[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Pages 4681-4682]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                UKRAINE

  Mr. REID. The first item the Senate will consider, as I have already 
indicated, is a bipartisan package of aid to Ukraine. It includes 
sanctions against Russia for their untoward actions against their 
neighbor, Ukraine. As we prepare to debate this measure, I advise all 
Senators it is customary to show respect for the President--I am 
confident everyone will--when he is overseas. He is at a nuclear 
conference over there in Europe as we speak and it is an important 
meeting. President Putin is not there, but he has sent his Foreign 
Minister, as I understand it.
  As we begin debate on this aid and sanctions package, I also hope the 
Republicans who stopped action on this legislation prior to the break 
have considered how their obstruction affects our great country's 
national security as well as the people in Ukraine, who are struggling 
so very much.
  Since this was blocked by some Republicans, these important sanctions 
have not taken place. Russian lawmakers voted to annex Crimea and 
Russian forces have taken over, in many instances by force, military 
bases in Crimea. It is impossible to know whether events would have 
unfolded differently if the United States had responded to Russian 
aggression with a strong unified voice, which we did not do.
  When a few extreme Republicans blocked action on this robust bill, 
which was reported out of the Foreign Relations Committee with a strong 
bipartisan vote, and then, when it came to the Senate floor, we sent a 
very weak message to the Russians by indicating we will work on this 
later; we won't do it now. In spite of what some Republicans did with 
their obstruction, President Obama moved forward with additional 
sanctions, and I am glad he did. The President is working closely with 
our European allies to impose the most effective sanctions possible. 
That is, in effect, what he is working on today.
  In light of such clear-cut aggression against Ukraine, which 
continued as late as yesterday, it is difficult to believe Republicans 
blocked that package at all, but they did and it is almost unimaginable 
why they did this. They blocked aid to Ukraine in order to protect the 
anonymity of their big-time donors. They are saying: We will give the 
President the tools he needs to help the beleaguered people of Ukraine 
but only if--only if--the 501(c)4 work being done by the Internal 
Revenue Service and the Treasury Department is stopped.
  That is pretty absurd, but that is the truth. It is all over the news 
today. So Republicans delayed this aid package for 10 days in order to 
protect the Koch brothers and billionaires just like them. That is very 
hard to believe, but it is true. Republicans objected to moving forward 
with this aid package in order to protect the ability of the Koch 
brothers and other GOP donors to hide behind shadowy front groups--
groups that spend millions on political attack ads. This is the reason 
for holding up something that is so important to 46 million Ukrainians 
and important to our country. It is important for our security. But 
they objected to moving forward with this aid package unless, I repeat, 
we agreed to allow the Kochs and billionaires just like them to 
continue anonymously spending millions and millions of dollars trying 
to buy America's democracy. Hard to believe, but it is true.
  I applaud so very much the ranking member of the Foreign Relations 
Committee, the junior Senator from Tennessee, as well as the senior 
Senator from Arizona, John McCain, for their impassioned defense of 
this bill prior to the break. No one spoke more fluently and with more 
articulation than those two good men. They joined in defending 
bipartisan sanctions and the role of the International Monetary Fund in 
stabilizing Ukraine's economy and keeping Ukraine free.
  The measure before the body includes vital loan guarantees, 
sanctions, and IMF funding. That is what they are holding up more than 
anything else. In the work we did on the omnibus, this was one of the 
last items we tried to get done--IMF funding. But even back then they 
would not agree to IMF funding unless Treasury stopped all work on 
looking at these secret shadowy groups. If the American people knew 
what they were doing--but they do not because they are hidden--these 
millions and millions they are spending on ads around the country are 
hidden behind phony organizations. We couldn't get that IMF funding in 
the omnibus

[[Page 4682]]

because Republicans opposed IMF funding unless they got relief from the 
Treasury Department.
  This legislation provides money for Ukraine--direct money. It is not 
very much. But if the money we in effect owe the International Monetary 
Fund was received by the IMF, they would be able to multiply that money 
many times over, what we put into this. As I recall, it is $600 
million. This would allow the International Monetary Fund to go to 
other countries that participate in IMF funding and it would generate 
more than the $600 million. Ukraine needs this money.
  We had Senator Durbin on a Sunday show, Senator Ayotte on a Sunday 
show speaking together about how this country needs our help. And 
without this money, the help we give will be just a pat on the back, 
not really much help. So I am very grateful to have the support of 
Democrats and Republicans--this is bipartisan--to move this aid package 
forward this evening.
  I hope the obstruction will stop. I am hopeful and somewhat confident 
this legislation will receive the strong bipartisan support it 
deserves.


                              Unemployment

  Like all Senators, I get lots and lots of letters and emails and 
phone calls each month. Some write, some call, pleading for additional 
unemployment benefits because they have been out of work and they can't 
find a job. The sad part about that is most of them are not kids. I 
mean that not in the negative sense. They are not young men and women. 
Many of them trying to find a job are in their fifties and sixties and 
they can't find work because they have been laid off because of the 
recession, depression--whatever we want to call it--and they can't find 
a job. They need this help.
  A number of these individuals have been driven into poverty. One 
thing we have to do this work period is do something about unemployment 
compensation, and we are going to try to do that. We have a bipartisan 
bill, and I so much appreciate the Republicans who have stood up and 
agreed to help us with that.


                              Health Care

  There are also people who call, and they are calling because they are 
happy. They have hope. They do that because for the first time in their 
adult lives they have health insurance or they have health insurance 
that is cheaper than they had last year. They have family members who 
are disabled and who can now get health insurance. They couldn't do it 
before because they were considered to have a preexisting disability. 
People who are disabled are really happy because they can get insurance 
for the first time in their lives or if they have had it in the past, 
it has been so outrageously costly that it was burdensome to them.
  Four years ago yesterday, President Obama signed the Affordable Care 
Act into law, making quality health care available to millions and 
millions of Americans for the first time in years. I talked to the 
President's Chief of Staff the day we left for our work period at home. 
In the 2 days prior to that, 80,000 people each day had signed up. Tens 
of thousands of people every day are signing up. We are fast 
approaching 6 million. Some say we will get over that.
  The mix of people who are signing up is good. It is a good mix. We 
have a lot of young people. There was a piece on public radio this 
morning of a young man 21 years old who never had insurance before but 
he said: You know, I need insurance, so I am going to buy some 
insurance. And it is really very inexpensive.
  Connecticut has such an unusual experience. They have two stores set 
up for people to come in and get their health insurance, and they have 
had thousands of people who have done that. Some people who aren't very 
computer literate have been able to go in and talk to somebody and sign 
up. They had the example of one woman who had struggled on the 
computer. She didn't know how to use it very well. She came in, and she 
saves $300 a month for her health care. So that is what Connecticut has 
done, but there are many messages of hope out there.
  Families have college-aged children who have stayed on their parents' 
health plans. Seniors have saved hundreds of dollars on their 
prescriptions because we are filling the doughnut hole.
  I have heard from entrepreneurs who finally--finally--can do what 
they want to do, which is go out and start a business of their own. 
They are entrepreneurs who have been locked into their jobs, but now 
they can leave. They are not locked into jobs to keep their health 
insurance; they can have health insurance on their own; they can strike 
out on their own without the fear of losing their health insurance. 
Women are benefiting from free preventive care, and people with 
preexisting conditions, which I have talked about, have signed up for 
health insurance for the first time. One lifelong Republican called 
recently to say that he and his son signed up for affordable insurance 
and saw the doctor for the first time in years. They had been without 
health insurance because of preexisting conditions they both have. But 
now that his insurance company can no longer discriminate against him 
or his son, they are getting the lifesaving care they need and deserve. 
In the long run, this saves huge amounts of money for us as a society.
  Across the country, families such as the one I just mentioned have 
been freed from the fear of going bankrupt or reaching an arbitrary 
lifetime cap if they get sick. The Affordable Care Act puts patients in 
charge of their own health care decisions. There are many others on the 
other side of the aisle who don't want this law to work. We are 
approaching 13 million people, right as we speak, who have insurance 
now--or are using the benefits of this would be a better way to say it. 
Six million people have signed up, and 3 million people are on their 
parents' health insurance because of this law. We have at least 5 
million or maybe more who are there because of Medicaid.
  This is wonderful. These people have health care. It is good for our 
country. I can't imagine what the Republicans expect done--just to say, 
OK, get rid of all insurance we have? They keep talking about repealing 
this bill. What are they talking about? They have had about 60 votes to 
repeal it. It doesn't work, and all the polling--which they don't talk 
about--is now saying: I am glad we have this. There are some who don't 
like the bill because they don't think it is strong enough.
  All the polls are somewhat misleading that the Republicans have been 
throwing around here, but they are still spending millions of dollars 
on disingenuous ads distorting the truth about the Affordable Care Act 
and how it is benefiting millions of Americans. We fought hard 4 years 
ago to pass this landmark expansion of quality, affordable health care, 
and we will fight just as hard to make sure the law works for every 
American family.

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