Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that during the Democratic-controlled time, Democratic speakers be allowed to speak for up to 3 minutes each.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I come to the floor today to speak on an issue that hits far too close to home for far too many families in Washington State and across the country--in Roseburg, OR; in Blacksburg, VA; in Newtown, CT; in Seattle, WA, where a student at Seattle Pacific University opened fire just over 1 year ago; in Marysville, WA, where a teenager killed four students in a high school cafeteria before turning the gun on himself; and in so many other communities, too many to list. Madam President, in the hours and days and weeks after those shootings in my State, the community showed incredible resilience and strength. But I can tell you that anyone who has been affected by gun violence understands all too well that all the strength in the world will never erase the pain of the parents who lost a child or the students who lost friends and teachers. Today I echo the questions I have heard from so many people in Washington State: What will it take for this Congress to adopt simple, commonsense reforms? Why would this Congress hesitate at taking even the most basic steps to keep guns out of the hands of dangerous individuals? Why do we fail to act when children at school and young adults on campus and women in abusive relationships and so many others are so vulnerable to the threat of gun violence? I know this is a complex issue, but that doesn't mean we should do nothing. It is long past time for us to improve background checks. It is long past time for us to end the illegal pipeline of guns that contribute to crime. I think it is also important to note that too often those who commit terrible acts of violence needed help and intervention they did not get. To be clear, they represent a very small minority of the many people in our country who struggle with mental illness. But when so many lives are truly on the line, we need a comprehensive approach, and that should include strengthening our mental health care system so that it is available to anyone who needs it. Madam President, this issue isn't going to go away. I wish it would. I wish we never had to have this conversation again. I wish we had never had to hear about the latest child killed, the latest school upended. I know we all wish that. Wishing will not make it happen. It is time for Congress to listen to the American people and act. Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, we yield back our remaining time.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I wish to recognize yeoman CPO Mikel S. Cook, on the occasion of his retirement from the United States Navy. In his 22-year career in the United States Navy, yeoman Chief Petty Officer Cook has served with great distinction and made countless sacrifices to our country. I commend him for his service and extraordinary dedication to duty and the United States of America. Yeoman Chief Petty Officer Cook graduated from boot camp in 1994 from Recruit Training Command in Orlando, FL. Following graduation, he attended Yeoman ``A'' School in Meridian, MS. He reported to his first sea assignment with the Seabees assigned to Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 7. He later reported to the USS Rainier, AOE-7, participating in Operations Southern Watch and Enduring Freedom and earning his enlisted surface and air warfare pins. His final sea assignment was with Fleet Air Reconnaissance Squadron 2 out of Whidbey Island, WA. Yeoman Chief Petty Officer Cook also served with distinction in a variety of assignments ashore: as executive assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff--Operations and Intelligence, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe in Mons, Belgium; and as a naval analyst with the special liaison detachment, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Brussels, Belgium. After completing his last sea tour, yeoman Chief Petty Officer Cook reported to his current assignment as congressional liaison in the Navy Appropriations Matters Office, where he helped the Department of the Navy achieve their financial and legislative goals. For 5 years, yeoman Chief Petty Officer Cook has demonstrated exceptional leadership and foresight, engaging Members of the Appropriations Committee and its staff to provide information essential to resourcing the Navy for its role as the world's dominant sea power. In an increasingly difficult budget environment, he provided essential support in shepherding four Navy budgets through the appropriations process, serving our Navy with insight and dedication. I join my colleagues today in saying thank you to yeoman CPO Mikel S. Cook for his extraordinary dedication to duty and steadfast service to this country throughout his distinguished career in the U.S. Navy. We wish him; his wife, Robyn; and his daughter, Norah, ``Fair Winds and Following Seas'' in his well-deserved retirement.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Women's Pension Protection Act of 2015. Out in Washington State, I recently heard from a woman named Cathy. A few years ago, Cathy said she got a taste of what it is like to have serious doubts about her future in retirement. Her husband was unemployed. On one income, they were trying to pay the bills, pay for health insurance, and pay for college tuition for their younger son. Every month, Cathy said they had to dip further and further into their retirement savings. She said she would stay awake at night, worrying how they were going to make it all work. When I hear stories like Cathy's, it reaffirms for me what we should be working on in Congress. We need to grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down. Our country should work for all families, not just the wealthiest few. That is especially true for seniors--who, after a lifetime of hard work, deserve to live healthy, full, and financially secure lives. I believe a secure retirement is one of the surest hallmarks of a strong middle class. But seniors today are facing some daunting challenges, just like Cathy. Many Americans simply don't have enough savings. They are relying on thin Social Security checks that barely last until the end of the month. Sometimes, they are forced to choose between paying for groceries or paying for a prescription. Too often, it is women who struggle the most with financial hardship in retirement, more so than men. Why is this? Well, for one, women live longer than men. So, they are more likely to outlive their retirement savings. But there are also some systemic challenges we need to address to make sure women are better able to have a secure retirement. During their working years, women earn less than men. Today, women make just 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. That is just patently unfair. Women are more likely than men to work low-wage jobs. In fact, women comprise two-thirds of all minimum-wage workers. It is plain and simple math: Lower wages make it hard to support a family, let alone save enough for retirement. Women are also much more likely to work part- time, sometimes so they can take on caregiving responsibilities. This earnings gap leads to a retirement gap later in life. Don't forget, workers in low wage and part-time jobs, often don't have access to a retirement savings plan at work. A new GAO report shows that workers in low-wage and part-time jobs are among the least likely to participate in a workplace retirement plan. It is mainly because these plans are not offered or because they are not eligible. Keep in mind this is particularly problematic for women, because they make up the majority of low-wage and part-time workers. It is not that these workers don't want to save for their future. This same GAO report found that when given the opportunity, a majority of part-time workers and workers in low-wage jobs do participate in retirement plans. For a long time, people assumed that these workers would not take advantage of a workplace retirement account or that they couldn't afford to save. This report busts that myth. Instead, it is the lack of access to retirement plans that prevent many workers from saving. But, as if all that wasn't enough, 401k plans today lack basic consumer protections. I have heard from advocates who work with women whose husbands cashed out their 401k during a separation or right before a divorce. Right now, there is nothing in the law that prevents that from happening. That is just not right. Without consumer protections, both husbands and wives are at risk of having the rug pulled out from under them because their spouse made a financial decision without their knowledge. These challenges--from inequality in the workplace to gaps in consumer protections--won't just go away. In fact, they will only get worse until we resolve to do something about it for seniors today, for those who want to retire in the next few years, and for future generations. Thankfully, we can do something about it. We need to address the inequalities that women face during their working years. It is time to finally ensure women get equal pay for equal work. The Paycheck Fairness Act would tackle pay discrimination head-on. I hope we can all agree that in the 21st century, workers should be paid fairly for the work they do, regardless of their gender. We should raise the minimum wage to $12 by 2020. It will put more money in workers' pockets so they can spend it in their local communities and put more away for retirement. My bill will provide a strong floor--a Federal bare minimum--that workers and cities can build off of and go even higher where it makes sense--like in Seattle in my home State of Washington. It is time to make more progress on paid sick leave, so women aren't penalized for taking care of their families. I have introduced a bill called the Healthy Families Act to allow workers to earn paid sick days. Those solutions to empower women in today's workplace will pay off for their golden years to come. Today, I am proud to introduce a bill with a number of my Democratic women colleagues. It is called the Women's Pension Protection Act, and it would take three major steps to protect women's retirement security. First, my bill would expand spousal protections to cover defined contribution plans, like 401(k)s. These protections already exist for defined benefit plans, and it is just common sense to extend these protections to defined contribution plans as well. It would help improve access to retirement savings plans for part-time workers. This bill would improve women's financial literacy. With fewer traditional pensions, people will need to make some difficult financial decisions in retirement. So, increasing financial literacy will be very important in the years ahead. Ensuring women are able to access a secure retirement is part of my ongoing work to help our economy grow in the way we know is strongest: from the middle out, not the top down. Eighty years ago, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. At the time, he called it ``a cornerstone in a structure, which is being built, but it is, by no means, complete.'' We added on to that original cornerstone with Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act. Those programs laid the foundation for seniors to have solid footing in America's middle class. Now, it is time to build on that foundation. Because like FDR foresaw 80 years ago, the structure of retirement security is still incomplete. We need to start the next phase to address the pressing challenges that seniors face today. I am going to be fighting to make sure more workers, more seniors and more families have access to a healthy, independent, and financially secure retirement. I am going to keep fighting to build an ever-stronger foundation for families in my home State of Washington State, and across the Nation, for generations to come.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Women's Pension Protection Act of 2015. Out in Washington State, I recently heard from a woman named Cathy. A few years ago, Cathy said she got a taste of what it is like to have serious doubts about her future in retirement. Her husband was unemployed. On one income, they were trying to pay the bills, pay for health insurance, and pay for college tuition for their younger son. Every month, Cathy said they had to dip further and further into their retirement savings. She said she would stay awake at night, worrying how they were going to make it all work. When I hear stories like Cathy's, it reaffirms for me what we should be working on in Congress. We need to grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down. Our country should work for all families, not just the wealthiest few. That is especially true for seniors--who, after a lifetime of hard work, deserve to live healthy, full, and financially secure lives. I believe a secure retirement is one of the surest hallmarks of a strong middle class. But seniors today are facing some daunting challenges, just like Cathy. Many Americans simply don't have enough savings. They are relying on thin Social Security checks that barely last until the end of the month. Sometimes, they are forced to choose between paying for groceries or paying for a prescription. Too often, it is women who struggle the most with financial hardship in retirement, more so than men. Why is this? Well, for one, women live longer than men. So, they are more likely to outlive their retirement savings. But there are also some systemic challenges we need to address to make sure women are better able to have a secure retirement. During their working years, women earn less than men. Today, women make just 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. That is just patently unfair. Women are more likely than men to work low-wage jobs. In fact, women comprise two-thirds of all minimum-wage workers. It is plain and simple math: Lower wages make it hard to support a family, let alone save enough for retirement. Women are also much more likely to work part- time, sometimes so they can take on caregiving responsibilities. This earnings gap leads to a retirement gap later in life. Don't forget, workers in low wage and part-time jobs, often don't have access to a retirement savings plan at work. A new GAO report shows that workers in low-wage and part-time jobs are among the least likely to participate in a workplace retirement plan. It is mainly because these plans are not offered or because they are not eligible. Keep in mind this is particularly problematic for women, because they make up the majority of low-wage and part-time workers. It is not that these workers don't want to save for their future. This same GAO report found that when given the opportunity, a majority of part-time workers and workers in low-wage jobs do participate in retirement plans. For a long time, people assumed that these workers would not take advantage of a workplace retirement account or that they couldn't afford to save. This report busts that myth. Instead, it is the lack of access to retirement plans that prevent many workers from saving. But, as if all that wasn't enough, 401k plans today lack basic consumer protections. I have heard from advocates who work with women whose husbands cashed out their 401k during a separation or right before a divorce. Right now, there is nothing in the law that prevents that from happening. That is just not right. Without consumer protections, both husbands and wives are at risk of having the rug pulled out from under them because their spouse made a financial decision without their knowledge. These challenges--from inequality in the workplace to gaps in consumer protections--won't just go away. In fact, they will only get worse until we resolve to do something about it for seniors today, for those who want to retire in the next few years, and for future generations. Thankfully, we can do something about it. We need to address the inequalities that women face during their working years. It is time to finally ensure women get equal pay for equal work. The Paycheck Fairness Act would tackle pay discrimination head-on. I hope we can all agree that in the 21st century, workers should be paid fairly for the work they do, regardless of their gender. We should raise the minimum wage to $12 by 2020. It will put more money in workers' pockets so they can spend it in their local communities and put more away for retirement. My bill will provide a strong floor--a Federal bare minimum--that workers and cities can build off of and go even higher where it makes sense--like in Seattle in my home State of Washington. It is time to make more progress on paid sick leave, so women aren't penalized for taking care of their families. I have introduced a bill called the Healthy Families Act to allow workers to earn paid sick days. Those solutions to empower women in today's workplace will pay off for their golden years to come. Today, I am proud to introduce a bill with a number of my Democratic women colleagues. It is called the Women's Pension Protection Act, and it would take three major steps to protect women's retirement security. First, my bill would expand spousal protections to cover defined contribution plans, like 401(k)s. These protections already exist for defined benefit plans, and it is just common sense to extend these protections to defined contribution plans as well. It would help improve access to retirement savings plans for part-time workers. This bill would improve women's financial literacy. With fewer traditional pensions, people will need to make some difficult financial decisions in retirement. So, increasing financial literacy will be very important in the years ahead. Ensuring women are able to access a secure retirement is part of my ongoing work to help our economy grow in the way we know is strongest: from the middle out, not the top down. Eighty years ago, Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Social Security Act into law. At the time, he called it ``a cornerstone in a structure, which is being built, but it is, by no means, complete.'' We added on to that original cornerstone with Medicare, Medicaid, and the Older Americans Act. Those programs laid the foundation for seniors to have solid footing in America's middle class. Now, it is time to build on that foundation. Because like FDR foresaw 80 years ago, the structure of retirement security is still incomplete. We need to start the next phase to address the pressing challenges that seniors face today. I am going to be fighting to make sure more workers, more seniors and more families have access to a healthy, independent, and financially secure retirement. I am going to keep fighting to build an ever-stronger foundation for families in my home State of Washington State, and across the Nation, for generations to come.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I think a lot of people here talk about what they think everyone should be focused on, but what I think we should be focused on is that this month students across the country are making their way back to college campuses. When more Americans pursue their degrees beyond high school, it is actually good for our country. It strengthens the middle class. It strengthens the workforce that needs to compete in the 21st century global economy. So here in Congress what I believe we should be working on are ways to help more students earn a degree and gain a foothold into the middle class. Unfortunately, instead of keeping students' options open to help them succeed, we are facing another deadline and another artificial crisis. If we do not act in the Senate, the Perkins Loan Program will expire after tomorrow. That means that more than 100,000 students will no longer be eligible for this assistance over the next year. That is going to leave a lot of students in this country in the lurch. Without Perkins loans, students might have to take out private loans that have higher interest rates and fewer repayment options. So students would end up with a heavier burden of student debt or they might decide not to enroll in the first place. That is the exact opposite outcome we need for the future of this economy. In my home State of Washington, more than 15,000 students received Perkins loans last year. That includes about 4,700 students from the University of Washington. I want to make sure the next class of students has the same opportunity so they can better afford college. We in Congress need to supply students with more support to manage rising college costs, not less. I am hopeful that today we can extend the Perkins loan for 1 year while we work to reauthorize the Higher Education Act because there is no reason to block this bipartisan legislation that would give our students some certainty for next year. The Perkins Loan Program gives students with financial needs three things that private loans do not. The loans are low cost. They do not accrue interest while a student is enrolled and for 9 months afterward. That can reduce student debt by hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The loans provide flexible repayment terms, and they also give those who are interested in the public sector generous forgiveness options. The House Representatives has already acted to extend this program for 1 year. We should do the same before the clock runs out. I am so glad this effort to extend the Perkins Loan Program has strong bipartisan support in the Senate. It would provide new students with some certainty for the current school year. Today, students face unprecedented challenges in financing their education. The cost of college has skyrocketed, and many students are struggling under the crushing burden of student debt. Preventing the Perkins Loan Program from expiring will not solve all of their problems. I hope we can continue this bipartisan work on ways to make college more affordable and rein in student debt. Passing this bill to extend the Perkins Loan Program is a step we can take so students don't have the rug pulled out from under them. There is no reason students should have to face this uncertainty and there is no reason we shouldn't be able to pass this by unanimous consent. I know firsthand how important education is for families and for our Nation's middle class. When I was 15, my dad was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and, in a few short years, he couldn't work any longer. Without warning, my family had fallen on hard times, but instead of falling through the cracks, my brothers and sisters and I got a good public education at our schools and we had a country at our back that helped make sure we were able to go to college with student loans and what is now known as the Pell program. My mom got the skills she needed to find a better paying job at Lake Washington Vocational School. So even though we faced some hard times, we never lost hope that with a good education we would be able to find our footing and earn our way to a stable middle-class life. Students at colleges and universities across the country today are looking now to us to make sure they have a solid pathway into the middle class. So I urge my colleagues to support extending this program to make sure students have the financial aid tools they need so they can build their skills, grow our economy, and help lead the world in the 21st century. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I think many of us today have been struck with a serious case of deja vu because once again, with a government shutdown looming, some Republicans continue to pander to their base with a political show vote instead of working with Democrats to prevent a budget crisis. Once again, it is women's health that is being used as a tea party political football, with Republicans attempting to cut off women's access to care, and once again workers and families across our country are watching Congress and wondering whether their elected officials can do the absolute bare minimum. The government shutdown that Republicans pushed us into in 2013 did nothing to help them repeal the Affordable Care Act, but it did have real consequences for families and communities we represent. Workers didn't know when they would get their next paycheck. Businesses felt the sting of fewer customers. Families across the country lost even more trust that elected officials in Washington, DC, could get anything done. In my home State of Washington, thousands of employees at Joint Base Lewis-McChord were sent home with no return in sight. Startups couldn't get small business loans, national parks such as Mount Rainier shut down. It kept families away from true national treasures and customers away from small businesses that rely on their tourism. After all of that, I had hoped Republicans would learn their lesson, especially because once that economy-rattling exercise in futility came to an end, I was proud to work with the Republican budget chairman, Paul Ryan, to do what we shouldn't have needed a shutdown to get done-- negotiate a 2-year bipartisan deal that prevented another government shutdown. It restored critical investments in priorities such as education, research, and defense jobs and showed our families that government can get something done when both sides are willing to come to the table and compromise. That deal was an important reminder that governing by crisis simply does not work. Unfortunately, now it seems that some of my Republican colleagues have forgotten that, because instead of working across the aisle on another bipartisan budget deal, as Democrats have pushed them to do for months, some Republicans are once again using a looming fiscal deadline as an opportunity to pander to their base, no matter what that means for our workers and families who are wondering whether government will still be running in a few days. Since they clearly need another reminder, attacking women's health does not keep the government open and these shutdown threats will not work. It didn't work in 2011, when House Republicans tried to defund Planned Parenthood in the budget at the very last minute. It didn't work in 2013, when extreme Members of the GOP were dead set on repealing ObamaCare, and they will not work today. I am going to be proud to vote against this partisan attempt to defund Planned Parenthood and take critical health care services away from millions of people. Then I hope that finally Republicans will remember what they should have learned last Congress: accept that enough is enough and make sure that women, workers, families, and our economy are protected from a completely unnecessary crisis. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Thank you, Mr. President. Mr. President, right now we are on a course for yet another Republican government shutdown in just 13 days. We know what this looks like and how damaging it is because we saw it 2 years ago when tea party Republicans dug in their heels and tried to use shutdown threats to repeal the Affordable Care Act. We know that during the 16-day shutdown that followed the tea party tantrum, workers across our country didn't know when they would get their next paycheck, businesses felt the sting of fewer customers, and families across our country lost even more trust that elected officials in our country could even get anything done. After all that--after all the damage families and communities felt--we also know that the 2013 government shutdown actually did nothing to stop the Affordable Care Act. Once that shutdown ended, I was proud to work with the Republican Budget chairman, Paul Ryan, to do what we shouldn't have needed a shutdown to get done, and that was negotiate a 2-year bipartisan budget deal that prevented another government shutdown. It restored critical investments in priorities like education, research, and defense jobs, and it showed families their government can get something done when both sides are willing to come to the table and compromise. I was hopeful that after the economy-rattling exercise in futility and the bipartisan deal that came out of it, Republican leaders would have learned a few lessons. Well, 2 years later, as our bipartisan deal is set to expire, here we are with another Republican government shutdown around the corner. What are the leaders doing about this? What is their plan to avoid a repeat of 2013? Are they working with Democrats to keep government open and negotiate a budget deal as we have been pushing them to do for months? Unfortunately, the answer is no. Instead, just days away from a looming fiscal deadline, Republicans are back as far into their partisan corner as they can get and are focused on their political pastime--attacking women's health. Instead of spending the coming weeks working to avoid a budget crisis, which is what we should be doing, Republicans are unbelievably planning to vote on yet another restriction on women's health and rights. This is transparent pandering that is bad for women, bad for our economy, and bad for our country. People across the country are watching this, and they are appalled. This particular bill that is coming to the floor next week is an extreme, unconstitutional abortion ban, which would restrict a woman's constitutionally protected right to make her own choices about her own health and her own body. That bill would mean that if a young woman endures rape or incest, she would have to go to the police before getting the care she needs, and it would take away the right to choose from adult victims of incest entirely. Finally, that bill would allow politicians in Washington, DC, to get between a woman and her doctor by making it a crime for doctors to provide health care their patients need. This kind of dangerous, extreme legislation might appeal to the tea party, but it is going nowhere. Voting on it certainly will not keep the government open and, just like the Republican attacks on the Affordable Care Act 2 years ago, this latest GOP effort to turn back the clock on women's health is a dead end. A new report from the CBO shows that if Republicans get their way and Planned Parenthood loses funding, as many as 630,000 women will not be able to get birth control. Hundreds of thousands of women, many of whom do not have convenient access to health care clinics or providers besides Planned Parenthood, would experience reduced access to their health care. It is appalling that in the 21st century, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are pushing to take health care away from women who need it. Let me be very clear. Democrats are not going to allow Republican political pandering come before women's health and rights--not on our watch. I want to be sure that families and communities across the country heard something that the majority leader did say yesterday. He said that ``inevitably'' Democrats and Republicans will have to work together to reach a bipartisan budget agreement. Well, I think the workers and businesses who struggled through the last government shutdown are wondering what the holdup is. Why do we need another round of drama and brinksmanship before we can work together? Why do we need to see countdown clocks--once again--counting down the days until another shutdown? And why, once again, do women and their health care have to come under attack before Republicans can do the right thing? I am certainly wondering, and I know my Democratic colleagues are too. I think it is clear that Republican leaders have a choice. As their leader said, they inevitably will have to work with Democrats, now or later. The only question is how much pain they are willing to put workers and businesses through before they drop the politics, stop pandering, and come to the table. Democrats are ready to get to work, and I hope that, finally, Republican leaders are as well. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Golden Goose Award, which recognizes researchers whose seemingly obscure, federally funded research has returned significant benefits to society. In particular, I rise to celebrate 2015 Golden Goose Awardees Drs. Walter Mischel, Philip Peake, and Yuichi Shoda for the impact of their Marshmallow Test research. Their work--funded by the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation--has had a significant impact on how we understand human behavior, how we educate our children, and even how we save for retirement. These researchers used a simple test to measure pre-schoolers' self- control, offering children one marshmallow now or two if they could wait just 15 minutes alone with their prospective treat. They never expected to find that how children performed on this simple, silly- sounding test would be related to the children's future SAT scores, their propensity for obesity or drug addiction, and even the very chemistry of their brains. In their followup study, Dr. Yuichi Shoda, now a professor at the University of Washington, found, based on reporting by parents and teachers, that children who had been able to wait longer for their extra treat at age 4 tended to show better adjustment in adolescence. They had more social and academic competence, were more able to handle stress adeptly, and persisted better in goal pursuit in the face of frustration. The researchers, joined by many collaborators across an array of disciplines, have followed these children now for more than 30 years. They have documented correlations between the ability to delay and life outcomes as diverse as SAT scores, body-mass index, the frequency of drug abuse, and measurable differences in brain functioning, which are visible thanks to modern functional MRI techniques. Today, Dr. Shoda is looking at how people can benefit from an awareness of the kinds of situations in which they excel at self- control and those in which they are most vulnerable to self-control failure. Far from a story about fixed fates, their discoveries about the importance of self-control and how it can be cultivated today informs how we teach our children and helps us recognize the potential that lies in all of us. They have helped usher in a new age of understanding of human development and behavior. Our lives are the better for it. I am proud to stand in recognition of their work.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, in today's economy, too many of our workers across this country are underpaid, they are overworked, and they are treated unfairly on the job. In short, they lack fundamental economic security. In Congress, we have got to act to give our workers much needed relief. We need to grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down. And we should make sure our country works for all Americans, not just the wealthiest few. There is no reason we can't get to work on legislation to do just that. That is why I am here this afternoon, joining my colleagues in calling for us in the Senate to move on some important policies that will help restore economic security and stability to more of our workers. Mr. President, I understand that we are waiting for one of my Republican colleagues to come to the floor before I ask unanimous consent, so I will pause for just a minute. But I will say while we are waiting that we are very concerned about many Americans today who make few dollars an hour, who don't have paid sick leave, who are told to go to work at hours that they cannot control or know about, and we are introducing legislation or asking to introduce legislation today to deal with all of those issues. Unanimous Consent Request--S. 1150 Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Democratic leader and no later than Friday, October 30, the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 1150, the Raise the Wage Act; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be read a third time; that the Senate vote on passage of the bill, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, following consultation with the Democratic leader, and no later than Friday, October 30, the HELP Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. 497, the Healthy Families Act; that the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration; that the bill be read a third time; that the Senate vote on passage of the bill, and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, reclaiming the floor, it is disappointing to us that the Republican majority has objected to bringing these bills forward and blocking our efforts to provide some much needed economic stability and security for our workers in this country. Our workers have been waiting a long time for relief from the trickle-down system that has hurt our middle class. This Senator wants to put the Senate on notice that the Democrats are going to keep working on ways to grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down, and we are going to be working to make sure our workers and our families have a voice at the table. We are going to continue to focus on making sure our country works for all Americans, not just the wealthy and few. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, across our country today, so many of our workers clock in 40 hours a week. They work very hard, and yet they are unable to provide for their families. Just last fall, NBC News interviewed a woman named Latoya who worked in a fast food restaurant. She was protesting as part of a fast food workers strike. Latoya is raising four children alone on $7.25 an hour. That is less than $300 a week and is well below the poverty line for her and her family. For part of last year, she was living in a homeless shelter. She told the reporter: ``Nobody should work 40 hours a week and find themselves homeless.'' On top of rock-bottom wages, Latoya said she and her colleagues experienced unpaid wages, unpredictable scheduling, and having to make do with broken equipment on the job. In today's economy, too many of our workers across the country face the same challenges as Latoya. They are underpaid, they are overworked, and they are treated unfairly on the job. In short, they lack fundamental economic security. Several places around the country and in my home State of Washington are working to address this at the local level. This Senator believes we need to bring the Washington State way here to Washington, DC. In Congress, I believe we need to act to give workers some much needed relief. We need to grow our economy from the middle out, not the top down, and we should make sure our country works for all Americans, not just the wealthiest few. There is no reason we can't get to work today on legislation to do just that. That is why I have joined with my colleagues over the past few months in introducing several bills that will help restore some much needed economic security and stability to millions of workers. That is why I am hoping we can move some of these bills forward before we all go back home to our States. For too long we have heard from some Republicans the theory--a deeply flawed theory--that if we would only grant more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans and if we would just keep rolling back regulations on the biggest corporations, those benefits would eventually trickle down and reach working families in our country. Not only does that theory not work, as we have seen over the past few decades, that trickle-down system has done real damage to our Nation's middle class and our working families. While worker productivity has actually reached new heights, workers have lost basic protections they once had. While trickle-down economics allows corporations to post big profits, too many of our workers are paying the price. Let me give some examples. Today the Federal minimum wage can leave a family in poverty even after working full time and even without taking a single day off. Not only that, today some businesses are using unfair scheduling practices to keep workers guessing about when they are going to be called in to work, with no guarantee of how much money they will earn in a given week. Those types of scheduling abuses take a real toll on workers' lives and prevent them from getting ahead. Attending college classes is not an option when someone's work schedule is always in flux. Taking on a second job to earn more money is nearly impossible when you can't plan around your first job. And that is not all. Today, 43 million workers in this country don't have paid sick leave. When they get sick, they have to choose between toughing it out at work and passing that illness on to others or staying at home and potentially losing their job. When their child is sick, they have to choose between losing money on their paycheck or missing out on caring for their son or daughter. If that is not enough, in our country women are paid just 78 cents for every dollar a man makes. That is not just unfair to women, by the way; it is bad for families and it hurts our economy. Many businesses are doing the right thing and are supporting their workers, but other corporations that don't, put those businesses that are doing the right thing at a competitive disadvantage by running a race to the bottom and pulling their workers down with them. This worker insecurity isn't just devastating for the millions of workers and their families who are impacted by it, it is also hurting our economy. Truly robust and strong economic growth comes from the middle out, not the top down. When our workers lack security, when they are not treated fairly, they can't invest in themselves and their children or spend money in their communities or move their families into a middle-class life. I believe we have to address this challenge on multiple fronts. We can start by making sure our workers are treated fairly so they can earn their way toward rising wages and increased economic security. There are important things we can do here in Congress to expand economic security and stability for millions of our working families today. For starters, we should pass the Paycheck Fairness Act that the senior Senator from Maryland has championed for so many years to finally close the pay gap between men and women. The Paycheck Fairness Act would tackle pay discrimination head-on. This Senator hopes we can all agree that in the 21st century, workers should be paid fairly for the work they do, regardless of their gender. We should also raise the minimum wage to make sure hard work does pay off. My Raise the Wage Act increases the minimum wage to $12 by 2020 and is enough to lift a family of three out of poverty. It will put more money in workers' pockets so they can spend it in their local communities. It will help to build a strong floor--a Federal minimum-- that workers and cities can build off of and go even higher where it makes sense, like in Seattle in my home State in Washington. It is a level that Republicans should be able to agree with and start moving toward right now. I have also worked on a bill, along with Senators Warren and Murphy, to crack down on the scheduling abuses I just talked about, so businesses would no longer keep their workers guessing on when they would be called in or how many hours they might get in a given week. In February I introduced the Healthy Families Act to allow workers to earn up to 7 paid sick days. I want to move forward on that legislation to give our workers some much needed economic security because no one should have to sacrifice a day of pay or their job altogether just to take care of themselves or their sick child. We as a nation should not turn our backs on empowering our workers through collective bargaining, especially since strong unions ensure workers have a strong voice at the table. It is the very thing that helped so many workers climb into the middle class in this country. Enacting these critical policies won't solve every problem facing our workers and their families today. It is not the only way that I and Senate Democrats will be fighting to protect workers and making sure the economy is growing from the middle out, not the top down. But these policies would be very strong steps in the right direction to bring back that American dream of economic security and a stable middle-class life for millions of workers who have seen it slip away. When workers succeed, businesses succeed and thus the economy succeeds. We know this works. I have seen it in my home State of Washington where State and local governments have taken the lead on proposals such as raising the minimum wage and paid sick days. I think it is time to bring some of that Washington State way right here to Washington, DC. I recently heard from a small business owner by the name of Laura. She owns a small auto repair shop in Renton, WA. She shared something that I hear all the time from business owners: Doing the right thing by workers starts a virtuous cycle. Laura said, ``When workers have more money, businesses have more customers. With more customers, businesses can hire more workers, which in turn generates more customers.'' Working families in our country have been waiting long enough for some relief from the trickle-down system that hurts the middle class. That is why I am going to be asking for unanimous consent to work on the policies that would restore economic security and stability to more workers. Let's finally restore some stability and security for workers across our country. Let's make sure hard work pays off. Let's help more families make ends meet, expand economic opportunity, and grow our economy from the middle out. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, thanks to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, the Senate is unfortunately taking a vote on whether critical health care services should be taken away from millions of women across the country. We will be voting on whether a young woman should be able to go to a provider she trusts to get birth control, whether cancer screenings should be more or less available to women across the country, and whether the U.S. Senate is going to turn back the clock on women's health. To me--and to many Democrats and even some Republicans who want to help women get the care they need--it is deeply disappointing that we are even having this debate because extreme Republicans have attacked Planned Parenthood and women's health so many times before--on the budget, the highway bill, the Affordable Care Act, and even on the legislation I introduced last week to help wounded veterans start families. That is right. Some of my Republican colleagues were more interested in scoring political points with their extreme base by picking fights over women's health than they were in helping our wounded veterans. Unfortunately, it is clear they will jump at any opportunity to put politics before women's health. The bill we are talking about this evening that would defund Planned Parenthood is just more of the same. My Republican colleagues who support this bill claim it would simply redirect funding for Planned Parenthood to other providers. Let's keep in mind that 2.7 million people visited Planned Parenthood for their health care last year, and 1 out of every 5 women in the United States will visit a Planned Parenthood center at some point in her life. So Planned Parenthood is a critical source of health care in communities across this country, and claiming that other providers can simply absorb those patients is like saying you can pour a bucket of water into a cup. It will not work. Instead, what this bill would actually do is take access to birth control, cancer screenings, STD tests, and other important preventive care away from women. It would leave families and communities without trusted, quality health care providers they rely on, and it would mean that in the United States of America in the 21st century the tea party gets to tell women what doctors they can or cannot go to. I am not going to let that happen, and I know many of my colleagues here today agree. So this legislation is going nowhere, and, just as we have every other time they have tried these partisan tactics, we are sending a very clear message to those who choose political pandering over women's health. Political attacks and threats to shut down the government are not going to get in the way of women's access to the care they need--not on our watch. Why? Because we know millions of women and their families are counting on us, and we are going to keep standing up for them. I will close today by sharing the story of a woman from my home State of Washington. Shannon is from Tumwater, WA. When she was a teenager, she experienced ``unbearable pain'' and went to see a doctor to find out whether she had endometriosis. That is a serious disease that can keep women from having children if it goes untreated. Her doctor told her she was far too young to have endometriosis and sent her home. A few years later when she turned 18, Shannon tried again, and this time she went to a Planned Parenthood center. There, her provider confirmed that she did indeed have endometriosis. Her lesions were removed, and Shannon got the medication to manage her condition, thanks to Planned Parenthood. She no longer has to live with chronic pain, and now she is the proud mother of a little girl. Shannon said, ``My daughter is truly a gift, and I really have Planned Parenthood to thank for her.'' So today, as many Members on the other side of the aisle vote to take health care away from women and their families, as they try as hard as they can to appeal to the extreme fringe of their party no matter the cost, I hope they think of women like Shannon whose lives are happier and healthier because of the services Planned Parenthood provides to so many communities in our country. That is whom I will be thinking about. I am very proud to vote no tonight and will continue to keep fighting for women, their health care, and their rights. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am delighted to join the Senator from Maine on the floor today to speak about this critical infrastructure program called TIGER. She and I have worked together for many years on transportation infrastructure, and I so appreciate her leadership and her tremendous enthusiasm in making sure that our country does the right thing. It is a delight to be here today with her, as well as with my colleague from Rhode Island, who is now the ranking member on the transportation appropriations subcommittee. I thank them both for coming to the floor to speak about a program that we created several years ago and that has been so effective. We all know that investing in our Nation's infrastructure is a critical part of broad-based and long-term economic growth. As we can see today, this is not a partisan issue. Democrats and Republicans agree that infrastructure investments get workers back on the job, help our economy grow in communities across this country, and make sure our transportation systems work in a 21st century economy. That is why I am so proud to be a strong supporter of this bipartisan amendment that we are offering today. It has 29 cosponsors from both sides of the aisle. What it does is it continues the popular competitive grant program known as TIGER. TIGER grants have made an impact in every corner of this country, and they represent exactly the type of investment our country should be making--addressing our Nation's short-term and long-term transportation issues while creating good-paying jobs--American jobs, I would add--and working to grow our economy from the middle out, not just the top down. We have all seen firsthand the difference the TIGER program can make in our States. So that is why I fought, along with my colleagues, to get this amendment included in the final Transportation bill. Since its creation, TIGER has awarded $4.1 billion directly to communities to support more than 340 innovative, multimodal projects in every State. For example, TIGER grants are increasing the flow of commerce and trade between Maine and New Hampshire because of improvements to the Memorial Bridge. In New Mexico, TIGER grants are being used to make critical safety improvements to a major trucking route where the fatality rate has been more than three times the State average. In my home State of Washington, $204 million has gone to 13 critical infrastructure projects across my State, from Seattle to Spokane to Vancouver. Demand for TIGER funding is intense. Applications always exceed the amount of funding available, sometimes by as much as 20 to 1. It is clear that we can and should be doing so much more to help communities carry out these projects that make our transportation system safer and more efficient. Though we hit some unfortunate and unnecessary barriers in passing the TIGER amendment, I know that Senator Collins and Senator Reed are going to continue fighting along with me to support this critical program. I hope more of our colleagues will join with us in boosting regional economies and in improving our Nation's infrastructure, because this type of program is so important to our States and our local agencies as they work to tackle the complex transportation needs of our communities. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am on the floor this afternoon to talk about something I have had to talk about far too many times--extreme Republicans pandering to their extreme base by attacking women's health. My Republican colleagues have picked this fight over spending bills, over the debt ceiling, and the list goes on. In fact, they even tried last week to attach political riders attacking Planned Parenthood to a bill that was supposed to help seriously wounded veterans start families. So we know how far they are willing to go to appeal to the tea party, and what we are discussing today is more of the same. Republicans are using undercover attack videos, produced by a radical, rightwing organization dedicated to taking away a woman's right to choose, to once again on the floor try to defund Planned Parenthood and take away critical health services from women. As Republicans try once again to get in between a woman and her health care, my colleagues are on the floor today to make one thing very clear: This bill is a nonstarter. We are standing up to be the voices for millions of men and women across the country and to say we are not going to let Republicans hurt women and take away their health care--not on our watch. Mr. President, 2.7 women and men visit Planned Parenthood each year for health care. One in five women will visit Planned Parenthood at some point in her life. These women and their families are looking for everything from cancer screenings to birth control, to basic primary care, and the bill some of my Republican colleagues have introduced would take all of that away. It would leave women without the providers they know and the providers they trust. I don't think women want the tea party making their health care decisions for them, but under this bill that is exactly what would happen and that is why it is not going anywhere. Republicans can go ahead and try for the umpteenth time to turn back the clock on women's health and score political points with their extreme base. They can pander to the tea party instead of working with us on the real challenges this country faces. We need to be creating jobs, growing our economy, and actually expanding access to health care. We want them to know we are going to be right there as this comes to the floor, fighting back to make sure women come before politics and not the other way around. We have fought this battle before and again and again and again. Battles we all thought were settled, that women across the country thought they had won decades ago keep coming back. And each time we have made it clear: We are not going away. Republicans can keep trying to attack women's health care, they can put new spins on old ideas, they can try talking about it in a different way, and they can look for any opportunity they want to bring this back up, but they should know we are not going to be fooled and they will not fool women across the country. Women in this country should be able to make their own decision about their own health care. Our government should be investing in women's health, helping more women get access to care, not moving in the opposite direction. I very much hope Republicans finally learn their lesson and move on to the other things, but, if not, we need them to know we are going to be here ready to stand and fight for women in this country. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I wish to recognize the National Women's Law Center for its longtime leadership and tireless commitment to expanding opportunities for women, girls, and families. The law center's advocacy has made a difference in countless lives for more than 40 years, and I have been proud to work with its members on many issues during my time in the Senate. On July 30, the Coalition on Human Needs will honor the law center as its 2015 Human Needs Hero, recognizing years of research, analysis, advocacy, and litigation on a wide range of issues at the State and Federal levels. Since its inception in 1972, the law center has been a tireless advocate for women, children, families, and those Americans most in need. It has been at the forefront of many important policy initiatives and a source of insightful information that is essential to promoting and enacting good public policy. Over the years, I have been proud to work with the law center on important programs and policies--from affordable childcare to expanding tax credits for low- and moderate-income families, increasing the minimum wage, and narrowing the wage gap. The law center's outreach and hard work have educated grassroots advocates and helped convey their views to policymakers for over 40 years--it is truly an invaluable resource. As a determined and committed defender of the needs of women and families, the law center has earned the admiration of fellow advocacy organizations, the respect of its ideological opponents, and the trust of members of this body, including myself. I congratulate the National Women's Law Center for receiving this important award recognizing its hard work and commitment to social justice. I look forward to continuing to work together for years to come.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am on the floor today to discuss the path forward on my bill, the Women Veterans and Families Health Services Act of 2015. This is legislation which would end VA's decades- old ban on fertility services, and it would take critical steps toward ensuring that we are doing everything we can to support veterans who have sacrificed so much for our country and have suffered injuries on the battlefield that prevent them from having children on their own. I introduced this legislation because I believe strongly that our commitment to servicemembers doesn't stop at the end of their tours. I believe that commitment doesn't stop at all, ever. And a critical part of this commitment--of what our country should do to make sure those who sacrificed so much for us can live the lives they hoped for--is helping seriously wounded veterans start families so that those who put their lives on hold and on the line have the opportunity to achieve that important goal. Caring for our veterans should never be a partisan issue, and helping our wounded warriors start families should rise above the petty political fights we see too often in Washington, DC. So I was very proud to work with Republicans on the Veterans' Affairs Committee on a bipartisan compromise, one that should have allowed my veterans health care act to pass through the committee today with strong bipartisan support, as it has in the past. And until yesterday, that was exactly what I thought was going to happen. My bill was on the agenda. It was going to come up for a vote, and I thought it was going to pass. That is why I am so disappointed and truly angry that Republicans on the Veterans' Affairs Committee decided yesterday to leap at the opportunity to pander to their base, to poison the well with the political cable news battle of the day and turn their backs on these wounded veterans. Just a few Republicans with just a few poison-pill amendments have turned our bipartisan effort to help wounded veterans into a partisan effort to attack women's health care. I find that shameful. That is why, after it became clear that there was not a path to getting those political amendments withdrawn today, I spoke with Chairman Isakson and I asked him to pull the bill from the markup rather than see it become a vehicle for partisan, political attacks. I know some Republicans are trying to use this latest issue as just one more opportunity to roll back the clock and take away women's health care options. We can have that fight. We have had it many times before. But we should not be putting veterans in the middle of it. Don't take something that should be above politics--our sacred duty to our veterans--and pull it down into the muck of petty politics. It is not fair to these veterans and it is not fair to their families, who have been hoping and praying for the opportunity to have children. It is not fair to the veterans and servicemembers, who don't want to see their health care become just one more political football. And it is certainly not fair to our constituents, who send us to Congress expecting us to stand together and support those who sacrificed so much for all of us. I am going to keep fighting for them and for this effort. I am not going to let those who put politics ahead of veterans and servicemembers get their way. I truly do hope Republicans reconsider this absolutely shameful approach today and work with us to get this bill done. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I believe that real, long-term economic growth is built from the middle out, not from the top down. Our government, our economy, and our workplaces should work for all of our families, not just the wealthiest few. But across the country today, millions of workers are working harder than ever without basic overtime protection. That is why I am so proud to come to the floor today to express my strong support for the Obama administration's new proposal to restore overtime protections for millions of workers and families. Not only is this the right thing to do, but it is good for our economy. I wish to share a story of a man named Paul who lives in Massachusetts. As reported in the Boston Globe, Paul worked very hard at a discount retail store to provide for his family. Each week he was working 72 hours, on average. On one particular stretch, he worked for 40 days in a row without a single day off, but his employer didn't pay him one extra dime for the work he did beyond 40 hours a week. That is fundamentally unfair. And Paul, believe me, is not alone. There are so many workers like him in States across the country, and these workers feel as though they have been left behind in this economic recovery. They need government policies on overtime protections to catch up. In 1938, Congress recognized the need to set a standard for the 40- hour workweek. By law, when workers put in more than 40 hours a week, their employers had to compensate them fairly with time-and-a-half pay. But those protections have eroded over the past several years. In today's economy, many Americans feel as though they are working more and more for less and less pay, and in many cases, they are. A salaried worker can be asked to work 50 or 60 or 70 hours a week and never see a dime of overtime pay. One of the main reasons is because overtime rules are severely out of date. Right now, if a worker earns just a little more than $23,000 a year, he or she does not qualify for time-and-a-half pay. That salary threshold is much too low today. In fact, the current salary level is less than the poverty threshold for a family of four. Workers should not have to earn poverty wages to get guaranteed overtime protection. That salary threshold has only been updated once since 1975. Back in the mid-1970s, 62 percent of the American workforce was covered by overtime rules. Today, just 8 percent of our salaried workers have overtime protection, and big corporations have used these outdated overtime rules to their advantage. They force their employees to work overtime without paying them fair time-and-a-half pay. That, of course, is good for a big corporation's profit margin. But as the Union-Bulletin in Walla Walla, WA, editorialized a few weeks back, these workers are ``working, paying taxes, raising families, and often suffering due to the long hours.'' But unlike so many of the challenges we face here, there is a solution to this, and it doesn't require congressional action. Last week, the Department of Labor proposed to raise the salary threshold from about $23,000, which is what it is today, to just over $50,000 a year. That will restore overtime protections for millions of Americans. This, by the way, is especially important for parents. Think about what this would mean for a working mom who right now works overtime without getting paid for it. By restoring this basic worker protection, she can finally work a 40-hour workweek and spend more time with her kids. Or, if her employer asks her to work more than 40 hours a week, she would have more money in her pocket to boost her family's economic security. That is so important for strengthening our middle class today. Now, I do want to keep working to improve the proposed rule. I believe the Department of Labor should also update what is known as the duties test. For workers who make more than the salary threshold but still do what is called blue collar work, the duties test is designed to ensure that they get overtime protections. But today that duties test is out of date. Under the current law, big corporations can exploit the duties test to avoid paying their workers time-and-a-half, and I believe that needs to change. When workers put in more than 40 hours a week on the job, they should be paid fairly for it. That is just the bottom line. I have heard from some of my Republican colleagues that they do not want to update overtime rules. But if the Republicans want to take away this basic worker protection--basic worker protection--they are going to have to answer to millions of hard-working Americans who are putting in overtime without receiving a dime in extra pay. They can try, but I know I and many others are going to be right here fighting back for the workers and families we represent. Boosting wages and expanding economic stability and security is good for families, and it is good for our economy. And, by the way, that is exactly what we should be focused on here in Congress--to help grow our economy from the middle out, not just the top down. This isn't the only action we need to take to raise wages and expand economic stability for our families today. In the coming weeks and months, I am going to be working closely with Senate Democrats to continue our efforts to raise the minimum wage, to expand access to paid sick leave and fair and predictable work schedules, and to ensure women get equal pay for equal work. But restoring overtime protections is a critical part of our work to make sure more families get much needed economic stability. Enacting these policies would be strong steps in the right direction to bring back the American dream of economic security and a stable middle-class life for millions of families. For workers such as Paul, who just want fair pay for a fair day's work, for the parents who have sacrificed family time for overtime and not seen a dime in extra pay, and for families who are looking for some much needed economic security, I urge all of my colleagues to support restoring overtime protections. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.