WASHINGTON — Sen. Al Franken’s remarks on the Senate floor Wednesday left little doubt how he planned to vote on a landmark bill to overhaul the nation’s health care system.
Franken, D-Minn., spoke clearly in support of the legislation, which the Senate is expected to pass early Christmas Eve on a strictly party-line vote.
In fact, clarity was the theme of the speech by the junior senator from Minnesota as he accused the bill’s critics of “deliberately confusing” Americans about what’s in it. And he chided supporters of the bill for “overselling” it.
Americans “wouldn’t be so confused if everyone was being honest and forthright about what’s in the bill,” Franken said.
Republicans have said the bill would add $2.5 trillion to the nation’s debt, but Franken noted that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has determined it would reduce the federal deficit by $132 billion over 10 years.
“The CBO is like a referee, and we all agree to let the referee make the call on what things will cost,” Franken said. “We may not like how the CBO scores certain provisions, but that’s all we can go by.”
Franken helped deliver the final arguments for Democrats in a debate that stretched through the weekend, culminating in a procedural vote at 1 a.m. Monday that cleared the way for Thursday’s vote. Both Franken and Sen. Amy Klobuchar are likely to vote for final passage.
The legislation would cost $871 billion over 10 years and provide insurance for 31 million Americans who don’t have it. It would require everyone to buy insurance and would create individual state health insurance marketplaces for people not offered insurance through an employer. Lower-income people would get government subsidies to help them afford insurance through the marketplaces.
Republicans say the bill — in addition to being too costly — would kill jobs and is loaded with favors aimed at winning support from wavering Democrats, such as Ben Nelson of Nebraska. He secured a provision that would exempt his state from having to pay more under a proposed expansion in the federal-state Medicaid health insurance program for the poor.
The Senate bill differs in important ways from the measure the House passed on Nov. 7. For one, the Senate bill doesn’t include a proposal to create a controversial government-run “public” health insurance option. The House bill would cover 5 million more uninsured Americans than the Senate bill would cover. It would cost $1.1 trillion over 10 years and reduce the deficit by $138 billion over that period, according to the CBO.
If the Senate passes its bill, lawmakers from the House and Senate will meet to resolve differences between the two versions before voting on a final compromise measure.
If passed and signed by President Barack Obama, the compromise bill would represent the most sweeping change to health care since Medicare was introduced in 1965. Health care reform is Obama’s top legislative priority.
The Senate bill contains several amendments and provisions pushed by Franken and Klobuchar. In his floor remarks, Franken touted a requirement he and Sen. John Rockefeller, D-W.Va., lobbied for that would require insurance companies to apply 85 percent of premiums to actual health care costs.
Another Franken amendment, which he introduced with Sen. Richard Lugar, R-Ind., aims to reduce the nation’s overall health care costs by reducing the number of new diabetes cases.
Klobuchar was particularly pleased that a provision she fought for — to help young women battle breast cancer — made it into the bill along with a “value index” that would peg Medicare reimbursements to quality of service.
Klobuchar also pressed for delaying implementation of a medical device tax and reducing the tax from $38 billion to $18 billion.
Franken said the bill satisfactorily addresses three prevailing questions he hears from Minnesotans: What would it do about rising health care costs? How would it help people who get sick and lose a job? Will it keep people from going bankrupt in order to pay for health care?
