Senate Proceeding on Nov 10th, 2009 :: 0:42:45 to 0:54:45
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0:42:35 to 0:42:55( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: we're tryingo cure that and we will. i thank the distinguished senator from ohio. mr. alexander: mr. pre the presiding officer: the mr. alexander: mr. president, earlier today the assistant democratic leader who is now presiding, delivered some eloquent remarks about the murders at fort hood.

0:42:45 to 0:54:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lamar Alexander

0:42:56 to 0:43:19( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: i believe there were two soldiers from illinois who were there. one was from tennessee, from mountain city, tennessee, which is a beautiful littleart of our state way up in the east -- northeastern corner near virginia. some people have said it looks likes switzerland and that the

0:43:20 to 0:43:41( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: people there talk in elizabethian phrases and tones. specialist frederick greene, according to an article in "the washington post", was a tennessee native so quiet an laid-back that he earned the nickname silent soldier while stationed at fort hood preparing to go overseas.

0:43:42 to 0:44:02( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: he hoped to spend the months before going to afganistan with his wife of less than two years. she made arrangements to move to fort hood until january when greene was to ship out. instead his wife and family are planning his burial in the northeast corner of state where he grew up.

0:44:03 to 0:44:25( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: this is what specialist greene's family had to say about him. and i think it speaks as eloquently about his life and s service to anything could. in their words, "fred was a loving and loved son, husband and father and often acted protecter of his family. even before joining the army, he

0:44:26 to 0:44:47( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: ex emflied loyalty, duty, respect, selfless honor and personal courage. many of his fellow soldiers told us he was the quiet pro official of the unit. never volunteering. our families is grateful for the thoughts an prayers of people around the country the we would like to ask for privacy during this emotional time as fred,

0:44:48 to 0:45:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: too, was a very private person." we will honor the request for privacy of the family, but we will also honor fred greene for his service to our country and -- and speaking for just myself, but i'm sure most tennesseans, most americans feel the same way, for eight years now more

0:45:10 to 0:45:32( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: tens of thousands of americans, 20,000 by the end of the year, national guardsmen and women from tennessee have fought in iraq and afganistan to keep terrorism from spreading here. it's a tragedy enough when any one of them is wounded or killed in that fight. it is beyond belief when one of

0:45:33 to 0:45:54( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: them is wounded or killed here at home in a terrorist act at fort hood. that's hard for us to accept, but in accepting it and in asking the questions that we inevitably must ask about how this could have happened, we certainly can honor each of those who were killed, each of those who were wounded.

0:45:55 to 0:46:16( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: we can respect their service, and i especially want to show my respect for the family of specialist frederick greene and for his service. now, mr. psident, -- i would like to ask unanimous consent to include following the remarks just made a brief article from

0:46:17 to 0:46:37( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: the "washington post" and an article from the j tennessee, press of tuesday, november 10. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. alexander: mr. president, we're in the middle of the health care debate. we have different points of view, and i'm sure people are confused by what they hear. that would be inevitable, i

0:46:38 to 0:46:58( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: think, with a 2,000-page bill, with the house-passed bill which is all we have today, while the democratic majority leader writes his version of whatever we're expected to act on behind closed doors. earlier this week, i talked to a woman in my hometown. she expressed what i suppose many people feel.

0:46:59 to 0:47:20( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: she says i'm very confused by what i hear, but i don't like what i hear. my husband, she said, lost his job. he was one of the lucky ones. he got a new job, but it only pays 60% of what he was earning, doing the same work, and he doesn't have any benefits, so, she said, i went back to work.

0:47:21 to 0:47:42( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: i'm a small business woman. but we needed the benefit went back to work. but she said it doesn't -- these proposals i'm hearing about don't seem to be working out the way they're supposed to. they're putting more costs on us

0:47:43 to 0:48:04( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: when we buy our insurance and when as a small business person i have to buy insuran she said i don't like what i hear. i think that she is expressing a real -- it is a complicated bill. there is a lot on both sides. you heard the other side talking about myths and realities. i see the senator from south dakota there. it looks like he has the 2,000-page bill with him.

0:48:05 to 0:48:27( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: it's good that he is young and strong and can carry such things, that his eyes are good and he can read them. it will take a while to do that which is why when this bill gets to the floor, we want to make sure we read the bill, we know what it american people understand how it affects you. i'd like to ask the chair if he would please let me know when i

0:48:28 to 0:48:48( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: have 60 seconds remaining on ten minutes. the presiding officer: the chair will advise the senator. mr. alexander: thank you very much. what i would like to suggest this morning is that we o focus on a forgotten word, and the word is cost, cost. this is supposed to be about reducing the cost of health

0:48:49 to 0:49:10( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: care, not increasing the cost of health care. reducing the cost of our premiums, which 250 million of us have. we have health care plans upon which we or som premiums for us. we would like for those to go down or at least stabilize. that's what this is supposed to be about, and reducing the costs of health care

0:49:11 to 0:49:33( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: becausal of us, including our president, have seen that we're going to go broke if we don't do that. here's the president speaking at the white house health summit on march 5, in words which i thoroughly agree with. "if people think we can simply take everybody who is not insured and load them up in a system where costs are out of

0:49:34 to 0:49:55( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: control, it's not going to happen, we will run out of money. the federal government will be bankrupt, state governments will be bankrupt." that's president obama using the "b" word. yet, the bill we have coming toward us is indeed historic but it's historic in its combination

0:49:56 to 0:50:16( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: of higher premiums, not lower premiums, of higher taxes, of medicare cuts, and of more federal debt. millions of americans will be forced into government plans, perhaps including a new one, when their employers look at the

0:50:17 to 0:50:37( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: option and say we're out of here. congratulations. they'll write their employees. we're going to write a check to the government. that's better for us as a company in our bottom line, and you're in the government health care plan. that's going to comes a shock to millions of americans. and we don't hear as much about

0:50:38 to 0:50:58( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: it here, but one way the house of representatives plans to pay for this expensive bill variously between $2 trillion and $3 trillion, according to various estimates when it's fully years, is to shift some of the costs to the states. now, the numbers that we throw around up here after a while don't have any reality to them, but they do if you're a

0:50:59 to 0:51:20( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: governor, and our governor, a democratic governor, has said that the house-passed bill -- now, that's not the senate bill because the senate bill is still behind closed doors and we haven't seen it, but the house-passed bill will add about about $1.3 billion to the state of tennessee over the next five years for its share of the medicaid costs, including

0:51:21 to 0:51:44( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: reimbursement of physicians. mr. president, i have been the governor of tennessee. i know how much money that is. and it's my -- i cnot see how the state of tennessee can afford to pay for its share of these proposed medicaid costs unless it institutes a new state income tax or seriously damages higher education or both.

0:51:45 to 0:52:09( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: so we should take a different approach. instead of a 2,000-page bill with higher premiums -- people say well, that's a myth, could be higher premiums. that's not a myth. if you add $900 billion in taxes over ten years to insurance companies and medical devices, who do you think is going to pay it? the people who pay for insurance

0:52:10 to 0:52:31( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: premiums are going to pay it. you tax the oil companies, who do you think is going to pay the tax? the people who buy gasoline. taxes aren't paid out of thin air. companies pass them on. and so up. they're going to go up because of government requirements for what an approved government policy is.

0:52:32 to 0:52:52( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: senator collins of maine said that7% of people in maine would be paying more for the premiums they have today if they had to buy them new under the house-passed plan. so why don't we take a different direction? instead of these 2,000-page bills, $2 trillion or $3 trillion, surprises,

0:52:53 to 0:53:14( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: confusion, why don't we just set a goal of reducing cos, and why don't we take -- why don't we go step by step in reducing those costs? i'll bet we could agree on a lot of things. and going step by step in the right direction is one good way of getting where you want to go. it also provides bipartisan support here which would provide

0:53:15 to 0:53:36( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: bipartisan support in the country, which the president and sustain the program. i mean, we want the president to succeed because we want our country to succeed, he' our president, but this bill will not help him succeed and it won't help our country succeed. just to conclude with one example of what a step would be, the small business health care plan, which we have worked on

0:53:37 to 0:53:57( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: for a long time. senator enzi from wyoming has been the principal sponsor. thank you, mr. president. has been the principal sponsor. it would allow small businesses to combine and offer insurance to a larger number of employees.

0:53:58 to 0:54:18( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: more than half of people who are uninsured today work for small businesses. according to the congressional budget office, such a plan as i just described would add at least nearly a million, 750,000 people would become insured. three out of four people who are employees of small business

0:54:19 to 0:54:40( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: would -- would have lower rates, and we would reduce the costs of medicaid by $1.4 billion. now, that's just a step, but it's a step in the right direction. so, mr. president, i would hope we could focus on costs, reducing costs. republicans have a series of steps we would like to take in that direction. we reject these 2,000-page bills

0:54:41 to 0:54:45( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: that raises taxes and premiums and medicare cuts, and we hope that we can come to some agreement before we conclude the