[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 7 (Monday, January 13, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S268]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, my friend the majority leader is 
talking about the crush of nominations. Of course, the reason we have a 
crush of nominations is because of the decision of the majority to 
break the rules of the Senate to change the rules of the Senate last 
year, which produced the inevitable, entirely predictable consequence 
of sending an enormous number of nominations back down to the 
administration at the end of the session.
  So the decision of the majority to run roughshod over the minority 
has a lot of consequences, one of which is pretty clear already: that 
it didn't streamline the nomination process as it was sold to the 
minority to do. It only made it more difficult.
  On another matter, I would like to say a word about unemployment 
insurance.
  The reason for the holdup should be pretty obvious at this point. 
Republicans have a lot of good ideas on how to pay for this extension. 
We also have a lot of proposals for getting at the root of the problem, 
proposals that would make it easier for folks who are struggling in 
this economy to actually find stable and fulfilling work or get 
retrained so they can find good jobs. That is a goal on which I expect 
we could all agree.
  Unfortunately, up until the weekend the majority leader wasn't 
terribly interested in any of these ideas. He only seemed to want to 
extend the program without really paying for it, without doing much of 
anything to help private sector job creation, and without creating 
opportunities for targeted training that would help folks who are 
currently receiving unemployment assistance actually find a job.
  So I think this is unfortunate. There is clearly no shortage of 
creative, constructive proposals out there which speak to the 
underlying problems, which speak to the urgent need to create more 
stable, good-paying jobs, and which make sure we don't increase our 
already out-of-control Federal debt. Some of these ideas actually come 
from Democrats. The Presiding Officer's senior Senator from Connecticut 
has an idea to create a program that subsidizes employment for low-
income Americans so they aren't stuck in neutral while they search for 
permanent work. This is an idea which actually deserves debate and a 
vote.
  As I have indicated in recent days, the majority leader should give 
other Senators more of a say in what we do around here, including 
members of his own conference. So hopefully his comments a few moments 
ago and over the weekend are a sign that we may be able to work this 
out in a way that the Senate can function the way it used to, which was 
that Members were able to actually offer amendments and get votes 
before we moved to final passage on important legislation.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________