Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I believe that we in Congress should be working to grow the economy from the middle out, not from the top down, and we should make sure that our government is working for all of our families, not just the wealthiest few. An important part of this is making sure that workers have access to a safe and healthy workplace and the basic protection of earning a living without fearing for their safety. That effort takes on special meaning today. April 28, today, is Workers' Memorial Day, the day when we remember those who lost their lives just for doing their job. When a worker is injured or is killed on the job, it has devastating impacts for their families and their communities. In 2014, more than 4,500 workers were killed on the job. That is more than 12 deaths every single day. So we need to do everything we can to make sure employers are taking the necessary precautions to keep their workers safe. So today, let's keep the families and communities that have suffered from these losses in our thoughts, and let's make sure this Workers' Memorial Day is about recommitting ourselves to improving safety protections at workplaces across the country. Every worker in every industry should have basic worker protections. While workers are doing their jobs, employers should be doing everything they can to protect them. In 1970, Congress passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act to protect workers from unsafe working conditions. Back in 1970, that law finally gave workers some much needed protection so they could earn a living without sacrificing their health or safety. Since then, of course, American industry has changed significantly. Businesses have become more complex. Workers are performing 21st- century tasks, but we are still using a 1970s approach to protect employees. That doesn't make sense, and it is time for it to change. I support the bill Senator Franken introduced today called Protecting America's Workers Act. I want to note that Senator Franken is the new ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety. In that role, he will bring a focus and a passion for moving this legislation forward, and I look forward to working with him to that end. The Protecting America's Workers Act is a long overdue update to the Occupational Safety and Health Act and is a good step toward making workplaces across America safer and healthier. The legislation will increase protections for workers who report unsafe working conditions, and adding these whistleblower protections will protect workers from retaliation. The bill will make sure workers have the option to appeal to Federal courts if they are being mistreated for telling the truth about dangerous practices. This bill will also improve reporting, inspection, and enforcement of workplace health and safety violations. It expands the rights of victims of unsafe workplaces and makes sure employers quickly improve unsafe workplaces to avoid further endangering worker health and safety because we owe it to all workers to make sure they are truly protected on the job. Our economy is finally recovering after the worst downturn since the Great Depression. We are not all the way back yet, and there is a lot more that needs to be done to create jobs and help our middle class and working families. But while we continue that work, we must also recommit to our bedrock responsibilities to workers and their safety. Workers should be able to go to work confident their employers are doing their part to provide safe and healthy workplaces, and they should know their government is looking out for them, their families, and their economic security. Today, I urge my colleagues to reflect on the workers who lost their lives this past year. I am hopeful we can honor their legacy by working together to pass the Protecting America's Workers Act and make these commonsense updates to meet our obligations to the best workforce in the world and continue our work growing the economy from the middle out, not the top down.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, so many Members helped us get this bill back on a bipartisan path, but I want to thank Senators Reid, Cornyn, Klobuchar, Feinstein, Mikulski, and Leahy in particular for their work. I also want to thank all of the staff who have worked extremely hard to get this done, especially Melanie Rainer from my staff. From the beginning of this debate, Democrats have been very clear that this bill to help survivors should focus squarely on that goal alone. We also felt this conversation was no place for a debate about restrictions on women's health access. While there are clear differences between the two parties when it comes to women's health, I know Senator Cornyn and many others agreed with us that an effort to fight back against human trafficking in our country is, without question, no place for gridlock and dysfunction. It should not have taken this long, but I am very pleased that we were able to work together, find common ground, and reach an agreement. This agreement isn't perfect. No comprise ever is, and I am sure my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would say the same thing. I believe there is much more we can and must do to protect and strengthen women's access to comprehensive, high-quality health care. In the 21st century, there is no reason a woman should be prevented from exercising her constitutionally guaranteed right to make her own choices about her own body. That is something I could not feel more strongly about, and I am going to keep working to not only protect that right but expand and improve access to care for women across the country. I am very glad, however, that the amendment we are proposing this morning would provide survivors now with real, dedicated funds and support, including important health services. Critically, this amendment would take away the expansion of restrictions on women's health that would have occurred under the original legislation. It would ensure that the Hyde language is now not expanded to any new programs under this bill. I hope my colleagues will join us in supporting this amendment so we can pass this bill to help trafficking survivors, and then move as quickly as possible to confirm our highly qualified nominee for Attorney General. I thank my colleagues again for their work to reach this compromise. The families and communities we serve rightly expect us to work together to solve problems and not let gridlock and dysfunction get in the way of results. I am very pleased we were able to find that common ground and a path forward for this important legislation. I am very hopeful that now we will be able to continue working together to tackle the many other challenges our country faces. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Minnesota be given 1 minute in morning business prior to the Republican time.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak in morning business for 1 minute.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, from the very beginning of this discussion on the trafficking bill and the underlying issue, Members on both sides of the aisle agreed that we need to get this bill back on track as the bipartisan effort it should be, because, without question, survivors of trafficking deserve our support. Senator Klobuchar has done an amazing job in getting us to this point to get this bill done. I am pleased that we were able to reach a deal that now gets this done in a way that does not expand restrictions on women's health to nontaxpayer dollars or to new programs and provides survivors with real, dedicated funds for the support and services they need. No compromise is perfect. I am sure that Senator Cornyn would say the same thing. I believe there is more we can and must do when it comes to strengthening women's access to quality health care. But I am very pleased that Senator Cornyn and I, along with a number of other Senators on our side, including Senator Klobuchar, were able to work together in a bipartisan way to get this done. I want to thank him and all his colleagues for their work to get us to this point. I hope we can now get this legislation passed very quickly for survivors and move on to continue working together on the many challenges our country faces. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Thank you, Mr. President. Congress, we have to vote on an economy that works for all of our families, not just the wealthiest few. Today, 43 million Americans do not have access to paid sick days, and when they are sick, they have to choose between losing money out of their paycheck or toughing it out and showing up to work. I was delighted that during our budget debate, a bipartisan majority--61 Senators strong--agreed that Congress should allow workers to earn paid sick days. The amendment that just passed is voluntary. It would only benefit a select number of people who work for employers who already do the right thing. This amendment will make sure that we boost worker productivity and reduce turnover, which are benefits to both employers and employees. I urge my colleagues to vote for this in a strong vote. Thank you, Mr. President. I yield back our time.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, Democrats and Republicans agree that the automatic spending cuts across defense and nondefense investments are terrible policy and need to be fixed. The bipartisan Budget Act we passed last Congress did exactly that for the past 2 years and offered us a template for how we can tackle this challenge in a bipartisan way, once again. We do not need to rely on gimmicks in this budget or the hopes that we will somehow solve this later. We can fix this now in this conference. I urge my colleagues to support this vote instructing the conferees to roll back sequestration, allow the Appropriations Committee to do their work and not kick this can down the road for all of us to address later. I urge its adoption.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I call up amendment No. 1117 and ask for its immediate consideration.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, many of us have been working for years to protect Medicare access for seniors, invest in our community health centers, and expand access to health care for our children. So I am glad Democrats and Republicans in the House were able to come together on these issues. But it is disappointing that in a bill which takes so many good bipartisan steps forward, Republicans have insisted on trying to score political points with their base on women's health. The House SGR bill includes language that is just one more example of using women's health as a political football. It is redundant, and it is unnecessary. I am offering an amendment tonight that shows we are making sure women have comprehensive access to health care. It focuses on moving women's health care forward by providing a clean extension of community health care funding for 4 years, not 2, to provide certainty. It will invest $2 billion in safety net providers for women and their families through title X clinics. Finally, it will invest in strengthening the women's health care workforce to make sure women have access through their providers. I hope my colleagues will support this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, pursuant to section 904 of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, I move to waive all applicable sections of that Act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of the pending amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I want to thank the Senator from Maine. We should be working to make college more affordable, reducing the crushing burden of student debt, and giving Americans a chance to further their education and training skills. The underlying budget makes drastic cuts to Pell grants and would increase the average student's debt by thousands of dollars. The amendment of the Senator from Maine would help make college more affordable and accessible by reinstating the year-round Pell grant, which is a much needed investment to improve students' success.

Mrs. MURRAY. I urge our colleagues to support this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Affordable Care Act is a critical step forward in our efforts to build on our progress to put patients first and allows every family to get affordable, quality health care. But the work didn't end when the law passed--far from it. Families across the country are expecting us to keep working to build on that progress and continue to make health care more affordable, accessible, and of higher quality. That is what we are focused on, on this side, and the amendment that just passed did that, but we should not be playing political games in joining to move our health care system backward. It is bad enough that the underlying budget repeals the health care law and cuts patients and families off without proposing an alternative law, but this amendment makes it worse. It means patients and families get skewed, incomplete information about their health care costs. I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I think we all believe that in our country all students should have access to a quality public education regardless of where they live or how they learn or how much money they make. Education is one of the smartest investments we can make. Chairman Alexander and I are working together on a bipartisan process to fix the broken No Child Left Behind law. I believe we are going to make progress in the coming weeks. I appreciate his working with me. The fact is that this amendment is not needed. The common core was not mandated by the Federal Government. Race to the Top did not mandate adoption of common core. ESEA waivers have not mandated the common core. Federal law already prohibits the Federal Government from requiring States to adopt certain standards or curriculum. By the way, this is a ``spending neutral'' reserve fund that I think we all should be aware of for the first time in this Republican budget. For all of those reasons, I urge a ``no'' vote on this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as a former preschool teacher, I have seen firsthand the kind of transformation that early learning can inspire in a child. I believe we should be investing more in our children, not less. So today I am offering an amendment to expand access to early childhood education so more kids can start kindergarten ready to learn. This amendment would expand high-quality early learning opportunities for low- and moderate-income 3- and 4-year-olds and build on the investments that Governors and legislators across the country, regardless of party affiliation, are already making to improve early learning opportunities through public-private partnerships. It is fully paid for by closing wasteful tax loopholes. I hope our colleagues can support this critical amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the amendment I am offering today would simply expand access to paid sick days and give our families some much needed economic stability. Working families should not have to sacrifice a day's pay or sacrifice their job altogether just to take care of themselves or a sick child, but today in this country, 43 million of our Nation's workers do not have access to paid sick days. This amendment would allow workers to earn up to 7 paid sick days over the course of a year. It will not only help our families, it will be good for business. Paid sick days boost productivity, and in cities and States that already have paid sick leave laws, many employers state that this policy has not affected their revenue. Allowing workers to earn paid sick days would take us a step closer to having an economy that works for all of our families, and I urge its support.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Sanders amendment No. 777 be modified with the changes that are at the desk.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have the following Senators added as cosponsors to his amendment: Senators Boxer, Markey, and Schatz.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment and call up my amendment No. 801.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as many of us here have said before, a budget is far more than simply numbers on a page. A budget is a statement of values, of priorities, the kind of Nation we are, and the kind of Nation we want to be. For Democrats, that means our budget should help us move toward an economy that is built from the middle out, not from the top down, and a government that works for all families, not just the wealthiest few. When Democrats wrote our budget last Congress, we made our values and priorities crystal clear. We put jobs, economic growth, and the middle class first. We replaced the automatic budget cuts evenly among defense and nondefense investments, with an equal mix of responsible spending cuts and revenue raised by closing wasteful tax loopholes used by the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations. We addressed our long- term deficit and debt challenges fairly and responsibly. And we kept our promises that we have made to our seniors and families. The Republican House didn't simply accept our budget, of course. But I am very proud that coming out of the terrible government shutdown at the end of 2013, we were finally able to break through the gridlock and dysfunction to reach a bipartisan budget deal that put in place a budget for 2 years, prevented another government shutdown, and rolled back the worst of the automatic cuts. That deal wasn't the budget I would have written on my own and it wasn't the one Republicans would have written on their own, but it did end the lurching from crisis to crisis, it helped workers, it helped our economy, and made it clear that there is bipartisan support for rolling back sequestration in a balanced way. Our bipartisan deal was a strong step in the right direction, and I was hopeful we could work together to build on it. But Republicans have taken a very different approach this year. Instead of building on our bipartisan budget deal, this Republican budget would be a huge step backward. Instead of moving us toward a government that works for all of our families, this budget would push us toward a budget that works for the wealthy and well-connected, but actually leaves the middle class and working families behind. We know there is bipartisan support to replace sequestration in a balanced and fair way. Not only did we prove that with our bipartisan budget deal last time, but Democrats and Republicans across the country have continued to come out against the senseless cuts to defense and nondefense investments. But in this Republican budget--a budget that aims nearly 70 percent of all its spending cuts at programs that combat poverty, that cuts more than $1 trillion from Medicare and Medicaid, that calls for a total of $5 trillion in spending cuts--in this budget, my Republican colleagues couldn't even find a single penny to pay for more investments in education, research, or defense investments for this coming year. To put that in perspective, the budget agreement I reached with Chairman Paul Ryan in 2013 found $85 billion in savings to pay for sequester relief over 2 years. That is less than 2 percent of the total savings this Republican budget claims to have in it. And yet the across-the-board cuts to both defense and nondefense priorities remain in place. Why is that? Well, instead of using a tiny fraction of the enormous cuts this budget has in it to pay for investments that both Republicans and Democrats agree must be made, it relies on a gimmick and increases OCO funding to appear to patch over the problem on the defense side, but then doesn't actually allow for the increased OCO funding to be even spent, and does nothing at all for nondefense investments such as education, research, jobs, and infrastructure. I know our Republican colleagues are sincere when they say they want to find a way to increase the caps, especially for defense purposes, but this budget in front of us today simply does not do that. Gimmicks and lip service are not enough for me, and I don't see why they are enough for my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, especially given the deliberate choice not to use any of the $5 trillion in cuts in this to pay for some relief, a choice that should greatly concern anyone who genuinely wants to fix this problem. So I come to the floor to offer another way--a way that would make it clear that we will in fact fix these senseless across-the-board cuts known as sequestration. My amendment builds on the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 and extends the replacement of sequestration through fiscal years 2016 and 2017. This amendment maintains the principle that Democrats will not abandon--that sequestration should be replaced evenly across defense and nondefense investments. And it builds on the idea that sequestration should be replaced with a mix of responsible spending cuts and new revenue raised by closing wasteful tax loopholes. By providing Defense with real resources to replace the sequester cuts, it gets rid of the OCO gimmick that was added in committee. Finally, it includes language to automatically release the additional defense and nondefense funding to the Appropriations Committee upon the increase in the statutory caps, similar to language that we passed in the previous budget. Now we all know there is going to have to be a solution to these automatic cuts. President Obama has said he will not sign spending bills that lock in sequestration. And the fact is we simply can't make the investments we need to make on both defense and nondefense if these caps remain in place. We should be able to give our appropriations committees the guidance they need to write responsible bills at bipartisan levels, and not wait for another crisis to hit before we come together and make a deal. I know there are Republicans who understand how devastating the automatic cuts are for our defense and nondefense investments. I know there are Republicans who understand the value of investing in jobs, infrastructure, education, and research. I know there are Republicans who have seen the impact of sequestration in their States the way I have seen in my home State of Washington. And I know there are Republicans who look at this budget and wonder why it couldn't use some of the trillions of dollars in cuts to reinvest in American innovation or in our investments. So I am ready to work with any Republican truly interested in building on our bipartisan budget deal in a balanced and responsible way. I know my colleagues will stand with me because, to us, this is about middle-class economics, plain and simple. We believe that when working families do well, they spend more, they boost demand, and they grow the economy in a healthy and sustainable way. We believe when low-income families are offered a hand up and an opportunity to get a job or earn more or join the middle class, that means more taxpayers, less need for housing, less need for nutrition support, and it means a growing economy. We believe the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations should pay just a bit more toward their fair share. And we believe that replacing these automatic cuts in a fair and responsible way is an important part of moving toward an economy that works for all families, not just the wealthiest few. So I urge my colleagues to support this amendment so we can agree now on responsible and realistic top-line spending numbers for this year, so we can restore these investments in critical defense and nondefense programs, and so we can start to allow the appropriations committees to do their work and not wait until September for another crisis, another government shutdown, and the whole country looking at us as if we can't manage our way anywhere. If my Republican colleagues have any other ideas for how we get this done, my door is open, and I am ready to get to work. But I hope we can support this amendment when we vote on it later this afternoon so we can get to work and not have another summer, another fall where the American public looks at Congress wondering if we can't get our act together. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.