[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 165 (Friday, November 6, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11239-S11245]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




     MILITARY CONSTRUCTION, VETERANS AFFAIRS, AND RELATED AGENCIES 
                        APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 2010

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of H.R. 3082, which the clerk will 
state by title.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 3082) making appropriations for military 
     construction, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and related 
     agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, and 
     for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Johnson/Hutchison amendment No. 2730, in the nature of a 
     substitute.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota is 
recognized.

[[Page S11240]]

  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, as we resume consideration of the MilCon/
VA bill, I remind my colleagues how important this bill is to the 
health and well being of our Nation's veterans and military troops and 
families.
  Overall, the bill provides $134 billion for veterans health and 
benefits and for urgent investments in military construction, including 
family housing, barracks and operational facilities.
  Within that total, the bill before the Senate provides increased 
funding for a number of smaller but important initiatives. Let me cite 
just a few examples.
  For veterans, the bill provides $3.2 billion for health care and 
supportive services for homeless veterans. Ending homelessness among 
veterans is one of Secretary Shinseki's top priorities, and I am 
committed to doing everything possible through the appropriations 
process to help him achieve that goal. To that end, I have an amendment 
to provide another $50 million to the VA to renovate empty buildings on 
VA medical campuses to provide housing and services to homeless vets.
  For the military, the bill fully funds the expansion of the 
Homeowners Assistance Program to help military families who face steep 
losses on home sales as a result of orders to new posts during the 
current mortgage crisis. Military families cannot pick and choose when 
or where they move--they go where their orders send them when they are 
told to move. The expansion of the Homeowners Assistance Program is 
designed to help military families who must move at a time when home 
values have plummeted to avoid foreclosure or financial ruin by 
compensating them for losses on home sales.
  And for the Nation's economic and environmental health, the bill 
provides $225 million to promote energy conservation and investment in 
renewable energy resources at U.S. military bases, nearly triple the 
budget request. The Defense Department is the single largest consumer 
of energy in the Nation. This bill provides the funding to step up 
efforts to reduce energy consumption on military bases and to promote 
renewable energy alternatives, ranging from installing energy efficient 
light bulbs to powering an installation with geothermal energy.
  These are just a few examples of the many important programs funded 
in this bill, and a few of the reasons why it is important that we act 
swiftly to pass the bill. I urge my colleagues to come to the floor if 
they wish to speak or if they have amendments to offer, and to work 
with the committee staff to clear amendments.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that 
the order for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                Amendment No. 2737 to Amendment No. 2730

  (Purpose: To make available from Medical Services, $150,000,000 for 
           homeless veterans comprehensive service programs)

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 2737.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from New Mexico [Mr. Udall], for himself, Mr. 
     Bingaman, and Mr. Bond, proposes an amendment numbered 2737 
     to amendment No. 2730.
       On page 52, after line 21, add the following:
       Sec. 229.  Of the amount appropriated or otherwise made 
     available by this title under the heading ``medical 
     services'', $150,000,000 shall be available for the grant 
     program under section 2011 of title 38, United States Code, 
     and per diem payments under section 2012 of such title.

  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, let me, first of all, thank 
Senator Johnson for all his hard work on this appropriations bill. The 
Military Construction, Veterans Affairs appropriations bill is one of 
the most important bills we do in the Congress because, as he has said 
earlier, it supports our veterans, supports their health care, supports 
military construction, and supports what they do in the communities 
around the country and across the world. In particular, it supports the 
Department of Veterans Affairs.
  After reviewing this piece of legislation, I commend Senator Johnson 
on his excellent leadership. I also thank him for working with me on 
this particular amendment. I also thank his excellent staff.
  I rise to talk about America's forgotten heroes and to offer this 
amendment to improve upon the excellent legislation before us today. 
Imagine dedicating your life to serving your country. You give up time 
with your family, you put your life on the line, you sacrifice 
everything for the freedom and security of your fellow Americans. Then, 
you come home and you cannot hold down a job or you cannot adjust to 
everyday life because of the traumatic experience you have been 
through. Soon, you find yourself without four walls to call home.
  Many of our veterans transition back into civilian life without 
problems. For many others, it simply takes more time. But for some 
veterans, that transition is painfully difficult. Sometimes, it never 
happens at all. Right now, more than 130,000 of our Nation's 24 million 
military veterans--brave Americans who answered the call to serve--are 
homeless on any given day. They are in their greatest hour of need, 
living on the streets without support or any hope for a better 
tomorrow.
  If every American living on the street is a tragedy, every veteran 
living on the street is a crime. Our veterans deserve better than that 
from the Nation they served. At the bare minimum, this country has a 
responsibility to provide its veterans with a place to lay their heads.
  Sadly, when it comes to this basic duty, we have not lived up to our 
ideals. Roughly, 200,000 American veterans experience homelessness at 
some time during the year. Veterans are twice as likely as other 
Americans to be homeless. This is a statistic that should outrage all 
of us.
  President Obama has set a goal of eliminating the homelessness of 
veterans in 5 years. I commend him for that. I commend the subcommittee 
for the legislation they have put together to provide funding for 
several VA homelessness programs--and I commend Senator Johnson for his 
leadership on this legislation--including $144 million for the Homeless 
Grant and Per Diem Program.
  My amendment, however, increases the funding in the bill by a modest 
$6 million, bringing it to the program's full authorization 
level. Senators Bond and Bingaman are joining in this effort as 
amendment cosponsors, and I thank them for their support.

  This amendment will provide additional funds to construct, renovate, 
and acquire buildings to be used as service centers or transitional 
housing for homeless veterans. These grants are critical to 
organizations working to provide shelter to our homeless veterans. In 
my home State of New Mexico, six organizations in Albuquerque, Gallup, 
Las Cruces, and Las Vegas, have received these funds over the past 8 
years. They will tell you firsthand how critical this funding is to our 
veterans and to our country.
  While I know this funding is not an end-all, be-all solution to 
veteran homelessness, it is a good start.
  I received a letter from a 15-year-old Boy Scout from Albuquerque a 
bit ago. His father and grandfather are veterans, and he is planning to 
follow in their footsteps and join the military himself when he is old 
enough. This young man wrote to say how angry he is that we are not 
doing enough to help our homeless veterans. Here is what he said in his 
letter that he wrote me:

       These men and women are doing what they were called to do 
     by our government . . . but then they come back and are 
     treated so poorly by everyone . . . We, as a nation, need to 
     do more to help our veterans.

  As long as America faces threats and values freedom, we will need men 
and women to protect us. And as long as men and women serve in uniform, 
we all have a sacred responsibility to support them.
  To the smart young man who wrote me that letter and to all America's 
veterans, this bill and this amendment builds on efforts to meet our 
country's moral obligations to the men and women who so bravely served 
our country. I urge my colleagues to support passage of both.

[[Page S11241]]

  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, this is an excellent amendment. I thank 
the Senator for offering it. I will accept this amendment at the 
appropriate time.
  Mr. UDALL of New Mexico. Mr. President, if the Senator will yield for 
a comment, I, once again, thank Senator Johnson. I know when he looks 
at these veterans issues and deals with them, he has the utmost 
respect. I believe he has a son who has served. He brings a compassion 
to these veterans issues that shows in this legislation we have on the 
floor today.
  I hope all of my colleagues will review the legislation and see that 
the Senator from South Dakota put a lot of hard work in and his staff 
has put a lot of hard work in. I once again appreciate him and his 
staff for working with me on this amendment. I look forward to working 
with him to see that it is accepted.
  Mr. JOHNSON. I thank the Senator from New Mexico.
  Mr. INOUYE. Mr. President, I submit pursuant to Senate rules a 
report, and I ask unanimous consent that it be printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

         Disclosure of Congressionally Directed Spending Items

       I certify that the information required by rule XLIV of the 
     Standing Rules of the Senate related to congressionally 
     directed spending items has been identified in the committee 
     report which accompanies S. 1407 and that the required 
     information has been available on a publicly accessible 
     congressional website at least 48 hours before a vote on the 
     pending bill.

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                      Too Big To Fail Legislation

  Mr. SANDERS. Mr. President, as a result of the greed, the 
recklessness, and the illegal behavior of a handful of executives on 
Wall Street, we are in the midst of the worst economic crisis since the 
Great Depression. Millions of Americans from one end of this country to 
the other have lost their jobs, they have lost their homes, they have 
lost their savings, they have lost their ability to send their kids to 
college, and they have lost their hope. In fact, just this morning, we 
have learned that the official unemployment rate is now a staggering 
10.2 percent--the highest in over 26 years.
  Since the recession began in December of 2007, 8.2 million Americans 
have lost their jobs and the unemployment rate has more than doubled. 
In total, today 15.7 million Americans are officially unemployed; 
another 9.3 million are working part time--they want to work 40 hours a 
week, but they are only working part time; and 2.2 million workers have 
given up looking for work altogether. When you add those three factors 
together--official unemployment, people who have given up looking for 
work, and people working part time who want to work full time--what you 
are left with is an incredible 17.5 percent of the American workforce 
unemployed or underemployed--27 million Americans. And when we go out 
and we find that people are angry or hurt or depressed, that is one of 
the reasons.
  Over a year has gone by since Congress--against my vote--passed the 
$700 billion bailout for Wall Street. The Federal Reserve has committed 
trillions of additional dollars in virtually zero-interest loans and 
other assistance to large financial institutions. Add it all together, 
and you are looking at the largest taxpayer bailout in the history of 
the world.
  Then-President Bush, Secretary of the Treasury Paulson, and Fed 
Chairman Ben Bernanke told us at that time that we needed to bail out 
Wall Street because we could not allow these huge financial 
institutions and insurance companies to fail because if they failed, 
their failure would be systemic and would impact every aspect of our 
economy and would take down large segments not only of financial 
services but the entire economy as well. We all remember: This is not a 
bailout of Wall Street, this is a bailout to help Main Street.
  One might think, if these institutions were ``too big to fail,'' one 
kind of obvious solution--and you don't need a Ph.D. in economics to 
figure this out--is that you might want to make them smaller. If they 
are too big to fail, maybe you would want to reduce their size. Yet, 
under the leadership of the Bush administration and Fed Chairman Ben 
Bernanke, these financial institutions did not get smaller, they got 
bigger.
  Last year, Bank of America, the largest commercial bank in this 
country, which received a $45 billion taxpayer bailout, purchased 
Countrywide, the largest mortgage lender in this country, and Merrill 
Lynch, the largest brokerage firm in this country. You don't become 
smaller when you incorporate other large institutions into your 
existence.
  Last year, JPMorgan Chase, which received a $25 billion bailout from 
the Treasury Department and a $29 billion bridge loan from the Fed, 
acquired Bear Stearns and Washington Mutual, the largest savings and 
loan in the country.
  Last year, the Treasury Department provided an $18 billion tax break 
to Wells Fargo to purchase Wachovia, allowing that bank to control 11 
percent of all bank deposits in this country.
  Today, these huge financial institutions have become so big that, 
according to the Washington Post, the four largest banks in America--
and I want people to hear this--Bank of America, Wells Fargo, JPMorgan 
Chase, and Citigroup, now issue one of every two mortgages. Got that? 
The largest four financial institutions issue half of the mortgages in 
America. They issue two out of three credit cards and hold $4 out of 
every $10 in bank deposits in the entire country.
  The face value of over-the-counter derivatives at commercial banks 
has grown to $290 trillion, 95 percent of which are held at just five 
financial institutions in the entire country--JPMorgan Chase, Bank of 
America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Morgan Stanley. Derivatives are 
nothing more than side bets by Wall Street gamblers that oil prices 
will go up or down or that the subprime mortgage market will continue 
to get worse or on the weather or whatever can make them a quick buck. 
Risky derivative schemes led to the $182 billion bailout of AIG, the 
collapse of Lehman Brothers, the downfall of Bear Stearns, and 
precipitated the largest bailout in the history of the world.
  If any of these financial institutions were to get into major trouble 
again--and, frankly, there is no reason to believe that will not happen 
because they are spending millions of dollars trying to influence 
Congress to prevent any action to stop them from going back to the way 
they were before the collapse--we would be in line for a bailout that 
would be even larger than the bailout that took place over a year ago. 
Obviously, we cannot allow that to happen.
  Not only are too-big-to-fail financial institutions bad for 
taxpayers, the enormous concentration of ownership in the financial 
sector has led to higher bank fees, usurious interest rates on credit 
cards, and fewer choices for consumers.
  Mr. President, I am sure you have gotten the same calls I have gotten 
from people who say: You know, I pay my credit card bills on time every 
single month, and suddenly they raise my interest rates to 29 percent, 
to 30 percent. And one of the reasons these guys can get away with 
doing that is there is not a heck of a lot of competition out there. 
One out of four American families, as a result of this greed, this 
usury, is now paying an interest rate of at least 20 percent on their 
credit cards. That is another issue that, obviously, we have to deal 
with.
  According to BusinessWeek:

       Bank of America sent letters notifying some responsible 
     cardholders that it would more than double their rates to as 
     high as 28 percent.

  These are people who pay their bills on time.
  According to a recent study by the Pew Charitable Trusts, credit card 
interest rates went up by an average of 20 percent in the first 6 
months of this year, even as banks' cost of lending declined. In other 
words, as banks get bigger, consumers are having to pay twice--once to 
bail out these institutions when they screw up altogether and a second 
time to pay higher fees and interest rates.

[[Page S11242]]

  The time has come for us to do exactly what Teddy Roosevelt, a good 
Republican, did in the early 1900s; the time is now to do what I think 
most Americans understand we have to do; that is, break up these huge 
financial institutions.
  Yesterday, I introduced S. 2746, the Too Big To Fail, Too Big To 
Exist Act, which would do just that, and that is the bottom line. The 
bottom line here is that if a financial institution is too big to fail, 
that financial institution is too big to exist, and we have to start 
breaking them up.
  This legislation is all of two pages. So when people ask you if you 
have read it, unlike the 1,900-page health care legislation, you can 
say with all confidence that you have read it, because it is all of two 
pages. What it says is, first, that the Secretary of the Treasury has 
to identify every single financial institution and insurance company in 
this country that is too big to fail within 90 days. In other words, 
what are the institutions that if they fail would cause widespread 
economic harm to the country? The Secretary of the Treasury does that 
within 90 days. After 1 year, the Secretary of the Treasury would be 
required to break up these institutions so that their failure would not 
lead to the collapse of the U.S. or global economy.
  There is growing support in our country and around the world for 
breaking up too-big-to-fail financial institutions. Let me give you a 
few important examples of that growing sentiment all over the world.
  It was reported in the Washington Post and major media all over the 
world that the British Government, in fact, is moving in that 
direction. Let me quote from the Washington Post:

       The British Government will break up parts of major 
     financial institutions bailed out by taxpayers. Spurred on by 
     European regulators, the British Government is forcing the 
     Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group and Northern 
     Rock to sell off parts of their operations. The Europeans are 
     calling for more and smaller banks to increase competition 
     and eliminate the threat posed by banks so large that they 
     must be rescued by taxpayers, no matter how they conducted 
     their business, in order to avoid damaging the global 
     financial system.

  That is about it. Ain't more complicated than that. Let's break them 
up before they again lead this world to a major financial crisis. Let's 
break them up before they require hundreds and hundreds of billions of 
dollars in bailout. And in my view, it is a positive thing that the 
Government of the UK is moving in that direction.
  But it is not just the Government of UK. On October 15, 2009, 
Bloomberg News reported that former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan 
Greenspan--perhaps more than any other individual, the person most 
responsible for the deregulatory efforts which led us to where we are 
today--said this. This is what Greenspan said on October 15, 2009:

       If they're too big to fail, they're too big. In 1911, we 
     broke up Standard Oil--so what happened? The individual parts 
     became more valuable than the whole.

  Former Fed Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker, the head of President 
Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board, said:

       Keep banks small so that any failure won't have systematic 
     importance . . . People say I'm old-fashioned and banks can 
     no longer be separated from nonbank activity. That argument 
     brought us to where we are today.

  That is former Fed Chairman Paul Volcker.
  Robert Reich, President Clinton's former Labor Secretary, said:

       No important public interest is served by allowing giant 
     banks to grow too big to fail . . . Wall Street giants should 
     be split-up--and soon.

  Sheila Bair, the head of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, 
has said:

       We need to reduce our reliance on large financial 
     institutions and put an end to the idea that certain banks 
     are too big to fail.

  On and on, people all over our country, conservatives, progressives, 
are making that point.
  Let me conclude by saying this. As Members of the Senate, Members of 
Congress, we are besieged every day by enormously powerful and wealthy 
special interests. The health insurance industry is spending over $1 
million a day on lobbying, huge amounts of campaign contributions. The 
drug companies, the military defense contractors, you name it, they are 
all outside the door, fighting to make sure that their special 
interests are getting more and more. But at the top of that list of 
powerful special interests certainly are the large financial interests. 
Over a 10-year period they spent over $5 billion in lobbying and 
campaign contributions in order to make sure that Congress deregulated 
their activities so they could merge, so they could engage in reckless 
financial speculation.
  They won and the American people have lost, and the American people 
are paying that price today. The time is now for us to say enough is 
enough, for us to do what I think the vast majority of the American 
people want us to do and that is, if an institution is too big to fail, 
it is too big to exist.
  Let's start breaking them up for two basic reasons. No. 1, I don't 
want to see a huge bailout having to take place again, hundreds and 
hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money going to these guys. 
No. 2, it is unhealthy for the economy when so few people have such a 
concentration of ownership in terms of credit cards, in terms of 
mortgages, in terms of other financial transactions. The small business 
community and middle business community desperately need credit and 
they are not getting credit. You have people on there who are 
controlling a whole lot of our financial system.
  Now is the time to do what Teddy Roosevelt did well over 100 years 
ago, and that is to stand up to these guys. For the well-being of the 
economy and for the American people, let's break them up.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota.
  Mr. JOHNSON. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the 
quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                       Rural Veterans Health Care

  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I rise to join with the chairman of the 
Veterans' Affairs Committee to urge passage of S. 1963. This bill 
contains the Rural Veterans Healthcare Improvement Act, a bipartisan 
measure that will make countless improvements in the VA for veterans in 
most of the rural places in this country. This bill locks in the 
mileage reimbursement rate for disabled veterans who have to travel 
long distances to get to a VA clinic. It also gives greater authority 
to develop new strategies to address the mental health needs of OIF and 
OEF veterans in highly rural areas where access to health care is an 
enormous challenge.
  I am also pleased the bill authorized hiring of health care 
coordinators at a local level, to prioritize the needs of our country's 
184,000 American Indian veterans. Most of these veterans are located in 
only a few States. The bill gets folks who understand the unique needs 
of tribal veterans to the areas that need them the most. I am honored 
we were able to get strong support across the veterans community for 
this bill and I think it will help a lot of rural veterans if we get 
this bill passed.
  When someone puts their life on the line to defend this country, they 
have earned health care, education benefits, and disability benefits if 
needed. America's responsibility to honor the promise of our veterans 
should not depend on whether the veteran lives in an urban area, but 
too often that is still the case. This bill helps to address some of 
the inequalities facing rural veterans.
  This bill was approved unanimously by the VA Committee just before 
Memorial Day. It is now almost Veterans Day. We can do better by folks 
who served our country and settled down in rural America. Let's not 
stand in the way for better VA services for rural veterans.
  I understand there has been a hold put on this bill. Our veterans are 
too important for politics. The fact of the matter is, our veterans are 
folks who, as I said in my comments, have served this country so very 
well. We need to

[[Page S11243]]

step to the plate and serve them in the same way they served us--live 
up to our promises, live up to our obligations to the veterans of this 
country.
  I encourage the Senate to pass this bill very soon. Hopefully, we can 
get it done before Veterans Day.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee is 
recognized.
  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I rise to speak as in morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           Health Care Reform

  Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I will be very brief. I know there are 
very few Senators still here in the Capitol. Most people, as they 
should, have gone home to meet with constituents, something I will do a 
little later this afternoon. I realize there may be very few staff 
members who may be listening. I realize the other body is in session 
and may possibly take up the health care bill that all of us have been 
talking about for some time here on the floor.
  I want to make a point I made a few days ago one more time. Early 
this week I woke up early in the morning and was thinking about the 
health care legislation that is before this body--or will be before 
this body very soon. It has been the focus of the country, if you will, 
over the last several months. I thought about the provisions that are 
the base building blocks in this legislation. You have a piece of 
legislation that is taking Medicare savings, $400 to $500 billion, and 
using those ``savings'' to leverage a whole new entitlement, not using 
those ``savings'' to take Medicare and make it more solvent or to deal 
with the SGR issue so many physicians around this country are concerned 
about.
  I thought about the fact that not long ago, a couple of years ago--
and probably, Mr. President, even when you were doing the same thing I 
was doing and that is seeking this office--so many people were 
concerned about the unfunded liabilities we had in Medicare and Social 
Security. There seemed to be a bipartisan move to want to solve that 
problem for the long haul so we knew that those particular entities 
would be dealt with in an appropriate way. Here we have a bill that is 
taking $400 billion to $500 billion in savings, depending on which 
draft, whether it is the House or the Senate, and instead of making 
Medicare more solvent--it has $38 trillion in unfunded liabilities--we 
in this body are using those savings to leverage a whole new program.

  Second, we are using Medicaid and basically creating huge unfunded 
mandates for our States. I think all of us know that. In my own State 
we have a Democratic Governor who wants to see health care reform 
occur, as I do, but he is very concerned, in a State that expects 
revenues to be at 2008 levels in 2013, that all of a sudden he has this 
unfunded mandate.
  Third, this bill, as we know, is going to raise insurance rates 
because of some of the provisions wherein insurance companies have to 
take all comers but everyone doesn't have to bill health insurance. In 
my own State, it is a 60-percent increase projected in 5 years by an 
independent group. This is not something the insurance companies 
directly put together; an audit was put together to look at this.
  If I had drafted this bill, Bob Corker from Tennessee, a Republican, 
if any of the people on this side of the aisle had drafted this bill, 
there would not be one single Democratic vote for this bill if you look 
at those components which are the basic building blocks of this bill. 
This week, as I have come up here to vote, I have talked to numbers of 
my friends, like you, Mr. President. You are one of the specific ones. 
I don't want to throw you in this category, but you are my friend. I 
have numbers of friends on the other side of the aisle where I seek to 
find common ground and we cosponsor legislation together. You and I are 
working on something right now.
  As I rode the elevator up yesterday to the vote we had last night, I 
talked to some numbers of my friends on the other side of the aisle, 
both on the elevator, walking here, but on this floor.
  And I said: You know, guys, if I had offered this bill, or any 
Republican had offered this bill that we are getting ready to debate on 
the Senate floor, there would not be a single Democratic vote for it.
  That is not because of partisanship, by the way; it is because of 
what is in the bill itself. Almost to a person, there were a few who 
said they agreed.
  They said: You are right. If Republicans offered a bill that is at 
$400 to $500 billion of Medicare savings and did not apply it to making 
Medicare more solvent but took that to leverage a whole new program, 
there would not be a single Democratic vote for that bill.
  So I understand. We had a President of our party during the first 2 
years I was here. I understand what happens when you are going to ``do 
one for the Gipper,'' if you will. You are going to ``do one for the 
President'' who needs this. But this is a very important piece of 
legislation. I do not understand--I really do not--on something that is 
going to be hard to undo, why so many of my colleagues on the other 
side of the aisle are supporting a piece of legislation that if they 
were left to their own accord and in a vacuum--did not have the 
President, did not have the majority leader, did not have the Speaker 
of the House pushing this legislation--if it was just presented to them 
if they were at a townhall meeting, they had never heard of this 
legislation before, and somebody said: Would you support a bill that 
does this, I do not think there would be a person on the other side of 
the aisle who would support this legislation.
  So as we move into this weekend--and I know this body is not going to 
take it up. I know the House is. I hope there are a few House Members 
listening. I hope people will think about this and step back away from 
it.
  I am one of those Republicans who wants to see responsible health 
care reform. I want to see us lower the costs of this delivery system, 
which this bill candidly does not do. I want to see more Americans have 
access--if not all--to affordable, quality health care.
  This bill, we all know, takes us in a direction, there is no 
question, that is not the right direction. I hope that together we will 
figure out a way to address health care reform in a way that will stand 
the test of time.
  This bill will not do that, and I know I have already talked to many 
of the people I mentioned yesterday who said: We realize we are going 
to create lots of problems. They are going to have to be dealt with 
down the road, but we cannot vote against this piece of legislation 
today.
  I hope the body will rise to the occasion. I hope the body will put 
aside a piece of legislation that I do not think anybody feels great 
about. I hope we will come together and do something that is in the 
best interests of our country.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Hawaii is 
recognized.
  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed as in 
morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                       rural veterans health care

  Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to discuss 
an important veterans' bill. Before I do so, I wish to express my great 
sadness about the horrible tragedy yesterday at Fort Hood. My thoughts 
and prayers are with those wounded, the families of those killed, and 
to all the soldiers and civilians defending our great nation at Fort 
Hood.
  As chairman of the Senate Committee on Veterans' Affairs, I take my 
responsibility to the Nation's veterans very seriously. We are an 
active committee and are working hard to make improvements in VA care 
and benefits.
  I am delighted to note that the President signed the Veterans Health 
Care Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009 into law last month. 
This measure will provide timely and predictable funding for the 
veterans health care system. I am grateful to all who worked on this, 
including the committee's ranking member, and the Veterans Service 
Organizations, that made this one of their priorities.
  Despite this success, we, as a committee, have not been able to 
achieve action on S. 1963, the proposed Caregiver and Veterans Health 
Services Act of 2009. This vitally important veterans' health bill is 
being held up by a single Senator. Each day that this measure is 
delayed, means that vital benefits for veterans are delayed.

[[Page S11244]]

  This is a bipartisan bill, the provisions of which were reported by 
the committee as S. 801 and S. 252, with the full support of our 
ranking member, Senator Burr.
  This bill is supported by many veterans' organizations, including the 
American Legion, the Veterans of Foreign Wars, the Disabled American 
Veterans, the Paralyzed Veterans of America, and the Wounded Warrior 
Project.
  Various other advocates support this bill, as well, including the 
Nurses Organization of Veterans Affairs, the Brain Injury Association 
of America, the American Academy of Ophthalmology, the American 
Association of Colleges of Nursing, and many others.
  By blocking S. 1963, this single senator is denying veterans many 
benefits and services.
  One of the key benefits is caregiver assistance for our most 
seriously wounded veterans.
  The committee continues to hear about family members who quit their 
jobs, go through their savings, and lose their health insurance, as 
they stay home to care for their wounded family members.
  For those family members who manage to keep their jobs, their 
employers, including many small businesses already struggling in these 
economic times, lose money from absenteeism and declining productivity.
  The toll on the caregivers, who try to do it all, can be measured in 
higher rates of depression, and poor health as they struggle to care 
for these wounded warriors, an obligation that ultimately belongs to 
the government.
  This legislation fulfills VA's obligation to care for the nation's 
wounded veterans, by providing their caregivers with counseling, 
support, and a living stipend.
  The measure also provides health care to the family caregivers of 
injured veterans. These caregivers deserve our support and assistance.
  As a representative of the Wounded Warrior project said in testimony 
before the committee, ``The time has surely come to create a robust, 
nationwide wounded warrior family caregiver program to address the 
urgent needs of these family members.'' S. 1963 creates such a program.
  By blocking S. 1963, this Senator is also blocking benefits 
specifically for women veterans. This bill, and Senator Murray has been 
a leader on this, would do a number of things, such as increase funding 
for mental health care for women who suffered military sexual trauma, 
and for medical services for newborn children.
  With the help of Senator Tester, this bill also would improve access 
to care in rural areas. States which have an especially high number of 
veterans living in rural areas, such as Montana, Nevada, Wyoming, 
Florida, Arizona, Arkansas, Virginia, Idaho, Oklahoma, and New Mexico, 
would benefit greatly from these programs.
  The bill also attacks another problem, that of homeless veterans.
  On any given night we know that more than 130,000 veterans are 
homeless.
  We know that homelessness is often a consequence of multiple factors, 
including unstable family supports, job loss, and health problems.
  S. 1963 would also create programs to help ease the burden of veteran 
homelessness, including programs aimed at outreach so that veterans 
know that they are eligble for benefits.
  This lone Senator also is blocking provisions that would improve 
quality controls for VA health care, from the facility level to the 
national level.
  Two years ago, the VA hospital in Marion, IL, hadnine veterans die 
following surgery.
  The VA's inspector general found that the Marion VA's quality 
controls were not adequate to ensure that veterans received good 
quality care.
  This month, the IG published another report on the Marion hospital, 
finding that it still did not have adequate quality controls. It is 
time for this body to act, so that no more veterans receive less than 
the best care VA can provide.
  Senator Durbin drafted provisions in this bill that will help improve 
overall quality management so as to help fix the problems at Marion and 
other facilities.
  S. 1963 would provide uniform allowances for VA police officers. Many 
organizations have expressed support for these provisions, including 
the Fraternal Order of Police.
  VA police officers ensure the security of veterans and their families 
while they are visiting VA hospitals and clinics.
  To refuse to provide for these officers because it is too expensive 
is not only penny-wise and pound-foolish, it cheapens the sacrifices of 
these uniformed officers and the Nation's veterans who are protected by 
them.
  While I understand that the Senator who is refusing to agree to allow 
this bill to go forward questions the cost of the underlying bill, I 
would say that we cannot now turn our back on the obligation to care 
for those who fought in those efforts.
  When we, as a body, vote to send American troops to war, we are 
promising to care for them when they return.
  I firmly believe the cost of veterans' benefits and services is a 
true cost of war and must be treated as such.
  We are preparing to observe Veterans Day.
  Let us remember that we owe our veterans our gratitude and 
appreciation year round, and not merely on the day set aside for the 
commemoration of their service and sacrifice.
  It would be truly disgraceful if veterans were made to feel forgotten 
except for this 1 day per year.
  Indeed, our gratitude should be as steadfast as the great monuments 
that Americans have built in commemoration of the very service and 
sacrifices our veterans made.
  There should be no ambivalence in our attitude toward those who serve 
in the U.S. Armed Forces.
  And this legislation should be immediately cleared by the Senate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alaska.
  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. BEGICH. Mr. President, I rise in support of S. 1963, the 
Caregiver and Veterans Omnibus Health Services Act of 2009. I thank the 
chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, Senator Akaka, for his 
leadership on this bill and in committee.
  S. 1963 is comprehensive legislation that addresses many of the needs 
of our veterans, our Nation's heroes. Provisions are included to 
improve veterans health care, provide benefits for caregivers of 
wounded veterans, enhance outreach to homeless veterans, and expand 
health care for female veterans. The bill also provides for VA 
personnel improvement and quality management. Rural veterans, such as 
those in my State who face challenges accessing health care every day, 
will benefit from this bill. It expands telemedicine programs and 
provides the Department of Veterans Affairs authority to recruit and 
retain high-quality health professionals in rural communities. The bill 
also improves mental health care. Eligibility to receive readjustment 
counseling for Iraq and Afghanistan vets, including the National Guard 
and reservists, will increase.
  So many issues facing our veterans today are addressed in S. 1963. 
Passage of this legislation and its enactment into law will improve and 
increase services for veterans and acknowledge the sacrifice of their 
caregivers.
  Yet even as Veterans Day approaches, a Member of the Senate has 
placed a hold on this bill, denying better services for our veterans. I 
cannot imagine why this hold has been placed on this legislation. How 
can a Member of the Senate deny our veterans better care? How can my 
Senate colleague justify his hold on a bill that helps homeless and 
wounded veterans? How can my colleague deny veteran caregivers deserved 
relief and support? There is no excuse for not supporting our veterans 
and their caregivers. They have earned better than what we have 
provided to date. This bill gives us an opportunity to provide for 
veterans and to honor their sacrifices. This bill, on which my 
colleague has placed a hold, will eliminate copayments for veterans who 
are catastrophically disabled and allow the VA to reimburse these 
veterans for emergency care at non-VA facilities. How can my colleague 
deny disabled veterans easier and less costly medical care? Veterans 
have paid their dues, and it is our turn, our duty, and our obligation 
to take care of them.
  I am disappointed my Senate colleague does not share this same sense

[[Page S11245]]

of duty and responsibility to our Nation's heroes who have sacrificed 
so much for our very right to stand in this body and debate this 
matter. There is no good reason or rationale for a hold to be placed on 
this legislation.
  I call on my colleague to remove this hold and ask my colleague to 
remember, as Veterans Day approaches, that those who have served this 
country deserve better. They have earned it. It is my obligation and 
his obligation to support our veterans and to always remember the 
sacrifice they have made.
  Senator Coburn, let the Senate proceed with recognizing and providing 
for our Nation's veterans by removing your hold on S. 1963.
  Again, I thank Chairman Akaka for his unwavering support and advocacy 
for our veterans.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                      Tragedy at Fort Hood, Texas

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I come to the floor today, as so many of my 
colleagues have, to reflect on the extraordinary tragedy that took 
place at Fort Hood, TX, yesterday. It is almost inconceivable such an 
event could take place.
  As we sort through the motives and the rationale, which may take 
weeks, I think we, obviously, have to extend our deepest, sincerest 
condolences to the families of these men and women. They were there 
because they wanted to serve their country. They were there because 
they were willing to risk their lives in service to this Nation.
  Tragically and inexplicably, it happened on a post in the United 
States not in a faraway land. I think this is a moment where we all 
have to stop, not only to extend our warmest condolences to the 
families, but also to reflect on the service and sacrifice of all the 
troops. Their continued willingness to serve and expose themselves to 
risk, to leave their families behind--all of this creates the pressure, 
the tension, the burden of soldiering in this moment in our history. We 
owe them more than we can repay them.
  At this moment, I express my deepest condolences to the families and 
also to those soldiers who came to the aid of their comrades, who 
exposed themselves in a dangerous manner to try to get people to 
safety, to try to provide first aid to the wounded. They continue to be 
our heroes, and they always will be.
  Mr. President, I would now like to speak on the military construction 
bill before us. I want to commend, obviously, my colleagues, Senator 
Johnson and Senator Hutchison, for their great work. I had the 
privilege for a short time to serve as the acting chairman of the 
subcommittee and worked very closely with both Senator Johnson, our 
chairman, and Senator Hutchison, the ranking member. They are both very 
committed and dedicated colleagues, and they have done a remarkable 
job.
  This bill provides $134 billion for military construction, military 
family housing, and veterans affairs programs, an increase of 
approximately $429 million over the President's request.
  This bill provides a total of $109 billion for the VA and increases 
funding for medical care by $4.2 billion over last year's funding.
  For the first time, the bill includes advance appropriations for the 
VA's medical programs to ensure a stable and uninterrupted funding 
stream.
  This bill also provides funding to combat homelessness among 
veterans. This is a priority of both Secretary Gates and Secretary 
Shinseki, and also Admiral Mullen, the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of 
Staff. This bill includes $3.2 billion for health care, support 
services, and housing assistance for homeless veterans.
  I hope, again, the Senate will act before Veterans Day to pass this 
measure. I think it would be a fitting tribute to our veterans, whom we 
honor in words, and I think we have the chance, early next week, to 
honor them in deeds.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that my following remarks be 
printed elsewhere in Morning Business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  (The remarks of Mr. Reed are printed in today's Record under 
``Morning Business.'')
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of 
a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________