SENATE—Wednesday, March 21, 2012
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March 21, 2012 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 158, Pt. 3 3753 SENATE—Wednesday, March 21, 2012 The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was SCHEDULE The uninsured people show up at hos- called to order by the Honorable Mr. REID. Madam President, fol- pitals. They are not pushed away; they KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, a Senator from lowing leader remarks the Senate will are invited in. They receive the treat- the State of New York. be in a period of morning business for ment. Then they can’t pay for it. 1 hour, with the majority controlling It turns out that 63 percent of the PRAYER the first half and the Republicans con- medical care given to uninsured people The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- trolling the final half. in America isn’t paid for—not by them. fered the following prayer: Following morning business the Sen- It turns out the rest of us pay for it. Let us pray. ate will resume consideration of the Everyone else in America who has O God, who loves us without ceasing, capital formation bill. At approxi- health insurance has to pick up the we turn our thoughts toward You. Re- mately 10:40 this morning, there will be cost for those who did not accept their main with our Senators today so that a cloture vote on the IPO bill. personal responsibility to buy health for no single instance they will be un- insurance. f aware of Your providential power. So, so what? What difference does We thank You for Your infinite love RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME that make? It makes a difference. It adds $1,000 a year to our health insur- that permits us to make mistakes yet Mr. REID. Will the Chair announce still grow in grace and a knowledge of ance program. In other words, you and the business of the day. me and everyone with health insurance You. Lord, save us from any evil course The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- or idle path that leads away from Your is subsidizing those people who say: pore. Under the previous order, the Don’t mandate anything on me. Don’t will. Today, we pray for the President leadership time is reserved. of the United States and for the leaders tell me I have a personal responsi- in every land. Help them to bear their f bility. But when I get sick, you can pay responsibilities with honor, and, Lord, MORNING BUSINESS for it.That is what the individual man- today we also thank You for the amaz- date comes down to. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- ing career of Senator BARBARA MIKUL- I listen to those who say, well, this is pore. Under the previous order, the SKI. just too darn much government to say Senate will be in a period of morning We pray in Your holy Name. Amen. that people who can afford it need to business for 1 hour, with Senators per- have health insurance. Keep in mind, f mitted to speak therein for up to 10 this health care bill says if people can- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE minutes, with the time equally divided not afford it—if they are too poor or and controlled between the two leaders their income is limited—there is a The Honorable KIRSTEN E. GILLI- or their designees, with the majority helping hand, not only in the Tax Code BRAND led the Pledge of Allegiance as controlling the first half and the mi- but even through Medicaid to make follows: nority controlling the final half. sure they have affordable health care I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the The Senator from Illinois. insurance which will never cost them United States of America, and to the Repub- more than 8 percent of their income. A lic for which it stands, one nation under God, f indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. lot of American families would jump at AFFORDABLE HEALTH CARE ACT health insurance that would only cost 8 f Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, percent of their income. But the law APPOINTMENT OF ACTING there has been a lot of discussion about says people have to be willing to pay PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE the affordable health care act passed up to 8 percent of their income to have by Congress. In fact, just next week, health insurance. The reason, of The PRESIDING OFFICER. The across the street, the Supreme Court course, is if they don’t pay, everyone clerk will please read a communication will take up this bill and decide wheth- else pays. If they get sick, they cost us to the Senate from the President pro er it is constitutional. It is an impor- $116 billion a year in uncompensated tempore (Mr. INOUYE). tant decision. It is one that will affect health care coverage paid for those who The assistant legislative clerk read millions of Americans, and scarcely do not accept their personal responsi- the following letter: anyone understands the impact of this bility to buy health insurance. U.S. SENATE, law and what it means to their daily Ruth Marcus has an article in this PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, lives. morning’s Washington Post, and I ask Washington, DC, March 21, 2012. To the Senate: The first aspect I wish to speak about unanimous consent that it be printed Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, is the most controversial aspect of it, in the RECORD. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby the so-called individual mandate. What There being no objection, the mate- appoint the Honorable KIRSTEN E. GILLI- is it? From my point of view, it is a rial was ordered to be printed in the BRAND, a Senator from the State of New basic method of saying to everyone in RECORD, as follows: York, to perform the duties of the Chair. America: You have a personal responsi- [From the Washington Post, Mar. 20, 2012] DANIEL K. INOUYE, bility. You cannot say you are just not 116 BILLION REASONS TO BE FOR THE President pro tempore. going to buy any health insurance; INDIVIDUAL MANDATE Mrs. GILLIBRAND thereupon as- that you don’t think you are ever going (By Ruth Marcus) sumed the chair as Acting President to need it and are not going to worry The most compelling sentences in the pro tempore. about it. Obama administration’s brief defending the f The problem is, of course, those peo- constitutionality of the health-care law ple who make that statement get sick. come early on. ‘‘As a class,’’ the brief advises RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY Some of them get involved in acci- on Page 7, ‘‘the uninsured consumed $116 bil- LEADER lion of health-care services in 2008.’’ dents. Some go to a doctor and are di- On the next page, the brief drives the point The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- agnosed with terrible illnesses and dis- home: ‘‘In 2008, people without insurance did pore. The majority leader is recog- eases that require treatment and sur- not pay for 63 percent of their health-care nized. gery, and that costs a lot of money. costs.’’ ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Sep 11 2014 08:41 Mar 24, 2017 Jkt 019102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR12\S21MR2.000 S21MR2 rmajette on DSK2TPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD 3754 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 158, Pt. 3 March 21, 2012 Those figures amount to a powerful refuta- their employers,’’ favorability toward the Really? Do you want to explain that to tion of the argument that the individual mandate nearly doubled, to 61 percent. 2.5 million families who have the peace mandate—the requirement that individuals Favorable attitudes rose to nearly half of mind that their son or daughter is when people were told that without the man- obtain insurance or pay a penalty—exceeds covered with health insurance up to the government’s authority to regulate date, insurance companies would still be al- interstate commerce. To me, $116 billion lowed to deny coverage to those who are the age of 26? seems like a whole lot of commerce. sick; that without the mandate people would How about the seniors paying for But let’s leave the Supreme Court justices wait until they were sick to purchase insur- their Medicare prescription drug bills. to hack their way through the underbrush of ance, driving up premium costs; or that There was this doughnut hole, which the Commerce Clause. Because those num- those unable to afford coverage are exempt. means if seniors have prescription bers are not only relevant to Commerce ‘‘People don’t understand how the mandate drugs covered by Medicare and they are works at all and they don’t understand why Clause jurisprudence, they illuminate the expensive, they will reach a point dur- fundamental irrationality of public opposi- it’s there,’’ Kaiser’s polling director, Mollyann Brodie, told me. ing the course of a year when they tion to the individual mandate. have to go into their savings to pay for The mandate is by far the most unpopular Brodie suspects that it’s too late to change feature of a law on which Americans are oth- minds. ‘‘This law as a whole has really be- about $2,000 worth of prescription drugs erwise evenly divided. A Kaiser Family come a symbolic issue to people and they before the government comes back and Foundation poll this month found that two- really aren’t open to information,’’ she said.