Max Baucus: “this is a killer motion the Senator from Florida is making. This amendment kills jobs. This amendment tells people who…”

“this is a killer motion the Senator from Florida is making. This amendment kills jobs. This amendment tells people who are currently unemployed: You are not going to get an unemployment check. This amendment tells people who are trying to get health insurance under COBRA: Sorry, no more. This amendment tells doctors who are trying to take care of patients, Medicare patients, that they are not going to get paid what they should be paid. Let me give a few numbers. Our legislation will help half a million workers who lose their jobs get help under COBRA. That is the health insurance substitute provision for those who have lost their jobs. But the amendment of the Senator from Florida says to those half a million workers who lose their jobs today that they will not get insurance benefits under COBRA. This amendment also will have the effect, if adopted, of preventing nearly 40 million Medicare beneficiaries and nearly 9 million TRICARE beneficiaries from getting access to their doctors--40 million seniors and about 9 million military personnel under TRICARE. This amendment will also prevent 400,000 Americans from getting unemployment insurance benefits. That is just for starters. This motion, if adopted, is not a poison amendment, it is a killer amendment. It kills the bill we are trying to pass in a short period of time.”