[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 173 (Monday, December 9, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8557-S8558]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            PASSING A BUDGET

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I come to the floor this evening to 
talk about the importance of Congress doing its job and passing a 
budget. We need a budget that is going to provide certainty for our 
economy, that will eliminate reckless spending cuts, and that will 
foster job creation.
  We hear this week that Senate Budget Committee Chair Patty Murray and 
House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan may be close to just such an 
agreement. I think that is very good news because we need a budget deal 
so we can put an end to the manufactured crises that have hurt too many 
families and businesses in New Hampshire and across this country.
  I know I speak for so many of us here in the Senate when I say our 
primary focus really should be on continuing to put in place an 
environment that creates jobs, that lays a foundation for economic 
growth. And that is one of the things that getting a budget deal would 
help do.
  We have recently seen some signs of progress in the economy. The jobs 
report on Friday was positive with over 200,000 private-sector jobs 
added in November, and we have now had 45 straight months of private-
sector job growth. But we all know we are not out of the woods yet. We 
have a lot more work to do, and we need to build on the momentum that 
is there to get more people back to work.
  When I travel around New Hampshire, my constituents tell me they are 
very frustrated with the gridlock in Washington, and what they want is 
for us to come together here in Congress, to agree on a budget, and to 
take action that supports economic growth.
  Granite Staters are absolutely right. With a potential budget 
agreement, we have an opportunity to eliminate some of the uncertainty 
in our economy, to eliminate some of those harmful cuts that are part 
of sequestration--the automatic budget cuts--and to finally set some 
priorities that will help us create jobs.
  Sadly, too much in the past few months has had the Congress moving 
from one manufactured crisis on the budget to another. It has cost the 
economy severely. It has hurt job creation. As economist Mark Zandi 
recently noted: ``As long as lawmakers stay deadlocked over the 
direction of the federal budget, the economic recovery will not gain 
momentum.''
  So I am very hopeful we can reach a deal that will provide the 
Appropriations Committee with a roadmap for the rest of 2014 and 2015.
  I have heard from a lot of small businesses in New Hampshire that one 
of the challenges they are currently facing post government shutdown--
and certainly for so many small businesses and families, they were hurt 
by that government shutdown, which cost the economy about $24 billion, 
and they are now looking at what the potential impact in the future 
will be from sequestration. Those spending cuts have halted Federal 
contracts, in many cases, for small businesses. They have caused 
uncertainty that is affecting job creation and hiring.
  One of the New Hampshire business owners with whom I met recently 
said: ``You hear about how CEOs are hesitant to hire--this is why''--
this uncertainty around sequestration, around what we are going to do 
about a budget for the country.
  These indiscriminate cuts from sequestration have not just hurt job 
creation. They have also affected programs that are critical to 
families in New Hampshire and across the country.
  One of those programs I had a chance to visit last week is the Meals 
on Wheels Program. I helped deliver meals in Rockingham County. The 
Presiding Officer knows Rockingham County very well. It is just across 
the boarder from Massachusetts, which she represents. I had really 
ambivalent feelings about delivering those meals to seniors because on 
the one hand people were so appreciative and we got to help people who 
needed those hot meals, but on the other hand what I heard from those 
seniors was the effect that sequestration and spending cuts were having 
on the program. Those spending cuts have slashed $81,000 from 
Rockingham Nutrition's Meals on Wheels budget. According to Debra 
Perou, the agency's executive director, Rockingham Nutrition is 
delivering 17,000 fewer meals as a result of those cuts. She told me it 
was a very tough day when they had to try to figure out who was going 
to get cut from getting those meals on wheels.
  The seniors with whom I met in Salem told me they were frustrated 
that nothing was happening to eliminate those reckless spending cuts.
  I met a former engineer from Raytheon, Larry Somes and his wife 
Lillian. Lillian not only has dementia developing, but she has macular 
degeneration. It has made it difficult for her to cook. Larry's pension 
from Raytheon does not go as far as it did 25 years ago when he 
retired. He said: ``Congress isn't doing anything [to help].''
  Well, Larry is not alone, sadly. In Salem, 25 percent of Meals on 
Wheels recipients are older than 85. For these seniors--who are unable 
to cook for themselves--Meals on Wheels makes it possible for them to 
keep their housing and independence.
  One of the things the seniors did this fall was to do a campaign 
where the program asked all of the seniors who received Meals on Wheels 
if they would write a message about how they felt about the program on 
a paper plate and send it to their elected officials so we would know 
what they are thinking. So I brought some of those messages, and they 
are short so they will not take much time to read. But I think it is 
important to read some of these messages so all of us have a chance to 
hear how our seniors are feeling.
  This one is not signed, but it says:

       Seniors need Meals on Wheels to keep them in their homes 
     and healthy. Put yourself in their position. Do you like to 
     eat? Do you want to be in your home?
       Thank you Meals on Wheels. I am crippled and walk with a 
     walker. I can't cook much anymore. I'm a diabetic so I have 
     to eat, eat right. Thanks to everyone who cooks and delivers. 
     God bless you.
       Keep Meals on Wheels. The homebound people are in need and 
     look forward to getting a healthy meal and seeing someone 
     every day.

  That is the other aspect that is so important about Meals on Wheels. 
It is not just about delivering that hot meal. It is about making sure 
someone is checking in on our older Americans who are living alone, who 
sometimes do not see people because they are housebound. These messages 
are telling about how important this program is.
  As Maria and Bill say:

       As this plate is empty, so will my wife's meals be. She has 
     a serious medical problem and needs these meals. Think of 
     this when you sit in your dining room tonight to have your 
     meal. Thank you for your help keeping these meals coming.

  Then from Denise, she says:

       Please don't take my food away. I need it.

  That says it all.
  The work Rockingham Christian and Meals On Wheels does is critical 
for seniors in that part of New Hampshire. They are joined by nine 
other Meals On Wheels Programs around New Hampshire. They serve 
thousands of people throughout the State. Last year alone Meals On 
Wheels delivered more than 1.2 million meals to 11,596 people in New 
Hampshire. The services are critical not only for improving the lives 
of seniors but also for reducing health care spending. The yearly cost 
of Meals On Wheels for a single senior is equivalent to the cost of 9 
days in a nursing home or 1 or 2 days in the hospital. This is not a 
program that is important to seniors because it keeps them healthy and 
keeps them in their homes; this is a program that is cost-effective 
because if we are not able to keep seniors in their homes with 
something to eat, they are going to wind up in nursing homes and they 
are going to wind up in hospitals.
  Programs such as Meals On Wheels are not where we should be cutting. 
We

[[Page S8558]]

should focus on wasteful and duplicative programs, not those with a 
proven track record of success. That is why a budget agreement is so 
critical. This year the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bill 
that provided full funding for Meals On Wheels, but without a budget 
agreement, we have not been able to restore cuts to this very vital 
program.
  We all know sequestration was designed to never go into effect. It 
was designed to be so harmful and reckless that we in Congress would 
find a better, smarter way to reduce our deficit. But because of 
sequestration, too many families and small businesses in New Hampshire 
have felt firsthand the dramatic effects of us failing to do our job. 
With the potential budget agreement coming from Senator Murray and 
Congressman Ryan, we will have an opportunity to reduce these impacts, 
to finally get to work replacing the harmful cuts from sequestration 
with a responsible plan that will grow our economy and create jobs.
  Finally, it is my hope that a budget agreement will also include an 
extension of unemployment benefits for the millions of Americans who 
lost their jobs through no fault of their own. In New Hampshire, our 
unemployment rate is lower than the national average and has been 
consistently throughout this recession, but that does not help if you 
are in a household where the breadwinners are unemployed. That 
household has a 100-percent unemployment rate. So despite the 
significant progress for our economy since the recession, the 
unemployment rate remains unacceptably high. For millions of Americans, 
finding a job remains very difficult in this market. Unemployment 
benefits remain a vital lifeline while they seek new work. So if we do 
nothing before the end of this year, about 1.3 million Americans will 
lose their extended unemployment benefits starting in January. Millions 
more will exhaust their benefits over the course of 2014. In New 
Hampshire, an estimated 8,500 individuals will be affected.
  Failing to extend these benefits will not only hurt these families, 
but it will also affect our economic recovery because failing to extend 
unemployment for these Americans would result in 240,000 fewer jobs 
created in 2014. To put that into perspective, the recent jobs report 
showed that our economy gained 200,000 jobs in the month of November. 
Failing to extend unemployment benefits would be the equivalent of 
sacrificing an entire month of job creation.
  At this fragile point in our economic recovery, we should not be 
letting this critical program expire for these Americans. I hope we can 
reach an agreement. I hope that agreement will begin to roll back those 
cuts from sequestration, will extend unemployment benefits for those 
families who really need them, and that we can get this done in a 
timely fashion so that the government continues to operate.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call 
be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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