Deficit Reduction Act of 2005--Conference Report

DEFICIT REDUCTION ACT OF 2005--CONFERENCE REPORT

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Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, every so often in this body--and it is quite rare--we come to a point where a vote must be cast in order to determine whether the words you speak are going to be complied with. That is this vote. All of us in this Congress tend to talk about fiscal responsibility. We all are concerned about our children and the type of Nation we are going to leave them. We know that because of the retirement of the baby boom generation, our children will face huge financial stress from the costs of Government. We know that we have on the books approximately $44 to $55 trillion of unfunded liability in the area of Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security accounts that benefit seniors. That huge number is a result of the fact that there is a huge generation about to retire called the postwar baby boom generation.

The question for us, as stewards of this Nation and as stewards of our children and our grandchildren's future, is whether we are going to pass on to them this type of debt or whether we are going to step on to the turf of trying to address that issue before it overwhelms us. Whether our children have an opportunity to live as good as our generation has, to send their children to college, to own a home, to be able to live in an America which is prosperous, will be determined by whether we, as a government, are responsible in what debt and obligations we pass on to them.

For 8 years, we have ignored this problem. Today we have an opportunity to address it. This will be the first time that this Congress in 8 years has stepped onto the turf, put our toe in the water--actually, we are going up to our ankles--to address the issue of future responsibilities and how we control the spending of the Federal Government in the outyears.

We have addressed the issues on the appropriations side, discretionary spending, but we have refused, over the last 8 years, to address the issue of mandatory spending or entitlement programs. This is not a major step forward. I wish it was bigger. The Senator from North Dakota held up charts which show how unfortunate it is in its size, that it is not larger. He has pointed out that it is $40 billion on $14 trillion of spending. He calls that one three hundred fiftieth of a percent. It is actually about a half a percent of the spending during that period. But the point is, if we do not proceed at this time, if we do not go forward, it is still going to be $40 billion of debt that we pass on to our children. That is what this vote is about.

It is not about the tax issue. This isn't a tax bill. It is not about the debt issue in the sense that it is not the debt extension vote. It is the one vote that we will have as a Congress to try to control the outyear debt of this country through restraining spending. It will be the first time that we have stepped forward on the issue of one of the major entitlements, specifically Medicaid. We don't do a great deal on the numbers side of Medicaid. I wish we had done a lot more, and I tried to do a lot more. But we do take significant steps in the area of policy, on how we address Medicaid by essentially taking what the Governors have proposed, in a bipartisan approach, and putting that language into this bill to give the Governors more flexibility as to how they deliver Medicaid in the States, thus allowing them to deliver more services to more people at less of a rate of growth.

That is reflected in this chart. We can see that dedicated spending is going to go up 40 percent under this bill. It would go up 40 percent under the law, generally. We essentially reduce the rate of growth, not dramatically, but we put in place policies which will allow us to improve the system and care for more children more effectively.

This is it, folks. This is the only chance we are going to have this year. It is the only chance in the last 8 years to actually step forward and do something about deficit spending on the entitlement side.

This is our responsibility to our children. We should pass this bill, or else we should ask ourselves what type of public policy are we pursuing and what type of stewards are we of our children's future. This is the one vote we will have to reduce the rate of growth of the Federal Government.

I believe we have now used the 5 minutes.

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Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, the Democratic leader on the bill has every right to make a point of order. Clearly, the Chair will rule they are well taken. Let's talk about the substance quickly.

They are essentially technical points of order. Two deal with reports and the other with an issue of liability which is very narrow, dealing with what people are told when they come into an emergency room. Essentially, the practical effect of doing these technical attacks on this bill will be that the bill must go back to the House of Representatives and the House of Representatives is going to agree and knock that language out. But the House is not here.

So what is the real practical effect of this? It is that the Katrina money in this bill will not be spent. The TANF Program, the welfare program, will lapse. The Medicare physicians payments increase, which basically makes Medicare physicians whole, will not occur. Transitional medical assistance for families who worked their way off welfare will be lost. And the therapy caps for seniors who suffer strokes will be lost during this interim period.

Why would we want to do that simply to go through a technical exercise? It makes no sense at all, other than the fact that the other side of the aisle wants to delay the process. But in the process of delaying for purely technical reasons--I mean, two reports are being challenged. We get thousands of reports in this institution. To delay the Katrina benefits for the people in the gulf coast region who have suffered is outrageous, over two reports.

To potentially stop welfare payments for up to a month because the House cannot get back here is outrageous, over two reports. To stop transitional medical assistance is outrageous, over two reports. To say nothing of the other reports. I realize if we don't enact this bill by the end of this year, there are $18 billion worth of subsidies that are going to flow to corporate lenders which are totally inappropriate, which the HELP Committee has said we have to stop. But those subsidies will go to those lenders. The money will potentially be lost, and that money that was going to be used to reduce debt and give students more loans will be lost, potentially, unless we get this bill done by the end of the year.

We have serious issues that have to be addressed. They should not be tied up over technicalities. That is what these points of order are about.

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