GRASSLEY: I'm going to start out with a couple amendments I got adopted. The first will help secure access to doctors for seniors in Iowa and other rural states by fixing the problem of rural physicians getting paid less for performing the same procedures as doctors do in other states.
My amendment makes adjustments to what Medicare pays doctors in a budget-neutral way, with downward adjustments in some areas (inaudible) payments in other areas. Access to physicians, obviously, is a very major issue, as we all know from Iowa, but for all of rural health care. And this change is going to have a very positive effect.
The second amendment I won yesterday requires that members of Congress and legislative staff access health insurance through the exchange that would be created by this bill. Right now, they use the federal employee health benefit program. The more that Congress experiences the laws we pass, the better the laws are likely to be.
My interest is in having Congress participate in the exchange. It's very consistent with my long-held views that Congress should live under the same laws that pass for the rest of the country as opposed to the way it was prior to my passage of the Congressional Accountability Act that President Clinton signed in 1995 when 12 civil rights, labor and workplace safety laws Congress had exempted itself from, so we're covered by all these laws, and it ought to be the same way for our health insurance.
This is kind of carrying on to what I heard at my town meetings. Is Congress going to be covered by the same laws we expect everybody else to when it comes to health care? And I think I've delivered on that promise.
I'm ready for questions on any subject.
STAFF: Kerry Cathcart?
QUESTION: Thank you. Senator, I have two questions. If you end up voting for a health care bill that's perceived as being bipartisan or a compromise bill, do you have any concern when you're up for re-election in 2010 that you might lose substantial support from the right wing of the Iowa Republican Party?
And, secondly, do you have any idea -- I've heard reports that the Democrats are looking to put up a viable candidate against you, which they haven't previously. Do you have any idea who that might be?
GRASSLEY: On the first question, right now, I don't have to worry about voting for a bipartisan bill. If one comes up later on, I'm going to have to take a look at that and -- and see how broadly bipartisan is, because the numbers are pretty important. You know, I've always said -- as I said to the president, 3 Republicans and 58 Democrats is not a bipartisan bill. So it would be substance plus the number of people that make it bipartisan.
But I guess my best answer to your question would be a rule that I've followed for a long period of time, that the best policy is the best politics.
And when it comes to your second question, all I can simply say to you: I don't know who that person might be, but I know that if they're a party doing their job, it's their job to get the strongest possible candidate they can, and I don't take any election for granted, whether it's what you might consider a lesser candidate or a stronger candidate, but anybody that figures any opponent is a lesser candidate is a little foolish, too, and I don't intend to be foolish in this approach to the election that I take very serious, because if you don't take the election very serious, you're -- you're taking the people of Iowa not serious. And anybody that's doing that is destined for defeat or at least not to have an easy election.
Call the next person.
STAFF: Tom Beaumont?
Mike Myers?
QUESTION: No, hold on, Senator. Senator, it's Tom Beaumont. Senator, would you please explain the extent to which the -- the reaction at these town meetings influenced that second amendment that you're talking about?
GRASSLEY: No, the second amendment wasn't influenced by debate, except generally speaking people would say, "You need to get the fraud out of Medicare and Medicaid." But they did not make any reference to the fact that you ought to require a photo I.D.
This is something that we tried to accomplish in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and didn't get it accomplished. And so we're trying to correct that now at this point.
QUESTION: If I -- if I understood you correctly, I thought you said that you -- some of the messages that came out of your town meetings were that Congress ought to be held to the same standard that the rest of the public is held to.
GRASSLEY: But that wasn't on the -- that wasn't on the fraud. I thought your question was about the fraud. Oh, it's about -- it's about Congress being covered the same way on the health provisions as...
QUESTION: Right.
GRASSLEY: The answer is, very definitely that came out of those meetings. But also, don't -- don't forget that -- and I said this at my town meeting -- that I wasn't saying, yes, that we ought to be covered to pander my audience at that specific town meeting. I pointed out that this has been my long-term goal going back six years prior to 1995, when I worked for six years to get Congress passed by the 12 laws or more that it had exempted itself going back -- I think the first one was wage and hour act of 1938.
But every bill since then -- well, at least a dozen bills between '38 and '95, it had exempted itself from, and I wanted to make sure that those exemptions were done away with, so I carry that same principle over to the health insurance, but -- but it was also something that I heard loud and clear from my town meetings.
QUESTION: Quick follow-up on the -- on the Register's poll. What do you make of the decline in your approval numbers, especially among Democrats and independents lately?
GRASSLEY: I'm not sure that I saw specific numbers on Democrats and independents, but the poll numbers reflect poll numbers that I've seen of very popular senators in other states tend to go down as the -- as the respect -- or, I should say, the approval rate of Congress as a whole has gone down so much.
And then my relative standing with my approval rating being the best of anybody in the state, with Harkin usually second to me, and then the governor a little bit less, although a lot of times presidents have high approval ratings -- maybe not as high as mine -- but the president's approval rating is down, as well.
So the -- it's just -- just the way it is because of the environment that's out there right now, where people are questioning the role of government and probably dissatisfaction with the big budget deficit and -- and a whole stream of things that thank God I voted against or I'd probably have a lower approval rating.
QUESTION: Thank you.
STAFF: Mike Myers?
QUESTION: Senator Grassley, the -- those twin amendments yesterday regarding government option that were defeated, how does that bode for action on the floor, where it's expected that one form of that amendment will return? But do you have any sense of confidence that it can be defeated there? Or is this just...
GRASSLEY: No, I don't have confidence that we can keep public option out on the floor of the Senate. I hope we can. I intend to fight to do that. And I intend to -- hopefully, that will be as broadly bipartisan as it was in the committee. But I just don't know, because I haven't talked to enough people outside of the -- of the committee.
QUESTION: Do you sense any wavering on the president's part on that public option? Is he still leaving that -- that issue to Congress? Or where is the White House liaisons on -- on this issue?
GRASSLEY: At this point, he's leaving it to Congress. And, remember, on August the 5th or 6th, I asked him at the White House if he'd sign a bill without that in it, and he didn't give me an answer. So I assume, you know, it's a tough issue for him to deal with.
QUESTION: One last question, sir. He's going to Copenhagen to lobby for the 2016 Olympics for his hometown of Chicago. Is this a proper trip for a president? It seems like he has a few things on his plate here. Or do you think it's a good move for America as a whole?
GRASSLEY: Well, considering it's between the United States and Brazil, I would want the president of the United States representing the United -- the people of America the same way I would expect maybe the president of Brazil is -- is trying to justify why it ought to be in Rio de Janeiro.
QUESTION: Thank you.
STAFF: James Lynch?
QUESTION: Senator, I wanted to ask you about the amendment on Medicare adjustments. How -- I mean, how much difference would that make for Iowa, in terms of reimbursement? And how does it differ from what the House -- Iowa's House members proposed in terms of adjusting Medicare reimbursement?
GRASSLEY: I think it goes along the same lines -- and I'm not sure I know enough about the -- the -- the House bill -- but I'll be glad to get back to you with a specific answer on that, and I can't give you an answer on how much more money it makes right now, but Sue, of my staff, who's not here at this meeting, would have that information.
QUESTION: Thanks.
GRASSLEY: Yes, we'll get back to you, James.
STAFF: Joe Morton?
Jim Boyd?
Tim Rohwer?
Bret Hayworth?
QUESTION: Senator, good morning. Or good afternoon, I guess, now. How top of mind -- and this is going back covering some -- some prior ground -- but how top of mind is what Iowans said in August meetings for you? How much of that have you brought back from Washington? I guess, basically, what's the chief message you took back from those meetings?
GRASSLEY: I believe the health care issue, even though I got most of my question on the health care issue, health care was just kind of an issue that -- that was a straw that broke the camel's back, that people were very upset about government spending, and a trillion dollars or less or more for health care just was kind of the tip of the iceberg.
I think I got the feeling that people did not want a government-run health plan, but I think that partly comes from people feeling that government had done so bad on the stimulus bill and on General Motors and on bank bailouts and all that stuff that they saw through the nationalization of banks and -- and General Motors maybe the nationalization of health care.
I didn't bring back that people were totally satisfied with the health insurance system we got or with health care delivery entirely. Of course, you run into that in Iowa because of our low reimbursement rate, regardless of health care reform.
Next?
STAFF: Christinia Crippes?
QUESTION: Hello, Senator. I was wondering, since most of these amendments are seeming to pass on a party-line vote, are you losing hope that the -- that what emerges from either your committee or the full Senate will be bipartisan?
GRASSLEY: Yes, I think it's pretty clear that -- that at most one Republican will vote for the bill out of committee. Now, I think on the floor it can get worse or it could get better. It could get worse by taking a lot of expensive things out of the Health Committee bill when it's merged with our bill in Finance that would make it more leftward or there could be an uprising of maybe a dozen moderate Democrats.
And I -- and I know there are some that are thinking this way, but I wouldn't want to say that it adds up to a dozen at this point. But if it did add up to a dozen and Democrats could not get 60 votes, I think it could bring the bill rightward.
STAFF: OK?
QUESTION: OK, as a follow-up -- can I ask a quick follow-up? I'm sorry.
GRASSLEY: Yes.
QUESTION: Just -- I was just wondering if you had heard anything updated on when -- when this will either be before the full Senate or when you guys will finally take a vote on it?
GRASSLEY: Yes, I believe, if my staff has told me right, that Reid is canceling what we normally call the October recess, which would be the -- the week of Columbus Day -- and I guess we will have the national holiday off, but not the rest of the week -- but I guess we're not going to have votes on Friday, so I don't know why we're having Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
But that gives an extra week that -- that I think that it would be fair to say during the last two weeks of October it'll be up. But now, I'm speculating, because I can't answer your question with a great deal of certainty. And maybe Reid could not answer it definitely now.
But it's also pretty ironic that -- that a bill in the House of Representatives that Pelosi was going to keep the House in the first week of August to get a bill passed, that they may not take it up until early November now.
So getting back to not only you with that statement, but reminding other people that ask me about the impact of the August recess, I think that the August recess has made quite an impact on the Democrat majority, as evidenced by the slowing up of these pieces of legislation.
QUESTION: Thank you very much.
STAFF: OK. I've read through the entire list. Does anybody have a follow-up or get added late?
QUESTION: Senator, I had one question. Considering how successful the Medicare has been and helpful to senior citizens, and being a government program, does it surprise you how very angry people are about perhaps the public option option and acting like the government has never been involved in health care before? Is that a little bit of a surprise, that they seem to skip over Medicare?
GRASSLEY: No, I think everybody is aware of Medicare. And I think most everybody considers Medicare part of the social fabric of America now after 45 years. That doesn't mean they think it's all right or -- or things can't be changed, but they don't want any more of it.
And -- and I wouldn't -- I would not say my audience was as angry as they were scared about the future of our country based upon the debt that's been accumulated and then, when it comes to health care, another $1 trillion on top of that.
And so, in other words, maybe your question of anger comes from what you saw on television in Pennsylvania and Maryland and -- and I guess I saw in Missouri, too. I saw those three states, and maybe you could have seen a lot more, because maybe you would watch television more than I would.
But none of that happened in Iowa. You know, I -- there was never a time that I wasn't able to listen to a question. Most people -- well, practically everybody was able to finish their questions. There may have been an outburst by one person here or there that lasted a couple seconds, but our Iowa town meetings are very, very civil.
And I wouldn't want to say somebody -- that nobody was angry, but the vast majority of the people that came to me were very concerned citizens. And if there was an emotion, it was more an emotion of being scared than angry.
OK, anybody else?
QUESTION: Just to confirm, Senator: A public option is a deal-breaker for you. Is that correct?
GRASSLEY: Yes, it's been that way since I was at the White House with the president on March the 5th. And you can read about this in the New York Times of November -- or of the next day, March the 6th, and it shows me holding a microphone at this kind of mini-town meeting that the president was having with stakeholders. And I raised concerns at that point about public option.
And I did the same thing on May the 6th, when we -- when Baucus and I had lunch with the president. And I raised the same concern, repeating some I said on this news conference, that we sign a bill without a public option in it, and on August the 6th, he did not tell me yes or no. So I've raised the concern.
And -- and the reason I emphasize that history of March the 5th, May the 6th, and August the 6th is, because somebody in the White House -- my staff might be able to give you a name. I don't remember -- but they were denigrating the fact that I wasn't seriously negotiating for three months and that we were just stringing Democrat senators along, because they said one time that I had never brought up anything about public option directly with the president.
And so, you know, they either wanted to mislead you or they didn't know what they were talking about.
Anybody else? OK, thank you all.