[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2447-2449]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




COMPREHENSIVE VETERANS HEALTH AND BENEFITS AND MILITARY RETIREMENT PAY 
               RESTORATION ACT OF 2014--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 297.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report.
  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, following my remarks and those of the 
Republican leader, the Senate will resume consideration of the 
conference report to accompany H.R. 2642, the farm bill. The time until 
12:30 p.m. will be equally divided and controlled between the two 
leaders or their designees.
  The Senate will recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for 
the weekly caucus meetings. At approximately 2:35 p.m. there will be a 
rollcall vote on the adoption of the farm bill conference report.


                           Visionary Remarks

  Mr. REID. While the President pro tempore is here, I want to make a 
brief comment.
  The headlines over the last couple of days have been about the 
death--in my opinion--of one of the great actors of our time, Philip 
Seymour Hoffman. He obviously died from a drug overdose of heroin.
  The reason I wanted to say a word while the President pro tempore is 
presiding is because the Governor of Vermont was very visionary in 
directing his State of the State remarks this year to the scourge of 
heroin addiction that is sweeping the Nation. It really is a scourge.
  According to everything I have been able to learn, it is kind of 
unique. We have people who start off with some kind of prescription 
drug and then wind up with this stuff that has been prepared by 
purveyors of evil. They don't know what is in it. There are some who 
believe they use baby laxative or other ingredients that look like 
heroin. It is a terrible shame.
  I will send the Governor a letter, but I want to make sure my good 
friend from Vermont personally tells the Governor what a--I can't find 
a better word--visionary he was in the remarks he gave a few weeks ago.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Booker). The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Record will indicate that I opened the 
Senate in my role as President pro tempore, and now the distinguished 
Senator from New Jersey is in the Chair.
  I wish to respond to the distinguished senior Senator from Nevada and 
thank him for what he said.
  I was in Montpelier, which is our capital, on Friday, and I spent 
some time with Governor Peter Shumlin, who did his State of the State 
message on this subject, as the distinguished Senator from Nevada has 
said. I talked to him about it. I will call him later this morning and 
tell him what the leader said. I am also going to wear my hat as chair 
of the Judiciary Committee and do a hearing on this issue.
  Ours is a very special and very precious State, but I think it points 
out that every State in the Union can face this problem. While on the 
national news this morning, Governor Shumlin was great and focused the 
attention of this issue on many States.
  I will close by saying to my dear friend from Nevada that I 
appreciate his comments. He knows how precious Vermont is to me and 
Governor Shumlin, and I will make sure the Governor knows what he said.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.


                            A Man of Stature

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I had a meeting with a number of Senators 
this morning, and one of the topics of conversation was the Presiding 
Officer's first speech--the so-called maiden speech--he gave last 
night. It was stunningly good, substantive, and it came from the heart. 
That is what many Senators told me this morning, and I agree. As I told 
the Presiding Officer last night, I had to go to a quick meeting, so I 
watched most of it from my office. The Senator's speech was so 
important. The speech focused on dealing with people who are in need.
  This good man, who is presiding over the Senate now, is a man of 
stature. He is extremely talented academically. He is a Stanford 
graduate and decided he would do public service. In the process of 
doing public service, he identified with the people who needed help.
  He moved into a neighborhood that you would not think a mayor of the 
city would live in, but he did that because he wanted to feel the pulse 
of the people. It is obvious from the speech given last night that the 
Presiding Officer does understand the pulse of the people of his State.
  We all admired him before he got here, and we admire him even more 
now.


                Measure Placed On The Calendar--S. 1982

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk 
entitled S. 1982 due for a second reading.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the bill by title for the 
second time.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1982) to improve the provision of medical 
     services and benefits to veterans, and for other purposes.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings with 
respect to this bill at this time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection having been heard, the bill will be 
placed on the calendar.


                              The Economy

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last night I had the good fortune to spend 
some time with the President, along with Michael Bennet and others. It 
was worth commenting on that meeting with the President about the 
address he gave a week ago to the Congress and to the Nation.
  He addressed Congress and the Nation and described the challenges 
facing families in America. Wages are far

[[Page 2448]]

too low, the cost of education is far too high, and there are simply 
far too few jobs.
  Each of these challenges places another stumbling block in front of 
Americans striving to enter the middle class, as well as the middle 
class trying to do their best to hang on to their status as part of the 
middle class. The middle class is being squeezed. The rich are getting 
richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is being 
squeezed really hard.
  Unless we open the doors of opportunity, every child in this Nation--
our grandchildren--will no longer be able to do what we expect our 
grandchildren to be able to accomplish. Every child in this Nation--our 
grandchildren--will have to work longer and harder than we did just to 
get by, let alone just to get ahead.
  Yesterday I read a story with interest. It was a long, well-
researched story in the New York Times. It was in the business section. 
That piece argued that the richest families and the most successful 
corporations in America should be just as worried about these trends--
the shrinking middle class--as the Presiding Officer and I are.
  The article described the widespread failure of businesses that cater 
to the middle class. I repeat that: The widespread failure of 
businesses that cater to the middle class. Why? Because the middle 
class is going away.
  While high-end retailers such as Barneys and Nordstrom flourish, mid-
priced retailers such as JCPenney and Loehmann's stumble. Loehmann's 
actually filed bankruptcy. While posh restaurant chains such as Capital 
Grille prosper, more modest eateries such as Red Lobster are sinking.
  The Times wrote:

       As politicians and pundits in Washington continue to spar 
     over whether economic inequality is in fact deepening, in 
     corporate America there really is no debate at all. The post-
     recession reality is that the customer base for businesses 
     that appeal to the middle class is shrinking as the top tier 
     pulls even farther away.

  Industry analysis says businesses that sell luxury goods to the top 1 
percent are booming. Over the past 30 years, the top 1 percent has had 
their wealth increase three times while during that same 30-year period 
of time the earning capacity of the middle class has been cut by 10 
percent.
  Sadly, businesses such as Family Dollar, which caters to the growing 
ranks of working families barely scraping by, are also thriving. Why? 
Nordstrom is a great place. I love Nordstrom. They have a great return 
policy. I am glad they are doing well. But Family Dollar is thriving 
because many people who were middle class are now poor.
  Families are not going out for spaghetti and meatballs. They are not 
even going out for hamburgers like they used to. They are not buying 
their kids new jeans or backpacks. They pass them down from child to 
child.
  I can remember--it has been over a year ago--when I went to this 
program in North Las Vegas, NV. There are a lot of poor people in North 
Las Vegas. They were giving away backpacks with some pencils and paper. 
It was before school started. Those backpacks were so--I don't want to 
denigrate the wonderful things that people did--cheap. The backpacks 
had names of businesses on them.
  These children lined up with their parents for as far as you could 
see. They were desperate for a backpack. It was not a very good one, 
but they didn't have one. So they are not buying their kids backpacks 
like they used to. Purchases that once seemed to be modest treats have 
become unaffordable luxuries.
  While the economy is growing in spite of this trend, economists worry 
that the growth is unsustainable. One economist told the Times:

       It's going to be hard to maintain strong economic growth 
     with such a large proportion of the population falling 
     behind. We might be able to muddle along--but can we really 
     recover?

  That is the question.
  In other words, our fortunes are bound together. A shrinking middle 
class isn't just a problem for families in the middle; it is a problem 
for businesses, large and small. It is a problem that should worry the 
top 1 percent of wealthy Americans as much as it worries the 99 percent 
who are under that 1 percent. Can we really recover when so many of us 
are falling behind? It is a fair question and an extremely troubling 
question. Our entire economy is at risk unless we act now to protect 
and grow the middle class whose purchase power is the backbone of our 
economy.
  How can we do that? We can create some jobs which we as a Congress 
have not done because every time we try, there is obstruction from the 
Republicans. But to achieve this goal of protecting and growing the 
middle class, President Obama called for commonsense investments in our 
future. He has called for investments in 21st century infrastructure--
those old-fashioned structures such as roads and bridges and dams--as 
well as the new, including renewable energy projects such as solar, 
wind, and geothermal, which would create lots and lots of jobs; then 
cutting-edge technology such as the new Tesla vehicle, an all-electric 
vehicle. I have spoken with Elon Musk who is talking about building 
another big factory someplace in the West.
  Investment in universal preschool is so important. Other countries 
are doing it. Why don't we have it mandatory for every 4-year-old?
  And affordable college. Seated next to me is the assistant leader. He 
identified a problem years ago which is that kids are being burdened 
with debt, trying to go to college. Frankly, a lot of the money these 
young men and women borrow goes to schools that don't produce anything.
  Investments in medical research. My colleagues heard me cough. I, for 
the first time in my life, a couple of weeks ago got the flu. I never 
had the flu before. I wasn't very sympathetic with people who missed 
work because of the flu. I am now sympathetic. The flu is devastating. 
I was so sick. At my home in Searchlight, we didn't have a thermometer. 
By the time we had someone bring one over from Vegas, my fever was very 
high. I started the medication Tamiflu not as early as I should have, 
and it turned into bronchitis.
  The reason I mention this--again, speaking about my friend, the 
senior Senator from Illinois--he went yesterday to NIH, the National 
Institutes of Health. I went there a couple of months ago. We should be 
embarrassed by what we have done as a Congress to NIH. We have cut 
them. And the reason I mention my flu is because when I went there, I 
learned they are so close to having a flu shot that covers all flu--
everything. They are so close. What do they need to go the extra mile? 
More money. The devastation of sequestration has hurt the National 
Institutes of Health significantly. Chairman Murray did some good work 
to help in the future, but money we have lost because of sequestration 
is gone. We have not been fair to the National Institutes of Health. 
They are doing lifesaving work there, and other countries are trying to 
match what we have done with the National Institutes of Health. They 
can't; we are way ahead, but we will not remain ahead unless we put 
some money into the National Institutes of Health.
  We need to help companies that build their products here in America. 
I go out of my way to buy New Balance shoes, running shoes. Why? They 
are made in America. The suit I am wearing, Hickey Freeman, is made in 
America, and I am proud of that.
  The President also called on Congress to increase the Federal minimum 
wage to $10.10 an hour--a huge step forward guaranteeing that no 
American working full time lives in poverty as they now do, as the 
Presiding Officer so well illustrated last night. This proposal of 
raising the minimum wage has been endorsed by seven Nobel Prize-winning 
economists. I don't know the political persuasion of these Nobel Prize-
winning economists, but they are all persuaded that what we have done 
to the working poor is wrong and we have to do something about it. The 
proposal would raise millions of families out of poverty and give tens 
of millions of children a shot at graduating from college, securing 
high-paying jobs, and joining the middle class.

[[Page 2449]]

  There is something else Congress should do to prevent hundreds of 
thousands of Americans from descending into poverty: Extend 
unemployment benefits. In the month we have cut off these benefits 
because of obstruction by my Republican colleagues the country has lost 
more than $2 billion in purchasing; the State of Nevada $30 million. So 
we could do something now to prevent hundreds of thousands of Americans 
from descending into poverty. A 57-year-old woman--I read a part of her 
letter yesterday--said: How do you think I feel going from friend to 
friend to sleep on their couch? Couch surfing we call it. She said: 
That only lasts so long. I am selling everything I have. I don't have a 
home. I am trying to sell everything I have so if I get an opportunity 
for a job interview, I can buy gas for my car.
  We must extend unemployment benefits because 1.6 million people have 
been out of work for months. These benefits will ensure that more than 
2.3 million children have nutritious meals and a safe place to sleep 
while their parents hunt for jobs. Renewing emergency unemployment 
insurance would prevent Americans who have worked hard to get ahead 
from losing their grip on the ladder of success. Restoring unemployment 
benefits is by no means enough to secure our shrinking middle class, 
but it certainly is a good first step.


                   recognition of the minority leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.


                           EPA Overregulation

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, over the past several years, I have 
often come to the floor of the Senate to draw attention to the Obama 
administration's radical environmental agenda and the deeply harmful 
effects it is having on the people of Kentucky. The Environmental 
Protection Agency's war on coal is the most obvious and tragic example.
  Today I wish to highlight this administration's environmental agenda 
at perhaps its most absurd. At the heart of our story is a 2\1/2\ inch 
minnow--a 2\1/2\ inch minnow called the duskytail darter--a 2\1/2\ inch 
minnow called the duskytail darter.
  Last week, the Obama administration sided with this minnow over the 
economic well-being of thousands of people in southeastern Kentucky who 
live near or depend on Lake Cumberland as a major driver of commerce, 
tourism, and recreation. The Obama administration did this by 
determining that the presence of the darter in the lake's tributaries 
meant that the raising of the lake's water level must be further 
delayed.
  Lake Cumberland is a signature tourist destination in my State and 
one of the economic pillars of McCreary, Clinton, Laurel, Russell, 
Pulaski, and Wayne Counties. The water level of the lake was lowered 
back in January of 2007 due to problems with the dam which feeds the 
lake.
  The past 7 years of reduced water levels have not only hurt small 
businesses that rely on tourism but have also strained local 
governments, as local towns have had to lower their water intake. 
Marinas have had to spend valuable dollars on both ramp upgrades and 
dock relocations--dollars that could have been spent on growing 
businesses, hiring new workers, and enhancing local commerce.
  In addition, the drawdown of water has deterred tourism, as a 
misperception has been created among potential visitors that the lake 
is no longer suitable for boating, fishing, and water sports.
  Every year, Lake Cumberland brings to the local community $200 
million in economic activity and employs, on average, 6,000 people. 
Understandably, those in the local community have been anxious to see 
the water levels returned to their normal level, after 7 years of 
reduced water level.
  2014 was supposed to be a great year for Lake Cumberland, as 
Kentuckians would mark the end of 7 years' worth of repairs to the dam 
and, therefore, reduced water levels and fewer visitors. Now, suddenly, 
the Obama administration has announced that the water level cannot be 
raised because it could potentially have a harmful effect on this 
minnow, the duskytail darter, which is on the endangered species list.
  The absurdity of the Obama administration's posture on this issue is 
manifest. First, the administration is protecting a fish from water. 
Let me get this straight: Protecting a fish from water? The radical 
environmentalists in the Obama administration don't want this fish to 
be exposed to too much water? What is next, protecting birds from too 
much sky?
  Second, the administration took this action because raising the water 
could--could, not would--potentially--potentially--have an adverse 
effect on this poor little minnow. Of course, anything in the universe 
could have an adverse effect on this minnow. To the people of 
southeastern Kentucky, the President's year of action is apparently 
beneficial only if you have gills.
  The story of the darter would be humorous if it weren't so harmful to 
the economic well-being of thousands of southeastern Kentuckians. This 
misguided policy will have deeply harmful consequences for this region 
of Kentucky.
  Carolyn Mounce, who is responsible for promoting tourism at Lake 
Cumberland at the Somerset/Pulaski Convention and Visitors Bureau, put 
it best when she said: ``[This is] bureaucracy run amok!'' Bureaucracy 
run amok, said Carolyn Mounce. She just returned from attending travel 
and tourism shows in Cincinnati and Louisville 2 weeks ago.
  She said:

       The shows were crowded . . . people wanted to talk about 
     Lake Cumberland. They were excited about returning the lake 
     to normal operation. And now this.

  J.D. Hamilton, who operates Lee's Ford Resort Marina in Lake 
Cumberland in Nancy, KY, was also disappointed to learn of this 
announcement. Disappointed is an understatement, as his business has 
been stifled by the lowering of water over the last 7 years. In 
response to this announcement, he said, ``The Corps is keeping its word 
to the fish but not to the economy.''
  So, yesterday, my friend and colleague Senator Rand Paul and I, along 
with our colleagues in the House, Congressman Rogers and Congressman 
Whitfield, wrote the administration calling for an end to this 
intolerable further delay. I hope the Obama administration will take 
heed and concern itself more with endangered jobs and endangered 
livelihoods of actual Kentuckians and Americans than with the possible 
endangerment of this apparently water-averse minnow.

                          ____________________