Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Yes, the Senator is correct. This bill is narrowly constructed to address the unique situation faced by flight attendants and pilots in the calculation of the hours they need to qualify for leave under the Family Medical Leave Act, FMLA. I understand that the FMLA eligibility calculation does not include paid vacation, sick, medical or personal leave unless otherwise agreed to in a collective bargaining agreements or the employers manual. This bill reflects the intent of the FMLA's original sponsors to provide an alternative way to include flight crews that addresses the airline industry's unique time- keeping methods. I am proud that the Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act fixes a technical problem that has left many full-time flight crew members ineligible for family medical leave for many years due to the unique way their work hours are calculated.

Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator is correct. The original authors stated that they did not intend to exclude flight crews in unique circumstances from the bill's protection simply because of the airline industry's ``unusual time keeping methods.'' They believed that these workers-- flight attendants and pilots--were entitled to family and medical leave under the law based upon the situation they specifically faced. This legislation received overwhelming bipartisan support in the House of Representatives. I am pleased to present it in the Senate with bipartisan support. This language was drafted through a process that included representatives from large and small airline carriers and carrier associations, and organized labor. I need to recognize the work that Senator Clinton did on this bill when she introduced its precursor in the 110th Congress.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this week, thousands of families across our country are stopping to honor the memory of those who have served for us because of Veterans Day tomorrow and to thank them for all they have done to protect and defend our country. It is a time when many American families are watching what is unfolding at Fort Hood this week. It is a time in my State where today we are having a memorial service at Fort Lewis honoring seven soldiers who lost their lives a few days ago in Afghanistan. Our hearts and condolences go out to those families who have suffered the ultimate loss, especially at this time when everyone is recognizing the tremendous sacrifice so many people have given. As a Senator from a State with a very large military presence and communities that are heavily populated with the men and women who dedicate their lives to protecting our country, I was particularly saddened by the senseless violence that ripped through our Nation's largest active-duty base last Thursday. As anyone who has ever spent time on a U.S. military base knows well, those are some of our most safe and compassionate communities in the entire country. They are places where a young family plants roots and raises a child and establishes a life for themselves. They are a place where military spouses form bonds that they carry with them throughout their deployments. They are a place where neighbors always lend a hand to those in need. I have seen that firsthand at places such as Fort Lewis Army Base in Tacoma and Fairchild Air Force Base in Spokane. I know the pain of the loss of those 13 public servants extends to everyone at Fort Hood and to the U.S. military community as a whole. I wish to make special mention today of Michael Grant Cahill who came from Spokane, WA. He was the lone civilian killed in that attack. He was a physician's assistant who worked in rural clinics and veterans hospitals, places where our veterans desperately need care and we desperately need workers. At the time of his death, he was only 4 years from retirement. In an interview with the Spokesman-Review newspaper a day after her father was killed, Cahill's daughter Keely told the paper that her dad was ``a wonderful person, that he loved his job and loved working with people and helping them with their physical needs.'' My thoughts and prayers are with Keely and the family members of all those who died or were wounded and the U.S. military families who are still reeling from this tragedy. To the families who have lost soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan recently, especially those having military services today in my home State of Washington at Fort Lewis as well as many others, I want them to know that we know we are their voice and we need to stand up for them. As we all know, Veterans Day tomorrow is a day we celebrate and honor the great sacrifices all veterans have made. It is because of their sacrifice that we can safely enjoy the freedoms our country offers. It is because of their unmatched commitment that America can remain a beacon for democracy and freedom throughout the world. Growing up I saw firsthand the many ways military service can affect both veterans and their families. My father served in World War II. He was among the first soldiers to land in Okinawa. He came home as a disabled veteran and was awarded the Purple Heart. Like many soldiers of my dad's generation, he didn't talk about his experiences during the war. In fact, we only learned about what he did and his heroism when he passed away, and we found his journals and read them. I think that experience offers a larger lesson about veterans in general. They are very reluctant to call attention to their service, and they are reluctant to ask for help. That is why we have to publicly recognize their sacrifices and contributions. It is up to all of us to make sure they get the recognition they have earned and, by the way, not only on Veterans Day. Our veterans held up their end of the deal. We have to hold up ours. Veterans Day must not only be a day of remembrance, it must also be a day of reflection. It is a chance for all of us to reflect on our own responsibilities to our Nation's veterans. It is a chance to look at what we can do to make sure we are keeping the promise we made to our men and women when they signed up to serve. It is a chance to take stock of where care and benefits have fallen short, where new needs are emerging, and how we can make it easier for veterans to get the care and benefits they deserve. It is appropriate that on the eve of this very important day, Veterans Day, we are working to pass a bill that takes a hard look at many of the challenges facing veterans and their families. It is a bill that is the product of collaboration with veterans, their families, caregivers, and scores of veterans service organizations. As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I am aware we have a lot of work to do for the men and women who serve our country. Not only must we continually strive to keep up our commitment to veterans from all wars, but we also have to respond to the new and different issues facing veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan, wars that are being fought under conditions that are very different from those of the past. That is precisely what the caregiver and veterans omnibus health bill seeks to do. One of the changes we have seen in our veterans population recently is the growing number of women veterans who are seeking care at the VA. Today more women are serving in the military than ever before. Over the next 5 years, the amount of women seeking care at the VA is expected to double. Not only are women answering the call to serve at unprecedented levels, they are also often serving in a very different capacity. In Iraq and Afghanistan, we have seen wars that don't have traditional front lines. All of our servicemembers, including women, find themselves on the front lines. Whether it is working at a checkpoint or helping to search and clear neighborhoods or supporting supply convoys, women servicemembers face many of the same risks from IEDs and ambushes as their male counterparts. But while the nature of their service has changed in these conflicts, the VA has been very slow to change the nature of the care they provide when these women return home. Today at the VA there is an insufficient number of doctors and staff with specific training and experience in women's health issues. Even the VA's own internal studies have shown that women veterans are underserved. That is why we included in the veterans health bill a bill I have introduced and worked on that will enable the VA to better understand and ultimately treat the unique needs of female veterans. The bill authorizes a number of new programs and studies, including a comprehensive look at the barriers women currently face when they try to get care at the VA. It includes a study of women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan to assess how those conflicts affected their health. It includes a requirement that the VA implement a program to train and educate and certify VA mental health professionals to care for women with sexual trauma and a pilot program that provides childcare to women veterans who seek mental health care services at the VA because, as we know, women will choose to take care of their kids before they take care of themselves. I believe we need to provide that childcare so those women get the care they need. This bill I am talking about is the result of many discussions with women veterans on the unique and very personal problems they face when they return home from war. Oftentimes, when I hold veterans meetings in my State, the men who are there speak up and talk to me about some of the barriers they face, and it is not until the meeting closes and everybody is going out the door that the women come up to me and speak silently and as quietly as they can in my ear about the barriers they face. Some of these women have told me they did not even view themselves as a veteran and therefore did not even think of seeking care at the VA. Oftentimes, they have told me they lack privacy at their local VA or they felt intimidated when they walked in the doors. They have told me about being forced into a caregiving role that prevented them from even asking for care because they had to struggle to find a babysitter in order to keep an appointment. They should not have to speak quietly into my ear at the end of a meeting. They have served our country honorably. We should move this women veterans health bill so they get the care they support. To me and to the bipartisan group of Senators who cosponsored the women veterans bill, these barriers to care they face are unacceptable. So as we now have more women transitioning back home and stepping back into their careers and their lives as mothers and wives, this VA has to be there for them. So this bill in the omnibus bill in front of us will help the VA to modernize to meet those needs. Another way this bill meets the changing needs of our veterans is in the area of assisting caregivers in the home. As we have seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, medical advances have helped save the lives of many of our servicemembers who in previous conflicts would have perished from the severity of their wounds. But these medical miracles mean that many of those who have been catastrophically wounded now need round-the-clock care when they come home. In many of our rural areas, where access to health care services is very limited, the burden of providing that care often--and most often-- falls on the family of that severely injured veteran. For those family members who are providing care to their loved ones, it now becomes a full-time job for them. They often, I have been told, have to quit their current jobs--forfeiting not only their source of income but also their own health care insurance at the same time. It is a sacrifice that is far too great, especially for families who have already sacrificed so much. So this underlying omnibus bill we are trying to bring forward provides caregivers with health care and counseling and support and, importantly, a stipend so they can take care of their loved ones when they come home. This bill also takes steps to provide dental insurance to veterans and survivors and their dependents and improves mental health care services and eases the transition from Active Duty to civilian life. It expands outreach and technology so we can provide better care for veterans in our rural areas. And it initiates three programs to address homelessness among veterans, which is especially troubling during these economic times. This is a bill that is supported by numerous veterans service organizations and the VA. It is supported by many leading medical groups. It was passed in our Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee with broad bipartisan support after hearings with health care experts and VA officials and veterans and, importantly, their families. Like other omnibus veterans health care bills before it--bills that have often been passed on this floor with overwhelming support--it puts veterans before politics. It is a bipartisan bill designed to move swiftly so its programs can be implemented swiftly. It is a bipartisan bill that is designed to make sure our veterans do not become political pawns. Yet here we are today facing delays. The fact that this bill is now being held hostage by ideology is both a disservice to our veterans and a troubling precedent for our future efforts to meet their needs. Providing for our veterans used to be an area where political affiliation fell by the wayside. But today, because of an effort to score political points on issues that are far removed from the struggles of families who are delivering care to their loved ones with injuries or women veterans who are returning home to an unprepared VA or the mounting toll of this economy on homeless veterans, we are faced with delay on the floor. For our Nation's veterans, it is a delay they cannot afford. Our aging veterans and the brave men and women who are currently serving in Iraq and Afghanistan need our help now. And how we treat them at this critical time will send a signal to a generation of young people who might now be sitting at home considering whether they want to go into the military. It is imperative that we keep our promise to our veterans--the same promise Abraham Lincoln made to America's veterans 140 years ago--``to care for the veteran who has borne the battle, his widow and his orphan.'' Our veterans have waited long enough for many of the improvements in this bill. We should not ask them to wait any longer. So I urge our colleague to withdraw his objection to consideration of this bill and to let us move it quickly through the Senate so the families and the servicemembers who are waiting for its passage--whether it is a family taking care of a veteran who has been seriously injured or a woman veteran or anyone who has served our country--can know we stand behind them when they serve our country. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 2669

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last week families and businesses across our country finally got some good news. We found out that initial estimates show that our GDP grew at a 3.5-percent rate last quarter and that the Recovery Act created or saved over 1 million jobs across the country, including over 30,000 in my home State of Washington, making us third in the country for job creation. Those are hopeful signs. But I know many families and many businesses and communities still need help. We have a long way to go before we have fully recovered from the worst economic condition since the Great Depression. I came out on the floor and spoke twice last week about the urgent need to pass an extension of unemployment insurance that would help over 18,000 people in my home State and millions of Americans across the country. I told the stories about five individuals who had lost their jobs and whose families are now in desperate need of support that the extension would give them to help them stay on their feet--families who right now, as we sit out here and debate this bill, wait for hours and hours for us to get to a final vote, even though we know we have the votes, families who are sitting at the kitchen tables across this country having a very agonizing debate about how to make next month's rent or how to get next week's groceries if their unemployment benefits run out. Those families do not understand why some of our colleagues are delaying and obstructing our efforts to offer this small measure of financial stability to those families who need it most. These families have been coming to me with their stories, and I am committed to fighting to make sure they have every opportunity to get back on their feet. That is why I am here today to urge my colleagues to support and pass the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009. I am very proud to be a cosponsor of this bill because it will give our families and businesses in Washington State and across the country the support they need today. This bill will be a lifeline to millions of families, and it will provide tax relief to help our businesses create and save jobs. And it will help extend and expand the homeowners tax credit to continue a badly needed boost to help stabilizing the housing market. This legislation will help families who need it most by providing every single unemployed worker who has exhausted his or her benefits an additional 14 weeks of support, regardless of what State they live in, and it would extend unemployment to laid-off workers in States that have been hardest hit by the job losses, including Washington State, by 6 weeks. Last week I told some of the stories that are pouring into my office from unemployed workers. These are workers who are not asking for a handout. They just need a small measure of support as they work to get back on their feet. These stories have continued to come in this week, and I wish to share a couple excerpts from letters people sent me urging me to do everything I can to make sure this bill finally passes. Bill and Patricia Profitt from Littlerock, WA, e-mailed me saying: Please act quickly to pass another extension of unemployment benefits. My wife and I are in danger of losing our house and have run out of unemployment. Please help us. Donna Dettling from Olympia, WA, said: My extended benefits will run out in 7 weeks. I am a single mother with three boys and I have been trying for months to get work but have been unsuccessful. If the Senate does not come to an agreement soon, we may end up homeless. Can you please do what you can to push this forward? Then there is Barbara Headrick from Monroe, WA. She wrote to me and said: Dear Patty, I am desperate for the Senate to pass the emergency unemployment benefits legislation. I cannot find a job, have no income, and am in danger of losing my house as well as my utilities. Please, please, please urge all the Senators to pass this emergency legislation as soon as possible. Those are just three quick e-mails from thousands of letters I have received from across my home State of Washington. We owe it to these workers, to their families, and to millions more like them to pass this legislation and not continue to delay it so that they can get the support they need. These men and women who are writing me and stopping me when I am home did not expect to have to ask for help. They had jobs. They felt secure. But now they are spending their days desperately looking for work that is not available. They are worrying about what will happen to them, and they are worrying about their families when their savings are exhausted and their credit cards are maxed out and the bank will not wait any longer for a mortgage payment. We cannot continue to go hour after hour after hour delaying this when our working families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis that they did not create but for which they are paying. We need to pass this legislation. By the way, this bill is going to do a lot more for our families, businesses, and communities. It will expand and extend the successful home buyers tax credit that will allow our families the opportunity to move into homes and make sure that our weakened housing market continues on the road to recovery. This is a program that has already helped many families purchase their first homes. This bill will extend the $8,000 credit to first- time homebuyers through the end of April 2010 and expand the program providing a $6,500 credit to new purchasers who have lived in their current home for 5 years or more. These programs will not only help families move into new homes; they will also increase liquidity and provide a shot in the arm to housing markets that still need a lot of support. I have heard from real estate agents, from homebuilders, from families from every corner of Washington State, and they all tell me they have to have this extension. I received letters from families telling me they want to buy a new home but they cannot close in time to get this credit and they would not be able to afford a new home without it. Thousands of homebuilders, construction workers, and real estate agents have contacted me telling me how successful this credit has been and how an extension and expansion would create jobs and give the housing market another strong push forward. This bill will also provide a critical boost to businesses in Washington State by extending their ability to carry back losses they suffered in 2008 or 2009. That is a tax provision that will provide badly needed capital to help our companies avoid layoffs, expand their operations, and create jobs. We have heard a lot today about this concept of too big to fail. Well, in this time of nationwide economic uncertainty, I believe the millions of families and Main Street businesses that are on the brink are certainly too important to fail, and they deserve every bit of support we can give them to allow them to get back on their feet. So the Worker, Homeownership, and Business Assistance Act of 2009 will help bring these families, businesses, and communities back from the precipice. I urge our colleagues to support and pass this critical legislation. It is surprising to me that we have to wait hour after hour after hour after hour, when we know the votes are there, simply because somehow delaying this bill is some kind of win for whoever is delaying it. It is not a win for Washington families who have to stay awake one more night worrying about how they are going to buy food or pay their mortgages or keep their families intact. I urge my colleagues to stop the delaying tactics and allow this bill to come to a vote. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last week I spoke on the floor about the urgent need to pass an extension of unemployment insurance that would help 18,000 people from the State of Washington and millions of Americans across the country. I came here and told the story of three Washington State families who have lost their jobs in the most difficult time since the Great Depression and who desperately need the support that an extension would give them to get back on their feet. Unfortunately, despite the hard work of many of my colleagues on the floor, this small measure of financial stability has been delayed to families across the country who need it the most, families who right now, as we debate about whether we will get to the bill, are having a much more agonizing debate at home about how to make next month's rent or even next week's grocery budget if their unemployment runs out. For these families, this bill will provide real help. It provides every single unemployed worker who has exhausted his or her benefits, regardless of the State they live in, an additional 14 weeks of support. It extends unemployment to laid off workers in States hardest hit by job losses, including my home State of Washington, by 6 weeks. It makes critical changes to help more families, like making sure an additional $25 per week in benefits that Congress included in the recovery act doesn't count against someone who is seeking food stamps. Washington State workers and Americans across the country have been hurt through no fault of their own. They are out there every day looking for work. While we are seeing some progress on the economic front, for many of them the job market is still discouraging. Unemployment is now at 9.8 percent. That is a 26-year high. Since this recession began back in December of 2007, over 7.4 million people have lost their jobs, and the 15 million Americans who are trying to find jobs are searching for an average of 6.5 months before something comes through for them. While those statistics clearly point out the need for this legislation, the stories behind those statistics are even more of a call to action. Last week, I told of the stories that have been pouring into my office from people who are unemployed in my home State of Washington. These are workers who are not asking for a handout; they are just asking for a small measure of support as they work very hard to try to get back on their feet. Today, I wish to share a couple more stories from the hundreds that have come into my office over the past few days urging me to do everything I can to get this bill passed. I heard from a woman named Loretta Messick. She lives in Auburn, WA. She sent me a message just yesterday. She told me she has been working for more than 25 years, but she was recently laid off for the first time ever in her career. She said she is desperately looking for work, but she is not sure she is going to be able to find any before her benefits run out. She is working with her bank, she told me, to try and adjust her mortgage payments, but she told me that if unemployment runs out, she fears her family is very much in danger of losing their home. Loretta is not alone. I also have a story from a woman named Patricia Obrist. She lives in Renton, WA. Patricia and her husband both had jobs in the construction industry--good jobs, she told me--but they were laid off when business slowed down for the companies they worked for. She told me she has only 8 weeks of unemployment benefits left and then, she said, she is going to have to start dropping expenses such as health care, the car payment, their mortgage. She asked me for just a little more time for her to find a job and to give her a chance to avoid losing everything she has worked so hard for. For Loretta, for Patricia, for their families, and millions more like them, these questions haunt them every day: What will we do if support runs out? Where will we go when our savings are exhausted, when the credit card payments can no longer be met? What do we do when the bank will not wait any longer for a mortgage payment? Whom do we turn to? In a time of national crisis, it is our job to make sure we are answering those questions. We can, by helping to provide a bridge to financial stability. We cannot sit on the sidelines. Doing so would only compound the problems we already face. More families will be pushed into bankruptcy, more homes will be foreclosed upon, more people will lose their health care, and less progress will then be made on the road to financial recovery for all of us. We can't sit by as working families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis they did not create but they are paying for. I hope all our colleagues listen to the voices of their constituents and join us in passing an unemployment extension that makes sure the struggles of America's laid-off workers are not ignored. This bill could not come at a more crucial time. I wish to point out that these benefits would mean very little if we don't quickly get them into the hands of the people who need it most. The people of our State workforce agencies, people such as the Employment Security Department in my home State, are critical to making that happen. Despite the increasing demand, they have been working tirelessly to serve unemployed claimants, and I know this time will not be any different. So I wish to take a second to applaud them for their efforts to make sure these funds are distributed as quickly as possible to eligible claimants. I appreciate all those who have been working hard to bring the unemployment extension bill to the floor of the Senate. I urge us to act now. We should not block this with any other efforts, even though many of them are important. Our families are struggling. We cannot afford to see anybody else lose their health care or their home or their car or their financial stability. Let's pass this unemployment extension and then move on to continuing the other important work that comes before the Senate. I thank the Chair. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time during the quorum call be equally divided between both sides.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleagues who have come before the Senate on this critical issue, our ability to extend unemployment insurance, and to ask our Republican colleagues not to block our efforts and to allow us to bring up this bill and do it quickly to help the families who are suffering in every one of our States. This week we have an important opportunity and a need to address a real ``kitchen table'' issue for families all across this country. We have an opportunity and a responsibility to pass an extension of unemployment insurance and, in doing so, to provide a measure of financial stability to millions of Americans who have been laid off in the most difficult economic times since the Great Depression. We have the opportunity and the responsibility to provide peace of mind to families who are left without a job and nowhere else to turn and are so concerned about their future, families who, right now, as we debate our ability to bring this bill to the floor of the Senate, are having a much more agonizing debate about how to make next month's rent or even next week's grocery budget if their unemployment runs out. For these families, this bill Senator Baucus has worked so hard on to bring to the floor helps them out. What this bill does is extend the unemployment to laid-off workers in States that have been hardest hit by job losses by 6 weeks, and it provides every single unemployed worker who has exhausted his or her benefits, regardless of the State in which they live, an additional 14 weeks of support. It makes some critical changes to help our families. It makes clear that the additional $25 per week in benefits that Congress included in the Recovery Act does not count against someone who is seeking food stamps. This bill could not come at a more critical time. This month, we have seen banner headlines in newspapers all across the country that make a very stark point about the tough climate our laid-off workers face today. In my home State of Washington, unemployment has now risen to 9.3 percent. That number alone does not illustrate the need to provide immediate relief. Even with the robust recovery program that has saved and created jobs throughout my State, our workers are feeling the very sharp effects of this recession. Since this recession began in December of 2007, there have been over 145,000 jobs lost in my State. That means 1 in 20 jobs in Washington State has been lost. These unemployed workers are searching for an average of 6\1/2\ months before they find a job. While those statistics clearly point out the need for this legislation, the stories behind these statistics provide even more of a call to action--stories of single mothers who are scanning the classifieds every morning and then having to search through coupons each night to afford to feed their family dinner; stories of skilled workers, with many years of education and the debt that comes with that, facing stacks of unpaid bills; stories such as those that over the past few weeks, as unemployment benefits have become exhausted for millions of workers, have poured into my Senate offices, stories such as the one of Wane Ryan of Bonney Lake, WA, who shared it with me. Mr. Ryan says he is a carpenter, with 23 years of experience, who has been looking for work for more than a year. In his letter, Mr. Ryan tells of recently selling all his personal belongings, relying on food banks, and being on the verge of financial ruin, through no fault of his own. He wrote me to ask for another emergency unemployment extension just to keep his head above water. There is Kristina Cruz, from Seattle, who received her last unemployment check just a few weeks ago. Kristina told me she has been unemployed now for 20 months, after spending 10 years in human resources. She talks of going above and beyond in her job search, a skill she picked up as her career. But still, she said, interviews have been few and far between. She told me she is stressed out and panicked. She says she is not interested in living off the government long term, but in the midst of this economic crisis, she believes we need to pass this extension. There is the story of Angela Slot and her family from Washougal, WA. Angela's husband designs kitchens and has been out of work since last May. He has returned to school, put out over 1,500 applications in different fields in different States and for every different type of job. Yet today he remains without work. The Slot family has taken out loans, used all their savings and unemployment payments just to stay in their home and provide for their three children. Without this extension, the Slot family calculates they will not have their home by the end of this year. For these families and millions more like them, the question that haunts them every single day is what will we do if this support runs out? Where will we go when our savings are exhausted, when the credit card can no longer make ends meet, when the bank will not wait for a mortgage payment any longer? To whom do we turn? In a time of national crisis, it is our job to make sure we are answering those questions. We can do that by providing a bridge to financial stability for families today. By the end of this year, my State projects that nearly 18,000 people will be in need of these benefits just to keep them afloat. I, personally, know how important it is to have the government in your corner during financial times. When I was young, my dad had to stop working. He was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. That left my mom at home to support and raise seven kids, as she also took care of my dad. It was a very difficult time for my family. We made a lot of sacrifices to get by. But you know what. Our country was there for us. Through food stamps, VA benefits for my dad, student loans, my family made it through those tough times, and I am here today. That is why I believe strongly that we need to be there now for the millions of Americans who are struggling today. We cannot sit on the sidelines. Doing so would only compound the problems we already face--more families pushed into bankruptcy, more families who will have foreclosures happen to them, more people will lose their health care, and less progress will be made on this important road to financial recovery. We cannot sit by as working families are pushed to the brink by a financial crisis they did not create but for which they are still paying. Angela Slot ended her letter to me by saying she felt families such as hers, families who are just scraping by, are ``falling off the radar.'' This unemployment extension bill is our opportunity to prove to her and many others that is not the case. We have not forgotten them. We know they are out there. I urge our colleagues to listen to the voices of their constituents. I ask our Republican colleagues not to block this effort, not to say no to these families, not to turn a blind eye but to join us in passing an unemployment extension that makes sure America's laid-off workers are not ignored. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague, Senator Mikulski, and all of the women who are out on the floor today to talk about this critical issue because the rising cost of health insurance is hurting women and it is hurting our country. For the millions of women across this country who open the mail each month to see their premiums rising dramatically, who cannot get preventive care, such as mammograms, because the copays are too much or they work part time or for a small business that does not provide insurance for them and their families, who cannot get covered for prenatal care or who are forced to stay in an abusive relationship because if they leave, their sick kids will lose their health care coverage, we are their voice. I remember a similar debate such as this on this floor almost 16 years ago. Senators in this Chamber were debating legislation that would allow 35 million Americans to stay home to take care of a newborn or sick child, a parent or spouse, without fear of losing their jobs. I came to the floor then and I told the story about a woman I knew whose child was sick at the time and who was not allowed to take time off from work to care for him as he was dying because she would lose her income and the health insurance that covered him. At the time, as a new Member of the Senate, I spoke passionately about that. I told the story. As I was walking off the floor, one of our colleagues came up to me and said: You know, here in the Senate, we don't tell personal stories. I remember well what I said to him: I came here to tell the stories of the people I represent. They deserve a voice in the Senate. Those stories impacted that debate, and we passed the family and medical leave law. I am back today to tell the story of a woman whose child was sick. I want to tell every one about the story of this little boy, Marcelas Owens. I met him at a health care rally in Seattle. He was 10 years old and his two sisters who we see in this picture as well have been through a lot. Two years ago their mother Tifanny, who is not in this picture--that is his grandmother--lost her life because she was uninsured, 27 years old. How did that happen? Tifanny was a single mom who felt strongly about working to support her family. She worked as an assistant manager at a fast food restaurant. She had health care coverage for her family. But in September of 2006, she got sick and missed some work. Her employer gave her an ultimatum: Make up the lost time or lose your job. Because she was so sick, she physically could not make up the time, and she did lose her job. When she lost her job, she lost her health insurance. Without the coverage and care she needed, in June of 2007, Tifanny lost her life, and Marcelas and his sisters lost their mom. Our health care system is broken. It is broken for moms such as Tifanny who work to provide for their families and do the right thing, and for men who lose their health care in this market we have today. It is broken for women we have heard about who have been denied coverage or charged more for preexisting conditions such as pregnancy or C sections or, tragically, domestic violence. It is broken for their families and for little boys such as Marcelas who will never get back what he lost. Enough is enough. The time is now. The status quo that is being defended by the other side is not working. For women across this country, for their families, for our businesses, for our Nation's future strength that as mothers we care about so much, we have to get this right. We have to remember these stories. We need to be their voice. That is why we are here today and why we are going to keep fighting to make sure that we reform the health care insurance system in this country finally and do it right. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I have been troubled recently by some of the claims I have heard about health insurance reform legislation that we have been working on in the Senate. When I spoke on the floor earlier this July, I said all you had to do was look at a newspaper, turn on cable news to see that the rhetoric on health insurance reform was heating up. Unfortunately, as is often the case, the debate has not gotten any better, but it certainly has gotten louder. I know there is a lot of concern out there, and there is a lot of bad information going around. The latest outrageous claim about reform is it would hurt America's seniors. I am here to tell our seniors and their families: That claim is false. I wish to make this perfectly clear: We are not proposing, here in the Senate, to cut Medicare benefits or to do anything to negatively affect the health of those who are receiving Medicare. When you hear rumors about how reform will affect seniors, consider the source. Listen to some of the inflammatory quotes. A Republican Member of the House of Representatives said: ``Let me tell you here and now, it is socialized medicine.'' Another Republican Congressman said: ``We cannot stand idly by now as the Nation is urged to embark on an ill-conceived adventure in government medicine, the end of which no one can see, and from which the patient is certain to be the ultimate sufferer.'' Those are not quotes about the current health insurance reform effort. Those statements were made in 1965, when Republicans were opposing the establishment of Medicare. Their position has not changed. Republicans have voted against Medicare almost 60 times in the last 10 years. Now, all of a sudden, Republicans are claiming Democrats support cutting Medicare benefits. That is why last Sunday the New York Times said Republicans are: ``Obscuring and twisting the facts and spreading unwarranted fear.'' Scoring cheap political points does not do anything at all to help Americans get affordable health insurance. Our families, and especially our seniors, deserve better. You do not have to go back too far to find a perfect example of this Senate's history on that subject. Just last year, Democrats overcame a Republican filibuster and a veto by then-President Bush to pass the Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act. That bill prevented physicians from suffering cuts in the rate at which Medicare reimburses them for providing care to seniors. If those cuts had happened, many doctors would have been forced to stop treating patients with Medicare, severely limiting seniors' access to health care. Democrats wanted to make sure there were enough doctors to go around, and we did. That bill also made commonsense fixes to Medicare, including requiring that Medicare cover cardiac and pulmonary rehabilitation programs, lowering seniors' copayments for mental health services, and preventing cuts to vital oxygen equipment and wheelchairs. That bill should not have been controversial. It was vetoed by President Bush. When the Senate had a chance to pass the bill over that veto, it was only the Republicans, almost 60 percent of those in the Senate, who sided with President Bush and said no to our seniors. Actions speak louder than words. So do not be fooled when Republicans tell you Democrats do not want to protect Medicare or that health insurance reform will not be good for seniors. The truth is, the Democratic proposal will help our seniors get the care and coverage they need and have earned. This should come as no surprise to anyone. After all, Democrats have had a long history of working to improve the health and general well-being of seniors. Democrats created Medicare over the objections of Republicans because we recognized that no American should go without health care, especially once they reach retirement age. The American people know it has been Democrats who have been protecting Medicare for seniors since we created the program 44 years ago. Nothing has changed. Today, it is still Democrats who are fighting for better, more affordable health care for everyone, especially our seniors. Specifically, our plan moves toward closing that doughnut hole in prescription drug coverage and provides access to more affordable generic drugs. If you have Medicare, our plan makes recommended preventative services such as colonoscopies and mammograms free. It will ensure that if you have Medicare you get a free physical every year, not just when you enroll in the program. Our plan will aggressively attack the fraud and abuse that raises Medicare costs for seniors and for all of us as taxpayers. One thing that has been too often missing from this discussion is what will happen to Medicare if there is no reform. It is now projected that as early as 2017, if we do not make changes, the money Medicare spends on benefits and services will be greater than its income. At that point, seniors would have to pay a greater portion of their health care costs or receive fewer Medicare benefits. That is unacceptable. Our current system is unsustainable. That is one of the reasons the nonpartisan AARP supports reform this year. They know, like we do, that we must protect Medicare for our seniors over both the short term and the long term. Our plan will prevent cost increases and overpayments to insurance companies in order to keep Medicare out of the red. Now is the time to act on health care. Let me be clear. Under the Republican plan, insurance companies can dump you for preexisting conditions because you are a woman, because you are getting older, because you get sick, and Medicare will face bankruptcy. Under our plan, if you like what you have, you keep it. If you don't we will provide affordable choices for you. We are going to protect Medicare. We will not raise taxes on the middle class, and we will not add a dime to the deficit. Every day 14,000 more Americans lose their health insurance. That has to stop. This is not only about those who don't have coverage. The cost of treatment for the uninsured is passed on to every taxpayer. It is estimated that a family of four pays a hidden tax of $1,000 every year in premiums to help pay for those who don't have coverage. We will help remove that burden from all working families. We will provide stability and choice to families and businesses. We will return health care decisions back where they belong, in the hands of patients and doctors, not insurance company bureaucrats. Rumors and misinformation and scare tactics about Medicare should not prevent us from passing meaningful health insurance reform legislation this year. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader be authorized to sign any duly enrolled bills and joint resolutions for the remainder of today, Wednesday, September 30.

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Chair.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, we are now on final passage. I urge all of our colleagues to vote yes.

Mrs. MURRAY. I yield back our time and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote and lay that motion upon the table. The motion to lay upon the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. I agree that the table the Senator refers to reflects the Federal Highway Administration's current estimate of how Federal- Aid Highway Program funding included in this bill would be distributed under current law.

Mrs. MURRAY. I would be pleased to enter into a colloquy with the Senator.

Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator is correct. The table included in the committee report is illustrative and does not direct the actual distribution of the funds provided under this bill.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.