Debbie Stabenow

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. STABENOW. I realize Senator Gregg is up to speak. I do not see him on the floor. I will be only a few minutes, and then I will ask unanimous consent he be recognized after me when he comes to the floor. Mr. President, in a few moments I am pleased I am going to be offering an amendment that is strongly supported by Members on both sides of the aisle to focus on jobs and investments in equipment for companies that are currently not making a profit--which, unfortunately, is too many across the country right now. We want to make sure they have an opportunity to have the capital they need to be able to grow as well. I thank Senator Hatch and Senator Schumer, Senator Crapo, Senator Snowe, and Senator Risch for working with me on an amendment that would provide companies with an immediate source of capital to make increased investments in our country and spur job creation. Since the start of the recession in December of 2007, the Nation has lost more than 8 million jobs, as we know. It is an economic tsunami, what has happened to families in this country. The national unemployment rate skyrocketed from 5 percent to 10 percent as companies are forced to cut costs and to lay off workers to remain viable just to keep the ship afloat. Our State, of course, the great State of Michigan, is much worse since we are at about a 14.6-percent unemployment rate right now, and we certainly are feeling the brunt of what has been happening. These companies also continue to face significant challenges in raising much- needed capital for new investments to be able to keep people working. This amendment would allow struggling companies of all kinds that do not benefit from other similarly designed incentives--such as bonus depreciation or expanding the NOL carryback period, and other things-- to utilize their existing AMT credits based on new investments they make in 2010. So if they make investments, we would allow them to use credits they cannot use right now because those credits can only be used against a profit, and they don't have a profit. In addition to encouraging companies to increase investments to maintain and expand jobs, the amendment also makes available a badly needed source of capital. We have all been talking about access to capital. This is an important way we can make this available at no real cost to the Federal Government. I think that is what is important about this amendment. AMT credits are actually prepayments of tax which the taxpayer can offset with future tax liability, dollar for dollar. So these are prepayments. Normally, if they were making a profit they would be able to offset their taxes and maintain additional revenue and capital, but they are not in a position to do that right now. So at some point we, in fact, would be giving them credit, and they would be able to use these credits and be able to keep capital. But they cannot right now. So in a sense we are just moving up the day by which they can access the capital that is available with AMT credits. Since the credits never expire, the proposal merely accelerates when the credits are used. This amendment would allow companies to be able to cash in their built-up tax credit so they can build factories, buy equipment, and create jobs. Specifically, it will allow companies to utilize their existing AMT credits up to 10 percent of a new investment that they make in a manufacturing facility and in equipment purchased this year, in 2010. No company would be able to claim more than 50 percent of the value of the credit. To accelerate the economic impact of allowing companies to be able to access this capital and use the credits, the proposal would allow for an expedited refund process similar to current law rules for net operating losses. A company that elects the 5-year, net-operating year-loss carryback enacted earlier, which I supported strongly, would not be eligible to claim the benefits of this proposal. So it would be only those who cannot access other proposals we put forward because of the critical nature of helping companies not making a profit, being able to help them access capital. The amendment would be offset by improving tax compliance from individuals who receive rental income from properties. The provision, originally proposed in the President's fiscal year 2009-2010 budgets, would require people who received rental income on real estate to be subject to the same information reporting requirements as taxpayers who receive income from a trade or business. This proposal would benefit a broad range of companies, including airlines, manufacturers, energy companies, high-tech companies--across the board, companies large and small that currently find themselves in a position where they are not making a profit but have built up these prepaid credits. We have support from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, the Association of Manufacturing Technology, Association of Equipment Manufacturers, and Motor and Equipment Manufacturers Association. Some of the many U.S. employers who support the proposal are American Airlines, Applied Micro Devices, Arch Coal, Associated Builders and Contractors, Bosch, Cliffs Natural Resources, CMS Energy, Consul Energy, Delta Airlines, Daimler, General Motors, Goodyear, Micron, National Mining Association, Owens Illinois, Peabody Energy, Qwest, T-mobile, and Xerox. These are all major companies employing thousands, tens or hundreds of thousands of people who are needing access to capital. They have prepaid these credits. They need access to capital now so they can maintain their workforce and, hopefully, expand it and invest in the equipment that will allow them to grow. This amendment, again, is one that has broad bipartisan support. It will allow us to essentially move forward the ability for companies to use these AMT credits that they have already paid into, the dollars they have already paid. This is something that will allow companies to get the equipment, the tools that are necessary; so as they are using that jobs credit we passed and hiring people or continuing to be able to grow and invest in the business and keep the employees they have, that they will be able to get some assistance within the legislation we are passing. Again, let me just indicate that I very much appreciate colleagues who have joined me. Senator Hatch, Senator Schumer, Senator Crapo, Senator Snowe, Senator Risch, and we have others, I know, who are very interested in joining us as well. I believe at this point I have not heard for sure if we are in a position to actually call up the amendment at this point. At the moment, if we are in a position to call up the amendment? I am looking to staff to determine whether we are in a position to do that at this point? We are? All right. Then, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the pending amendment be set aside, and I will call up amendment No. 3382.

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

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, before my friend from California leaves the floor, I first thank the Senator from California for her leadership in bringing together a bipartisan effort to create jobs and for coming to the floor to speak about one of the important elements that is being held up right now by Senator Bunning and other Republicans who have come to the floor in support of his efforts. I thank Senator Boxer for her leadership and her ability to bring people together to get things done and to speak to the fact that this is about jobs and we have a sense of urgency about what needs to happen going forward. I wish to speak to that sense of urgency and speak first about what is happening for real people. Then I want to talk a little bit about the process as well, how could we be here, because people are looking and saying: How can one person or a group of people or the minority continue to hold up our ability to solve problems? That is a very good point that we need to talk about. First, I want to share some comments from a distraught woman from Grand Rapids who called my office a little bit ago in tears because her unemployment benefits had expired. This has been her only source of income for over a year now. She has about 2 months left in savings before she loses her home. First she loses her job, and now she is about to lose her home. My guess is she has been struggling with health care as well. She kept repeating: I was a productive member of society, but now I have nothing. She spoke about doing various temporary jobs since losing her full-time job as an administrative assistant back in 2007, having 18 years of work experience and she still has not qualified for a new job. Her search continues. She was pleading for the Senate to pass an unemployment extension before she loses her home. In Michigan and all across this country, this is not a game. This is real. People are in a position today where they do not know if they are going to be able to keep their home, if they are going to be able to put food on the table at the end of the week, next week or be able to pay their rent or be able to keep the heat on. With the small amount of money that comes in from unemployment--an average about $300 a week-- that right now is the difference between whether people are on the street, in the cold with their families, or whether they have a roof over their head. That is the reality of what is happening for people in this country--not people who are lazy, not people who do not want to work but people who have found themselves caught in this huge economic tsunami that has hit our country. We have over 15 million people currently receiving unemployment benefits who want to work, who are looking for work, who, on average, find there are six people looking for work for every job available. Just watch what happens when you announce there are 50 jobs or 100 jobs or maybe even 2 jobs available in a community. People line up around the block because they want to work. People are going back to school to gain different kinds of skills to fit in the new economy. They are doing everything they can, piecing it together with part-time work, two jobs, three jobs, trying to hold it together. We also have people who are one paycheck away from being in the very same situation, who are holding their breath, who are holding back on the spending they would normally do that would generate economic activity in the economy because they do not know what is going to happen. This is critical to families; people today who have done nothing but play by the rules, such as the woman who called my office, want to know when is their government going to be there for them. Somehow, as has been said before, the Senator from Kentucky did not manage to make it to the floor when 1 percent of the public, the wealthiest in America, were getting huge tax cuts. He didn't manage to make it to the floor when we were talking about Wall Street and bailouts. But somehow he can come to the floor and hold up the ability for people who are unemployed to get some temporary help and put the entire weight of the Federal deficit on the backs of people who are out of work, who lost their breadwinner in their home. That is stunning to me, absolutely stunning to me. Whose side are we on here? What is this about if it is not to make sure that when disaster hits, we are willing to step up on behalf of American families and support them and do something about it? Our colleague has said we should not add to the deficit; while other things have certainly added to the deficit, we should make sure this is paid for. We are the party that balanced the budget in the nineties. We do not need a lecture from people about solving deficits. We are the ones who created the balanced budget and surpluses that then went right out the window in the last 8 years under the previous administration. We do not need lectures on how to deal with deficits. But we also know when there is a disaster, whether it is a flood, a hurricane, or another kind of disaster, and the reality is that people in this country have been hit by a disaster. So it is appropriate to treat this as a disaster with disaster funding. I don't know what a disaster is if the more than 15 million people we know about right now, not counting the other 10 million or 15 million people who aren't being counted, is not a disaster. I wish to talk for a moment about the process because we find ourselves in a situation where we have seen an abuse of the democratic process over and over here in the Senate by our minority party colleagues. We have been brought to a point where now one person, although supported by others on the Republican side, has come to the floor and is objecting and putting us in a situation where we are going to have to either shut down the work of the Senate for a week to vote to override or to do something else. This has put us in a situation where people are being hurt because of partisan games. The leader has come to the floor and said: If you have a concern, you should offer an amendment. We should debate that amendment. You can have an up-or-down vote on that amendment. That is the democratic process. And then we will vote. Up until this point, the Senator has said no because he doesn't know if he will win that vote. Well, we don't know at any given time when we offer an amendment whether we will win. When you run for an election, you don't know if you will win. This is a democratic process. So I challenge our colleagues to stop blocking democracy, to stop blocking the democratic process and just vote. Just vote. Majority vote. That is what the Founders created, a process for the majority to govern, with spirited debate--spirited debate--and up-or-down votes. Don't block democracy. That is exactly what is happening right now. It is time to vote. It is time to get things done. It is time to show the American people that we get what is going on in their lives. Let's just vote. What has happened in the last couple of years? We have seen a process that in 1919 and 1920 was used two times in 2 years--two times in 2 years. Even in the first Senate, it was used zero times. We have seen a process that in the last number of years has gotten to a point where in the last Congress the process of blocking and obstructing--the filibuster--was used 139 times by our Republican colleagues, and that was the most ever. Look at that. It doubled any other time in the history of the country. Well, they are going to double it again. As of today, we have a situation where we have seen the party of no filibuster 118 times, and we are barely through 1 year of a 2-year cycle. So we are on the road to see it doubled and create a time of amazing historic obstruction we have never seen before. This is an example today of what happens when that process, which is a legitimate process, is abused--people get hurt. So I would call on colleagues to stop blocking democracy and to simply come and debate and vote. Let's decide and move on so that we can get things done for the American people. The underlying bill in front of us is a bill that will extend unemployment benefits for 1 year, and that is the right thing to do. It will extend help for health care, for COBRA, for 1 year, and that is the right thing to do. It will extend help for States to pay for health care. It will extend it beyond the next 6 months of when we put help in place under the Recovery Act. It will make sure our doctors can continue to get paid a fair reimbursement to serve our seniors under Medicare. And it will allow us to keep jobs going and to extend important investment tax credits. In reality, we have a lot of work to do here in the Senate. We need to dispose of this immediate situation of helping people. We need to make sure we put in place the short-term help on unemployment and health care and other provisions that have been talked about and then move quickly to the broader jobs bill because we know, in the end, everyone who is holding their breath right now about what we are going to do on unemployment is not saying to us: Gee, I hope you extend unemployment for years and years. Gee, I really want to live on $300 a week. They want us to focus on jobs, affording them the integrity of work, the ability to bring home a paycheck, to be a breadwinner so they can care for their family, and all of the dignity that comes with that work. So we need to get on about the business of focusing on jobs, but the first thing we need to do is to make sure we understand what is happening to people across our country. They are panicked about the obstruction that is going on here in the Senate. There are 135,000 people in Michigan who will lose their unemployment help by the end of March if we do not take action. That is an economic disaster if I have ever heard of one. It is time to act. It is time to stop blocking the democratic process. It is time to vote and to get things done and let people know that we are on their side, that we understand what is going on in their lives, and that we are going to be here and work hard and get things done for them. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there now be a period for the transaction of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, first of all, I want to thank the Senator from Oregon for those very passionate comments. We have had the opportunity to join in a number of forums to speak out about the importance of creating jobs in America and of helping those who through no fault of their own have lost their job, and I thank the Senator for his eloquence and passion again this evening. I come to the floor to also add my voice to what I believe to be an outrageous situation. I say this with all due respect to my friend from Kentucky. We work together on a number of issues, and I look forward to continuing to do that. But on this I believe what is being done is absolutely wrong. It is outrageous. We are in a situation right now where nearly 135,000 Michigan residents will lose the unemployment assistance they need by the end of this month if we do not take action immediately. That is just in 1 month as to people who have been hit by nothing less than an economic tsunami. We have a sense of urgency when an earthquake happens, when storms come, and the floods come. Well, to families across this country, the storms have come. They have been here--in our case for years--and we need to have the same sense of urgency as any other disaster would call us, focusing not only on helping people who have lost their job but in creating jobs. I am proud to be a part of a caucus that has placed jobs at the forefront and a President who, last year, started at the beginning of the year with a jobs bill, a Recovery Act, and moving on, and this year with an entire jobs agenda. But the reality is that until jobs are created, we have millions of people in this country who have played by the rules all their lives, paid their taxes, cared about their families, gave back to their communities, and their only sin is the fact that they have lost their job through no fault of their own. They are trying to keep a roof over their head, keep food on the table, keep the heat on, trying to make sure their kids have what they need. Most of them are receiving $200 or $300 a week to try to hold it together while they go job training, while they look every day for work. People want to work. This is not about people who do not want to work. People want to work. But we have six people applying for every one job in America. So while we focus on job creation and partnering with the private sector to make that happen, we have millions of people in America who do not understand how something such as merely extending unemployment benefits could be held up. Last night, the unemployment benefits stopped that process now. This month, people are getting notices, afraid about what is going to happen to themselves and their families. What we have is a misuse of the rules, in my judgment. What we have is an objection, and it is one for which we have been down here many times. We have the charts now. We have had it happen over 116 times this session, where we have seen objections, bringing to a halt the will of the majority, blocking the democratic process of voting--of simply voting--and being able to solve problems and move things forward. I received an e-mail from a woman in Livonia, MI, who lost her job last year. She took the opportunity to go back to school to get new job skills to become a registered dietitian. But now, as she is doing that, because of this obstruction, this woman is going to lose the help she needs to allow her to make it and keep a roof over her head while she is turning the corner and gaining new skills to get a new job. The rug is, frankly, being pulled out from under her, and I think that is outrageous. She is not alone. As I indicated before, we have nearly 135,000 people in Michigan who will lose the help they need under unemployment benefits by the end of this month if we do not act, and act immediately. I received another e-mail from a woman in Greenbush, MI. She and her husband both worked at the same manufacturing plant. It is a common story in Michigan. They both lost their job. She writes: We are both seeking work and schooling for new careers. We have both eceived a letter from the unemployment office that our benefits will end. We have no other source of income and we fear we will lose our home. This is real for millions of people across this country, millions of middle-class families who assume that in a disaster, an economic disaster, their government, the people of the country, will step up to help. That is what unemployment benefits are all about. It is time to act, it is time to stop blocking democracy. If my friend from Kentucky has an amendment to offer, offer it, debate it, and vote. But just blocking us from exercising our right to vote is not the American way. The American way is to vote, to act, to make decisions, not to block. We have seen way too much of blocking democracy from our Republican colleagues in these last months and months. I also want to speak to other provisions in this bill because I find it interesting that within hours of the health care summit last Thursday, the blocking of this bill showed us what the health care plan is by Republicans: cut people off from help with COBRA, cut doctors' benefits. That came within hours of the health care summit. We are now getting calls from people who are concerned about whether their doctor is going to be available. Are senior citizens under Medicare going to be able to see their same doctor because of the cuts that will happen if we do not act immediately? People who one day lost their job, the next day lost their health care--we have been able to help them through the jobs bill we passed last February to be able to continue their health insurance through work. It is expensive to do under something called COBRA, but we have been able to help them do that by helping to pay on a short- term basis for part of that cost. So the health care summit happens on Thursday, and hours later there is an objection that will stop health care for hundreds of thousands if not millions of Americans, and stop the ability of doctors to be reimbursed at a fair rate to be able to care for their patients. This is, in my judgment, an absolutely outrageous situation, and it has to stop. I thank our chairman of the Finance Committee for his work and advocacy and being here on the floor calling for us to vote. I am hopeful people around the country will speak out loudly between tonight and tomorrow and that we will be able to come to the floor and stop what is effectively blocking the democratic process and blocking our ability to vote, to make decisions, and to move forward. We have millions of Americans who are counting on us to understand what is happening in real people's lives every day--not political games, not all the partisanship, but real people's lives--who are going to get up tomorrow morning and say: OK, what do I do now? How am I going to keep my roof over my head? And how am I going to continue to go to school to get that new skills I need? How am I going to put food on the table for my family? That is what is affecting people across this country. In addition to the millions of people who have lost their job and are on unemployment, we have millions of others who are one paycheck away from being in the very same situation--people who could be spending in the economy now to be able to help move things forward, who are afraid of what happens next. Part of that fear is not only will they have a job, but what happens if they do not? And what is the message that is sent if we do not make it clear we will be there for them if that happens? Will they be able to continue to have the basics to keep their family going? I strongly urge we do everything possible. I know we will stop this obstruction, to allow the democratic process to go forward, to allow us to vote, to solve problems, to move this bill forward, and send a very strong message that we understand what is happening to millions of families who have faced a disaster of epic proportions. It is truly as much a disaster as anything else any community has ever felt in terms of losing their jobs and fighting and working to get something. I thank the Chair.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. I appreciate the Senator from Illinois, my friend, in his comments. I guess my question would relate to the State of Michigan because the Senator listed off some very important statistics. I wonder if the Senator is aware that in March, 62,000 people in the great State of Michigan, where we have the highest unemployment rate--we have a 14.6-percent unemployment rate, over 700,000 people right now unemployed, looking for work. These are people trying to keep a roof over their head, trying to keep food on their table, they are trying to hold things together as they are looking for a job. Yet we have 62,000 great people from Michigan who are going to lose their benefits in March. In fact, if this continues--and I know all of us are working very hard to get a year extension of unemployment benefits. But I am wondering if my friend is aware that by May, 225,000 people in Michigan will be out of their benefits. These are people who are looking for work. We know for every one job available there are six people right now who are fighting to get that job. We have a jobs agenda. We are working very hard to make sure there are more jobs and partnering within the private sector. But in the meantime, I am wondering if my friend would agree with the fact that this is a disaster, in fact. This is as much a disaster for families as anything else. We do emergency spending for floods and hurricanes and all kinds of disasters. For families, would my friend agree, this is as much of a disaster and warrants as much immediate attention as anything else we do?

Ms. STABENOW. Will the Senator yield for a question? I want to ask a question. Would the Senator from Illinois agree that we make choices here every day about what, in fact, we are going to do? And there is no question that the deficit is a huge issue. But I, along with you, have a reaction this evening listening to my friend from Kentucky, who is my friend. We have worked together on a number of different issues. But to hear that somehow, when there has not been a concern about rising deficits when we were talking about tax benefits for the wealthiest Americans that did not have to be paid for, but now we are talking about those who find themselves, through no fault of their own, without a job, who are trying to hold it together in one of the worst economies certainly of my lifetime, and that somehow we are now--now-- going to worry about balancing the budget and the deficit on the backs of the least of our brothers--I mean, that is really what is being talked about tonight. I find it outrageous that we would be having this kind of discussion. Would my friend agree that, in fact, there are other choices? In fact, when we have the debate about extending the tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, I want to hear the same debate and the same objection coming as is coming to people right now who are trying to hold it together for $200 or $300 a week and keep food on their table for their families. Would my colleague agree?

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first, I wish to thank my friend from New Hampshire for her advocacy on health care reform in general, but specifically working together on the areas that affect small business, I very much appreciate, and we are so pleased to have her in the Senate. I come to the floor to join my colleagues. I know the chair of the Small Business Committee, Senator Landrieu, has been here and others will be here--Senator Lincoln, who has played such a critical role in putting together the small business provisions in the bill. I am very pleased to have authored one of the provisions in the managers' amendment that will guarantee that small businesses get immediate help starting next year--tax cuts to help them pay for the cost of health insurance. Michigan has close to 200,000 small employers that represent about 96 percent of the employers in our State. Most folks who think of Michigan think of large employers, large manufacturers. But, in fact, the majority of our employers, as in the majority of each of our States, are small businesses. That is where the majority of the new jobs are being created. We have just 41 percent of our firms that have fewer than 50 employees who actually are able to offer health insurance. So less than half our small businesses are able to offer health insurance, which is why we are focused on small businesses in this reform bill. The majority of people in this country who don't have insurance are actually working. The majority of us--about 60 percent--have insurance through our employers. We have about another 20 percent or so who receive their insurance through Medicare or Medicaid or the Veterans' Administration or some other public entity and then 15 to 20 percent of the people overall in America who don't have insurance are predominantly small businesses--people working for small businesses or they are self-employed or they are working one, two, or three part-time jobs just to try to hold things together. So that is a major focus of the health care reforms that are in the legislation that is before us. I am very pleased we have been able to put together a package that has $40 billion in direct tax cuts--$40 billion in direct tax cuts--for small businesses across America to help them afford health insurance going forward, rather than waiting for the new insurance pooling--the exchange--which will provide additional help for small businesses. This help, this tax cut, starts right away. We will see 3.6 million small businesses that could qualify for the tax cuts in this bill that will begin next year. In my State, that means over 109,000 small businesses that could be helped by the small business tax cuts that will make premiums more affordable. So I am very pleased to be part of a group of Members who came together and worked very hard to focus on the fastest growing part of the economy, which are our small businesses. I will just share one story, and this was from Crain's Detroit, a highly respected business publication in Michigan. Mark Hodesh, who is the owner of an Ann Arbor home and garden store, said he has seen his health insurance premiums go up more than 300 percent since 1997. In 1996, he paid $132 in health care premiums a month per employee; and this year, regular premium increases have led him to pay upward of $375 per month for each employee. So that is a 300-percent increase. He says: I have been in small business for 40 years, and my conclusion is that without health care reform, these increasing costs will put me out of business. That is the reality for businesses across this country. I do believe health care reform is directly tied to jobs, whether it is large businesses competing internationally that make a determination to move their facility because of health care costs, whether it is small businesses going out of business or having to decide if they keep people working or pay for health insurance or whether it is the self- employed person out on their own, in their own enterprise--maybe it is local realtor. We know realtors have struggled for years because they haven't been able to buy through a large insurance pool. That is what this reform is all about. That is what this legislation is all about, to help small businesses, people who are working out of their homes, who are self-employed, as well as people who have lost their job and then lost their insurance. That is what this is all about. When we look at this legislation, according to the Small Business Majority, without health insurance reform that is in this legislation the annual costs of health benefits will more than double in less than a decade. They will more than double. We know, because we have seen the statistics, that when we talk about doubling health care costs for businesses in the next 10 years, it is estimated to equal another 3.5 million jobs. We cannot afford to lose another 3.5 million jobs because of the doubling of health care costs in America. We are focused on creating more jobs. We need to be laser focused--certainly, I am, coming from Michigan--on creating jobs not losing jobs. According to the economic analysis of the Small Business Majority, health insurance reform could save up to 72 percent of small business jobs otherwise lost to a continuing rise in health care costs. We need those jobs. Again, health insurance reform is all about saving lives, saving money, saving Medicare, and it is certainly about saving jobs. That is why I am so pleased we have made small businesses a major priority in this legislation--both through $40 billion in tax cuts for small businesses, creating the new insurance pool through which small businesses can get the same kind of deal, have the same kind of clout as a large business today in being able to negotiate with private companies, and other provisions that are in the bill as well. There are many reasons to support health insurance reform. Standing up for small businesses is certainly at the top of the list. I yield the floor.

Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, as we work toward economic recovery, it is imperative that we act quickly to extend critical tax provisions scheduled to expire this year that promote research and development, spur community development, support the deployment of alternative vehicles and fuels, and provide certainty for businesses and families. Knowing these tax provisions are in place allows Americans to plan for the upcoming year. The longer we wait to pass this legislation, the more uncertainty we place on businesses during a time when they are starting to recover. Many of these tax provisions encourage investment, the development of new technologies, and business growth, which allow our companies to be competitive in a global marketplace. Delaying the extension of the research credit could put more than 100,000 jobs and billions of dollars in economic activity and Treasury revenue expected in 2010 in jeopardy, according to estimates from TechAmerica. If the credit is renewed, the association estimates that 120,000 jobs would be generated and/or sustained, there would be an additional $16 billion in additional research and development and other economic activity and $13 billion in Federal tax revenue over the course of 2010. However, for every day that the credit is left expired, there is the potential to lose 331 jobs, $45 million in economic activity, and $37 million in tax revenue. Another important tax provision set to expire this year allows businesses to write off the expenses of cleaning up brownfields, industrial land that would otherwise continue to be a blight on our communities and harm our environment. In my home State of Michigan, these credits will be needed more than ever to address the brownfields that have been left behind as a result of the restructuring of the automotive industry. Revitalization of these brownfields will be critically important to communities throughout the State and the Midwest. It is also imperative that we restore the estate tax retroactively to January 1, 2010. I am extremely disappointed that an extension was blocked and that the estate tax will be allowed to expire in 2010. Contrary to Republicans' claims, more heirs of farm and business estates will be hit with a tax increase than if we extended the estate tax at current levels. If the 2009 rules are retroactively applied, then only approximately 6,000 estates would pay the estate tax each year; however, if the estate tax expires, then it is estimated that 61,000 estates could be hit with the capital gains tax. It is critical that we extend the estate tax under the 2009 parameters to protect small businesses and family-owned farms, continue the incentive that the estate tax provides for charitable giving, and provide certainty for the heirs of farm and business estates. During one of the most challenging economic times our country has faced, dragging our feet on these tax extensions could have a substantial impact on our Nation's businesses and families at a time when we should be doing all we can to help them succeed. I look forward to working with Chairman Baucus and Ranking Member Grassley to retroactively extend expiring tax credits expeditiously when we return next year.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, before my friend from Iowa, the distinguished Chair of the HELP Committee, leaves the floor, I thank him for his wonderful leadership and friendship in so many capacities and passion for what we are doing now. We are all here together knowing that in the process of legislating, you don't always get every idea you want. But you come together and you work for something that is good for the American people, and that is what we have done. I thank him very much for all of his leadership. I wish to take a few moments to talk about how we actually got to this point on a Sunday evening--we are voting at 1 o'clock in the morning--and, frankly, what has been happening all year. I want to take a few minutes to talk about what has happened this entire year, the first year of President Obama's presidency, our first year in the majority, and then to speak a little bit as well about the very important legislation that is in front of us. I do think it is important that we take a moment to recognize and address a very unfortunate milestone, look back on the year on what we have accomplished in spite of that milestone. In April, the media celebrated President Obama's first 100 days in office. But here in the Senate, we can measure our progress by something else--not 100 days, but 100 objections from the minority party. Actually, 101 as of yesterday; objections, filibusters, delays, stalling tactics designed to stop us from helping the American people who are hurting in these tough economic times. That is more true in my State than any other place in this country. Our people, the great people of Michigan, have been hurting longer, have been hurting much more deeply than other places in the country because of the major economic transition, as well as the recession in which we are involved. There is good news because while the Republicans were stalling and wasting time, we were working hard doing what the people of America sent us to do. I want to talk about what we have done in spite of the stalling. But I also want to take a brief moment to explain something hard to explain about Senate rules because people look at us and say: They objected, but why does that matter? Why does that matter? Mr. President, as you know, when there is an objection, in order to overcome it--and it is called a filibuster--it involves invoking motions called cloture and it takes time. It plain takes time. So 101 times we have not been able to move forward because of an objection or we have had to go through this long process we are involved in right now. I think it is important to briefly explain it because when Republicans object, as they are now, as they have been on so many occasions, our leader has to file what is called a cloture motion, and then you wait 2 days. You cannot do other business for those 2 days. We have done that over and over, wasting time while people in my State want us to be focused on jobs, on lowering their health care costs, on making sure we are doing the things that matter to them every day. But we stop and we wait 2 days. Then we vote on stopping the filibuster. Then we wait 30 hours, which is what we are doing right now. Then we vote on whether to proceed to the item. There are filibusters again. Then we file a cloture motion on the amendments or the bill. We wait 2 more days. Then we vote on closing a filibuster, and then we wait 30 hours, and then we vote on the amendment, which we will do tonight, and then we have to wait another 30 hours. In this case, another 30 hours. It does matter when we say there have been 101 objections that have either stopped us or forced this process. It does matter. It matters because it has slowed down the ability to move to get things done. The good news is that we have gotten things done anyway. We have gotten things done anyway because we are focused and committed to getting things done. We know the American people have waited too long. The last 8 years were about taking us in the wrong direction, with things that did not help most people, that put us in a huge deficit hole, that did not address health care or health care costs or jobs, or policies that made it worse. We know that even though there have been 101 objections so far this year--and there will be more; there will be more--we are going to get things done for the American people. It is amazing the stalling actually happened on the very first day of the 111th Congress on January 6 when Republicans objected to moving forward with an important public lands bill, something we had been trying to do for some time to protect and preserve our national parks, forests, and wilderness areas. But we passed that important bill anyway over their objections and three different filibusters, as the chart showed. Three different times we had to wait, wait 2 days, wait 30 hours, wait 2 days, wait 30 hours. But we passed it. Since then, nearly every single week we have been in session, every single week but 4 out of 41 weeks, we have had to go through this process or have had objections. They have found something to object to or something to filibuster. As I said, yesterday they objected for the 101st time, this time with a filibuster against providing affordable health insurance for over 30 million Americans. They have misused longstanding Senate rules and traditions to stall everything that might give this President and this Congress a victory. I think it hurts all of us when the Senate breaks down as it has. Everybody is hurt by that--to stall everything that would help get Americans back to work or that would help 15.4 million Americans who are looking for work, and now to stop us, as I said, from extending health insurance coverage to over 30 million Americans. Their objections are about policy. They are about politics. Earlier this year, objection 74, they stalled the unemployment bill, and their delaying tactics caused nearly 200,000 Americans to lose their unemployment benefits a couple of months before Christmas. They objected to the bill twice. They filibustered not once but three times before they voted unanimously. They voted unanimously for the bill. Why would you filibuster something three times and then vote for it unanimously? Not because you are concerned about the policy. The only explanation is that Republicans were trying to waste time--time that cost 200,000 Americans their unemployment benefits; the difference between paying the mortgage, keeping the heat on, putting food on the table, and possibly trying to keep health care going with a COBRA payment or in some other fashion. Objection 4 was the Republican filibuster of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to make sure women get equal pay for equal work. Republicans filibustered and held up that bill, but we pushed forward. We passed it. We passed a very important equal pay for equal work bill in spite of it. Objection 6 was to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act which has been absolutely critical to creating jobs, keeping our economy out of a depression. They filibustered that bill three times as well. But we overcame the objections, passed the Recovery Act, and made critical investments in transportation, in our schools, in our police officers, and in clean energy technology and manufacturing. And, yes, we are seeing the difference in Michigan right now. Mr. President, $2 billion was part of the Recovery Act. I am pleased to say we have received a large part of that in Michigan to develop new battery technology manufacturing. We have at least six different firms that have announced and begun to develop manufacturing facilities for advanced battery development. Those manufacturing facilities are going to put thousands of people back to work. That was in the Recovery Act that was filibustered three times. Objection 20 was to Senator Kennedy's Serve America Act, which we passed despite their filibuster, to help young people give back to their country through voluntarism and community service. Objection 24 was to the Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act which cracked down on predatory lending and abuses by banks and mortgage companies. That bill was held up for nearly a month. But we passed it, giving real relief to millions of American homeowners. We passed the credit card bill, Republican objection 32. We passed the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act, Republican objection 33. We gave the FDA the authority, finally, to regulate tobacco to help keep kids from smoking. That was Republican objection 38. We passed the Travel Promotion Act which will help stimulate the suffering tourism industry across the country. That was objection 45. We passed a true funding bill to make sure our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan had the support they needed despite having to file cloture to stop a filibuster--objection 47. We passed the Defense authorization bill that included a pay raise for our troops and other help for our military and their families despite repeated filibusters and objections. And these were objections 54, 56, 57, and 58. Can you imagine? This was a Defense bill. We passed the veterans health care bill, despite Republican stalling, to help caregivers of disabled veterans, women veterans, rural health improvements for veterans, mental health care for veterans, and support for homeless veterans. This was Republican objection 89. Objection 98 was another filibuster against those pay raises for our troops just 9 days before Christmas. Despite all of those objections, 101, we have been doing what we were sent here to do. We have focused on actions to help create jobs and strengthen our economy and focus on the things that families struggle with and care about every day to make people's lives better, not just a few, not just investment bankers on Wall Street, not just the wealthy folks who got the tax cuts in the last 8 years, but middle-class families every day who are trying to figure out: What about them? What about us? That is what we have been focused on. We passed an extension of the Children's Health Insurance Program to provide health and dental care to nearly 10 million children. We passed legislation to reform government contracting and protect taxpayer dollars. We passed legislation to invest in health care, energy, and education. We passed the cash for clunkers bill, as you know, that I was proud to lead in the Senate that moved over 650,000 fuel-efficient cars off dealer lots and brought thousands of laid-off manufacturing workers back to work. We passed legislation to support the growth of small businesses and to extend the first-time home buyers tax credit. And now, just a few days before Christmas, we are working to pass this critical, historic health insurance reform legislation. We are committed to getting it done. Republican colleagues can object 100 times or 1,000 times, but we are not wavering in our commitment to do the right thing. Even though inaccuracies abound, even though misinformation has been said over and over about what this bill would do, we are committed to overcoming what has been the tidal wave of opposition from the special interests who control the status quo, who like it the way it is right now. We are determined to get beyond that and do the right thing for American families. Whether our Republican colleagues work with us or not--and we sincerely hope they do, and we have spent a tremendous amount of time this year reaching out to get bipartisan support--whether they stall or object, our job is to do everything we can to move America forward, and that will continue to be our focus. As the distinguished Presiding Officer knows because we both sit on the Finance Committee, we have spent months reaching out with committees, with processes to get bipartisan support. But, as my dad used to say, it takes two to tango. It takes both sides to want to work together. Unfortunately, it appears the strategy that was put in place back at the beginning of the year, the very first day of session, with the very first filibuster, was just to stop us from being able to move America forward, to stop this great new President, to stop the majority in the Congress. But we have moved forward despite that. I think often of what we could do if we hadn't had to deal with 101 filibusters, what we could have done in creating a clean energy bill, which would create more jobs in my great State, or dealing with other critical issues we need to deal with and we will deal with. As we slog through filibuster after filibuster in the coming year, we will do that. But now we have the opportunity in front of us to pass historic health insurance reform that, frankly, people have talked about for 100 years. This legislation is not perfect, but nothing ever is when you start. It is a great framework, however, for putting in place the value, the principle that every American should be able to have affordable health insurance and that we are going to tackle the explosion of costs that have hit businesses large and small, that have hit taxpayers, and to bring those costs down over time. That is what we are involved in right now, and we are going to get it done. We could have voted much earlier, rather than keeping our staff here until 1 a.m., and we will vote again after we run the next 30 hours, which will be, I believe, Tuesday morning. We could vote and be done with the final passage at that point. We know where the votes are. We have the votes to pass this. But it appears we will be here until Christmas Eve. Mr. President, I do not mind for myself. I, of course, want to be home with my family, as I know you do. But I think about my brother, who drives for UPS, and I know he will be working on Christmas Eve, as a lot of Americans will be working on Christmas Eve. And if we need to be here until Christmas Eve to do something that will positively affect every American, I am willing to do that. I am willing to do that if that is what we need to do. Let me take a moment to talk about the bill in front of us. The bill in front of us literally saves lives, saves money, and saves Medicare, and I am very proud that in the managers' amendment, the amendment we will be voting on at 1 a.m. today, we have made it even better. I am very pleased to have helped to lead a section related to small business tax cuts. Along with our chair of the Small Business Committee, Senator Landrieu, and another strong advocate, Senator Lincoln, we have been working on provisions that will make sure there are small business tax cuts that start immediately--next year--after the bill passes, $40 billion in tax cuts in total to help small businesses afford health insurance for themselves and their workers. In our amendment, we also provide even tougher insurance reforms. In the underlying bill, we lay out a whole health care bill of rights. I remember coming here in the year 2000, and the Patients' Bill of Rights was the major thing we were trying to get done. We were in the minority, the Democratic minority, but we were working hard to do that. It was my first opportunity to work with Senator Kennedy. We believed strongly that we needed to take insurance company bureaucrats out of the middle--from between doctors and patients. That is in this bill. Those kinds of reforms are in this bill and only one of many things that are in this bill. We have toughened it up so that if insurance companies, between now and when the new group insurance pool takes effect, are raising their rates too high, spending too much on profit and administration, then taxpayers, ratepayers, will get a refund. And we hope that will put pressure on them not to continue to raise rates or try to do what the credit card companies have done before the bill takes effect--raise their rates. So we have put new protections in and other protections as well to make sure that the majority--the vast majority--of every dollar a family puts into premiums actually goes for their medical care rather than for profits and administration. In total, we have $430 billion in tax cuts to create affordability for families and for individuals, to help them afford health insurance. With that, overall, this is a tax reduction--this bill is--for the American people, and it is a reduction for taxpayers because it lowers the deficit in the first 10 years and on into the future. I am going to take just a moment to give a sense of what is in the bill as it relates to new coverage and the benefits. We know the majority of us have health insurance already. In Michigan, it is about 60 percent of the people, and in other places it is 50 or 55 percent. But we have what is called an employer-based health insurance system. So we have started from the basis that people should be able to keep what they have, and we have built on that. The majority of people have either employer-based insurance or they have Medicare or Medicaid or veterans services or other public services. So we started from the basis that we want to make current health insurance more secure, more stable. The insurance reforms we are putting in place for those plans that take effect--or new plans after this takes effect--will include the elimination of preexisting conditions, the elimination of what is called rescissions--the ability to drop someone if they have gotten sick--and the elimination of discrimination. One of the things I was surprised to learn about, in terms of how extensive it is, as we went through this process is that women are paying, on average, 50 percent more than men for the same coverage in the individual insurance market or maybe even less coverage. Because a woman is in her childbearing years or perhaps has been pregnant and may be viewed as having a preexisting condition, some women might not be able to find health insurance. So those who have insurance today, as they attempt to get new plans, will be able to take advantage of all of the insurance protections--our health care insurance bill of rights--in the bill. And this is very important. Also, people with insurance today will actually, over time--and it will take some time for this to happen--but as others who do not have insurance now are able to afford health insurance and become able to get health care, there will be fewer people using emergency rooms. There will be fewer people needing other kinds of services that actually end up coming back, in terms of cost, to all of us who have insurance today because when someone walks into the emergency room sicker than they otherwise would be if they had seen a doctor, they get treated, as they should, but then the hospital has to make up the cost, so they put it on people who have insurance today. That is estimated to be about $1,100 in hidden costs for individuals. So we are going to see those kinds of costs come down and other changes and efficiencies and quality that will help people with insurance today. So coupled with the insurance reforms, we will see more stability and more quality for people who have insurance today. The major area of new coverage is in what is called the insurance exchange. For the 15 to 20 percent of the people who can't find affordable insurance today--and most of them, as our Presiding Officer knows, are small businesses or people who are self-employed or people who have lost their jobs and then lose their insurance--we set up a new group pool, which is a way for people to use the same leverage a big business does or the Federal Government does, just as the insurance policy for Members of Congress uses a pool. Then everyone can choose the insurance coverage they want within that pool and get a better deal. That is what we are setting up in the insurance exchange, with helpful tax cuts for families and for businesses and individuals to help them afford health insurance. We are also giving a choice to States. For lower income working people, a State may choose to provide a basic health insurance plan rather than people getting a tax cut to go into the exchange. They can set up their own basic health insurance plan and bring down costs as well through the State. For young workers--and this is one of the things I wish had been around a couple of years ago--we will be allowing parents who have their children on their insurance policies--after the effective date of the act, they will be able to keep their children on their insurance policies until the age of 26. That will give young people a chance to get a start in that first job knowing they have insurance until they are 26. And there are a number of other provisions in the bill for young people as well. We are making Medicaid a true safety net for low-income people up to 133 percent of poverty. We are truly going to be able to say: If you lose your job, you won't have to lose your insurance. What an important thing to be able to say in terms of taking away that fear of losing your job and having nowhere to turn. Improving Medicare. We are going to stop what have been overpayments to for-profit insurance companies and put that money back into closing the gap in prescription drug coverage under Medicare. It has been called the doughnut hole. We are going to close that. We are going to provide preventive care for seniors without out-of-pocket costs and lengthen the Medicare trust fund so that it is stronger for a longer period of time. I am very proud to have worked with Senator Kerry to develop a way to provide support and help for companies that pay for the health insurance of early retirees, to lower their costs so that, in fact, we will be able to help those who have retired, voluntarily or involuntarily, so they will have the insurance they need until they can qualify for Medicare. Let me close by saying this legislation is very much about saving lives. Forty-five thousand people lose their lives every year because they can't find health insurance they can afford. That is 45,000 families who will have one less person at the dinner table over the holidays because of lack of health insurance. Surely we can do better than that in our great country. We will be saving money for small businesses, for families, for taxpayers, and bringing down the deficit--beginning to turn those costs downward rather than keeping them going upward in such an uncontrollable way. Saving Medicare. We will be making sure Medicare is stronger out into the future and that our seniors have more help paying for their prescription drugs and preventative services as well. When you get through all of it, we know it is hard to change the status quo because those who benefit from the current system don't want it changed.

Ms. STABENOW. But we do. I thank the Presiding Officer.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I wish to thank our distinguished assistant majority leader for being on the floor, for his passion, for his commitment to the issue of health care, affordable health care for every American. I thank him always for his comments. The bottom line for all of us is, this legislation is about saving lives, saving money, and saving Medicare. I would also say it is about saving jobs. That is certainly a big focus for me, coming from the State of Michigan. The reality is that this year 45,000 people lost their lives because they couldn't find affordable health insurance. Forty-five thousand families during the holidays will have one less person sharing dinner and exchanging gifts. We can do better than that in this great country. This morning, 14,000 people got up with health insurance and they will go to bed tonight without it and that happens every day, every day, every day. We can do better, and this bill does better than that. As Senator Durbin indicated, in addition to other provisions in the bill, this amendment would dramatically expand community health centers across the country where people can have the opportunity to go into the neighborhood community health center, see a doctor, see a nurse, and get the care they need--incredibly important. This bill saves money. It saves money at every level. This bill has over $400 billion in tax cuts for small businesses and families in it. I am very pleased and proud to have been part of an effort with other colleagues, including the chair of the Small Business Committee, Mary Landrieu, and the distinguished Senator from Arkansas, Blanche Lincoln, and other colleagues to strengthen the provisions for small business that are in this amendment. It is very important. The 35-percent tax credit for small businesses with up to 25 employees will start next year. So right out of the gate, that is something that will be available for small businesses. We also expand on the provisions that would add to the benefits for that particular tax cut. Going forward, the whole point of creating an insurance pool that small businesses can buy into and self-employed individuals can buy into and people without insurance is because, right now, big businesses already provide insurance, for the most part, and they get a good deal because they have enough employees to negotiate a better rate. So health insurance reform, in terms of new coverage, is very much about small businesses. Most of the people who don't have health insurance work. They don't qualify for Medicaid for low-income individuals. They are not in a big business that has health insurance. They are working for a small business or maybe they are working one part-time job, two part-time jobs, or three part-time jobs without insurance or maybe they had a job and then lost their job and, like many people in my great State, lost their job on day one and lost their insurance on day two. This is very much tied to small business and filling the gap. Of the people who have insurance now, about 60 percent of the public will keep what they have. They will benefit from the insurance reforms, so they are getting what they are paying for, and people with preexisting conditions will be able to find insurance that they cannot find today. Those who have public plans, such as Medicare, will be able to continue with a strengthened plan. I want to talk about that in a minute. For that 15 to 20 percent today who cannot find affordable insurance, that is what this health reform is all about--to make sure small businesses and individuals working out of their homes, their garages-- the next entrepreneur, the next Bill Gates down the road--have the opportunity to find affordable insurance through a large group pool. That is what this is very much about. I am very pleased to say we have increased the amount of tax cuts for small businesses and tax cuts overall in this bill to help people afford to buy health insurance. Also, as a part of saving money, we are for taxpayers saving dollars and reducing the deficit over the first 10 years, the second 10 years, and beyond. The Congressional Budget Office now says that during the first 10 years, we will decrease the deficit by $131 billion, not the huge increases that are being talked about on the other side of the aisle, and in the second 10 years, we are looking at up to $1.3 trillion in reduced deficits. For my large businesses that compete internationally, where we do not have a level playing field right now, in many ways because of health care costs, we are going to be able to bring those costs down. It is absolutely critical for us if we are going to stay competitive and be able to create good-paying middle-class jobs in this country. We also know we have to stop the insurance company abuses that are occurring today, whether it is dropping people when they get sick because of a technicality, blocking people from getting care, putting on artificial caps, lifetime caps that stop people from getting coverage, or whether they are spending way too much on administrative costs and on profits rather than putting it into medical care. We address all of those issues in this bill, and this amendment strengthens that as well. We are very much about saving Medicare. We stop overpayments to for- profit insurance companies and put that money back into closing what has been a gap in prescription drug coverage. We add preventive care with no out-of-pocket costs for seniors, and we lengthen the life of the Medicare trust fund. I have to take just a moment because we have reached a milestone in all of the delaying tactics that have gone on this year, much of it focused on stopping us from passing health care reform that benefits Americans. We have now reached 101 different Republican objections to moving our country forward as of today. The party of no has blocked us from moving forward 101 times. People oftentimes say: What does that mean? How can they do that? The rules of the Senate are such that each Member has the ability to object to something going forward. Most of the time, we operate in a way where people agree and we do not object. But if someone objects and you are trying to get something done, you have to go through motions and time clocks and things that become very difficult for people who are following this to understand. The reality is, if there is an objection, our leader has to do what he has done today. He files a motion to get past a filibuster, we have to wait 2 days, then we vote on stopping the filibuster, then we wait 30 hours, and then we vote on whatever it is--the amendment, the bill, whatever it is we are trying to do. After that, we then move on to the next step. There is an objection again, as there has been on health care, the leader has to file a motion to stop the filibuster, wait 2 days, vote to stop the filibuster, wait 30 hours, and then vote on whatever it is. This goes on and on. We have seen historic numbers--what I view as an abuse of the process--historic numbers in order to block us not just from health care reform but from funding the troops with the Department of Defense, extending unemployment insurance for unemployed Americans--I can go on and on. At every step of what we have tried to do this year--and we have done some historic things--every step of the way, we have had to maneuver through an unprecedented effort to block and stall and say no. Mr. President, 101 times now this has happened. Despite that, we have accomplished many very important things. We are not done. I am not going to be done until we make sure everybody who wants to work has a good job in this country, and we are all focused on that. We have a tremendous amount to do together to tackle the debt, to make sure we are supporting efforts for good-paying jobs to be created. But this health reform is a critical part of that because it does, in fact, affect costs in this country. It saves lives. We should care about that. In this amendment, we add additional funds for prenatal care and to support families who want to adopt children with a refundable tax credit. We put in place other items to support women who are pregnant to make sure they have the health care they need so they and their babies can be healthy moving forward. This saves lives, saves money, saves Medicare. It is the right thing to do, and it is time to get it done. Now is the time to get this done.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 p.m. today, the majority leader be recognized to make a motion to recess until 12:01 a.m.

Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that at 5:30 p.m. today, the majority leader be recognized to make a motion to recess until 12:01 a.m.

Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I rise to speak about the position we find ourselves in as we come to the end of the year. Despite the incredible successes we have had with the recovery act and equal pay and the Children's Health Insurance Program and so many other areas where we have been focused and working hard to make a difference, every step of the way, as with the current bill, we have been faced with stalling tactics, objections, and filibusters. Now with the very important Department of Defense funding bill, we are in a filibuster again. I had to make the motion I offered because we will have to come in at 1 o'clock in the morning and have a vote to stop a filibuster. That is what this is all about, filibustering a bill that has a pay raise in it for our troops, that has help for military families, that has the funding for the next year--we are in the middle of two wars-- essential funding that is needed to support our military. As our Presiding Officer knows, having been a leader on this as well, we also have placed into this bill provisions that are incredibly important for families, extending unemployment insurance for families across the country who find themselves in a situation not of their making where their job has gone away or they have been laid off because the company can't continue to employ them, maybe because of rising health care costs, which is certainly part of the equation. People are finding themselves in a situation where due to nothing they have done other than be a good citizen, care for their kids and follow the rules, they are without employment. We have this year extended unemployment insurance--and I am so grateful that President Obama has been willing to do this, has helped to lead this in the recovery act and then again as we ended a filibuster, a month-long filibuster in October, brought that to an end in November to extend unemployment insurance. We find ourselves again, because of the unemployment situation, even though we see it getting a little bit better, with a long way to go. We are moving in the right direction, but we have a long way to go. This bill would extend for 2 months unemployment insurance that is critical for families. It would also extend help with health insurance. We are debating the larger health reform bill to create a way for families to be able to afford insurance and for us to bring down costs over the long run for businesses and for families. This bill in front of us that is being filibustered by the Republicans would extend help for health care, for health insurance, for COBRA payments--a program put in place that made a lot of sense. If you lose your job, you could pay on your own to continue the coverage. But it is incredibly expensive. So recognizing that, and recognizing how tough it is when you lose your job and you are in a situation--it is either savings or unemployment insurance or both--and you are trying to make the mortgage payment and care for the kids and put food on the table and pay the electric bill and all of the other things, and then to add a several hundred or several thousand dollar payment for COBRA on top of that has not been realistic for families. So we have placed a 65-percent subsidy, to help families get through this tough time, for health insurance. We also have assistance for food for families who, right now, again, have never had to ask for help before in their lives but now have a situation where they cannot put adequate food on the table for their children. This bill is very important, and what we have in front of us, unfortunately, is another filibuster, another objection--like we have seen all year--to stop us from moving forward to fund our military, to support our troops with a pay raise, to help military families, and then to do a number of other things that are critical to do in the short run until we get into the new year and are able to focus more broadly on these things. As the Presiding Officer knows, this is not the first time this has happened. We have had from the party of no 98 different objections this year. This is a record, a world's record I think: 98 different times that we have seen them objecting, filibustering, having stalling tactics to moving forward on things that ought to be bipartisan. These are not Democratic issues when somebody has lost their job or when a small business needs help or needs health insurance they can afford or when a family finds themselves in a situation where they need to be able to have help to continue their health insurance or put food on the table. This is not a Democratic idea or a Republican idea, this is American. We have Democrats, Republicans, Independents, people who do not have a party, people who are not active politically, people who vote, people who do not vote. They are losing their jobs. They expect us to get it. They expect us to have a sense of urgency around here. The troops who are serving us right now, who are in tougher times than we will ever face, are not saying what matters is whether you are Democrat or Republican as to whether we fund the troops and fund the Department of Defense and give them a pay raise they have earned and need or to help their families. They are saying: Come on. Come together. Solve problems. Get things done. But yet, over and over--and we find ourselves tonight where we are going to be stopping a filibuster at 1 o'clock in the morning on a bill to fund the Department of Defense, on a bill that would help families get through the holiday season, keep a roof over their head, pay their heating bills, and keep food on the table. To dramatize this even more, it is stunning to think about the fact that out of the 40 weeks we have been in session this year--40 weeks-- for 36 of those weeks, we have had filibusters or stalling tactics, objections to amendments or objections to bills being put on the floor. That means only 4 weeks out of the entire year we have been in a situation where the Republicans have not been saying no, have not been stalling on things that are incredibly important. Even with all of this, by any objective measure, there has been more accomplished this year than in any other time since the Great Depression. We need to be accomplishing more and faster because people have a tremendous sense of urgency about what is happening in their lives right now. So we need to be acting. Think of what we could have gotten done. We have all the things that have gotten done and have been addressed. Think about what we could have gotten done if we did not have 36 weeks of filibusters that we had to deal with and objections we had to deal with. I hope, as we are going through this new year, there will be a sense that it is time to get things together here and work for the common good and put people back to work and tackle their health care costs and make sure people can afford to have health insurance. Let me close by sharing a story from Annette from Lake Orion, MI. She says: After a successful 21-year journalism career, I was laid off in May when my newspaper closed. I will turn 60 in October and am a 12-year survivor of breast cancer. My husband, who is 62, is on my health insurance. Thankfully, the federal government is helping [us] pay for our COBRA, which would be more than $800 a month. Senator, we're not pleading poverty. But it's easy to see the dilemma of many Americans in our shoes: Risk going without health insurance, you risk bankruptcy if someone gets sick. Pay the current price, and watch your life savings, which were supposed to support you in [your] old age, dwindle down. Don't listen to those screaming to maintain the status quo; it doesn't work for too many Americans. We have story after story where people are facing an early retirement--not by choice--dipping into retirement savings to try to keep their health care going. Young people, old people need us to act now, and I am urging Congress to act now.

Ms. STABENOW. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. STABENOW. I thank the Chair.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, I wish to ask another question of the Senator from Illinois. If, in fact, the Senator from Illinois is finding the same thing I am right now--certainly, we have the highest unemployment rate in Michigan--and we are hearing it from all over the country; we are hearing from people that their unemployment benefits are about to expire. They are trying to figure out how they are going to make it through the next few months. There are particular concerns that if we do not extend it by the end of the year that, in fact, many will have to go out and resign up with a new bureaucracy to continue benefits. I wonder if the Senator has heard the same kinds of concerns and sense of urgency people have about being able to keep a roof over their head, keep food on the table, and keep their health care going--the same sense of urgency that I know we are feeling from people in Michigan?

Ms. STABENOW. If I may conclude, to clarify, we can get this done today. We can create that peace of mind for families going into the holidays, going into Christmas, into the end of the year. We could actually do that today in the next few hours?

Ms. STABENOW. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, from the Senator's explanation and from what we have been working on, I want the Senator to clarify two things. First of all, we could do this conference report today if there were a willingness and, secondly, we have a pay raise for our troops that is coming right before Christmas, the holidays, help for families, help for those who have lost their jobs and are trying to figure out how they keep their health care going, and help for people who are trying to put food on the table for the holidays; is that correct? I ask the Senator to expand. As I understand it, we could actually get this done today and give people some peace of mind going into the holidays.

Ms. STABENOW

Ms. STABENOW. I thank the Chairman for these clarifications and for his ongoing efforts to ensure a fair process for all stakeholders as the auto industry continues to restructure.

Ms. STABENOW. Additionally, when reviewing the cases, does the statutory language ensure arbitrators take into consideration the stability and protection of the existing dealer network?

Ms. STABENOW. The statutory language for the arbitration process provides criteria that will be used to review each case. Is it the Chairman's goal that by considering the economic interest of the public at large the arbitrator should focus on maximizing the return of taxpayer dollars that have been invested in the company?