FAA Air Transportation Modernization and Safety Improvement Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. President, it is very hard for me to understand how anyone could be voting to repeal the entire health care bill. Because when you do that, among other things, what you are saying is that we will continue the odious practice by insurance companies of denying health care to people who have preexisting conditions.

For 8 years under President Bush, more and more people lost their health insurance, the cost of health care soared, and our Republican friends had virtually nothing to say on health care.

Now that a bill has been passed, which I am the first to agree is not the best bill we could have passed--and I will tell you why. It has its share of problems which should be remedied. But to say right now, when 50 million Americans have no health insurance, when States all over this country are wrestling with huge budget deficits, which no doubt will result in millions more being thrown off health insurance, to say we should retreat to where we were is beyond comprehension.

Second of all, for my Republican friends to say let's repeal health care, there are millions of families who now are beginning to be able to include within their own health care plans their sons and daughters, up to the age of 26. Goodbye to that. Furthermore, in a nation which ends up spending more on health care, almost double per person, compared to any other nation on Earth, we have put in the health care reform bill billions of dollars for disease prevention.

We are, as a nation, very weak in terms of trying to keep people healthy, trying to keep them out of the hospital. We spend a fortune on people after they are sick. In this bill, we have made some significant steps forward in terms of disease prevention, wellness, which is very cost effective in terms of health care dollars, not to mention human pain and suffering.

In that regard, I am proud to have worked with a number of other Senators in doubling, in that bill, the number of community health centers in America, which are providing the most cost-effective primary health care that is provided in this country, keeping people out of emergency rooms, keeping people out of hospitals, giving them access to primary health care, dental care, low-cost prescription drugs, and mental health counseling.

In the midst of an extraordinary crisis in terms of primary health care, where everybody recognizes we do not have enough primary health care doctors or nurses or technicians, we tripled funding for the National Health Service Corps, and it is already working effectively in getting doctors and dentists and nurses and other practitioners into underserved areas. All that would be undone. I think that makes no sense whatsoever.

Now, to my mind, what we have to do is not to repeal this bill but to make it a better bill. I will give you one very specific suggestion that I have worked on now for over 1 year. Senator Wyden has worked on this, others have worked on it. That is to say, that if a State in this country, the State of Vermont, the State of Alaska, any other State, can maintain the high standards for quality health care and coverage that the national health care bill did, then that State should be given significant flexibility to perhaps do it in their own way and do it more cost effectively.

I should tell you that in the State of Vermont, our new Governor is a supporter of a Medicare-for-all single-payer program. There are other States that want to move in a different direction, maintaining high standards but doing it perhaps in a different way

than has been proposed by the national legislation.

In my view, they should have that right. And if Vermont is effective in doing what I believe we could--providing quality health care to all of our people in a cost-effective way--I suspect other States around the country can learn from Vermont's experience. I think that is a positive step forward.

The beauty of our Federalist system: 50 States--every State has a good idea. I think if we maintain standards that are high and give States flexibility, this can improve the health care reform bill we passed last year. But killing this whole bill makes no sense to me at all.

SOCIAL SECURITY

Mr. President, I also want to say a word on an issue which is getting more and more attention; that is, Social Security.

In my view, Social Security has proven itself to be the most successful social program in American history. Over a 75-year period--and this is really extraordinary; we take it for granted, but it is an extraordinary success story--in good times and in bad times, Social Security has paid out every nickel owed to every eligible American. And it does that with a minimal administrative cost.

Despite its strong record of success over the last 75 years, Social Security now faces unprecedented attacks from Wall Street, from many of my Republican friends, and from some Democrats. I have to be very clear: If the American people are not prepared to stand up and fight back, we could begin to see the dismantling of Social Security this very year.

Let me cite the facts with regard to Social Security. I know when we watch TV tonight there will be some guy up there saying: Social Security has gone bankrupt. Social Security is collapsing. That is absolutely untrue. There has been a significant number of misstatements regarding Social Security. Here are the facts that nobody denies.

No. 1, according to the latest report of the Social Security Administration, Social Security will be able to pay out 100 percent of all benefits owed to every eligible American for the next 26 years. Now, you tell me how a system is going bankrupt--we have a lot of problems in this government, and our country faces enormous problems, but when you can pay out every benefit owed to every eligible American for the next 26 years, do not tell me this is a program in crisis or going bankrupt. After 2037, Social Security will be able to pay out 78 percent of promised benefits. Do we have to deal with that over the next 26 years? Yes, we do. But it is not a crisis, and this Senator will do everything he can to oppose any effort toward privatization, any effort to raise the retirement age, any effort to lower benefits.

Second point. Everybody is concerned about the deficit crisis we face--a $14 trillion national debt. How much has Social Security contributed to the deficit and the national debt? How much? Well, not one penny. Not one-half a penny. Social Security is funded by the payroll tax. Social Security has a $2.6 trillion surplus. That surplus will go up. To attack Social Security because of the deficit crisis is grossly unfair.

Do you want to know why the deficit went up? We are in the middle of a recession. We fought two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and forgot to pay for those wars. We gave hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthy; bailed out Wall Street; Medicare Part D prescription drug program, written by the insurance companies--all unfunded. Those are the reasons you have a deficit. Social Security has nothing to do with it.

So I would suggest that in the midst of all of this financial instability that is out there, with the middle class shrinking and poverty increasing and people really worried about their retirement years, one of the most significant things we as a Congress can do is stand up and say: We are there. We are going to protect Social Security. We are not going to cut it. And we are going to make it stronger so that, while it has done a great job for the last 75 years, it will continue to do a good job for the next 75 years.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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