Tom Harkin: “again I thank my friend and my colleague and my leader, Senator Specter, for bringing forth this amendment, which is…”

“again I thank my friend and my colleague and my leader, Senator Specter, for bringing forth this amendment, which is common sense and which goes to the heart of what the smoking problem in America is all about. It is about health. I might just say, at the outset, really the provision in the supplemental bill we are talking about should not even be on the supplemental. It is not an appropriations measure. It more appropriately ought to be in the Finance Committee, but it was slipped in as a rider on the appropriations bill, the amendment offered by the Senator from Texas, Senator Hutchison. What Senator Hutchison's amendment says is all the money already recouped by the States in their settlement with the tobacco companies should be kept by the States and they can do with it whatever they want to do with it. That is all right as far at the State's money goes. I have no problem with that. But that also includes the Federal share of Medicaid. As I have continually pointed out, under the Social Security Act the States are required to go after recoupments in Medicaid from third parties. In fact, they are the only ones who can sue for third party recoupment. The Federal Government is preempted from doing that. Only the States can do that. So they act as an agent for the Federal Government and recoup them. Keep in mind, the law states, regarding any money recouped by the States for Medicaid, the Federal portion has to be returned to the Federal Government.”