[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 2, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S901-S904]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   UNEMPLOYMENT AND COBRA EXTENSIONS

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, right now, families across my home 
State and the entire country want nothing more than to see us come 
together and pass meaningful help for the people they see struggling 
every day. They want to see help for people such as their neighbors and 
friends and family members who, through no fault of their own, have 
found themselves out of a job and who, despite their best efforts, are 
unable to find one today. They want help for the seniors in their 
communities who are being turned away from doctors because of 
devastating cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates, or all those who are 
struggling to afford health care because they lost a job and are now 
facing the impossible task of affording care on their own.
  Americans understand that during these difficult times people need 
help to make ends meet. They understand there needs to be a lifeline 
for people who never thought they would need assistance from the 
government but who now have nowhere else to turn. But what Americans 
and those in my home State of Washington do not understand is why 
Washington, DC, cannot seem to deliver; why, when they make hard 
choices every day in their own lives to support their families and help 
those in need, Washington, DC, cannot do the same; why, at a time when 
needs have never been greater, the only words they hear out of 
Washington, DC, are ``gridlock,'' ``stalemate,'' and ``standstill.''
  Today we have a clear-cut example to show the American people what is 
wrong with Washington, DC; that is because today one single Republican 
Senator is standing in the way of the unemployment benefits of 400,000 
Americans. One single Republican Senator is blocking an extension of 
COBRA benefits for 500,000 Americans. One single Republican Senator is 
forcing doctors to take a 21-percent cut in Medicare reimbursement 
rates that could force seniors to be turned away from the Medicare 
coverage on which they rely. One single Republican Senator is blocking 
an extension of critical highway funds that has construction workers 
and transportation employees at home today and that has cut critical 
payments to struggling States. One single Republican Senator has put 
posturing before people, politics before families, and point scoring 
before the needs of struggling Americans.
  The legislation we are trying so hard to pass is very 
straightforward. It is aimed at helping real families with real 
problems they face every day, and the consequences of it being blocked 
by one single Republican Senator are just as real.
  The bill we are trying to pass includes an extension of unemployment 
insurance that, by the way, in my home State hundreds of thousands of 
individuals rely on to buy groceries and to pay their mortgages and to 
help pay for school for their kids. For years, these benefits have been 
routinely extended in tough times. And times, by the way, have rarely 
been tougher than they are now. But today families in every single one 
of our States are sitting around their kitchen table trying to figure 
out how they are going to make it through the weeks and the months 
ahead without these payments.
  This package we are trying to pass also includes an extension of 
COBRA, health care for workers who lost their jobs through no fault of 
their own, and health care benefits that come with it. In my home 
State, thousands of unemployed workers have the ability to see a doctor 
solely because we have provided this important assistance. It is a 
provision that is critical because health care is often the single 
biggest cost that unemployed workers face. In fact, you should know on 
average a monthly health care premium payment to cover a family costs 
over $1,000, which represents about 80 percent of the average 
unemployment check.
  Another vital health care measure included in this bill we are trying 
to pass is a provision that would overturn a staggering 21-percent cut 
in payments to doctors who accept Medicare patients. Just yesterday my 
office heard from a doctor in a small community in my State, Poulsbo, 
WA, who is one of very few in the region who is taking new Medicare 
patients. He said he feared just what this cut would mean for him and 
his practice. He told my staff this cut would limit his ability to 
continue serving the needs of seniors in his area.

[[Page S902]]

  He is not alone. In Washington State that cut will affect over 60,000 
employees, 700,000 Medicare patients, and nearly 350,000 TRICARE 
patients.
  Finally, this bill also includes an extension of the Federal 
Transportation Funding Act, which is known as SAFETEA-LU. Allowing 
SAFETEA-LU to expire, which has now happened, not only hurts 
construction workers and contractors who are working on these major 
Federal highway projects in my State and across the country, it leaves 
our State governments bearing all the burden for the costs of these 
projects.
  In Washington State, a reimbursement payment of $13.5 million for 
federally sponsored projects that is due tomorrow--tomorrow--is now in 
limbo, again, all because of one single Republican Senator.
  Last October, I was out on this floor fighting for an extension of 
unemployment benefits, and I told the story of a woman from Seattle 
whose name is Kristina Cruz. At the time, Kristina had been unemployed 
for 20 months after spending over 10 years in human resources. Kristina 
had just written to my office and talked about going above and beyond 
in her job search, a skill, by the way, she picked up in her career in 
HR. Even with all her experience, interviews for her have been few and 
far between. Kristina talked about how she was not interested in living 
off the government long term and how, in the midst of this economic 
crisis, she did not have any other choice.
  Since I talked last October, Kristina has stayed in touch with my 
office, and, unfortunately, today she is still having a hard time 
getting back to work. She recently wrote an e-mail to my office and 
said:

       It's truly devastating to me that I've made choices in my 
     life like getting good grades in school and getting my 
     education, and building up professional experience only to 
     find that I'm unable to get a job.
       I thought I had made decisions to help ensure my success in 
     life, and many times, I barely had enough money for food.
       My family isn't rich and can't afford to support me. I 
     literally do not know what I'm going to do.

  Kristina went on to voice the frustration of so many about the 
needless holdups in getting this bill passed on providing assistance to 
struggling Americans. She said:

       I find it to be really egregious that we live in 
     a democratic society and yet a few misguided, outlying 
     voices, despite overwhelming bipartisan majority support, 
     can hold up and block a much needed unemployment 
     extension. It really flies in the face of all the things 
     I've learned about in my history books.
       I'm not sure how I can survive many weeks and weeks of 
     needless holdups when I have rent and bills to pay. Sometimes 
     I feel that if some of these Senators were forced to walk a 
     day in our shoes, then maybe they would have a sense of how 
     it is to try and survive in this economy.

  That opinion is not unique to my State, to one political party, or to 
an issue. Every evening, families across the country turn on the 
nightly news and hear another story about gridlock in our Nation's 
Capital. Oftentimes they have spent their days scanning through the 
classifieds, going to another job fair with long lines and few job 
opportunities, or working many times multiple jobs to meet their 
families' most basic needs. When they get home, they wonder just how we 
have spent ours.
  What they see is this entire Congress forced to spend time fighting 
with one Republican Senator; a Congress that is forced to jump through 
procedural hoops and endure endless delay tactics to get meaningful 
and, by the way, largely bipartisan legislation passed; the obstruction 
of a single Republican Senator who, by the way, voted to extend these 
same benefits in 2008 but who has now suddenly changed his mind.
  The entire Republican Party, except for a few who have been out here 
courageously, sit idly by as one of their members brings this entire 
body to a halt. The American people are sick of this, and the backlash 
to the blockage of this bill is evidence of that. It is time for all of 
us to stop and think. Think about Kristina and all the other Americans 
who sent us here to go to work for them; the people who will watch the 
news tonight and think: What about me? What about all of us?
  Kristina wrote to me again recently to say it seems as though 
government is broken. I know that sentiment is something we hear all 
the time now. But the truth is, it is only broken if we allow it to be. 
It is only broken if we allow stunts such as is happening now to rule 
the day. If we can come together and put an end to shortsighted 
political point scoring that says obstruction is good politics and 
partisanship trumps progress, then we can help struggling families.
  If we can join the way we did to pass the Children's Health Insurance 
Program or fair pay for women in the workplace, we can then restore the 
faith of the American people. Until we put an end to delays such as the 
one we face by one Republican Senator today, Americans are going to 
continue to have every right to be fed up.
  I come to the floor of the Senate today to ask the Senator from 
Kentucky to allow us to finally move forward with consent on this bill 
so that Americans can get access to the help they desperately need in 
these very tough economic times. This is critical. Families across our 
States are hurting, through no fault of their own, through an economic 
recession they did not make happen.
  We all want our country to get back on its feet. We all want to be 
strong again. We all want this lifeline for our families so that when 
our country begins running strong again, they can use the skills they 
have been holding in abeyance and go back to work; so they can get the 
health care they need for their children and their families until they 
can get that job and get moving again; so these construction projects 
across our country do not come to a slamming halt causing more 
Americans to sit at home without a paycheck, more Americans who cannot 
go to the store and buy things; so more stores start to fail because 
they do not have the income they need, and restaurants where people 
cannot go because they do not have a paycheck.
  We are asking that the Republican colleagues who worked with us on 
this bill come to the floor and urge one Republican Senator to work 
with us to get consent so we can move past this and get to the job we 
have come here to do: to get people back to work, to make sure families 
have health care, to make sure we do the business of this government in 
a way that works for American families.
  I yield the floor.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that it be 
equally divided.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam 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.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak using 
the majority time in morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, I take this time to first thank the 
Democratic leadership for bringing forward a bill that would extend 
unemployment insurance; COBRA protection, which allows the unemployed 
to get health insurance; to extend our highway program, and the 
reimbursement structure for our physicians under Medicare so our 
seniors can continue to receive the health care they need.
  We have a short-term extension that many of my colleagues have been 
talking about which would extend these programs so there would be no 
gap in the unemployment insurance protection Americans are currently 
receiving--or were receiving as of February 28--allowing them to 
continue getting the COBRA protections and to continue our highway 
programs. As has been pointed out, one Senator has exercised his right 
to object, which has caused major problems for this country, and I feel 
compelled to talk about this because there are real people being hurt 
by that decision.
  We need a short-term extension so we can continue the orderly 
process. It is the right thing to do. We all talk about jobs; that we 
need jobs. Each of us is committed to bringing up legislation that will 
create more job opportunities for Americans, and the bill that would be 
on the floor would help us in that effort by extending important tax 
provisions so businesses can invest in more

[[Page S903]]

jobs for Americans, extending unemployment insurance.
  Let me point out, for every dollar we spend in unemployment 
compensation, it brings back $1.90 to our economy. It is the best 
stimulus dollar you can put out there. It is immediate. This is an 
insurance program where employees and employers put money away during 
good times to pay for benefits during recessions and tough times and we 
are in a tough time. There are millions of Americans who can't find 
jobs, who are looking for jobs. Americans want to work but can't find 
work. Many have been looking for work for a long time--for over a year. 
Now, because of the objection of one Senator, the benefits that should 
be paid this week cannot be paid this week.
  In my own State of Maryland, 16,405 people were cut off as of Monday 
from their unemployment compensation. Each one of these individuals 
represents a family, and this insurance provides them the ability to 
feed their families, to keep their house out of foreclosure. This is 
wrong. They can't find work because there are not enough jobs out 
there, and we need to extend this unemployment compensation. I feel 
confident we will, but it is wrong for us to have this gap because of 
the objections of one Senator.
  This is hurting our economy. That money should be in our economy. The 
people who receive this unemployment insurance will use it to buy food, 
to make purchases that will help our economy. Those dollars are being 
lost because of the objection of one Senator.
  The same thing is true with the COBRA protection. COBRA protection 
says to a person who is unemployed or who has lost their job that we 
are going to help them maintain their insurance for their family. Now, 
because of the objections of the Senator, that help is no longer 
available to those who are unemployed. As of January, there were 6.3 
million Americans who had been unemployed for 6 months or longer. Think 
about that. How can you afford to pay your insurance premiums for 
health care if you have been unemployed for 6 months? That is why we 
passed COBRA protection, so those who had lost their jobs could 
maintain their health insurance for their families, keep them out of 
bankruptcy, and to make sure, if they had an emergency, their family 
could get the needed health care and that it is properly reimbursed.
  We all agree that should be done, and the underlying bill we will 
take up today would extend that throughout the year, which is what it 
should do. But in the meantime, that protection expired on Monday 
because of the objections of an individual Senator.
  There is the short-term extension of the highway program I wish to 
mention because 2,000 employees in the Department of Transportation got 
furlough notices because of our failure to extend that program. I can 
tell you what it means in my own State of Maryland. It halted work on 
Federal lands. We had a project--the Great Falls entrance road 
construction, a $3.1 million project in Montgomery County--that was 
stopped as a result of the failure to pass this short-term extension.
  I could talk about the situation in Medicare. CMS is doing everything 
they can to make sure the physicians--the 600,000 physicians who treat 
our seniors every day--will continue to participate in the Medicare 
system. But as of Monday, there was a 21.2-percent cut in physician 
reimbursement rates. That is unconscionable, unreasonable, and it will 
deny our seniors access to care.
  We need to do this in an orderly way. The overwhelming majority of 
the Members of Congress supports the extension the majority leader and 
the assistant majority leader have made repeatedly on the floor to 
allow for this short-term extension. We need to move forward with that 
and then let us come to the floor and debate the longer term 
extensions. I have a feeling, when that vote comes up on the floor of 
this body, you will see an overwhelming number of Members voting in 
favor of the extension of unemployment compensation and insurance 
protection for the unemployed because it is the right thing to do.
  It is the right thing to do as a nation in a recession. It is the 
right thing to do in order to strengthen our economy and create more 
job opportunities because that money is spent in our communities and it 
keeps and expands jobs. It must be part of our strategy in creating 
more job opportunities for Americans.
  I take the floor to encourage my colleague to withdraw his objection, 
let us move forward in a way that is in the interest of the American 
people and in the interest of our economy so we can continue to see the 
types of improvements for job opportunity in America. That should be 
our priority. It is not a partisan issue. It shouldn't be a partisan 
issue. We need to work together--Democrats and Republicans--and it 
starts by removing the objection and letting us get this short-term 
extension and then coming to the floor to debate the bill on the floor 
that will extend it through the end of the year, as we should. That is 
what we should be doing today to help the people in Maryland and the 
people around this Nation and to help our economy grow.
  With that, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Rhode Island is 
recognized.
  Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Madam President, I would like to echo the remarks of 
my very distinguished colleague from Maryland, who I know feels so 
passionately about this and whose own State will suffer dire individual 
consequences as the failure of unemployment insurance and COBRA and 
other things begin to hit home in the personal lives of the people in 
Maryland, the people in my home State of Rhode Island, and people 
across this country.
  With so many Americans struggling to pay their bills, why--why--did 
thousands of the worst off, including hundreds of Rhode Islanders, have 
to wake on Monday morning to find their unemployment benefits and COBRA 
subsidies had expired? Why are people being kicked out of these 
essential, humane, lifeline programs before the economic storm that put 
them in that predicament has passed? The answer is, we have failed to 
do what is right for the American public, in part, because one 
Republican has chosen this time of great despair for millions of 
Americans to make a political point--to make a political point about 
the deficit--by hurting hard-working Americans who are struggling to 
get by. It appears it is actually more than just one Republican. Others 
have come to the floor to support him.
  But on the home front, the cost is high. Many Rhode Islanders, 
through no fault of their own, struggle to find work. For many of them, 
unemployment insurance and COBRA are the lifeline for their ability to 
support their families, to keep food on the table, and to keep the 
family covered by health care. This is no abstract issue. It has had a 
serious impact in Rhode Island. We are a State of just over 1 million. 
In that State of just over 1 million people, there are 75,000 people, 
at least, unemployed and looking for work. These are hard-working 
people, many of whom have worked all their lives, but because of the 
recession they struggle to find work.
  Margaret from North Providence is 61 years old, and she is 6 months 
away from being eligible for Social Security. She is years from 
Medicare eligibility. She has now been unemployed for 18 months and her 
unemployment benefits are expiring. COBRA, for her, has run out as 
well, so her health care is at risk. She has never been in this 
situation before in her life and she is, quite understandably, scared 
of where our irresponsible action leaves her.
  Gretchen from Cranston is a laid-off teacher who was receiving COBRA 
benefits. That helps her pay for her health care. Because of a single 
Republican obstruction--apparently supported by others--her premiums 
have increased from roughly $500 a month to over $2,000 a month. She 
wrote to me saying:

       How horrifying that I should work hard all my life, paying 
     for my entire education, dedicate my career to helping 
     children in poverty and find that my own may be among them.

  Gretchen did not expect to be in poverty. She expected that her COBRA 
benefits would continue. But no, we have cut those off.
  Richard in Warren wrote to me asking for us to move quickly on COBRA. 
Richard's wife has cancer, so they have no choice but to pay for health 
care coverage. Since he lost his job, Richard has been paying $400 a 
month for their

[[Page S904]]

health insurance, but the cost has tripled--tripled--with the 
expiration of COBRA subsidies. Richard should be able to worry about 
his family, to be able to help his wife through her cancer treatment. 
He should not have to worry about the political games being played in 
Washington and the skyrocketing cost he is looking at. He and his wife 
should be focusing on her care and her treatment. But no, sadly, 
obstruction and political point-scoring now come first for some of our 
colleagues.
  Margaret, Gretchen, and Richard--and all those across the country who 
are facing similar situations--are wondering why they have to pay the 
price for Republicans to make this point about the deficit. Why them? 
When it was Halliburton's no-bid contracts in Iraq, for which money was 
borrowed to fund them, where was the concern about the deficit then? 
For Halliburton's no-bid contracts, the deficit is no problem, 
evidently. When it was Part D's colossal handout to the pharmaceutical 
industry--borrowed money--where was the concern then about the deficit? 
Not when it is the big interests.
  When it was the tax cuts for CEOs--big tax cuts for CEOs, for big 
bankers, for derivatives traders, for hedge fund managers--where then 
was the concern about the deficit when those tax cuts were passed 
unfunded?
  When the Bush administration inherited from the last Democratic 
President a balanced budget predicted to yield a zero national debt 
during the course of the Bush administration--a zero national debt 
during the course of the Bush administration--and instead the 
Republicans left us with $12 trillion in national debt, where then was 
the concern about the deficit?
  As one of my colleagues has said, this has been described as a point 
of principle. The way a principle is defined is that you always stand 
by it. If it is a sometime thing, it may be a lot of things; it may be 
an opinion, it may be a maneuver, it may even be an honestly held 
opinion, but it is not a principle if you only follow it selectively. 
If the only time you follow it is when struggling, working people are 
in the crosshairs. But when it is Haliburton's no-bid contracts, when 
it is tax cuts for CEOs and big bankers and fancy derivatives traders, 
and when it is the pharmaceutical industry, then it is all fine? That 
is not a principle. It may be a lot of things but it is no principle.
  I urge my colleagues to put politics aside, to do what is right, and 
to help the millions of Americans who are so badly in need of a little 
help through this economic downturn that was no fault of their own--
hard-working people, trapped in this recession through no fault of 
their own. I implore my Republican colleagues to start working 
constructively with us to end this unemployment crisis, to put people 
back to work, and to help those who are in such dire circumstances now 
through no fault of their own. That is what we are sent here to do and 
that is what I will keep fighting for.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Madam President, what is the parliamentary situation?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate is in a period of 
morning business.
  Mr. LEAHY. Has all time been used in morning business?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. No, it has not.

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