Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, my friend the Republican leader can't see the forest for the trees when it comes to health care. I understand that. He has given many speeches denigrating ObamaCare. The facts are that more people are getting access to health care today under the Affordable Care Act than ever before. The share without insurance is now at an alltime low. The cost growth in health care has never been lower than it has been since ObamaCare kicked in. I was telling one of my Senator friends yesterday that when I went home during the Memorial Day recess, I had two people come to me. I know that is not a great sampling, but it shows how impactful the legislation has been. Both of them had children with significant challenges, physical and mental. These young men and women now have the ability to get health care. They cannot be denied insurance because of their preexisting disability. This law that was passed not only applies to people with disabilities about which I have just spoken, but it applies to people with disabilities such as diabetes. Prior to ObamaCare, women could be charged more for their health care. So people are extremely satisfied with health care. The Supreme Court should understand that about 7 million people who are happy with their health care and who are receiving subsidies for their insurance to take care of themselves would lose that. They would lose those subsidies. It would be a devastating blow to 7 million people, as well as to the economy. Also, those people who don't need subsidies benefit significantly. The people who have had increased premiums--my friend was very selective in whom he chose, because the people having increases are very minimal. I will have more to say about that at some subsequent time in the near future. ObamaCare is working. Reports out this week show that all the targets have been met as to people who have purchased insurance and they are paying their premiums. So I think we should try to improve the law rather than my Republican friends continually trying to talk about the failures that don't exist.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Aja Kennedy, a fellow in my office, be granted floor privileges for the duration of this session.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, over the past several years, we have seen a very disturbing practice which is becoming commonplace in the Republican-dominated U.S. Congress. Governing by brinkmanship, manufactured crisis, flirting with deadlines, a game of chicken--we can call it whatever we want, but Republicans are doing it. Governing by crisis is a modus operandi of the modern Republican Party. We saw it in 2011, as the newly elected Republican majority in the House pushed the U.S. Government to the threshold of shutdown and default, and again with the so-called fiscal cliff in 2012--financial brinkmanship for our whole country--and then, of course, the infamous government shutdown that actually did occur in 2013, and it occurred over a period of several weeks and was devastating to our economy. But since the Republicans assumed control of the Senate earlier this year, the brinkmanship in the Halls of the Capitol has become unbearable. Recall what happened this past February. ISIS had just burned a man alive in a cage. We saw that. The world saw that. The tragic Charlie Hebdo shooting had just occurred a month earlier in France, and that spilled over into Belgium, where more people were killed. Belgium authorities were making sweeping arrests of terror cells, and ISIS was threatening us in our homeland. Three Brooklyn men were arrested for trying to join ISIS here in our homeland. Yet, in this tumultuous environment, Senate Republicans brought the American Government within hours of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security. This is a Cabinet-level office that was created during the Bush administration, the Agency responsible for the safety of each American in our homeland. It was stunning. But even more stunning is the fact that they keep doing it over and over again. This past week, it happened with the expiration of the important PATRIOT Act provisions. A few Senators wanted to offer some amendments on that legislation. That is all it was--amendments. In fact, on the Friday night of the debate, one Senator said: I will take two amendments. We on this side agreed--two amendments. Nope. Can't do that. And so, again, brinkmanship. The PATRIOT Act is a law that helps keep terrorists from attacking America. Would it have been asking too much to have a little bit of time to debate this issue? We were not given that time. The Republican leadership knew for years that these programs were scheduled to expire on June 1, 2015. People who didn't like this act-- and there were a number of them--gave speeches all over the country talking about the act. It was no secret that the act was not that popular in some people's minds. Last year, Senator McConnell knew this deadline was looming when he prevented the Senate from debating another version of the USA FREEDOM Act by conducting one of their hundreds of filibusters stopping President Obama's efforts. And the majority leader knew a month ago that the deadline was coming and chose to prioritize other legislation over these critical programs. So what happened? The authority for these sensitive programs expired. Yesterday, we passed the USA FREEDOM Act, reestablishing these important terror-fighting provisions with some improvements in them. But for 2 days, America had its guard down. Every minute that passed from that lapse to passage of the USA FREEDOM Act was an unnecessary gamble with our national security. And for what? What did the Republicans achieve by letting these provisions lapse? This is no way to govern--using legislative deadlines as some kind of ransom, staggering from one catastrophe to another. Now on the horizon are two more important deadlines for legislation that is important to the American people--the Export-Import Bank and the Federal highway program. And what are we doing? We are not doing these measures; we are on a bill that the President said he is going to veto. The Export-Import Bank expires at the end of this month, which is just a few weeks from now. The Bank creates jobs by providing loans and loan guarantees to foreign customers who purchase American exports. This year alone, the Export-Import Bank supported 165,000 American jobs--165,000 jobs. What does it cost the American taxpayer? Zero. Nothing. In fact, it makes money for our country. Over the last 10 years, the Bank has returned more than $7 billion to the Treasury. The majority leader should bring the Bank's reauthorization to the Senate floor for a vote before the charter expires at the end of this month, but it appears that is not going to happen. The senior Senator from Texas is already saying the Republicans have no intention of meeting that deadline. Instead, the American people will have to endure another manufactured crisis at the hands of Senate Republicans. Should we also assume the majority leader will do the same with the Federal highway program, which expires at the end of July? The Senate also faces a looming deadline for that program. It is critical that we craft a long-term solution to America's crumbling roads, highways, bridges, and rail systems. Just a few miles from here, we have the Memorial Bridge. It is a beautiful bridge. It was built in the 1930s. The Memorial Bridge connects the Arlington National Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial and the Mall. It is one of the busiest bridges in the whole DC area. Each day, 68,000 cars and buses cross that bridge, along with countless pedestrians and bicyclists. Last week, Federal officials announced they will be shutting down two lanes of the bridge to repair the bridge, which is structurally deficient, which was caused by a number of problems, not the least of which is corrosion due to all of the moisture we have here. That is a problem we have with everything. And the problems, just minutes from the Capitol, are a daily reality for millions of Americans. The Memorial Bridge is just one of the 64,000 structurally deficient bridges throughout our country. The people in Minnesota understand what this means. They had a bridge collapse, and 30-some people died as a result of that. That happened recently. How long will we wait to fix these problems? What will it take before Republicans get serious about a solution to our crumbling highways, railroads, and bridges? We understand. Democrats understand the urgency of the crisis facing our country, and we are ready to work with Republicans to rebuild our bridges, roads, and railway systems. We understand that investing in our surface transportation, including rail, can be a job creator and economy booster. For every $1 billion we spend on these roads, bridges, and rail systems, we employ 47,500 high-paying jobs and many other lesser paying jobs. Before we left for recess a couple of weeks ago, we passed a short- term extension for the surface transportation programs. That is the 33rd time we have done that. Now that we are back in session, there appears to be no urgency from the Senate Republicans to schedule committee hearings, mark up the bill or to make the highway trust fund solvent. Once again it seems the majority leader is content to let another vital program lapse, regardless of the harm it does or the American jobs he puts at risk. How many more of these manufactured crises must the American people endure? How many more times would the majority leader let another vital program lapse regardless of the harm it does? It is imperative that Republicans not continue their assault on job creation in America. We should not let the Export-Import Bank or the Federal highway program expire, losing the millions of American jobs they create and sustain. It is beyond belief that on these two important legislative matters, Republicans will not help the American people with instant job creation. In the past, these two issues were never handled this way. The Export-Import Bank had three of its biggest cheerleaders: Reagan, Bush, and Bush. That is not the way it is anymore. The highway bill used to pass every 5 or 6 years, and it would be extended for 5 or 6 years. Until the Republicans changed the way the Senate operates, we used to pass these bills easily--but not now. We are having to address multiple short-term extensions each year and it seems every few months. This will be, as I indicated earlier, the 33rd short-term extension for the Federal highway program. This is not legislating. This is Republican procrastination.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, we are not the sort of minority party that objects to virtually everything. We want to help move things forward. But I also want to be clear that we are not going to require a vote to move forward on the Defense authorization bill. But everyone should be aware that the President said he would veto this bill. It has all of this strange funding in it--funding that my Republican colleagues railed against on previous occasions. Now they are using it. We have grave concerns about this bill. Unless it is changed, I repeat, the President will veto it. I hope there are some significant changes in the bill while it is on the floor so we can help to vote to get it off the floor. So based upon that, I do not object.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, if my friend the majority leader is concerned, as he should be, about why the country is less secure-- especially in the last couple of weeks--he should look in the mirror. We have a situation where he has tried to divert attention from what has gone on here. It was as if there had been a big neon sign flashing saying: You can't do highway reauthorization, you can't do FISA reauthorization, and you can't do trade in 4 or 5 days. To do this right, we should have spent some time on FISA. Because of the mad rush to do trade, that did not happen. So today to try to divert attention from what I believe has been a miscalculation of the majority leader, it is making this country less safe. Every day that goes by with the FISA bill not being reauthorized is a bad day for our country. It makes us less safe. And to try to divert attention, as he has tried doing in the last few minutes--blaming the Obama administration for stopping torture, the detention centers, pulling troops out of Iraq--I say, my friend is looking in the wrong direction. The issue before us is not to be--and he is, in effect, criticizing the House of Representatives for passing this FISA bill, to reauthorize it in a way that is more meaningful to the American people and makes us more safe. It makes it so people feel more secure about the intelligence operations we have going on in this country. Is he criticizing the Speaker for working hard to get this bill reauthorized and in a fashion the American people accept? Because his criticism today is not directed toward people who voted here today; it is directed toward the bipartisan efforts in the House of Representatives that passed this bill overwhelmingly, with 338 votes. It is one of a few bipartisan things they have done over there, and they did it for the security of this Nation. I do not think any of us needs a lecture on why we are less secure today than we were a few days ago. I hope everyone will vote to continue the surveillance possibilities that we have available if this law passes. If it does not pass, what are we going to do? It will go to the House of Representatives. The majority leader of the House of Representatives, the distinguished House Member from California, Mr. McCarthy, said: They do not want anything from us. They want this bill passed. They want the USA FREEDOM bill passed today. That is what the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Goodlatte, said. Of course, that is what the Democratic leader says also. Let's vote. A vote today to pass this bill will make our country safer immediately, not a week from now. That is how long it will take, at a minimum, if this bill is changed when it goes to the House--I am sorry--if it does not go to the President directly, and it should go directly from here to the President of the United States. He can sign this in a matter of hours and put us back on a more secure footing to protect ourselves from the bad guys around the world.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we are here facing yet another manufactured crisis with the vitally important PATRIOT Act provision set to expire in a matter of hours. In fact, we have less than 8 hours before the expiration of this critical national security program. That is what we are faced with. Tonight's deadline is certainly no surprise. As the junior Senator from Utah, a Republican, noted: ``We've known for four years that this deadline was approaching.'' Like so many other occasions in which brinksmanship has pushed the Senate and our Nation to the precipice, the dilemma we now face was completely avoidable. The job of the leader is to have a plan. In this case, it is clear the majority leader simply didn't have a plan. The majority leader had 5 months to introduce a bill from committee that would reform and extend the expiring PATRIOT Act provisions, but instead he bypassed the committees altogether and brought this to the floor unilaterally, with no committee hearing--none. The majority leader recently said no more rule XIVs, but that pledge has not lasted very long, has it. The majority leader had, I repeat, 5 months. In fact, my friend, the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee and a dean of the Senate, said this could have passed so easily in the last 2 years. The majority leader had 5 months during the time he has been the majority leader to coordinate with the House, which passed FISA reform weeks ago, but instead he went it alone. In fact, it is as if the House and Senate Republican leaders appear to be on different pages. Everyone saw this coming. Weeks ago, it was clear the Senate didn't have adequate time to consider trade legislation, surveillance legislation, and, of course, the highway bill before the Memorial Day recess. I said that and others said that. Listen to what one Republican Congressman said. His name is Reid Ribble. He could have handled it better by being more prepared in advance for it. They ran out the clock basically by working on trade first; he probably should have ran the clock out on [surveillance] instead. I don't know what his strategy is here. I'm a little bit flummoxed. I say to my friend, Congressman Ribble, that he is not the only one who is flummoxed; so are we. The Senate majority leader set up a collision course with no plan on how to resolve it. It seems the only plan the majority leader had on FISA was to jam it through last Friday night; this, despite the fact that an overwhelming majority of House Members oppose an extension, the President opposes an extension, and a dozen Senate Republicans oppose an extension and so voted last Friday. Is it any wonder, then, that even the majority leader's own Republican Senators felt it necessary to take matters into their own hands? The majority leader was also caught off guard by a Member of his own Republican conference last week who refused to allow the Senate to extend the provisions for a program that the Second Circuit has determined is illegal. But, again, the junior Senator from Kentucky did not hide his thoughts. He was on the floor for 10 hours or so. I disagree with the junior Senator from Kentucky, but we are not in the mess today because of the junior Senator of Kentucky; we are in the mess we are today because of the majority leader. The majority leader should have seen this coming. Everyone else did, even those in his own party. Meanwhile, the Republican leader has repeatedly lectured this body as to how it should function, but his actions have helped the Senate to not function. We can do without more lectures and defiant statements. We can do with more strategy, planning, and open lines of communication because it is the majority leader's job to have a plan and to prioritize what must get done over what he would like to get done. In this case, my friend from Kentucky simply did not have a plan, and that is why we are here staring down the barrel of yet another unnecessary manufactured crisis that threatens our national security. We heard what the head of the CIA said today on a Sunday show. He said he is afraid something will happen when this act expires. That is not just my assessment of the situation. This is from the head of the CIA. Senate Republicans even feel the same way. The Republican junior Senator from Montana said yesterday: We could have done this a week ago. And this is the nature of Washington, D.C., always managing by crisis. Fortunately, there is a clear way out: pass the USA FREEDOM Act, which the House overwhelmingly passed with 338 votes on a totally bipartisan basis. All we need are a few more Republican Senators to vote with Democrats and the bill will pass. Just three, maybe four, maybe five--but a few Senators is all we need to bring this unnecessary crisis to a screaming halt. I am confident we can pass this bill if the majority leader will bring it to the floor for a fair vote. Now, procedurally, it is going to be extremely difficult to not have this bill--this law expire. This is not a bill; this is a law that is expiring. Any other course than just passing this bill would require the House to act before midnight. They are not here, so it is not going to happen. There is not a quorum of House Members, and there are House Members who will object to a unanimous consent request anyway. Passing the USA FREEDOM Act is the only way I can foresee where the PATRIOT Act provisions do not expire. Now is the time for the majority leader to do what is right for the privacy and security of all Americans. I yield the floor.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I join in my feelings about the Joe Biden family. I was saddened beyond words to hear of the passing of Beau. He was such a fine young man. He was a devoted husband, father, son, a dedicated servant to the people of Delaware, and a faithful, honorable veteran of the United States, having served in the Middle East in Iraq. I, of course, extend all of the sympathy I am capable of extending to his family during this very difficult time. Beau left us far too soon. He was only 46 years old, but I am certain his family will take solace in knowing he lived a selfless, noble life. To my friend Joe Biden, whom I served with in Congress for so many years, I extend my deepest thoughts and condolences to you, Joe. There is a song ``Man of Constant Sorrow'' that certainly, if that ever applied to someone, it would be our friend Joe Biden. Not having been sworn in to the Senate, he experienced the tragic loss of his wife and little girl. Then, as to his two sons, Beau and Hunter, he spent time on a train going back and forth to Delaware virtually every night so he could take care of those two fine young men until he was fortunate enough to meet Jill Biden, his beautiful wife. I am very sorry Joe has had to go through this terrible ordeal now of losing a son after having lost a daughter. But, I repeat, there is no question that Delaware is a better place because of Beau, our country is a better place because of Beau, and the world is better place because of Beau Biden. I, and the entire Senate family, as Senator McConnell has indicated, send our deepest condolences as they grieve during this tragic time

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I am happy to yield to the Senator for a comment.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Will my friend yield for a question?

Mr. REID. We would be happy to cooperate in passing a surface transportation bill by voice, but I do say this--and I mentioned this to my colleague away from the microphones. For those of us living in the West, we cannot get back on a Sunday afternoon. I think it is very difficult for us to get back here on a weekday before 5 o'clock, so I would hope on a Sunday we wouldn't be expecting the Senate to come in session before 5 o'clock because we can't get here. I am protecting the western part of my caucus, which is pretty big, but I am not going to agree to anything unless we can come in at least after 5 o'clock.

Mr. REID. I agree.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I think everyone knows that I disagree with the reasoning for the trade bill. Based on my experience of looking at trade bills that have passed the Congress in years past, it is not going to help the people whom I want to help. I am happy that multinational corporations are doing well, but my first goal is not them. It is people who work for a living, middle- class Americans, who work so hard, first of all to find a job, and then once they find a job, they do everything they can to hang on to that job. The trade bill is another example of how we have ignored in this Congress the working men and women of this country. I so admire our ranking member of the banking committee, Senator Brown of Ohio. He has done a remarkably good job of pointing out what is wrong with the trade bill. It passed, and I accept this. The vast majority of Democrats opposed it, but there are some who didn't. I respect them, and I respect their judgment. I am not here to criticize them. I am here to criticize the underlying legislation. This Republican-led Senate has done nothing to help the middle class. It doesn't matter what you look to--minimum wage, equal pay for men and women, the burden of student debt, and, of course, the tremendous lack of impetus to do something about our surface transportation system, our highways. We have 64,000 bridges in America that are structurally deficient. Fifty percent of our highway roads are deficient, and we do nothing. Likely, what will happen here in the next day or two is that we will extend the highway authorization for 60 days. It should be pretty easy to do because we have done it 32 other times. Since the Republicans came to town and started flexing their muscles, we found a situation where they were unwilling to help middle-class Americans. Think about that. Our country has 64,000 bridges that are structurally deficient. Does this really matter? Well, talk to the people of Minnesota. One of their bridges collapsed and 13 people died. Of course it matters, and we are ignoring it as a Congress, and that is not right. Ray LaHood, a Republican, who was Secretary of Transportation for President Obama for a long time, said that our transportation system should be called the pothole because that is all the highways are anymore. The trade bill is an example of not helping the middle class, and it is an example of how we focus on multinational corporations. My friend the Republican leader talked about the FISA bill, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Republican leader and I are friends. We have served together for decades here in this body. But with all due respect to him, I think I will take the word and opinion of the head of the FBI, the Attorney General of the United States, and the man who is in charge of all of our intelligence, James Clapper, who has said, without any question, that the bill that passed the House of Representatives--by almost 390 votes--is what we should be doing here. Among other things, in a letter they wrote to Senators Leahy and Lee, they say: The Intelligence Community believes that the bill preserves essential operational capabilities of the telephone metadata program and enhances other intelligence capabilities needed to protect our Nation and its partners. I repeat, the bill passed by a 4-to-1 margin in the House of Representatives. My friend the Republican leader talks continually about bipartisanship. We have a piece of legislation out of the House. It was one of the rare times where bipartisan efforts were made and they worked. They passed this bill, and we should do the same before we leave here rather than extend this program. Efforts have been made to extend a program that has already been declared by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals of the United States as illegal. How can we extend an illegal act? That is what some of the talk is from the other side of the aisle. I think that is unfortunate, and I think we should make sure that before we leave here, we do what our intelligence community suggested to us, and in very strong words-- that we simply move forward on the legislation that has a name that maybe says it all, and that is the USA FREEDOM Act. That is what that legislation is, and we should pass that. We know there is work to be done on the trade legislation, and I am happy to work with Senator Brown, Senator Wyden, and anyone else who has a way of moving forward on that.

Mr. REID

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

Mr. REID. Mr. President, as I read this morning's news, I was intrigued and struck by a Pew Research poll. Pew conducted a national survey to gauge Americans' satisfaction with Congress. Unsurprisingly, Americans are disillusioned with the Senate and the House Republicans. I guess that is kind of an understatement, if you look at the content of the poll. Despite constant self-congratulations from the Republican leadership, the American people are rejecting the Republican leadership in Congress. Just listen to a few of these findings: Seventy-two percent of Americans disapprove of the job being done by Republican leaders in Congress. That is an alltime high; just 4 percent of Americans say Republicans in Congress have exceeded expectations--4 percent; even self-identifying Republicans object to how their party has governed; 55 percent of Republicans disapprove of Republican congressional leadership's job performance; fewer than 4 in 10 Republicans say their party is doing a good job representing their views, but among the results of the Pew survey, there is an especially troubling trend. The survey found that 65 percent of Americans say Republicans have failed to live up to their campaign promises; only 27 percent of Republicans believe their party is keeping its campaign promises--not Independents, not Democrats but Republicans. ``Integrity'' is a simple word, but here in the Capitol it is everything. As elected officials, all we have to offer our constituents is our integrity. If we are not as good as our word, then we are no good for anything. It is appalling that 5 months into this new Congress, most Americans believe the congressional Republicans cannot be trusted to keep their word. What were those promises Republicans made? How about this one from the majority leader: ``Our focus would be on passing legislation that improves the economy, that makes it easier for Americans to find jobs, and that helps restore Americans' confidence in their country and their Government.'' That is what the majority leader said last year, but his record this year tells a completely different story. So far this year, Republicans have ignored the needs of their constituents. Just look at how Senate Republicans have spent their time so far this year: The Keystone Pipeline legislation, which is a handout to billionaires and certainly special interests, is a bill that brings foreign oil into our country and then ships it right back to the foreign nations; a near shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security, even as ISIS and other terrorist groups were threatening our Nation; a senseless delay over funding for victims of human trafficking took weeks to finally finish; an unprecedented delay in the confirmation of the Attorney General of the United States being held longer than any prospective Attorney General in the history of the country, not only of her but many, many judges, not even holding hearings for them and other Cabinet and sub- Cabinet officers--not even holding hearings. Of course, there is nothing on the calendar because the committees are reporting nothing out of the committees. They passed an immoral budget that cuts taxes for the wealthiest individuals and corporations, while attacking working families and seniors; a trade bill that is tantamount to aid for foreign corporations and does nothing for the middle class; procrastinating a reauthorization of job creating legislation such as the highway bill. We are going to be asked in the next few hours to extend the highway bill for the 33rd time--33rd time--for a couple of months. What a shame, when we have 64,000 bridges that are structurally deficient, 50 percent of our highways and roads are in really bad need of repair. Now, 65 percent of Americans say yes, 53 percent of Republicans say so, too, that they are not living up to their campaign promises. So who can argue with that? One need only look at Senate Republicans' legislative agenda to realize there is nothing on the horizon that helps working American families. At this rate, Congress will finish this year with nothing to show the middle class--nothing. This trade bill, as I mentioned this morning, is a handout to multinational corporations and does nothing for the middle class, except cause them to lose jobs that will be shipped overseas. But the wealthiest 1 percent have reaped benefits during this first 5 months of this Congress. That is why Americans--72 percent of Americans-- disapprove of the way Republicans are leading Congress. But there is still time to right the ship. There are many things we can do in the Senate to help boost the middle class. We can pass a highway bill that immediately injects jobs into our economy, while ensuring that our businesses and families have safe roadways, rails, and bridges to navigate. We can give American workers a livable wage and ensure that no full-time employee is living in poverty. We can address the mounting burden that student loan debt has on our economy, which is worse than any other debt, more than credit card debt, more than anything else. There are many other things we can do for American families that have not been done. It is clear Republicans are not accomplishing much on their own, so why not work with us? Democrats are willing. Together, we can all keep our word to our constituents. We can follow through on our commitment to help middle-class Americans and get them the help they need and deserve.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object.

Mr. REID. No objection.

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I think it would be appropriate--we have gotten to where we are--that we have a quorum call so we can find out where we are on amendments. There is agreement out there; we just have to see how we can get it arrived at. So I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID. Of course.

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

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I rise today in celebration of Rabbi Yocheved Mintz' 10th anniversary with Congregation P'nai Tikvah in Las Vegas, NV. Through her dedication to serving others, Rabbi Mintz has helped further Congregation P'nai Tikvah's commitment to providing an inclusive and open environment for spiritual development. I am appreciative of her tremendous efforts on behalf of the Jewish community and the city of Las Vegas. Rabbi Mintz' many leadership roles demonstrate the seriousness with which she takes her duties as a spiritual leader, as well as her compassion and willingness to devote much of her time to helping others. Within the Jewish community, her responsibilities include president of the Mintz Family Foundation for Creative Jewish Education and serving on numerous boards, such as the Jewish Family Services Agency and Rabbis for Religious Freedom and Equality in Israel. Rabbi Mintz also brings her years of experience in Jewish education to the community through her work as founding board chair for the Florence A. Melton School for Adult Jewish Education. As the first female president of the Las Vegas Board of Rabbis, Rabbi Mintz is an inspiration to many young Jewish girls and women who aspire to become Rabbis and leaders within their communities. In line with Congregation P'nai Tikvah's commitment to fostering a welcoming environment for religious life, Rabbi Mintz is a board member of the Interfaith Council of Southern Nevada and the Clark County Ministerial Association. For decades, Rabbi Mintz has provided opportunities for religious education to Jews of all ages, and I am pleased to stand today in celebration of the 10 years she has devoted to Congregation P'nai Tikvah in Las Vegas. I congratulate Rabbi Mintz and Congregation P'nai Tikvah on this important anniversary.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, at the end of this month, Republicans will have been in charge of the Senate for almost half a year. After all of this time, what have they done to address issues facing the middle class? Zero. Let's take a quick look at what the Republican leadership has achieved this year. The Keystone Pipeline legislation took a month, a bill that was nothing more than a favor for billionaires and special interests. It would allow foreign oil to be imported into the United States to be shipped to foreign countries. It has spent almost another month on the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security--the shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security--during a time when ISIS is raging and all the other problems around the world, and they-- the Republicans--want to shut down the Federal Government as it relates to Homeland Security. We spent 3 weeks on a senseless delay over funding for victims of human trafficking, over an abortion issue that had nothing to do with human trafficking. I would respond to my friend, the majority leader, we would have passed this last Congress, except that they objected to it--short memory, I think. Now, here we are spending the last week considering trade legislation that has done nothing--nothing, not a single thing--to help working middle-class Americans. In fact, it causes huge job losses. As Einstein said, if you keep doing the same thing over and over again and you expect a different result, that is the definition of insanity. We can look at these trade bills over the years. Every one of them, without exception, causes job losses to American workers, millions of job losses. Yet they are going to try the same thing again and hope for a different result. That is insanity. If the Senate is not actively advocating for the well-being of middle-class Americans, we are wasting our time. When the Republicans took over the Senate, the majority leader promised to make the needs of Americans a priority. Here is what he said last November: ``Under a new majority, our focus would be on passing legislation that improves the economy, that makes it easier for Americans to find jobs, and that helps restore Americans' confidence in their country and their government.'' Why then have we not moved toward legislation that makes it easier for Americans to find jobs or reforms that help us restore Americans' confidence in their government? A few months after November--actually the beginning of this year--the majority leader reiterated a call for commonsense legislation that puts the middle class first. He said: ``Let's pass legislation that focuses on jobs and the real concerns of the middle class.'' But, again, what have the Senate Republicans done? They have stopped any effort made to help the middle class, whether it is minimum wage, equal pay for men and women, student debt, and on and on with things that would help the middle class. They have been ignored. We should be focusing on making it easier for Americans to find jobs, addressing the needs of the middle class and restoring Americans' faith in our government. It is not enough for the majority leader to mouth these words that he supports jobs. His agenda must reflect it, as well. But it does not. It does not do anything to help job creation. If we want to create jobs, why don't we do something with infrastructure, the surface transportation bill? To his credit, the Presiding Officer has an idea regarding how that should be paid for. I have worked with him and, whether his idea and my idea are perfect, at least it is an effort to figure out some way to do something about jobs. Jobs--we have to do something about surface transportation. Some 50 percent of America's roads are in disrepair, and 64,000 bridges are structurally deficient. Our railroad systems are outdated, and we know that recently from the headlines we have seen with that devastating accident in Pennsylvania. Instead of working with Democrats to provide adequate, long-term investment into our country's surface transportation, Republicans are advocating for short-term fix after short-term fix. Repairing our Nation's roads and bridges through long-term investments could provide thousands of jobs for Americans. If the Republican leader truly has the interests of the middle class at heart, he should be leading the charge for these investments, but he is leading the charge against them. Today, the Senate will resume consideration of the trade legislation. Because of Senate Democrats, that trade legislation includes vital programs that help America's workers retrain and find new employment if they lose their jobs because of foreign trade. And they are going to lose jobs. Even though a majority of the Senators don't support this trade legislation, we have tried hard to improve it, and this trade adjustment assistance is one way we can try to improve it. What was the Republican's first amendment to the trade bill? It was an amendment to strike a program known as trade adjustment assistance, which I just talked about, from the bill. This program helps those who lose their jobs because of trade. And they will lose their jobs. As we talk about opening foreign markets to American products, surely we should do something so that American companies have the tools to compete internationally. The Export-Import Bank is weeks away from expiring. If it expires, financing for billions of dollars of U.S. exports will disappear and thousands of American jobs will be in jeopardy. How much does it cost? Nothing. Zero. It is an ideological mindset that the Republicans have-- they don't like government programs. We are losing internationally. We are losing trade. I don't think anyone can call the Boeing Company a leftwing liberal group, as the Republican leader refers to people who are complaining about what is going on here. Boeing thinks something should be done with the Export- Import Bank. Why? Because they can compete with Airbus and all of these other companies that build airplanes. If we don't have the Bank, they cannot compete. Mr. President, I could pick any State of the 50--I was given here this morning the State of Virginia because the State of Virginia was mentioned in some of the remarks by the Republican leader. I have page after page--millions and millions of dollars that benefit businesses in Virginia. It is the same all over the country--in Nevada, Kentucky, everyplace. We have talked about trade that won't work. Let's talk about the Export-Import Bank, which does work. I so admire and appreciate the persistence and advocacy of the Senator from Washington, Ms. Cantwell. But for her, this issue would be lost. It would be gone with all the other stuff that goes into the trash can because of the Republicans. The Republican leader has said over and over again that he is opposed to the Bank. Well, that is too bad. The American people certainly support it and American businesses support it. Last year, this vital program sustained 165,000 jobs at no cost to the taxpayers. If we don't reauthorize this program, American businesses will be at a competitive disadvantage. While the majority leader talks about restoring faith in government, he is standing in the way of reforming the National Security Agency's illegal spying program. I did not make up the words ``illegal spying program''; the Second Circuit Court said it. It is an illegal program. These are just a few areas where renewed focus would create jobs and produce positive outcomes for middle-class Americans. The Republican leader should revisit his vision, which up to this point has only been words. There has been no action. The direction this Congress has taken so far has only focused on the desires of a few at the expense of many. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the numbers I referred to from the State of Virginia be printed in the Record.

Mr. REID. Will the Chair be kind enough to tell us what the business is today in the Senate?