[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 18376-18379]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




NOMINATION OF CORNELIA T. L. PILLARD TO BE UNITED STATES CURCUIT JUDGE 
                  FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the nomination.
  The assistant legislative clerk read the nomination of Cornelia T. L. 
Pillard, of the District of Columbia, to be United States Circuit Judge 
for the District of Columbia Circuit.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.


                   UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--S. 1797

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, as in legislative session, I ask unanimous 
consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 1797, 
which was submitted earlier today; that the bill be read three times 
and passed; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid 
upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I want to reserve the right to object. I 
am certainly willing to let the good Senator make comments. But at this 
point I want to reserve the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. HOEVEN. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, first of all, I think it is appropriate to 
make some comments. I appreciate the Senator

[[Page 18377]]

from North Dakota being here and making his point. But we are at a 
juncture that within 2 weeks 1.3 million Americans will lose their 
Federal unemployment compensation insurance.
  It will be a shock to them economically and particularly since it 
will be just a few days after the Christmas holiday. My legislation is 
very simple. I am seeking to extend for an additional year the 
unemployment compensation program that has been in place for several 
years. That will allow 1.3 million Americans to have some support as 
they face a very difficult economy.
  We have asked, as Democrats, that this UI proposal be part of the 
budget negotiation. Our colleagues in the House of Representatives have 
made the same request. It appears that will not be the case. So we have 
to seek a stand-alone legislative vehicle. That is why I proposed the 
legislation as I have done today.
  What we were trying to do, with the request that was just objected 
to, and what we have to do within 2 weeks is pass this legislation--so 
the upcoming expiration does not allow us the time for the procedural 
process of committee deliberation and markup, et cetera. What we have 
to do is try to avoid a huge economic shock to 1.3 million Americans 
immediately. There will be more after that. But as of December 28, if 
you are on unemployment insurance, Federal unemployment insurance, you 
lose it.
  In my State, that is 4,900 people celebrating New Year's Day by 
losing their Federal unemployment insurance benefits; for families who 
are struggling just to keep their heads above water in a very difficult 
economy--who have seen their jobs disappear, who after years of 
dedicated work find themselves now looking at very difficult 
circumstances for employment, in my home State particularly, but not my 
home State alone--this is a very difficult burden to bear.
  So we have to act. That is why we are here this evening, to ask for 
immediate consideration of my legislation to extend unemployment 
insurance, not further review, but immediate consideration.
  I think it is important to point out that the average weekly benefit 
is about $300 per week. This is not a program that people are using to 
enrich themselves by any means. This is basically keeping the heat on, 
keeping some food on the table, maybe keeping the rent paid. Also, this 
is a program that people only qualify for after working and 
establishing a work history.
  So for all of these reasons, we are not talking about some lavish 
benefit that is a windfall to Americans. This is something that can 
keep families together. That is why I think we have to be willing, 
beginning this evening, to get this program extended through next year 
at least.
  There is another aspect to this too. Unemployment insurance is one of 
the best countercyclical economic programs we have when it comes to 
Federal fiscal policy. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office 
estimates that with the expiration of UI, if we do not act, it will 
cost our economy next year 200,000 jobs. It will cost us jobs if we do 
not act. It will slow economic growth by about .2 percent is their 
estimate.
  So not only is this sensible, in fact the decent thing to do for 
millions of families, it is the smart thing to do for our economy. 
Because if we do not do it, we are literally seeing, under very 
rational estimates, 200,000 jobs disappear. What is the one thing 
everybody claims we need to do in this country right now? Put more 
people back to work.
  This extension has been scored at about $26 billion for the year. 
Traditionally, we have treated unemployment insurance as an emergency 
expenditure. We have not offset it. That tradition has been abandoned 
recently and we have had to come up with offsets. But there are 
offsets. There are tax loopholes that should be closed. There are 
provisions that encourage companies to move jobs overseas that we can 
close and pay for this.
  There are other provisions that would stop subsidizing significant 
multimillion dollar corporate benefits so American families can have a 
chance. These loopholes we have talked about--and many of my colleagues 
talked about--they should be closed anyway. But if it helps pay for 
unemployment insurance, that is not only good, that is something that 
would be a very positive step forward.
  We need to extend these benefits not only for the individual families 
but for the overall economy. We have to start immediately. We are 
running out of time. We have just 2 weeks. Nothing is more important 
than getting people back to work. As I said, if we do not do this, we 
are going to see 200,000 jobs that are going to be forgone in the next 
year. So this is about jobs, as well as it is about keeping families 
together and keeping them able to provide for their basic needs.
  It is progrowth. It is smart. I hope we can come together and do it. 
I hope again--I appreciate certainly the objection of the Senator from 
North Dakota. But I hope we can find a way to not object but to move 
forward together. The benefits cut across party lines. If you look at 
the States that are suffering the most--as we all know, the 
unemployment compensation program is a tiered program. It depends upon 
the level of unemployment in our States. But if you look at the States 
that are suffering the most, and unfortunately I am going to have to 
say Rhode Island is one of them. Nevada has the highest unemployment 
rate, 9.3. We are right behind them, 9.2 percent.
  It has been 5 long years of unacceptable and elevated unemployment. 
It has come down from above 10 percent, but it is still much too high. 
But this is not a regional phenomenon. Illinois, 8.9 percent 
unemployment; Mississippi, 8.5 percent unemployment; Kentucky, 8.4 
percent unemployment; North Carolina, 8 percent unemployment; Georgia, 
8.1 percent unemployment; Arizona, 8.2 percent unemployment. These are 
tough numbers. It is not concentrated in one place; it is across this 
entire country. This is not a red issue or a blue issue. This is an 
American issue for workers who have worked and now cannot find jobs and 
need support. There is something else that is important to mention; 
that is, we have seen some progress on the jobs front. The last report 
showed we actually grew last month, 203,000 jobs. That is the good 
news. The bad news is despite this improvement, long-term unemployment 
remains high.
  More than 4 million workers, 37 percent of those unemployed, were 
jobless for 27 weeks or longer in November. So what we are seeing is 
some short-term movement, but the longer term unemployment, the ones 
who qualify for the Federal benefits, they are still finding it 
virtually--very difficult, if not impossible, to find work.
  That is exactly what this Federal program is designed to fix. Those 
long-term unemployed who are in an environment, in a State where the 
economy is not working as well as some other States. There are some 
States that are doing exceptionally well. I am glad for them. But there 
are more, as I said before, who are experiencing unacceptably high 
unemployment rates.
  This program started to take shape in its most recent incarnation in 
June 2008, when President George W. Bush signed the program into law. 
When he did it, the unemployment rate was 5.6 percent and the average 
duration of unemployment was 17.1 weeks. So we are looking now at a 
situation that nationally and in many States is much higher than when 
we initiated this program back in 2008.
  Now is not the time to stop, and in order to get this done, we have 
to move expeditiously. There is not time for elaborate hearings. There 
is not time for conferences with the House. The House is proposing to 
leave this Friday. We have to move immediately.
  Today, our national unemployment rate is 7 percent. The duration of 
unemployment is 37.2 weeks. That is 7 percent compared to 5.6 and 37.2 
weeks compared to 17.1 weeks. We still need this program to help the 
families of this Nation. We can't end it now. We have to move forward, 
particularly during this holiday season.
  The reality--and finally to make this point--is that people will be 
looking at a new year coming with the knowledge

[[Page 18378]]

that what little benefit they are getting as they search for work--an 
average of $300 a week--is gone. That is a tough reality, to look at 
your family on New Year's Day and understand that you don't have those 
resources.
  So we have to act, and I hope we can.
  With that, I yield the floor for my colleague and his comments.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from North Dakota.
  Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, I objected earlier, and I want to express 
my appreciation to the good Senator from Rhode Island. I understand his 
concerns, but I want to take a minute just to explain the objection 
that we have.
  I don't think there is anyone in this Chamber who is indifferent to 
the plight of the long-term unemployed. However, this legislation falls 
under the jurisdiction of the Senate Finance Committee and, as of yet, 
the committee has not had the opportunity to consider it.
  There are a number of concerns that Members on our side of the aisle 
have with the legislation, most notably the price tag. According to the 
CBO, a full 1-year extension of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation 
Program would cost $25 billion for a single year. That is the cost of 
this bill, and the bill contains no offsets to cover that cost.
  So the Senate Finance Committee needs to have an opportunity to 
consider this legislation to find a way to pay for it. In addition, the 
committee needs to have an opportunity to consider alternatives. Rather 
than simply providing additional benefits to the unemployed, hopefully 
we can come up with something that really helps them get back to work. 
Republicans are willing to consider such ideas and need to have an 
opportunity to do so through the committee process.
  It is on that basis that I object to my colleague's unanimous consent 
request.
  I thank the Chair for the time and the courtesy of my colleague.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Rhode Island.
  Mr. REED. Mr. President, I certainly respect my colleague from North 
Dakota for stating his principled position. I think we can both agree 
on one thing: We have to start moving very quickly because this reality 
is moving very rapidly on 1.3 million Americans. I hope we can move 
forward.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Louisiana.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I too hope we can resolve the issue my 
colleagues were just discussing. It is an important one for the 
country. We are very blessed in Louisiana to have a relatively low 
unemployment rate because our economy is doing so well, in large 
measure because of extraordinary new technologies, which I think the 
Chair understands as well in Indiana, where they used to discover oil 
and gas, and particularly natural gas in places and in ways we never 
thought possible. That is creating a real resurgence of manufacturing 
in our State, and that is benefiting not only us and our neighbors 
along the gulf coast, but it is benefiting States all over America.
  The economic numbers, despite the great challenges we have here in 
the Congress on our budget, on paying down our debt, on reducing our 
annual deficit, on procedural measures and how to run the Senate and 
work more effectively on behalf of the people of all of our States, are 
really quite good in North Dakota, in South Dakota, in Texas, 
Louisiana, and other States. They are experiencing really very low 
numbers of unemployment because the jobs are plentiful. Our challenge 
is, just to comment briefly, on training the workforce we are going to 
need to fill all the jobs we have. These are very good-paying jobs, 
some starting at $40,000 or $60,000 a year--construction, welders--
going up to $125,000. Some are temporary, but many of them will be 
permanent.
  So I hope we can resolve this unemployment issue, because, 
unfortunately, in Senator Reed's State--the State of Rhode Island--and 
in 20 other States there is very high unemployment. In some States it 
might still be over 9 percent. They are chronically unemployed because 
of the competition of globalization and other factors. So I think we 
have to try to find a way to work together as a Nation. As I said, 
Louisiana is blessed to have relatively low unemployment, but we have a 
big job skills training gap we are working on in our State.


VETERANS AFFAIRS MAJOR MEDICAL FACILITY LEASE AUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2013

  Mr. President, I want to actually talk a few minutes this evening 
about a very important bill the House just passed by an extraordinary 
vote of 346 to 1. My colleague, Congressman Boustany in the House, was 
the lead sponsor, and I want to really congratulate him for his 
extraordinary work on this particular bill. It is something he and I 
have worked together on across party lines. He is a Republican and I am 
a Democrat, but we worked very closely together to get this entire bill 
passed not only for the benefit of Louisiana--which is shaded here on 
this chart as one of the States that would benefit--but we can see here 
how many other States between 2013 and 2017 will be affected positively 
by the passage of this bill.
  The bill is the Veterans Affairs Major Medical Facility Lease 
Authorization Act. That is a mouthful, but it takes important action. 
It basically uses the guidance of the Office of Management and Budget--
we received a letter from them at my request--and formulates a piece of 
legislation that will allow the Veterans Administration to build 
clinics the way they have been building clinics for our veterans--who 
really need the highest and best quality care--using a lease 
arrangement.
  The reason we had to pass this bill--and I will be working with 
Senator Vitter and many others to ask unanimous consent at the proper 
time for this bill to pass through the Senate--is because about 6 years 
ago there was an administrative ruling that basically stopped the 
ability of the Veterans Affairs Department to be able to build these 
very needed veterans clinics by using a lease.
  Internally, the administration just decided to score it differently. 
That threw lots of sand into the gears, and those gears have been stuck 
for 6 years. In our State, veterans in Lafayette and in Lake Charles 
have been waiting and waiting and waiting. We had some added 
complications, which the Veterans Administration has taken the blame 
for, in that the bid process that was used initially for one of our 
clinics was defective and they had to throw it out.
  But the end of this sad story is that a great bill passed the House 
of Representatives, literally just a few hours ago, and I wanted to 
come to the floor to say how proud I am of Congressman Boustany and his 
dogged pursuit of justice. The district of Congressman Boustany is in 
the part of the State where these two clinics will be built, in 
Lafayette and Lake Charles, so I worked closely with him, as has 
Senator Vitter, to make sure we brought some clarity and focus to this 
issue in order to move forward. As the bill moved through to help us 
with our problem, it turns out it is also going to help many other 
States that are scheduled for veterans clinics.
  I also want to thank Congressman Miller of Florida, who is the chair 
of the VA committee. He worked very closely with Congressman Boustany. 
Also I want to thank Bernie Sanders, our Senator from Vermont who 
chairs our committee here. Senator Sanders--whose desk is right here, 
next to mine--has been very supportive of this effort. While I am not 
going to ask unanimous consent at this moment, he and I have had a 
discussion earlier today about how strongly he supports this effort and 
how much he wants to help us get this done.
  There are 27 clinics in 22 States. This process--or nightmare, I 
should say--began in Louisiana about 6 years ago. Four years ago the 
ruling was made, but our legislation that was passed in the House will 
override that and basically set us on a course that is both fiscally 
responsible and so important to our veterans. We must honor the 
promises we made to them that we would provide clinics close enough so 
they could access them and so they are not driving hundreds of miles 
for regular care. We can be very smart in the way

[[Page 18379]]

we design these leases so it will be a benefit to the taxpayer, a 
benefit to the veterans and it will really meet our obligation to them.
  So again, the bill just passed the House, and tomorrow I will be 
asking unanimous consent, along with Senator Vitter, to move this bill, 
to get it to the President's desk and get it signed so that veterans 
who have been waiting--particularly in our State--for so long will have 
something extra special to celebrate this Christmas holiday.
  I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                       COMMENDING SENATOR MURRAY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, a couple years ago I surprised everyone--but 
I didn't surprise myself--when I selected Patty Murray as chair of the 
supercommittee. At the time Patty was chairman of the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, she was a member of the Budget Committee, and I thought she 
would do a remarkably good job because I had such faith in her 
integrity, her temperament, her wisdom, and her ability to get things 
done.
  The country should be so pleased with the work she was able to do on 
a bipartisan basis with Paul Ryan. It is really a kind of 
unconventional pair working together to come up with a budget that we 
can work on for 2 years. We have numbers now. I am very pleased that 
budget negotiators Murray and Ryan have come up with an agreement today 
that will roll back the painful arbitrary cuts of sequester and prevent 
another costly government shutdown. I again commend Budget Committee 
chairman Patty Murray for making this possible. But it is also fair--
and I hope this doesn't get him in trouble in the House--to say that 
Chairman Ryan also worked hard. It was a compromise. We didn't get what 
we wanted, they didn't get what they wanted, but that is what 
legislation is all about--working together. ``Compromise'' is not a bad 
word.
  We believed all along that Congress should set sound fiscal policy 
through the regular order of the budget process and not through 
hostage-taking or crisis-making. We will have a lot more to say about 
this in the days to come, but this is a good day for our country.

                          ____________________