[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 28 (Tuesday, March 2, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S923-S924]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          UNEMPLOYMENT RELIEF

  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I come to the floor of the Senate to 
say to my colleague from Kentucky: Let the unemployment bill go. Let's 
free the unemployment compensation bill, the bill that will fund COBRA 
health insurance benefits and put people back to work building 
highways, and let's pay doctors the fees they deserve for saving lives 
and improving lives. Of all of the bills in the United States of 
America, why are we holding up this one? I think it is outrageous, and 
I think it is egregious.
  My Lord, look at this. Right now in the United States of America, 
400,000 American citizens are not receiving their unemployment 
benefits. They have been laid off. They have been pushed around. They 
have been pushed out. And now the Senate will not act to extend their 
benefits.
  Then there are the health insurance benefits called COBRA, and 
500,000 Americans are not getting that. Who gets COBRA benefits? No, it 
is not a snake--although there are a lot of snakes around. It means 
that if you were laid off from a company, you have the opportunity to, 
with your own money out of your own pocket, be able to buy insurance 
and get a modest subsidy to help you through this. My gosh, why can't 
we do this?
  Then there are the thousands of doctors who are not being paid. There 
are the highway people who are not being paid.
  I gave you national statistics, but I am a Senator from Maryland. I 
want you to know that tonight there are 4,700 unemployed workers in my 
State who are not going to get their unemployment benefits--4,700 
unemployed workers. That is money they could use to provide their 
families with a safety net for food, housing, heat, and for the 
expenses and activities of daily living.

[[Page S924]]

This isn't just a number. It is not a statistic. We are talking about 
4,700 families who won't have a source of income to get them through 
this very difficult time.
  Then there is COBRA. Again, COBRA pays 65 percent of the cost of 
health insurance for people who have lost their jobs. In Maryland, 
there are 9,282 people--close to 10,000--who have lost their benefits. 
COBRA makes sure they have health care. We are talking about someone, 
for example, who worked for a company all of his life, and then he was 
laid off because it was part of the great layoff that is going on in my 
State. He went to buy health insurance, and he is buying it through 
COBRA. It costs almost four times what it cost where he worked. At the 
same time, he has health problems. He is a diabetic. He is a father. He 
wants to work and, most of all, he wants to have health insurance for 
himself and his family. But, oh, no, we are holding it up because of 
something called pay-go.
  Then what else are we doing? We are not paying our doctors. 
Regardless of how one feels about health insurance reform, you can't 
have health reform without doctors.
  The opposition to health care reform, like Mr. Boehner, says we have 
the best health care system in the world. If we have the best health 
care system, why aren't we paying our doctors what they deserve? These 
are highly skilled people who work sometimes day and night to be able 
to save lives or improve lives. They assume the risks of medical 
management of highly complex cases. Why are we cutting their pay by 21 
percent? I don't see those guys over there cutting their pay 21 percent 
until we figure out how to pay for our salaries. Why are we cutting 
doctors 21 percent?
  I am so frustrated about this. Whether it is job reform, health care 
reform, mortgage reform, in this body, when all is said and done, more 
gets said than gets done.
  The American people are as mad as they can be, and they don't want to 
take it anymore. I feel the same way. I am sick and tired of all these 
obstruction tactics that prevent people from getting the benefits they 
need to take care of their families or fund the programs that create 
jobs.
  If we are going to have job reform and health reform, I think we need 
Senate reform. I am old-fashioned. I believe the majority rules. I 
think 51 ought to be a magic number. I am so tired of the tyranny of 
the 60. Oh, we need 60 votes--60 votes, a supermajority every time, 
except for the Pledge of Allegiance. I come back to wanting the 
majority rule. This is why I stand four square for filibuster reform.
  I am heart and soul a reformer, sometimes a little too mouthy. Some 
people say I am a little too feisty. But I want to get the job done. I 
am ready to duke it out in the arena of ideas, present our best 
arguments, present our best cases, take a vote, and see how it turns 
out.
  I hope when I offer amendments I win, but if I lose because I get 
less than 51, I feel I have gotten a square deal. But if I have to go 
after 60, I feel I am inhibited by the tyranny of 60.
  I believe the filibuster is a dated, arcane tactic that belongs to 
another century and another Senate. I wish to see the filibuster rule 
either ended or modified.
  There are those on our side of the aisle who say: Don't do that. What 
happens if we lose control, we might need it. Maybe if majority ruled, 
we would not lose control. Most of all, maybe the American people would 
see us actually debating, discussing, amending, and voting on ideas. 
Right now, the other side hides behind procedure. It hides behind 
process, it muddies the water, and the people are starting to catch on.
  I am calling on our institution to seriously consider Tom Harkin's 
legislation. I think Senator Harkin is on to something. Senator Harkin 
and I are great respecters of the Senate and its traditions. We 
understand the filibuster and when it was used for great and grand 
debates on, for example, the expansion of civil rights in our country.
  Under the Harkin proposal, you would get four shots at it. I think my 
colleague from Kentucky would like it. He is a baseball icon. You get 
three strikes and you are out. Maybe we would get four bites at the 
apple. The first time you vote if you don't get 60, it would fail. The 
second time you would need 59 votes or it would fail. The third time 
you would need 57 votes or it would fail. The fourth time, 53 votes and 
then we would come back to 51.
  We are not for throwing away the filibuster, but we are for modifying 
it. Hopefully, it will bring us to a Senate that wants more function as 
the greatest deliberative body in the world. Now we are the greatest 
delayed body in the world. We don't deliberate; we delay. We don't do 
constructive things; we do obstructive things. This is not the Senate 
the American people want. They want us to debate ideas. They want us to 
do due diligence on those ideas, to make sure they are sensible, that 
they are affordable, that we are doing something that accomplishes the 
great missions of our country. I want, again, majority to rule.
  I call upon the Senator from Kentucky and the other party: Let this 
bill go. Bring it out. Please, let us have a vote on it so tonight, 
when the families in Maryland go to bed, they can be sure that tomorrow 
when they awaken, their safety net of unemployment compensation is 
there; that they can buy their health insurance through COBRA, that 
gifted and talented doctors will know they will be paid and reimbursed 
and acknowledged for the great services they are performing. That is 
what the United States should be doing. There is plenty of money for 
other things.
  When they talk about how they want this to be pay as you go--I voted 
for pay-go. I did. But we are in an emergency situation, and I believe 
this calls us to act now, and I hope we act tonight.
  I hope we can all work together, and when more is said, the less gets 
said and more gets done.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. KAUFMAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in 
morning business for up to 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________