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If we are going to start a line of people most deserving of assistance in

[Page: S7222]  GPO's PDF

   Tax cuts should b e directed. First and foremost, we need a prescription drug benefit. We just had an interesting debate. Pharmaceutical companies cannot be too happy with this debate because we said on a bipartisan basis that we are so

   upset with drug pricing in America that we are now going to allow companies, pharmacists, and distributors to import drugs from overseas at lower prices so they can sell them to Americans. These are drugs that are basically made and inspected in America, sent to foreign countries, and sold at a fraction of the price.

   It happens in Canada. It happens in Europe. It happens in Mexico. We all know the story. People are getting in buses in some States and driving across the border to Canada to buy American drugs at a fraction of the cost.

   The Senate said there has to be a better way. Absent addressing this problem of pricing drugs head on, we are going to allow the reimportation of these American drugs that have been made in inspected laboratories into the United States so that they can be sold to Americans at a reduced cost. I guess it is obvious from this vote that we know families are suffering because of drug prices, and yet before we have enacted any kind of a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, the Republicans have insisted we spend half of our anticipated surplus in tax breaks for th e wealthiest in America.

   It makes more sense to me to create a prescription drug benefit under Medicare, a universal guaranteed drug benefit accessible to every American who chooses to be part of it, one that allows a doctor to prescribe a drug that a person needs to stay strong and healthy in their home for as long as they want to be and be able to pay for the drug.

   I have seen cases in Illinois and certainly in hearings across the country and in this city have heard from people who are struggling to pay for prescription drugs. That is the highest priority we should deal with, and we should do it before we break for the August conventions so that both parties can go to their conventions and say: We did something for the families across America. For those who are concerned about the elderly and disabled who are stuck with high drug prices, we did something for fathers and grandfathers, mothers and grandmothers, who really cannot afford the drugs their doctors prescribe.

   We did not do that. Instead, we decided people with an average income of $915,000 a year need an additional $23,000 in tax breaks from t he Republicans. I will bet a nickel there is not a person making $915,000 a year who cannot afford prescription drugs. These people know how to pay for virtually everything if they are making that much money, and we gave them more money.

   Before we directed our attention to those who were struggling to get by on fixed incomes--people on Social Security taking home a check of $800 or $1,200 a month looking at drug bills of $200, $500, $600--we learned from a public hearing in Chicago of a woman who had gone through a double lung transplant. It was a miracle she stood there before us and looked very healthy. Years after that transplant, she still worried because she needed to take immunosuppressant drugs that cost over $2,000 a month. There was no way on her fixed income she could afford it.

   Frankly, if she stopped taking them, she could have irreversible lung damage. She faced that prospect, she made that decision, she stopped taking the drugs for a period of months because she could not afford them, and did face irreversible lung damage. She got back on the welfare rolls long enough to resume prescriptions and living month to month trying to afford the drug she needed to stay alive. That is a

   real story of a person whose income is little more than $12,000 a year who literally worries from month to month as to whether or not they will be able to buy the drugs to keep them alive.

   Did we remember that lady when we talked about tax relief here? No. We focused 43 percent of our attention and 43 percent of our surplus on people making over $300,000 a year, people making $915,000 average income. For those in the category above them, $130,000 to $319,000, we gave them another 14 percent of the surplus as well.

   There is another group we forget, and when we had an opportunity to vote for an amendment, unfortunately, we could not muster a majority to support them: families who are paying for college education expenses for their kids.

   We believe--the Clinton administration and Democrats believe--that families who want to put their kids through school should be able to deduct their college education expenses up to $12,000. It means a helping hand from the Government in the range of $3,000 a year. Most families would welcome that so they could pay the tuition expenses and the room and board for the kids who finally are accepted at good colleges and universities. It is a strain for a lot of families, and a lot of kids go deeply into debt to pay for college.

   We believe tax relief should be directed to those families so they can send their kids to college. We brought it up for a vote, and it was rejected by the Republican side. That is not their idea of tax relief. Their idea of tax relief is $23 ,000 a year in tax breaks for pe ople making over $900,000 a year.

   We wanted to address another problem. What about day care? So many working families worry about where their kids are going to be during the course of a day--whether they will be in a place that is safe, clean, and healthy, someplace where a child might have a chance to learn--and they struggle to find that place they can afford. Day care is a real human, family problem. We came up with a proposal to increase the credit that a family can claim for the cost of day care.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has spoken for 20 minutes.

   Mr. DURBIN. I ask unanimous consent for 5 additional minutes.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

   Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, that was rejected as well. The idea of helping families through the Tax Code to pay f or day care was rejected.

   I can tell you with no doubt in my mind, with an absolute degree of certainty, that if you are making $915,000 a year, you probably do not worry too much about the weekly day care costs, but that is the group the Republican majority decided needed help,

   not the working family, struggling to find a safe, clean, affordable day-care center for their kids. No.

   The group making over $900,000 a year will get $23,000 in tax breaks from t he proposals on the Republican side of the aisle.

   This list includes an effort by the Democratic side to provide tax credits to bu sinesses offering health insurance to their empl oyees. You know as well as I do that 40 million Americans do not have health insurance. We believe t he best way to help them afford health insurance is to help th e small business employers provide that benefit. Of course, that insurance is more expen sive. Those who buy it in smaller groups, such as the small businesses, have to pay more for the health insurance pre miums and their employees are in lower income categories.

   So I proposed an amendment that said we would give a tax credit to bus inesses , a tax credit for th ose who would offer health insurance not only to t he owners of the businesses but also to those who work there. That was rejected by the Republican side of the aisle. That is the kind of tax relief they j ust do not think is necessary.

   I can tell you, you will not find a single person working for a small business in America making over $900,000 a year--the people we were trying to help with that amendment.

   I can guarantee you, as well, that people making over $900,000 a year probably don't lose a single moment's sleep each night worrying about whether there will be health insurance. < p> &n bsp; So it comes down to this. The President has proposed he is going to veto these proposals by the Republicans because, once again, as they have done historically, the tax cuts proposed on the Republican side of the aisle have gone overwhelmingly to the wealthy. It happened in August of 1999; again, in May of 2000 under George W. Bush's plan; it happened with the House action recently in March of this year; and

[Page: S7223]  GPO's PDF

   Time and time again, the vast majority of relief goes to the wealthiest people in America. When will this Congress and this Senate listen to the 98 percent of the families in America who are hoping that we share their concerns about their future and their kids' future? Whether it is college education expenses, prescription drugs for their parents, prescription drugs for the disabled and their families, an effort to pay for child care, an effort to make certain they have health insurance on the job, when will this Congress put that as a high priority?

   The Republican leadership said: Those people can go to the back of the line. We will wait for some other day, if ever, to discuss their needs. First we have to take care of the wealthiest. First we have to make sure that those making over $900,000 a year get about $2,000 more a month so they can be a little more comfortable in their lifestyle.

   I think that is wrong. The President's veto is right. Let us provide tax relief and ta rget it for the people who really need it. If there is a surplus in America, let working families, 98 percent of whom were ignored by the Republican tax cut plan, be first in line.

   Mr. President, I yield the floor.

   The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Montana.

   Mr. BURNS. Mr. President, I enjoyed the speech of my good friend from Illinois. But I also want to footnote it by saying it is pretty tough to give tax cuts to folks who don't pay taxes. So it is a little on the rough side to do that.

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