[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 24 (Wednesday, February 24, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S736]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 1586

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 
proceed to Calendar No. 36, H.R. 1586, and that the Reid substitute 
amendment, which is at the desk, be considered read; that the 
Republican leader, or his designee, be recognized to offer a substitute 
amendment, and that there be 60 minutes for debate with respect to that 
amendment, with the time equally divided and controlled between the 
leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, 
and if a budget point of order is made against the amendment, a motion 
to waive the relevant point of order be considered made, and the Senate 
then vote on a motion to waive the point of order; that if the waiver 
is successful, the amendment be agreed to and the Reid substitute, as 
amended, be agreed to; that if the waiver fails, the amendment be 
withdrawn; further, that there be 30 minutes for debate with respect to 
the Reid substitute amendment, with the time equally divided and 
controlled between the leaders or their designees; that upon the use or 
yielding back of time, and if a budget point of order is made against 
the amendment, a motion to waive the relevant point of order be 
considered made, and the Senate then vote on the motion to waive the 
point of order; that if the waiver is successful, the Senate proceed to 
vote on adoption of the Reid substitute amendment; further, that no 
further amendments or debate be in order; that upon disposition of the 
Reid substitute amendment, the bill, as amended, be read the third 
time; and following the reading by the clerk of the budgetary effects 
of pay-go legislation with respect to H.R. 1586, the Senate proceed to 
vote on passage of the bill, as amended; that upon passage the title 
amendment, which is at the desk, be considered and agreed to.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as usual, prior to coming to call off the 
quorum, I had a visit with my friend from Kentucky, who is someone for 
whom I have the greatest respect. I am going to miss him so much, as I 
have said publicly and privately. In the days of my youth, I, of 
course, wanted to be the baseball player that he turned out to be. But 
that is another story. I didn't want to pitch. I wanted to be something 
else--a catcher or a shortstop.
  Mr. President, I regret that my friend has objected to this modest 
request. Earlier today, I was advised by the Republican leadership that 
they needed to have an amendment to be offered on this bill. As noted 
above, we agreed to that request. The items that we are proposing to 
extend in my substitute amendment include unemployment insurance, 
COBRA, flood insurance, highway funding, small business loans, and 
small business provisions of the American Recovery Act, the Satellite 
Home View Act, SGR--the so-called doctor fix--and poverty guidelines. 
All of these provisions will expire on Sunday, February 28. That is 
this coming Sunday.
  Agencies have been already sending out notices to unemployed 
workers--agencies such as a number of transportation departments around 
the country have sent out notices that their work had come to a stop, 
so they would not be getting benefits.
  It is critical that these programs continue so that Americans who are 
already struggling can continue to get this modest relief. Therefore, I 
regret the objection of my friend from Kentucky. I hope we can work 
through this objection and continue these important programs.
  Mr. President, we have been told by the Congressional Budget Office 
that the No. 1 stimulative to our struggling economy is to give people 
who are out of work, and have been out of work for a long time, 
unemployment benefits. That money goes right into the economy--whether 
it is in Anchorage, Las Vegas, or Louisville.
  COBRA--there are people who are losing their jobs and they need the 
ability to buy insurance. Statutorily now they can do that, but this is 
going to expire. Highway funding--I have already talked about that. It 
is just a real shame, and I am sorry that we can't get this done by 
February 28. But we can't. This month would give us the time we need to 
complete our work.
  As far as unemployment benefits, notices have already gone out to 
thousands of Americans that their benefits are going to be terminated--
these unemployed workers. They are already crushed with all the 
problems they have, and now they are not going to have unemployment 
benefits. That is simply not right.
  I say to my friend again, I regret that we weren't able to work this 
out today. I hope there is something we can do to work through this 
objection. We need to continue these important programs.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Kentucky is recognized.
  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 36, H.R. 1586; 
that the amendment at the desk, which is the text of the Reid 
substitute, with an offset, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read 
the third time and passed; and the motion to reconsider be laid on the 
table.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, with the 
provisions that we are seeking to be extended, there are some of them 
that cost money.
  They all cost a little bit, but there are three items here that cost 
more than any of the others; that is, unemployment compensation, COBRA, 
and the SGR. If there were ever an emergency--ever--in this body, 
certainly it would be unemployment compensation and COBRA moneys.
  I came to the floor earlier this year--it could have been late last 
year; time flies--to try to get a permanent fix, as we call it, for the 
SGR for 10 years. That did not get enough votes. That is unfortunate. 
And this is really unfortunate. This SGR, the Medicare payments that 
will be allowed to doctors, is for more than doctors; it is for doctors 
who will take Medicare patients. Many doctors in America today will not 
take Medicare patients. If we do not get this extended, a lot more will 
not take Medicare patients.
  Our Medicaid programs throughout America are in deep trouble. I met 
Monday with 12 Governors. Everyone said they were in desperate shape 
for a lot of reasons, but one of the reasons is what has happened to 
Medicaid. Not only is it important to the doctors--and that is 
important--it is more important to the patients, and many programs to 
reimburse medical professionals--doctors--are based on what we have for 
Medicare reimbursement. If we do not get Medicare reimbursement, it is 
a cyclical thing that winds up tearing down the whole system.
  I say to my friend that I hope someone can come up with an idea 
during the night that would allow us to get this done. We are going to 
take up this bill, all these items permanently next week or at least 
most of it is for a year or so. That will give us time to complete all 
this business. Even though we passed the so-called jobs bill which 
extended the highway bill for a year, the House cannot get it done that 
quickly. They can move more quickly than we can, but they cannot move 
that quickly.
  Again, I hope we can work something out in the next 12 hours or so. 
Therefore, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Kentucky.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I was going to propound a unanimous consent 
request.
  Mr. BUNNING. Go ahead.

                          ____________________