I rise today to oppose the legislation in front of us that would raise the debt limit. This bill will enable this Congress to incur the largest national debt in the history of our country. I remember in 1997 coming to the U.S. House of…

I rise today in support of designating October 14, 2004 as Lights On Afterschool Day. Next Thursday will serve as a national celebration of afterschool programming, a day to celebrate the initiatives that offer quality afterschool programs…

First, it is important to know that it does not matter who we talk to today, it does not matter who comes into my office or what conversation I have with people throughout the great State of Michigan, the issue of health care always comes…

I rise to speak on the announcement of a dramatic increase in the Medicare Part B premium for seniors and the concern the people of Michigan have about trying to pay a 17.5-percent premium increase for next year. Just a day after President…

We want to lower prices. We need to allow pharmacists to do business with pharmacists across the border in Canada or other countries where it is safe, and we can drop prices in half. I also raise one more time this issue of the Medicare…

I was thinking, as my colleague was speaking in terms of the choices we have to make and whether someone with great means in this country would be willing to defer a small portion of a tax cut in order to keep us safe, that it does not…

first I commend our Democratic leader for an outstanding vision of what we should be doing to do right by America. His eloquence this morning certainly speaks to every single person in Michigan and what we care about, the priorities and…

I rise today to express deep disappointment about what is taking place on the Senate floor in the cloture vote scheduled for tomorrow. For the past 3 rac{1}{2} years, Senator Levin and I have been urging the Bush administration to work…

Today I rise to discuss yet another revision by the administration to the new Medicare law. We all know the administration refused to give Congress an estimate on how much the Medicare bill would cost. We later found OMB estimated that the…

Mr. President I rise to clarify an important issue with the distinguished chairman of the Agriculture Committee. First, I thank the chairman for his leadership in getting this child nutrition bill to the floor. He has worked hard and has…

This was a great victory for our children because they need more and more fruits and vegetables in their school lunches. We all know about the problem we have with kids eating too much junk food for lunch and this program would have put…

That is that the General Accounting Office has concluded the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services illegally spent Federal money on what amounted to covert propaganda, by producing videos about the Medicare changes that were made to…

24 years ago, Ronald Reagan was running for President and he asked each of us as Americans a question: Are you better off than you were 4 years ago? It was the right question then, and it is the right question now. Are we better off than…

I first wish to commend our leader, Senator Daschle, for his wonderful words regarding the need for mental health parity, and also join with both leaders in remembering Senator Paul Wellstone and his advocacy. Nothing would be more fitting…

50 years ago, a third grade girl named Linda walked a full mile each way to school, crossing through a dangerous railroad switchyard to do it. Only five blocks from her home was a very nice local school, but when her father petitioned for…

I rise to lament the fact that we have made no progress in reducing the uninsured since 2001. This is an issue we all need to be working together on because it affects everyone we represent, every family, every business. In fact, nearly 4…

Yes. What we are finding--and certainly when we started, we wanted the baseline to do no harm. We shouldn't have people worse off than they are now after we passed this. Yet 1 out of 4 retirees, or 2.7 million retirees, will find…

one of the things I find deeply disturbing is while seniors have to wait for whatever meager benefits are in this bill, $46 billion has begun to be spent and given to HMOs to subsidize this effort now. Money is being spent from the…

It is stunning, actually. I am so glad the Senator raised that issue. My mother raised it with me after listening to the debate. The first thing she said to me after this was passed was, You are telling me I can't have my Medigap policy…

First of all, it is very simple, I think. They don't want people to know the real facts about this new law. They want to be able to put ads on television that say same ``Medicare, but more benefits'' when, in fact, it is not the same…

What we have in this new law adds insult to injury. Not only could we keep the system which everybody knows about, which is the traditional Medicare, we could have done a traditional prescription drug benefit through Medicare. It is less…

I rise to join so many of my colleagues and friends in paying tribute to the great Senator from West Virginia. As my friend from Illinois indicated, we are praising and honoring him today not just for the number of votes he has cast but…

I applaud you and Senator Akaka for holding today's hearings and I look forward to working with you.

I can't stress enough how important I feel that financial literacy is to all Americans.

I want to speak about Medicare today, and the fact that one of those who stood up and was prepared to give us information is the Medicare actuary Richard Foster. We now know he was told if he gave up information about the cost of the…