Harry Reid: What We Stand For

Opening the debate yesterday on the GOP's small-business, health-insurance legislation -- which is opposed by 41 state attorneys general and over 200 health advocacy groups and health care organizations because of its impact on quality of care -- Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) gave a good speech on what Democrats stand for. Here are some major excerpts:

We should have the opportunity to offer amendments relating to postponing the May 15 cutoff line of the eligibility for Medicare drug benefits. That is not going to be allowed.

We should be able to offer legislation dealing with the ability of Medicare to be competitive and bid for drugs at a lower price. That won't be able to be offered.

We should be able to offer an amendment dealing with stem cell research, giving hope to millions of Americans. We won't be able to do that. That is unfortunate.

Walking into the Chamber today, I was asked by someone: Tell us what you stand for. I think, rather than what I stand for, what we stand for as a minority, it is who we stand for. I think that is the direction we should be focusing: Who do we stand for?

There are lots of people we stand for. We stand for parents with no health care. We stand for those people with maladies who are crying out for some research on stem cells so we can move forward finding cures for these diseases--Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, diabetes.

We stand for children who are attending failing schools because the Bush administration refuses to put money into the schools that needs it. It is reported today that very soon there will be 10,000 schools in America that will be failing. I don't think that speaks well. Why are they failing? It is because of this Leave No Child Behind Act that the President pushed so hard.

We stand for the soccer mom who, today, someplace, is going to fill up her vehicle with gasoline and find the price is prohibitive. Rather than filling up her tank, she will fill it half full, enough to get through maybe the rest of this week, because the cost of gasoline is so high.

We stand for the high school graduates putting off being able to go to college because they simply can't afford the tuition. During the last 5 1/2 years of this administration, college costs have gone up 40 percent. Student aid has been cut. Pell grants have been cut.

We stand for the guardsman who is concerned because he has been called back for the second tour of duty in Iraq. Reading the Washington Post today, I find that two Nevada soldiers were killed in Iraq yesterday, both from Las Vegas, a 46-year-old man and a 26-year-old man--killed yesterday.

We stand for the grandparents who are concerned about the debt this country is accumulating, recognizing their grandchildren will be forced to pay this debt. How big is the debt? During the 5 1/2 years President Bush has been President, the national debt has almost doubled, now approaching $10 trillion. We just raised the debt ceiling to $9 trillion, and through some shuffling in the Republican-dominated House they have, in the last few days, raised that to $10 trillion.

We stand for senior citizens who are unable to have the proper medicine to take care of themselves.

The part that is so concerning is that we are doing nothing in this Congress to address the issues. There are editorials running around the country today talking about the majority, the Republicans, not raising issues of any kind because the debate is one they know they can't win. We need to be focusing on the high cost of energy and high cost of education. We need to focus on global warming, and we are not. It is being ignored because in the minds in the White House, it doesn't exist. We need to focus on this staggering debt. Remember, during the last 3 years of the Clinton administration, we paid down the debt. We were spending less money than we were taking in. That is certainly not the case now.

We are going to have a so-called debate on health care this week, but it is a so-called debate. It is really not a debate because we are being prohibited from offering amendments of significance. We are going to be forced to focus only on the Enzi legislation, which is a flawed bill.

I look forward to maybe a change of heart. Maybe there will be the ability for us to offer amendments. That doesn't appear to be the case. I hope that it is the case, that we will be allowed to offer amendments. That is the way we should deal with Health Care Week and not be stymied at offering amendments to this legislation, amendments that would really help--help those people who need help, not only with the hope of curing dread diseases but with the hope of 46 million people in America who have no health insurance, the senior citizens who hope they will be able to get prescription drugs at a lower rate, but because of the Medicare bill passed by this Republican-dominated town, Medicare cannot even negotiate for lower prices. They have to go to Rite Aid and buy their drugs like everyone else. HMOs can negotiate to lower prices because the legislation was directed toward managed care, not those Medicare recipients who badly need help.

Reid may at times have his shortcomings, but let's give him credit for hanging in there and fighting these guys.

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