[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Page 17506]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                HEALTH CARE AND THE SOTOMAYOR NOMINATION

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the coming weeks are a critical time, not 
just here in the Congress but in our country. This month we will work 
to stabilize our broken health care system and lower costs for the 
middle class. This month we will also discuss, debate and, I am 
confident, ultimately confirm President Obama's outstanding nominee, 
Judge Sonia Sotomayor.
  These goals require both sides to work together. I repeat. These 
goals require both sides to work together. Each will require all of us 
to work in good faith. If we are to do what our country needs us to do, 
we must work as partners, not partisans.
  We have said all along we strongly prefer to fix health care as one 
collaborative body, not as two competing parties. I had a positive 
meeting with four senior Republican Senators about the road ahead for 
health care, and it is health care reform we talked about. We finished 
the meeting and there was a general agreement we needed health care 
reform, and it should be done on a bipartisan basis, not resort to what 
we call reconciliation, which requires only a simple majority.
  I appreciate very much the commitment of those four Republicans to 
getting this done. I look forward to more Republicans showing the same 
commitment.
  The Finance and HELP Committee chairmen are working tirelessly to 
mark up the health care bills. Our goal remains the same. We would like 
to see those bills on the floor in July. I hope our Republican 
colleagues will work with us to achieve that goal.
  Just as our commitment to a bipartisan plan has not changed, neither 
have our principles about that plan: lowering skyrocketing costs, and 
bringing stability and security back to health care. We are committed 
to passing a plan that protects what works and fixes what is broken. A 
plan that ensures that if you like the coverage you have, you can keep 
it.
  We will make sure people can still choose their own doctors, 
hospitals, and health plans. Americans need affordable health care they 
can count on. Too many families live just one illness or one accident 
or one pink slip away from financial ruin. The cost of inaction is too 
great and the status quo is no longer an option. The status quo simply 
is not something we need to look to.
  On another subject, today is a historic day in America. Right now, 
they are having opening statements in the Senate Judiciary Committee, 
Democrats and Republicans, regarding Sonia Sotomayor. She will, later 
today, testify before that committee as President Obama's nominee for 
the highest Court in our country. As we all know, she is the first 
Hispanic American to do so.
  Judge Sotomayor has a wide range of experience, not just in the legal 
world but in the real world. Her understanding of the law is grounded 
not only in theory but also in practice. Her record and qualifications 
are tremendous. She has worked at almost every level of our judicial 
system--as a prosecutor, as a litigator, a trial court judge, and 
appellate judge.
  That is the exact type of experience we need on the Supreme Court. 
When she is confirmed, she will bring to the bench more judicial 
experience than any sitting Justice had when they joined the Court.
  Judge Sotomayor has been nominated by both Democratic and Republican 
Presidents. She has been confirmed twice by the Senate with strong 
bipartisan support. Her record is well known and well respected. We are 
committed to ensuring that she has a rigorous and reasonable 
confirmation hearing. We expect both sides to ask tough questions and 
we expect both the questions and their answers to be fair and honest 
before she is confirmed.

                          ____________________