Bob Casey

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. What this says is if we don't act to extend unemployment insurance, to give people some help, to get from joblessness to a job, to get across that long bridge, 111,000 Pennsylvanians will be out of unemployment insurance by the end of June. Unfortunately, that number goes up by another 94,000 at the end of July if we do nothing. By the end of this year, 429,200 Pennsylvanians will have no unemployment insurance. We have to act on that. It makes all the sense in the world when we are recovering--and we are in recovery, thank goodness, but we have a way to go--that we give people the opportunity to at least have the peace of mind to know they have unemployment insurance. Secondly, with regard to COBRA, if anyone has any doubts as to what this means to real people, I would submit one part of one sentence from a single Pennsylvanian by the name of Lisa. She sent a letter to me talking about chemotherapy treatments she needs and the COBRA premium assistance. She said: ``COBRA benefits have kept me alive.'' That is exactly what we are talking about here--about life and death. Why should a family--as they are trying to get a job, trying to find their way out of joblessness--why should they have to worry and have the additional nightmare of having no health insurance? We can help so many Americans as we did in the Recovery Act. Two million households across the country were helped by the COBRA premium assistance program in 2009. In our State, over 107,000 Pennsylvanians had the benefit of that. So as we wrap up this debate about preserving jobs and creating jobs--and I think in a sense getting a sense of whose side you are on-- are you going to be on the side of slowing things down and playing games or are you going to be on the side of helping the unemployed get a job and help them with their family's health care. As we wrap up this debate, it is about saving jobs and preserving jobs and literally, in some cases, saving lives, not only by way of health care but also by way of the additional debate we are having on Medicaid and what that means to vulnerable people as well as what it means to public safety and other priorities. We can get this right, but we need to have our colleagues on the other side of the aisle recognize that this is a high stakes game they are engaged in and that the loser here in the end is not going to be some political party. Those who will be left out are very vulnerable people who, in addition, are without a job. With that, I yield the floor to my colleague from Michigan.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, Senator Brown of Ohio and I have offered this amendment which will extend the eligibility period for the COBRA Premium Assistance Program until November 30. We appreciate the support of many Senators--Senators Franken, Stabenow, Reed, Leahy, Akaka, Begich, Whitehouse, Lautenberg, Kerry, Wyden, Harkin, Levin, Burris, the Presiding Officer, Gillibrand, Kaufman, Specter, Menendez, Merkley, Schumer, Mikulski, Dodd, Durbin, Murray, Shaheen, Rockefeller, and Boxer. All are cosponsors of the original amendment we offered the other day, first offered by Senator Brown and me as an amendment to Senator Baucus's original amendment. I thank Senator Baucus, the Chair of our Finance Committee, for his very hard work on this bill. We are nearing the end. We are working very hard to complete this bill. As we do that, we are also mindful that we are recovering from this economic recession. We must continue, in my judgment, to support vital safety net programs that our citizens need to support their own families. The national unemployment rate now stands at 9.7 percent. That translates in Pennsylvania into more than 584,000 people out of work. We got a report today that across the country, jobless claims are going up, unfortunately, after having gone down for a number of months. The economy is showing improvement. We are recovering. Jobs are being added every day. But certain industries are experiencing layoffs, and that is why we must continue this program to ensure that Americans have access to quality health care, especially those who have lost their jobs. Without the extension of the COBRA Premium Assistance Program, a report from the National Employment Law Projects predicts as many as 150,000 Americans each month will lose out on the subsidies necessary to afford quality health care. In the Senate, we do not have to worry about health care. We have both job security and health care that millions of Americans do not have today. Today we received a report from the Treasury Department which outlines important information on the success of the COBRA Premium Assistance Program. The report is entitled ``Interim Report to The Congress on COBRA Premium Assistance.'' It is dated June 2010 from the Department of Treasury. I commend this report to my colleagues. In the report, it states that over 2 million households in America have benefited from the COBRA Premium Assistance Program. In Pennsylvania, that means over 100,000--107,311--Pennsylvania households have benefited from it. That is 2 million households across the country were able to afford quality health care while they were searching for a job. Millions of Americans had one less thing to worry about--their health and the health of their family--while they searched for that job. In very brief form, I wish to highlight a section from the report that talks about how this program actually works, and many Americans understand this. I am quoting from page 2: Workers eligible for COBRA premium assistance send a premium payment to their employers, plan administrators, or insurers for continuation coverage. Because of the Recovery Act we passed in 2009, those individuals pay only 35 percent of the premium. Then, of course, the employers are allowed a credit against their payroll taxes for the remaining 65 percent. That is how it works. It works well, and it has shown results, according to this new report from the Treasury Department. The total cost of this program in 2009 was $2 billion. However, the score that the Congressional Budget Office gave it originally back in 2009 was $16 billion. They predicted $16 billion; it cost but $2 billion. Of course, in 2009, we had a tremendously high job loss compared to this year. That cost is going to go significantly down. Part of the reason for being so much cheaper is the efficiency of administering this program. The Treasury report I referred to states that the total cost to administer the program, with three Federal agencies involved, was $8 million--.5 percent of the cost of the overall program. Based on the Treasury report, it is obvious this program is both effective and efficient and has assisted millions of Americans. In addition to ensuring quality health care, the program is a lifeline for Americans across the country. I received a letter back in March from a woman in Pennsylvania, Lisa. I will not give her name and address. I do not have permission. But I want to highlight her personal situation without identifying her. I am quoting a pertinent part in her letter. She said: I have been receiving chemotherapy nearly every other week for the past 18 months-- After being diagnosed in 2008. The treatments were covered by my COBRA benefits and has kept me alive. I must continue chemotherapy but ran into a problem when an extension of my COBRA coverage was denied. Lisa in Pennsylvania speaks for hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of Americans when she tells us what this program means to her. It is, in fact, a program which has kept her alive, to use her words, not mine. That is what this is about. It is about real life. It is about real families who are living through the double nightmare--the horror of losing a job and then being hit over the head again by losing their health care coverage. There are countless stories similar to Lisa's across the country, and many of us have heard these stories. These stories relate to how COBRA, including this premium assistance program itself, gave people hope in the midst of despair from losing a job and also losing health care coverage. So I would encourage my fellow colleagues in the Senate to support the amendment that Senator Brown of Ohio and I have introduced, which includes an offset to the extension of the program so it is paid for. With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to call up amendment No. 4371 to amendment No. 4369 proposed by Senator Baucus.

Mr. CASEY. About 10 minutes.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the basic issue to have health insurance coverage for those who have been out of work. I know I join Senator Brown and the other cosponsors of this amendment to urge support for the extension of the eligibility period of the COBRA Premium Assistance Program, which was authorized under the Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. I do want to commend and note my appreciation for the support of Senators Begich, Whitehouse, Lautenberg, Kerry, Wyden, Harkin, Levin, Burris--the Presiding Officer--Franken, Reed of Rhode Island, and Stabenow, who have cosponsored the amendment. We continue to recover from this economic recession, a horrific chapter in American history almost too difficult or too complicated for some of us to fully understand because we haven't lived through it ourselves. We in the Senate haven't lost our jobs or lost our health insurance. But we hear from and know of people who have, and that is one of the main reasons we are here to talk about this issue today. We are recovering but we haven't recovered fully, and now is not the time to pull up the ladder on people who are still hanging on, in some cases to the last rung of the ladder. These basic, and I would argue, vital safety net programs--whether it is unemployment insurance or COBRA premium assistance for health care--are programs that we can't short-circuit. We can't cut people off at this point. The American people agree with us, by the way. They understand we have made progress on economic recovery, but the unemployment rate is still far too high. It has just been a little bit less than 10 percent for far too long. In my home State of Pennsylvania, fortunately it is lower than that. It has been lower than 9 percent a long time but has bumped up to around 9. But that doesn't really matter. The percentage doesn't really tell the story. In our State, we have over 580,000 people out of work, and the total number or the percentage number is a lot higher in many other States. So we just can't pull up the ladder and pretend we have fully recovered, that we can begin to transition to a different strategy. For millions of Americans out of work, through no fault of their own, medical costs continue to rise while their personal savings dwindle or in some cases have been wiped out because of this recession, leaving millions of Americans without adequate health care coverage and leading many to refuse necessary treatment due to the high cost. Americans who lose their coverage through job loss cannot be expected to purchase expensive health care plans while they are unemployed. It is difficult enough for someone who has a job to pay for health insurance. We know that is difficult. A lot of small businesses were telling us about that throughout the health care debate. But just imagine if you are out of work and you are trying to survive and you are called upon or required to pay for an expensive health care plan. So we should act, and we should act now, to provide an extension for COBRA subsidies to ease the economic strain of expensive health care coverage for the unemployed. The amendment I have offered, and that today I am just speaking about, will provide much needed relief at a very difficult time for many families as unemployed workers focus on finding new employment rather than having to worry--and worry doesn't even begin to describe the anguish people feel--about receiving adequate health care coverage for themselves and their families. We ought to provide them some peace of mind so they can concentrate on finding a job instead of worrying about whether they, someone in their family, or a loved one is going to get the medical treatment they deserve. The COBRA Premium Assistance Program has already been successful in ensuring that Americans receive quality health care. Let me give one example from a letter I received from Susan, in LeHigh County, PA. She is a cancer survivor, but due to her treatments she has been diagnosed with congestive heart failure as well. She is on five different medications. Susan has relied upon her husband's health insurance, but in September of 2009 her husband lost his job. What I am describing has happened to millions of people. This isn't isolated. This isn't anecdotal. This is a situation that millions of Americans, if not tens of thousands, at a minimum, in a State such as Pennsylvania have faced. So what does Susan do at that point? She has to rely upon her husband's health insurance, he loses his job, and now they have nothing. They have no coverage at all. So Susan and her husband were able to utilize the COBRA Premium Assistance Program as a means to keep their health insurance. Thank goodness the Recovery Act provided that kind of help. When my office followed up with Susan, we were happy to learn her husband had found a new job and they were off of their COBRA Premium Assistance Program and on her husband's new health insurance. Fortunately, that has a good ending, but a lot of stories don't end that way. Susan's story is a perfect example of the purpose behind the COBRA Premium Assistance Program which helps people transition. Here is another letter, which I will refer to in pertinent part. This is a letter I received from another constituent in Pennsylvania by the name of Lisa. I will not read her full name because I don't have permission, but this is a letter she sent to us in early March, and here, in pertinent part, is what she wrote about her own health care situation. She said: I have been receiving chemotherapy nearly every other week for the past 18 months. The treatments were covered by my COBRA benefits and has kept me alive. So she is not saying the premium assistance from COBRA was something that just gave her a little help when she needed it. She isn't just saying: Thank goodness the COBRA premium assistance can pay for my treatments--the chemotherapy that she needed. She is saying the COBRA benefits ``kept me alive.'' That is a direct quotation from her letter. Then she says: I must continue chemotherapy but ran into a problem when an extension of my COBRA coverage was denied. In this country, with all the challenges we have, some things aren't difficult to solve. If we pass an extension of COBRA premium assistance, Lisa doesn't have to worry whether she is going to be able to continue her chemotherapy treatments. Why should she have to worry when we can help her here? I know we will hear from people in Washington--a lot of hot air, a lot of lecturing, a lot of speeches--that it is time to transition; that the economy is getting better and it is time to transition now and let Lisa get her treatments on her own. We hope she lives. But some people in Washington may not want to help her any longer. We know the American people support this extension. We know they understand what real people are up against because, guess what, they are living with it. People in Washington who come to the Senate every day and are Senators and Congressmen, they do not quite understand this sometimes. We don't have a full appreciation for how difficult it is for Lisa and her chemotherapy treatments. We don't have a full appreciation here for how difficult it has been for Susan. Thank goodness her husband was able to get a job, but it was pretty tough when they didn't have a job and they didn't have health insurance. So COBRA helps a lot of people, and we should know what the consequences are of inaction, without the extension of the COBRA Premium Assistance Program. A report from the National Employment Law Projects predicts that as many as 150,000 Americans each month will lose out on the subsidies necessary to afford quality health care. A study by Families USA shows that 4 million Americans, including almost 100,000 in Pennsylvania, lost their employer-based coverage due to job loss in 2009 alone--4 million Americans. The average cost of COBRA family coverage is three-fourths of the monthly unemployment benefits in Pennsylvania and 40 other States. So the good news is you have unemployment coverage if you lost your job, but the bad news is three-fourths of that goes for your health insurance. We shouldn't force people to be in those situations. In some States, health premiums actually cost more than the monthly unemployment benefits, slowly driving families further into debt. Providing continued relief for Americans is not just necessary, it is essential to keep some people alive, literally--no exaggeration--as Lisa's letter tells us. Giving people assistance in their greatest time of need will allow them to focus on finding employment, caring for their families rather than avoiding expensive treatments or teetering on the brink of bankruptcy. In conclusion, besides the amendment that Senator Brown and I have been working on, along with our cosponsors, we circulated a letter that will be delivered to Senator Reid and Senator Baucus this afternoon that urges both to support the extension of the program and also the pleas from people in Pennsylvania and a lot of other States who are telling us how important this is--to provide an extension through the end of November for COBRA premium assistance, so people can have health care and in a larger sense, I guess, to have peace of mind to know even though they are out of work we care about them, we are going to fight for them, and we are going to make sure they have health insurance coverage as they try to go from joblessness to transition into having a job. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about an urgent issue that faces the American people, and it is an issue the Senate as well as the House must deal with, in my judgment; that is, the issue of extending COBRA premium assistance, health insurance assistance, to many Americans who, through no fault of their own, are out of work; in many instances, millions of Americans who have been out of work for a long time. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to add the following Senators as cosponsors of an amendment I have that extends COBRA premium assistance. These are Senators who will be added beyond those who were original cosponsors. They are Senators Franken, Stabenow, Reed of Rhode Island, and Gillibrand.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, in honor of servicemembers from across Pennsylvania, I would like to recognize those lost in combat operations supporting both Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom from 2001 through May 22, 2010. SGT Brandon Adams of Hollidaysburg; SFC Brent Adams of West View; 1LT Louis Allen of Milford; SGT Jan Argonish of Scranton; SSG Daniel Arnold of Montrose; SGT Andrew Baddick of Jim Thorpe; SGT Sherwood Baker of Plymouth; SFC Scott Ball of Carlisle; LCpl Aric Barr of Pittsburgh; SSG Mark Baum of Telford; GySgt Ronald Baum of Hollidaysburg; LCpl Jacob Beisel of Lackawaxen; SSG Keith Bennett of Holtwood; 1LT David Bernstein of Phoenixville; LTC Richard Berrettini of Wilcox; SGT Allan Bevington of Beaver Falls; SSG Stevon Booker of Apollo; CAPT David Boris of Pottsville; SPC Matthew Bowe of Moon Township; SPC Edward Brabazon of Philadelphia. SGT Andrew Brown of Mount Pleasant; PVT Matthew Brown of Zelienople; SPC Oliver Brown of Athens; PFC Timothy Brown Jr. of Conway; SPC Daniel Brozovich of Greenville; SGT John Bubeck of Collegeville; SFC Raymond Buchan of Johnstown; SSG Ernest Bucklew of Enon Valley; SGT Douglas Bull of Wilkes Barre; SFC Keith Callahan of McClure; SGT Jeremy Campbell of Middlebury Center; SPC Frederick Carlson, IV of Bethlehem; SSG Edward Carman of McKeesport; CPL Adam Chitjian of Philadelphia; 1LT Michael Cleary of Dallas; SPC Zachary Clouser of Dover; CPL Michael Cohen of Jacobus; PFC Bradli Coleman of Ford City; LCpl Adam Conboy of Philadelphia; SFC David Cooper, Jr. of State College. SSG Victor Cortes, III of Erie; SPC Gregory Cox of Carmichaels; CPL Russell Culbertson, III of Amity; SSG Carl Curran, II of Union City; SSG Christopher Cutchall of McConnellsburg; SPC Shawn Davies of Aliquippa; PFC Robert Dembowski, Jr. of Ivyland; 1LT Jeffrey Deprimo of Pittston; PFC Nathaniel Detample of Morrisville; PFC David Dietrich of Marysville; PFC James Dillon, Jr. of Grove City; PFC Michael Dinterman of Littlestown; PFC Justin Dreese of Freeburg; SGT Allen Dunckley, Jr. of Yardley; SGT Brent Dunkleberger of New Bloomfield; PFC Chad Edmundson of Williamsburg; SGT Michael Egan of Philadelphia; SPC William Evans of Hallstead; SSG Troy Ezernack of Lancaster; CAPT Brian Faunce of Philadelphia. PFC Shelby Feniello of Connellsville; SGT William Fernandez of Reading; SPC Camy Florexil of Philadelphia; SGT James Fordyce of Newtown Square; SGT Curtis Forshey of Hollidaysburg; CAPT Erick Foster of Wexford; PO3 John Fralish of New Kingstown; SPC Michael Franklin of Coudersport; LCpl Michael Freeman, Jr. of Fayetteville; PFC Steven Freund of Pittsburgh; LCpl Jason Frye of Landisburg; A1C Austin Gates of Hellertown; SGT Christopher Geiger of Northampton; SPC Aaron Genevie of Chambersburg; CPL Albert Gettings of New Castle; PFC Landon Giles of Indiana; 2LT Michael Girdano of Apollo; SPC Michael Gleason of Warren; SGT Christopher Golby of Johnston; PFC Orlando Gonzalez of New Freedom. SSG Joseph Goodrich of Allegheny; CPL Kyle Grimes of Bethlehem; SPC Robert Hall, Jr. of Pittsburgh; CPL Brandon Hardy of Cochranville; SGT Jennifer Hartman of New Ringgold; SSG Brian Hause of Stoystown; SGT Timothy Hayslett of Newville; SGT Michael Heede, Jr. of Delta; SPC Joshua Henry of Avonmore; SGT Brett Hershey of State College; SPC Derek Holland of Wind Gap; SPC Michael Hook of Altoona; SSG Jeremy Horton of Erie; SSG Sergeant Sean Huey of Fredericktown; SGT Eric Hull of Uniontown; CPL Barton Humlhanz of Hellertown; SSG Matthew Ingham of Altoona; SSG Thor Ingraham of Murrysville; SPC Craig Ivory of Port Matilda; SGT Brahim Jeffcoat of Philadelphia. PO2 Robert Jenkins of Altoona; SGT Andrew Jodon of Karthaus; CPL Carl Johnson, II of Philadelphia; LCpl Larry Johnson of Scranton; SPC Maurice Johnson of Levittown; SPC Rodney Jones of Philadelphia; SSG Joseph Kane of Darby; MSgt Paul Karpowich of Bridgeport; SPC Mark Kasecky of McKees Rocks; SPC Douglas Kashmer of Sharon; CPL Jason Kazarick of Oakmont; SGT Nathan Kennedy of Claysville; LCpl Patrick Kenny of Allegheny; SPC Jonathan Kephart of Oil City; LCpl Joshua Klinger of Easton; SFC Tony Knier of Sabinsville; CPO Michael Koch of State College; SPC Martin Kondor of York; LCpl Ryan Kovacicek of Washington; PFC Bradley Kritzer of Irvona. PFC Serge Kropov of Hawley; SPC Kurt Krout of Lansdale; SPC John Kulick of Harleysville; SGT Russell Kurtz of Bethel Park; SSG Patrick Kutschbach of McKees Rocks; SGT Ryan Lane of Pittsburgh; CPL Timothy Lauer of Saegertown; SFC Daniel Lightner, Jr. of Hollidaysburg; MSgt Arthur Lilley of Smithfield; SGT Dale Lloyd of Watsontown; SPC Zachariah Long of Milton; PFC Christopher Lotter of Chester Heights; 2LT Christopher Loudon of Brockport; CAPT Ronald Luce, Jr. of Wayne; SPC Jonathon Luscher of Scranton; LCpl Joseph Maglione of Lansdale; SPC William Maher, III of Yardley; MSgt Sergeant Thomas Maholic of Bradford; 1LT Travis Manion of Doylestown; SPC Jeremy Maresh of Jim Thorpe. LT Ralph Marino of Houston; SGT Michael Marzano of Greenville; SSG Ryan Maseth of Pittsburgh; SPC Clint Matthews of Bedford; SFC Randy McCaulley of Indiana; SGT Jonathan McColley of Gettysburg; SGT Andrew McConnell of Carlisle; SPC Ross McGinnis of Knox; SSG Eric McIntosh of Trafford; LTC Michael McLaughlin of Mercer; SPC Mark Melcher of Pittsburgh; LCpl Robert Mininger of Sellersville; SGT Joseph Minucci, II of Richeyville; SGT Sean Robert Mitchell of Youngsville; SSG Jae Sik Moon of Levittown; SGT Carl Morgain of Butler; LCpl Nicholas Morrison of Carlisle; SPC Clifford Moxley, Jr. of Berwick; SGT Ashly Moyer of Emmaus; PO3 Roger Napper, Jr. of Greensburg. SPC Rafael Navea of Pittsburgh; PFC Albert Nelson of Philadelphia; SGT Joseph Nolan of Philadelphia; SGT Donald Oaks, Jr. of Erie; SSG Ryan Ostrom of Liberty; PFC Larry Parks, Jr. of Altoona; PVT Dylan Paytas of Freedom; SPC Gennaro Pellegrini, Jr. of Philadelphia; LTC Mark Phelan of Green Lane; CWO John Priestner of Leraysville; SGT Cristobal Puello-Coronado of Long Pond; SFC George Pugliese of Carbondale; 1SG Christopher Rafferty of Brownsville; SPC Tamarra Ramos of Quakertown; CAPT Nathan Raudenbush of Royersford; CPL Kyle Renehan of Oxford; CAPT Mark Resh of Fogelsville; SGT Joshua Rimer of Rochester; SPC Luis Rodriguez Contreras of Allentown; PO1 Gary Rovinski of Wilkes-Barre. CPL Luke Runyan of Spring Grove; PFC Aaron Rusin of Johnstown; SGT Matthew Sandri of Shamokin; 1LT Neil Santoriello of Verona; 1LT Robert Seidel, III of Gettysburg; CAPT Christopher Seifert of Bethlehem; SA Joshua Seitz of Sinking Springs; SGT Edward Shaffer of Mont Alto; SGT Jason Shaffer of Derry; SFC Michael Shannon of Canadensis; LTC Anthony Sherman of Pottstown; CAPT Todd Siebert of Baden; SGT Eric Slebodnik of Greenfield; CWO Michael Slebodnik of Gibsonia; PFC Corey Small of East Berlin; SSG Marc Small of Collegeville; SPC Michael Smith of Media; SFC Scott Smith of Punxsutawney; SPC Tristan Smith of Bryn Athyn; PFC Stephen Snowberger, III of Lopez. SSG Glen Stivison, Jr. of Blairsville; Lcpl Travis Stottlemyer of Hatfield; SGT Francis Straub, Jr. of Philadelphia; CPL Sascha Struble of Philadelphia; SPC William Sturges, Jr. of Spring Church; PFC Brandon Styer of Lancaster; SFC Shawn Suzch of Hilltown; SGT Brett Swank of Northumberland; SSG Paul Sweeney of Lakeville; LCpl Steven Szwydek of Warfordsburg; MSgt Sean Thomas of Harrisburg; PFC Nils Thompson of Confluence; SSG Richard Tieman of Waynesboro; MAJ Jeffery Toczylowski of Ambler; CPL John Todd, III of Bridgeport; SGT Nicholas Tomko of McKees Rocks; SSG Steven Tudor of Dunmore; SFC Michael Tully of Falls Creek; LCpl Robert Ulmer of Landisville; 1LT Colby Umbrell of Doylestown. LCpl Brandon Van Parys of New Tripoli; SGT Thomas Vandling, Jr. of Pittsburgh; SGT Timothy Vanorman of Port Matilda; LCpl Dennis Veater of Jessup; SSG William Vile of Philadelphia; SSG Kimberly Voelz of Carlisle; SPC Ross Vogel, III of Red Lion; SGT David Wallace, III of Sharpsville; SGT Jonathan Walls of West Lawn; PFC Joshua Waltenbaugh of Ford City; SPC Douglas Weismantle of Pittsburgh; SGT Lonny Wells of Vandergrift; CAPT Jason West of Pittsburgh; SPC Lee Wiegand of Hallstead; SSG David Wieger of North Huntingdon; CAPT Bryan Willard of Hummelstown; CPL Anthony Williams of Oxford; PVT Wesley Williams of Philadelphia; SPC James Yohn, Sr. of Highspire; SPC Nicholas Zangara of Philadelphia; PFC Kenneth Zeigler, II of Dillsburg; and PFC Travis Zimmerman of New Berlinville.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. 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.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Thursday, June 10, after any leader time, the Republican leader or his designee be recognized to move to proceed to the consideration of S.J. Res. 26, a joint resolution disapproving the EPA Administrator's endangerment finding; that there be 6 hours of debate on the motion to proceed to the joint resolution, with the time divided and controlled between Senators Boxer and Murkowski or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to a vote on adoption of the motion to proceed; that if the motion is successful, then there be 1 hour of debate on the joint resolution, divided as described above; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the joint resolution be read a third time and the Senate then proceed to a vote on passage of the joint resolution; provided further that if the motion to proceed is defeated, then no further motion to proceed to the joint resolution be in order; further, that no amendment or motion on the subject of the EPA greenhouse gas regulations or relating to the endangerment finding be in order prior to consideration of the motion to proceed to S.J. Res. 26, with no amendments in order to the joint resolution and with all other provisions of the statute governing consideration of the joint resolution remaining in effect during the pendency of this agreement.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I understand there are two bills at the desk. I ask for their first reading en bloc.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. CASEY. I now ask for a second reading, and I object to my own request, all en bloc.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of H. Con. Res. 211 and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent 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 related to the concurrent resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5128, which was received from the House and is at the desk.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider en bloc Executive Calendar Nos. 894, 895, 896, 897, and 898; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc; that no further motions be in order; that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, as a reminder, the filing deadline for first-degree amendments is 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. 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. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 26; 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 resume consideration of H.R. 4899, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Finally, I ask that the mandatory quorums with respect to the substitute and H.R. 4899 be waived.

Mr. CASEY

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. CASEY. Mr. President, I think if there is one way to describe, summarize, or encapsulate the feelings that are not only I think prevalent in the Senate or in the Congress but throughout the country, when we think of our children and all children, I think we have a basic belief that every single child in America is born with a light inside them. For some children, of course, because of their circumstance, the family they come from, the situation into which they are born, that light is as bright as it can be; it is incandescent. You cannot see the limits of it. It is blinding that they are so full of potential and ability and they don't need as much help. They are going to be fine because of the brightness of that light--the measure of their potential. For other children, they are born with a bright light, but it doesn't shine quite as brightly, because of all kinds of circumstances. We have all experienced this in our lives and in our own families and with people we have encountered. Many elected officials have talked to their constituents about this. I have always believed that the obligation of a public official, no matter where you are, no matter what level of government, or no matter what degree of responsibility you have, has a basic obligation to make sure that the light inside of every child is realized, or the potential that that light indicates is realized. We have to do that every day one way or another. We had a hearing today in the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee on early education. As a country, we have not met the obligation I believe we should meet to provide children with learning at the early stages of their lives. First grade and second grade are really too late. They need to be exposed to early learning opportunities earlier. A lot of States are doing this. There are a lot of good examples out there. But we have not made a national commitment to providing early learning opportunities. That is one thing we should do for a child to make sure the light of his or her potential is realized, to make sure they learn at a young age. It is determinative of their whole life. It actually has an impact on the skill of our workforce many years later. Secondly--not in this order--we should make sure they have enough to eat and get proper nutrition. Again, this happens to be what we are working on. The Child Nutrition Act is up for reauthorization. We are going to have a chance to enact another piece of legislation that will continue that commitment to making sure more and more of our children have access to nutritious foods in school and otherwise. We have made a lot of progress. Among the three I just mentioned, maybe the one we made the most progress on is health care for children. You cannot say the light inside a child will reach its potential if that child does not have health care. Fortunately, we are at a point now where we not only have 7 million children covered under the children's health insurance program, but that is going to grow to 14 million in just a couple of years. That is a remarkable achievement, but it is not enough if we cover 14 million. There still will be millions more, depending on what estimate is out there, but many millions more who will not be covered even as a result of the health care bill we passed. We have more work to do on health care. If we are doing the right things as public officials, no matter where we are, whether it is at the level of the Federal Government or all the way down to local, county, and State governments, we should make sure we are doing the job on health care for children. We are not there, but we have made a lot of progress. Make sure we are providing children with enough to eat, nutrition--we have a long way to go on that issue, but we have made progress. Thirdly, we will make sure every child has early learning opportunities. We have made a lot of progress and still have a ways to go. There actually is a fourth, at least the way I analyze it. The fourth is so fundamental that we sometimes forget about it. It is not just health care and nutrition and early learning; the fourth is basic safety, protecting children from the horrors of this Earth, from people who prey upon them in so many different ways, from the so many horrific ways children are abused and neglected and left behind and are victims of violence. Unfortunately and increasingly, that degree of violence, as it relates to children or young people, even through the high school years, is becoming more and more apparent and more and more egregious in our schools. We are talking about this whole concept of bullying about which we are hearing a lot. I realize some will say: That has been happening for years. Every generation has had kids picked on in school. So why is this any different? It is different today. The numbers are up, but the degree of cruelty and violence, in my judgment, is way up. We had a terrible example of that in Massachusetts a couple of months ago. I can point to several other States and many examples. It is true in my home State of Pennsylvania as well. In Pennsylvania and throughout the country, violence, bullying, and harassment in schools is a growing problem for all children. It is not restricted to one State or one locality or one situation. It is true for all children but especially--and the evidence on this part of the problem is overwhelming and really disturbing--the violence and bullying as it relates to children who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. We all know about the acronym GLBT. That is happening in greater numbers. We cannot just lament it and say: That is too bad, but it happens over time. It has been happening for generations. It is too bad there is not a lot we can do about it. The adults--and especially the adults who happen to be public officials who have the opportunity to vote or appropriate dollars or take action--have to do something. Some would say: That is a State and local school district issue. The Federal Government does not need to get involved. We have seen in the past where sometimes, if we do not take action or at least demonstrate leadership or at least create conditions where we diminish the likelihood that a child, especially a child who happens to be gay or lesbian, for example--they will not be the victims of violence if we do something about it. There is no one bill we can pass that will eliminate it. I understand that. But I think the idea that we can't do anything about it is really dishonest, at best. We ought to do something about it. According to the Department of Education--just listen to these numbers--one in three schoolchildren is affected by bullying or harassment in grades 6 through 10. That is one number. According to a separate study by the Gay, Lesbian, and Straight Education Network--known by the acronym GLSEN--less than half--and this relates to Pennsylvania only--less than half of Pennsylvania students said they felt safe in school. It is a problem across the board for all children but especially and most disturbingly for children who happen to be gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender. Relentless bullying results in long-term consequences for the well- being of its victims. Just as before when I talked about the long-term impact of no health care or no nutrition or no early learning, this, too, has long-term consequences for that child, for that school, for that child's family, for that community, and, guess what, long term for all of us because it will affect whether that child reaches their potential, whether they have a skill level that is commensurate with their ability and their potential or whether they fall short of that because they were beaten or bullied when they were a child and they could not learn, and because they could not learn they did not do as well in school, and because they did not do well in school, they did not get the job or have the skill level they could have had. If only we had acted and tried to do something about this situation. Here are some of the long-term consequences for that child: Students who are bullied have a decreased interest in school. Some of these are self-evident, but we need to remind ourselves what they are. That is obvious, but it is a big problem. Students who are bullied may be absent from school. It makes sense. Why would you want to go to school if you are getting beaten up and harassed every day and nobody is helping? That is part of the problem. When they are in the classroom, they have a harder time concentrating. I cannot even imagine. We talk about how hard it is to concentrate when a child does not have enough to eat. The pain of not having enough to eat prevents them from learning and growing as a student. If you are a victim of violence, you are literally in pain at just the anticipation of when you leave that classroom to walk down the hallway, that same guy or group of people is going to make you the victim, yet again, of harassment or bullying. It does not even have to be physical. Just the verbal abuse, just the intimidation is enough to have an impact on that child. We know bullying and the threat of violence is a common experience for young people who identify themselves as gay, lesbian, bisexual, or transgender, or who are perceived to be by their peers. People make comments about someone, and then they attack them, and then they become a victim. These are not just children or young people who are someone else's child or someone else's problem; these are God's children. No matter who they are, they are God's children. It is the ultimate form of betrayal--just like domestic violence is-- when someone who lives in a home and is supposed to love the person is beating them up. That is an easy example to remember about what betrayal means. Even in the context of a school, a child goes to school to learn. The implication is that while they are learning, they will be safe and actually nurtured, especially if they are very young, that they will be surrounded by people who will help them and educate them but also protect them. Yet they go into that environment to learn and to grow, and they are the victims of violence, and no one in that institution helps them or they help them too late or they say: It is not my problem or it is the parents' problem or the school district's problem or someone else's problem. That would be one of my definitions of betrayal of a child in that circumstance. A recent study of LGBT teens reported that 9 in 10 reported harassment in the last year. Mr. President, 9 in 10. I don't care if it was 1 in 10 or if it was 5 in 10 or 6 in 10--that would be bad enough. But 9 in 10 in this one survey. And 3 out of 5 students reported feeling unsafe in school. When I was a kid, I never felt unsafe in school. I have no recollection of ever having that feeling in my life. These kids feel it every day. One-third of students said they skipped school in the last month because they felt unsafe coming to school. Talk about consequences--missing school because they feel they are going to be beaten up or harassed. Perhaps one of the most disturbing statistics is a third of all students said teachers and administrators rarely intervened in these cases. Some will say it is a generalization. I understand it is a generalization, but apparently it is happening out there in far too many cases. Of course, one case is enough. It is one thing to feel intimidated, scared, and fearful. It is another one to feel that no one around you in positions of authority will help you. We often talk in this country--and, of course, in Washington as well--about freedom, the great freedoms we have in America: the freedom to make your own way, to be an entrepreneur, to find your way in life, to start your own business, to make your own money, to travel where you want, to say what you want, freedom of speech--all these great freedoms we have, and thank goodness we have them. Thank goodness people were willing to die for those freedoms in our history and up to the present day. Men and women are serving in combat to preserve our freedoms. We talk about freedom, but sometimes we forget another element of the issue of freedom. Just like adults have the right to free speech and the right to assembly and all the constitutional rights we celebrate, young people have rights, too, or at least they should. One of the rights, one of the freedoms they should be allowed to enjoy is the freedom from fear. We have heard that expression before, ``the freedom from fear.'' These children I just described do not have that freedom. They are not free, even in this land where we celebrate freedom every day of the week. We have an obligation to take action to make sure that basic right is protected against those who would deny them that freedom--the freedom to be free from fear. We have to do something about this problem. We cannot do everything. Not one bill will solve this problem. But I think we can enact a couple pieces of legislation which will have a positive impact. Tomorrow, I will be introducing the Safe Schools Improvement Act. It will do a couple of things for this problem. It will give schools and districts the resources to do at least three things. They ought to do a lot more than this, but we are going to try to help them with at least these three: First, develop comprehensive student conduct policies that prohibit bullying and harassment. If you do not have a conduct policy in place, you have to do it if we pass this Federal legislation. Secondly, it will help to implement prevention strategies and professional development. We have to do more in prevention, and we have to make sure those in charge, those who have authority are, in fact, trained to identify and to deal with and then to punish those who are guilty of this kind of bullying and harassment. Thirdly, the Safe Schools Improvement Act will require that schools and districts maintain and report data regarding incidents of bullying and harassment. It is very important to document this, to keep good records so we know exactly what is happening, so when a parent shows up at a school and says: Well, before my child was beaten and harassed, was it happening before? We shouldn't have the school saying: Well, we are not sure. We had some reports. They should document those incidents and there should be a uniform way of documenting what is an example or a reportable act of violence. There is other legislation as well that many others and I are cosponsoring--the Student Nondiscrimination Act. That is a bill introduced last week by Senator Franken to expand Federal civil rights statutes to include a right for students against discrimination in school on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. It is almost hard to believe that we would have to enact either of these bills, that we would have to even introduce them, but we need both. We need to insist that schools do a better job, and adults at the local level do a better job, and that we are all working on this problem. We also need to make sure that discrimination laws are enforced as it relates to children and young people--students--in our schools. We have to do this because it is a real problem. Young people who happen to be gay or lesbian or bisexual or transgender need help from all of us. They need our support. I, and I know many others, will continue to work to protect every child so that at a minimum they feel safe and supported while they are in school, a place where they should have a reasonable expectation of safety and security. We are not talking about every moment of their life. We are not talking about when they are on the street alone. Those are situations where we worry as well. But at least--at least--we ought to be able to say that when a child or a young person is in school they will be protected from bullying or harassment or violence. That is the least we ought to be able to say, and we are a long way from saying that. Again, I will conclude by saying that I will go back to the original point I made, which was that every child born in this country has a light inside them, and there is no way the light of that child can shine to its full potential if they do not have the basic protections and the basic freedom from fear we are talking about here. No child should have to go through their day, no matter who they are, to being a victim of this kind of bullying and harassment and violence. It is the ultimate, or certainly one of the ways our society betrays children. We can put a stop to it. We can raise awareness, we can put a spotlight on this issue and do all we can to protect our children--our young people in grade school and in high schools--across America. With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.