the intent that we are going to pass the bill? it is simply that we cannot continue as we are. we are in a system whereby insurance is not solving the nation's health needs. all you have to do is talk to a doctor, and if they haven't already pulled their hair out, they are about to, in that when they want to give a certain treatment to a patient, they feel like they have to negotiate with the insurance company and, in fact, the insurance company often is dictating to them what treatment and what drugs they can or cannot do. or, look at the simple little cases that we hear about that are just absolutely simple cases but catastrophic because someone is in the middle of treatment of something and they get a notice that their insurance company is going to cancel them, or they have lost their job and they are desperately try

mr. nelson: madam president, during the consideration of the health care bill, one of my primary concerns has been ensuring that the long-standing hyde amendment would be incorporated into the bill. i have strongly-held views on the subject and i fought hard to prevent the tax dollars from being used to subsidize abortions. i was pleased that the house included strong abortion provisions in its health care bill in the form of the stupak amendment. i modified this language to meet the senate bill and offered the nelson-hatch-casey amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion. and i was disappointed to see that that amendment was tabled by a vote of 54-45. i knew then that the underlying bill did not adequately prohibit federal funding of abortion and consequently i would not be able to support it. so i began to look for other language to accomplish the goal that no public funds should cover abortion in the new health care bill. and after long days of negotiations, i believe we came up with a true compromise that stays faithful to my principles. and i want to be clear: i stuck to my gu

mr. nelson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: mr. president, well, i'm back on the floor on this, as i have been over the course of the last decade, because we've been like a yo-yo in my state of florida on the importation of drugs, since i have quite a few senior citizens in our state. they have been accustomed to either going to canada and bringing back prescriptions at half the price or phoning in canada to pharmacies and having those drugs shipped in the postal service, or e-mailing to canadian pharmacies. and what happened over the course of the last eight or nine years is that the previous administration cracked down on the re-importation of these drugs. and of course that was at a great expense to our senior citizens who can buy these drugs at roughly one half of what they pay by going into the pharmacies here in the united states. and then an interesting thing happened along about 2006, because this senator started getting multiples of calls, i think up to something like 100 complaints in that one year of 2006 from senior cit

mrs. hutchison: isn't that the same as the language of the nelson-hatch-casey amendment? mr.ch: you're right. let me read that language for you. in general, no funds authorized or appropriated by this act or an amendment made by this act may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the cost of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion. mrs. hutchison: based on what you've said, this is not new federal abortion policy? the hyde amendment currently applies to the plans discussed, including the plans that members of congress have, and the abortion protections for all of the federal health programs all say exactly the same thing and that we should -- the amendment that we are going to vote on, that is the nelson-hatch-casey amendment, would preserve the three-decades long precedent. that's what your amendment does. and that we must pass it if we are going to guarantee that the bill that is on the floor is properly amended so that it is the same as our 30 years of abortion federal policy in this country? mr. hatch: the reason it's so critical that we pass t

mr. nelson dealers with calls and complaints of constituents. i'm offering amendment to shield seniors from those benefit cuts. i'm offering an amendment to shield all senior citizens and 11 million of them under medicare advantage as the senator from florida said to shield seniors from benefit cuts. that is what this amendment is all about. we shook off a car about him for some seniors what other seniors are not entitled to. that's not america. that's not the way we should treat all of our citizens, and i hope my colleagues will understand that this is simply in the name of fairness this amendment is proposed and i would ask the senator from tennessee and from texas large numbers of enrollees in the medicare advantage program also and how this would be unfair as well. >> i thank the senator from arizona for his amendment and i thank the senator from florida because medicare advantage is very important to tennessee. we have to under 43,000 tennessee ins who opted for medicare and vantage, about one-fourth of all americans who are on medicare hav

mr. nelson: thank you, mr. pres. this has been quite an enlightening experience here on the floor this past 30 or 40 minutes with all -- it shows how emotionally charged this body has become over this issue and perhaps other issues as well. but the challenge is we're all entitled to our own opinions. we're just not entitled to our own set of facts. and i'd like to take a moment to explain the so-called medicaid fix for the state of nebraska. it's been described as the omaha stakes fix. i take issue, and i only wish my colleague from nebraska had stayed on the floor to hear this. i take issue with one of the premier businesses in the state of nebraska used in a matter of derision to outline something that is factually incorrect on the basis of how they are presenting it. you can twist and you can turn and you can try to distort what happens, but it doesn't change the underlying facts. the underlying facts are that this was pursued initially as an opt-in or opt-out for all states. it was impossible to do that at the pr

mrs. hutchison: isn't that the same as the language of the nelson-hatch-casey amendment? mr. hatch: you're right. let me read that language for you. in general, no funds authorized or appropriated by this act or an amendment made by this act may be used to pay for any abortion or to cover any part of the cost of any health plan that includes coverage of abortion. mrs. hutchison: based on what you've said, this is not new federal abortion policy? the hyde amendment currently applies to the plans discussed, including the plans that members of congress have, and the abortion protections for all of the federal health programs all say exactly the same thing and that we should -- the amendment that we are going to vote on, that is the nelson-hatch-casey amendment, would preserve the three-decades long precedent. that's what your amendment does. and that we must pass it if we are going to guarantee that the bill that is on the floor is properly amended so that it is the same as our 30 years of abortion federal policy in this country? mr. hatch: the reason it's so critical that we pa

mr. nelson: madam president, during the consideration of the health care bill, one of my primary concerns has been ensuring that the long-standing hyde amendment would be incorporated into the bill. i have strongly-held views on the subject and i fought hard to prevent the tax dollars from being used to subsidize abortions. i was pleased that the house included strong abortion provisions in its health care bill in the form of the stupak amendment. i modified this language to meet the senate bill and offered the nelson-hatch-casey amendment to prohibit federal funding of abortion. and i was disappointed to see that that amendment was tabled by a vote of 54-45. i knew then that the underlying bill did not adequately prohibit federal funding of abortion and consequently i would not be able to support it. so i began to look for other language to accomplish the goal that no public funds should cover abortion in the new health care bill. and after long days of negotiations, i believe we came up with a true compromise that stays faithful to my principles. and i want to be clear: i stuck to my gu

mr. nelson: it is back and forth. mrs. hutchison: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. the senator from missouri is recognized. mr. bond: mr. president, i ask to be advised when i have used eight of my ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. bopped: thank. mr. bond: mr. president, small businesses are the backbone of our economy. they make up 99.7% of all employer firms. they pay 44% of the total u.s. private payroll. they have generated 64%, a majority of the net new jobs over the past 15 years. they create more of than half of the nonfarm gross domestic product. they hire 40% of all high tech workers. small businesses drive this economy. they are also the sector most in need of real health reform that will reduce costs and make it easier to buy insurance. mr. bond: it's estimated that 26 million uninsured small business owners, employees, and their dependents, that's a majority of the uninsured, they continue to struggle to be unable to afford health care. two examples: jim hend

nelson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. france, i'm sorry you had to go through what you went through just to get back your money, not even to speak of all of the trauma and time and so forth that you had to go through. so, but you are an example of what's happening with this explosion of technology. we have people that are now instead of using a crowbar to steal, now used technological improvements. and they are doing the same thing. and they are doing it with a lot of deception as the chairman. have pointed out. and this committee is handling a lot of other things called phishing with a ph and farming with a ph and spoofing, which is another one we just had in florida, a spoofing case. that's one you luck on your cell phone and you see the number that's calling you. well, if you alter that number to make it appear like you are looking into what happened to this lady, a single woman and suddenly she's getting a call from her own residence. and of course, somebody was doing this to play a prank on her. while the lady is abs

mr. nelson: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, is it any wonder that people are responding negatively when asked do you support health care when they have been bombarded with millions of dollars of tv advertisements that are not telling what this health care bill does? is it any wonder when they hear comments like that this health care bill will not save the american consuming public on their health insurance premiums, what does it do? well, can you believe that it's not going to allow insurance companies to cancel your policies? can you believe it is not going to let an insurance company cop up with some kind of fictitious excuse that you have had a skin rash and therefore you have a pre-existing condition and they are not going to insure you? can you believe that it is going to bring in 31 million new people that are going to have health insurance that did not have health insurance before and that all of the rest of us paid for when they showed up at the emergency room? can you believe that this health care bill is go

mr. nelson: thank you, mr. pres. this has been quite an enlightening experience here on the floor this past 30 or 40 minutes with all -- it shows how emotionally charged this body has become over this issue and perhaps other issues as well. but the challenge is we're all entitled to our own opinions. we're just not entitled to our own set of facts. and i'd like to take a moment to explain the so-called medicaid fix for the state of nebraska. it's been described as the omaha stakes fix. i take issue, and i only wish my colleague from nebraska had stayed on the floor to hear this. i take issue with one of the premier businesses in the state of nebraska used in a matter of derision to outline something that is factually incorrect on the basis of how they are presenting it. you can twist and you can turn and you can try to distort what happens, but it doesn't change the underlying facts. the underlying facts are that this was pursued initially as an opt-in or opt-out for all states. it was impossible to do that at the pr

mr. president, we shouldn't be making this type of sweeping policy change in this health care legislation. and the nelson amendment is necessary -- is a necessary addition to the bill in order to protect our current policy and the unborn. i understand that not everyone in this country agrees with my position on abortion. and, again, i know that this issue deeply divides americans on ethical, moral, and religious grounds. while i have said that i don't agree with abortion and believe roe v. wade should be overturned, the nelson amendment -- and this is really important -- does not prevent anyone from seeking an abortion, it does not overturn roe v. wade and it does not place any new restrictions on access to

mr. nelson: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, it is a wonder that this health care bill has survived this far with so many people shooting at it. but survive it must, and survive it will, because it's the right thing to do. with a country that has 46 million people that don't have health insurance, that when they do get health care, it costs the rest of us a lot of money because they get it free in the most expensive place. that's not a system that is operating like it should, and that's what this whole thing is about. this whole thing is about trying to help people that can't get insurance get it. and those who desperately want it that can't get it, to be able to get it. and those that have it, to not be able to have it canceled on them in the middle of their treatments. it's all about people that desperately want insurance, suddenly having an excuse from an insurance company, "no, you can't get insurance because you have a preexisting condition." and some of those preexisting conditions are the flimsiest of excuses.

nelson? >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. france, i'm sorry you had to go through what you went through, just to get back your money, not even to speak of all of the trauma and time and so forth that you had to go through. >> thank you. >> but you are an example what's happening with this explosion of technology. we have people that are now, instead of using a crowbar to steal, now use technological improvements, and they are doing the same thing. and they are doing it with a lot of deception as the chairman's hearing has pointed out. and this committee has been handling a lot of other things, called phishing with a ph, and farming with a ph. and spoofing which is another one we just had it in florida. a spoofing case. that's when you look on your cell phone and you see the number that's calling you. well, if you alter that number to make it appear like you're looking at what happened to this lady, a single woman, suddenly she is getting a call from her own residence. and of course, somebody was doing this to play a prank on

that, senators lincoln and landrieu, mccaskill, pryor, bayh, lieberman, senator ben nelson, and senator webb. but again, mr. president, this process we're in the midst of certainly does not honor that minimal demand. we're set to vote on this in just a few hours, and when we do, we will have only had the final legislative language for about 40 hours. we will have only had the full congressional budget office cost estimate for about 37 hours. that's 56% or less of this minimum time frame that so many of us, including eight democra democrats, have demanded. so again, mr. president, this rush to judgment, this rush to beat an arbitrary christmas deadline is clearly ignoring the common sense of the american people, the common sense that i heard in my dozens of town halls all across louisiana, know arbitrarnoarbitrary deadlines, t you're voting on, get it right, don't rush to judgment. so, mr. president, i have strong, strong concerns about this process. where are the 72 hours? where is the opportunity for members and the american people to really know what's in this latest version of a mega bill on so-called c

mr. president, i move to table the nelson amendment and i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the question is on the motion to table. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the yeas are 54, the nays are 45rbg the motion to table has been agreed to. under the previous order, there will be two minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the motion to commit offered by the senator from arizona, mr. mccain. could we have order in the senate, please. without objection. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. could we have order in the senate, please. please move your conversations off the floor. the senator prosecute montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: would you please -- order in the senate. would you please move out of the well. the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, the mccain motion to commit o

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator nelson. senator thune. >> thank you for your outstanding service to this country. you have a very challenging job on a good days, and there have not been very many good days recently in afghanistan. but the reason that the president and members of congress on both sides and the american people are willing to commit to this mission is because we have such a high level of confidence in your leadership. and so thank you for your willingness to take that on. when you get to this point in the hearing, pretty much all the questions that can be asked have been asked. i want to just touch on a couple of areas that are really important to our success. by the way, just for clarification, there was the announcement of the additional nato troops and a report coming in today from the "london times," more than 1500 of those trades that had been pledged by the allies were already in- country. there may be some double counting going on. do you know exactly what that number is and how close that will bring us

but i ask consent, as i did, that senator nelson of nebraska be allowed to speak for up to nine minutes. mr. mcconnell: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: madam president, it's my understanding that the senator from nebraska, he told me before coming here that he had a question that he wanted to ask. is that right? mr. mcconnell: regular order is the reading of the amendment. the presiding officer: the regular order is the reading of the amendment. the clerk will read the amendment. the clerk: on page 2074 strike lines 22 through 25 and insert the following: f, effective date. the amendments made by subsections a through d -- of this section shall apply to amounts paid or incurred after december 31, 2008, in taxable years beginning after such date. title 10, strengthening quality, affordable health care for all americans. subtitle a, provisions relating to title 1, section 10101, amendments to subtitle a, a, section 2711 of public health service act as added by section 10015 of this act is amended to read as follows. section 2711, no lifetime or annual limits. a,

mr. president, that is wise advice from senator lincoln and senator bayh and senator landrieu and senator lieberman and senator mccaskill, senator nelson, senator pryor, senator webb. what they're saying is before we vote on a health care bill that affects nearly every one of the 300 million americans, that when fully implemented will spend $2 tril yop, that the chief actuary of the government says, so far as we know it, will increase the costs of health care rather than reduce it, will take a trillion dollars out of medicare in the form that we've seen so far when the bill is fully implemented and not use it to strengthen medicare, which is becoming insolvent in the years 2015-2017, according to the trustees of medicare but instead would spend that money on some other program, would what david brooks in "the new york times" column yesterday call a huge -- create a huge tax, $1.42 trillion in the second decade of its operation to help pay for this, which the director of the congressional budget office has said would inevitably be passed along to consumers and cause premium costs to go up, not down, and which would expand medicaid, the

nelson. senator klobuchar. >> thank you, mr. chairman, and thank you to all of our witnesses.nk that parents are on the front line and have to make a lot of the decisions. always there was some magic technology that would allow them to do that. -- i wish there were some magic technology that would allow them to do that. it makes a big difference in our kids' lives. some research shows that the average american child today spends 44.5 hours a week and part of the screen. kids with the least in, watch the most media with police supervision. -- kids with the least in cocome watch the most media with the least supervision. i just wondered if any of you had a comment on how you think that is going in terms of parents having available technology, if they want to block certain shows. >> professor jordan at the university of pennsylvania looked at the v-chip with parents, and most were unable to navigate it. that goes back to something simpler. you have a button to push for something that will allow parents to very readily see what is on the air waves and also to block it. sometimes t

mr. president, is a letter that was signed by the chairman of the senate budget committee, senator conrad from north dakota, senator lieberman, senator landrieu, senator lincoln, senator warner, senator nelson, and senator bayh. seven democrat senators who have gone on the record saying the class act shouldn't be included in this legislation because it's not fiscally responsible. the fact of the matter is, mr. president, the senate -- the chairman of the senate budget committee, senator conrad, has gone on to say and describe this as a ponzi scheme of the first order, something that bernie madoff would be proud of. i've my colleagues on the other side get up and talk about how solvent this is and what great program this is. well, there are programs out there that are available for people to buy long-term care insurance. the problem with this one is, it takes all the money that comes in in the early years and spends it on other government programs, in this case health care reform, but who knows what other government programs radio going to be created that will -- what other government programs are going to be created that will use the revenue from this plan that supposedly a lot of people ar

mr. mccain: 500,000 senior citizens in your state. there is no -- quote -- "shieldinshielding." according to this bloomberg article, it says "senators's senators charles schumer, bill nelson of florida and ron wyden of or oregon are among those who secured special provisions shielding constituents from cuts." casey -- that's senator casey says he wants -- quote -- "very comparable protections for his state." surprisingly enough. "where more than one-third of medicare beneficiaries participate in medicare advantage." quote -- "it is the kind of thing that will likely be addressed on the floor, he said. "i eagerly look forward to working on the other side of the aisle with all the members from those states with the exception of new york, florida, and oregon who have earned special shielding from these cuts. i look forward to working with them and let's fix it for all of us. right, senator? mr. hatch: that's right. go ahead. mrs. hutchison: i would just say to the senator from arizona, i was wondering if every state could have the same treatment? why not have every state get this shielding for their medicare advantage? that is 11 million people in this country who would be t

senator nelson have done from the committee to the senate floor, insurance companies and senator feinstein had a lot to do with this as well -- insurance companies will have to toe the line. mr. president, they no longer will be able to just take premiums kh-rbgs they do today -- which they do today, and just spend it willy-nilly -- either invest it in profits, et cetera. i'm not saying anything is illegal about that. it's fine. but this bill is going to say if you collect premiums from people, you have to spend at least 85% to 90% covering their health care. you can't just take their premiums and then deny them coverage. those days are over forever. and i am proud to have worked on insurance reform. again, i don't want to eliminate insurance. i want to reforeman insurance. -- i want to reform insurance and it is reformed in this bill. unfortunately republicans do a lot of talk about reform, but when it comes down to actually reforming, they're nowhere in sight. i hope i explained a few reasons why i feel confident that this bill is moving in the right direction. while i was hoping to bring it to the floor because it did not contain some of these provisions, through hard wor

mr. cornyn: i would say to my colleague from utah, senator lincoln, senator landrieu, senator mccaskill, senator pryor, senator bayh, senator lieberman, senator nelsonsenator webb were all signatories on that letter. and i -- i know at different points of the debate, we've had some discussion --ic senator --k senator dorgan from north dakota that sponsored the amendment that would deal with drug prices had expressed some concerns. i know certainly the senator from arizona, senator mccain, has expressed some concerns about drug price issues and what kind of deals had been basically cut on the side that members of the senate are not necessarily privy to. and i would just ask my colleague, is he aware that the obama administration has now been sued for the visitor list at the white house which they have claimed privilege to, has been sued because they have withheld the -- the names of the stlaidindividuals that have como the white house, some of whom may have been involved in negotiating these side deals that we are not privy to. was the senator aware of that? mr. bennett: i say to the senator from texas, i was not aware of the lawsuit and i appreciate