[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 132 (Tuesday, September 16, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5595-S5597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   BANK ON STUDENTS EMERGENCY LOAN REFINANCING ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 409, S. 
2432.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 409, S. 2432, a bill to 
     amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to provide for the 
     refinancing of certain Federal student loans, and for other 
     purposes.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the 
Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business 
until 12:30 p.m. today. During that period of time, Senators will be 
permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.
  Following morning business, the Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. 
until 2:15 p.m., to allow for weekly caucus meetings. At 2:15 p.m. the 
Senate will proceed to rollcall votes on confirmation of the Baran and 
Burns nominations, followed by several voice votes on executive 
nominations.


                           Order of Procedure

  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time between 3 p.m. 
and 4 p.m. today be under the control of the majority and the time from 
4 p.m. until 5 p.m. be under the control of the Republicans.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                           A Flawed Approach

  Mr. President, the 18th century French philosopher Voltaire once 
said:

       One day everything will be well, that is our hope. 
     Everything's fine today, that is our illusion.

  There is no better portrayal of the Republican Party's flawed 
approach to governance than what Voltaire said. Senate Republicans 
deceive themselves by thinking their obstruction is good for the 
Nation, that the status quo is helping American families. Meanwhile, 
the Republicans are out stumping and promising the American people that 
if they just put Republicans in charge, everything will be better. What 
are those promises based on? Certainly not recent history.
  Let's take a look at what Republicans in this body have done for 
American families: Republicans have blocked the Paycheck Fairness Act 
not once, not twice, not even three times but four times, thereby 
preventing American women from receiving a fair wage for their work. 
Remember, this is simply making it possible for a woman who does the 
exact same work as a man to get paid the exact same amount of money. 
Republicans have blocked legislation to prevent companies from denying 
their workers specific health benefits, including birth control, as 
required by Federal law.
  Republicans also blocked a bill allowing Americans with student debt 
to refinance their loans at lower interest rates. The student loan debt 
stands at $1.3 trillion. It is higher than credit card debt. It is 
higher than any other debt.
  Republicans rejected an increase in the minimum wage, essentially 
relegating millions of hard-working

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Americans to poverty. Republicans even refused to give unemployment 
benefits to the very long-term unemployed. Republicans rejected the 
Bring Jobs Home Act which would end the absurd practice of American 
workers bankrolling the outsourcing of their very own jobs.
  Republicans even filibustered an extension of tax credits that help 
American families. The Republicans have repeatedly refused to pass 
commonsense immigration reform that keeps families together, spurs the 
economy, and reduces our national debt by $1 trillion. Let's not 
forget, Republicans in Congress shut down the Federal Government. Too 
often Republicans have rebuffed Democrats' attempts to give American 
families a fair shot. Republicans must know their obstruction is 
hurting our country. The Republicans must know the status quo is not 
working.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is 
recognized.


                           Navy Yard Tragedy

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, 1 year ago today, just a few blocks 
from here, a lone gunman slipped into the Navy Yard and tragically took 
12 lives. It was one of the deadliest such attacks on a U.S. military 
base in American history. We have not forgotten those who fell that day 
in Building 197, and all of us in the Senate send our condolences to 
their families and everyone who loved them. They are not forgotten.


                              The Economy

  Mr. President, the Democrats who run Washington have had almost 6 
years to fix the economy. They have already tried just about everything 
their ideology will allow to fix it. They raised taxes on everything 
from lifesaving medical devices to personal medical expenses. They have 
piled up record debt and shoveled billions in subsidies to the well 
connected, and they have empowered bureaucrats to cancel health care 
plans for the middle class, declared war on the jobs of vulnerable 
Kentucky families and--through EPA's Waters of the United States 
proposed rule--they are trying to regulate every last pond and ditch in 
our country. None of this has worked.
  According to a recent Gallup survey, a solid majority of Americans 
believes the economy is actually getting worse, not better. Let's not 
forget that for several years the Democrats had supermajority control 
of Washington, could have passed anything they wanted, and all too 
often they did.
  Since then, a Republican-led House of Representatives has tried to 
advance solutions on its own by passing dozens of jobs bills--many with 
strong bipartisan support over in the House. But the Democratic 
majority in the Senate simply refuses to take them up, and it is hard 
to understand why. It is hard to know if today's Washington Democratic 
Party is blinded by ideology or if they are so obsessed with the never-
ending campaign that they cannot be bothered to govern.
  Whatever the reason, the simple truth is this: Washington Democrats 
had a choice between helping the middle class and bowing to campaign 
pollsters and the left. It is obvious whom they chose.
  The American people are worried about ISIL and the continuing threat 
of terrorism. They see a humanitarian crisis at the border. Many 
struggle every month to pay the bills. Millions still can't find work.
  How do Democrats respond? They bring up a bill that would take an 
eraser to the First Amendment. So the hard left is clearly in the 
driver's seat on the other side. That is clear every time the 
Democratic majority ignores the concerns of our constituents to turn to 
yet another one of their so-called messaging bills, such as the recent 
one on eroding free speech, and it is truly a shame. That is not why 
the American people sent us.
  It is long past time for Democrats to drop all the designed-to-fail 
bills and turn to serious job-creation ideas instead. There are 
literally dozens of House-passed jobs bills on the majority leader's 
desk. Why not pick up some of them and pass them. Let's get them to the 
President. Let's work together on a serious energy policy. Let's join 
hands to erase the strain on working moms and dads. Let's work toward 
sensible health care reform that doesn't hurt the middle class as 
ObamaCare does. Let's help college graduates find full-time work and 
start marching toward the careers they have always dreamed of. That is 
just a start.
  If the Democratic Party is truly interested in getting serious, they 
should look at the many commonsense policy ideas advocated by Senators 
on my side of the aisle.


                              NLRB Reform

  Mr. President, my friend the senior Senator from Tennessee has always 
been a strong advocate for smart reform policies. He will discuss 
another one of those in just a moment. It is a bill that would go a 
long way toward remedying a serious problem that has been caused by the 
politics-at-all-cost mentality I have just described.
  Here is the issue: Everybody is familiar with the President's 
unconstitutional effort to pack the National Labor Relations Board with 
liberal partisans back in early 2012. Some people are also familiar 
with the NLRB's more recent effort to undermine secret ballots for 
union elections, allow labor bosses access to sensitive employee 
information without their consent, and prevent companies from building 
factories in States with laws the President's picks don't like.
  The NLRB is trying to destroy the franchisee model that has allowed 
so many Americans to own and operate their own businesses. They want to 
take away independence from small business men and women--such as 
decisions on whom to hire, how much to pay them, and how to run their 
business--and put it in the hands of corporate bosses. The so-called 
joint employer standard is all about politics and appeasing the left.
  Big Labor bosses want it because it helps them expand and acquire 
more dues at the cost of small business owners who employ so many 
Americans. This is simply not right. For many in the middle class 
franchising represents a ticket to the dream of opening their own 
business. For many it may be their only chance to live that dream.
  This is how one single mom and second-generation franchisee put it:

       To have my franchiser take over greater control of my daily 
     operations would not only change my relationship with them, 
     but it would ruin the dream of small business ownership for 
     many hardworking Americans.

  This is what a hotel franchise in Lexington had to say:

       My family came to the United States in search of the 
     American dream and we found it as hoteliers and franchisees. 
     The current franchise model has been instrumental in 
     providing my family and me with opportunities for 
     entrepreneurship and the ability to employ over 300 
     hardworking Kentuckians.

  But this Kentuckian warned that this action by the NLRB could end his 
independence as a small business owner by ceding decisions to a far-off 
corporate headquarters. The NLRB action could have ``devastating 
impacts on my ability to create jobs, grow my businesses and support my 
community,'' he said.
  Extreme, politically motivated proposals such as these hurt our 
constituents.
  It is time to restore the balance to the National Labor Relations 
Board. Let's take the politics out of it. That is just what the 
legislation of my friend from Tennessee seeks to do. I will let him 
explain it, but here is the key: It would restore the NLRB to its 
proper role as an umpire instead of an advocate for the right or the 
left. It is the kind of thing our constituents want to see us doing--
standing up for reform and against entrenched political interests.
  I am asking our Democratic friends to please shelve the designed-to-
fail playbook and work with Republicans on a designed-to-succeed agenda 
instead. Six years of failure is quite enough.


                             Ebola Epidemic

  Today President Obama will visit the Centers for Disease Control and 
Prevention to announce new efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic in 
West Africa. The U.S. Africa Command will stand up a Joint Force 
Command in Monrovia, Liberia, to provide command and control of U.S. 
military activities and help coordinate international relief efforts. 
Current estimates are that 3,000 military personnel will establish an 
intermediate staging base for supplies and equipment, set up a training 
site to prepare 500 health care workers per week to provide medical 
care to patients, and stand up a

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field Defense Department hospital to care for any of our health care 
workers who become ill. Also contributing to our national reaction to 
this epidemic is the U.S. Agency for International Development.
  The CDC has deployed personnel to Africa, and the National Institute 
of Health is developing an investigational Ebola vaccine. CDC is also 
working with Customs and Border Patrol to identify travelers showing 
any signs of infectious disease.
  I support these efforts to contain the Ebola epidemic and know we 
will monitor this humanitarian crisis in the weeks ahead.

                          ____________________