[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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