Senator Tom Coburn Files Amendments To House Reconciliation Bill

By Chris Wright, The News On 6

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn has filed at least 9 amendments he says will highlight the "follies" of the health care bill. Among them is a ban on taxpayer funded Viagra prescriptions for sex offenders. 

The amendments will be voted on when the U.S. Senate takes up the reconciliation bill already passed by the U.S. House.

"The federal government will be making decisions on patient care based on this bill," said Sen. Tom Coburn -- (R) Oklahoma.

Although opposed to the legislation, Dr. Coburn says his amendments would, at the very least, improve what he calls a "historic missed opportunity." They are part of a flurry of Republican amendments filed as the bill heads back to the Senate.

"The amendment strategy will unfold as we offer amendments on the floor. I can tell you, with regard to the campaign that will continue with the American people, I think the slogan will be repeal and replace," said Sen. Mitch McConnell -- (R) Kentucky.

Among Coburn's nine amendments is one that calls for a ban on taxpayer funded Viagra prescriptions for sex offenders. 

Speaking on the floor of the Senate on Wednesday, Dr. Coburn said, "This amendment will prohibit prescriptions for recreational drugs for rapists and child molesters. Nobody can disagree with that … If this bill goes through without this amendment, your tax dollars are going to be paying for Viagra for child molesters. That's what's going to happen."

There's a bureaucratic cap and trade amendment for each person a government agency hires as a result of this bill, another in the same agency must be fired. 

Also included is an abortion-related amendment stating that health care providers cannot be forced to participate in abortions.

Republicans say all the amendments would improve a fundamentally flawed bill. Democrats believe it's a stall tactic levied by a party still bitter over the reconciliation process.

"Eighty percent of the time it's been done by Republicans. We're going to move forward and make a good law we just passed, signed by the president (Tuesday), even better," said Sen. Harry Reid -- (D) Nevada.

That law will need a simple majority vote of 51 in the Senate to pass.

President Obama did issue an executive order banning federal funds from being used for abortions. Another of Senator Coburn's amendments is aimed at implementing Republican ideas endorsed by President Obama. 

Coburn has said he was disappointed that his idea to disguise investigators as patients in an attempt to find medical fraud was not included in the final version of the bill.

Amendments to reconciliation bill by Senator Tom Coburn:

1. No Erectile Dysfunction Drugs To Sex Offenders – This amendment would enact recommendations from the Government Accountability Office to stop fraudulent payments for prescription drugs prescribed by dead providers or, to dead patients. This amendment also prohibits coverage of Viagra and other ED medications to convicted child molesters, rapists, and sex offenders, and prohibits coverage of abortion drugs. (Note: the creation of exchanges could allow sex offenders to receive taxpayer-funded Viagra and other ED drugs unless Congress expressly prohibits this action)

2. Bureaucrat Cap and Trade – This amendment would ensure that no provisions in the health bill increase the size of government bureaucracies in Washington, D.C. This amendment requires that for each government bureaucrat added to a government agency as a result of this act, there must be a corresponding decrease in a government bureaucrat at that agency. The federal government should not grow the bureaucracy in Washington, D.C. when one in 10 Americans is looking for work and twice as many are underemployed.

3. Congress Should Not Lecture Americans About Fiscal Responsibility - This amendment would strike the creation of a new $375 million government program the new health bill (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act) intended to promote personal and financial responsibility. It is ironic that Congress, that amassed a $12 trillion deficit, should lecture Americans about financial responsibility. This government "responsibility" program duplicates existing government programs and adds hundreds of millions of dollars to the tax burden funds. In short, there is nothing responsible about the new responsibility program. 

4. Repeal New Powers Given to the Secretary of HHS. Nearly 1,700 times in the new health bill (The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act), the Secretary of HHS is given new authorities to write regulations, issue definitions, and decide on the fate of Americans' health care. Congress should be empowering patients and physicians, not bureaucrats in Washington, D.C.

5. If You Like the Health Plan You Have, You Can Keep It. President Obama promised that Americans who like their health care plan would be able to keep it. However, the Congressional Budget Office has said that millions of people will lose their current coverage under The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Unfortunately, for many Americans, the reconciliation bill is even worse news, as it made changes to some grandfathering provisions. The changes to grandfathering provisions would mean that individuals with guaranteed renewable plans in the individual market will NOT be able to keep their current coverage at the current price, but would immediately be issued a new policy and charged more. This amendment strikes changes to grandfathered plans, so Americans who like the health care they have actually can keep it.

6. Implement Republican Ideas President Obama Has Endorsed To Crack Down on Waste, Fraud and Abuse. The President's Proposal for health reform, released on February 22, 2010, highlighted nine Republican ideas to combat waste, fraud and abuse. This amendment includes each of those policy provisions which have been endorsed by President Obama. Certainly Washington politicians should be serious about stemming the hemorrhaging of taxpayer dollars lost to waste, fraud and abuse. Senators will have an opportunity to vote on proposals which have received bipartisan support, and which the President has endorsed.

7. Ensure Nondiscrimination For Providers Refusing To Perform Abortions and Respect for the Rights of Conscience. This amendment would ensure health care providers are not forced to participate in abortions or discriminated against because they choose not to perform abortions. The federal government should never require health care providers to violate their deeply held moral, ethical or religious beliefs or discriminate against them because they choose to exercise their consciences and not be involved with abortion. This amendment would protect health care providers from being required or coerced to perform abortions.

8. Exempt Class I Medical Devices from New Taxation. Taxing latex gloves and band-aids is not health reform and only increases the cost of health care for patients. This amendment would exempt all Class I medical devices – such as band-aids, wheelchairs, hospital beds and surgical gowns – from new federal taxation.

9. Motion to Commit Bill to Committee and Return In Compliance with President Obama's Promises. During his presidential campaign, then-Senator Obama repeatedly made several promises related to what health reform would accomplish. The bill he signed (Tuesday) breaks those promises. This amendment would send the reconciliation bill back to the Finance Committee and direct the Committee to report back out a bill which would allow him to keep his promise.