Transcripts For CSPAN2 U.S. Senate U.S. Senate 20180111

Are secure. And so we believe that we should increase funding for the department of defense, but we should also make sure that our schools have teachers. We should also make sure we have cops on the street. We should also make sure that our bridges arent falling down. Thats National Security as well. And its not too much to ask to make sure that our security is taken care of internationally and domestically as well. Let me give you a perfect example of how you cant just plus up defense spending and leave the rest of the budget unattended to. Okay, we love defense spending in connecticut. Why . Because we make a lot of bigticket items for the department of defense. We make the helicopters at sick tkor i ask. We at sikorsky. We make the submarines. Were proud of all of that. Let me tell you what happens at electric boat if you plus up pt Defense Department if you plus up the Defense Department at the expense of all the other discretionary accounts. Were going to be building a lot more submarines over the next ten years. Were now building two fast attack submarines a year. Were going to Start Building the new Ballistic Missile submarines, the columbia class. And electric boat needs to hire 14,000 employees over the next ten years. Much of that is because their workforce is older and so theyre going to have a lot of retirements. But theyve got to find 14,000 new employees over the next ten years. And if they cant, we cannot make the submarines in the United States or we cannot make the parts that go into the submarines into the United States. Either the job wont get done or the work will happen somewhere else, in another country. You cant assemble the submarines anywhere other than electric boat, but those parts will go to Foreign Companies rather than american can want. The way in which we are going to fill the 14,000 jobs is through the department of labor. So the department of labor has a partnership with an Organization Called the eastern connecticut manufacturing pipeline. That is a Publicprivate Partnership that seeks to train hundreds of individuals in the skills necessary to build the submarines. They got 4,500 applications over the past year. They cant place all those people because they only get a certain amount of funding from the department of labor. But they were able to train 500 new workers for electric boat, putting them right into those jobs that are necessary to build these submarines. The problem is the money for that program is running out. And with another c. R. , they cant get renewed funding for that program. And so if you plus up the Defense Department without increasing funding for the department of labor, you cant get the stuff that you want to build in the department of defense because you cant get the works in order to fill the get the workers in order to fill the contracts. If you dont renew this contract, if you dont renew this Funding Agreement with the eastern connecticut manufacturing pipeline, the work wont get done or the jobs will go overseas. So i just want my colleagues to understand that this isnt some philosophical belief that we need the same amount of money in the department of defense as we need in the rest of the budget. Its practical. Its practical because we need domestic economic security, but you also cant execute the department of defense contracts without funding in the rest of the budget. Second, let me talk to you about the realworld implications of not funding the Childrens Health Insurance Program. Health care, more than any other issue, has just become a political football. Democrats toss it to republicans. Republicans toss it back to democrats. And yet, there is no other issue thats more personal than this. If you dont have health care for you and your family, nothing else in your life can happen. And so i just want to share one story. And these letters, these emails are flooding into our offices with respect to the realworld impact of not funding the Childrens Health Insurance Program. In connecticut, letters have gone out to families whose children are insured through chip telling them that by the end of this month that is 20 days away they lose their insurance. And so, heres what tara from washington, connecticut, writes to me. She says despite our full employment, our fulltime employment as a couple, she works as a Small Business manager. Her husband is a fulltime electrical apprentice. Despite our full time employment my husband and i do not make enough money to buy Health Insurance for our children in addition to our other mandatory expenses. She explains that her kids go to day care which costs 1,800 per month which she says is more than their mortgage plus taxes plus insurance. Back to her letter, she says this is where the Childrens Health Insurance Program comes into our lives. I cant even begin to tell you the anxiety i faced when i was pregnant with my daughter crying every day because i didnt know how we were going to make ends meet. Thank god for a family friend who happened to be an insurance agent. She told us about chip. And suddenly some of that anxiety was quelled. Weve been blessed to have chip in our lives. Im saying chip. She actually writes in this letter husky. Husky is the name of the chip program in connecticut. Weve been blessed to have chip in our lives. Last month our daughter was prescribed a nebulizer. Two months ago my son caught it from her and it required two medications. Copays and premiums are manageable and they got the care that they needed. She said i read in the local paper this weekend that letters were going out to us telling us that our coverage is going to end on january 31. Shes writing this in december. She says were a week away from christmas and what should be a happy time of year has now turned into stress and depression. How am i going to get insurance for my kids . My daughter turns two on february 10. How am i going to pay for her well visit . I cant just skip it. They wont allow her back into day care. I cant believe the dysfunction going on in this country, she writes. I cannot believe tax cuts for the wealthy have taken precedent over the health of my kids. What is congress doing to ensure their continued health care . This story can be repeated literally millions of times over all across this country. People who went through the holiday anxious and depressed because they were convinced that we werent taking seriously the health care of their kids. When we debate the budget, it has to have attached to it a longterm, if not permanent extension of the Childrens Health care Insurance Program because there are families out there just like tara who are doing everything we ask them to do. Shes full time employed. Her husband is full time employed and they cant afford Health Insurance for their kids, if not for this program. Finally let me talk to you about the importance of making sure that we get the right amount of disaster funding to texas, florida, and in particular to puerto rico. Puerto rico matters to us in connecticut because we have the largest percentage of our population with Puerto Ricoan roots than any state in the country. Were so proud of that. The puerto rico recan community in connecticut is vibrant, economically, culturally, powerful politically, involved in our cities and our towns and our state government. The governor of puerto rico has requested 94 billion for maria recovery and rebuilding. And im just back from puerto rico. I can report to you that that island is still in crisis. 100 days after the hurricane hit, more than half of the country, half of the households still dont have electricity. If that was happening in connecticut or alaska or louisiana, there would be riots in the street. But for some reason its acceptable in puerto rico. We are 100 days after the hurricane and we still havent approved a Disaster Assistance package and the Trump Administration is nickel and diming the island on the money we have already authorized. I walked through the poorest most densely populated neighborhood in san juan, in the capital of the city of the commonwealth, they have no power. Mold is growing in these homes because you cant dry out the moisture without electricity. Kids are enduring more frequent and more intense bouts of asthma. People are dying because they cant refrigerate their medication or keep their ventilation equipment running. This is whats happening in the United States of america. And so we need to authorize significant robust funding for puerto rico and for texas and for florida. We need to do it now. We need to do it now because the day that i arrived, i think january 2, on the island, it was reported to us that it was the highest volume of people leaving puerto rico since the hurricane, on that day, january 2. The exodus is getting more intense. More people are leaving, not less. Why . Because they dont think that we are committed to rebuilding the island. Those in puerto rico dont think congress is serious about putting back on the electricity. They waited a month, they waited two months, they waited three months, and then they said enough. We cant put our kids in these conditions, and they started leaving in record numbers. They were leaving right off the bat, but they are now leaving in record numbers. And while most of them are coming to places like florida, many of them are coming to connecticut. Why . Because when they make that move, they often go first to stay with friends. And because we have such a compassionate, large Puerto Rico Community in connecticut, many of these families are coming to connecticut. So let me just give you a couple of the numbers here. Weve asked our School Systems to try to keep rough track of how many new students from puerto rico are showing up. Our cities are small in connecticut. We dont have a city thats much bigger than 100,000. And so in hartford, they have 388 new puerto rican students, new meaning have come since the hurricane from the island. Waterbury, connecticut has 268. New britain, a really small city, has 213. Bridgeport has 179. And these are kids that, theyre glad to have shelter and schooling in connecticut, but they dont want to be in connecticut. They came in under duress. They came to connecticut as refugees. They want to be back in puerto rico. And the stress that its putting on our schools is serious. Were in a budget crisis in connecticut. Schools have already been, had their funding cut from hartford. And yet these schools are now having to staff up to deal with this influx of students from puerto rico. Were glad to do it. We see it as our obligation and we know these kids will be part of connecticuts strength. But its not easy to do when we havent authorized any money to help states like connecticut deal with this influx of students. At macdonough middle school in hartford these kids are thriving but they had to set up a new Immersion Lab to handle these kids coming in. They had to hire new staff to teach english as a second language. And these are schools that are ready, were seeing their funding hemorrhage from the state government. The impact is real on macdonough middle school. The impact is real on tara and her family from washington. The impact is real from an important supplier in our industrial base, electric boat. And if we just continue to push c. R. After c. R. , these families, these schools and these companies will not succeed. This isnt about political headlines. This isnt about numbers on a page. This is about realworld impact for businesses, for families and for schools. So lets get the job done. Lets write a budget. Lets at least agree to the overall budget numbers. Lets fund the Childrens Health care Insurance Program. Lets get puerto rico and florida and texas everything that they need. News flash, thats our job. I yield the floor. Ms. Murkowski mr. President. The presiding officer the senator from alaska. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. Res. 372 submitted earlier today. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk Senate Resolution 372, congratulating the north Dakota State University Football Team for winning the 2017 National Collegiate Athletic Association Division One Football championship subdivision title. The presiding officer without objection, the senate shall proceed to the measure. Ms. Murkowski mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h. R. 4641 which was received from the house and is at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will please report. The clerk h. R. 4641, an act to authorize the president to award the medal of honor to john l. Canley for acts of valor during the vietnam war while a member of the marine corps. The presiding officer without objection, the senate shall proceed to the measure. Ms. Murkowski i further ask that the bill be considered read three times and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn to then convene for a pro forma session only with no business being conducted on friday, january 12, at 1 00 p. M. And that following the pro forma session, the Senate Adjourn until tuesday, january 16, at 4 30 p. M. Following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and morning business be closed. Further, following leader remarks, the senate resume consideration of the house message to accompany s. 139. Further, that the filing deadlines under rule 22 with respect to the cloture motion filed during todays session regarding the house message to accompany s. 139 be at the following times on tuesday, january 16 4 45 p. M. For all firstdegree amendments, and 5 15 p. M. For all seconddegree amendments. Finally, that the mandatory quorum call with respect to the cloture vote be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Ms. Murkowski if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. The presiding officer the the presiding officer the to start debate on the fisa bill. No session tomorrow for the mlk holiday. They will be back tuesday january 16. Live coverage on cspan2. Watch cspan profile series on white house and ministration officials for this week will feature Energy Secretary rick perry. Today as we market u. S. Produced, liquefied natural gas energy, as we sell our technology, being able to use cold in a responsible way to other countries, the department of Energy National labs, the 17 national labs, are probably some of the best investment that the american taxpayers have made over the course of the years. The commercia commercialization of. [inaudible] rick perry friday night at 8 00 eastern on cspan, cspan. Org and the radio app. This week the Supreme Court heard oral argument over Voting Rights in the case of john q stead, ohio secretary of state versus a Philip Randolph institute. Here the argument in its entirety friday night at nine eastern on cspan, online at cspan. Org or listen with the free cspan radio app. You can follow the upcoming schedule