ms. mikulski: mr. president, i yield myself three minutes. as we get ready to conclude the debate on both the mikulski, as in barbara mikulski, and murkowski, as in lisa murkowski, amendment, i want to first say a word about the senator from alaska, that we've worked together on the health, education committee, we've worked together on the -- as women of the senate to provide access to women's health services, and not too long ago when i had my awful fall, she gave me much wisdom and counsel and practical tips because she herself had broken her ankle. so to us, when you say to senator lisa or to senator barb, "break a leg," it has a whole different meaning to us. and i again want to thank her for all of her work, and i have great respect for her. and look forward to our continued working together. but i do sincerely disagree with her amendment, because what her amendment does is it guarantees really only information. it does not guarantee universal access to preventive and screening services. and it also does not remove the cost barriers by el

ms. mikulski: mr. president, i ms. mikulski: mr. president, i ms. murkowski: let me try it here. ms. mikulski: that's so much better. i want to hear the amendment and continue our conversation. ms. murkowski: and you just missed all the kind remarks that i addressed to your attention. ms. mikulski: could i ask unanimous consent that she be extended for two additional minutes. no, no, i draw. thank you. ms. murkowski: i'll make sure that the comments that were made in the record are delivered to you personally, senator mikulski. but i want to reiterate a couple of points i made yesterday about my amendment and to also share with my colleagues, and i know that the senator from texas mentioned it as well, the c.b.o. score that we received yesterday -- actually late last evening. it provides us with a score it provides us with a score actually late last evening provided us with a score showing a cost savings of $1.4 billion over the next ten years and i think that this is significant, as members certainly from the other side have raised the importance of fiscal discipline and our financia

ms. mikulski: thank you very much. the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: thank you. madam president, i rise to speak on the bill and also in opposition to the nelson of nebraska amendment on the subject of abortion. first of all, madam president, i truly believe that health care reform is the most important social justice vote that we will cast in this decade. why? because we are talking about providing universal access to health care, which i believe is a basic human right and should be a fundamental american right. that's why health reform is so important. providing universal access to health care and in this bill ending the punitive practices of insurance companies against women, particularly in the area of gender discrimination, where we pay more and get less in our benefit package, and also where simply being a woman is often treated as a preexisting condition. eight states consider domestic violence a preexisting condition, and you can't get insurance. one woman who had a medically mandated c-section was told she couldn't get insurance again

ms. mikulski. the senate will be in order, please. -- ms. murkowski. the senate will be in order, please. will the senators please take their conversations out of the well. who yields time? the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: will the senators please take your conversations out of the well? senators, thank you. ms. mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i rise in opposition of the lisa murkowski amendment. although well intentioned, it does not guarantee universal access to preventative and screening services for women. it does not remove the cost barriers of high payments and codeductibles. it is -- co-deductibles. it is opposed by the american cancer society and the american heart association. it primarily provides information on those matters. we salute her intention, but we think that her amendment is too limited, and really to quote the american heart association, that it would be an actual step backward in the ar

ms. mikulski: mr. president, as we debate health care reform, we need to recognize in the united states of america that health care is a woman's issue. health care reform is a must-do women's issue. and health insurance reform must be a must-change women's issue. too often when we look at when health care is even available to us, we face discrimination. we face continuing the punitive practices of insurance companies that charge women more and give us less in a benefit. a 25-year-old woman pays more in health insurance than her male counterpart of the same health status. a 40-year-old woman pays almost 35% more of her insurance than a male of same age, same health status. we want to change that in health reform. we want to end the punitive practices of the private insurance companies in their gender discrimination. we are concerned -- we, the women of the senate, are concerned that even being a woman is being viewed by the insurance companies as a preexisting condition. now, we have the opportunity her

ms. murkowski: i'm glad that you mentioned the issue of the abortion services. i think there is a vaguery, a vagueness in the -- in the amendment that senator mikulski has offered. some have suggested that it would allow those in human resources and services administration, hrsa, to define abortion as a prehaven'tive test which could provide health insurance plans that then be mandated to cover it. and that has generated some -- some concern obviously. some opposed the amendment saying that if congress were to grant sweeping authority to define services that private plans might cover merely to constitute preventive care, that authority could be imemployed in the future to require all health plans to cover abortions. what we're doing in my amendment is just making very clear there are no vagueries -- there is no second guessing. it just makes very clear that the secretary cannot make that determination that -- that preventive services are -- are to include abortion services. mr. enzi: mr. president, as i said before, my wife says that she probably never mentioned the word colon twice in her whole life. since then she's become an encyclopedia for people who had a

ms. mikulski: mr. president, i yield myself three minutes. as we get ready to conclude the debate on both the mikulski, as in barbara mikulski, and murkowski, as in lisa murkowski, amendment, i want to first say a word about the senator from alaska, that we've worked together on the health, education committee, we've worked together on the -- as women of the senate to provide access to women's health services, and not too long ago when i had my awful fall, she gave me much wisdom and counsel and practical tips because she herself had broken her ankle. so to us, when you say to senator lisa or to senator barb, "break a leg," it has a whole different meaning to us. and i again want to thank her for all of her work, and i have great respect for her. and look forward to our continued working together. but i do sincerely disagree with her amendment, because what her amendment does is it guarantees really only information. it does not guarantee universal access to preventive and screening services. and it also does not remove the cost barriers by el