Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I appreciate the work Senator Warner is doing, along with Senator Hagan and Senator Udall. I came to the Senate 3\1/2\ years ago. I am personally not a lawyer, and I have, obviously, never sat as a judge, but I understand the custom here is that, typically, if there is a Senator from a State with the same party affiliation as the President, that Senator makes a recommendation to the President for a Federal judgeship or a district Federal judgeship, and normally the President will accept that. My senior Senator, my colleague from Ohio, is a Republican. So rather than block him out of the appointment process, the confirmation process, I asked him to join with me and we put together a committee for the northern district in Ohio for a judge vacancy. Actually, there were two, one in the northern district and we did one in the southern district. We had a panel of, I believe 17 people. The northern district panel was actually majority Republican. I am a Democrat; the President is obviously a Democrat. The southern district was a majority Democrat, barely. The panel did lengthy interviews of about 20 potential judges each--Federal judges--for the one vacancy in the northern district and the one in the southern district. In these interviews were people who were active in their communities, who donated their time and spent 2 or 3 full days. The panel then submitted to me the top three candidates in both the northern and southern districts, and I interviewed each of the three and chose who I thought would be the best Federal district judges. I then spoke with Senator Voinovich and he signed off on them. Both of these candidates were then submitted to the President, who in turn submitted them to the Senate and the Judiciary Committee. The Judiciary Committee voted overwhelmingly for each of them. Yet they still haven't come to a vote on the Senate floor. I couldn't have done this in a more bipartisan and fair way to make it happen, and I know Senator Voinovich wishes to move on these judges. He signed off on them, and on the day we announced them we put out a joint statement where we said these were important judgeships and that we had selected the right people. As Senator Cardin said, this is wrong. There are backlogs in these courts and, as Senator Hagan of North Carolina said, we need to fill these positions. As has been said, justice delayed is justice denied. There are backlogs both in the northern and southern district and we have these two ready to be voted on. We could do it today. It could be done by unanimous consent request, as Senator Udall of Colorado suggested. We could do that. There are now two new vacancies in Ohio, and so we will start that process. But it doesn't make sense that President Obama's district court nominees have waited twice as long after being favorably reported by the Judiciary Committee to be voted upon. So in addition to the other judges who have been vetted by a whole process--from the State senator to the FBI, to the President, to the Senate Judiciary Committee--it is time now for a vote. And most of these will be unanimous or close to it. I think there will be overwhelming support for Judge Pearson in the northern district and Judge Black in the southern district. They have proven they are ready to go and they would be good judges. Both are U.S. magistrates now, so they have gone through other vetting processes for those jobs. I hope my colleagues will decide to accept these and move on, because we have so many other things to do. This delay and obstructionism on judges is wrong and we need to move on. Madam President, I thank Senator Warner for his leadership on this issue.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Before finalizing the end of the day, I would add that in support of this resolution we will discuss tomorrow, in 1991, working for Ohio State University, I spent some time in Poland working with their government to transition from communism to democracy. And my friend Tomaz, who is a Polish academician, later rose to be the Minister of Culture in Poland. He was on that plane. I miss him. I had not seen him in years. But I miss him and the contribution he made to Poland and to our country in the work we did together on cultural issues, and certainly support this moment of silence and ask that we all remember the terrible thing that happened to so many of the leaders in Poland and what that means for how we have to come together and assist that country as it moves forward in another crisis that the great 38 million people of Poland face day after day.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 14; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then observe a moment of silence in solidarity with the people of Poland; that following the moment of silence, the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak on the topic of Poland; that following those statements, there be a period of morning business for 1 hour with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the final 30 minutes; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 4851, the Continuing Extension Act, as provided for under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, when the Senate convenes tomorrow, we will observe a moment of silence to express the Senate's solidarity with the people of Poland. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the Continuing Extensions Act. Under a previous order, if a point of order is raised against the pending Baucus amendment, then at 12:30 p.m. the Senate will proceed to a rollcall vote on the motion to waive the applicable point of order.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 344, S. Res. 409.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I noticed the senior Senator from Ohio, my colleague, was in the Chamber, and I wanted to thank him publicly for his vote yesterday, joining with three other Republicans Senators--Senators Collins, Snowe, and Brown, the new Senator from Massachusetts--in their vote to extend unemployment benefits. There is simply no reason this shouldn't be bipartisan--this extension of unemployment benefits. It is not solving all our Nation's problems, but it certainly stimulates the economy. It is the best use of public dollars to help the economy because when we extend unemployment benefits, we pay unemployment benefits to a family in Ashtabula or a family in Yellow Springs who ends up putting money into their community. They spend it at the local grocery store, the hardware store, or the department store. They are able to pay their property tax, which is money that goes to schools, and all of those things. So it clearly has a stimulative effect on the local economy. Even more than that, it is what we owe to people who are working hard, playing by the rules, and who can't find a job. We don't call it unemployment welfare. We call it unemployment insurance. I think all of us on both sides of the aisle, even though 30 of my colleagues worked against passing this legislation to extend unemployment benefits to people who are now unemployed but who were employed, understand, though maybe we need to have a little more instruction around here, that when people are employed, they pay into the system as insurance. When they are unemployed, they get assistance from the government to keep bread on the table, to keep their families fed. It is a pretty simple concept, and it has worked well for us for decades. I hear from my Republican colleagues who voted against the extension of unemployment benefits that the reason they did so is because it is not paid for and that it will blow a hole in the budget. I know the Presiding Officer, when he represented Boulder in his congressional district in Colorado before he came to the Senate--he was down the hall from me, and he remembers, as I do the time when we opposed the war in Iraq, and the Republicans who supported it, all but, I believe, three in the House and one in the Senate didn't think then about paying for that war. They didn't think about what that meant in terms of cost to their children and grandchildren when they passed that. We were both in the House, Senator Udall of Colorado and myself, and they didn't think about the cost when we passed the Medicare giveaway to the drug and insurance companies, which Senator Udall and I--then congressmen--opposed. They didn't say anything about paying for it in those days. They just added it to the credit card for our children and grandchildren. When they gave tax cuts to the richest Americans--hundreds of billions of dollars over 10 years to the wealthiest Americans--that was just added to the credit card of the future. It is only now they object to the cost, when it is unemployed workers--people whose lifestyle, people whose quality of life isn't close to the quality of life and the lifestyle and the standard of living that we enjoy, dressed like this, working in a place like this, this august body, with the privileges that surround us. It is only when we talk about people who have lost their jobs, who don't have privileges that we do now--and generally through no doing of their own, but simply because they lost their jobs because their company closed or they got laid off--that they object to the cost. Most of these workers were efficient workers who did what their employer asked. Yet we are going to be so stingy as to deny them unemployment compensation. It is not like they are sitting around with nothing to do and should be out working. I talked to dozens of people, as I am sure Senator Udall, the Presiding Officer, has, talked to dozens of people who tell me they send out 10 or 15, sometimes 25, sometimes 50 resumes every week or so to try to get a job. Usually these resumes go unanswered and possibly barely even looked at because these companies are not even hiring. It is a question of fairness. It is a question of good economics. It is a question, in some sense, of the privilege we enjoy here that they are denying even a shred of that same advantage, by refusing to extend their unemployment benefits and refusing to extend the assistance they could get for health care with the so-called COBRA program which allows them to keep the health insurance they had. It is at high cost--but not so prohibitively high a cost since we have been helping with that since the stimulus package and legislation I had written before the stimulus bill that included it in it that gave assistance to people who lost their insurance when they signed up for COBRA to keep what they had. I do not know what to think about their opposition. I hear them say it is about the budget deficit but I really wonder if it is because they didn't say it before when it was the tax cuts for the rich, the drug and insurance company giveaway, billions of taxpayer dollars, and the Iraq war. They never thought about paying for those things but they want to do it on the backs of unemployed workers. I do not get that. Let me make it more personal. I have two letters today. I talked to a lady from Painesville, OH, east of Cleveland, in Lake County right along Lake Erie. She wrote and then I actually called her today and talked to her. Her name is Barbara. She said: My son-in-law just got his last unemployment check. He has 2 kids, a $1,000 house payment, car insurance, gas is $3 a gallon, food bills, school clothes, school supplies, car maintenance. She writes: Oh yes, the kids like to eat. . . . They turn off the utilities when you do not pay them. . . . [P]lease vote to extend unemployment until jobs are available that pay more than minimum wage. She goes on to write: [We] need good paying jobs or unemployment right now. [My] daughter has bills she wants to pay. She said: [My] husband wants to work for money. She said: My kids don't want welfare. Again, I think perhaps the Republicans who voted en masse--with the exception again of four courageous Republicans, including my seatmate, Senator Voinovich, the senior Senator from my State, including the two Maine Senators and the Massachusetts Senator--perhaps they do not understand the difference between welfare and unemployment insurance. I wish they would pay more attention so that they did. This is again unemployment insurance. These people are not taking welfare. These are people who earned it. The second and last letter I will read--Janet from Toledo in northwest Ohio writes: I have been working since I was 14. I am going on 65. So Janet has worked 50 years or so. I had to take early retirements and I am [at] risk of losing my home. . . . Thank the Lord I kept my car, but I can't afford much else like health insurance. People like me are struggling. Giving unemployment . . . is giving money to people who have already earned it and paid into the system. She is not asking for herself but she is asking for the many people she sees in Oregon, OH, and Wauseon and Bryan and Toledo and Sylvania and all over northwest Ohio, people who again, as most Americans, play by the rules, work hard and simply ask for a fair shake. They want this unemployment insurance available, payments available to them. It is not a lot of money. It is not anything most of us would want to live on, on any kind of decent standard of living. It is enough to get them to pay their bills through the week, through the month, so their house will not be foreclosed on, so they can feed their children or whatever the basic needs of life are that are so important to them. I again thank the four Republicans who joined the Democrats in extending this legislation. I hope we can move forward this week, pass this legislation and get it to the President so we can get on with the job of figuring out how to put more people to work in this country. I spoke today, I did a conference call with several Ohio highway contractors to talk about what this meant to them, what we can do to get money so they can build more highways and bridges and water and sewer systems so they can help companies that want to expand do what they need to do to modernize and expand their plants so they can begin hiring people. That is our mission, extend unemployment benefits and figure out, working with the private sector, how we help them create jobs and get this economy back on track. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order with respect to H.R. 4851 and the Baucus amendment No. 3721 be modified to provide the vote on the motion to waive the Budget Act occur at 12:30 p.m., the additional time be divided as previously ordered, and the remaining provisions of the previous order still in effect.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I would like to associate myself with the remarks of Senator Kerry. We share an interest in providing appropriate accommodation for spiritual and religious care in a reformed health insurance market. No American should be left worse off as a result of health reform. Some spiritual care--including that which is provided by Christian Science practitioners and Christian Science nurses--has been covered by certain health insurance policies for decades. For example, four plans under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program cover religious nonmedical nursing care and/or Christian Science practitioner services. They are the Government Employees' Health Association, the Mail Handlers Benefit Plan, the Special Agents Mutual Benefit Association, and the Association Benefit Plan. Religious nonmedical nursing services are also covered under the Medicare and Medicaid Programs--42 U.S.C. Sec. 1395x(ss) and Sec. 1395i-5. TRICARE covers care in Christian Science nursing facilities, private duty Christian Science nursing services, and Christian Science practitioner services (10 U.S.C. Sec. 1079(a)(4)). And under section 223 of the Internal Revenue Code, funds contained in a health savings account may be used to pay for spiritual care (26 U.S.C. Sec. 223(d)(2)(A)). I have an interest in identifying a statutory way to affirm that health insurance companies may still cover this mode of care as part of their policies. Chairman Harkin has shown great leadership throughout health reform.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I thank the Senator for his assistance and look forward to working with him and Senator Kerry to ensure that appropriate protections for spiritual care are provided as health reform is implemented.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 269, S. 1749.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, that the Feinstein amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I would agree about the part about Lula Davis, for sure. We have all been back in our State for the last 2 weeks. I have been everywhere from Marietta to Cleveland to Toledo to Defiance to Youngstown to Columbus to Dayton--all over my State. There are a lot of things I hear. Of course there is a lot of pain. There are a lot of people who are looking for work, a lot of people who believe they are about to lose their health care or they have lost their health care. I heard a lot, frankly, of gratitude that Congress moved on this health insurance bill so that now, immediately, small business people in Ohio, whether they are in Marion or Mansfield, whether they are in Warren or Wapakoneta, have a much better chance because of these tax breaks that take effect immediately to insure their employees, something that most small businesses I know, whether they are in New Hampshire or Ohio, want to do. Also, we did not hear much of this during this debate, but the number of people who came up to me--and the majority leader was talking to me and he sees this in Nevada too--the number of people who came up to me in Youngstown or Cleveland or Bay Village or different places who have 22-year-old daughters or 20-year-old sons who might be home from the Army or home from college, finished college, finished their time in the Army and they do not have insurance and they cannot find a job with insurance. As a 23-year-old, it is pretty hard to find a job with decent health insurance. They like this new law because it means they can stay on their parents' health insurance until the age of 26. I heard people all over the State, in the 2 weeks I traveled in Ohio in the time since we have been talking here, talking with senior citizens in senior centers, talk about closing the doughnut hole. So the bill President Bush pushed through more than anything gave huge subsidies and giveaways to the drug companies and the insurance industry but now we are taking care of the seniors by closing the doughnut hole at the same time this health care bill will provide the seniors once a year an opportunity to get a physical with no copay. In spite of the difficulties people face, there is good news that way. There is some light at the end of the tunnel. When I was at a GM plant in Defiance, they are beginning to hire people to build the engine for the Cruise. The Cruise will be assembled in Lorantville, OH. They are hiring 1,100 people on the third shift. That was a decision President Obama made at the urging of many of us in the Senate--Senator Casey, Governor Strikland in Ohio, many others--to enforce U.S. trade laws on oil country tubular steel which we use for piping for oil and gas lines--oil and gas drilling. That company in Youngstown, V&M Star Steel, is hiring 400 people and probably more in the future. We are hearing some pieces of good news. That doesn't mean anyone thinks this recession is over. It does not mean there is yet that much good news. It means people are still struggling and it shows how important it is to do what we did today. In spite of 34 Republicans opposed to the bill, we were able to get 4 Republican votes. I applaud the four of them: the newest Senator here, Senator Brown from Massachusetts; Senators Collins and Snowe from Maine, the neighboring State of the Presiding Officer; and Senator Voinovich, the senior Senator from my State--Senator Voinovich, who is retiring at the end of the year. They all voted to move forward on unemployment compensation. It is too bad that Senator Coburn and Senator Bunning, day after day, tried to block the extension of unemployment. It looks as though we are going to be able to move forward now. There seems to be some misunderstanding about what unemployment is. It is not called unemployment welfare, it is called unemployment insurance. That means all of us who are lucky enough, in this economy we have been in in the last couple or 3 years, to have jobs, all pay into an unemployment fund, we pay into an insurance fund. If we lose our jobs, the money we have paid in as insurance, we get assistance. Many people never receive unemployment insurance, just as some people don't use their health insurance if they are healthy. But those who are sick sometimes get more money out of their health insurance than they put in. Some people put into unemployment insurance, get more out if they lose their jobs and they are unemployed for a long time. That is why this bill is so important, because it is unemployment insurance. That means if people lose their jobs, they should get some help. It is the right thing to do morally. It is also the right thing to do for the economy because if people are getting unemployment insurance, they are spending that money in Zanesville at the local drugstore, they are spending that money in Cambridge at the local grocery store, in Springfield and Xenia, OH, to buy books and to buy clothes for their kids for school. So unemployment insurance gives the economy a bump and some help and some stimulus. It goes back into the economy quicker than anything else government can do--unemployment insurance. That is the other reason it is important. Then I heard my colleagues say we are for unemployment insurance extension and we are for helping with COBRA, the health care subsidy, so people can stay in their health care plan after they have lost their job and get some assistance from the government to do that because it is expensive. My colleagues say we want--we are OK with that, we think it is all right, but we have to pay for it. There are certain emergency situations over the years that government has made a decision that you need to respond to quickly. You don't have to cut spending somewhere else or increase taxes to pay for it. That is what I hear my colleagues say, but they never talk about how, when they voted for tax cuts for the richest Americans, that was added to the budget deficit. So a few rich people got huge tax cuts and my kids and grandchildren pay for it. They don't mention that. They don't mention this war in Iraq which they enthusiastically supported, costing us $1 trillion in terms of the costs of war and the costs of veterans' benefits and the costs of veterans' health care. They did not pay for that. They don't talk about the Medicare privatization bill, the giveaway to the drug companies and the insurance companies and how they did that and didn't pay for that. It is only unemployment. It is only unemployed workers. Now they get some fiscal religion. All of a sudden they are for a balanced budget. They are not for a balanced budget in paying for the war, not for a balanced budget in paying for tax cuts for the rich, not for a balanced budget when they are shoveling subsidies to the insurance companies and drug companies, but all of a sudden it is unemployed workers, people who are struggling, people who have paid into this insurance fund, people who send out--listen to them in your State in Hanover or in Mansfield, OH, listen to people say how they are sending out 10 and 20 and 30 and 50 resumes a week to try to find jobs and they still can't find them. We are going to penalize them and say we are not going to pay for it, but they will not on the cost of war or the cost of veterans' benefits or the cost of tax cuts for the rich and the cost of the giveaways to the drug and insurance companies. Let me close with this. As we were home the last 2 weeks--most of us were back in our States. Some were elsewhere. We talked to people more, but we also get letters when we get back. We see the kinds of letters that I am getting all the time from people at home. Let me read two of these letters. James from Franklin County, OH--that is the middle of the State where Columbus is, the State capital. At this point in my life my future is uncertain. I have been unemployed for almost a year. Along with my other former co-workers from the optical lab, we continue to look for jobs. I am an American to the bone. I have worked nearly every day of my life. I am now 55 years old. Like many thousands of fellow Ohioans, our current unemployment benefits are about to expire. I can make it financially with two or three part-time jobs to make sure I can pay for my daughter's nursing school. I will live in my car if I lose my apartment, but I will make sure my daughter continues her education. Please help the hard-working people of Ohio. ``I will live in my car if I lose my apartment, but I will make sure my daughter continues her education.'' How can you say those people do not matter as much as giving tax cuts to the rich? How can anybody in this institution stand and with a good conscience and a straight face say that James from Franklin County is not doing everything right in order to provide for his family and for the future? Do not blame James for this budget deficit that this crowd in this body voted for; the war, unpaid for; the tax cuts, unpaid for; the drug company subsidies, unpaid for; that James is not trying to do the right thing to provide for the future for his daughter to get her through nursing school. Derek from Cuyahoga County, the State's largest county on Lake Erie, the Cleveland area, writes: I have just exhausted my unemployment benefits. I have been sending resumes like crazy, but there is just no work in this part of Northeastern Ohio. Pretty soon I won't be able to afford my bills--or anything for that matter. I'm 26 years old, don't have health insurance, and need help while I look for a job. We bailed out large corporations when they were in a financial jam. Why can't we help the American people who are in their own financial struggle? Unemployment benefits do not make you comfortable. They do not make you rich. They are not what you plan for in the future. They are not something anybody wants to live on for very long. But they help people while they are trying to find a job. Unemployment insurance gives people that helping hand. It may be another week, it may be another month or 3 months. At least four of my colleagues today voted to extend unemployment for a month. It should have been longer. I wish we could do better. I wish we could get some Republican votes to do this right and to help get us on the track so people can plan better in their lives and can continue to go out and try to get jobs. That is what we need to do. It is what this economy needs. I urge my colleagues to do the right thing this week with the unemployment extension and to do the right thing with the jobs bill to begin to put more people in this country back to work. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m., Tuesday, April 13; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half; that following morning business, the Senate resume the motion to proceed to H.R. 4851, as provided for under the previous order, with the time during any period of morning business, adjournment, and recess count postcloture; finally, I ask that the Senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. tomorrow to allow for the weekly caucus luncheons.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Under the previous order, the Senate will adopt the motion to proceed to the bill after the caucus luncheons. Votes are possible tomorrow afternoon in relation to amendments to the bill.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I now ask for its second reading and I object to my own request.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I understand that S. 3194, introduced earlier today by Senator Reid, is at the desk. I ask for its first reading.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table; that any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Finance Committee be discharged of H.R. 4887, the TRICARE Affirmation Act, and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.