[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 120 (Tuesday, July 29, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5040-S5042]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING 
            SEPTEMBER 30, 2014--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oregon.


                                Medicare

  Mr. MERKLEY. I rise today to address a topic that is vital to seniors 
in Oregon and to seniors across our Nation, and that is our Medicare 
program.
  I know how important Medicare is because I grew up in a blue-collar 
working family. My dad was a millwright and a mechanic. He believed in 
hard work. He took a lot of satisfaction from his job. A millwright is 
the individual who does all the mechanical work to keep the mill 
running. He said if he did his job right, the mill was open, the 
workers had a payday, the company made money, and everyone was happy.
  Meanwhile, my mother managed the finances, and she stretched a dollar 
as far as anyone possibly could. She shopped for bargains. She used 
coupons. She collected Green Stamps, and they were able to save, to buy 
a home, and to have a foundation for raising their children.
  I benefited from that enormously.
  But despite the foundation they had, their prospects in retirement 
were dependent upon two critical programs: Social Security and 
Medicare. Social Security and Medicare--a basic pension and affordable 
health care--are simply essential for millions of working families in 
retirement. They are the difference between poverty and stability. The 
way I see it, Medicare is a covenant with our seniors. It is a covenant 
with the 650,000 Oregonians who are on Medicare now. It is a covenant 
with the hundreds of thousands who will utilize Medicare in the years 
to come. It is certainly a covenant with the millions across America 
who depend on it--families. Those working families across America are 
families like my parents, who worked hard their whole lives, paid into 
Medicare, and expect Medicare to be there for them when they retire. We 
cannot break that covenant.

  The first step in keeping faith with our seniors is this: protecting 
what works. Pretty simple. We would think that is a no-brainer. But in 
fact, in Washington, a simple proposition like this--a no-brainer--is 
sometimes enormously controversial.
  For several years now, many in Washington here, and including this 
Chamber, have been pushing to privatize, to voucherize or to just plain 
weaken Medicare. They don't understand how important this program is 
for the secure retirement of our seniors. They don't understand how 
important this covenant is between each working generation and our 
retirees. In fact, the House of Representatives has repeatedly voted to 
effectively end the Medicare Program that Americans know and love and 
to stick our seniors with an enormous financial burden in their 
retirement years. This is just a simple way to describe that, and that 
is to say it is simply wrong.
  Others have said: Let's raise the Medicare retirement age to 67 or 
perhaps 70. I think, when I hear that, about my townhalls. In my 
townhalls--and I hold one in every county in every year--people come 
and talk about whatever they would like. I recall a woman coming to a 
townhall and she said: Senator, I am in my early sixties. I have 
several major health problems. She went on to describe them, and she 
said: I am just trying to stay alive until I can make it to age 65 and 
have access to Medicare.
  I have heard that theme of just trying to make it until they can 
reach that Medicare age in townhall after townhall.
  Sometimes those who work in offices, in company circumstances, don't 
realize how much actual physical labor takes a toll on the body. If 
someone is working in a post office and moving bags of mail day in and 
day out, as one

[[Page S5041]]

good friend of mine has done throughout his career, it is very likely 
one would have a bad back and so on and so forth. Then of course there 
are the diseases that strike like lightning.
  Yes, those who happen to have jobs with corporations that provide a 
wonderful health care program are in a little better shape. But for our 
seniors, Medicare is a gem--a gem they have contributed into their 
entire lives, and it needs to be there for them.
  So for some who see the difference between 65 and 67 as some modest 
administrative change, for working Americans it is a monumental chasm 
and they fear falling into it.
  The good news is there is a very simple action the Senate could take 
right now to protect our covenant with our seniors. The Medicare 
Protection Act, which I have cosponsored along with Senator Pryor and 
others, makes three modest but important changes to our law: It 
expresses the sense of the Senate that the Medicare eligibility age 
should not be increased. It expresses the sense of the Senate that the 
Medicare Program should not be privatized or voucherized. Third, it 
amends the Congressional Budget Act so that any attempt to reduce or 
eliminate guaranteed benefits or to restrict eligibility criteria, such 
as raising the eligibility age, cannot be passed through the budget 
reconciliation process. This is particularly important since the House 
has made repeated attempts to end Medicare as we know it, and to do so 
using the budget process--the Ryan budget--rather than through stand-
alone legislation.
  It is time to ensure that we keep our covenant with our seniors. It 
is time to bring this bill to the floor, to debate it, and to pass it.
  Tomorrow happens to be the anniversary on which Medicare was signed 
into law 49 years ago. Maybe a great way to celebrate the 49th birthday 
of Medicare would be for this Chamber to debate this bill tomorrow and 
pass it. If not tomorrow, I would like to see it done in this work 
period. And if not in this work period, let's come back and address 
this in September.
  The days that are left in this 2-year cycle of the Senate are rapidly 
disappearing, and our seniors are concerned about this constant attack, 
this constant effort to undermine these programs such as Social 
Security and Medicare that they have paid into throughout their life 
and that they expect to be honored when they are retired.
  Let's bring this bill to the floor. Let's ensure that American 
seniors can stop worrying about these assaults on their retirement--
retirement security they so much deserve.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  (The remarks of Mr. HELLER pertaining to the introduction of (S. 
2658) are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced 
Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')
  Mr. HELLER. I yield the floor.


                 EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Delaware.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, first let me express my thanks to Senator 
Grassley for letting me step ahead of him and I thank the Senator as 
well for a number of courageous votes today. I also express my 
gratitude to him and to the Presiding Officer.
  I understand earlier on the vote on final passage of the 
transportation funding legislation 79 Senators voted for the bill as 
amended. That is a resounding majority of Democrats and Republicans.
  The year when Senator Grassley--longer ago than the Presiding Officer 
and I combined--came here, the idea was for Democrats and Republicans 
to work together to try to find the middle, to find principled 
compromises. It has been a while since the Senate actually did that. I 
feel as though today we were the Senate again. It is gratifying to me, 
and I just want to thank everyone who voted for the Corker-Boxer-Carper 
amendment, for Senator Wyden's support, for everybody who helped to 
make that amendment part of the bill and supported it in final passage. 
I hope it sends a message to our friends in the House that will not be 
lost on them. I hope before they just reject it out of order they will 
sleep on it and when they wake up in the morning maybe we can have a 
good conversation. That is not why I rose tonight, but I wanted to get 
that off my chest and appreciate the chance to do that.
  I rise this evening in support of the emergency supplemental 
appropriations bill introduced, I believe, last week by Senator 
Mikulski.
  The bill as you will recall will provide some $2.7 billion in order 
to address the humanitarian challenge that is playing out in recent 
weeks on our southern border with Mexico. This money will ensure that 
the agencies charged with securing our borders don't run out of money 
this summer. More importantly, it will address some of the underlying 
root causes of the problems we face along our southern border.
  As we all know, we are facing an unprecedented surge in migration 
from three countries. They are El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala. A 
large number of migrants from these countries are families. Some of 
them are unaccompanied children. Some of those unaccompanied children 
are as young as 4, 5 and 6 years old. Let me be clear. These children 
and these families are not slipping past our borders unprotected. They 
are being apprehended in large numbers by the Border Patrol almost as 
soon as they touch U.S. soil. Some of them, many of them actually, turn 
themselves in voluntarily to our Border Patrol.
  Although the influx has slowed in recent weeks, the sheer number of 
children and families coming across our southern border in South Texas 
earlier this summer overwhelmed the Border Patrol--overwhelmed Health 
and Human Services and other Federal agencies. The administration and 
Secretary Jeh Johnson, Secretary of Department of Homeland Security, 
have responded to this situation with what I will describe as an ``all 
hands on deck'' approach.
  The Federal Emergency Management Agency is coordinating the DHS-wide 
response to the problem. The Department of Defense has provided space 
on some of its military installations to house unaccompanied minors 
until Health and Human Services can find a placement for them. 
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has greatly expanded its ability to 
detain and remove families, and we have surged Border Patrol agents, 
immigration judges, and other personnel to the border to help process 
these people.
  These measures have been working. For example, the amount of time 
people are detained before they are removed has decreased significantly 
in recent weeks, but these emergency measures are expensive and none of 
the Federal agencies involved have the money they need to sustain the 
aggressive steps they are taking to deal with this situation.
  The consequences of not moving forward with this legislation are 
severe. Let me give some examples of what failing to act will mean. 
Without this emergency funding, Immigration and Customs Enforcement 
could be forced to release thousands of people currently being detained 
and to stop operating repatriation flights. Health and Human Services 
could be forced to cut back on the number of children it can care for. 
Children would be forced to stay longer at Border Patrol stations and 
Border Patrol agents would spend more of their time taking care of 
children and less time pursuing the smuggling networks operating along 
our borders.
  Some of my colleagues are suggesting that we will not be able to pass 
this supplemental until September and that the administration can just 
move money around until then to make up for the shortfall. That may 
have been more feasible earlier in the fiscal year, but doing so now 
will likely have some significant unintended consequences. For example, 
it would impair our border security because DHS may have to reduce 
aerial support for the Border Patrol or stop replacing the badly needed 
x-ray machines at our ports of entry. Our ability to respond to natural 
disasters could also be harmed.
  I also understand my colleagues in the House introduced a bill today 
that would provide $659 million to deal with this crisis. That is 
roughly one-quarter of what Senator Mikulski has introduced, and $659 
million is just a drop in the bucket from what is needed. Incredibly 
our friends in the House are offsetting this funding by raiding other 
critical operations which is what Senator Mikulski's bill is trying to 
avoid.

[[Page S5042]]

Failing to move an emergency supplemental this week would be in my view 
unconscionable. I urge all my colleagues to do the right thing and make 
sure we deal with this before we leave for 5 weeks.
  Dealing with the challenge we are facing on the border is, rightly, 
our main focus right now. However, we cannot lose sight of the root 
causes that are driving the surge in migration in the first place. In 
this country all too often we focus so much of our attention on dealing 
with symptoms of problems and not enough attention on addressing the 
underlying causes. This is particularly true on our borders. Listen to 
this. Since 2003 we have spent $223 billion--that is almost one-quarter 
of a trillion dollars--enforcing our immigration and customs laws, 
strengthening our borders, strengthening the security of our borders--
almost one-quarter of a trillion dollars. We have spent a small 
fraction of this--a very small fraction--actually less than 1 percent 
helping El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras improve conditions for 
their citizens.
  I commend the President and Chairman Mikulski for including $300 
million in this emergency supplemental request aimed at addressing what 
I am convinced are the root causes of this problem. What are they? The 
lack of economic hope, lack of jobs in Central America, combined with 
increasing violence and insecurity in the region. I know. I have been 
there. I have been to two of those three countries, Guatemala and El 
Salvador. This year down to Mexico, down to Colombia, which 20 years 
ago was just about a failed nation. Remember in Columbia roughly 20 
years ago when a bunch of gunmen rounded up the Supreme Court judges in 
the country and took them out and shot them to death? That was Colombia 
20 years ago. They are no longer a failed nation. They came back from 
the brink. They are a strong partner of ours, along with Mexico, to 
turn this situation around in these three Central American countries 
which are the source of all this migration to our country.
  Based on my recent conversation with Central American leaders as 
recently as last week, the Ambassadors of these three small countries 
as well as the Ambassador to Mexico, and based on trips to the region, 
I believe one of the critical needs is to foster economic growth and 
create jobs. How might we do that? One, by helping restore their rule 
of law. In those countries we have police who don't police. We have 
prosecutors who don't prosecute and we have judges who don't 
adjudicate. We have prisons that either don't rehabilitate or punish. 
We have kidnappings and extortions. We have people who are scared to 
stay there and live there and they are bailing. They are voting with 
their feet. We need to help them restore the rule of law, much as we 
helped other countries such as Colombia from the last two decades.
  Their energy costs are roughly three times what they ought to be. 
Most of their energy from the electricity grid comes from petroleum. 
They could use natural gas and spend half of what they spend for 
energy. They need to improve their education and workforce skills and 
access to capital. Those are some of the ways to strengthen their 
economy.
  I am not suggesting any of this will be quick or easy to do. It will 
require a sustained investment and focus on the region by the United 
States and also by a number of others. This is not our job alone. This 
is a shared responsibility, and we need to keep that in mind. But it 
can be done. In fact, we have already done it with two of our most 
important allies in Latin America, as I mentioned Colombia and more 
recently with Mexico, where the economic situation was so bad that more 
than 1 million Mexicans were traveling across our borders every year--
more than 1 million. Today both countries have vibrant democracies and 
vibrant economies and their citizens have hope for their future. Now 
there are more Mexicans leaving this country going back to Mexico than 
are coming this way.
  I will say again what I just said. We cannot and we should not do 
this alone. This is not all on America. This needs to be a shared 
responsibility with the governments of these three countries, with all 
the partners in the region, including Mexico and Colombia, with all the 
private sector nonprofits and institutions of faith. Three hundred 
million dollars as an emergency supplemental is a downpayment on what 
will need to be a long-term commitment to our neighbors in the region. 
This cannot be one and done. If we are serious about addressing the 
surge, we will need to do more, and frankly so will others--and I would 
underline ``so will others.''
  Based on what I have seen, this crisis requires a holistic approach 
and one that tackles the underlying causes that are pushing people out 
of Central America and the factors that are pulling them to our 
borders.
  If we turn our backs on these countries I am convinced we will be 
back 10 years from now dealing with another expensive humanitarian 
crisis on our border. We don't need that in any of these countries.
  I urge all my colleagues to put politics aside and pass this 
emergency supplemental.
  I yield the floor. Thank you so much.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the distinguished senior Senator from 
Delaware and I came to Washington together, and I am so proud of the 
work he is doing and what he has done. He has been a Member of 
Congress, Governor, and now Senator and chairman of the Homeland 
Security Committee. He has done a remarkably good job, and I am very 
proud of the work he does.

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