-9999

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Madam President, first, I want to thank my colleague Senator Lee from Utah for his leadership on these issues, trying to make sure that the legislation we pass is legislation that we all have the opportunity to participate in.

I have been disappointed that I am on the committee that deals with the Postal Service and we didn't even have a vote on this. I didn't have any opportunity in the committee to propose an amendment. It doesn't look like I am going to have an opportunity here to have my colleagues vote on an amendment, and I don't think that is right.

The amendment I am going to talk about today is cosponsored by Senators Johnson, Grassley, Braun, and Lankford, and I want to thank them for their support.

I absolutely support getting something done to reform the Postal Service and ensure more accountability to taxpayers. Unfortunately, the bill before us doesn't do that.

This legislation would add at least $6 billion in new costs to Medicare without any plan to pay for it--$6 billion and no plan to pay for it--and at least $5 billion to our Federal debt, a debt that is already surging above $30 trillion. I think we all should say that is unacceptable.

This bill doesn't reduce costs; it just shifts them from one unfunded government program to another unfunded government program.

Let's remember, Medicare costs are already skyrocketing. Further jeopardizing Medicare is a disservice to the 60 million Americans, including 4.5 million Floridians, who rely on it. My amendment would fix this. It would just require the Postal Service to pay for any new costs to Medicare that this bill will bring. This would ensure that Medicare isn't used like a piggy bank and that the taxpayer and future nonpostal retirees aren't forced to bear the burden of this postal bailout. And the Postal Service should pay their fair share.

I want to make this next point very clear. My amendment is germane. It deserves a simple majority vote. It deserves a vote. I am thankful I have the support of groups like 60 Plus and the Association of Mature American Citizens that represent the interests of America's seniors.

I urge my colleagues to support this.

4933; further, that the amendment be reported by number, that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided on the amendment, and that the Senate vote on adoption of the amendment with no intervening action or debate.

Senator Johnson has told me repeatedly that he has been asking for years. The Postal Service says they are putting all this money into Medicare, and he has had a simple request: How much money is the Postal Service paying for Medicare, and what are the recipients at the Postal Service receiving in benefits? No one can ever give an answer.

I asked for a CBO score. They said this is going to cost at least $6 billion, and it is going to increase our deficit by at least $5 billion.

So we have an unfunded program in the Postal Service, and we are going to move it and hurt our Medicare recipients.

My amendment--and I was told that this would not cost Medicare anything, so my amendment is pretty simple: whatever the incremental costs to Medicare are should be paid by the Postal Service. I mean, it is the Postal Service retirees; they are the ones who ought to pay for it.

So I don't understand why we wouldn't want to do this. I was told it was not going to cost anything.

By the way, the CBO score that is out there already says it is going to increase our deficit, and it is going to put our Medicare Program in worse shape. They can only give us numbers for the first 10 years. After 10 years, the numbers are going to be worse than the numbers I told you about.

So what I don't get is, one, why didn't we vote on this in the committee? Why didn't we have an opportunity to do an amendment there? Why don't we have an amendment vote on this on the floor? It is common sense.

I would think all of us would want to make sure we are not going to bankrupt Medicare, and all of us want to make sure that if it is going to cost Medicare anything, the Postal Service should pay for it.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, the pending measure, H.R. 3076, Postal Service Reform Act of 2022, would increase on-budget deficits by $5 billion or more in at least one of the four 10-year periods beginning in 2032.

This increase violates section 3101 of the 2016 budget resolution, which prohibits consideration of legislation that would cause a net increase in on-budget deficits in any of the four 10-year periods beyond the current budget window.

I raise a point of order under section 3101(b) of S. Con. Res. 11, the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2016.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SCOTT of Florida. Mr. President, as I have said repeatedly, I absolutely support getting something done to reform the Postal Service, but it cannot come at the expense to American taxpayers.

The Federal debt has already surged above $30 trillion, and it just keeps growing and growing.

I wrote to the Congressional Budget Office, asking what the future cost of this bill would be to Medicare and how it would impact the debt. While they could tell me there would be at least $5 billion in new deficits, they couldn't provide data past 2031, when Medicare will be most affected by this proposal.

Here is what we know for certain: This bill doesn't reduce costs; it just shifts them from one unfunded government program to another.

This bill adds at least $6 billion in new costs to Medicare, with no way to pay for it, and adds at least $5 billion to long-term Federal deficits. That is unacceptable. It is why I am raising a point of order today. We have to stop driving America deeper into debt and finally be accountable to the American taxpayers.

I urge my colleague to vote no on the budget point of order.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source