[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2192-2193]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




COMPREHENSIVE VETERANS HEALTH AND BENEFITS AND MILITARY RETIREMENT PAY 
                        RESTORATION ACT OF 2014

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 297, 
S. 1950.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 297, S. 1950, a bill to 
     improve the provision of medical services and benefits to 
     veterans, and for other purposes.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I was happy to move this on behalf of 
Chairman Sanders, who has put together this bill which is supported by 
25 different service organizations.
  Following my remarks this morning and those of the Republican leader, 
the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with the 
majority controlling the first half and Republicans the final half.
  Following morning business, the Senate will begin consideration of S. 
1926, the flood insurance legislation.
  We were able to reach an agreement for several amendments. All 
amendments must be offered by 3 p.m. today.
  Multiple rollcall votes are possible today. Senators will be notified 
when these votes are scheduled.


                              Our Economy

  Mr. President, over the last 45 months America's private sector has 
added more than 8 million jobs. We heard that from the President last 
night. The stock market has soared. Productivity has never in the 
history of our country been higher, and Americans have even started 
building and buying homes again. But while the economy is gaining 
momentum, for far too many Americans the hopeful headlines don't match 
the grim reality.
  For the last decades middle-class Americans have seen their paychecks 
shrink even as corporate profits climb and the wealthiest are doing 
better and better. As the President said last night, there is nothing 
wrong with people making money. We are all happy they are doing well. 
But the average CEO's income is multiplied 250 times, and the people 
who work for that CEO are making less and less every year. That has 
happened during the last years. The richest 1 percent have had their 
wealth increased by three times while during that same period of time 
the middle class has had its earning capacity drop 10 percent. Average 
Americans are working even longer and harder than they were 30 years 
ago and receiving less in the way of remuneration.
  The difference is this. Their hard work isn't paying off the way it 
used to. We must change that, and we can change that. It is not too 
late to ensure that Americans' success is determined by the strength of 
their spirit instead of the size of their bank account.
  Fifty years ago, in his first State of the Union Address, Lyndon 
Johnson declared unconditional war on poverty. We have seen a lot of 
news accounts on that anniversary during the last month or so. But here 
is what Lyndon Johnson said 50 years ago:

       Unfortunately, many Americans live on the outskirts of hope 
     . . . because of their poverty. . . . Our task is to help 
     replace their despair with opportunity.

  Thanks to the innovative programs created five decades ago, including 
Medicare and school lunch programs, the poverty rate has fallen 40 
percent since the 1960s. But there is so much work to do.
  The 67 richest Americans' net worth increased $2 billion on average 
last year. But during that same time, 1 million more American children 
dropped into poverty.
  So there is much more to do. Too many American families still live on 
the outskirts of hope, struggling to survive, and falling well short of 
the American dream.
  Last night President Obama laid out a plan to breathe new life into 
this country's struggling middle class. The President charted a course 
to build on the economic progress we have made over the last 45 months 
and to guarantee that progress is felt by every hard-working American. 
He challenged us--the Congress--to work with him to replace despair 
with opportunity. President Obama called for commonsense investments in 
our future--investments that have been deferred for too long.
  If America hopes to rebuild and maintain a world-class economy, we 
must build the 21st century infrastructure to support that economy and 
a cutting-edge energy supply to power it. We must prepare today's 
students for tomorrow's jobs by ensuring a higher education is within 
reach for every promising student. We must give small businesses and 
manufacturers the support they need to thrive, and we must ensure every 
American earns a living wage during their working years and has the 
opportunity to retire comfortably.
  I support the President's action to raise the minimum wage for 
private contractors who do work for the government, such as janitors, 
food servers, dish washers, and construction workers. But no American 
working a full-

[[Page 2193]]

time job should live in poverty, and Congress must act to raise the 
minimum wage for all our Nation's workers.
  A strong middle class--and an opportunity for every American to enter 
that middle class--is the key to this Nation's prosperity.
  Last night the President also asked us to renew our commitment to the 
principles on which this country was founded--the principles which made 
this country great: Fairness--basic fairness. We must make certain that 
every American, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race or 
income, has the opportunity to a full and equal participation in the 
workplace.
  There are no guarantees in life. Not everyone succeeds. But every 
American deserves a fair shot at that success.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

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


                       State of the Union Address

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to say a word this morning about 
the President's State of the Union speech. Let me say that I think 
Congresswoman McMorris Rodgers did a great job representing our party 
and the people of Washington State's Fifth District last night.
  Frankly, I wish the President had laid out an agenda half as hopeful 
as the one she did because the State of the Union address is always an 
important moment for our country. It is an opportunity for the two 
parties to come together with the President, members of the Supreme 
Court, and other government officials to show a kind of unity even in 
the midst of the great debates we have here every single day. It is a 
worthy tradition.
  Last night the President had a real chance to unite the Nation around 
a forward-looking agenda. He had a huge opportunity to reach to the 
middle and chart a new path--at a time when nearly 70 percent of 
Americans say the country is either stagnant or worse off now than when 
the President took office--that we are on the wrong path. It could have 
been a legacy-making moment. Instead, it was the same tired boilerplate 
we hear year after year.
  When you peel back all the adjectives and the anecdotes, all the 
platitudes and nods to the left, what remains for the middle class? 
Largely, the same tired policies that led us to this point--the same 
failed agenda with its legacy of stagnant unemployment, lower incomes, 
growing inequality, and crumbling pathways to the future. The only 
difference is that now the President wants to keep doing the same old 
thing, but without as much input from the people's elected 
representatives in Congress.
  It is basically all of the same policies, less of that pesky 
democratic accountability. The President didn't talk about embracing a 
positive new agenda last night. He didn't talk about reforming our Tax 
Code in a way that would drive private-sector growth and job creation. 
He didn't talk about finding serious ways to start reducing a massive 
$17 trillion debt that threatens to suffocate our economy and crush the 
dreams of our children. He didn't talk about saving Social Security and 
Medicare or about streamlining and slimming the size of government or 
about setting America's entrepreneurs and small businesses free to 
dream and to succeed.
  As for energy, the President's plans seem to boil down to more 
regulation and new taxes on energy production.
  For all of his talk of phones and pens, he didn't even mention using 
his pen to sign off on the Keystone Pipeline. It is the single, 
simplest action he could have taken to create jobs soon, and it is 
actually a project which would create jobs right away. It still can, if 
the President will just lead. Unions support it; powerful members of 
his own party support it. The American people overwhelmingly support 
it. But there is one small group that doesn't support it: Special 
interests on the far left. The special interests on the far left won 
last night, and the middle class lost.
  There is another big issue where the President turned his back on the 
middle class, and that of course is ObamaCare. The State of the Union 
was the President's opportunity to finally admit his mistakes and the 
painful consequences which have affected so many in Kentucky and around 
the country. It was a chance to call for a fresh, bipartisan beginning 
and to start over with true health reform that could really help 
middle-class families. Instead, he simply doubled down on failed 
policies.
  I know he tried to paint a rosy picture of life under this law in his 
speech, and I suppose that is natural. But he must know it is not a 
picture that reflects reality. He must know that Americans suffering 
under this law aren't going to buy the spin, and he must know that 
trying to sell Kentucky's ObamaCare bureaucracy as some kind of success 
story is, to the thousands and thousands of Kentuckians being hurt by 
it--well, it is, frankly, insulting.
  It is insulting to the quarter-million Kentuckians who have had their 
plans canceled because of this law. It is insulting to the families 
struggling to afford premiums that have on average increased by almost 
half across Kentucky. It is insulting to the taxpayers who have been 
forced to subsidize--to the tune of about $250 million in Kentucky 
alone--ObamaCare's restricted access to doctors and hospitals. It has a 
crushing effect on families and skyrocketing costs.
  So look. It is clear. President Obama missed the mark last night.
  On some issues he actually said the right things, such as on Trade 
Promotion Authority. That is a place where we can work together to 
create more American jobs, as long as the President can convince his 
own party to work constructively with us to do that. What he didn't say 
last night is that the only thing stopping us from creating more trade 
jobs is his own party. So we will see if he actually follows through on 
trade.
  But overall, the President mostly refused to budge from his failed 
policies. He refused to reach across the aisle in a way that would lead 
to immediate job growth opportunities. That is distressing news for our 
country. It is especially disheartening for the middle class, and it is 
disappointing for those of us who actually want to get big things done 
for our constituents, for those who do want to work with the President, 
who want to collaborate on smart, bipartisan policies that could 
finally--finally--get Americans back to work after years of this failed 
Obama economy. But we cannot do it without President Obama. He has to 
lead on trade, jobs, energy, the economy--whatever the issue.
  We are not going to give up. We are not going to stop trying to help 
him to see that Americans are calling for a new direction, for a 
forward leaning agenda that actually puts the middle class first and 
leaves tired leftwing ideas where they belong--in the history books. 
And when the President is ready to work with us, he should know we will 
be here waiting for him. We have always been here, actually, and many 
Members of his party, with other helpful ideas, have been here too, 
waiting for him--Democrats with smart ideas the President has not been 
willing to consider so far.
  All he needs to do is pick up the phone. If he is willing to actually 
work in a serious way with Members of both parties, we will send him 
some things to sign with that pen too.
  I yield the floor.


                       Reservation of Leader Time

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
leadership time is reserved.

                          ____________________