Chuck Grassley: “I think three times during the debate on this bill I have been trying to make the point that bringing this bill to the…”

“I think three times during the debate on this bill I have been trying to make the point that bringing this bill to the floor usurped the consideration of the Senate Finance Committee of two provisions that are in the bill and another provision that ought to be in the bill that is not in the bill. My amendment today deals with striking sections 502 and 503. It is another way of my saying, as I tried to in an amendment 2 days ago on this legislation, to the Finance Committee, that people writing this legislation ought to keep their hands off subject matter that comes within the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee. If people are writing a piece of legislation that comes out of Health, Education, Labor, they ought to find sources of revenue out of programs within their own jurisdiction to fund bills that they think up, rather than robbing another committee. That is basically what has happened. I am opposed to both provisions on jurisdictional grounds because they are within the control of the Finance Committee, not the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. But I also want to make it very clear it is not just jurisdictional, I also have concerns about what it does to policy, dealing with customs on the one hand and Medicare on the other hand.”