Senate Proceeding on Oct 28th, 2009 :: 7:29:00 to 7:40:30
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7:28:56 to 7:29:16( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: madam president, i yield the floor. mr. ensign: madam the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. ensign: m rise -- first of all, i ask consent that i able to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. ensign: madam president, i rise today to talk about the

7:29:00 to 7:40:30( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John Ensign

7:29:17 to 7:29:37( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: growing number of so-called policy czars in the current administration and the impact that it is having on the senate's oversight function over the executive branch. i will begin by saying that i'm not here to question the president's constitutional or statutory authority to name advisors. i think we

7:29:38 to 7:29:58( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: can all agree that the president is entitled to surround himself with experts to help coordinate policy and to provide advice. however, as many of my colleagues are aware, there are some 18 new policy advisors or czars in the white house whose

7:29:59 to 7:30:20( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: job descriptions may be a bit blurred. while some media reports cite more than 18, i think we can reasonably say there are at least 18 new positions that have not been established by statute, are not confirmed by the senate, and have not existed before. early in his administration, president obama sent a memorandum to the heads of the

7:30:21 to 7:30:41( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: executive departments and agencies stating that -- quote -- "a democracy requires accountability, and accountability requires transparency." despite the charge -- this charge, the president has taken up himself to nominate a number of advisors who appear to

7:30:42 to 7:31:02( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: yield a great amount of power and who are seemingly without public accountability. i'm not the only one who is concerned with this lack o accountability. we have seen members of the president's own party express concerns over this unusually high number of policy advisors in the white house.

7:31:03 to 7:31:23( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: and in february of this year, senator robert byrd, the constitutional conscience of the senate, wrote to the white house and said -- and i quote -- "the rapid and easy accumulation of power by the white hou staff can threaten the constitutional systems of checks and balances." mr. president, like the senior

7:31:24 to 7:31:44( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: member of the united states senate, i am too concerned that the obama administration is creating what can be perceived as a shadow cabinet by creating policy positions that do not follow the same advice and consent of the senate as other relevant policy positions in the white house. in september, senator feingold,

7:31:45 to 7:32:06( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: the chairman of the constitutional subcommittee of the senate judiciary committee, sent a letter to the white house requesting information on the roles and responsibilities of the czars in question. his letter was specifically focused to ensure that these advisors are not in violation of the appointments clause of the constitution.

7:32:07 to 7:32:28( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: article 2, section 2, of the constitution says that the president shall nominate and by and with the advice and consent of the senate, shall appoint ambassadors, other public ministers and councils, judges of the supreme court and all other officers of the united states whose appointments are

7:32:29 to 7:32:49( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: not herein otherwise provided fo and shall shall be stabbed by law. -- shall be established by law." unfortunately because we know so little about the rules and responsibilities of the czars in question, it is not possible to determine whether the czars are actually officers and, therefore, constitutional. in response to senator

7:32:50 to 7:33:10( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: feingold's letter to the administration last month, the white house claimed that the one and only role of the 18 positions in question is to advise the president. yet, when we look at the press releases and executive orders announcing these policy advisors, they seem to have far more than strictly advising the

7:33:11 to 7:33:31( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: president in their authority. take, for example, executive order 13507 on april 8, 2009, establishing -- announcing the establishment of the white house office of health reform. the order states that the office run by a director will develop and implement strategic

7:33:32 to 7:33:52( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: initiatives and work with congress. n't it the role of the secretary of health and human services to implement strategic initiatives? in the white house, a press release announcing key members of his energy and environmental team, president obama announced that carol browner, the new assistant for energy and climate

7:33:53 to 7:34:13( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: change, would be -- quote -- "indispensable in implementing an ambitious and complex energy policy." energy policy. again the administration is leaning on its newly created czar positions to implement policy. this question of policy implementationas brought up

7:34:14 to 7:34:34( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: during a hearing last week in the homeland security and governmental affairs committee which i attended. senator collins, who also wrote the white house with others in september questioned the increasing number of czars in thedministration asked the panel of constitutional law experts about the issue of implementing policy.

7:34:35 to 7:34:56( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: dr. james pifner, a university professor at geoe mason's school of public policy, testified that with respect to implementation of health policy, i think that that's very troubling, he said. lee casey, a former aorney advisor in the office of legal counsel at the u.s. department of justice, testified that by

7:34:57 to 7:35:17( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: law these czars cannot implement. casey did suggest, however, that congress could ask what the administration means by "implement." i believe that is the true question here. what exactly are these czars doing? are they simply advising the president or are they actually implementing policy? a few of my colleagues have come

7:35:18 to 7:35:39( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: to the senate floor to offer amendments prohibiting funds to these czars if they are directing actions to the cabinet officials that have been confirmed by the u.s. senate. other amendments will ense that the czars will respond to reasonable requests to testify before congress, therefore, allowing our proper oversight in this body. unfortunately, these amendments

7:35:40 to 7:36:00( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: were defeated on procedural grounds. i even offered an amendment duri the finance committee's health reform markup that will require that the czar handling health care issues to be subject to senate confirmation. my amendment was defeated on a party-line vote. what is the answer here? how can congress and the american public feel confident

7:36:01 to 7:36:21( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: that the people who are appointed by the executive branch are appropriately carrying out the duties that they are supposed to? more importantly, how can we be sure that the balance of powers does not get out of balance? i think we all have the right to know exactly what these policy

7:36:22 to 7:36:42( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: czars are doing. who they are reporting to, and who is responsible and accountable if something goes wrong. if the president can answer these questions for us, i think we will all feel better about this process. now, mr. president, i want to talk briefly about the health care reform bill that's going to

7:36:43 to 7:37:03( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: be coming up in front of this body in just a couple of short weeks. there are certain facts that we know. we haven't seen the bill because it's just been written and given to the congressional budget office for the official scoring to be done. what we do know about the bill, though, is there's over a $400

7:37:04 to 7:37:26( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: billion cut in medicare. we know that. we know that people who have current -- currently have health care, their premiums will go up. that's according to congressional budget office. we know that many americans, including those, and mostly this will fall on people making less than $250,000 a year, their taxes will go up.

7:37:27 to 7:37:48( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: and we know also that there will be government bureaucrats making decisions on health care. we also know that people who currently have policies that they like, especially those who have medicare advantage, millions will lose their current policy because over $120 million is being taken out of the medicare advantage program.

7:37:49 to 7:38:09( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: so we need to ask ourselves a couple of very fundamental questions. does anyone really believe that we can have a $1 trillion health care bill and not add one dime to our deficit as the president promised? does anybody seriously believe that? and how does adding a

7:38:10 to 7:38:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: government-run plan, this so-called public option, which mirrors the medicare program, actually fix the health care problem when medicare itself is going bankrupt? going bankrupt, and yet we want to add a new government entitlement program into our health care system?

7:38:31 to 7:38:51( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: that's going to fix the problem? and do we really trust -- do the american people really trust washington, politicians and bureaucrats to run their health care system? i believe we need to design a patient-centered health care

7:38:52 to 7:39:13( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: system instead of a government system or an insurance company system. let's design a health care system which makes health care more affordable and more accessible by encouraging people to make healthier choices like quitting smoking, eating better and exercising more. that will improve people's quality of life, but it will also lower the cost of health

7:39:14 to 7:39:35( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: care for all americans. let's enact real medical liability reform to stop the practice of defensive medicine, once again, which will lower the cost of health care in the united states. it will save the government over $50 billion and it will save the private sector a similar amount. and these are both conservative estimates.

7:39:36 to 7:39:56( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: and lastly, instead of taking $400 billion out of medicare to fund a new entitlement program, let's work on getting the fraud out of medicare and let's use that savings toreserve that system that has been so incredibly important for seniors for the last several decades. mr. president, i believe we need

7:39:57 to 7:40:20( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: to start over. we do need to take a bipartisan approach to health care reform. we need to actually forget about whether we're republicans or democrats, and let's just be americans. let's sit down together ahead of time not based on ideology, but based on what systems can work in america for the american

7:40:21 to 7:40:30( Edit History Discussion )

John Ensign: people to achieve better quality, lower costs in our health care system today that puts the patient at the center of our health care system instead of a government