but that's exactly what the reid bill will do. promise 15 million people coverage but trap them in a system where we know they won't be able to get the care they need. if anyone doubts what effect the reid bill will have they only need to look at massachusetts. the massachusetts plan was the model for many of the reforms in this bill. the problems they're encountering give us a good indication of what will happen to us all if the reid bill is enacted. to make the massachusetts reforms work, they have a ten-member commission trying to impose a global payment system. under this system, doctors and hospitals will be forced to join large networks and be paid at a set rate for each patient. this is the same kind of government control we see with medicaid and the results of these changes are equally predictable. fewer doctors will be willing to see people at the exact time when the number of people seeking care is increasing. these are just some of the more serious problems with this bill because many of my colleagues want to be able to

reid of nevada. >> no. ( laughter ) ( applause ) >> mr. reid of nevada. aye. >> the yays are 60, the nays are 39. h.r. 3590 as amended-- the patient protection and affordable care act-- is passed. ( applause ) >> through 24 days of grueling debate, republicans had done everything they could to stop the bill, and they warned it's not over. minority leader mitch mcconnell: >> i guarantee you that people who voted for this bill are going to get an earful when they finally get home for the first time since thanksgiving.

senator reid and his colleagues have seen the facts. you've heard them from our distinguished republican leader. according to cnn poll from december 2 and december 3, 61% of the americans oppose this 2,074-page bill. and at a time when the democratic leadership is pushing a 1.8% increase in the deficit, we learned from the actuaries that this $2.5 trillion -- this 2,074-page bill bill bends the cost curve up by increasing health care spending. whereas if you go back to day one of -- of this year when we first started talking about health care reform, one of the overriding goals was to bend that cost curve down. now, after 11 months of activity we got a bill with that cost curve going up. not one of the major goals that we set out to do. -- to do 11 months ago. this bill is also under pressure from opposition by the national federation of independent businesses speaking for the small businesses of america. the ones that do 70% of the net hiring also opposed by the national association of manufacturers, the chamber of commerce, the nation

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 the american people, those fortunate enough to have health insurance will be able to keep theirs

reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that no further points of order be in order during the pendency of h.r. 3288. the presiding officer: is there objection? no objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, it is my understanding -- mr. leahy: could we have order, mr. president. the presiding officer: order in the chamber. mr. reid: the next vote will be tomorrow morning at 9:30. we'll come in -- i would ask -- we'll be happy to come in at 8:30, but i would ask consent if we could have that vote at 8:30 -- i mean, 9:30, we'll come in at 9:00, if that's okay with everybody. mr. mccain: will the majority leader yield for a ghe. mr. reid: be happy to. mr. mccain: on the one hand the disposition of the pending dorgan amendment, could we have some idea about that? mr. reid: i think my friend from arizona asked a very pertinent question. we have made a consent -- we have offered a consent last evening and did i again today that we would have the votes that are now before the senate in seque

reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will resume consideration of the health care legislation with the time between 1:30 between the two leaders and their designees, between 1:30 and 11:30 tonight, there will be alternating hours with the republicans controlling the first hour. at 11:30 p.m., the senate will recess until 12:01 a.m. with the time until 1:00 a.m. equally divided and controlled between their leaders their designees, with the democratic leader controlling the final ten minutes and the republican leader the ten minutes before that. at 1:00 a.m., the senate will proceed to a vote in relation to the health care bill. that time until i have at 1:30 i designate to the [inawd inaudi] the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership sometime reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 3590, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 175, 3590, an act to amend the internal revenue code of 19

bill or the reid manager's amendment. now, i find that absolutely outrageous. moreover, the reid conscience protections are much weaker than those included in the house-passed health reform bill. the house bill included the hyde-weldon conscience protections that have been included in the h.h.s. appropriations bills since 2004. the reid health reform legislation does not. the hyde-weldon language ensures that strong conscience protections are in place for medical providers who oppose abortion. these strong protections which are currently federal law, currently federal law should also apply to the new programs created through the reid manager's package. the so-called abortion compromise does not stop there. the reid amendment also creates a state optout charade. as noted by cardinal daniel dinardo, the archbishop of galveston, houston, and the u.s. conference of the committee on pro-life activities, allowing, quote -- "individuals to opt out of abortion coverage actually underscores how radically the underlying senate bill

harry reid is watching the video. this new system is going to improve health care, expand choices, lower cost. it's going to do none of this. that is the snow job and then my personal favorite, a year without a. kathleen sibelius will be appearing in this christmas special as the house miser. but i am an optimist. i am a glass half-full person and i believe in the miracle on main street. [cheers and applause] because when we set our mind to something, we can do it. we can do anything and everything. we have been through much worse. after all, we survived jimmy carter. [cheers and applause] it doesn't matter how many slick press conference as the left has and their cronies in the democratic arty. it doesn't matter how much they vilify us. when it comes to standing up for our freedom and our basic rights, we will not be denied. we will not be silenced. [cheers and applause] and let me just tell you. i don't know about all of you over there but i think about christmas and hanukkah and i think of the season as the christm

senator reid has keep that in place in the underlying bill. he keeps the status quo of the hyde amendment. the group here who are coming on the floor continually -- mostly men; i think so far all men, there may be some women that speak in their behalf but i haven't heard it -- are basically saying forget the firewall, forget it. women, you can't use your private funds and government will tell you what you can or can't do. you know, i'll tell you something, that's not what uncle sam should do. uncle sam should respect women, uncle sam should respect women, watch live gavel to gavel coverage on c-span2, the only network with a full debate, i'm edited and commercial free. now get the latest updates from the reporters and editors of the quarterly congressional roll call group. find out more at c-span's health care hub. now from london, prime

it is section 3403 and it begins on page 1,000 of the reid substitute. these provisions not only amend certain rules, they waive certain rules and create entirely new rules out of whole cloth. again, i'll skip over some examples but let me read a few of these provisions that amend the senate rules which are contained in section 3403 of the reid substitute. it's section d, titled referral. the legislation introduced under this paragraph shall be referred to the presiding officers of the prospective houses, to the committee on finance in the senate, and to the committee on energy and commerce, and the committee on ways and means in the house of representatives. the bill creates out of whole cloth a new rule that this specific bill must be referred to the senate finance committee. another example under section c, titled "committee jurisdiction." and it references rule here. "notwithstanding rule 15 of the standing rules of the senate, a committee amendment described in subparagraph a may include matter not within the jurisdiction of the committee on finance

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: mr.nt, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senator is in a quorum call. the presiding officer: i ask consent that it is rescind. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, there were 45,000 funerals this year. these funerals stood out from the rest of the funerals. why? they were tearful as all funerals are. they filled loved ones with sorrow and grief as many know firsthand. but these 45,000 funerals were avoidable. that's why they were more tragic than most. because 45,000 times this year, nearly 900 times a week, more than 120 times each day, about every 10 minutes in america every day someone dies as a direct result of not having health insurance. that's really a sickening number. you'd have to be heartless not to be horrified. it doesn't even include those who did have health insurance, but died because it was not enough to meet their most basic needs. that's what this is all about. but it's not even just about death. how many citizens in each

the reid bill will make this situation much worse. look at the cuts to medicare. hospitals -- $134.7 billion. in this bill! where are they going to get that money? how are we going to keep our hospitals going? hospices -- $7.7 billion. nursing homes -- $14.6 billion. my gosh, i've been to all kind of nursing homes all across this cufnlt and i've golt to tell you, they have a rough time keeping -- we're going to take $14.6 billion out of them. and they're critical to our seniosenior citizens by and lar. and others. medicare advantage -- $120 billion is coming out here. home health agencies -- $42 toy 1 billion. that's just mention ago few things. so the ride bill is going to cut $135 billion from hospitals, almost $15 billion from nursing homes, more than $40 billion from home health care agencies and close to $8 billion from hospice providers. these cuts will threaten beneficiary access to care as medicare providers find it more and more challenging to provide health services to medicare patients. and what's the argument on the other snide oh, it is the awful insu

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: it's my understanding the time until -- let's see, until 7:10 is equally divided and controlled, is that right? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. reid: i designate the majority whip, the senator from illinois, dick dinner, to have control of that ten minutes -- dick durbin, to have control of that ten minutes on our side. the presiding officer: who yields time? mr. alexander: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president, how much time do we have on this side? the presiding officer: ten minutes. mr. alexander: please let me know when a minute remains. mr. president, we're here on this early saturday morning as we lead up to christmas day to finish work on the defense appropriations bill, but the country knows that the focus of our attention, the reason we're here is because of the health care debate. we're in our 19th or 20th consecutive day of considering health care and we still don't have a bill. in other words

richard reid -- there was another richard reid, number 2, a guy who also had a shoe bomb. he got a case of, if it were, cold feet. he didn't go through with the attack. he's a british citizen. this may not be the only type of attack or attacker with this kind of device. what authorities are going to be doing is obviously looking at what kind of device this is. i would suspect this is a hydrogen peroxide device. it's relatively easy to construct. that's what we saw on the plane in the summer of 2006. an afghan american was planning to blow up hide dro general peroxide bombs in the manhattan area. these bombs have become a signature of al qaeda, whether in the united states or in the united kingdom. if it is linked back to al qaeda in yemen, as the suspect seems to be implying, that is likely the device we're looking at. >> r.p., you were saying the same thing. the issue is how you handle situations like this with the public. we know the terror level for air transport is at orange right now. higher than the national level of yellow. but it's been at orange for a couple of ye

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that all postcloture time be considered expired on h.r. 3509 at 8:00 a.m. thursday, december 24, that immediately the bill as amended be read a third time, that after the passage of h.r. 3590 as amended, the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar 25245, h.r. 4314, that no amendments be in order, that the bill be read a third time and senate proceed to vote on passage, the passage require a 06-vote threshold if that is achieved the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, further on wednesday, january 20, 2010, the time be determined by the majority leader following consultation with the republican leader, the finance committee be discharged from h.r. j res. 45, that the majority leader to be offered a substitute amendment and tha

the next night, harry reid shook hands with ben nelson. that produced the abortion adjustment.got a congratulatory phone call from the president. host: as drew armstrong told us this morning, this is not the end. there will be signed of reconciliation to be determined with the house bill which includes a public option parade in a few minutes, the senate will gavel in ended about 50 minutes, the senate will vote on final passage of hr 3590, the health care bill, $780 billion. we will show you bits of the boat. back to your phone calls on health care reform. middletown, delaware, you oppose the bill? caller: yes, i do. i feel that if you're going to vote on health care issues, go to the heart of the matter. that is the extent -- spent expanding price of health care. it is way out of control in every state in this country. there is no reason for these high health care bills. the cost is more than anyone can absorb. the co-pays are off the wall. i know people who have copays of $50-$100. they need to look at best, not this foolishness they have been doing in washington. they don't

reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the baucus motion to waive be set aside. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i want to take just a moment to talk about the motion to table the appeal by senator cornyn that no point of order lies under rule 44. senator cornyn's appeal is not about transparency. and it's certainly not about disclosure, it's about delay and obstruction. that's what the whole tenor of all of the republican statements have been regarding this legislation. the goal is to create a new point of order even though the senate rules does not allow a point of order. they want to rewrite the rules at a whim. not for purpose of disclosure of transparency, but for purpose of delay and obstruction. the legislative history of the honest leadership addresses the issue of whether a point of order lies in this instance. quote, if the rule -- if rule 44 does not expressly provide for a point of order with respect to a provision, then no po

reid: madam president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: may we have order, mr. reid: may we have order, >> leader, may we have order, please the presiding officer: anyone wish to change their vote or hasn't voted? by a vote of 88 ayes and 10 noes, the motion to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment on defense appropriations is approved. leader. mr. reid: first of all, to the united states senate, this is a good strong message we've sent to our men and women in uniform around the world as 88 senators voted -- it was a little bit of a struggle to get here but we got here, and i'm so grateful we were able to do that. i have some -- we're going to do the continuing resolution now until the 23rd. the reason for that is this defense bill will take a little time to enroll it. we just want to make sure that there's no gaps in having the full funding that secretary gates has indicated he needs. i ask consent that the senate proceed to immediate consideration of h.j. res. 64 the continuing resolution received from the house and is at the desk, and the join

reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask -- we're not in a quorum call. the presiding officer: that is correct. mr. reid: mr. president, we're here today, it's 7:00. my friend -- and i want to make sure the record reflects that he is my friend, the republican leader. we scuffle and argue out here but we've done a lot of things together over the years. but i do have to look at this, this direct quote from my friend just this afternoon. "i'm anxious to have health care votes since tuesday. we've had the crapo amendment pending since tuesday. we'd like to vote on amendments. all we're asking is an opportunity to offer amendments and get votes." mr. president, that's what we've been trying to do now for the last several hours. so first of all, i have a cloture motion at the desk with respect to the conference report to accompany h.r. 3288. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with

the reid bill increases the medicare payroll tax. in fact, it imposes a a $54 billion payroll tax increase at a time when we as a nation are struggling with an unemployment rate of 10.2% and an underemployment rate that i have been speaking about of 17.5%. in addition, the reid bill fails to lower premiums. instead of lowering skyrocketing health care premiums for small businesses across the nation, this $2.5 trillion bill, according to the congressional budget office, will largely maintain the status quo of 5% to 6% yearly increases in premiums for small businesses. why? the combination of heavy-handed regulations and a laundry list of new taxes on everything from health plans to prescription drugs to medical devices, which according to the joint committee on taxation will simply be passed on to the consumers. the reid bill creates another brand-new washington-run plan. this washington-run plan comes at a time when families and businesses with private insurance are already paying as much as $1,800 a year more in premiums, which is n

reid has a lot of work to do to get the 60 votes he needs to pass the bill. he must win over liberals disappointed at losing the public option and appease fiscal conservatives in his party who are worried about the nearly trillion dollar price tag of the all eyes are congressional budget office. the c.b.o. will have to calculate the costs of the newly revised measure. and wisconsin democrat senator russ feingold-- a leading liberal-- said he has serious concerns. and you know i am interested in seeing what the c.b.o. office numbers are, for example. the public option under the majority leaders bill saves $25 billion. and we're gonna lose those savings. that's an example of questions i'd like to get answer for before i feel confident that this will work. >> until its score, we can't talk about the specifics fellow democrat blanche lincoln of arkansas, a fiscal, conservative-- said today she too was waiting to see more details. >> there are lot of things on the table still, and until we hear back from c.b.o., it's going to be hard to see what i can support as w

reid reid move to reconsided lay that on the table.madam president, i ask the chair to lay before the senate a message from the house with to h.r. 3326, the department of defense appropriations act. the presiding officer: the chair lays before the senate the message from the house. the clerk: resolved that the house agree to the amendment of the senate to the bill, h.r. 3326, entitled an act make appropriations for the department of defense for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2010, and for other purposes, with an amendment. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to concur on the house amendment and have a cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from nevada, many reid, moves to concur in the house amendment with an amendment. mr. reid: no. i thought there was a cloture motion there. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment. we, the senators senators

through to our friends on the other side of the aisle who have consistently stated that the reid bill, according to the joint committee on taxation, is a net tax cut -- and he emphasis upon the word "net." yesterday a chart -- this chart -- was used to illustrate this point. this chart -- or, no ... not this chart, a chart that the other side was using to illustrate that point. and that -- this chart that i'm referring to as multiple bars with dollar figures. for example, in 2019 -- in 2019 we see here a figure of $40.8 billion net tax cut. now, my democratic friend said in this number came from the joint committee on taxation. unfortunately, the chart that my friends were using at that time is not entirely clear on how they came up with this net tax cut. so that's what i want to bring to my colleagues' attention. so it's quite natural for most to wonder how that number came about. so they said, show me the data. well, to clear up any confusion, here is the joint committee on taxation table that the democrats relied on to claim that the reid bill results in a net tax cut. you see here

i hear a lot of people saying that this letter proves that premiums would go down under the reid bill, even though that's not what that letter says. so i'm here to tell people what the letter really says. the letter makes it very clear that premiums will increase, on average, by 10% to 13% for people buying coverage in the individual market. and i think you saw a specific figure given by the senator from texas that in his state, a large percentage of the individual market premiums would go up just for people in the state of texas. i have a chart here, just in case you miss what had this letter actually said. now that people that keep saying that premiums are going to go down conveniently forth to mention that -- forget to mention that this 10% to 13% increase is going to happen for the individual market. no, they'd prefer to talk about 57% of the americans in the individual market that are going to get subsidies. yes, it is true. the government is spending $500 billion in hard-earned taxpayers' dollars in addition to the cuts that they're having in home health care -- that the pending

. >> let me also think senator reid. this christmas eve, i can think of a better gift that the united states senate could give to our fellow citizens then lifting of the burden of fear from their shoulders. the fear that they would not be able to get health care for their families or a loved one in their time of need. this is enormous -- this is an enormous victory for the american public. last year, it proved that the process was not easy. we were able to prove that it was not impossible. because of the leadership of harry reid and tom harkin and max baucus, we are now on the cusp of achieving something that has been going on for five generations bridge -- five generations. this is probably the most important votes that every member will cast in their tenure here. i am proud to be a part of it. i wish ted kennedy were here with us today to enjoy this. mary christmas to everybody. -- merry christmas to everybody. >> i will tell you the contribution to this nation made by the senator from nevada will be one of the shining

the reid bill makes it worse, not better. the reid bill would increase the cost shifting due to low medicaid reimbursements. cost shifting occurs because medicaid pays a fraction of what private insurance pays, medicare about 08%. in order to make up the difference, those who have private health insurance have to pay an additional cost in terms of cost shifting. 15 million more on medicaid would make this worse, not better. fiftsd, the reid bill would kill jobs by raising state and local taxes because of unfunded mandates. because of the expense of medicaid, not paid for by the government, over 10 years the state of texas alone would see $20 billion more in medicaid spending because of this unfunded mandate. $20 billion. well, we're a big state, but we can't afford $20 billion more in an unfunded mandate because of medicaid expansion under this bill. well, it shouldn't be any surprise, madam president -- madam president that the reid bill and these other job-killing policies are the reason why the private sector is not hiring

his hometown said reid should be commended.asy thing would be to shelf the reform and prepare for the 2010 exl. instead he took on special interest and pulled together with diverse beliefs and sound the middle ground. as a result. long over due legislation that helps america is that much closer to passing. that's real leadership says the last ve gas sun. next los angeles. mark apposeed the legislation. tell us why, mark? caller: well, they didn't address one of the things that i've been concerned with. i've worked in a hospital for 15 years and one of the highest costs that a hospital has is nursing salary. rn salaries. back in the late 70's and early 80's there was industry created shortages that - by leaving hospitals and joining registries and then hiring back to the hospitals and back to the registries and back to the hospitals, they increased they're salaries to alarming amount where a lot of nurses now make more than the doctors and this thing is here in california we have a mandate where there's a maximum of five patient

senator reid and his colleagues have seen the facts.d them from our have seen the facts. you've heard them from our distinguished republican according to cnn poll from december 2 and december 3, 61% of the americans oppose this 2,074-page bill. and at a time when the democratic leadership is pushing a 1.8% increase in the deficit, we learned from the actuaries that this $2.5 trillion -- this 2,074-page bill bill bends the cost curve up by increasing health care spending. whereas if you go back to day one of -- of this year when we first started talking about health care reform, one of the overriding goals was to bend that cost curve down. now, after 11 months of activity we got a bill with that cost curve going up. not one of the major goals that we set out to do. -- to do 11 months ago. this bill is also under pressure from opposition by the national federation of independent businesses speaking for the small businesses of america. the ones that do 70% of the net hiring also opposed by the national association of manufacturers, the cha

section 90-12 of the reid bill. only takes up eight lines.but it could have a major impact on millions of retirees and even on the entire u.s. economy. in fact, listen to this, we've got the afl-cio, we've got the americans benefit council, and we've got the business roundtable, have all joined together in opposition to this provision, section 9012. now how often do you have the afl-cio, the american benefits council, and the business roundtable -- that roundtable's the big corporations in america -- joining together in opposition to anything? but they're in opposition to section 9012 of the bill. now, this would prohibit businesses from fully deducting a subsidy they receive to maintain retiree drug coverage. medicare modernization act of 2003 created this subsidy to encourage businesses to keep offering retiree drug coverage once the part-d benefit was established. because back in 2003, our goal in passing the prescription drug bill for seniors was not to disturb people that already had drug coverage and they liked what they had and they wa

rule 44 requires the sponsor of the amendment, in case senator reid -- in this case, senator reid, to provide a list of these narrow provisions. senator reid has not provided the list. we just received the several hundred page amendment yesterday morning. republican staff have performed a preliminary review. that review finds that some items that might -- and i repeat might -- be limited tax benefi benefits. there are press reports about narrowly crafted exceptions to the insurance fee. and i would ask unanimous consent to insert in the record a copy of the dow jones article dated december 19, 2009. without objection. mr. grassley: likewise, the single state medicaid provision might determined to be congressionally directed spending items under rule 44. the determinations are not made by the minority staff in order to ensure transparency of narrow provisions, the burden is on the sponsor to provide the list. so, this is a parliamentary inquiry: does rule 44 of the standing rules of the senate require that if a senator proposes an amendment containing congressionally directed spending

but clearly this group is a winner under the reid bill. but, the same joint committee on taxation data indicates that in 2019, individuals earning between $50,000 and $200,000 would on average see a tax increase of $593. families -- that's for individuals. now let's go to families earning between $75,000 and $200,000 would on average see tax increases of $670. so what does all this mean? this means that the reid bill does not cut taxes for all americans. to the contrary, the reid bill breaks president obama's promise not to tax individuals making less than $200,000 and families making less than $250,000 a year. aupbd just can't know how many -- and you just can't know how many times during the last presidential campaign whether it was in debates or whether it was in individual appearances by the president when he was a candidate. he made very clear that nobody under $200,000 a year income was going to see a tax increase. to the contrary, the reid bill breaks president obama's pledge not to tax individuals making less than $200,000 and then

senator reid is very clear. he puts into place, as i said, a firewall between the federal funds and the private funds. so roe v. wade is still the law of the land. i know a lot of my colleagues don't support it. they would like to see it overturned. they would like to make abortion illegal at the earliest stages. they would like to criminalize it. they would like to put doctors in jail. they would like to put women in jail. the fact is roe v. wade is the law of the land, and at the early stages of a pregnancy, a woman has a right to choose, that's the law. later on, she can't do it. there are restrictions for her, hurdles for her. that's what roe does. so there are many people, particularly on the other side of the aisle, more than on our side, for sure, who want to make roe -- they want to overturn roe. well, they know they can't do it because the vast majority of the people in this country support a woman's right to choose at the early stages of a pregnancy. so what can they do? they can make it impossible for

instead of $21,100, under the reid bill, you'd pay $21,300. and then finally, the individual market -- these are the people already are the ones getting hurt because they're not in group plans, they don't have employers paying a third or a half or whatever the insurance. they pay -- they don't get the same tax breaks. they're getting killed. barbers, individual people who can't get in the group plans. it's horrible for them. what happens to the individual market? under the reid bill, their premiums would go up 7.77% per year. go up more than the others. and what about if we didn't do anything, how much would their bills go up then, their insurance bills? only 5.51%. theirs goes up 2 -- more than 2%. i'm just saying, this legislation may have a great vision, it may have a great idea about trying to make the system work better, but it doesn't. these are huge costs. it's not financially sound. it's not going to reduce our premiums. it's going to increase the percentage of wealth in america going to health care instead of reducing it like we i tho

thank you. >> let me also think senator reid. this christmas eve, i can think of a better gift that the united states senate could give to our fellow citizens then lifting of the burden of fear from their shoulders. the fear that they would not be able to get health care for their families or a loved one in their time of need. this is enormous -- this is an enormous victory for the american public. last year, it proved that the process was not easy. we were able to prove that it was not impossible. because of the leadership of harry reid and tom harkin and max baucus, we are now on the cusp of achieving something that has been going on for five generations bridge -- five generations. this is probably the most important votes that every member will cast in their tenure here. i am proud to be a part of it. i wish ted kennedy were here with us today to enjoy this. mary christmas to everybody. -- merry christmas to everybody. >> i will tell you the contribution to this nation made by the senator from nevada will be one of the shining

the reid bill expands medicaid, and the reason is because it's cheap. according to the congressional budget office, it costs 20% more to cover the purchase of an exchange funded by federal dollars than through medicaid which is shared between federal and state governments. one of my amendments would change all of this. senators and their staffs have the ability to choose between competing private plans. and i believe we should give the same kind of choice to low-income marines instead of trapping -- low-income americans. my amendment would provide individuals who would otherwise be enrolled in medicaid through the expansion of this bill the right to choose to be covered by medicaid or a qualified private health plan offered through the state exchange. every american should be able to choose to enroll in private insurance, and my amendment would provide real choice access to the network of physicians and fix this problem. it would also assure them that they'd have coverage for an entire year, not just while their income fluctuates. on the topic of expand

reid: mr. president? vice president the majority leader. mr. reid: like so many endeavors that have benefited so many americans, making health insurance more affordable and health insurance companies more accountable is a process. it's one that is required as to find common ground as we should. that's why, mr. president, we have a piece of legs that over the -- legislation that over the next decade will reduce the deficit by $132 billion. over the next decade, as much as $1.3 trillion. now, mr. president, everyone knows we've had votes in the middle of the note and on christmas eve because the republicans wouldn't allow us to have votes at any other hour. now, it's true when we go home, we're going to hear an earful. i'm going to hear an earful from young caleb. a boy, mr. president, that was born with legs that stopped right here, above his knees, he needed new prosthetic devices because the rest of his body is growing. but the insurance company said no, because he had a preexisting condition. i'll get an earful from caleb and especially from

and i want to acknowledge senator rockefeller for his work in developing the idea, and also leader reid for putting even more bite into the authority of this important panel of experts. second, i want to express how proud i am that majority leader reid put so much emphasis on the marine's amendment -- manager's amendment in improving health care for rural america. the difficulty accessing quality in rural areas is a unique quality i've been concerned about especially since traveling around colorado's rural areas. i'm glad to see inclusion of an amendment i offered to establish a rural physician pipeline training program designed to help boll -- bolster our rural health care workforce. many colleagues joined us in this amendment which has the potential in recruiting doctors to train and practice in rural areas. in in addition, i offered an amendment to would establish a rural element to the community transformation grant program which is aimed at helping prevent and reduce chronic disease in communities acontracts on country. my amendment would ensure that rural areas are getting their s

and yet the underlying health care bill, the reid bill, makes things worse. i'll talk about that in detail. we all agree that health care reform is needed, just that some of us have different ideas about what that reform should look like. we know that health care premiums have more than doubled in the last ten years for american families, and health care costs typically rise at two or three times the rate of wage growth. we also know that this is all unsustainable. we can't keep doing what we're doing. so republicans and democrats agree on the nature of the problem. the question is what is the cure? what are we going to do to make it better? and are we, perhaps due to inadvertens or unintended consequences, are we actually going to make things worse than they are now? well, the reid bill, the health care bill that we're going to be -- that's going to be considered along with a substitute that has been negotiated behind closed doors that we haven't seen yet, the basic reid bill would actually increase premiums by $2,100 for american families purchasing insuran

again, the reid bill cuts medicare to create a new government entitlement program. more specifically, the reid bill will cut nearly $135 billion from hospitals, $120 billion from medicare advantage, and almost $15 billion from nursing homes, more than $40 billion from home health care agencies, and close to $8 billion from hospice providers. how can that be good for our seniors? these cuts will threaten beneficiary access to care as medicare providers find it more and more challenging to provide health services to medicare patients. how can cutting $465 billion, almost $500 billion, out of medicare strengthen the program? it defies logic. i don't know how people can stand on this floor and say that. boy, the people out there have caught on to it. senior citizens have caught on to it. all across this country, they're up in arms and they should be. in addition, the proposed legislation permanently cuts all annual medicare provider payment updates. hospitals, home health agencies, and hospice facilities would face even more annual reductions over the next ten years. ad

now, and the merged bill, senator reid in my view has played an important foundation. and there are three fundamental principles in a senator reid's merged bill, and of course we are going to continue to work on this. in the managers package this bill gets out of the united states senate. we are going to be working on this for quite some time, mr. president. we are going to be working on this longer cable 24/7 td has worked on to other topics. but on the bill there are three important features of exchange. the first as it is going to be possible for consumers to make apples to apples comparisons of various health care plans. consumers will be able to see one plan will cost them $20 co-payments for a physician visit but perhaps another plan will cost them $30. it will be much like you can do a store, kosko, grocery store where consumers look at products on a shelf, look at a price, look at the various offerings and choose the best product for themselves. the second feature in the bill the democrats and republicans alike should appreciate is it will be possible to keep l

"no" to passage of the reid health care bill. we should listen to the american people. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa is recognized. mr. grassley: we keep hearing about all the tax cuts that are in this 2,074-page bill. earlier today i heard the distinguished senator -- senior senator from illinois say this, after senator kyl was done speaking: first -- and i am reading from the transcript -- "first, this bill has $441 billion in tax cuts in the first ten years. for average people trying to pay their health insurance premiums, i don't know if the senator from oz oz, senator kyl, thinks that's a good idea for not. hay never spoken to that. at least i haven't heard it. i think it is a good idea if you're making less than $80,000 a year, i won't's want to make sure you have insurance and it bill wants to make sure we give you a helping hand. it is a tax cut." first of all, when you have a tax credit or subsidy for buying insurance, the joint committee often taxation -- the joint committee on taxation

senate majority leader harry reid's bill grows just as fast as the house version. and yesterday -- the day before yesterday we got a new actuarial report that actually addressed the reid bill, as opposed to the house bill, and we talked about that fairly extensively. i haven't seen any articles about it yet. but just one summary comment on it is that, according to this actuary of c.m.s., a part of the administration, said that the cost of health care under the reid bill will increase by .7%. that doesn't sound like much. but it is .7% more -- move -- than if we did nothing. that's not bending the cost curve down. mr. holtzs-eakin says each bill sets up a new entitlement program that grows at 8% annually, as far as the eye can see, faster than the economy will grow, faster than tax revenues will grow, and just as fast as the already-broken medicare and medicaid programs. they also create a second, new entitlement program, a federally run long-term care insurance plan. the bills are fiscally dishonest using every budget gimmick in the book. leave out inconvenient spe

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

so who gets taxed under the reid bill? if you don't have the government-approved health insurance, you get taxed. and incidentally, we're going to till -- washington is going to tell you what the minimum requirement is, and that will be higher than most people have for insurance at the present time. the government will tell you what you need, and they'll fine you if you don't agree. now, the total amount of new taxes on uninsured americans is $8 billion. according to the congressional budget office, half of the new taxes on the uninsured will be paid by families earning less than $68,000 a year. now, if you don't have insurance, you'll get taxed. if you have insurance, you will get hit twice by new taxes in the reid bill. first, new taxes on health care providers will be passed on to consumers in the form of higher premiums. second, if the government bureaucrats decide your employer-sponsored inurns is too generous -- insurance is too general rushings you get a tax for that, too. the reid bill includes $150 billion in new

and that's the whole point of it. >> imagine you're harry reid. how do you get either, "a," you get four conservative votes from the democratic caucus, or, "b," pass the bill with viewer than 60 senators supporting it? >> well, you get those four -- those 60 votes, all four of them, all 60 of us by continuing to talk, continuing to be in these meetings as all of -- many of us are that care so passionately about this. ultimately you bring people together and say we need this, you're leaders in the party. four of these people we're talking about, three of them are committee chairs. all of them are on one of the two most prestigious committees in the senate. they're getting all kinds of push from home to vote for this. the public wants the public option overwhelmingly. democratic activists want the public option. it clearly, according to all polls, it clearly works for the country. it works for most people, will keep prices down and it will mean -- it will keep the insurance companies honest, as i said. we just know the insurance companies always try

the obama administration acceded to reid's demands. he's been placed in the general prison population, a less restrictive environment where he can speak with the media and where his mail will no longer be regularly monitored by the f.b.i. is this how we should treat people who attempt to blow up commercial airliners? we will no longer have the f.b.i. routinely monitor the mail? this is an outrage, an absolute outrage. unfortunately, it's not an isolated case. just a few years ago this same supermax allowed terrorist inmates to communicate with terrorist network abroad. at the time our democratic colleagues criticized these security lapses. the senior senator from new york said federal prisoner officials *fr officials were -- quote -- "incompetent when it comes to detecting possible terrorist activity in federal prisons." and he noted past evidence of terrorist communicating from live terror cells from inside prison walls. that's the senior senator from new york. our democratic colleagues now raise concerns about similar potential lapse

harry reid has lead that fight and we've won it. fight."to max baucus who bent over backwards and not only went the extra mile but the extra hundred miles to involve the minority. to my great friend, chris dodd, who did a masterful job of leading our committee and getting the bill through and doing a masterful job. kriz and max and i are all classmates together. we were all sworn and the same day. -- as one in on the same day. -- sworn in on the same day. this is a starter home. it has a great foundation. we are expanding health-care coverage to 31 million americans. it has a protective rules -- were roof. this is not the end of health care reform, this is the beginning of health care reform. i am just proud to join my fellow senators and doing whatever i can to make sure we get over the goal in the next few days and have the president signed into law as soon as possible after the first of the year -- president sign it into law as soon as possible after the first of the year. >> [inaudible] >> i work with -- i worked with every democratic s