John Thune

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I would say to the distinguished majority leader that we on this side believe that when we bring an energy bill to the floor to talk about energy, we ought to talk about energy. Now, he may suggest there were certain things incorporated in the bill that some of his Members wanted, maybe even perhaps some of our Members wanted, but we have a lot of Members on this side who have been shut out, who haven't had an opportunity to offer amendments now for the past year. We can come to the floor every day and talk about the fact that since July of last year there have only been votes on 9 Republican amendments and 7 Democratic amendments, out of 1,500 that have been filed. This is insanity. We would love to get a vote on the Keystone Pipeline, but we also think there are a lot of other energy issues that are important to this country, and if we bring an energy bill to the floor of the Senate, the historical practice in this institution has been that it is open to amendments. All Members get an opportunity to offer amendments. There are issues in addition to the Keystone Pipeline that are critically important to jobs and to the economy and to the energy security in this country. So the way the leader has suggested that this ought to work isn't simply about an argument on procedure. This is about whether the Senate is going to function in a way where the views of the millions of people we represent--those of us here would love to offer amendments on these bills and are being prevented from doing it. So I would simply say to the leader that this is not simply about the Keystone Pipeline. This is about the broader debate on energy--what it means for jobs, what it means for our economy. We are in a place now where we are not even getting votes in committee. Appropriations bills are being pulled back at the committee level because Democratic Members don't want to vote on amendments that Republican Members might offer. That is not the way this place is supposed to work. So I appreciate the majority leader's understandable frustration, but it is a frustration that is grounded in the way he is running this institution, not in anything our side is doing.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, today I recognize Lake City, SD. The town of Lake City will be celebrating its centennial on July 4-5, 2014. Lake City will host centennial events which include a community history display, bake-off, line dancing, all-school gathering, various tournaments, and a parade. Located in Marshall County, Lake City was founded in 1914. Lake City has long been known as the location for the annual Fort Sisseton Historical Festival, as well as being a community with deep ties to South Dakota's agriculture economy. Since its beginning 100 years ago, the community of Lake City continues to serve as a strong example of South Dakota values and traditions. I offer my congratulations to the citizens of Lake City on its centennial and wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, yesterday the White House held its Summit on Working Families. On the summit's Web site, the White House notes: ``Too many working Americans--both men and women--are living paycheck to paycheck, struggling to make ends meet and respond to the competing demands of work and family.'' That, unfortunately, is the truth. But what the White House does not acknowledge is how much its policies have done to create that situation. Working families have not fared well under the Obama administration. Household income has fallen by $3,500 on the President's watch. Meanwhile, prices for nearly everything have risen. Food prices have gone up. Tuition costs are soaring. Airline fares are rising. The cost of recreational activities, such as going to the movies, has risen. And energy prices are placing a huge burden on American families. Gas prices have nearly doubled since the President took office. Low- income families in my State of South Dakota pay an average of 24 percent of their income on energy costs alone. And things are set to get much worse. This month the President's EPA announced plans to implement a massive energy tax on Americans. Thanks to this tax, energy bills could rise to crippling levels for many families in the next few years. That is not what families need, especially--especially--when they are already paying huge amounts for health care. ObamaCare was supposed to make things better for American families. The President assured the American people that his health care law would reduce premiums by $2,500. But since ObamaCare passed, not only have premiums not fallen, they have actually risen--gone up--by $2,500. Millions of Americans were forced off the health plans they were promised they could keep and into exchange plans that frequently cost more money and offer less. Too many American families now have exchange plans with massive deductibles--some as high as $12,000 or more. What middle-class family can afford to pay $12,000 a year for medical care--$12,000 on top of their premiums? That is like having an additional mortgage payment every single month. It is no wonder 54 percent of Americans do not think the President ``is able to lead the country and get the job done,'' according to a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll. So what can you do if you are a working family living paycheck to paycheck and struggling with the high cost of everything from health care to gasoline? Well, over the past few years the answer has been not much because opportunities are few and far between in the Obama economy. Instead of promoting policies to create jobs, too often the President has proposed policies that kill jobs. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has reported that ObamaCare will cause 2.5 million full-time workers to leave the workforce. Mr. President, 2.6 million Americans earning less than $30,000 are in danger of having their hours and wages cut thanks to ObamaCare's 30-hour workweek rule. Mr. President, 63 percent of those workers are women. The President and his party have also pushed hard for a minimum wage hike the Congressional Budget Office said would destroy up to 1 million jobs. Low-income Americans would be hit the hardest by that. Then there is the President's national energy tax. In addition to raising energy bills for all Americans, the President's energy tax would result in the loss of tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of jobs. The rule would gut the coal industry, putting tens of thousands of workers out of work there. It is difficult to reconcile the President's ostensible commitment to families with a policy that would put thousands and thousands of parents out of a job. The Keystone XL Pipeline would allow the President to put thousands of Americans to work. With a stroke of his pen, the President could sign off on this project and the 42,000-plus jobs it would support. Instead, he has ignored American workers and union leaders and chosen to pander to the wishes of his extremist environmental base. The American people need jobs--steady, good-paying, long-term jobs with opportunities for advancement. Democrats and the President are not giving that to them. Instead of spending time on real job-creation measures, the majority leader has chosen to waste the Senate's time on gimmicky, politically motivated legislation. If Democrats were serious about providing real relief to American families, they would be working with Republicans on the many bills we have proposed to spur job creation and to support American workers-- bills such as Senator Collins' Forty Hours Is Full-Time Act, which would repeal the ObamaCare 30-hour workweek rule, which is resulting in lower wages and fewer hours for American workers; or Senator Fischer's workplace advancement amendment, which would further equip women with the tools and knowledge they need to fight discrimination in the workplace; and Senator Rubio's RAISE Act, which would amend the National Labor Relations Act to allow employers to give merit-based pay increases to individual employees, even if those increases are not part of a collective bargaining agreement; and Senator McConnell's Working Parents Home Office Act, which would fix a flaw in the Tax Code that prevents men and women from claiming a home office deduction if their home office has a baby crib so they can care for their child while they are working. President Obama has talked about the importance of flextime for parents so they can adjust their work hours for parent-teacher conferences or soccer games. Well, Senator Lee has a bill that would help workers handle the constant challenge of work-life balance by allowing private-sector employers to offer all individuals who work overtime a choice between monetary compensation and comp time. Unfortunately, like so many other Republican bills, the Lee Working Families Flexibility Act is buried in the majority leader's Senate graveyard. Traditionally thought of as a place where bills go to be debated, the Senate has, instead, become the place where bills go to die. But it is not just bills that go to die here; it is the solutions to improve the lives of millions of Americans. In addition to the many Senate Republican jobs bills that the majority leader has prevented from seeing the light of day, there are dozens--literally dozens--of House- passed jobs bills--several of them bipartisan--that the majority leader refuses to bring up. The Senate historically has been a place where the voices of all Senators--Republican and Democrat, majority and minority--have been heard. But lately, the Senate seems to have become nothing so much as an arm of the Democrats' campaign committee. Democrats have brought up bills designed to win votes, not solve problems. The Democratic leadership has worked hard to protect its vulnerable Members from ever having to take challenging votes. They do not want Democrats in tough campaigns to have to choose between the American people and the Democratic Party's far-left political base. One of Congress's most basic duties is to consider appropriations, yet over the past 2 weeks the majority leader has pulled not one but two appropriations bills from committee consideration because he did not want his Members to have to take votes on ObamaCare or on the President's national energy tax. That is wrong. We are here to take tough votes. If you do not want to have to take hard votes, do not run for the Senate. There is a lot of stuff that--amendments get offered by our colleagues on the other side that I do not like to vote on either, but that is what we are here for. We are here to debate. We are here to take votes. We are here to offer amendments, to put legislation on the floor. All of us have different ideas. I may not agree with some of the things that are offered up by my colleagues on the other side, but the fact of the matter is, they have a right, on behalf of the constituents they represent, to bring the issues to the floor that are important to their constituents, and for us to debate them, and for us to vote on them. In fact, the majority leader has exerted such tight control over the Senate that over the past year he has not only blocked almost all Republican amendments, he has blocked almost all of his party's amendments as well. Since July of 2013--almost a year ago--the majority leader has allowed votes on just 9 Republican amendments, and just 7 Democratic amendments--out of 1,500 amendments that have been filed on the floor of the Senate. Think about that. The world's greatest deliberative body--open to amendment, open to debate--1,500 amendments get filed; Republicans get 9 votes. I understand the whole idea, the political motivation of the leader in trying to protect his Members from having to take tough votes. But how are you as a majority Member--how do the Democrats in the Senate go back to their constituents at home and say: It is advantageous for us to be in the majority in Washington, when you have only had votes on seven amendments? Think about that. How do you, with a straight face, go back to your constituents and say: Being in the majority matters in the Senate, when Democrats here are only getting-- in the last year--seven amendments voted on? It is outrageous. One a month--about one amendment a month--is what we are voting on here, roughly. Senators were elected to speak for the people of their State and to make sure their concerns are represented in the Senate. When Senators cannot add their voices to the process, the American people's concerns are not getting heard. The American people have had a tough time getting their voices heard over the past few years. Over and over, they have made it clear they need good jobs and more economic opportunity. Instead, they have gotten 5\1/2\ years of higher costs and low job creation, and the jobs that are being created are not the kinds of jobs that were lost--the good- paying jobs that provide opportunities for advancement. Republicans have proposed numerous bills to expand opportunities for American families and workers. It is time for the Senate to vote on these bills. The American people have spent enough time being ignored. It is high time for the Senate to change the way it is conducting its business. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I wish recognize Eden, SD. The town of Eden will be celebrating its centennial on June 27-29, 2014. Eden will host centennial events which include a tractor and car show, school reunion, 5K color run, beard contest, fireworks, and a veteran recognition ceremony. Located in Marshall County and founded in 1914, Eden was named by its residents based on its beautiful setting. Eden has long been known as a community with deep ties to South Dakota's agriculture economy. Since its beginning 100 years ago, the community of Eden continues to serve as a strong example of South Dakota values and traditions. I offer my congratulations to the citizens of Eden on its centennial and wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Heller), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Johanns), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) would have voted ``nay'' and the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Heller), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Johanns), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) would have voted ``nay'' and the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Heller), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Johanns), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) would have voted ``nay'' and the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Oklahoma (Mr. Coburn), the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Cochran), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn), the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz), the Senator from Nevada (Mr. Heller), the Senator from Nebraska (Mr. Johanns), the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson), the Senator from Alaska (Ms. Murkowski), the Senator from Kansas (Mr. Roberts), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. Scott), the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Toomey), and the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Vitter). Further, if present and voting, the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cornyn) would have voted ``nay'' and the Senator from Wisconsin (Mr. Johnson) would have voted ``nay.''

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, today, due to tornados and severe storms in South Dakota, which resulted in significant damage to homes and businesses in my State, I was traveling back to South Dakota to survey the damage and meet with local leaders coordinating response efforts during the scheduled vote. Had I been present for today's vote on the confirmation of Executive Calendar No. 770, Gustavo Velasquez Aguilar, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of Housing and Urban Devopment, I would have voted nay.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, before I begin my prepared remarks, I wish to acknowledge my constituents in South Dakota who are dealing with unprecedented flooding. We have seen historic amounts of rainfall already in the month of June that dwarf anything we can compare to throughout our State's history. Hail and winds are causing widespread damage across the State. It is not just confined to our State. There are States in the region as well that are experiencing some of these same circumstances and tremendous damage to property. So I wanted to express my thoughts and prayers to the people I represent as well as to those in other States who are dealing with some of these circumstances, and to say thank you and express my appreciation to our first responders who have been very much in demand and on call the last few days. The Economy The American people are very tired. They are very weary. They are arguably fed up. The Washington Post headline from last Friday summed it up, ``Obama's image hits record lows in trio of polls.'' Gallup, CNN/ORC, and Bloomberg polls all found that the President's favorable rating had fallen to new lows. It is no wonder. Five years after the recession supposedly ended, most Americans still feel as though they are in the midst of it. It is not just me saying that. The President's own Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen stated as recently as March, ``The recovery still feels like a recession to many Americans, and it also looks that way in some economic statistics.'' Let's talk about some of those statistics. Unemployment has spent the past 5\1/2\ years at recession level highs. Currently nearly 10 million Americans are unemployed, more than one-third of them for 6 months or longer. The labor force participation rate is at a 36-year low. A USA Today editorial from last week noted that the ``decline in the `labor force participation rate' is one of the most troubling trends of our time.'' Of course, the labor participation rate being the fraction of the available workforce that is actually working or at least looking for work. What is driving that trend, Americans so discouraged by their failure to find a job that they have literally given up looking altogether? That is what is driving the trend in the labor participation rate. Even after accounting for baby-boomers retiring and more people going to college--and this is again from the USA Today piece I mentioned earlier--this translates to 6 million people who could be working or looking for work. As the paper points out, the lack of these workers in the workforce means a weaker economy, lower tax revenue, as well as greater governmental expense. Young people just getting out of college face a bleak job market. The unemployment rate for young adults is a staggering 13.2 percent or more than twice the national average. The director of Outreach for Generation Opportunity, a nonprofit advocacy organization for millennials, recently stated that more than four out of five recent graduates do not have jobs. Currently, 36 percent of young adults are living at home with their parents. It is no wonder that CNNmoney reports that young adults, aged 18 to 34, are most likely to feel the American dream is unattainable, with 63 percent saying it is not only unattainable, it is impossible. Everywhere Americans look, prices are rising. The price of everything from milk to the refrigerator to hold it has increased over the past several years. Gas prices have almost doubled since President Obama took office. College costs are soaring. Then there is ObamaCare, which has meant soaring premiums and huge deductibles for way too many American families. Being in the middle class was once associated with financial security. With a little prudence, middle-class families could be expected to see their kids through college and to retire comfortably. No more. In the Obama economy, the future is less secure. Household income not only failed to rise over the past 5\1/2\ years, it has actually dropped by $3,500 under the President's watch. Wages have remained flat and economic growth has been tepid at best. Middle-class families are no longer looking forward to a future of economic security. Instead, they are praying they do not get hit with any unexpected bills. They are worrying that they will not be able to send their kids to college, and they are wondering how long they will have to work past retirement to the economic security they need. In a previous America, low-income families could confidently expect that effort and hard work could bring them into the ranks of the middle class. How many of our parents started out living on a shoestring but ended up sending their kids to college and retiring comfortably? Today, though, opportunities to reach the middle class are few and far between. Fourteen million more Americans are on food stamps today than when the President took office. Democratic policies such as the ObamaCare 30-hour workweek are hitting low-income Americans the hardest. Many of the better paying jobs lost during the recession are not being replaced. Seventy-eight percent of the jobs lost during the recession were high- or mid-wage jobs, but just 56 percent of the jobs recovered have been high or mid-wage jobs. That means almost half of the new jobs that have been created are low-wage jobs. That is not the kind of climate that enables upward mobility. The worst part is it does not look as though things are going to get better anytime soon. This week the International Monetary Fund announced it now predicts the United States economic growth rate will not exceed 2 percent this year. That is not anywhere close to the kind of growth we need for a real recovery. The New York Times reported last week, ``The Federal Reserve, persistently optimistic in its previous forecasts, said in March that it no longer expected a full recovery in the foreseeable future.'' Let me repeat that. The Federal Reserve said it no longer expected a full recovery in the foreseeable future. Four years ago President Obama and his administration proclaimed the advent of the summer of economic recovery. President Obama claimed the economy is headed in the right direction. Vice President Biden confidently predicted in April of 2010 that sometime in the next couple of months we are going to be creating between 250,000 jobs a month and 500,000 jobs a month. In August of that year, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner published an op-ed in the New York Times entitled, ``Welcome to the Recovery.'' Well, as the American people know, recovery summer never materialized. Four years later the American people are still waiting. According to the Federal Reserve, they are going to have to wait longer. In 2009, the President's economic advisors predicted that unemployment would fall below 6 percent in 2012. Two years later, unemployment is still firmly stuck above 6 percent. The Federal Reserve Bank in San Francisco has suggested that 6-percent unemployment should be considered the ``new normal.'' I do not accept that. Republicans do not accept that. We do not accept 6.3 percent unemployment, sluggish economic growth, and struggling middle-class families as the new normal, because it does not have to be that way. We can get our economy going again. But it is going to take something a lot different than the policies of the past 5\1/2\ years. It is going to take the kind of policies that remove families' burdens, instead of increasing them. It is going to take policies that encourage businesses to create jobs, not to cut jobs. Republicans have a lot of ideas about how to get started, ideas such as repealing the ObamaCare medical device tax that has already killed tens of thousands of jobs and will kill thousands more if it is not stopped or restoring the 40-hour workweek so businesses will no longer be forced to cut employees' hours under ObamaCare's mandates or stopping the President's national energy tax which would make it more difficult for American families, particularly low-income families, to afford gas, heating, and electricity or enacting trade promotion authority to open new markets to American farmers, workers, and businesses, and to create new good-paying jobs for American workers. The list goes on. These are just a few of the ideas Republicans have to get our economy going again. If Democrats were serious about wanting to help American families, they would be working with Republicans to help us get legislation passed. We don't have to accept the President's economy as the new normal: chronic high unemployment, sluggish growth, massive amounts of debt. That shouldn't be the norm, and we shouldn't be satisfied with it. Republicans are going to be working every day to ensure it isn't the new normal, and we will continue working until our economy is flourishing again and every American has the opportunity for a good job and a prosperous and secure future. We hope Democrats will work with us toward that end. It means opening this floor of the Senate to legislation that will grow our economy, create jobs, and allow us to openly debate, allow us to offer amendments, something that hasn't happened for the past year. Since July of last year, there have been only nine Republican amendments voted on on the floor of the Senate--nine--nine amendments in almost a year. The ironic thing about that is the same procedures that are being used to block Republican amendments are also blocking Democratic amendments. So in that same timeframe Democrats have only had seven amendments voted on in the past year. In the world's greatest deliberative body, the place where we are supposed to have open debate and an open amendment process, Republicans had nine amendments voted on. We could take that as a personal affront, but that is not what it is about. It is about the people whom we represent because they elect us here to come out, represent them, and to make sure their voices are heard in the political processes in the debates we have in Washington on the big issues that are important to them and their families. So when amendments are blocked and this process is shut down on the floor of the Senate, it is the people's voices who don't get heard and don't get represented. That has to change, and it needs to change soon, because the issues are big, and the problems and the challenges that face middle-income families are consequential. Many of us in this Chamber come here every single day hoping to offer legislation and amendments that we believe will be solutions to getting the economy growing again and to create jobs. Every single day for the last year, at least, we have been shut down. We can do better by the American people. They deserve better. I hope we will do better, and we can start now. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, today I wish to recognize Roslyn, SD. The town of Roslyn will be celebrating its centennial on June 19- 21, 2014. Roslyn will be hosting centennial events which include an antique tractor and car show, an alumnus social and a parade. Located in Day County, Roslyn was founded in 1914 and was named after the first postmaster's hometown in Scotland. Roslyn has long been known for their vinegar museum, where they show 101 uses of vinegar, as well as being a community with deep ties to South Dakota's agriculture economy. Since its beginning 100 years ago, the community of Roslyn has continued to serve as a strong example of South Dakota values and traditions. I would like to offer my congratulations to the citizens of Roslyn on its centennial and wish them continued prosperity in the years to come.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, as every Member of Congress knows, Americans are hurting, and after 5\1/2\ years of the Obama economy, they are getting pretty discouraged, as a recent CNN poll reported. That ``pessimism,'' Erin Currier, director of the Economic Mobility Project at the Pew Charitable Trusts, stated in a recent CNNMoney article, ``is reflective of the financial realities a lot of families are facing. They are treading water, but their income is not translating into solid financial security.'' Unfortunately, Senate Democrats have responded to the economic instability facing so many Americans by essentially doing nothing. Instead of legislation to create jobs and expand opportunity, Democrats have tied up the Senate this year with politically motivated show votes designed to go nowhere. Back in March the New York Times reported that Democrats planned to spend the spring and summer on messaging votes ``timed to coincide with campaign-style trips by President Obama.'' The Times reported: . . . Democrats concede that making new laws is not really the point. Rather, they are trying to force Republicans to vote against them. Democrats have certainly been following that playbook. This week, in their latest election-year political stunt, they will take up a designed-to-fail student loan bill. According to plan, it will be accompanied by some ``campaign-style'' stops by President Obama. The Democrats' bill would do nothing to make college more affordable or reduce the amount of money students have to borrow, and it would do nothing to address the real problem facing recent college graduates; that is, the lack of jobs. The Democrats' student loan bill would provide some former students with old loans a taxpayer subsidy which, based on Congressional Research data, would be worth about $1 a day. To provide this, their bill would raise income taxes by $72 billion. Meanwhile, Democrats have conveniently ignored the fact that student loan repayment plans that could lower monthly payments by more than their proposal are already available to all students with Federal loans. Republicans have student debt solutions, such as simplifying the student loan process so more students can take advantage of the affordable repayment options that already exist in current law, but young Americans need a lot more than student debt solutions. The best thing we can do for graduates is to help create jobs. Young people in particular are suffering in the Obama economy. The current unemployment rate for those 16 to 24 years old is 13.2 percent--more than twice the national average. Unemployment among those 16 to 34 years old is 9.2 percent--significantly higher than the overall unemployment rate of 6.3 percent. Nationally, 6.1 million 18- to 24-year-olds are living below the poverty line, and 36 percent of young adults are living at home with their parents. It is no wonder that CNNMoney reports that ``young adults, age 18 to 34, are most likely to feel the [American] dream is unattainable.'' What young people need is not a government subsidy but access to jobs, good-paying, full-time jobs with the opportunity for advancement, but those jobs are few and far between in the Obama economy. While young people may be having the hardest time finding jobs, no one in the Obama economy is doing well. Nationwide, nearly 10 million Americans are unemployed, almost one-third of them for 6 months or longer. The unemployment rate has hovered at recession-level highs for the entire Obama Presidency. Since the President took office, the average length of unemployment has increased from 19.8 weeks to 34.5 weeks. Approximately 14 million Americans have been forced to join the Food Stamp Program since President Obama took office, bringing the total number of Americans receiving food stamps to more than 46 million. Meanwhile, everywhere families look prices are going up. Gas prices have almost doubled during the Obama Presidency. Food prices have increased, and the President's policies are just making things worse. Chief among the President's policy disasters, of course, is ObamaCare, which has driven up the price of everything from premiums to pacemakers. The President told the American people his health care law would drive down health care premiums by $2,500. Instead, prices have risen by almost $3,700, and they are still going up. ObamaCare has meant new burdens for just about everyone: higher premiums and deductibles, more expensive medications, fewer doctors and hospitals from which to choose, lost jobs, and increased taxes on businesses both large and small. Millions of Americans were forced off their health plans--the plans they were promised they could keep--and into the health exchanges, where they were frequently forced to pay more for plans they liked less. Not content with the high health care bills, now the President is adding insult to injury by putting in place EPA regulations that will drive up electricity bills for all American families. The President's de facto energy tax will hit low-income families and seniors on fixed incomes the hardest. It will also slash tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of jobs. Coal plants will close, leaving their workers unemployed, and manufacturers will send jobs in America overseas to countries with more affordable energy. The worst part is that President Obama's EPA regulations will devastate family budgets and the economy for nothing because the President's proposals will do almost nothing to reduce the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. As long as our country is acting unilaterally, there will be no meaningful effect on global emissions, but the President is pressing on anyway and apparently Americans will have to get used to their massive new energy bills. The President's policies are having a devastating effect on American students, families, and the middle class, but instead of trying to make things better, the Democratic leadership in the Senate has chosen to take up gimmicky legislation, not to help Americans but to get Democrats reelected. Yesterday a bipartisan veterans bill, which would address the systemwide VA crisis, was introduced in the Senate. The failures at the VA are a national embarrassment and a betrayal of our compact with our veterans. Congress has an obligation to make sure nothing like this ever happens again. Today we could be discussing the best ways to fix our VA system. Instead, we are going to be discussing a bill designed not to improve things for Americans but to win the Democrats a few votes. Instead of proceeding to a student loan bill that was designed to fail, we should proceed directly to the VA reform bill. The House of Representatives acted decisively to bring greater accountability to the VA 3 weeks ago. Today they are moving forward on a VA reform bill that includes many of the provisions of the bill that was introduced in the Senate last night. Now that we have a bipartisan VA reform bill in the Senate, we should be acting with the same sense of urgency. If Democratic leaders in the Senate truly wanted to make things better for American families, they wouldn't be focused on gimmicky show votes. Instead, they would be working with Republicans to fix the VA crisis. They would back a repeal of the ObamaCare medical device tax, which has already cost tens of thousands of jobs and will cost many more if it isn't repealed. They would support Republican efforts to repeal the ObamaCare 30-hour workweek rule, which has resulted in lost hours and decreased wages for way too many workers in this country, and they would embrace legislation to halt the devastating EPA rules the President has proposed and protect millions of American families from crippling energy bills. They would push--they would push for job-creating measures such as the Keystone XL Pipeline and the 42,000 jobs it would support or trade promotion authority for the President to open new markets to American farmers, workers, and businesses, and create those good-paying jobs. We throw around a lot of statistics in the Congress--1 million people this, 10 million people that. It is important for us to remember the faces behind the numbers: the parents trying to figure out how they will afford to pay both their daughters' tuition and their new ObamaCare premiums, the college graduate who can't find a job and is currently living in his parents' basement, the single mother whose working hours have suddenly been cut because her employer can't afford to pay the ObamaCare mandate, a father who has been out of a job for months and can't get an interview anywhere. These Americans need help, and the President's policies are not helping. The good thing is it doesn't have to stay that way. We can get America working again, but it is going to take something different than the policies of the last 5\1/2\ years. I challenge my Democratic colleagues to join us in passing real jobs legislation, the kind of legislation that will open a future of opportunity and economic security for all American families. What college graduates don't need are political gimmicks. What college graduates need more than anything else are good-paying jobs with opportunities for advancement. That is what we should be focused on, not political show votes, not election-year sloganeering but real meaningful policies that will grow and expand our economy in this country and create the good-paying jobs our young college graduates need and that will lift more lower income families into the middle class. That is what this Senate ought to be focused on. We can change to that focus, and we can start doing some things that will make this country stronger and provide a better and more prosperous and a more secure future for middle-income families. I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise today to honor the 70th anniversary of the heroic landings of D-day. The incredible bravery exhibited on June 6 of 1944, in the first phase of Operation Overlord to liberate Western Europe from the clutches of Nazi Germany, is one of the defining moments of modern history. The images of American GIs landing at Omaha Beach, Utah Beach, and Pointe du Hoc have come to represent not only the great sacrifices made during World War II, but the enduring cause of freedom for which the United States still stands. I have had the humbling experience of visiting the American cemetery at Normandy that honors those who fell during the invasion. As I walked the peaceful fields of brilliant white headstones in perfect formation, it was hard to imagine the terrifying landscape that greeted those American and allied soldiers, many of them not yet 20 years old, when they lowered the ramps of their landing craft in the shallows off of Normandy. Yet they understood the importance of their mission, and they held fast against one of the greatest evils the world has ever faced, and they prevailed. The men and women who answered the call to serve in World War II and those who supported them on the home front are often revered as the ``greatest generation,'' and deservedly so. They gave up their lives and their livelihoods and endured separation from their loved ones and fought in unspeakable conditions. From the beaches of Normandy to the islands of the Pacific, where my father served as a Navy pilot, the United States and allied forces fought for freedom and for the dignity of mankind, and we owe them a tremendous debt of gratitude. As we honor the memory of those who served before us, we honor their legacy by upholding the values for which they fought. We are here today because of the immense burdens our men and women in uniform have carried on our behalf. May we never forget their sacrifices or the solemn responsibility we have to all of those who have answered the call to serve. Mr. President, I yield the floor and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the ObamaCare train wreck just keeps rolling on. Every day it seems there is another story about another ObamaCare failure. Mr. President, 80,000 Oregonians must reenroll in health plans after the State's ObamaCare exchange site failed. The health care coverage of 2 million Americans enrolled on the exchanges could be in jeopardy. The Congressional Budget Office says there have been so many delays and changes to ObamaCare that it can no longer estimate the fiscal effects of the law. And that is just the ObamaCare news from yesterday. The Democrats' victory lap is a distant memory replaced by the constant flow of stories about ObamaCare's many failures. Americans are losing their health insurance, Americans are losing their doctors, Americans are unable to obtain medications, employers are facing higher costs, and employees are facing higher costs. The list goes on. The President promised that his health care law was going to be a solution for American families. If they liked their health care plans and their doctors, they could keep them. If they didn't like their health care or if they didn't have health care, they would be able to get an affordable plan. Those were the promises that were made. Unfortunately, Americans quickly discovered those promises were not to be kept. Millions of Americans were forced off their health care plans and into the exchanges where they frequently found they were paying more and getting less. Too many Americans discovered their new health care coverage meant losing doctors and hospitals they liked and that their choice of replacement was limited. When the President was campaigning for his health care law, he claimed families would see their health care premiums drop by $2,500. In fact, health care premiums have increased by almost $3,700 under the President, and they are still going up. Middle-class Americans are hurting. The past 5\1/2\ years of the Obama administration have brought higher prices and fewer opportunities. Gas prices have almost doubled. Food prices have risen. Meanwhile, Americans' household income has declined by more than $3,500 on the President's watch. So Americans who once confidently expected to be able to put their children through college and retire comfortably are now struggling to make ends meet. Too many families are living paycheck to paycheck, desperately praying they won't be faced with any unexpected bills. ObamaCare was supposed to make things better for these families. It was supposed to make health care more affordable and ease Americans' health concerns. Instead, it is making things much worse. Today the Senate will vote on Sylvia Burwell's nomination to be Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. As much as Democrats might want it to be true, a change in personnel at the Department of Health and Human Services won't make the mess ObamaCare has created disappear. Changing HHS Secretaries isn't going to lower Americans' health care costs or give them back the doctor or the health plan they lost. It is not going to help the small businesses that are struggling under ObamaCare's burdensome mandates or restore the $1 trillion Americans will lose in wages, thanks to the health care law. It is not going to bring back the jobs that have been lost as a result of ObamaCare. Every Senator who voted for this law owes the American people an explanation. Every Senator who voted for this law ought to be telling American families what he or she is going to do to fix this mess. Americans deserve better than ObamaCare, and we could give them better than ObamaCare, if Members of the Senate would decide this was the wrong approach and decide to go in a different direction. I hope eventually they will come to that conclusion. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, is the Senate in a quorum call?

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded and that I be allowed to speak for up to 12 minutes in morning business.

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, everywhere middle-class Americans look, they are facing higher prices. Over the past 5\1/2\ years of the Obama Presidency, the price of everything--from milk to the refrigerator to put it in--has risen. Tuition costs have soared, gas prices have almost doubled, food prices have shot up, and then, of course, there is health care. The President claimed that health care premiums would fall by $2,500 under his health care law. Instead, they have risen by almost $3,700 during the President's administration, and they are still going up. The President's health care law has driven up the price of almost every aspect of health care, from premiums to pacemakers. Americans are ill-equipped to meet these higher costs. Household income has declined by more than $3,500 on the President's watch. Nearly 10 million Americans are unemployed, more than one-third of them for 6 months or longer, and 19.4 million Americans have been forced to join the food stamp program since the President took office. Our economy is simply not posting the kind of growth we need to open opportunities for middle-class families. Economic growth actually declined last quarter, and job creation is sluggish at best. Furthermore, the jobs we are creating are not the kinds of jobs Americans need to get ahead. Seventy-eight percent of the jobs that were lost during the recession were high- or mid-wage jobs, but just 56 percent of the jobs recovered have been the same. That means almost half of the jobs we are creating are low-wage jobs-- not the kind that will get Americans to a more secure financial future. Americans have had a tough time over the past 5\1/2\ years, and if the President has his way, it is about to get much worse. This week the President's Environmental Protection Agency announced a national energy tax that will drive up Americans' energy bills and destroy jobs while essentially doing nothing for the environment. Coal is responsible for approximately 40 percent of our country's energy production and is a significant part of the economies of several States. Currently, there are nearly 560 coal-fired powerplants in the United States, but if the administration's new greenhouse gas regulations go into effect, a majority of them will close and no new plants will be built. That means energy companies are going to have to scramble for new sources of energy. With utilities faced with fewer and more expensive sources of energy, electricity rates will soar to unprecedented levels, and that will leave millions of Americans struggling to afford their energy bills. What the administration has proposed this week is nothing short--make no mistake about it--of a national energy tax, and it will hit low- income families and seniors who live on fixed incomes and already devote a large share of their income to the electricity bills the hardest. In my home State of South Dakota, low-income families already spend almost a quarter of their income on energy bills. There is no way they can afford to spend hundreds more to pay for President Obama's national energy tax--that is, of course, if they can even get electricity. The polar vortex that covered large portions of the United States with extreme cold and snow this past winter pushed the electricity grid to its limits. The Chairman of the Federal Regulatory Commission described the grid as ``close to the edge,'' with coal-fired powerplants running at 90 percent capacity to keep houses warm during a historically cold winter. These are the very plants that are being targeted by this administration. Closing these powerplants, which provide affordable power throughout the year, will severely jeopardize our ability to produce reliable electricity and heat during times of peak power demand. This will be particularly dangerous in winter months when an overstressed grid could leave thousands of Americans without a source of heat for their homes. Driving up energy bills and compromising the energy grid would be sufficient reason to reject the President's new carbon dioxide regulations, but that is not all these regulations will do. The President's new regulations will also destroy tens of thousands and possibly hundreds of thousands of jobs. First, of course, there are the thousands of Americans who will lose their jobs when the coal-fired plants that they work for close their doors. Then there are the manufacturing jobs that will be lost if these regulations go into effect. U.S. manufacturing is currently enjoying a renaissance thanks to the abundant, affordable energy the United States offers. Manufacturers are actually moving production from overseas to the United States and investing billions of dollars in our economy in the process. But if we drive up the cost of energy here at home, manufacturers will no longer have the same incentive to locate jobs here in America. Instead, manufacturers will send jobs overseas. Given the terrible costs of these regulations, one would assume that the payoff would be huge--a drastic reduction in global carbon dioxide concentration levels. The truth is the President is proposing to devastate American families and destroy our economy for nothing, because the President's proposals would have essentially no impact--no impact--on the concentration of carbon dioxide in our atmosphere. Even the President's own former EPA Administrator admitted: ``U.S. action alone will not impact world CO2 levels.'' The truth is, as long as the United States is acting unilaterally, global emissions will not be reduced in any meaningful way. In fact, the President's proposals could actually drive up emissions in other countries as manufacturers send jobs from the United States to some of the world's top polluters such as India and China. Manufacturers in the United States are already reducing emissions. U.S. manufacturing and other industrial carbon dioxide emissions are down 13 percent since 2005. In the meantime, however, China's CO2 emissions have grown by 69 percent, while India's have grown by 53 percent. After 5\1/2\ years of the Obama economy, Americans are struggling-- struggling to pay for health care, for college tuition, for food, and for gas--and they are wondering where the promised recovery is and how long they are going to have to live paycheck to paycheck, praying they can afford unexpected bills. Too many of them are wondering if they will be able to find a job to replace the one they lost. Others are wondering if they ever will find the better paying job they have been waiting for. Now the President is prepared to hike electricity prices for every one of these Americans. Worse, he is prepared to eliminate thousands of their jobs. For what? For a significant reduction in global carbon dioxide concentration levels? No. He is prepared to damage their budgets and destroy their jobs just so they can appear to be doing something about global warming. He is willing to overlook the economic havoc these regulations will create as long as his extreme environmental base is content. News reports have suggested the President has backed these new carbon regulations because he believes they will be an impressive addition to his legacy. I wish to suggest that the record of lost jobs and struggling families is not the kind of legacy the President would want to leave. I hope in the coming days we will hear from the President's party on this issue. I challenge my Democratic colleagues in the Senate to stand and tell the American people where they stand. Do they stand with American jobs and American families or do they stand with their party's environmental fringe? The American people deserve to know. Their jobs, their standard of living, and their future hang in the balance. Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I rise today to speak about the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act, legislation I introduced on a bipartisan basis with my colleague Senator Ron Wyden to make the expiring Internet tax moratorium permanent. Because of the moratorium Americans have not been taxed on Internet access for 16 years, but this is going to change and new taxes will be levied starting in November if Congress doesn't act soon. I am proud to work with Senator Wyden on this bill, the lead Senate sponsor of the original Internet Tax Freedom Act that passed in 1998. This landmark law known as ITFA imposed a Federal moratorium that stopped State and local governments from placing taxes on Internet access. This moratorium has been extended three times, and it has been critical to the rapid growth of the Internet. As we all know, the Internet provides unprecedented economic and social benefits. Mom and pop businesses in places such as South Dakota, Oregon, and across America found access to consumers and new business opportunities that are only possible through the Internet. Job seekers and entrepreneurs are finding opportunities that were once difficult to discover. Educators are exploring innovative tools and techniques that are powered by the Internet to equip students with the skills they will need for the 21st Century, and health care professionals are remotely providing services that are saving lives in rural areas. The idea behind the moratorium is straightforward. By not taxing Internet access we encourage broadband adoption and investment, which spurs all of the exciting activities that I just mentioned. The Internet is a gateway to tremendous societal benefits. It is, frankly, astounding when you consider that it wasn't very long ago that the Internet was considered a novelty and only for the tech savvy. Today it is a must-have resource, the existence of which we almost take for granted. We cannot take for granted, however, that the moratorium on Internet access taxes has contributed to the Internet being accessed by hundreds of millions of Americans every single day. Thanks to the 16-year ban, consumer access to the Internet is free from State and local taxation for nearly all Americans. This gives consumers a welcome break on their monthly bills. In the commerce committee we talk a lot about finding ways to encourage greater broadband deployment across all of America, and as cochair of the Congressional Internet Caucus, I worked with colleagues on both sides of the aisle to find ways to promote the Internet as an engine of economic growth and economic freedom. One of the ways that we can do that is by making broadband more affordable. State taxation of Internet service will make broadband more expensive, which is at cross-purposes with our goal of encouraging Internet access and deployment. This doesn't make a lot of sense. The moratorium also benefits consumers by prohibiting multiple and discriminatory taxes on goods and services sold over the Internet. This means consumers won't be taxed by multiple States on the same sale and States won't tax Internet sales more than mail order or telephone sales. Unfortunately, the Internet tax moratorium is set to expire on November 1. Because of this, many Internet service providers are planning to send out notices to their customers informing them that they may have to start paying taxes on Internet access if Congress fails to act. I expect that many millions of Americans who use the Internet will not be happy when they realize that their phone or Internet bill is going to suddenly increase. Two things are for sure: Expiration of ITFA will not encourage more Americans to get online to do commerce, civic engagement, or social media; and countless Americans will be calling Congress demanding that we keep taxes off of Internet access. Rather than wait for angry constituents, let us be proactive and pass the Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act without delay. My bill with Finance Committee Chairman Wyden provides for a permanent extension of the moratorium. By passing a permanent extension we will provide certainty to Internet consumers in every State. Making the moratorium permanent also means that Congress won't have to waste time and energy passing yet another extension, year after year, into the future. There are plenty of other areas for Congress to focus on. Our bill also eliminates the grandfather clause that currently allows 6 States to tax Internet access. Eliminating the moratorium's grandfather provision will provide consumers and businesses with a tax break. This includes consumers and businesses in my State of South Dakota, where our legislation will make Internet access less expensive, thus helping to encourage broadband deployment. The Internet Tax Freedom Forever Act currently has 46 cosponsors, nearly half of the Senate. The bipartisan cosponsors of the legislation understand the tremendous benefits provided by ensuring Internet access is not taxed and the discriminatory taxes are not applied to the Internet. I strongly encourage my colleagues in the Senate to join Senator Wyden and me and the 46 other cosponsors in this fight. When the Senate reconvenes after the Memorial Day recess, we should move quickly to extend the tax moratorium and to ensure that Americans don't wake up on November 2 with new, unexpected taxes. In the coming weeks and months, I plan to continue raising the need to pass our bipartisan legislation. I yield the floor.

Mr. THUNE

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

Mr. THUNE

Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, there were two polls that were released this week, one from Gallup and one from Politico. Both polls asked Americans what concerns them the most. Both polls got the same answer: the economy, jobs, and health care. That response is not too surprising. Unemployment is high. In fact, there are 3\1/2\ million Americans who have been unemployed for 6 months or longer. Last month more than 800,000 Americans gave up hope of finding work and dropped out of the labor force entirely. The economy barely grew at all last quarter--one-tenth of 1 percent. Household income is down by $3,500 since the President took office. Some 6.7 million Americans have fallen into poverty since 2008. Meanwhile, the price of everything from gas to college to health care keeps going up. It is no wonder Americans list jobs and the economy as two of the issues that concern them the most. It is not surprising that the other top concern of Americans is health care, because over the past 4 years the President and his team have taken an imperfect health care system and made it much worse. Thanks to ObamaCare, millions of Americans have lost their health care plans, plans which in many cases they liked and wanted to keep. Many of the 8 million exchange signups the President likes to brag about were actually people who were forced into the exchanges after their health care plans were canceled. In fact, according to a recent McKinsey survey, only one-quarter of the people who signed up on the exchanges were previously uninsured. In addition to losing their plans, millions of Americans have also seen their costs increase. Family health insurance premiums, which the President claimed would fall by $2,500 under his health care law, have actually risen by $3,671, and they are still going up, no end in sight. I would like to read just a few of the headlines from last week. This is from the Fiscal Times. It says, ``Big Increases in ObamaCare Premiums and Deductibles Coming in November;'' from Forbes, ``First ObamaCare Premium Notices for 2015 Show Double Digit Increases;'' from the Los Angeles Times, ``Employer health costs to rise nearly 9% this year, survey finds;'' from Investors Business Daily, ``ObamaCare Deductibles to Rise to $6,600 by 2015;'' from the Associated Press, ``Cost-Control Plan for Health Care Could Cost You.'' There are more, but we get the idea. Prices are not on their way down; they are in fact on their way up. Then of course there is the President's ``if you like your doctor, you'll be able to keep your doctor'' promise. As too many Americans have found out, that was another promise destined to be broken. Over the past 4 years, Americans have not only discovered that in many cases they will no longer be able to see the doctors they have been seeing for years, they have also discovered their choice of a replacement is limited. The New York Times reported last week: In the midst of all of the turmoil in health care these days, one thing is becoming clear. No matter what kind of health plan consumers choose, they will find fewer doctors and hospitals in their network or pay much more for the privilege of going to any provider they want. That is from the New York Times. One quote in that article struck me particularly. It was something Marcus Merz, the CEO of Minnesota insurer PreferredOne, told the Times. This is what he said: We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has. . . . We're all trying to break away from this fixation on open access and broad networks. Let me repeat that to get the full context of what he is saying. We have to break people away from the choice habit that everyone has. Is this what we wanted out of health care reform? Was that not one of the good things about our health care system, the fact that people are able to, by and large, go to the doctor they chose; that people could look around for the best doctor in a particular field or find a doctor who they felt comfortable with? Do we really want a health care future where Americans don't have a choice about the doctor they see? Limited choice doesn't just mean that Americans might not be able to find a doctor they like. It also means that Americans may not be able to go to a doctor they need. A Daily Caller article from last week noted: Cancer centers, with their top-of-the-line physicians and expensive procedures, have been a primary casualty of narrow networks. According to an Associated Press analysis, just four of the top 19 comprehensive cancer centers are covered by all Obamacare exchange plans in their states. Four of the top 19 cancer centers in the country--that is not what you want from of a health insurance plan if you have cancer. Given the President's broken promises and the havoc that ObamaCare is wreaking on our health care system, it is no surprise that 83 percent of those Politico surveyed want to modify or repeal the law entirely or that health care was the most frequently cited reason for a negative experience with the government over the past year or that nearly 90 percent of respondents say that ObamaCare will be important in determining how they vote this fall. There is a lot more that could be said about ObamaCare, such as the damage it is doing to our economy. Veterans Affairs I want to move on to talk about another, very serious instance of government mismanagement--what is going on in the Department of Veterans Affairs. Almost every day a new report surfaces of mistreatment or mismanagement at VA facilities across the country. At least 40 veterans have reportedly died because of delayed or inadequate care. It is now clear that this is not an isolated problem at a few select locations but a system-wide crisis, and it is a national embarrassment. Our contract with our servicemen and women is a sacred trust. They pledge their lives in the service of our country and take upon themselves the burden of defending liberty for the rest of us. In return, we promised them benefits, including health care and a college education. Our men and women in uniform uphold their end of the contract, sometimes at the cost of their own lives. For us to fail to uphold ours is a disgrace and a betrayal of their sacrifice. Every resource of this administration should be focused on discovering the full scope of this problem and immediately starting to fix it. Yet this administration has shown a startling lack of concern about the widespread mistreatment of veterans in our country. When it became clear that his health care Web site was a disaster, the President employed an ``all hands on deck'' approach to fixing the problem, spending hundreds of millions of dollars in the process. In response to the VA disaster, on the other hand, the President has dispatched just a single staffer to oversee the investigation. This is not acceptable. As Commander in Chief our Armed Forces, the President should be leading the charge to fix this problem, but he hasn't even spoken publicly about it for weeks. Regardless of the President's inaction, Congress must take immediate step to address this crisis. This week the House of Representatives is taking up a version of Senator Rubio's bill, the Department of Veterans Affairs Management Accountability Act, which would allow the VA Secretary to fire or demote senior executives in the department when warranted. Private organizations can fire employees who fail to fulfill their responsibilities. We ought to be able to fire officials who fail in their obligation to our veterans. Yet all we have seen from the VA is the resignation of the Under Secretary for Health, Dr. Petzel, who was already planning to retire-- hardly the accountability our veterans deserve. I have introduced a bill to require the VA inspector general to conduct a national investigation into the wait times veterans face. It is essential that we get an idea of the full scope of this problem so we can ensure that it gets fully fixed. Under my bill the inspector general will have 6 months to investigate and submit a report to Congress. In the meantime, the VA would be forbidden from closing any of its medical facilities. No facility--not the Hot Springs facility in my State of South Dakota or any other--should be closed unless we make very sure that veterans' care is not going to be affected. There are other bills this body should be considering as well, including Senator Heller's bipartisan legislation, to reduce the backlog of veterans' disability claims, and I hope the Senate will take them up quickly. This crisis can't wait. There is every likelihood that right now-- right now--veterans around our country are still failing to receive the care they need. I hope the President of the United States will come to his senses and treat this situation with the seriousness it deserves. If he won't act, Congress must. It is the very least that we owe our veterans. I yield the floor.