[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 64 (Tuesday, April 22, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3221-S3227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
VETERANS' BENEFITS ENHANCEMENT ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the Senate will
resume the motion to proceed to S. 1315, which the clerk will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A motion to proceed to the bill (S. 1315) to amend title
38, United States Code, to enhance life insurance benefits
for disabled veterans, and for other purposes.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I see Senator Klobuchar on the floor. I
think she was coming to speak in morning business, and I may have used
the minute or two that was remaining for her. I wish to address the
motion to proceed to the bill that is pending, but since she is on the
floor, I would like to give her a chance to speak at this moment before
I do. So I ask--if it meets with the approval of the Senator from North
Carolina--unanimous consent that the Senator from Minnesota be
recognized for----
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Five minutes.
Mr. DURBIN. Five minutes, and that following her remarks, I be
recognized for 10 minutes to speak on the pending motion to proceed.
Mr. BURR. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, and I do not
plan on objecting, if the 5 minutes is to come out of the majority's
time for the debate--which the time is split between now and 12 o'clock
between the majority and minority--if Senator Klobuchar's time comes
out of the majority's time, fine.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is my understanding Senator Akaka wants
to speak for up to 10 minutes. So I am trying to figure out--we have 38
minutes remaining before the vote, so that would allow 19 minutes per
side. If Senator Akaka needs 10 minutes, I would ask for 4 minutes and
yield 5 minutes to Senator Klobuchar, if that meets with the Senator's
approval.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
The Chair hears none, and it is so ordered.
The Senator from Minnesota.
Ms. KLOBUCHAR. Mr. President, I say to my colleague from Illinois,
thank you very much. I appreciate the time. If I go less than 5
minutes, I will give you back the rest of the time.
[[Page S3222]]
Equal Pay Day
Mr. President, I am proud to join with my colleagues today, many of
whom were here earlier--Senator Mikulski, Senator Murray, Senator
Boxer, and Senator McCaskill--in support of Equal Pay Day.
In 1961, President John F. Kennedy appointed Eleanor Roosevelt as
chairwoman of the President's Status on Women Commission.
In 1963, the Commission's findings enumerated rampant discrimination
against women in the workplace: in hiring, in accommodations, and in
pay. This was part of the larger catalyst to finally pass--that same
year--the Equal Pay Act.
It is a sad reality that still, 88 years after the 19th amendment
gave women equal voting power and 45 years after the passage of the
Equal Pay Act, it takes women 16 months to earn what men can earn in 12
months. In other words, today, Equal Pay Day, marks the day it takes
women to finally catch up to where men were back in January.
But Eleanor Roosevelt was a strong, wise woman, and she brought to
that first Commission her personal philosophy that ``It's better to
light a candle than to curse the darkness.'' That is why it is so
important that the Senate take up the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act on
the floor this week. We must light a candle to the pay discrimination
women continue to experience across the country.
This important legislation will reverse a 2007 Supreme Court ruling--
Ledbetter v. Goodyear--that significantly limited the rights of
individuals to sue for gender-based pay discrimination.
The facts that gave rise to Lilly Ledbetter's case are all too common
today. Lilly Ledbetter was a hard worker, working at Goodyear Tire as a
manager for 20 years. When she started at Goodyear, all the employees
at the manager level started at the same pay. She knew she was getting
the same pay as the men did. But early in her tenure as manager, the
company went to another system. Payment records were kept confidential,
and Lilly did not think to ask what her colleagues were making. She did
not think to look at her pay raise and ask if men in the department
were getting the same. As the years passed by, the pay differential
between what she made and what the male managers were making just kept
getting bigger. She only found out about it from an anonymous note from
a coworker.
At trial, she was able to prove discrimination. But the company
appealed the jury's finding, and the Supreme Court, in a five-to-four
decision, decided that Lilly filed her charge too late. Essentially,
they read the law to say that she would have had to file it within 180
days of Goodyear making its first discriminatory decision.
Although this decision completely ignores the realities of the
workplace--that employee records are kept confidential and that there
is no way to know when it starts unless we require women to start the
embarrassing practice of asking what men make--we can do what Eleanor
Roosevelt says. We can bring the realities to the light. We cannot
expect women to challenge practices they do not know are happening, and
by passing this law we can start to give women those 4 months back--
those extra months it takes to allow them to catch up to their male
colleagues.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act
passed out of the committee 9 months ago, and 6 months ago I came to
the floor and asked that we consider it. I could not imagine there
would be any delay in wanting to bring critical help to our veterans.
This legislation expands eligibility for traumatic injury insurance
under the Servicemembers' Group Life Insurance Program. It extends
housing benefits to individuals--veterans--with severe burns. It
increases benefits for veterans in apprenticeship or on-job training
programs. And it restores veteran status to Filipino veterans.
The bill had a positive vote coming out of committee, and the
Republican minority objected, 6 months ago, to bringing it up. Then,
last week, when we tried to bring up this bill to help the veterans
again, the Republicans initiated a filibuster trying to stop us from
bringing this bill forward.
This morning, the Republican leader explained it was because the
Republicans need to sit down at noon and talk about the bill so they
understand it. The bill has been out of committee for 9 months. It is
very clear what is in this bill. There was no need for a filibuster--
except for the fact that is the strategy of the Republican minority.
So far, the Republicans have filed, during this legislative session,
66 filibusters--and continue to file them--66 filibusters, including a
filibuster against this veterans' benefits enhancement bill. They
continue to file these filibusters in an effort to slow down or stop
the Senate from considering legislation.
Last week, they wanted to stop a technical corrections bill that made
corrections in spelling and grammar and a few references in a bill
passed years ago. It took us a full week to pass a bill, which should
have taken no time at all, because the Republicans slowed us down.
This week is even worse--that they would force a filibuster on a bill
to help veterans. Why? Why in the world would they do that? From the
beginning, we said if they had an objection to any provision in this
bill, they could offer an amendment. I know the Senator from North
Carolina objects to giving Filipino war veterans--who served next to
American soldiers, risked their lives and died on behalf of Americans--
they object to the idea of giving $300 a month to the 18,000 surviving
Filipino World War II veterans who would be eligible. They object to it
but will not come to the floor and just offer a motion to strike. No.
They will filibuster to drag this out for days at a time. This is not
fair. It is not fair to the veterans who wait on this important
legislation. It certainly is not fair to the Filipino veterans.
You have to understand that during World War II, President Franklin
Delano Roosevelt issued a military order calling to service the
Commonwealth Army of the Philippines to stand next to American soldiers
to fight and die. This entitled--many believe--those who served beside
U.S. troops to some recognition from the United States of America. My
goodness, how many more years will we wait? Those 470,000 Filipino
veterans risked their lives to save American lives and their homeland
and to fight for the same values we treasure, and we have put them off
that long. A cloture motion was filed, forcing a vote today at noon.
I can tell you that the continued efforts by the Republican minority
to stop and stall any efforts for change and progress is being noted by
the American people. We only have 51 Democrats. It takes 60 votes to
overcome a Republican filibuster, which means we need nine of them to
join us. Maybe they will at noon. But the obvious question is, Why did
we have to go through this? Why did we have to wait when there was an
objection last November? Why did we have to face a filibuster? It is
critical to pass the Veterans Benefits Enhancement Act and do what is
right for our veterans and the Filipinos who stood beside our troops
and fought in World War II.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
Mr. BURR. Mr. President, let me say this. It is disingenuous to come
to the floor and suggest that I, or any Member of the minority, have
stood in the way. I have stood in the way when the conditions to move
forward were such that it diluted the minority's ability to represent
its Members but, more importantly, the American people, and to limit us
in the time of debate and in the amount of amendments. Yes, sir, it was
not offered to have a full and open debate. We are in the process--and,
as I said, I urge my Members to vote for cloture. I am sorry we have to
have the vote, but that is the only thing that assures us the ability
to have the time to debate these issues.
I think what you will find is how much we are all in agreement, which
is 98 percent, and there is 2 percent on which we have a difference. I
respect the chairman and other Members who believe a special pension
should be set up for Filipino veterans who live in the Philippines and
have no service-connected injury. But I disagree with that as a
priority over our guys.
So I plan to offer an amendment that I have never had an opportunity
to
[[Page S3223]]
offer which embraces 98 percent of what the chairman has in his bill,
but it elects to prioritize our soldiers in enhanced benefits over the
$221 million that is now devoted to Filipino veterans who live in the
Philippines and have no service-connected injury.
I believe it is time for us to stand up for our guys versus that
select group to whom there was never a promise made.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii is recognized.
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I again urge my colleagues to vote for
cloture and express their support for consideration of S. 1315, the
proposed ``Veterans' Benefits Enhancement Act of 2007.'' This
comprehensive bill, reported by the Committee on Veterans' Affairs,
would improve benefits and services for veterans, both young and old.
We should be debating and voting on this bill now. It has been on the
calendar since last August.
It is well past time for this body to address and resolve the
differences of opinion on provisions in this bill--so active duty
service members, veterans, and their survivors can receive improvements
to benefits for which they may be entitled without further delay.
Mr. President, I respect the fact that Members have different points
of view on parts of this bill, but I do not understand why there is an
unwillingness to debate.
As I noted yesterday, for seven months, all I have asked for is
debate on this bill. I reached out in October, November, and December
of last year, in an effort to come to an agreement to hold that debate.
This session, my efforts to reach a time agreement or to negotiate,
including in February after the committee's ranking member introduced
an alternate bill to S. 1315, have been rejected time and time again.
Mr. President, I am disappointed that members of the minority have
continually stood in the way of veterans receiving the enhanced
benefits they deserve. I am discouraged that they have not been willing
to engage in debate--the business of the Senate. This is not the way
that we should be conducting business on behalf of those who have
served under the U.S. flag.
A number of things were mentioned yesterday by my colleague, the
committee's ranking member, which seem to demonstrate significant
confusion about the process that has brought us here.
For example, the ranking member spoke of being asked to agree to no
amendments and limited debate time. That is simply not true. What I
asked for was an agreement to limit amendments to the bill to only
those that relate to the bill. After identifying such amendments, we
would then seek to define the time needed to debate these amendments.
This represents the way the Senate most often gets its business done
and certainly is the process that the Veterans' Affairs Committee
follows on those occasions when there is a need for floor debate.
It may be that my colleague does not believe there should be any
limitation on amendments to this bill.
If there is no limitation on what amendments can be offered during
debate of this bill, I anticipate that other Senators will bring
forward a significant number of amendments. Some will be based on
measures considered by the committee and not adopted. Some will be
based on measures that were debated by the committee and included in
other bills now pending on the calendar. Some will represent issues not
yet considered by the committee and thus not subjected to the hearing
and debate process. And lastly, I am certain that a number of
amendments will represent issues not under this committee's
jurisdiction.
That does not appear to me to be a desirable way to get our business
done. However, if that is the ranking member's preference, let him say
so.
Another misleading statement made by the ranking member was his
suggestion that the committee was not willing to talk about changes to
the bill. That statement cannot refer to the actual committee process
last year--where the provision relating to Filipino veterans was
noticed--and an amendment was offered--and debated.
After the bill was reported, I clearly expressed my willingness--on
multiple occasions--to reach a compromise on the pension provision. As
I noted yesterday, the only debate raised in the committee was on the
amount of the pension for Filipino World War II veterans, not on
eliminating the pension entirely.
The provision prevailed in committee. Now the ranking member offers
one option: to give these elderly Filipino veterans nothing. That is
not a compromise.
I am ready to debate the core issue--but I am not prepared to abandon
a provision that I believe is right.
I believe it is the moral obligation of this Nation to provide for
those Filipino veterans--who fought under the U.S. flag during World
War II. We must act to ensure that these veterans are not left to live
out their twilight years without acknowledgment that their service
during World War II is valued. I am not going to abandon them without a
fight.
Mr. President, I ask my colleagues to agree to begin the process of
debating this bill. If cloture on the motion to proceed is achieved, I
hope that the ranking member will join me and our party leaders to
craft a workable agreement that allows for a full debate on this bill--
and on his amendment to it--along with any other amendments to
provisions in the bill. Once this bill is disposed of, our committee
will be in a position to bring forward other bills, including whatever
bills we report out of committee later this year.
I look forward to a spirited and in- depth debate on this bill. This
is a debate we could have had two months ago or even late last year.
Let us not waste any more time. Let us work together to join the issues
and have the Senate do its business. I ask my colleagues to join in
voting for cloture.
I yield back the remainder of my time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Carolina is recognized.
Mr. BURR. Mr. President, I have a deep respect for my chairman and
friend, Senator Akaka. I think the Senator has suggested that over the
course of the last half year we have had some disagreements. I don't
expect him to know everything that has been communicated to staff or
that my staff communicated to his staff.
The reality is that we are here today, and we each respect each
other. We are both honored to serve in the Senate. We both have the
same responsibility to the same people--and that is the American
taxpayers--to make sure we are fiscally responsible but, more
importantly, that we are prudent, that we prioritize things where they
are needed the most.
At noon today we will have a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to
S. 1315. For one, I have mixed feelings about where we are in the
process. I share the frustrations of Chairman Akaka. The proud
tradition of the Senate committee on Veterans' Affairs has been to
write laws that improve benefits and services for our veterans. Those
laws typically enjoy bipartisan support. As a result, the committee's
bills have almost always passed by unanimous consent. In fact, I asked
the Senate Library to confirm that for me.
Since 1990, there have been only two rollcall votes on bills reported
from the Committee on Veterans' Affairs: the first in the 102d Congress
which cleared by a vote of 99 to 0; the second was in the 105th
Congress and cleared by a vote of 98 to 0. There were no amendments
that received rollcall votes on either of those bills.
This tells me that Republicans and Democrats have always been able to
reach a compromise on committee bills out of the Veterans' Affairs
Committee. There has been no need for floor debate or rollcall votes
when it comes to the veterans bills. The norm is to find a common
agreement before moving forward, even on policy issues with which one
side or the other may not agree.
This has changed during this Congress with the unprecedented vote on
cloture that we will have today. The chairman, in the spirit of our
relationship, sent me a letter on, I believe, the 10th of the month
requesting that we work on this. The next day, the majority leader of
the Senate filed cloture. I am not sure how quickly I am supposed to
jump through the hoop for him, but I didn't do it fast enough. I say
that with the knowledge that the chairman and I both have that we are
not in charge. We don't always make the decisions on the course the
Senate will follow.
[[Page S3224]]
Let me briefly outline for my colleagues the key disagreement that
has held up this bill for so long; namely, the provision that seeks to
use $221 million over the next 10 years to create a special pension for
Filipino veterans who have no war injuries, are not U.S. citizens, and
who reside in the Philippines.
There are four groups of Filipino veterans. Here is a chart. There
are the old scouts, who enlisted in the U.S. Army. They are veterans of
the U.S. Army through and through. You see in the benefits that is
exactly what is displayed. We have the Commonwealth Army of the
Philippines, Recognized Guerilla Forces, and new Filipino Scouts,
individuals committed to the Armed Forces of the Philippines and, yes,
at times were under U.S. command.
The important thing to notice is our disagreement is with the pension
for nonservice-connected disability and the death pension for
survivors. It is the $221 million that is suggested to create a special
pension for 13,000 individuals whom I do not dislike. I do not want any
Member of this Congress to think in any way that I devalue what they
did. But I have researched this in history, which we will get into over
this debate, that Congress never intended for something such as this to
be extended.
I, again, have profound respect for the World War II service of
Filipino veterans. Their contribution to victory in the Pacific is a
matter of historical record. We honor them--I honor them--their
service, their sacrifice. We have good friends in the Philippines. But
the issue at hand is not the merit of the service rendered by Filipino
veterans. The issue is whether creating a special pension for them in
the Philippines is responsive to the following questions:
Is it the right priority in time of war when the needs of our men and
women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan are so great?
Two, is it appropriate policy, given the purpose of VA pensions and
the vast differences in the United States and Filipino economies?
And last, is it fair to U.S. pension recipients from whom this money
is taken to pay for this special pension in the Philippines?
Let me ask that another chart be put up because I think it is
absolutely crucial that we understand exactly what we are talking about
in a $300, or $221 million, special pension.
For a U.S. veteran, if they qualify for a special pension, we are
going to get their annual stipend to $11,181, which is 17 percent of
U.S. median income. We are going to take American veterans slightly
above the poverty level. If it is a married veteran couple, we are
going to get them to $14,643, which is 22 percent of the median income
in the United States and slightly above the level of poverty. Special
pensions were designed to make sure a veteran was out of poverty. We
were not putting them into the middle class in the United States, but
we were getting them out of poverty because that was the right thing to
do. If it is a surviving spouse in the United States, they get a
payment of $7,498, which is 11 percent of the median income in the
United States.
Today in the Philippines, the Filipino Government provides $120 a
month pension for these 13,000 individuals Senator Akaka is targeting.
I am not taking into account the $120 a month that the Philippine
Government is providing for each one of these 13,000. But if they are a
single veteran in the Philippines with the stipend that Senator Akaka's
bill has, we will provide $3,600 a year, which will be 87 percent of
the median income of the Philippine economy. If you add in to that
number the $120, we see they far exceed the median income of the middle
class of the Philippines. If, in fact, it is a married couple, the
stipend from the United States in a special pension for a Filipino
living in the Philippines with no service-connected injury is $4,500,
108 percent of the median income of a Philippine family; in the case of
a surviving spouse, $2,400, or 58 percent of the median income.
It is important to understand that the VA pension is designed for
veterans who have no service-related injuries and who are poor,
according to the U.S. definition of poverty. The maximum VA pension
payable to a U.S. veteran puts them 10 percent above the poverty
threshold and 17 percent of median income.
The Philippine Government, as I said, already provides a monthly
pension to Philippine veterans, putting them at roughly 400 percent
over poverty with the $120 pension that the Philippine Government
provides, and 35 percent of the average income of the household. Adding
an additional VA pension on top, as considered in S. 1315, would put a
single Filipino veteran at roughly 1,400 percent over the Philippine
poverty level.
What are we talking about in simplistic terms? We are going to allow
a U.S. veteran to get slightly over the poverty level. The percentage
was 10 percent. But we are going to create a special pension for
Filipinos who live in the Philippines and have no service-connected
disability that is going to make their percentage over poverty 1,400
percent when U.S. veterans are at 10 percent over the poverty line and
21 percent above the average household income.
A VA pension benefit is not designed to put a veteran in the middle
class. It certainly does not in the United States. I do not believe it
is our responsibility to do it in the Philippines, and I do not believe
in this time of war that it is a priority of this country.
It is meant to ensure that no wartime veterans suffer the indignity
of poverty, whether you are in the Philippines or whether you are in
the United States. We have defined that in the United States as 10
percent above the poverty line.
I can argue that is not good enough, but I can certainly make the
case that going to 1,400 percent above the poverty line is not right.
It is not the right policy, and it is certainly not the right priority.
Creating any new pension benefits for Filipinos in an effort to rectify
what some call an injustice would only serve to create a new injustice
for U.S.-based veterans because of an enormous discrepancy in the two
Nations' economies.
As I said, I have deep respect for Senator Akaka. We will have a
spirited debate, I am convinced, over the next 2 days, 3 days--whatever
our leadership decides. That is where it gets out of our hands. I am
willing to do it. I have done my homework. I am willing to get into the
1946 Senate hearings when the Senate debated an act where they took
benefits away because they researched it to find out if we promised
veterans' benefits be extended. And the court's interpretation was they
extended it and, quite frankly, the Congress in 1946 legislatively took
those benefits away that the court had awarded.
I have Senate hearings from 1948. And in the 1990s, I have the
Clinton administration that came to this body and lobbied that this was
not the right thing to do; they were not supportive of it. I am willing
to share that information with all our colleagues, and over the next
couple of days, I think everybody will get a great history lesson on
what happened with our decisions and who has testified since 1944 to
the Senate about this issue.
I do not expect any American who listens to be less than educated on
whether this is the right move or the wrong move. But I also believe my
colleagues will recognize the fact if we are establishing 10 percent
above poverty for U.S. veterans and we are down here talking about a
special pension to individuals who live in the Philippines who have no
service-connected injury that is going to be 1,400 percent over
poverty, this is the wrong thing for the Senate to do.
Mr. President, I am going to yield to my good friend and former
ranking member of the committee. But I do want to say before I yield to
him, I urge my colleagues to vote in favor of the cloture motion. I
want to proceed. I want to debate this issue. I want to make sure every
Member of the Senate has an opportunity to hear the full breadth of
what has happened since 1946, and I am prepared to do exactly that.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I understand we are under a unanimous
consent agreement for a vote at 12 o'clock?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I will be brief, only to amplify what
Senator
[[Page S3225]]
Burr spoke to clearly and, I hope, understandably. First and foremost,
understand that my relationship with the chairman of Veterans' Affairs
Committee, Danny Akaka, is a personal one and one of great affection.
Here is a man today attempting to do the right thing and probably, in
all fairness, is leading with his heart, and that I respect greatly.
There is no question, there remain in the Philippines 13,000 veterans
who fought gallantly to save their island from Japanese domination and
fought with us and under our flag to do just that. They deserve to be
compensated, and they have been compensated.
Immediately following the war, the United States Government put $620
million into the repairs of the Philippines. In today's dollars, that
is $6.7 billion.
Then we left a VA hospital in place so that these veterans could
receive first-class health care. And we did and they do and it is still
there and it is still operating.
Then we added $22 million--and that is worth $196 million in today's
dollars--for equipment and construction. America did its part then, and
it does its part today. The question is what is reasonable and right
compensation.
I stepped down as ranking member on the Veterans' Affairs Committee
last September. In doing so, I was well aware of this bill, and the
chairman knew at that time that I agreed with 99.9 percent of it. It is
a good bill. It is an important bill for America's veterans, and it
ought to be passed.
At that time, I thought I offered what was a reasonable compromise;
that we would reduce the level of the proposed increase in compensation
to nonservice-connected Filipino veterans living in the Philippines;
that we would not lift them to the standard to which Senator Burr has
just spoken; that they would deserve some help. The chairman had found
an offset in a court ruling that took money away from our veterans, and
it was sitting there.
I would have much preferred rewriting the law and reinstating that
money to our veterans to abrogate the court decision, but we did not do
that. So I offered a compromise at that time. It was roundly rejected
by the committee. It simply did not fit where the chairman wanted to
go. Therefore, from that point forward, I opposed the bill. It is a
matter of fiscal responsibility. It is a near quarter of a billion
dollars over the next 10 years, and it does exactly what the ranking
member, Senator Burr, spoke to. It lifts these Filipino veterans above
their poverty line into a middle-class status in Filipino society.
Well, that is OK; none of us should deny that. But we don't do that for
our veterans who live here. If you are a Filipino veteran living here
legally, you get full compensation as a veteran living in this country.
We do tie a benefit to a poverty level and a cost-of-living standard,
and we always have. I certainly wish we could do more, but this budget
is nearing $100 billion. The overall VA budget is nearing $100 billion.
Four years ago, 11 percent; 3 years ago, 12 percent; 2 years ago, 13
percent; last year, an 18-percent increase. No budget in America, other
than defense, has increased that much. And why are we doing it? Because
collectively this Senate and this Congress have always believed in fair
and responsible compensation to America's veterans--America's veterans.
We also try to compensate those who support us and work in our behalf
as the veterans of the Filipino society did what is right and what is
reasonable.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. CRAIG. Mr. President, I believe what the Senator has offered in
this Senate bill that is on the floor, S. 1315, is too much. There is a
middle ground. I offered it once, and it was rejected. I hope we can
revisit that as a reasonable amendment when we get to the amendment
process.
I thank my colleagues, Senator Akaka and Senator Burr, for their work
on this legislation. It is good legislation. With a little fine-tuning,
then it will be fair, and we ought to support it.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Hawaii.
Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I commend my ranking member and former
ranking member for their comments. I look forward to a good debate. I
thank them for joining in asking for Senators to vote for cloture.
Cloture Motion
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order and pursuant to rule
XXII, the Chair lays before the Senate the pending cloture motion,
which the clerk will state.
The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:
Cloture Motion
We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the
provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate,
hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to
proceed to Calendar No. 336, S. 1315, the Veterans' Benefits
Enhancement Act.
Harry Reid, Daniel K. Akaka, Barbara Boxer, Patty Murray,
Byron L. Dorgan, Edward M. Kennedy, Christopher J.
Dodd, Benjamin L. Cardin, Patrick J. Leahy, Bernard
Sanders, Sherrod Brown, Amy Klobuchar, Richard Durbin,
Ken Salazar, Sheldon Whitehouse, Max Baucus, Daniel K.
Inouye.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum
call has been waived.
The question is, Is it the sense of the Senate that debate on the
motion to proceed to S. 1315, a bill to amend title 38, United States
Code, to enhance life insurance benefits for disabled veterans, and for
other purposes, shall be brought to a close?
The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule.
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New York (Mrs. Clinton),
the Senator from Louisiana (Ms. Landrieu), and the Senator from
Illinois (Mr. Obama) are necessarily absent.
Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain),
and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The yeas and nays resulted--yeas 94, nays 0, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 109 Leg.]
YEAS--94
Akaka
Alexander
Allard
Barrasso
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brown
Brownback
Bunning
Burr
Byrd
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Coburn
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Conrad
Corker
Cornyn
Craig
Crapo
DeMint
Dodd
Dole
Dorgan
Durbin
Ensign
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Graham
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Isakson
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Klobuchar
Kohl
Kyl
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lugar
Martinez
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sanders
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Sununu
Tester
Thune
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wicker
Wyden
NOT VOTING--6
Clinton
Domenici
Landrieu
McCain
Obama
Vitter
The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this vote, the yeas are 94, the nays are
zero. Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn having voted
in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mr. CONRAD. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois is recognized.
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, would the Chair advise me, was the last
vote 94 to nothing?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. That is correct.
Mr. DURBIN. I would like to say to the Chair and to all those
following this debate, we wasted 4 days of the Senate's time, 4 days to
come to a bill for veterans' benefits. We tried to bring this bill up
last November. The Republicans objected. We tried to bring it up last
Thursday, and they started a filibuster so we had to burn off 4 or 5
days.
Mr. DORGAN. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senate will be in order.
Mr. DURBIN. We had to burn off 4 or 5 days of doing nothing because
of another Republican filibuster. So far in this Congress the
Republicans have initiated now 67 filibusters. The record in the
Congress before this Republican minority was 57 filibusters over a 2-
year period of time. They have now broken that record by 10, and we
still have 8 months to go this year.
[[Page S3226]]
We are wasting more time. When I ask the Republicans why did you
filibuster a bill for veterans' benefits, they said because when we
have lunch today, we want to talk it over.
This bill was reported by the veterans committee 9 months ago. How
many veterans have been created in 9 months? How many more have needed
job training, health care benefits, and housing, and now our Republican
minority wants to talk it over?
If we are going to do the people's business in this Chamber, this
filibuster mentality on the Republican side has to come to an end.
There are critically important issues. Wouldn't it be great if we had
finished the veterans health bill last Thursday and could have started
debating today the cost of gasoline across America; the impact of high
diesel fuel prices on truckers; what the jet fuel costs are doing to
the airline industry? But no, another Republican filibuster, the 67th
filibuster in this session.
I hope the people of the United States understand what the problem
is. To break a filibuster, it takes 60 votes. There are only 51
Democrats. The voters of America will have their chance to vote in
November.
Mr. DORGAN. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mr. DURBIN. I yield for a question.
Mr. DORGAN. Isn't it the case the vote we had is on the motion to
proceed? This is not on the issue, this is on the motion to proceed to
an issue? So we have a filibuster on the question of shall we proceed.
Time after time after time, isn't it the case that even on motions to
proceed, we discover the other side demands 60 votes, then demands to
have the full 30 hours elapse after the vote has taken place? This one
was, I think, 94 to zero. There was a requirement that we go to a
motion to proceed--94 to zero--so it was not controversial, it was a
matter of bleeding time. It makes no sense, with all that we have to
do.
Mr. DURBIN. Through the Chair I say in response to the Senator: That
is exactly the case. I would like to make a unanimous consent request
that we go to the bill immediately and entertain germane amendments to
the bill. Let's start this bill right now. Let's get this done for the
veterans. I ask unanimous consent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I object.
Mrs. HUTCHISON. Parliamentary inquiry, Mr. President? I would like to
ask the Senator from Illinois if germane amendments include a
substitute amendment? I have heard the debate, or at least the
statements of the two Senators. But the issue is not going to the bill.
We have not filibustered the motion to proceed. It was unanimous. The
question is are the minority rights going to be recognized? Will we be
able to offer amendments, germane amendments, substitutes?
I would like to know, before we proceed further to the bill, if we
are going to be able to have enough amendments so the minority rights
are protected.
That would be my question.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
Mr. DURBIN. Would the Chair identify the Senator who objected to the
unanimous consent request to move to the bill immediately and consider
all germane amendments?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. HATCH. I happened to be here for the vote. You know, this is a
game that has been played by both sides, last year and this year too.
The majority calls up a bill, they generally file cloture. And,
frankly, that does not mean there is a filibuster. As you can easily
see, the vote was basically unanimous to going ahead with the bill.
What bothers me is that time after time we have had situations where
we were not able to even offer amendments, even a limited number of
amendments. But generally we get to that point around here because we
have to. And it is the only right the minority has. So that is one
reason that occasionally the minority will require cloture.
But there is also too much of this filing cloture by the majority the
minute the bill comes up. That, of course, is a game, frankly, with no
intention on our side to filibuster the bill or stop the bill.
So these high numbers that are said are mythical, to be honest with
you. And, frankly, I hope someday we can realize that this is a
legislative body where both sides have certain rights and that one side
cannot roll over the other side without at least giving them an
opportunity to file amendments.
Frankly, the other side, the majority side, has been able to win on
amendments anyway in many cases. I think to stand and say that the
Republicans are causing all of this mixup is not quite as accurate, as
I think the record will show.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. KOHL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in
morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
International Food Assistance
Mr. KOHL. Last year, the World Health Organization reported that
25,000 people died every day from hunger-related causes. Let me repeat
that number: 25,000 people who died every day last year.
The World Health Organization further reported that of that 25,000
people who died, 18,000 were children. That means that in the time it
took me to say that last sentence, a child somewhere in the world has
died. It also means before I finish this sentence, another child will
have died from hunger. For lack of food, a child dies every 4.8
seconds.
As grim as these facts are, things have grown worse, much worse. We
are witnessing what could be called a perfect storm of world hunger.
The world's supply of food is down, food demand is up, the climate is
changing, and crops are failing.
Food production resources are shifting every day to energy
production, food costs are skyrocketing, and, indeed, entire societies
are falling apart as a result. This is not another round of appeals for
humanitarian food assistance. There is something new and very troubling
occurring.
One of the greatest responsibilities of Government is to assure
people the basic necessities of life. When that assurance fails,
governments fail with it, and an already insecure world moves that much
closer to chaos. The most basic need, of course, is the need for food.
However, in recent events around the globe, 33 countries have
experienced riots and violence because of a failed food supply,
including countries in this hemisphere. In the face of hunger, order
breaks down, and reason is lost. People are painfully realizing that
food production is not keeping up with food demand, and this is a
recipe for global disaster.
Last month, the Director of the World Food Program, Joesette Sheeran,
wrote to President Bush on the immediate need for increased food
assistance due to rising food and related costs. I met with Director
Sheeran last week and got a firsthand appraisal of the dire situation.
Rising food and transportation costs have created a $750 million hole
in the World Food Program budget which had assumed that the U.S.
contribution this year would include a pending $350 million
supplemental request for PL 480.
Unless this Congress acts, thousands of people will die, and an
increasing number of societies and nations will be at risk. This is
indeed a world crisis.
Last week, OMB Director Nussle appeared before the Senate
Appropriations Committee, and when asked to state whether he thought
there was a need to provide food assistance above the President's
request of $350 million, he declined. He dodged the question.
There is no way to dodge this problem. This is a problem of world
security. This is a problem of U.S. security and our place in the
world. We must and we will respond.
As chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture, I take
the issue of international food assistance very seriously. Although the
President's supplemental request of $350 million was predictable--after
all, he has requested the exact same amount for 3 years in a row--it is
totally blind as to what is happening in the world. It is therefore
very dangerous.
If the United States wants to maintain its role as a world leader,
there is no better way to do that than to step forward now, take full
account of what is happening, and take meaningful steps to stop the
suffering, to stop the
[[Page S3227]]
hunger, stop the dying. In fact, it is time to be a leader.
So I will continue to work for food funding assistance at a level
that does not turn a blind eye to the suffering in the world, nor the
danger to the world community. So I ask other Senators to join me in
stating support to fight this perfect storm of world hunger and to
support action to do something about it.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, tomorrow we will have a vote to proceed--
--
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator has an order to recess.
Mrs. BOXER. I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 6 minutes as
in morning business.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I thank you all for indulging me.
Fair Pay Act
Tomorrow we will have a vote to proceed to the Lilly Ledbetter Fair
Pay Restoration Act. Four of my Democratic female colleagues spoke on
this earlier today--four or five. I wanted to add my voice to their
voices because, as I stand on the floor of the Senate some 45 years
after passage of the Equal Pay Act, it is unfortunate that workers
throughout the Nation will suffer pay discrimination based on gender,
race, religion, national origin, disability, and age. They still suffer
this.
We still have a long way to go on equal pay for equal work. It stuns
some people to learn that women still earn 23 percent less than men,
and the pay disparity is still so great that it takes a woman 16 months
to earn what a man earns in 12 months.
In 2006, an average college-educated woman working full time earned
$15,000 less than a college-educated male. According to the American
Association of University Women, working families lose $200 billion in
income per year due to the wage gap.
This is an important point because so many women now work. We know
this. So families are struggling to make ends meet with higher gas
prices, higher college tuition, higher food prices, higher health care,
all of that. We know there is not an easy solution that will eliminate
all pay discrimination, but the bill we hope to go to tomorrow, the
Equal Pay Restoration Act, will ensure that when an employer
discriminates based on gender or race or any other factor, the employee
can take his or her case to court.
There was a very bad decision that was made by the Supreme Court
which reversed decades of legal precedent, and this was the Ledbetter
decision. With its decision, the Court imposed a serious obstacle for
equality, equal pay, by requiring workers to file a pay discrimination
claim within 180 days of when their employer first starts
discriminating.
Now, that is an impossible standard to meet. You really do not know
when that moment occurs. What was important about this decision is it
threw out the law that had always worked well and would have protected
people such as Lilly Ledbetter from discrimination.
Her story is not unfamiliar to many female employees. She was a
female, she was a manager at an Alabama Goodyear Tire plant when she
discovered, after 19 years of service, that she was earning 20 to 40
percent less than her male counterparts for doing the exact same job.
It took her a long time to ferret this information out. As Justice
Ginsburg noted in her dissenting opinion, the pay discrepancy between
Ledbetter and her 15 male counterparts was stark. In 1997, her last
year of employment at Goodyear, after 19 years of service she earned
$5,600 less than her lowest paid male coworkers, and she earned over
$18,000 less than her highest paid male coworkers.
Evidence submitted at her trial showed that Mrs. Ledbetter was denied
raises, despite receiving performance awards, and in some cases female
supervisors at the plant were paid less than the male employees they
supervised.
So when Ms. Ledbetter discovered this, she took Goodyear to court,
and the jury awarded her full damages. But the company, Goodyear,
appealed the jury's decision.
In 2007 the Supreme Court made this very bad decision and said she
could not sue for back pay despite--and with which they agreed--the
overwhelming evidence that her employer had intentionally discriminated
against her because of her gender.
But, they said, it took Lilly Ledbetter longer than 6 months to
determine she had been a victim of years of pay discrimination. So, in
other words, because it took her more than 6 months to figure this out,
she was denied any kind of help.
It does take a significant amount of time in many cases for the truth
to be known. Here in the Capitol, if you work for the Government,
everybody's pay is on record. And you can see it; it is a public
document. But in a private sector plant there may be no way to find
out.
As Justice Ginsburg pointed out: Compensation disparities are often
hidden from sight for a number of reasons. Many employers do not
publish their employees' salaries, and other employees are not anxious
to discuss what they earn. So this controversial decision is having
serious impacts.
In the 10 months since the decision was handed down, the Ledbetter
precedent has been cited 207 times by Federal district courts and
courts of appeal. So it means, it seems to me from what I gather, from
that statistic alone, many people are being denied equal treatment
under the law: equal pay, equal treatment.
So what does the bill do that we want to go to, we Democrats on
Wednesday, tomorrow? It simply restores the law to what it was in
almost every State in the country before the Ledbetter case was
decided. It does so by helping to eliminate the unreasonable barrier
created by the Supreme Court and allows workers to file a pay
discrimination claim within 180 days of each discriminatory paycheck.
That was the law before Ledbetter.
The Ledbetter decision was a giant step backward in the fight for
equal opportunity and equal rights. Goodyear engaged in chronic
discrimination against female employees, but because of the Ledbetter
decision, the Court must treat intentional ongoing pay discrimination
as lawful conduct.
Employers who can conceal their pay discrimination for 180 days can
continue this practice, and there is no redress. We must ask ourselves:
Is this the standard that Congress should be proud of? Is this the kind
of standard that we should support, where somebody is treated in an
unfair fashion, is paid less than somebody else simply because of their
gender?
It is not right. It seems to me, if we are going to have fairness and
justice in America today, the least we can do is overturn the Ledbetter
decision. Justice Ginsburg told us: ``Congress, the ball is in your
court.''
That is why I am so pleased that Senator Reid is bringing this
opportunity before us tomorrow. Today, as we reflect upon the
importance of fairness and equity to our society with a celebration of
Equal Pay Day, we must restore this important protection and return the
law to its meaning. I hope tomorrow when we get a chance to move to
this bill our colleagues will all vote aye because what is fair is fair
and what is wrong is wrong. We need to fix this problem. Equal pay for
equal work is a value that we should hold dear.
____________________