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‘So a reform that was meant to make life easier is now expected to make life harder. If you have insurance, you get taxed. If you don’t have insurance, you get taxed. If you’re a struggling business owner who can’t afford insurance for your employees, you get taxed. If you use medical devices, you get taxed’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday regarding importance of getting it right on health care reform:

“The last two years haven’t been easy ones for the American people. Millions have lost jobs and homes, and many have had the bitter experience of watching years of savings disappear. Unemployment stands at a 25-year high, and in many states it’s worse. Just to take one example, in Kentucky unemployment rose in all 120 counties from June 2008 to June 2009. A lot of Americans are hurting. A lot of them have been struggling for a long time. And despite the occasional piece of good news, the situation doesn’t seem to be getting a whole lot better for most people.

“This is the situation now, and this was the situation when the White House announced its plan to undertake health care reform. Throughout this debate, the need to do something about the economy has never been far from our minds. “Indeed, from the very outset of this debate, the administration has rested its case for reform on the need to do something about the economy. The economy was in bad shape, the argument went. And reforming health care would make it better.

“All of us agree that health care costs are unsustainably high, and alleviating the burden of these costs on American families and businesses is something we should work together to do. But somewhere along the way, the administration got off track. The original purpose of reform was obscured. And now we’re hearing from one independent analysis after another that a bill which was meant to alleviate economic burdens will actually make these burdens worse. And the most significant finding is this: A reform that was meant to lower costs will actually drive them up.

“Americans are scratching their heads about all this, and rightly so. Business owners can’t believe a reform that was meant to help them survive will end up costing them more in higher taxes. Seniors can’t believe a bill that was meant to improve their care will lead to nearly half a trillion dollars in cuts to their Medicare. And families can’t believe that they’re going to have to pay higher health care premiums and taxes at a time when so many of them are already struggling to make ends meet.

“Higher taxes, higher premiums, cuts to Medicare. These are three of the major blows this legislation would deal to the American people. And any one of them would be bad enough on its own. But let’s just look at one of the unexpected consequences of the Democrat health care plan for a moment — let’s look at the tax hikes.

“The Senate bill we’ve seen targets individuals and businesses with a raft of new taxes, fees, and penalties. It imposes a 40 percent tax on high value insurance plans for individuals and families. It imposes billions in fees on health plans that will inevitably be passed along to consumers. It imposes fees on the costs of medical devices and life-saving drugs, fees that would be paid by consumers.

“Millions of taxpayers managing chronic conditions and facing extraordinary medical expenses will be faced with even higher out of pocket costs because the bill makes it more difficult to deduct these expenses. And small businesses with as few as 50 employees would be required to buy insurance for all workers whether they could afford it or not, or pay a substantial tax for each of them.

“Taken together, the health care plan we’ve seen would impose roughly half a trillion dollars in new taxes, fees, and penalties at a time when Americans are already struggling to dig themselves out of a recession. What’s worse, an independent analysis by the Joint Committee on Taxation suggests that nearly 80 percent of the burden would fall on middle-class Americans.

“So a reform that was meant to make life easier is now expected to make life harder. If you have insurance, you get taxed. If you don’t have insurance, you get taxed. If you’re a struggling business owner who can’t afford insurance for your employees, you get taxed. If you use medical devices, you get taxed.

“This is not the reform Americans were asking for. And that’s precisely why more Americans now oppose this health care plan than support it.

“The administration didn’t listen to the American people when it put this plan together. But it can listen now. And the message it’s going to hear is this: put away the plan to raise premiums, raise taxes and cut Medicare. Get back to the drawing board. Come up with common-sense, step-by-step reforms. That’s what people want. That’s what they should get.”

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‘The question is not whether we can try terrorists in civilian court but should we? The answer is perfectly clear: the right forum for bringing war criminals to justice is in Military Commissions at the secure facility we already have at Guantanamo, not in civilian courts in U.S. communities’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Thursday regarding Military Commissions and the Graham amendment:

“Most Americans recognize that our continued success in preventing another terrorist attack on U.S. soil depends on our ability as a nation to remain vigilant and clear-eyed about the nature of the threats we face at home and abroad.

“Some threats come in the form of terror cells in distant countries. Others come from people plotting attacks within our own borders.

“And still others can come from a failure to recognize the distinction between everyday crimes and war crimes.

“This last category of threat is extremely serious but sometimes overlooked — and that’s why Senators Graham, Lieberman, and McCain have offered an amendment to the Commerce Justice and Science Appropriations Bill that would reassure the American people that the Senate hasn’t taken its eye off the ball.

“The amendment is simple and straightforward. It explicitly prohibits any of the terrorists who were involved in the September 11, 2001, attacks from appearing for trial in a civilian U.S. courtroom. Instead, it would require the government to use Military Commissions; that is, the courts proper to war, for trying these men.

“By requiring the government to use military commissions, the supporters of this amendment are reaffirming two things: First, that these men should have a fair trial.

“And second, we’re reaffirming what American history has always showed; namely, that war crimes and common crimes are to be tried differently — and that military courts are the proper forum for prosecuting terrorists.

“Some might argue that terrorists like Zacarias Moussaoui, one of the 9/11 conspirators, aren’t enemy combatants – that they are somehow on the same level as a convenience store stick-up man. But listen to the words of Moussaoui himself. He disagrees.

“Asked if he regretted his part in the September 11th attacks, Moussaoui said, quote, ‘I just wish it will happen on the 12th, the 13th, the 14th, the 15th, the 16th, the 17th, and [on and on].’ He went on to explain how happy he was to learn of the death of American servicemen and women in the Pentagon on 9/11. And then he mocked an officer for weeping about the loss of men under her command, saying

‘I think it was disgusting for a military person to pretend that they should not be killed as an act of war. She is military. She should expect that people who are at war with her will try to kill her. I will never cry because an American bombed my camp.’

“There’s no question Moussaoui himself believes he’s an enemy combatant engaged in a war against us.

“The Senate has also made itself clear on this question. Congress created the military commissions system three years ago, on a bipartisan basis, precisely to deal with prosecutions of al Qaeda terrorists consistent with U.S. national security, with the expectation that they’d be used for that purpose.

“The Senate reaffirmed this view two years ago when it voted 94-3 against transferring detainees from Guantanamo stateside, including the 9/11 planners.

“We reaffirmed it again earlier this year when we voted 90-6 against using any funds from the war supplemental to transfer any of the Guantanamo detainees to the United States.

“And just this summer the Senate reaffirmed that Military Commissions are the proper forum for bringing enemy combatants to justice when we approved without objection an amendment to that effect as part of the Defense Authorization bill.

“Further, our past experiences with terror trials in civilian courts have clearly been shown to undermine our national security. During the trial of Ramzi Yousef, the mastermind of the first Trade Center bombing, we saw how a small bit of testimony about a cell phone battery was enough to tip off terrorists that one of their key communication links had been compromised.

“We saw how the public prosecution of the Blind Sheikh, Abdel Rahman, inadvertently provided a rich source of intelligence to Osama bin Laden ahead of the 9/11 attacks. And in that case, we remember that Rahman’s lawyer was convicted of smuggling orders to his terrorist disciples.

“We also saw how the trial of Zacarias Moussaoui resulted in the leak of sensitive information.

“And we saw how the trials of the East African Embassy bombers compromised intelligence methods to the benefit of Osama bin Laden.

“The administration calls these prosecutions ‘successful.’ But given the loss of sensitive information that resulted, former federal judge and Attorney General Michael Mukasey has noted ‘there are many words one might use to describe how these events unfolded; ‘successfully’ is not among them.’

“Trying terror suspects in civilian courts is also a giant headache for communities, just look at the experience of Alexandria, Virginia, during the Moussaoui trial. As I’ve pointed out before, parts of Alexandria became a virtual encampment every time Moussaoui was moved to the courthouse. Those were the problems we saw in Northern Virginia when just one terrorist was tried in civilian court. What will happen to Alexandria, New York City, or other cities if several terrorists are tried there?

“It’s because of dangers and difficulties like these that we established Military Commissions in the first place. The administration has now re-written the Military Commission procedures precisely to its liking. If we can’t expect the very people who masterminded the 9/11 attacks and went to war with us to fall within the jurisdiction of these military courts, then who can we?

“The American people have made themselves clear on this issue. They don’t want Guantanamo terrorists brought to the U.S., and they certainly don’t want the men who planned the 9/11 attacks on America to be tried in civilian courts — risking national security and civic disruption in the process.

“Congress created Military Commissions for a reason. But if the administration fails to use Military Commissions for self-avowed combatants like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, then it is wasting this time-honored and essential tool in the war on terror.

“I would ask the opponents of the Graham amendment the following: what material benefit is derived by bringing avowed foreign combatants like KSM into a civilian court and giving them all the rights and privileges of a United States citizen; and why should we further delay justice for the families of the victims of 9/11?

“This amendment by Senators Graham, Lieberman, and McCain gives us all an opportunity to express ourselves once again on this vital issue. The question is not whether we can try terrorists in civilian court but should we? The answer is perfectly clear: the right forum for bringing war criminals to justice is in Military Commissions at the secure facility we already have at Guantanamo, not in civilian courts in U.S. communities.”

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‘Clearly, the effort to reform health care has gotten off track. Higher taxes, higher premiums, and cuts to Medicare is not the reform Americans were looking for. They want common-sense, step-by-step solutions, not a health care experiment that makes existing problems worse’

WASHINGTON, D.C. - U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday regarding importance of getting it right on health care reform:

“The American people are paying close attention to the ongoing debate over health care, and they’ve noticed a worrisome trend. The longer this debate goes on, the farther Democrats in Congress seem to drift from the original purpose of reform.

“At the outset of this debate, the American people were told that reform would lower costs, a goal that all of us supported. The administration is right when it says that the rising cost of health care in this country is unsustainable. Costs must be reined in.

“But the proposals that we’ve seen so far don’t address that problem. In fact, they make it worse. Instead of reining in costs, the proposals they’ve advanced are expected to drive costs even higher, costs that will then be shifted onto families and small businesses.

“Yesterday, I pointed out the absurdity of the situation we’re in. Reform that was meant to lower costs is now independently confirmed to make health care more expensive. Reform that was meant to make life easier is now expected to make life harder for families, businesses and seniors from one end of the country to the other.

“Let’s focus on Medicare for a moment, a program tens of millions of American seniors rely upon. How’s this program doing financially?

“It’s not a pretty picture. Medicare started running a deficit last year, and the Medicare trust fund is expected to run out of money in less than a decade. Looking a little farther ahead, Medicare is slated to spend nearly $38 trillion that it doesn’t have. Simply put, Medicare is broke. And for the sake of our seniors, we need to fix it.

“But the advocates of this legislation look at Medicare and they see something else. They don’t seem to see a problem to be fixed. They see a giant piggy bank. And rather than fix it, they want to use it to fund an entirely new set of government-run health care programs.

“Medicare was an attractive target for the people who wrote this bill. They were in a bind. At a time of shrinking government revenues, near 10% unemployment, and record deficits and debt, the bill writers looked around for the money to cover the cost of their health care plan, and they couldn’t find it. So they decided on massive cuts to Medicare, cuts that will have serious consequences for millions of American seniors.

“I’m sure they didn’t want to resort to cutting Medicare when they started out. But the fact is, they’re now proposing massive cuts that will inevitably lead to fewer services. Here’s what they plan to cut: nearly $8 billion from hospices; more than $40 billion from home health agencies; more than $130 billion from Medicare Advantage; and more than $130 billion in Medicare cuts to hospitals that care for seniors.

“At the outset of this debate, all of us knew that Medicare faced significant challenges that needed to be addressed. A program that’s already spending more than it’s taking in; a program that’s expected to be insolvent in just eight years should be fixed, not raided. Just about every day I receive letters in my office from Kentuckians who have Medicare. They’re counting on this program. They’re worried about its future. We have an obligation to our seniors, an obligation to keep our promises.

“At some point, the majority will have to work with members to address this problem. And when they do, we should focus on a solution to out-of-control entitlement spending that Americans will embrace.

“Forty-four years ago, when President Johnson signed Medicare into law, he vowed that we would never refuse the hand of justice to those who have given a lifetime of service and wisdom and labor to their nation. We have an obligation to fulfill that vow. We have an obligation to work together on solutions that both parties and the people for whom this vital program was created — seniors — will support.

“The health care plan we’ve seen is deeply flawed. Far from fulfilling the original goal of lower costs, the Democrat bill would drive costs even higher — an outcome that has most Americans scratching their heads in confusion and disbelief. What’s worse, the plan slashes Medicare too, as a way to pay for more new government programs.

“Clearly, the effort to reform health care has gotten off track. Higher taxes, higher premiums, and cuts to Medicare is not the reform Americans were looking for. They want common-sense, step-by-step solutions, not a health care experiment that makes existing problems worse. While some may want to move this bill as quickly as possible, Americans have a different message: start over.”

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