Nomination of Susan P. Watters to be the United States District Judge for the District of Montana

Floor Speech

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. Would the Senator yield?

Mr. WICKER. I will yield on this, absolutely, to my friend.

Mr. CHAMBLISS. I know the Senator from Mississippi was on Active Duty in the Air Force for several years and has stayed in contact with many members of the military not just as a result of his service on the Armed Services Committee but because he is very keenly interested in the welfare of the men and women in our military.

If I am hearing the Senator from Mississippi correctly on this particular issue, what he is saying is that an E-7 who served in Iraq, served in Afghanistan, conceivably served multiple tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, maybe even was awarded major meritorious recognition, is now going to have the promise that was made to him about his retirement reduced retroactively. Do I understand that correctly?

Mr. WICKER. The rules, if this budget passes and is signed into law by President Obama, will be changed on this individual retroactively. The result will be that, instead of the retirement pay he signed up for and agreed to under the law when he did his duty, he will experience an $83,000 loss, lifetime.

Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, again if I may inquire of the Senator, you, as I say, have been very close to any number of military personnel through the years you have served in this body as well as your service in the Mississippi Legislature. Just by virtue of the fact of practicing law in Tupelo, MS, what is the opinion of the Senator from Mississippi as to the morale influence a provision such as this is going to have on our men and women in the military, not just those who are retired but Active-Duty military today?

Mr. WICKER. I can only imagine that it is a severe blow to morale. Also, it has to make people who are willing to step forward and risk their lives, be separated for months and years from their loved ones, it has to make them wonder, what else is being promised to me that is going to be taken away?

Mr. CHAMBLISS. The Senator also mentioned the reduction in Federal retirement pay--and we have to figure out ways to save money. We all know and understand that. There is a change in the pension for Federal retirees, but it is all prospective going forward.

Mr. WICKER. Right. We do not do anything to any other Federal employee retroactively, only the military in this budget. I cannot imagine how the public could think that is fair.

Mr. CHAMBLISS. I am very sympathetic, even though I never served on Active-Duty in the military as you did. But this is very strange. It is very difficult to understand why we would penalize the men and women who have worn or do wear the uniform of the United States versus a very similar provision for the men and women who serve the Government of the United States in a very honorable way, but we are treating them very differently, it seems like almost discriminatorily.

Mr. WICKER. I will tell you who else believes it is discriminatory. I have a list of members of the military coalitions listed in a letter to the Honorable Harry Reid and the Honorable Mitch McConnell dated December 11, 2013. I ask unanimous consent to have this letter printed in the Record.

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. I thank the Senator from Mississippi for giving me an opportunity to speak for a minute. I wish to get to some anecdotes, but first it has been nearly 4 years since the Democrats in the Senate and the House forced the passage of the President's signature law, the Affordable Care Act or what is commonly known as ObamaCare.

It is a title the President has embraced during the promising times and distanced himself from during the very difficult times we are going through now. It has been kind of an interesting dynamic to watch.

Instead of working in a bipartisan fashion to enact a health care law that would bring more competition into the private insurance market through market-based solutions, President Obama and the Democrats structured a deal behind closed doors across this hall that we are looking at on the west side of the Capitol. They structured that deal without any Republican input, giving the Federal Government more control over Americans' health care decisions.

The Senator from Mississippi and I were here on the floor, and we both fought tooth and nail to stop the passage of ObamaCare.

On Christmas Eve, 2009, we came to the floor of the Senate and voted against what I think is the worst piece of legislation that has passed in the Congress in the 19 years the Senator and I have been in Congress. I have been saying for years that ObamaCare caused more problems than it solved, and with the passage of every single day, that is being shown as the painful truth.

Although the White House has stood behind this terrible piece of legislation, some of my colleagues across the aisle have brought into question now the ability of it to stand on its own two feet.

Who can blame them. This has become a major political issue, not only expensive, but it is a political issue. The law continues to be marked by red flags. We have heard a few of the Democrats go as far to say even that it is a train wreck, and they are exactly right.

We have heard from the American people as well. They are rightfully upset that they have been repeatedly lied to and misled about this law by the President of the United States. The American people don't deserve a law filled with broken promises marked by disaster after disaster. The law is fundamentally broken and Americans deserve better.

I noticed yesterday, in a hearing, the Secretary of HHS reported that nearly 365,000 individuals have selected plans from the State and Federal marketplaces, a number that is far below the administration's goal. I think their goal--and the Senator may correct me--is 7 million by the end of March.

I notice also that the State of Oregon has spent $300 million setting up their exchange. As of this morning there were 40 people, 40 citizens of Oregon had signed up. The fact is that this law is not working. It is becoming more and more expensive every day. As we talked about in 2009, when we were debating this bill, it is going to be the largest mandatory expenditure that the U.S. taxpayer has ever seen.

The Senator is correct. I have a whole book of anecdotes and I wish to mention some.

First, Linda of Douglasville wrote to me about her dropped coverage. She said:

We lost our Gold plan. All of our costs will go up next year considerably. It is harder and harder for us to really retire!

My husband, who is 71, still has to work part time to pay for our rising costs.

Linda, from Hampton, GA, also writes:

In 1997 I retired from Motorola, Inc. after having a career there for almost 30 years. One of my benefits was a retiree secondary insurance plan, after Medicare, that provided coverage for medical and prescriptions; my monthly premium for that coverage was $127.

Effective January 1, 2013 Motorola withdrew their insurance coverage for retirees.

Under ObamaCare they simply could not afford it. I could go on and on. I know the Senator from Mississippi has some other anecdotes that he would like to mention, and I will engage on some others on my side shortly.

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. The American people want affordable health insurance. The title of the law even centers on the word ``affordable.'' I am not sure how anybody could possibly argue that ObamaCare is affordable when the letters I am receiving from constituents over and over every single day, time and again, reference a significant increase in their total health care costs. Virtually 100 percent of the letters we are getting indicate that not only are the monthly premiums going up, but the deductible is going up, their copays are going up, and it is simply going to be more out-of-pocket expense than either actively working individuals or retired individuals ever thought they would have to pay for health care.

Terra from Columbus writes to explain what is happening to her children.

I carry medical insurance for my two adult children because they cannot afford it on their own.

Let us remember, ObamaCare covers children up to 26 years of age.

Being one that has always had medical insurance and knowing the value of it if something bad happens, I have also made sure that they both had some type of coverage when they became adults. The sad part is I have gotten a letter on both and now their insurance will be canceled because I as their parent can no longer afford to pay it for them either. We received a letter which shows where their old policy covers everything and I mean everything, but because of ObamaCare's requirements to carry everything, a new policy will cost us twice as much each month. With me being unemployed and my husband the only one working we have no choice but to drop their coverage.

Wynell, from Roswell, GA, wrote:

My private coverage was superb. But now, my insurance premiums are going from $319 a month to $769 a month and not only that, my copay is increasing from $5 to $20 for my primary care visits and $5 to $50 for specialist visits. I will be responsible for $500 per day out-of-pocket cost if I am hospitalized (before my hospital costs were included) and I will also have to pay for any tests (before all my tests were included). And apparently, subsidies do not apply to me.

Loretta, from Canton, GA, writes:

I received a letter from my insurance company dated September 25, 2013. I had until November 15 to choose to remain with my current coverage until December 2014. My rate increased by 16 percent. According to the letter, the Affordable Care Act premium will increase by 139 percent. My former plan did not include maternity. I'm 60 years old. I don't need maternity. My new plan will include maternity. My old plan was great for preventive care. I paid nothing for immunizations including tetanus and flu shots. I paid a $30 copay for a doctor visit. My prescriptions have been very reasonable. The new plan requires a network of doctors and hospitals. The premiums were between 150 percent and 200 percent above what I'm paying now. I did not enroll but have received numerous e-mails reminding me to enroll. So far, I'm hoping I can keep my premium at the 16 percent increase for 2014. Otherwise, I will not have health insurance. I can't afford the new premium.

Kevin, from Roswell, GA, wrote:

We are a family of four. We have and want a catastrophic-only high deductible health plan with low monthly premiums and full coverage once we hit our deductible. We like our plan.

This is very typical of a lot of families who were promised by the President, if you like your plan, you can keep it.

We were paying $500 a month until July of this year. I had bladder cancer in November of 2012 which was successfully removed and I require no follow up treatment, just biannual checkups, so I expected an increase in my premium this year. In fact, our premium did go up to $560 a month in July. On November 1, I got the letter telling us our premium was now going to $902 a month, a 60 percent increase. After three separate calls, I got the
information that the $902 a month change was ``Option B,'' which is an ObamaCare-compliant plan which covers abortion, birth control and maternity care. Since we could not have children, we adopted two kids, so that coverage is 100 percent completely unnecessary for us. ``Option A'' we came to find out a few weeks later, was the option to keep our plan with an increase to $617 a month. This plan will be canceled on December 31, 2014, at which point we will be forced to get an ObamaCare-compliant plan costing much more and covering things we will never, ever need.

Now, I am sure the Senator from Mississippi has received dozens and dozens of these letters, just as we have in my office. Knowing the State of Mississippi has a lot of rural areas, as my State does--in fact, I live in a rural area--there is a huge discrepancy created by ObamaCare between insurance premiums in rural America versus insurance premiums in more urban areas. Many of these premiums and deductibles are so high that it defeats the purpose of having health insurance.

This really does hit close to home for me because I truly live in a rural part of our State. In two of the regions in Southwest Georgia designated by ObamaCare, there is only one insurer--one insurance company--that is offering coverage, and the premiums in that corner of our State are much higher than in the rest of our State. It is the poorest part of our State.

In region one, which includes Albany, GA, the least expensive silver plan for a 21-year-old healthy Georgian is $360 a month. That is the highest rate in the State. In region 15, which is also in that part of our State, the same plan is $330 a month.

You have to remember these are people who are paying zero today because they aren't covered. They are either going to have to pay a fine or they are going to have to take that coverage.

In metro Atlanta the cheapest silver plan for a 21-year-old is $179.20 a month, matching the rate in regions in northeast as well as northwest Georgia, which are more populated. That is half the rate of an individual in southwest Georgia where the average median income is the lowest of any part of our state.

So needless to say, households in rural southwest Georgia often do not have the same income as those in the northwest and northeast part of the State, yet they are being stuck with the highest premiums.

I could go on and on about these anecdotes and about the serious economic consequences ObamaCare is going to cause for individuals in my State, but I want to turn it back over to the Senator from Mississippi for some additional comments.

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. The Senator is exactly right. Obviously, we both spent an awful lot of time on the floor of the Senate debating this. As we talked about, we were here voting on Christmas Eve of 2009 against this bill when it passed with 60 Democratic votes. No Republican in the Senate voted for the bill. No Republican in the House of Representatives voted for the bill. It passed with all Democratic votes.

If the Senator will recall that famous quote by the then-Speaker of the House, Speaker Nancy Pelosi, she said: What we have to do is pass this bill and then we will figure out what is in it.

Well, guess what. What we are talking about here is just one of the myriad of consequences the American people are now finding out is in that bill, and they have every right in the world to chastise everybody who voted for that bill who didn't read it, because these are the real out-of-pocket consequences to hard-working, taxpaying Americans that were never talked about on the floor of this Senate or the floor of the House.

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. The Senator from Mississippi mentioned the way this came about and the comments of the majority leader that I can't believe he really believes. It is hard for me to believe he thinks this is working. He is not a fool.

I also listened to the debate, as we talked about earlier, on the floor leading up to the vote on Christmas Eve 2009. I listened to the debate last night and today by some of our colleagues. I thought our colleague from Nebraska, Senator Johanns, made a very profound statement.

We are fortunate to serve, in my opinion, in the greatest legislative body in the world. The Senator and I spent a number of years in the House, and that is a great institution also. They are both unusual from a constitutional legislative standpoint. But in the Senate there are certain rights of the minority that you don't have in the House.

The American people know and understand what has happened here; that is, 2 weeks ago the Democrats in the Senate broke the rules of the Senate to change the rules of the Senate, and they did so in a very arbitrary and almost mean-spirited way that basically ignored the arguments of the minority. The minority in the Senate has always had rights--up until this rule change a couple weeks ago.

The Senator from Nebraska said today that when we were debating on this floor during the late fall leading up to the vote in December 2009, that because the Democrats had 60 votes, they looked to the minority on our side of the aisle and they said: We don't care what you say. His direct quote was, ``Sit down and shut up.'' And the Senator felt a very eerie feeling taking place 2 weeks ago during the debate on this floor, where the Democrats broke the rule to change the rule, and they looked on this side of the aisle and said: We don't care what the Parliamentarian says. We don't care what the rules of the Senate have been for decades and decades. We are going to change those rules, and you all can sit down and shut up.

I thought what Senator Johanns said was pretty significant, and he was right on track.

I will mention one other major concern I have with this bill that I am sure my friend from Mississippi has also heard, and that has to do with the safety of personal information relative to this new health care system. ObamaCare opens the door to fraud and identity theft like we have never seen in a public program. When individuals visit the exchange and apply for health insurance coverage, they have to provide sensitive personal data, such as Social Security numbers and income and tax return information. This information is then stored in a Federal data service hub. The proper security safeguards for that Federal data hub and other components of the Web site have not been put in place. Despite repeated warnings about this, the administration insisted on moving forward.

If the rollout of healthcare.gov is an indication of what is to follow, then I agree with Americans who have serious reservations about the security of their personal information when applying for health insurance coverage through the exchanges.

The Presiding Officer and I sit on the Intelligence Committee together, and we hear during our daily briefings about cyber attacks taking place against the U.S. Federal Government, against private entities in the United States, as well as against individuals inside the United States.

I can only imagine, with all the problems we have seen with getting up and simply having this Web site of healthcare.gov running, that some 15-year-old sitting in his garage somewhere in America--or maybe Beijing or Teheran--looking to have some fun could hack into the computer system and retrieve all the personal information of any individual they wanted to, including their Social Security number.

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. The Senator is exactly right. And we obviously know what that would lead to. Those hackers attacking America today are getting proprietary information as well as financial remuneration, unfortunately, in too many instances. And to open your personal information book to the Federal Government is something that rightfully, in my mind, has the American people upset, and it is a provision in this health care plan that certainly is not popular. As Nancy Pelosi said, let's pass it, and then we will read it and figure it out. But here we go again. It is another provision in there nobody knew anything about. We had no debate, as the Senator from Mississippi referred to earlier about another issue of the floor of the Senate,
regarding having to provide personal information.

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Mr. CHAMBLISS. I will close my comments with two additional anecdotes that really strike at what Middle America is all about and what suffering and economic pain Middle America is going through right now as a result of ObamaCare.

Michael from Dunwoody, GA, wrote in and said:

I had a really great policy for $277 a month. The premiums were paid by my Flexplan from my employer and the excess my employer paid to my flex each month kept my balance increasing. I now have about $35,000 accrued.

My provider cancelled that plan and my Flex now offers a lesser plan. The premiums went to $550 a month. I actually joined AMAC and used their service to find a plan from a different provider. I must now pay the premiums out of my own pocket as President Obama won't allow me to use my own money from my flex plan to pay these premiums.

HOW IS THIS LEGAL?

I thought it was my money; apparently it's only my money if I buy what Obamacare says I can buy. I had to choose a plan with a $5,000 deductible to make my premiums affordable.

Lastly, Mary from Powder Springs writes:

I am an educator with the Cobb County School System. As a reactionary measure to Obamacare, the State Board of Community Health gave state employees only one company option for our health insurance this year.

My premiums were going to be $1,800 per year higher, my deductible was going to be $2,000 higher, and the percentage of what was covered went down. We decided to go with my husband's company plan, but wonder what will happen to that coverage next year when the employer mandate goes into effect.

Michael and Mary are two average, ordinary Americans we ought to care about in this body. Yet we are throwing them under the bus with ObamaCare.

So as we move forward over the next year, I am in hopes we can continue to engage on this because these problems are going to get more frequent and they are going to get more disastrous from a financial and a lack of coverage standpoint.

There is going to be an opportunity for this body to come together to look at really changing the ObamaCare plan that passed in 2009. Let's come together on a plan that is meaningful, that truly does provide affordable and meaningful health care coverage for all Americans.

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