Senate Proceeding 04-28-09 on Apr 28th, 2009 :: 0:18:20 to 0:27:04
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0:18:16 to 0:18:37( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: department because i do not believe she has sufficiently committed to these same principles. a senator: mr. president? the presiding office senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i behalf of the sebelius nomition. before he leaves the floor, i

0:18:20 to 0:27:04( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ron Wyden

0:18:38 to 0:18:58( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: want to say to my friend from arizona, i think that he knows that i share many of his substantive concerns about what it will take to agreed bipartisan -- by getting bipartisan health legislation. a key component will have to be malpractice reform. it will have to include the area

0:18:59 to 0:19:20( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: that the senator from arizona has touched on, the question of comparative effectiveness and i think that in both of these areas there is a listening way to go to get it right. and it is my interest, particularly this afternoon, to assure the senator from arizona that there is going to be an effort to pull out all the stops to make this a bipartisan effort here in the united states senate

0:19:21 to 0:19:43( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: to fix american health care and i want to tell him that i'm looking forward to working with him on that. mr. president to pick up point, many senators have come to the floor to discuss the need for tackling health care issues in the kind of bipartisan fashion senator kyl has talked about, and i have just mentioned. and i strongly the support the

0:19:44 to 0:20:05( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: senators who are making this a special focus of this discussion today when we considegovernor sebelius's candidacy to head the department of health and human services. for a bit of background, senator bennett and i, in particular, have been working for several years. been talking to most members of the senate.

0:20:06 to 0:20:28( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: i personally have gone to see about 85 senators in their office to listen to them, to get their views about health care reform. all with an idea, mr. president, make the issue of reconciliation ohealth care irrelevant. what we would like to do, senator bennett, and i working together closely with the chairs

0:20:29 to 0:20:50( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: and ranking minority members of our key committees is to find a way to get a very substantial bipartisan vote here in united states senate for health care reform. and i think we are well on our way to doing that. i believe, mr. president, that there is literally a philosophical truce on health care within the grasp of the

0:20:51 to 0:21:11( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: united states senate. i think when you look at debate, both political parties have had valid points to make. my party, for the idea that you cannot fix health care unless get good quality, affordable coverage.

0:21:12 to 0:21:33( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: the reality is that you can't begin to organize the market for health care unless you everybody covered. without covering everybody, there's too much cost-shifting. there's not enough focus on prevention and have a real question about what to do about clogging up hospital emergency rooms which is an

0:21:34 to 0:21:55( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: issue in colorado, oregon, and across the land. so democrats have been saying fix american health care. all americans have to have good quality, affordable coverage. our colleagues on the other side bennett has championed this,

0:21:56 to 0:22:18( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: senator grassley has championed this, have been right saying there needs to be a significant role for the private sector in american health care, as well. it's going to be important not to freeze innovation, to steer clear of price controls, to have a wide berth for the private sector to innovate and private sector choices as part

0:22:19 to 0:22:42( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: of challenge of fixing american health care. so you meld together those two points of view -- democrat whose have to cover everybody; republicans who have had a valid point with respect to a few real for the private sector. in my view, mr. president, you

0:22:43 to 0:23:04( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: are on your way to 68, 70, 72 votes in the united states senate for comprehensive health reform so you very much need to tackle this in a in my view, there are a few words that speak volumes about governor sebelius' outlook on

0:23:05 to 0:23:25( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: the need for tackling bipartisanship in the health care arena. and those words, mr. president, were spoken by a former leader here in the united stat senate, bob dole. i just want to quote for the senate a couple of the remarks made by senator dole when he came before us on the senate

0:23:26 to 0:23:46( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: finance committee. senator dole said -- and i quote -- "for more than 20 years, kathleen sebelius has served the state of kansas as an insurance commissioner and a governor. all of her accomplishments required bipartisan approaches. her work has earned her the

0:23:47 to 0:24:07( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: respect of republicans," and senator dole goes on to note that one of our most respected former written senators with respect to her support for governor sebelius. then

0:24:08 to 0:24:28( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: further and he says -- and i quote -- i are from different parties. we have different different issues. some highly controversial. today. candidate obama is now president obama and gets to make the cabinet he has determined that she is

0:24:29 to 0:24:49( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: well qualified and that she understands the importance of the enormous task before her when she senate that's why i'm here to support her nomination. we need a secretary of health and human services," said senator dole, "who has the

0:24:50 to 0:25:12( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: skills, experience and encourage to guide the historic legislation through congress. it will not be easy but i know governor sebelius will never stop trying." mr. president, those were the wordsf former senator dole, somebody that i look to again and again for council on health care. i think it's fair to say a great

0:25:13 to 0:25:33( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: many of our colleagues on the other side of the aisle look to for council o counsel on health care. those who know governor sebelius best, suc as senator bob dole, have in my view said it better than any of us could. they know her. they have worked with her.

0:25:34 to 0:25:54( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: they have watched her try to forge coalitions as an insurance commissioner. she has been a leader nationally in the insurance fieldith the national association of insurance commissioners. and i think that she is going to be a pragmatic coalition-builder who is going to work with a very

0:25:55 to 0:26:15( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: specific focus toward trying to by the united states senate together to tackle this critical issue. we know that there are some particularly important challenges ahead of us. i have said, mr. president, one of the first priorities in health reform is to make sure

0:26:16 to 0:26:36( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: that those who have coverage today in colorado, oregon and across the country, see that health reform works for them. some writers have called that group the "contentedly covered," the people who already have health care coverage today.

0:26:37 to 0:26:57( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: i think there are four important priorities for the congress to address in making sure that those who have health care coverage today see that the system works for those priorities, mr. president, are first of all, making sure they can keep the coverage they have.

0:26:58 to 0:27:05( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: we've written it into the healthy americans legislation. chairman baucus has it in his white paper. it's get to be a matter of law.