Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2011--Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

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A SECOND OPINION

Mr. BARRASSO. Madam President, week after week, I have come to the floor to give a doctor's second opinion about the health care law. I tell my colleague from Tennessee that I should have him join me on a weekly basis in these second opinions, because he has clearly stated a number of things in this health care law that are hurting people. He talked about his experience as a Governor and the impact of Medicaid mandates and how that impacted his ability to provide for education within a State.

Just now, with the bill he will introduce, I associate myself with his remarks, because he showed that one of the tricks that was used in passing the health care law is overcharging. This is the Obama health care law overcharging young people on student loans. The Democrats all voted for it and the Republicans all voted against it. It is overcharging students for student loans to pay for the President's health care law.

Again, I appreciate the comments by my colleague, the Senator from Tennessee, and his incredible leadership on this, which he continues to provide every day in the Senate.

I come to the floor today to again give a second opinion about another component of the health care law and one of the tricks that the administration has tried to use in terms of making the health care law, in their opinion, more appealing, which essentially the Government Accountability Office this week called foul.

The President was caught and called out by the GAO, when they uncovered another gimmick in the President's health care law. It is a gimmick that tries to cover up how the President's law devastates seniors' ability to get the care they need from the doctor they want at a cost they can afford.

The Obama administration's latest trick targets seniors on a program called Medicare Advantage. It is a program that one out of four seniors--people on Medicare--relies on for their health care coverage. As someone who has taken care of lots of Medicare patients over the years, I can tell you that one in four--about 12 million seniors--is on this Medicare Advantage Program. The reason it is an advantage for them is that it helps with preventive medicine, with coordinating their care. They like it because of eyeglasses and eye care and because of hearing aids.

Each one of those 12 million seniors knows they are on Medicare Advantage because it is a choice they make to go onto the program. Well, as people all around the country remember, the White House and Democrats, in the effort to pass the health care law, cut $500 billion from Medicare--not to strengthen Medicare or save Medicare for our seniors, no--to start a whole new government program for other people. Out of that $500 billion that the President and his administration and Democrats in Congress cut from Medicare, about $145 billion of that money came from this Medicare Advantage Program--a program people like.

These cuts would have gone into place this year--actually, October of this year. That is the time of year when seniors are supposed to register for their Medicare Advantage plans for the next year. So we are talking about October of 2012, the month before the Presidential election, and cuts coming then would make those millions of American seniors who have chosen Medicare Advantage very unhappy with this administration and the Democrats in Congress who shoved this down the throats of the American people.

In spite of the American people saying, no, don't pass this health care law, according to the President and the Democrats, too bad, we know what is better for you. Democrats believe that a one-size-fits-all is best, that a government-centered program is better than a patient-centered program.

The President and his folks saw this political problem developing. It is a real political problem for the President. And what did the administration do? Well, they put in place a massive $8.3 billion--that is billion with a ``b''--so-called pilot program. What that will do is temporarily reverse most of these Medicare Advantage cuts--not for too long, just to get the President and the Democrats past the election of 2012.

According to the GAO, 90 percent of the Medicare Advantage enrollees will be covered by these contracts eligible for this so-called bonus in 2012 and 2013. But this is a sham program. It is seven times larger than any similar demonstration program Medicare has ever attempted, and Medicare has been in place now for 50 years. Take a look at this. This is the largest ever--seven times larger than any demonstration program they have ever attempted. Even the GAO, which is supposed to be--and is--nonpartisan, called out the President and the Secretary of Health and Human Services.

This program wasn't actually designed to improve the Medicare Advantage Program. That is why this is a
sham. The reality is this so-called bonus program is a political stunt aimed at the 2012 Presidential election. The administration simply did not want to face America's seniors with the truth--the truth that his health care law gutted the popular Medicare Advantage Program, reducing choices and raising premiums.
The Wall Street Journal editorial board reported yesterday that ``the demonstration program turns into a pumpkin in 2013.''

They go on to say:

The real game here is purely political--to give a program that is popular with seniors a temporary reprieve past Election Day. Then if Mr. Obama is reelected, he will go ahead and gut Medicare Advantage.

That has been his intention all along--to gut Medicare Advantage.

Investor's Business Daily yesterday described it as ``playing politics with Medicare.'' They go on to report:

The entire project is so transparently political that the normally reserved GAO urged the Health and Human Services Department to cancel it altogether.

Isn't this the administration that claimed that accountability was their goal, that this was going to be the most accountable administration in history? Then why is the government's own accountability office calling the President and the Democrats on the carpet and saying: Cancel this program altogether.

An op-ed that appeared in Forbes Magazine called it the ``Obama Campaign's $8 Billion Taxpayer-Funded Medicare Slush Fund.'' The author notes:

This development opens up a new expansion of executive-branch power: the ability to spend billions of dollars on politically-favored constituents, without the consent of Congress.

Madam President, we wouldn't have known about the Obama administration's $8 billion coverup if it weren't for my colleague, Senator Orrin Hatch, who insisted on the GAO investigation. I believe the American people owe a debt of thanks to Senator Hatch. Thanks to his leadership, we now know what the administration is doing to try to trick American seniors and make it harder for them to get the care they need after the Presidential election.

Once again, this administration claims to be for transparency, claims to pride itself on accountability, but is not leveling with the American people. So today I am calling on the President to direct his Secretary of Health and Human Services to cancel this waste of taxpayer dollars that are being used to cover up the damage his health care law is doing to the seniors of this country who are on Medicare Advantage. It is time they cancel the program and come clean about their plan for seniors on Medicare Advantage. This latest gimmick is just another reason we must repeal the President's health care law and replace it with patient-centered reform.

So I will continue to come to the floor every week because we can never forget Nancy Pelosi's quote that ``first you have to pass it before you get to find out what's in it.'' Week after week, we are finding out more things in this health care law. And now, under the direction and suspicion of Senator Hatch, we have the Government Accountability Office coming out and saying they found something new again this week--an effort by this administration to hide from the American people the real impact of the health care law and hide it before the election so the American people will not--the President hopes--go to the polls and vote the way, in my mind, they would have voted had they seen the clear reality of all of the impacts of this health care law.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

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