Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Another day has passed and we still have a vast majority of Republicans standing in the way of the extension of unemployment benefits. Some Republican Senators are having conversations about possible offsets for a full-year extension. I have said a number of times I think we would be ill-advised to have another short-term extension. If we are going to have an extension that they are talking about paying for, let's do it for 1 year. We don't need to come back and worry about this in 3 more months. Let's see how they wish to pay for this. We have heard proposals. The proposals are, one, to stop people having health care. The other is to go after children, the earned-income tax credit for American boys and girls. It doesn't sound like a very good idea to me. Then we have a number of proposals suggested by another Senator late last night that, if we look at it, it is not worth $5 billion. It is worth much less than that. To do what has been suggested by one Republican Senator would be to devastate the disabled, and that wouldn't be appropriate. I would be interested if there are other proposals. As I have indicated on a number of occasions, I continue to say offsetting the cost of emergency unemployment benefits is not something I agree with. President Bush extended emergency unemployment insurance five times. Not one of these five times was there a whimper from my Republican colleagues or certainly Democratic Senators that it should be paid for. It wasn't right to offset the cost when President Bush was President, and it is not right to offset the cost now that President Obama is in the White House. We have cut the deficit in half since President Obama took office, and overall debt reduction has been even more transparent, almost $3 trillion. While we must keep up our good work, we have more to do. We must solve the Nation's job crisis if we ever hope to solve fiscal problems. Today's long-term unemployment rate is more than double what it was at any time Congress let emergency job assistance expire. Since many Republican Senators are insisting that the cost be offset, I am pleased to talk, as we all are on this side of the aisle, about a long-term emergency extension of unemployment benefits. I repeat, I am waiting to hear from my Republican colleagues about how to pay for this extension. It has been a week since families already hanging by a thread were kicked off of unemployment insurance benefits. Think about this. People who have been out of work for month after month learned at the beginning of this year they wouldn't get $300 a week. Remember, this is not charity. First, they have to lose their job, through no fault of their own. Then they have to go out every week, look for a job, and have to list where they have gone. For every job that is available in America today, there are three people looking for that job. I was stunned when I had my news briefing this morning when one Republican Senator said: There are so many jobs that are unfilled in America today. Let these people go get those jobs. Try that one on for size. For many the benefits were the only thing preventing them from descending into poverty or even becoming homeless. Hundreds of thousands of children, as a result of these benefits, have been stopped from going into the rolls of the poor. These families can't wait any longer for relief. I am optimistic my Republican colleagues will help us find a way out of this, and put people first and partisanship second. Tuesday, House Republican leaders were forced to send a message to their Members reminding them these people are out of work, be compassionate. Then, of course, the memo came to the Senate. Can one imagine having to remind Senators about having compassion for people who have been long-term unemployed? Yesterday afternoon the Republican leader spoke in this Chamber for a long time, 45 minutes. Not once during this discussion were the words ``jobs,'' ``the economy'' or ``unemployment'' mentioned--not once. Middle-class Americans are hurting. We know the rich are getting richer, the poor are getting poorer, and the middle class is being squeezed. During the last 30 years, the middle class has lost 10 percent of the earnings they had in the previous 30 years, whereas the top 1 percent during that same 30-year period had their income and wealth triple. These people who are struggling out there are working two jobs. Some are even trying to do it with three jobs, and some of it is part-time, just in an effort to get by. The rest have watched their wages shrink at the same time, as I have indicated, as the richest of the rich are doing much, much better. What beleaguered Americans need is not a memo on basic decency, as Republicans got on Tuesday, or a bitter diatribe about the rules of the Senate; they need solutions. For 1.3 million Americans today and 5 million Americans over the course of this year, extending emergency unemployment benefits is a solution. Raising the minimum wage so a mother or father working two jobs can afford the rent and an electric bill in the same month is a solution. Investing in job creation and education so the workers of today can compete for the jobs of tomorrow is a solution. Whenever my Republican colleagues are prepared to stop complaining and start working with Democrats to create solutions, we will be here waiting.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Before my friend, the Republican leader, makes his remarks, I ask unanimous consent that the period for morning business be extended until 12:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. to 2:15 p.m.; finally, that the previous order with respect to the motion to proceed to S. 1845 be modified so all postcloture time on the motion to proceed be considered to be expired at 2:15 p.m., rather than the earlier time I mentioned.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate be in a period of morning business until 3 p.m. today, and that I be recognized at 3 p.m., with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. This is similar to ``Groundhog Day'' because this is a picture we have already seen in the very lucid speech given by my friend from New Hampshire. She should have gone back through the Congressional Record. We have been through this before. We are not going to hurt American children, and that is what it does. We have been through this. This is something we have tried to use in the past to pay for things that are very unfair to American children. The other issue is there have been some efforts made, and good-faith efforts made by the Senator from Ohio, to stop double dipping--people who are on disability and are drawing unemployment insurance. We agree with him. We can take care of that, but it does not save $5.4 or $5.6 billion. The disability community at this point is outraged that anyone will even suggest this. We can stop the double dipping. We are happy to join with them in doing that, but that savings is a little over $1 billion. We are pleased, and that is part of the proposal we will all have in a little bit. I received a phone call from a person who has done more for helping people who are disabled than any person in the history of this body, the senior Senator from the State of Iowa. He had been previously engaged and he heard about this. Those of us who know Tom Harkin know what he does to protect the disabled. I know my friend from Ohio has good intentions, but the disability community will never allow this to happen, and they are right. My friend, the junior Senator from Nevada, as some of us know, has had casts on one leg and now the other leg. He has had some surgery on his ankles. He has had to replace the Achilles tendons in both of his legs. A cast broke, I think it was on his left leg--maybe it was his right leg. I don't remember. I talked to him this morning and he had to go to the emergency room to get his cast replaced. I am waiting to hear from him. I have explained this proposal in some detail to him and his staff, but he hasn't had an opportunity to speak to his staff since he had to rush to the emergency room--at least that is my understanding--so I am waiting until he gets back. The proposal Senator Reed has come up with extends unemployment insurance through mid-November. The package does what the Republicans wanted. It is entirely paid for. There are structural changes which they have been demanding, and we have done that. It has reforms that reduce slightly the number of weeks an unemployed person can remain on the unemployment insurance, while all along preserving extending the weeks of high-unemployment States. The legislation proposed by Senator Jack Reed tightens the rules for unemployment insurance. It would include a proposal, much like that advocated by the Senator from Ohio Mr. Portman, that would prevent people from collecting both unemployment insurance and disability insurance at the same time. That is clear. Much of this offset is simply an extension of the Murray-Ryan agreement we all voted for--or a lot of us voted for earlier. This provision would extend the sequester on mandatory programs for another year. If Republicans have a complaint about this, don't call and complain to Jack Reed. Call Paul Ryan. This is his. This is his idea-- maybe not on this specific issue, but this is his proposal, his idea. We believe if it is good enough to help other proposals propounded by my Republican friends in the House, it is good enough to help the unemployed. In this proposal, there has been a desire to address the concerns of the Republicans and Democrats. Is it perfect? Of course not, but Jack Reed has done a remarkably good job, and we believe this is a sound and balanced proposal. I would also say this takes care of it for the good part of this year. I wish we could have done it until the first of the year. We can't find enough money. I have been waiting here for more than 24 hours for a reasonable proposal by my Republican friends to pay for this. We don't have one yet. We are not going to strip the rights of people who have health insurance, and we are certainly not going to go after little boys and girls in America who have the child tax credit. There comes a time when we have to move forward. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID. I object.

Mr. REID. I object.

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

Mr. REID. Madam President, I first of all appreciate everyone's cooperation here--patience more than cooperation. We are doing our best. I have already said what we are trying to do here, and I will repeat just a part of it. We have a proposal that is paid for. It is a pay-for that we have used and it is something I think is totally valid. The original idea came from Paul Ryan, but we have used it on another occasion. This has nothing to change that original proposal except to extend it for 1 year. The proposal of my friend from Ohio--an issue he has alerted us to--we think we have taken care of in this amendment. I think it is a fine proposal, but the breadth of what he is trying to do is really unfair and we can't do that. So we are doing our utmost. We have structural changes in this. It is paid for--a pay-for for almost to the first of the year, as much money as we are able to find. But we have done everything the Republicans have wanted: It is paid for, there are structural changes, and we have taken care of the double dipping of those in the disability community on unemployment. Amendment No. 2631

Mr. REID. Madam President, on behalf of Senator Reed of Rhode Island I have an amendment at the desk.

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

Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. I have a cloture motion on the Reed of Rhode Island amendment.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have a motion to commit on S. 1845 and it has instructions.

Mr. REID. I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

Mr. REID. I have an amendment to the instructions at the desk.

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

Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. I have a cloture motion at the desk.

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

Mr. REID. I object.

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

Mr. REID. It is the same time and time again. Things are never quite right. They want to offer amendments. We have been waiting here since Monday for pay-fors. The only pay-for we have heard realistically to take care of this is something everyone knows we disagree with--to take away health care benefits from the American people. The proposal by my friend from Ohio is not a good proposal. It hurts people who are disabled, and that is the fact. We have stopped dual payments. That is what our amendment does. This is something we have been going through--the American people have been going through now for years. My friend worked with the senior Senator from New Hampshire on energy efficiency. Now, if that wasn't quite a show. I had conversations on numerous occasions: Yeah, we have it all taken care of. Republicans are trying to move forward on this. It went on for weeks and weeks. We never got anything done. So we are where we are. Democrats don't need a memo to tell them to have a good conscience about people who are disabled, to be compassionate about people who are unemployed. We don't need a memo. We know that people who are long-term unemployed are desperate for help. We are compassionate. We don't need a memo to tell us that. The American people want to know where we stand. Are we going to extend unemployment benefits for people who have been out of work for a long time? That is the issue before this body. And we have bent over backward, through Jack Reed, to come up with a proposal to pay for this, to get rid of this issue for this year. We have structural changes in this amendment. We have a pay-for which came from Paul Ryan, the Republican Vice Presidential candidate this last election cycle. He is chairman of the Budget Committee. So I think we have done a yeoman's job through Jack Reed, we need to move on, and that is what we are going to do. If there is a proposal my friend has--and we know his expertise, but the problem with his expertise is it is never quite right. It is almost but not quite right. So the time is now to fish or cut bait. And they can make all the motions they want to try to complain about ``We didn't offer enough amendments. We need to be more like the Senate used to be.'' Well, I know what the Senate used to be because I was a used-to-be Senator, and it doesn't work the way it used to not because of anything we do wrong but because of the obstruction of President Obama's agenda. Every day it is more obstruction.

Mr. REID. Of course.

Mr. REID. No. And that is why Jack Reed's proposal stops it.

Mr. REID. Is there a question in all of this?