Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, it is no secret that every Republican in this Chamber, every Senator on this side of the aisle voted against the President's health care law. We said it would do great harm to the American people, and we are finding out that is true. It is also no secret that every Democrat in the Senate voted in favor of the health care law. It was partisan, it was a bad idea, and it has failed the country in many ways.

People know about the health care Web site. The Web site was a spectacular public failure, and that was just the tip of the iceberg. When we look under the iceberg, we see that people are being hit with higher premiums and canceled coverage. Five million people lost their coverage around the country. People were not able to keep the doctor they had and liked in spite of the President's promise that if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. There are concerns about higher copays and deductibles, and fraud and identity theft is also an issue that is plaguing all of America. I believe the health care Web site is a spot where we are going to see more problems in that area. Americans know that fraud and identity theft are big concerns. It has been clear from the start that the health care exchange was vulnerable to con artists and hackers. Information from the government actually went out telling people to be careful with their information because of the concerns about con artists and hackers. So that is a problem, and it is something Washington and this body need to take seriously.

Whenever President Obama talks about the health care law, he says that if Republicans have good ideas, please bring them forward, share them, and he will support them. Republicans have offered a lot of ideas on how to give the American people the health care reform they wanted all along. We passed bills in the House of Representatives. We tried to bring up bills here in the Senate. Democrats won't even allow us to vote on those bills in the Senate.

As a doctor, I can tell you what people are looking for with health care reform. They want access to quality, affordable health care--care they need from a doctor they choose at lower costs. They didn't get that with the health care law the President and the Democrats shoved down the throats of the American people. Every time the majority leader--at that desk--blocks reform, I believe he is making things worse for millions of Americans.

We are trying again to take the President at his word that he will support good Republican ideas. Senator Johanns of Nebraska and I have introduced a commonsense bill that will help protect Americans who use the government insurance exchange. Our bill, called the Health Exchange Security and Transparency Act, requires the Secretary of Health and Human Services to notify Americans within 2 business days if their personal information has been stolen due to security breaches on the exchanges. We are not saying it is going to happen, but it sure could happen, and if it does people need to be informed.

The House passed a version of this bill last Friday, and it was clearly a bipartisan bill. Sixty-seven Democrats joined Republicans to support this good idea. Now I believe it is our turn here in the Senate. There shouldn't be anything controversial about this at all. This should be the kind of bill we can pass by unanimous consent.

After forcing so many Americans to buy insurance through this program, I believe it is the government's responsibility to safeguard Americans' private information. Even Senators who voted for the President's health care law should agree with this. That should be the minimum we require from Washington--keep Americans' private information private. If the government fails to keep that information safe, they should have to admit it and tell people what happened.

This bill is a single page. Americans are concerned about their safety online, about having their identity stolen, and this bill would give people at least the reassurance that they would be informed, that if there is identity theft, they would know about it.

Look at what just happened to the Target stores. It now looks as if 70 million people had their personal data compromised. Target ran a full-page ad in the Washington Post talking about what happened with their 70 million customers. They apologized for it. The same ad that ran here in the Washington Post also ran in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, and other papers around the country. Target has told people about the security breach so they can take appropriate steps and watch for signs of identity theft. Target also said they will do free credit checks for a year and addressed the concerns many American people have and said: This is how we will take care of it. All the bill we are offering today says is that if something happens--as happened with Target--on the government's health exchange Web site, Washington should do the same. They should tell people that someone has had access to their personal information so people can protect themselves.

The health care law was completely inadequate in how it dealt with personal security issues. The Web site has been a debacle, and we know that. It is a hacker's dream. Even before the Web site was launched last March, it was a mess.

CBS News reported that deadlines for the site's final security plans were delayed three times over the summer. So we saw that problem. Final end-to-end security tests were never finished before the Web site was launched.

In November, after the Web site was launched, four experts testified before the House about Web site problems. They were asked: Would any of you advise an American citizen to use this Web site as the security system now exists? Not one of the four experts said they would--none.

By December, one of those same industry experts said that the situation was even worse. The so-called fixes caused new security patterns and problems. Remember, that was after the White House was claiming it had fixed the Web site. What they had fixed was just the tip of the iceberg, and these problems under the tip continue today.

So the House passed a bill on Friday by an overwhelming bipartisan majority, and the President still says he opposes it. Why would the President oppose this bill? Why would he oppose being honest with the American people in helping them protect themselves from identity theft? President Obama has dug in his heels so deep on his health care law that he won't even consider good bipartisan ideas that will help the American people.

Senator Johanns and I are going to continue to push for a vote and to call on the President to support this bill.

The President needs to keep his promise to support good Republican ideas and to protect the American people from identity theft. As I said, this is just the tip of the iceberg with the Web site. All one has to do is go to this morning's newspapers.

The Washington Post, above the fold, front page: ``Insurance sign-ups by young adults lag. Key measure for health-care law. Premiums could jump if more don't enroll.'' Higher premiums, that is what I am hearing from home in Wyoming.

Today's Wall Street Journal: ``Health Sign-ups Skew Older, Raising Fears of Higher Costs.'' That is not what the President promised. The President came to the floor of the House of Representatives in a joint session of Congress and said: If you like your coverage, you can keep your coverage. If you like your doctor, you can keep our doctor. He said insurance premiums would drop for people. He made statements over the past years that under his plan insurance policies would drop $2,500 per family. Why is the New York Times saying premiums could jump? The President says one thing; the rest of the world sees another.

The New York Times today, again, front page, above the fold: ``Older People Lead Sign-Ups For Insurance. Pattern Could Result in Higher Premiums.'' There are questions about the law's financial viability.

The President put together a program, and those of us who actually read the bill ahead of time had great concerns about its success, its viability, its ability to deliver what it promised. The President's promises, one of which has now been called the lie of the year, continue. It has been called that by a group that looks at statements and is somewhat of a referee as political statements are made. To get that kind of an accomplishment for the President just shows how misleading the efforts have been on the American people.

The American people see what they are getting in their mail--cancellation notices. They see what happens when they go to the Web site: higher premiums, sticker shock, and now this threat of ongoing security concerns, especially in light of what is occurring throughout the rest of the country.

It is time for the President to keep his word that he does want to work with Republicans for good ideas, and he could do so by adopting this measure passed by the House on Friday that Senator Johanns and I have presented to the Senate for approval today.

Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

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