Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, we also hope to reach agreement on another nomination, and hopefully we can do that during the break we are going to have now. I have nothing further.

Mr. REID

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, we hope this is the last vote of the day-- at least the next vote we hope will be by voice. There could be other votes procedural in nature this afternoon. We hope not, but you never know. I am not going to agree to anything. I yield back our time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Wednesday, April 2, 2014, at a time to be determined by me, in consultation with Senator McConnell, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: 520, 679, 705; that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote on the nominations in the order listed; that all rollcall votes after the first be 10 minutes in length; that the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate resume legislative session.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Res. 371 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Menendez amendment to the resolution, which is at the desk, be agreed to, the resolution, as amended, be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the Menendez amendment to the title, which is at the desk, be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to S. Res. 408.

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until tomorrow morning at 9 a.m.; that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3979, which is the vehicle for the unemployment insurance extension, with the time until 10 a.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees; and that the filing deadline for second-degree amendments be 9:30 tomorrow morning.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. There are two bills at the desk due for their first reading.

Mr. REID. I ask for a second reading for both bills but object to my own request.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. The first rollcall vote will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow morning to invoke cloture on the substitute amendment to the unemployment bill. Additional votes are possible.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, we will proceed to H.R. 4302, Protecting Access to Medicare Act of 2014, with the time until 5 p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. At 5 p.m. the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of John Owens to be U.S. circuit judge for the Ninth Circuit, postcloture. At 5:30 p.m. there could be up to four rollcall votes: First, on confirmation of the Owens nomination; then, if a Budget Act point of order is raised on the SGR bill, there will be a vote on the motion to waive the point of order; then passage of the SGR bill; and finally, on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3979, the legislative vehicle for the unemployment insurance bill.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish a happy baseball opening day to everyone. Actually, it started last night, not today, but it sounds better to do it during the daytime. Although it is opening day for Major League Baseball, it also happens to be the last day for Americans to sign up for ObamaCare, the Affordable Care Act. To date there are over 10 million newly-insured Americans benefiting from the health care law now in effect, and there are millions more who have changed their insurance because of this legislation. So it is clear Americans are signing up for this quality health care in record numbers--and that is an understatement. I also am very happy we have been able to come to an agreement on the Medicare physician payment system. It is a 12-month fix. We need to take action on this to ensure that Medicare patients will be able to see their doctors. But the fact remains this legislation is not perfect. It is not ideal. I wish we could have followed the chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Wyden, who came in kind of late. Most of the work was done by Ambassador Baucus before he came in. But he worked really hard, and he wants to pay for it in a way I think is appropriate--to use the unspent money we have from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, called OCO, the Overseas Contingency Operations fund. But at this stage it doesn't appear it is now going to happen. This legislation wasn't some last-minute deal. Senator Baucus worked on this for months, and it is the basis for what we are going to do here today. There were tough negotiations. Unfortunately, the parties could not come to an agreement on what a permanent fix should be. I said that I believe a permanent fix should be what Chairman Wyden suggested and continues to suggest. But House Republicans, though, chose to pass a partisan bill and increase the number of uninsured Americans and raised the cost of premiums. I believe we should repeal the defective payment system without increasing costs and without limiting access to quality health care. We need to restore sanity to the Medicare payment system without cutting benefits to seniors and without shifting the financial burden to hospital and other providers. We have done enough of that already. But right now we don't have the votes to do what would be the better thing to do. So for millions of elderly Americans and their doctors, this fix is good news. It means the promise of accessible, quality health care to our Nation's seniors is being honored again--this time for another year. So while I am pleased with this temporary patch, I hope it is our last patch. In the meantime, I extend my appreciation to Senator Wyden, the chairman of the Finance Committee, for his work to bring stability to the Medicare payment system. From the moment he assumed the gavel to become chairman of that committee, he hit the ground running on this issue, as well as reforming the entire Tax Code. As we speak he is also doing some good work on the so-called tax extenders. It is my understanding he is meeting with his committee members today. Unemployment Extension After confirming this long-awaited judge for the Ninth Circuit and approving a patch for the Medicare payment program, the Senate will turn to a long overdue extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed. This is a matter of really significant importance to millions of Americans. We have waited 3 months since Republicans first filibustered a bill to restore emergency benefits. More importantly, unemployed Americans have waited even longer. Since that filibuster, nearly 1 million more Americans have lost their benefits. That is 300,000 people a month who have been thrust into poverty not knowing how they will pay their bills. I received a letter recently from a Nevadan named Jane who pleaded for Congress to extend benefits for the long-term unemployed. She is what we would call an older American, an older Nevadan. She didn't make the plea for herself. It was for her son. She said: Please do all in your power to get this matter resolved. . . . My son has been looking since May of last year. He held his last job for 26 years and doesn't have a lot of experience in other fields. I cannot continue to help him. I lost my husband last July and lost his Social Security. I only have mine now. Please do what you can to help those who are in this position. So imagine an elderly woman, a widow, so desperate to assist her middle-aged son that she is using her meager Social Security check to help him get by. Now her own financial situation is in jeopardy. Jane and her son have already seen what happens when much-needed unemployment benefits don't get extended. For Nevadans struggling to pay their rent, to keep the lights on or to feed the kids, they have waited long enough. But we know why Republicans prefer to wait. For many of my colleagues across the aisle, waiting means doing nothing. So the fact is the majority of Republicans here in Congress are simply opposed to helping the long-term unemployed. Most won't say so, but that is the truth. One GOP Congressman from California even said that an extension of unemployment benefits ``will encourage unemployment.'' That is a tough one to follow. This elected Congressman believes that the half million people in the State of California who had their unemployment benefits terminated actually prefer to be jobless. I don't think so. Here in the Senate last Thursday only 10 out of 45 Republicans voted to help Democrats break the 3-month filibuster. In fact, the GOP Senators from the State with the third-highest population of eligible long-term unemployed--Texas--both voted to block an extension of benefits. It is as if they simply don't care that some of their own constituents are teetering on the verge of indigence. Notwithstanding this opposition to extending unemployment benefits, I am confident we will pass this bipartisan legislation in the Senate this week here. Then, hopefully, the Republicans in the House will have soft hearts and strong minds and allow this to pass over there. It is in their hands. We hope they will be considerate to the roughly 2.8 million long-term unemployed across the country. Perhaps then these struggling Americans will finally get the relief they deserve.

Mr. REID

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

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

Mr. REID. I would now suggest the absence of a quorum and have the time divided equally between both sides.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a substitute amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a first-degree amendment to the substitute. It is already at the desk.

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.