Senate Proceeding on Oct 21st, 2009 :: 0:44:35 to 0:56:00
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0:44:31 to 0:44:53( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: costs, reducing the debt, creating thank you, mr. president. a senator: presiding ofcer: senator from new hampshire. mr. gregg: i believe i'm recognized now for ten minutes. is that correct? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. gregg: i want to speak on another topic, but i was fascinated by the senator from tennessee's presentation. and i think we're all concerned

0:44:35 to 0:56:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Judd Gregg

0:44:54 to 0:45:15( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: about the direction of this calling out. i take tennessee is suggesting that this administration is nixon-fying the white house? is that correct? mr. alexander: what i'm seeing isome of the same signs i saw as a young man in the early stages of the nixon administration.

0:45:16 to 0:45:36( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: i'm seeing those same signs in the obama white house. i'm suggesting going down that road leads to no good end. greg greg i think the senator from tennessee has made some very valuable points on that issue. i wanted to rise today to continue the discussion that

0:45:37 to 0:45:58( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: i've pursued on this floor a few times, and it deals with where our country is going and what we're passing on to children. i quote often the chairman of the budget committee, because i have immense respect for him -- senator conrad from north dakota. and he has said -- and i agree with him, and i think most americans when they think about

0:45:59 to 0:46:20( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: it agree with him -- that the debt is the threat. the fact that we as nation are running up this incredible debt, which we're going to pass on to our children. and to try to put it in context a numbers are so huge. i've talked about it numerous times here, about the fact that

0:46:21 to 0:46:41( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: we're running deficits of approximately $1 trillion for the next ten years under the president's budget that we're seeing 5% to 6% of g.d.p. in deficits, that the public debt goes from about 38% of g.d.p. up to well over 80% of g.d.p. under the most r these numbers aren't

0:46:42 to 0:47:02( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: comprehensible to people because they're so big. you're talking trillions -- trillions of dollars. but the implication of these numbers are staggering to our next generation, to the children who -- our children and our children's children, because it means that they have to bear the burden of paying this debt that's going to backs.

0:47:03 to 0:47:24( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: now, yesterday dos -- or a few days ago -- last wee the deficit of this last fiscal year was pegged at about $1.4 trillion, an incredible amount, three times the lar in our history in knew meric terls, a -- in knew meric terms. we haven't had those types of

0:47:25 to 0:47:46( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: numbers since world war ii. nobody is arguing that that deficit is not an event that was something we don't like but probably have to tolerate because of the fact that we have been through this very difficult situation with the recession and the potential meltdown of our financial houses, and it took a lot of money to try to stablize

0:47:47 to 0:48:07( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: the situation, and i'm not holding that against this presidency at all. as we go forward, these deficits eand. there's no type to maintain that type of deficit once we're past this recessionary period, once the financial situation has been settled out.

0:48:08 to 0:48:29( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: and for all intents and purposes, the deficits should be coming down, but they aren't. and today we're about to see one of the reasons why, why they aren't coming down, because today it is bng proposed that we add another $250 billion to the debt by doing something

0:48:30 to 0:48:50( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: called the doctors' fix and not paying for it. it's not an extraordinarily complicated issue. basically, we don't reimburse doctors at a rate that they should be reimbursed at under medicare because of a rule that we passed back in the they get cut arbitrarily and in a way which has no to what is the proper reimbursement rate.

0:48:51 to 0:49:13( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: so every year since we passed that rule -- and it wasn't going to work right -- we have corrected that. we have reimbursed the doctors at a reasonable raivment but every year we have done that we have paid for that that that cost of reimbursing doctors fairly could not get passed -- did not get passed ton our children.

0:49:14 to 0:49:35( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: if you pass that cost on to the children, when somebody goes to get an eye exam today who is in their 80's or 70's or 60's and is o medicare, when they get the bill from the doctor, what you're essentially saying is oh, i'm sorry. you the government is not going to pay that. the ghost you are a part of today. we're going to take that bill and give it to some child that's not even born.

0:49:36 to 0:50:01( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: how absurd. an expense today should be paid today by the government. and yet we are having proposed today on this floor -- and by this should spend $250 billion to correct this doctor-fix problem for the next 10 years -- which

0:50:02 to 0:50:23( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: is about not pay for it. just simply take it, send the bill off to our kid it's actually more than $250 billion. because that $250 billion, when going 0 generate interest responsibilities of about $50 bsm so actually ads 300 billion item. that's not small change.

0:50:24 to 0:50:44( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: that's a third of $1 trillion. that's huge money. that's a tremendous burden to transfer over to our children. you know, why is this being done? well, it's being done for a very cynical reason. it's being done so that the health care reform package,

0:50:45 to 0:51:06( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: which is being discussed somewhere in this bill behind closed doors, being written in some office over on that side of the capitol but three or four members of the senate and a lot of staff on the democratic side, with no participation by republican members and no participation by the american people, and the press is totally locked out of the room.

0:51:07 to 0:51:29( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: but that bill is being rewritten over there. but we do know the parameters of that bill are that there is a representation that it won't cost 00 ten-year -- more than $1 trillion over a t the most significant and most

0:51:30 to 0:51:51( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: game -- it is not a game really -- the most inappropriate action is this idea that they' going to take $250 billion to fix the doctors' reimbursement program, which is clearly part of health care, and move it entirely out of the health care system effort, move it over here somewhere and claim that you

0:51:52 to 0:52:12( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: do send the bill to the kids. don't worry about it. it's only $250 billion. don't worry about it. just send the bill to the kids. and then voila! you have $250 can spend on health care reform that you should have been using to fix the doctors' fix with, but now since you claim the doctors' fix doesn't matter --

0:52:13 to 0:52:33( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: it is over here somewhere out of sight, out of mind; it's being taken care of by our children and grandchildren -- voila! you can spend that $250 b on goodies, on initiatives within the new health care reform bill, which will cost from taxpayers $250 bilon in

0:52:34 to 0:52:56( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: order to do. and hopefully, presum i presume, get a few constituents to support you because you've just spent $250 billion on t the true cynicism of this is that it doubles up not only does the doctors' fix

0:52:57 to 0:53:20( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: not get paid for, but you then create $250 billion of new spending. so you're actually doubl this whole exercise. and it's a doubling down event. you know, it's almost a burn knee madoff approach almost a bernie madoff approach to funding.

0:53:21 to 0:53:41( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: this is basically an entire scam. unfortunately, in this instance --nd obviously in the bernie madoff instance, the people that invested with him were wiped out. but they made a choice to invest with him. our children and grandchildren, they're going to get this bill without any rights. this $250 billion bill is going

0:53:42 to 0:54:03( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: to be sent spending is going to occur, to pay to, which is going to be added on top of the health care bill. it is washington" and does our and it's inexcusable that we

0:54:04 to 0:54:26( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: would do this to the next generation. now, some are suggesting, well, let's do a one-year or fix. this was the original plan of senator baucus in his bill. and let's just sort of ignore the fact that the doctors' problem exist years, even though we're going to bill here. what's the effect that have? well, yeah, at least for one or

0:54:27 to 0:54:48( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: two years you pay that was the proposal in the original bill that came out of finance. one year i believe they paid for it. nine years they didn't pay for it. what does that mean? one year paid for was $11 billion, i think. so we know the cost of the whole thing for ten years is $250 billion. so what they got was $239

0:54:49 to 0:55:10( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: billion that they got to spend under the baucus bill as it came out of because they just simply ignored the concept that the doctors' fix had to be done, too. that -- that also is a pretty cynical act. no, sir as cynical as the idea that you're going -- not as cynical as the idea that you're

0:55:11 to 0:55:31( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: going to pass the billion fix and not pay for it any of we'll be voting on later today. but still pretty you're spending $239 billion which you know that have. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. greg i would scw unanimous consent for 30 additional seksdzs.

0:55:32 to 0:55:56( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: the presiding officer: without objection. mr. gregg: you know you don't have the money but at least you admit that it is there. you don't try to pass the whole bill off to our children. so, as we go forward here in this health care debate, let's have no more sanctimonious claims that we're being fiscally responsible and producing bills that are in balance and don't add to the deficit.

0:55:57 to 0:56:00( Edit History Discussion )

Judd Gregg: not when you put a $250 billion i.o.u. on our children's back. it is totally inappropr