Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20131011

And the destructive impact that can have, the way they would close down roads, the difficulty they would create for people. And obviously the loss of livestock that comes with that. Weve seen over the years blizzards that have taken their toll on one of our states most important industries. But the storm damage that i saw yesterday when i toured western south dakota really was epic. You cant look at the mountains and branches that were piled high waiting fordice posal or the for disposal or scenes of pastures scattered with dead livestock. This snowstorm started out, madam president , as heavy rain. And i know the distinguished chair had much of this in her state of north dakota as well. But that soaked the livestock. Then it turned into a raging blizzard with heavy snow and sustaining winds of 60 to 70 miles an hour. These winds drove livestock for miles, some more than 12 miles from their pastures. The fortunate ones lasted through the storms miles from their origination but still alive. As i speak, south dakota ranchers are still assessing their losses trying to determine ownership of those that survived but are miles away from home and hauling away or burying the tens of thousands of livestock. To add more challenges to an already devastating situation, this area is now experiencing heavy rains, flash flood warnings have been issued this morning through areas of the black hills with additional two inches or more of rain in the forecast. This storm damaged areas of 17 counties in south dakota that contained more than 6,000 ranches and more than a million cattle and sheep. For most of these ranchers, their livestock is their sole source of livelihood. These ranchers have a 365dayayear obligation to care for their livestock which they have done for generation after generation. And i want to show you just the impact, madam president , of this storm and what it did to some of these livestock. This was an area we saw from a helicopter yesterday where a lowlying area. There are upwards of 40, 50 head of livestock that are lying there dead in that area. We saw numerous examples just like that yesterday. This, madam president , is a photo that we took yesterday of trucks, rendering trucks that are coming to pick up some of the dead livestock. As you can see, not only the trucks filled up, but there are livestock along this road. And we saw that situation, that image over and over again yesterday as well along highways in western south dakota. And so, the point im simply making, madam president , is this was an incredibly powerful, impactful storm that created enormous amount of damage to the numberone industry in western south dakota. And the people who work the land, people who raise these animals, theyre independent, theyre hardworking. These ranchers are the best friends and neighbors that anyone could have, always willing to lend a helping hand. And they are the first to provide assistance and the last to seek it. And the best thing that we can do right now, the most effective assistance that we can offer them, madam president , right now is found in the livestock disaster section of the farm bill which has passed here in the senate, has now passed in the house of representatives and is awaiting action by a Conference Committee. The Livestock Indemnity Program known as lip was something that senator baucus and i authored as part of the 2008 farm bill and it provides muchneeded Financial Assistance to these livestock producers. But in order to get this assistance to them, a new farm bill has to be passed. This program, the Livestock Indemnity Program, or the lip program in the farm bill, is fully paid for with cuts in other farm programs. And is has eliminated the need for ad hoc Disaster Assistance that was the standard Emergency Assistance in past years. I remember past years when i was a member of the house of representatives, madam president , Something Like this would happen, and we would have to come to congress for ad hoc Disaster Assistance, Emergency Assistance. The whole point of getting a disaster title in the farm bill was to eliminate the need for that ad hoc Disaster Assistance on an annual, sometimes, basis. And so this title was put in the farm bill back in 2008. It created a permanent program, paid for, and as i said the one in the farm bill that is being considered now is offset by cuts, other areas of the farm bill. And what were waiting for is for the conferees to get together in a conference to work out the differences between the two bill and to report them back to the house and to the senate where they can be voted on, hopefully passed and put on the president s desk. And thats what its going to take to get assistance back to these livestock producers because the existing disaster title, as i said, Livestock Indemnity Program in the disaster title the farm bill expired, expired at the end of 2011. And when we passed a bill in the senate in 2012, it reauthorized it. And in the farm bill that passed this year, it has been reauthorized. But until we get the farm bill passed, that authority that can help producers in circumstances like this no longer exist. And so thats why we have got to get conferees together in a Conference Committee and ultimately a bill on the president s desk that can be signed into law that would allow the department of agriculture to issue the regulations that are necessary to put this program back into effect. Ive been encouraged by reports that ive heard that theyre going to soon name conferees to move a farm bill forward in the house. I wrote a letter earlier this week to Speaker Boehner asking him to name conferees so the Conference Committee could begin its work and make this Assistance Available to livestock producers. Ive also sent a letter to vary vilsack asking him to determine that the Farm Service Agency personnel in the impacted counties are essential so that they can open these offices and begin the process of preparing Damage Assessment reports that are going to be needed for federal disaster declarations. The distinguished chair mentioned in her remarks the need, the impact that this is having in western south dakota and Western North dakota. The Farm Service Agency personnel are not working and in this circumstances, they are the ones that the producers would go to and that the states and affected parties would look to to do the Damage Assessments. And so im hoping that secretary vilsack, he has that authority particularly in this sort of situation where you have an emergency to declare these people as essential and get them back on the job so they can begin those Damage Assessments and prepare the way for, hopefully when a farm bill passes and the disaster title is authorized again. And so, those are a couple of things that have to happen, in my view, madam president , fairly quickly. And ill be the first to say that ive had concerns about the farm bill as it worked its way through the process here. There were some things in the commodity title that i thought could have been done differently. Perhaps a better policy approach and arguably something thats more compliant with our world trade obligations World Trade Organization obligations and less market distorting. There were a number of things in the commodity title, things in other title of the bill we had concerns with but there were a number of things in the farm bill we worked very, very hard to have included in there and the disaster title was one of those. And so im hoping that as this farm bill works its way through the process and hopefully its conferees get named by the house of representatives, they can begin their work, work out some of those differences. And i will continue to be a strong proponent of the livestock Disaster Assistance that was created in the 2008 farm bill and included both versions of the 2013 farm bill, both the one that passed the house and the one that passed the senate. And i appreciate the work that chairman, senator stabenow has done, our ranking member, senator cochran for their tireless toefrts try to get a new efforts to get a new farm bill enacted as soon as possible. This past weeks snowstorm is only one example of the urgency behind that to get it done so the programs can represent the farmers and millions and others who rely on agriculture. In my state of south dakota it is our number one industry. We have so many farm and ranch families who look to their leadership here in washington, d. C. To provide some certainty with regard to the rules that theyre going to play by. And when we do extensions like the one that were in the middle of right now, we did a oneyear extension last year of the old farm bill, but we dont make the reforms, some of the changes that are necessary to update a farm policy and we dont give producers the certainty that they need as they make their Planning Decisions for the future. And so getting a fiveyear, a multiyear reauthorization in place is really important and its really timely. And my hope would be that in the very near future that the conferees can sit down, they can work out the differences between the two bills, reconcile those differences and get this thing moving again. And i say that not only because its critically important to these livestock producers in western south dakota, but because its critically important to all producers across south dakota. The farmers in the eastern part of my state, the people in the entire farm belt, the regions of this country that depend upon agriculture for their existence need to know what the policies are going to be, what the rules are going to be so they can plan and plan effectively and so that we have the mechanisms in place, so that when Something Like this happens, like happened in western south dakota this past week, there is a mechanism in place, there is a way in which we can respond and provide support for the hardworking farmers and ranchers and the millions of people whose jobs rely on agriculture. So, madam president , it was a very looking at those images yesterday was very, very gripping, very, in many ways very disturbing. As you fly over these areas and you see this massive losses of livestock and you realize what that means for the people who are out there every single day who for generations have made their living on the land by raising these cattle and have contributed in such an enormous and significant way to the economy, not only western south dakota but to this entire economy and the people who literally every single day are out there feeding not only america, but feeding the world. Agriculture has a tremendous impact obviously domestically but it has a profound impact around the world, and it is something that from an economic standpoint creates thousands and thousands and millions of jobs here in this country. So i hope we can get this farm bill done. I hope the conferees will get named soon by the house and that well be on our way toward passage of the farm bill and hopefully the certainty that producers across this country need and the ability to respond to this type of an emergency. Madam president , i yield the floor. Mrs. Shaheen madam president . The presiding officer the senator from New Hampshire. Mrs. Shaheen thank you, madam president. Were now in the 11th day of this unnecessary Government Shutdown. And just as my colleague from south dakota, senator thune, pointed out, there are some impacts in south dakota as a result of this shutdown. Were seeing those very real consequences in New Hampshire as well, and im sure youre seeing those in north dakota. Its become clear to me by talking to people in New Hampshire that the longer the shutdown goes on, the worse the impact on families, on Small Businesses, on people who need the services from this government. But as difficult as the shutdown is, theres actually another crisis that looms on the horizon that would have even more disastrous consequences for our economy. Thats the possibility of a first ever default on this countrys debt. For the first time ever, if we default, the country would not pay the bills that it has incurred, the bills that it has incurred because of decisions made by this congress or previous congresses. As economists across the ideological spectrum have warned, the consequences of a default would be severe. We could see businesses stop hiring. That would have an impact, as were already seeing as the result of this shutdown on the economic recovery that were experiencing. Retirement accounts and families nest eggs would lose much of their value in a very short time. Interest rates would rise, which would mean higher costs for consumers, for Small Businesses and for the federal government, as we need to borrow. And Consumer Confidence, which is so important for Small Businesses and for the economy, would drop sharply. Now some people have suggested that these are scare tactics, but these consequences are very real. And we know that because weve been here before. In 2011, which was the last time we came close to defaulting on our debt, the mere prospect of that default was enough to have Significant Impact on our economy. In late july and early august of 2011, the period that led up to the debt deal in 2011, the Dow Jones Industrial average dropped 2,000. Points. As a result, American Families saw their Household Wealth plummet by 2. 4 trillion. We saw a sharp drop in Consumer Confidence. And, by the way, the current circumstances that were in have seen a similar drop in Consumer Confidence over the concerns about the shutdown and the default. In the last few weeks, weve seen the biggest drop in Consumer Confidence since Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008. And then in 2011, our Credit Rating was downgraded for the first time in americas history and the crisis in 2011 resulted in 1. 3 billion in additional borrowing costs for the federal government, thereby increasing the nations debt. So for all those people who sa said, were were not going to raise the debt ceiling, were not going to pay the bills this country has incurred because were worried about the debt and deficits we face . The fact is, that action alone increased our debt by 1. 3 billion. Now, theres no question that we need to get this countrys debt and deficits under control. I think all of us believe that who are here. But the best way to do that is to reach a comprehensive, longterm bipartisan agreement that looks at all areas of spending. That looks at the domestic side of the budget, at the defense side of the budget, at mandatory programs and at revenues. And despite the partisanship that weve seen too much of he here, i still think that that kind of an agreement is possible and that thats critical senator thune talked about the certainty for farmers who are not sure whats going to happen with the farm bill. But that kind of uncertainty is going across the economy, from businesses, from whatever sector that youre in because people dont know what were going to do here in washington about dealing with this countrys longterm budget. As some of my colleagues have noted, the response to the financial crisis and the Great Recession led to a higher deficit. Theres no question. The country was in trouble. One of the ways we helped to address that was to spend on vital safety net programs which increased while revenues declined to try and stimulate demote put people back to work. Those policies as well as the fiscal policies that have been enacted over the past decade, including two wars, tax breaks for the wealthiest americans, all of those things meant that the countrys deficit and debt had increased. But actually in the past few years, weve seen significant progress to reduce spending and to narrow our deficits. We put in place Discretionary Spending caps that have reduced spending by the federal government and we let the tax cuts for the wealthiest americans expire, which raised additional revenue. All told, weve put in place approximately 2. 4 trillion in deficit reduction. Now, this hasnt been easy. There have been a lot of things that have been affected that i would not have chosen, but the fact is we are on a more sustainable budget path. And one of the best ways we can improve our budget outlook is by growing the economy, by focusing on jobs that boost revenue and decrease the need for social programs. And while we certainly have more work to do on that front, consistent job growth has helped increase revenues and reduce our deficits. So that since this president took office, we have seen this countrys deficit fall by over 50 . That represents a remarkable improvement. And all that coming with the financial crisis and the recession that began in 2008. So just think about that. Weve reduced this countrys deficit by over 50 . The Congressional Budget Office projects that our deficits will drop to 2. 1 of g. D. P. By 2023 from its current level of 4. 2 . So weve made great progress and were on a path to make even better progress. I think the budget that the Senate Passed is a very good place to look at how we achieve Additional Savings and how we continue to droa our economy continue to grow our economy because that budget would give us an additional 1. 8 trillion in deficit reduction over the next 10 years, and it would all make very important investments in our economy, in families in this country, in infrastructure, in business and education. Thats a conversation we need to have. So i think we should go to a committee of conference on the budget. Its been unfortunate that we havent been able to get agreement in this body to do that because we have a small group of people who keep preventing that, but thats not really what i wanted to talk about this afternoon, because what we need to do is we need to get this Government Back up and running. We need to agree that we should pay the bills this country has incurred and not default. And we are continuing to see, as i said when i started, the very real impact of this Government Shutdown on families and Small Businesses across New Hampshire and the country. I have talked earlier on the floor about some of the Small Businesses that have been affected in New Hampshire, but today i want to talk about some of the federal employees who are affected. I heard from an employee at the Federal Correctional Institution in b berlin prison. This is a mediumsecurity prison. Its completely new. Its not fully staffed up t. Doesnt have all the inmates there. This is from one of the employees, whos currently working there without pay, as she points out. She told me that her husband had already seen his hours cut at his job, and now she says and i quote i sit in fear that i will not receive a paycheck at all. I will not be able to pay my mortgage payment, my student loan payments, our vehicle payments, or any other debts. I also assume that my daughters day care is not going to accept an i. O. U. I also will not have the money to buy pellets for my wood stove or fuel for my furnace for the upcoming winter. She went on to tell me that shes worried about the longterm mental and physical wellbeing of those who are working without paychecks at the prison because many of her colleagues are living paycheck to paycheck. Now, weve talked a lot about the courage and dedication that many of our Capitol Police showed on october the 3rd during the shooting incident here. It was extraordinary to see people put their lives on the line without getting paid. The same is true of people who are working at our federal prisons. You know, theyre putting their lives on the line every day they go in to work in a dangerous environment. I heard from another furloughed employee at the prison. She said, im a single parent with two sons. My sons depend on me and only me. I have to pay for my sons lunch and Extracurricular Activities which keep them out of trouble and give them something to do. I also have medication that my son and i need on a monthly basis which we cant go without. The oil here in berlin is absolutely high. Berlin is in the North Country of New Hampshire so it gets cold there in the winter. She concluded, what are we going to say to the bill collectors . Can anyone answer that . What kind of answers can we give to somebody whos putting her their lives on the line every day, working for the government to protect all of us and yet were not giving them the paychecks that they earned . I also heard from a furloughed employee with the department of agriculture in New Hampshire whos on furlough. She said, its an understatement to say im a bit anxious and scared. I live from paycheck to payche paycheck. She told me shes worried about going into debt as a result of this shutdown and she said, i love my job at usda and i feel i make a difference every day to make this a better world. She urged me to work with my colleagues here to get her back to work. Those are just a few examples of the stories that were hearing every day from people in New Hampshire who are affected by this shutdown. The consequences are very real and they get worse with every day that it goes on. The consequence as bad as that is, the consequences of a default of this country refusing to pay its debts are even worse. Because while Social Security and medicare have not been affected by the shutdown, that would change if we default. A default could delay or disrupt Social Security checks that are due to go out at the beginning of november. Medicare, medicaid, veterans benefits, military salaries all of those could be affected by a default. And according to the treasury, delayed or disrupted payments would prevent 57. 5 million americans from receiving Social Security benefits in a timely manner and interfere with payments to 3. 4 million veterans. This could put the most vulnerable in jeopardy and prevent them from receiving the benefits that they have earned. Now, thats why i think the majority in both parties, in both chambers in congress recognize that defaulting on this countrys obligations is not an option. My former colleague and fellow senator, judd gregg, who is a republican, and while we dont agree on everything, this is one issue we certainly agree in. In an oped published by the newspaper he said that brinksmanship on default is i quote the political equivalent of playing russian roulette with all the chambers of a gun loaded. It is the ultimate nowin strategy. A default would lead to some level of chaos in the debt markets, which would lead to a significant contraction in economic activity, which would lead to job losses, which would lead to higher spending by the federal government and lower tax revenues, which would lead to more debt. In other words, as senator gregg says so well, it is shortsighted and its irresponsible. There is no doubt that we need to keep working on a longterm budget for this country, but we have to do it in a way thats responsible. Thats why i certainly hope that the senate will be able to agree on the legislation thats currently before this body. I hope the house will come to the table. I hope we can all agree that allowing this country to default on our debts, to not pay our bills would have disastrous consequences and we are not going to be that irresponsible. So, madam president , we still have some time to get this done. Not long. And so far the Financial Markets and the American People have been more than patient. But everybody is frustrated. Everybody understands that it is time for us to act and to act now. So thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from New Hampshire. Mrs. Shaheen madam president , i note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mrs. Boxer madam president . The presiding officer the senator from california. Mrs. Boxer madam president , i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer madam president , i ask unanimous consent that i may speak for as long as the time i consume. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer thank you. Madam president , as you know and as i know, this is the 11th day of a completely manufactured crisis, a selfinflicted wound that came about because our colleagues on the other side of the aisle are obsessed with repealing a law thats called the Affordable Care act. A law that passed almost four years ago whose benefits have taken root and ill go over those benefits for all americans , and for a group of americans that have had a really hard time getting insurance, were just beginning to see them be able to sign up for Health Insurance for some of them for the first time. And because our colleagues are so obsessed with repealing this law, which as i said passed almost four years ago, which was upheld by the Supreme Court as being totally constitutional, and about which there was a president ial election and a Senate Election in which the people who wanted to keep this law and of course make it better won, the republicans cant accept it. And as a result, they have shut down the government. Now, you wouldnt know it if you listened to the speeches now because they kind of changed, and now they are saying they want cuts in medicare and Social Security. Thats thats what they want now. But when you go back to 11 days ago before the govnm appropriated moneys. At least 85 of the Affordable Care act comes from another part of the government. So we begged them and we told them if you shut down the government, health cares going to go forward anyway. Why on earth would you shut down the government . They didnt listen. Now people in the country are saying what areully hopeful that they will turn around and let us reopen this government, the government of the greatest country on earth, and that they will also allow us to pay our bills and stop the possibility of a default, which if it ever happened would be the first time in our history. So yes, were in the middle of a crisis, but its manufactured and its made up, and if you think its about deficits, take a look at what happened since president obama came in. Deficits have been cut in half. So it cant be about deficits. And the Affordable Care act is not going to be stopped. So what is this all about . A temper tantrum . A childish way to handle a situation youre not happy about . Let me tell you just so republicans who are listening to me know that i have served with five president s since i came to washington, first as a house member and as a senator then representing the largest state in the union, the most fantastic state in the union, but thats just my personal view, california. Five president s, three republicans, two democrats. Obviously, i didnt agree with these president s all the time. Sometimes i really disagreed with them, like over the iraq war and tax breaks for billionaires. Both of those added mightily to the deficit. I opposed those. But i accepted the fact that all i could do was work to change things in a democratic way. Try to pass legislation on those issues to bring the troops home, to make sure that everyone pays their fair share. I didnt i didnt win those issues. And we all know yeah, there is lots of times you vote against the debt ceiling as a show of your displeasure, but we had never brought down, ever brought down the full faith and credit of the United States, and the last time the republicans tried this a couple of years ago, the Dow Jones Industrial average plunged and it cost us 19 billion. You would think they learned a lesson about it, but they didnt. And you would think they would learn a lesson about the Newt Gingrich shutdown that had their poll numbers plunging then. We need to behave like grownups, and i am prayerful and i am hopeful that we can see the talks continue that are starting here in the United States senate across party lines to resolve this. But lets be clear its easy to solve this problem, madam president. You know, thats the great news. Its easy to solve the problem. Allow our bill that passed here about 12 days ago to be voted on in the house. That will allow this government to reopen and not attach any riders on it, cutting medicare or Social Security or whatever your pet idea is, and then lets sit down and negotiate through the appropriations chairman barbara mikulski, through the budget chairman patty murray, and they sit down with their counterparts and we resolve our differences on spending, on deficit and debt reduction. Its really easy. So what senator reid is saying is absolutely the right thing to say. Pay our bills. Dont allow us to default. Pay our bills. Open up the government. And then we can talk about anything and everything that has to do with the budget. Now, heres the thing. Last week when we were in the middle of this thing, i went home to see how the Affordable Care act is working out in california. We are a state that is fully that has fully embraced the Affordable Care act, and were 38 million strong and we have millions of uninsured, millions of uninsured. And i am getting daily reports from constituents and theyre talking about the Affordable Care act and what it means to them. Constituents like janice brown, a semi retired travel agent from prather, california. She called the help line and she downloaded an application to buy a plan for 1,500 a month for herself and her husband. And she said thats a thousand dollars less than my current plan. Im thrilled, she told the associated press. The coverage is better. Its fantastic. Why do my friends on the other side want to shut down the government and stop janice brown, a semi retired travel agent from my state, stop her from getting Affordable Health care . Why . Does it make them feel better to do that . I would hope not. How about robert sanchez, he runs a cair chiropractic clinicn salina, one of the Small Businesses buying coverage under coveredcalifornia. He plans to offer his employees health care coverage, which they currently lack. You know what he says. Quote the Affordable Care act is going to be lifechanging for many of the people that i see as a clinician every day. Then i have coveredcalifornia told us about paul turingo turigino of sacramento. He enrolled in a bronze plan. You can get a gold plan, a silver plan or a bronze plan. The higher the plan, the gold plan, the less of a copay. And the bronze plan is less costly. So this is what he said. Costly. That was extremely affordable. And he said, oh, my gosh, the insurance has been going up for the last few years like crazy. All of our money was going to pay for medical insurance. And now hes got this very affordable plan. Lesley foster, a film maker in hollywood, told the wall street journal he found a plan that will cost his 62 a month. Federal assistance will pick up threequarters of the cost. He hasnt had comprehensive Health Insurance since 2006. Why are my colleagues on the other side of the aisle trying to stop lesley from getting comprehensive, affordable Health Insurance . Because they didnt like the results of the election . Because they were mad that the Supreme Court said the bill was constitutional . I am at a loss to understand it. Then i have san franciscan who said he selected a plan that will save him more thank 300 a month. It is like a whole different whorled d world. I get Mental Health coverage, so theres way more coverage than i had and im going to be saving. Madam president , these are real people with a heart and a pulse and a life and hopes and dreams, and theyre finally getting Health Insurance. And my friends on the other sile are stamping their feet and having a tantrum because they dont like it. I dont know why this dont like it. They ought to come to meet these people. I had Rachel Mansfield of laquinta. Nothing could dissuade her. She sent in an application for coveredquafl on tuesday. Shes been waiting for the exchange to start so she and her husband could get Health Insurance. She got it. Her new premium will be around 400 for both of them with higherquality coverage than she currently has. And i ask unanimous consent to place a number of other of these into the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer but i really have to say that in the Washington Post this week theres an oped piece about one of my constituents experience with the Affordable Care act. And this constituent of mine and her son were on the Lawrence Odonnell show last night. And anyone who watched that show anyone with a heart and a soul would understand how amazing it is for her that the Affordable Care act passed. Let me tell you the story. Jeanine reed is a writer from the San Francisco bay area. It is the title of her opinion piece that ran in the Washington Post. Becomobamacare saved my familm financial ruin. Obamacare saved my family from financial ruin. With experience with her loving son mason, he had brain cancer and had undergo surgery and multiple surgeries. He would have hit his life lime limit, madam president , and the family would have been driven into, her words, the financial abyss without the Affordable Care act. She writes that the family thanks god and whoever else would listen for our god fortune to have coverage. And she ends her piece with this line. If i could get those who are trying to repeal this law on a conference call, i would explain this to them. I would tell them that while they were busy trying to derail the Affordable Care act over the past two years my son mason has again learned to walk and to talk and to eat and to shoot a threepoint basket. Why would anyone anyone in the senate, in the house, in the country want to hurt a family like that . Im just saying, i dont get it. Because a law is a law is a law. And we dont decide that one day were going to undermine a law. You dont do that. You live by the law. You want to change it, of course you they tried 343 times to repeal it. It didnt get repealed. They shut down the government over t and it didnt get repealed. And it wont get repealed. And my constituents are not going back. No one is going to take away their benefits. And, you know what . Most americans may not even realize the benefits theyre already getting under the Affordable Care act. Wherever they live, whether its in your state or my state, madam president , 3 million adults are now covered through their parents plan 3 million young adults. Are now insured through their parents plan. And 71 million americans are getting free Preventive Care like checkups, birth control, and immuneizations. Let me say it again. Millions of americans are benefiting from the Affordable Care act. 71 million americans are getting free Preventive Care, like checkups, birth control, and immunizations. 3 million young adults are now insured through their parents plan. Why do my colleagues want to take that away from americans . Why do my colleagues shut down the government because they dont like this . What is it they dont like about this, madam president , that some young person doesnt have to fret or his parents dont have to be worried sick that their quid doesnt have Health Insurance . Now, 17 million children are preexisting conditions like asthma and diabetes can no longer be denied coverage. Why do my friends want to take that away . From the families of the United States of america . Why . Why have they shut down the government to take that away . What are they thinking . Insurers cant cancel your Health Insurance because you get sick. Madam president , you and i know, you could be going along 100 miles an hour and all of a sudden get an illness and be shocked. And all of a sudden, imagine getting a note from your insurer, sorry, senator boxer, you just got sick and were canceling your Health Insurance. It happened every day of the week. It cant happen anymore. Why do my republican friends want to cancel out that benefit . No lifetime benefits on coverage. I just told you about the woman who lives in the San Francisco bay area who is son was born with a brain tumor who needed constant operations. They hit up against the lifetime limelighlimit. When obamacare went into effect, no more lifetime limits and the child was saved and the family was saved from financial ruin. These are just some of the benefits that are going into effect, now are in effect. Then the republicans said, oh, the Affordable Care act is going to make everything cost so much. No, Health Care Costs growing at the slowest rate in over 50 years. And Insurance Companies have to justify premium hikes, and were getting back checks if they overcharge us. Listen, 8. 5 million americans have received rebate checks from their Insurance Companies because of the Affordable Care act. Do my friends want to get that money back, away from the people . They jut down th shut down the. They must think thats a real by bad idea. I cant answer the question as to why they want to take away these benefits. But i can only guess at their motivation. Theyre throwing a temper tantrum. They dont like the way the election turned out. They dont like what the Supreme Court did. A law is a law. I dont get it. Speaker boehner said hes shutting down the government, punishing people because of obamacare. We told him, you cant stop it. He tried and failed 43 times to repeal it. He stamped his foot, and he shut down the government. Well now that weve proven to him that he cant stop the Affordable Care act, now that he sees how many people are benefiting from it, open up the government. 11 days shut down, the greatest country in the world. Now, i have to tell you, in my great state and we could all talk about our states and i know, madam president , you did we have a magnificent National Park called yoa yosemi. Honesttogod, the first time i stepped onto that floor, i thought i was in heaven. 3,500 National Park employees have been furloughed, 6 after them at yosemite. Heres the thing that people dont seem to understand. It is not only the pain of the people who have saved to get to place like yosemite and saved for their families and the theye looking forward to this opportunity. It is also the Small Businesses that surround it, the park, that surround the park. Douglas shaw, coowner of the Mountain Resort in yosemite, may have to lay off 30 of his staff. He said, were a good example of a business that could die if this continues. This is all weve got and honestly im scared. I dont think a lot of people realize how important this issue is for so many of us whose livelihoods are at stake. Derek rocalien and his wife were laid off from their jobs at yows mievment they held a yard sale to raise money. They held a yard sale to raise money. Weve got a new little boy and a lot of expenses. We need to make money to pay our bills. Why are they shutting down the government . The Affordable Care act is moving forward. Law is a law is a law. And we all have our problems with issues. As i said serving here for a long time, opposing wars, opposing tax cuts to the wealthiest among us, opposing rollbacks in environmental regulations that i thought were critical, seeing us turn away from sensible ways to protect our people yeah, i wasnt happy. I have a right not to be happy. And they have a right not to be happy. But i dont have a right to decide which laws im going to say should be enforced. I have an obligation, if i dont like a law, to work my heart out in the next election and change things. Thats what you do in a deasms you dont pick and choose. And then they have their little bills coming over here a i call it government by press release. Something gets hot, they hear a story that im going to tell oh, well well open up that little segment. We dont run a country that way. We dont run a country by press release. We dont run a country in order to get political cover. We have an obligation to keep the doors open, to make sure things work better, to negotiate over budgets, not negotiate by taking hostages. And this time the hostages are the American People, people like doug shaw, coowner of yosemite Mountain Resort, people who are laid off. Firefighters at the forest service, they were a working with pout pay. Lovely. Were getting our pay. And one of these firefighters says, most people here live paycheck to paycheck. Its a disgrace is what it is. Do you know the centers for Disease Control and prevention will stop its seasonal flew tracking program. Flu tracking program. They will furlough 9,000 employees. My understanding is theyve brought back some of their employees. But ive got to tell you, theyre not getting paid. And theyre standing sentry. David johnson of San Francisco is a c. E. O. Of gigagen which does immune System Research to help Organ Transplants succeed. The n. I. H. Awarded him a Small Business grant of over 1 million and hes already hired staff, but he cant get the funds until the shutdown ends. So here is a private party, a c. E. O. Of a company that does immune System Research to help Organ Transplants succeed. How many of us have read about some of our people who get into trouble because their body rejects the organ . Heres a guy out there getting 1 million from the n. I. H. , and he cant get the funds. Ill tell you, its shocking. Why did they shut the government down . They dont like the Health Care Bill thats helping so many people. Now they dont even talk about it. Now they talk about cutting Social Security and medicare. Thats their new dream. Thats what they want now. I dont know how that makes us a better country, but they can explain it for themselves. Open up the government, pay your bills that you incurred. Stop a default. And then we can negotiate. The president s been clear. There is nothing he wont talk about. Now i want to take a minute speaking as the chairman of the environment and Public Works Committee and a member of the commerce committee. 93 of the e. P. A. , 93 of the employees at the Environmental Protection agency have been furloughed. And heres the thing. The Environmental Protection agency has the support of about 75 of the American People, if not more. Theyre under attack constantly. Thats one reason you never saw a little mini bill to restore the Environmental Protection agency. They dont care over there. But what do these employees do . They guard our landmark environmental laws. They ensure our Drinking Water is safe, that our rivers are safe to swim in, that our air is safe to breathe. They make sure that superfund sites are cleaned up. 500 superfund sites. To be exact, 505. Theyve stopped the cleanup. And if youve ever looked at what is a super fund site, i can tell you its a toxic brew, toxins that you know can hurt you, like arsenic, benzene, you name it. The worst things. Now, i want to ask my republican friends, you shut down the government because you want to stop the Affordable Care act. Youre also now stopping cleanup of superfund sites in your own communities where theyre a threat to children, to pregnant women and to our families and our seniors. How does that make us a better country when we have no inspectors on the ground, not one in california, to make sure the air is safe and the water is safe . Not one single inspector on the ground. Then if you care about farming and i know most of us do e. P. A. Is responsible for the inventory of pesticides that are imported from abroad. This means that millions of dollars of imported agricultural chemicals have been stuck at u. S. Ports because e. P. A. Personnel are not on hand to approve them for entry. This could be devastating for our agricultural economy and further raise food prices for consumers. Somebody explain to me how a Government Shutdown helps the farmers who are waiting for these pesticides to be cleared by the e. P. A. Somebody explain it to me. Somebody explain it to me how it helps to have a Government Shutdown when we have many, many road projects that are just getting ready to go forward, but we dont have any of the agencies ready to complete the studies to make sure they are safe enough to go forward. There are hundreds of thousands of jobs at stake, and most of it, when it comes to the highway bill, in the private sector. And heres one we just learned yesterday. I say to my colleagues, 92 of workers at the Nuclear Regulatory commission have been furloughed. The Nuclear Regulatory commission fulfills a critical mission. Do you want to hear what it is . I will tell you what it is. The n. R. C. Was created quote to ensure the safe use of radioactive materials. Now, anyone whos been alive the last year or so knows about fukushima, knows about what happened to the people there, understands when youre dealing with radioactive materials what you are dealing with. You are dealing with danger. And the n. R. C. Had to furlough 92 of the workers because the republicans dont like the Affordable Care act and shut down the government. Open it up. Enough is enough. Give the people back the government they asked for in this last election. You dont like it, i understand it. I didnt like it many times in my life. But you know what . I dealt with it. Grow up. Curling up in a corner and having a temper tantrum with your blanket and your teddy bear is not the right way to deal with this. Open up the government. Sit down with us and tell us what it is you want to fix. Weve already agreed to a low number in the continuing resolution, a number we dont like at all. We think its too low. We think its a hardship. We agreed to the lower number because we wanted to have a chance to negotiate. Senator mikulski is ready. Senator murray is ready. We tried 21 times to get to conference with them and negotiate a budget. 21 times they objected. And then they have i have to use the word now the chutzpah i hope you know what it means, madam president to say we wont negotiate, when we tried 21 times to go to conference. No inspectors on the job to make sure the air is clean, to make sure the water is safe, to make sure the Nuclear Power plants are safe. You know, the republicans talk about the parks, and i appreciate it. But they fail to mention that the army corps manages 12 million acres of public lands and waters nationwide. And the recreation areas host listen to this 370 million visits annually. These recreation areas support local businesses like resorts, marinas, outfitters, grocery stores, gas stations, hotels which provide goods and services to businesses as well as boosting our nations economy. Let me tell you a story. Because of this republican shutdown, the corps closed lake mendicino located north of San Francisco. The lake hosts half a million visitors annually and in 2010 visitors spent 12. 7 million in businesses within 30 miles of lake mendicino supporting 106 jobs and 2. 8 million in labor income. We get a little mini bill over there, open up the parks. No, no, no. Open up the government. Open up all our recreation areas. Dont do this government by piecemeal, government by press release, government by your favorite agency. Its ridiculous. Let me just say, let me be clear. No party, republican or democrat party, no party has the right to say to a community you will thrive but you will die. No party has the right. I have a Community Near los angeles called university park. The l. A. Times did a big story. The children there are suffering illness and everyone believes its from an oil and gas site nearby. Its an environmental issue. The kids are suffering. We dont know whats wrong with them. We called the e. P. A. They said, senator, well be right on it. The government shut down. I dont have any inspectors in california. Those kids are sick. So we get a small bill. Lets help the kids with cancer. Of course we want to. What about these kids . We dont know what they have. No party, republican or democratic, should say this child lives and were not sure about this child. This is not america. This is one nation under god indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Its not for who the republicans decide they want to fund. Its for all of us to decide. Open up the government. You shut it down because of health care you dont like the Affordable Care act. I appreciate that. You can fight that. You can sit the president , we were with him for a couple hours yesterday. Republican senators were with him today. He said hell look at everything. But dont keep this government closed and dont bring us to the first default we ever had. The National Transportation safety board furloughed 380 of its 400 employees. In my state, we have an investigation going on into the Aseana Airlines flight 214 crash. This crucial hearing was to include testimony from foreign officials from asia. Its postponement and ongoing shutdown will delay the entire investigation. We need to know what went wrong. But this shutdown has shut down that investigation. Two weeks ago there was a Small Plane Crash at the Santa Monica Airport killing four people, and the ntsb is unable to investigate the crash. They had to take all their materials and stick it in a file and hopefully someday theyll come back to it. Open up this government. Dont say this community will thrive and that one will die. This family will get help and this wont. This federal worker will get paid. But were not sure about that federal worker. While they take their checks. Ive got to tell you, this is stunning. Its no wonder the American People are expressing their views. And i hope theyll listen and theyll continue to put pressure on those who have this government shut down. Theres no winners in a shutdown. Its devastating. And my friends keep saying they dont want it. So open up the government. Its easy. We did it here. Its waiting over there for john boehner to call it up. Dont add your pet peeves to it. I got a lot pet peeves id like to add to it too. This shutdown is devastating for our workers, for our businesses, for our contractors, for our economy. Speaker boehner, put that bill on the floor. Lets open this government. Lets not default for the first time. Lets look at what Ronald Reagan said about default. Can we have that . I got to say, i was actually here in the house when Ronald Reagan was the president. And heres what he said about default. The full consequences of a default or even the serious prospect of default by the United States are impossible to predict and awesome to contemplate. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic Financial Markets and the value of the dollar. Ronald reagan. We named an airport after him, a building after him. Lets pass this debt ceiling in his honor. He warned us. Whats gone wrong with the party of Ronald Reagan . Where have they gone . What are they thinking . Shut down the government. The last time they did it, it cost a fortune. The last time they played with the debt, it cost a fortune. We hear people dumping bonds, dumping american bonds. Is that what you want . What do you want . Open up the government. Let the people have their government. It is a selfinflicted mess. You you know, its like you wake up in the morning, its a pretty nice day, you feel pretty good. You know, you feel pretty good, and you all of a sudden you decide youre going to hit yourself in the heck with a brick. Oh, my god. And these little mini bills . How ridiculous. That reminds me of one of my friends gave me this analogy which i think is right on, which is, you see a woman drowning and you grab her and you take her halfway to the shore and you leave her and she drowns anyway. Thats what these mini press release bills are. Its like, you know, you find someone just bleeding to death but you only sew them up halfway. Its a selfinflicted mess. Thats the bad news. The good news is, because its selfinflicted, its easy to get out of it. All they have to do over there, madam president , as you know and you served there proudly take up the senate bill and pass it. It has the republican budget numbers in it which we really think are way too low but we agreed to it as a compromise because we didnt want to see the government shut down. Take up the bill and pass it. Then we can talk about all these issues and dont allow the greatest nation in the world to default. Denigration of the full faith and credit of the United States would have substantial effects on the domestic Financial Markets and the value of the dollar. I used to work on wall street a very long time ago, and i can tell you, you saw what happened when the markets thought we werent going to get together and and resolve this default situation, the markets started to go down, 300 points, 200 points. And then at the mere hope that we could fix this problem, the markets shot up. The markets are watching. They know whats happening here. Were going to have a chance to vote to lift the debt ceiling to make sure we dont default on bills that were already incurred. Let me be clear on that. We just are talking about paying the bills we already incurred. Youve got to do that when you are a homeowner. You pay your mortgage, you pay your bills. And then they started to say, whats a default . That one was unbelievable. I had i looked it up in blacks law dictionary. You dont pay your bills, its a default. Dont tell me, you pay the interest on the debt, that you cannot pay the other bills. No, no, no, no, no. No, no. Thats not a blocks law dictionary definition thats not blacks law dictionary definition. Pay your bill. Dont make this nation deadbeat. You want to treat your family that way, thats your choice. But this is the u. S. A. Family. U. S. A. We dont default. We dont threaten default. Ronald reagan warned us. Open up the government, pay your bills. You know . Its basic stuff. Its not complicated. Majority leader reid has been clear, and, you know, hes a guy who can compromise, negotiate, talk. Hes been around a long time. But he just said it open up the government, pay our bills and well negotiate. So, madam president , were going to hear a lot of words but i just want people to understand why the government is shut down. The government is shut down because the house, republican house, under the leadership of john boehner, or eric cantor or paul ryan were never sure; every day its someone new but its supposed to be john boehner. Fine. I like him. That doesnt change where we are. They refuse to take up the bill that opens up the government. And lets be clear, just until november. And it takes the numbers the republicans like and we dont like and we say, okay, well give you that; lets just keep the government open. We did it over here, and i thank my republican friends who voted to allow us to vote on that bill. That was a hard vote for them and im very appreciative of that. All boehner has to do is take up that bill and pass it. Thats all. And then were out of the shutdown mess and that selfinflicted wound is gone, we can negotiate over the budget, as we should, and then all they have to do is join us and make sure that we do not default for the first time in history and make this country a deadbeat nation. How horrible, how embarrassing. Ill close with this. This selfinflicted wound mattered so much that president obama had to cancel a trip to the asian countries. And that trip was important for our economy and for jobs and to get foreign investment. They didnt care. So we did our best and we sent our best face that we could, senator kerry, secretary of state hes doing his did his best. But i know that that was not a good thing to do because it gave china the upper hand. And china made some cracks about the dysfunction here and the rest. We are dysfunctional here, selfinflicted dysfunction. Selfinflicted crisis. This isnt hurricane sandy. This isnt the horrible, horrible blizzard thats happening in that happened in south dakota. And i just want to send my best to our colleagues there who are suffering because of what happened from that blizzard. Someday well talk a little bit about Climate Change and maybe we can move forward. The extreme weather thats happening. But im not going to talk about that now. Ive got numbe enough problems. What we need to do today is the right thing for the country open up the government that belongs to the American People. Its easy. Thats our job. Make sure we dont default. And then we sit down as friends, as colleagues across the party aisle and we negotiate all the important issues that republicans care about and democrats care about. And i think i look forward to those negotiations. And i hope that as they are going on now in little backrooms around us, that were finding a way out of this mess. But we cannot forget what brought us here and the reason i wanted to be here today to make it known in this congressional record the harm that has been done. Theres a reason why there hasnt been a shutdown since 19 i think it was 1999. 1996. Theres a reason. Because the people who lived through it recognized it was devastating. I guess the memory faded. Because people say, oh, there have been 19 shutdowns. Yeah, but there hasnt been one in all those years since 1996. Its a lot of years. And the reason is, it was devastating. So i want to make the record, i wanted to put i in the record, first of all, how the Affordable Care act is benefiting the people of this country already. Yes, its had its major problems on getting on your page and the rest. We had that the first day in california, but we had millions of people visit visits to the site, millions. We didnt expect it. Its its going to be smoot smooth its going to be smoothed out. And, yes, there will be ways to fix it. But i wanted to put in the record the individual stories of my people and how theyre benefiting and how, it seems to me, so counterintuitive to stop a law that was passed almost four years ago, held up by the Supreme Court upheld by the Supreme Court, and now finally going into place. Its just wrong. And to shut down the government because of such a law that is bringing peace of mind to so many. Tens of thousands already in california signed up. So i had to make that point. And i also wanted to reiterate what Ronald Reagan said, president reagan, about playing with the full faith and credit of the United States. And i want the American People to think about why we are in this place and how they can stop this from ever happening again, because i think its a disgrace and its wrong. So thank you very much. I yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from south carolina. A senator i have enjoyed well, not really, but i have listened to my colleague to the left talk about just opening the Government Back up. And i think to myself as she used the analogy of the saving someones life, dragging them halfway to shore and stopping, i think to myself, when you think about the veterans, the house of representatives passed a bill to fund the department of veterans, the veterans affairs. Mr. Scott i think about all those veterans who served our nation, put their lives on the line and the house of representatives sent over a bill to fund the very crucial needs of our veterans, and yet the senate has failed to take it up. I think about the National Parks and all the opportunities that we have to see our parks open back up, see our veterans not denied at the world war ii. But, no, the senate refuses to take it up. I think about n. I. H. And the critical funding that is necessary to continue the research and yet our friends on the left refuse to take up this critical piece of legislation. So i enjoy being lectured to, i call it the democrat lecture series. But at the ends of the day end of the day, we ought to have action and not just simply words. But i like the fact that its important for us to figure who to blame. In politics, the lowest common detom narrate is always fear. We have to have someone to blame. And our friends on the left do a very good job of assigning blame to someone someplace, somehow all the time. But we we really need is leadership. Not more information about the polls but leadership. We need people committed to the cause. In a town that seems to be the epicenter of activity for the economy, we have twothirds of this legislative process the white house, the senate being run by our democrat friends, and yet they want to blame the republicans for the shutdown. I would call this no question undeniably the democrat shutdown. I hope we find ourselves in a position to tell our veterans, we werent kidding when we made the promise, promises made should be promises kept. There ought to be no question of our commitment. And weve seen that commitment demonstrated by our friends in the house, republicans and democrats working together to pass legislation to take care of our veterans. We need more of that. Thats leadership, working together, finding Common Ground to take care of those who have made america possible. But not today. Not in this senate. Not when those bills sit idle. For the men and the women who serve our country cannot sit idle. They go without their benefits. I wonder why. I wonder why we are not seeing the type of sense of urgency to take care of those areas where theres full agreement, why are we not taking advantage of the opportunities presented to us on a consistent basis by our friends in the house of representatives . I dont understand that. Madam president , i simply do not understand that. I will say that i do find it very difficult to find Common Ground in the United States senate at times. It can be very difficult for republicans and democrats to find something that we have in common. I believe that we strive to work in a bipartisan fashion on a consistent basis and i will tell you that on the most important issues, its very difficult. But i have been encouraged in my research in the last few days of looking for Common Ground, ive been encouraged that i have found some friends on the left that actually seem to agree with my position on some of the most important issues facing the nation today. Ill eve quote some of ill even quote some of my friends to the left as i think through this debt ceiling debate. As a matter of fact, the first quote ill start with my friends on the left. Quote the fact that we are here today to debate raising americas debt limit is a sign of leadership failure. I concur with my friend on the left. The suggestion and another quote Interest Payments are a significant tax on all americans. A debt tax washington doesnt want to talk about. I concur and agree with my friend to the left. Another quote increasing americas debt weakens us domestically and international internationally. Leadership means that the buck stops here. I agree with my friend on the left. My colleague on the left is now the president of the United States. These are quotes from senator barack obama. Madam president , our president of the United States and our Vice President combined voted approximately i think it was 10 or 11 times not to raise the debt ceiling of our country. They called it a failure of leadership. I think its interesting, madam president. As a Small Business often for or the last 15 years as a Small Business owner for the last 15 years, ive had the opportunity to borrow what i considered at the time real money. Now that im in washington, i have to redefine the definition of real money. But at the time i was trying to get my business started and i went to a bank to borrow some money, and the banker had some very interesting questions for me. He wanted to know how i was going to pay it back. He wanted to know what assets that i was willing to put up in order to receive the resources that i needed to fund my business. I see the debt ceiling debate as a debate over how we explain to our investors, the american taxpayers, that we are handling responsibly the underlying causes for the need to increase our debt. I cannot tell our investors that we are handling our debt, our spending responsibly. I cannot tell our vefers our investors that we have a plan to balance our budget. I cannot tell our investors, the taxpayers of america, that we are even thinking about controlling our spending. No, as a matter of fact, over the last five years, we have spent five nearly 5 trillion more than weve brought in. And our friends on the left want to have a serious conversation about the spending of this country. I cannot tell our investors, the american taxpayers, i cant tell them what i want to tell them, but i can tell them that we do not deserve an increase in the debt ceiling unless we produce a plan. I can tell our investors here at home that we do not deserve an increase without balancing our budgets. I can tell them, the taxpayers of america, that until we are willing to cut our spending at the same rate that we increase our credit card limit, we dont deserve their confidence in raising the debt ceiling. Some will ask us then, senator scott, pray tell, where will you find the revenue . We have heard from the friends in the house of representatives that there is just no more money for us to cut. We cant find anyplace to cut anything in this 4 trillion spending plan. Really . Well, there are many options on how to cut spending here in america, and here are some very simple ones. Senator tom coburn regularly shares reports on government waste. Last year, he showed how the Market Access program had provided 20 million to the Cotton Council international. And they used it to create reality tv shows in india intended to promote the use of cotton. India, for the record, is an exporter of cotton and produces twice the amount the u. S. Does. The o. M. B. Released a report that improper payments for medicare amounted to 47. 9 billion in 2010, or 9 of medicares budget. The chamber of commerce looked at the davisbacon requirements and found that it inflates the cost of federal Construction Projects by as much as 15 and costs the taxpayers over 1 billion annually. 1,500. There are over 1,500 programs in the United States government that are in duplication, costing the taxpayers more than 400 billion. Madam president , i would like to be able to share with the investors of america, the taxpayers, that we have a plan. Id love to share with the taxpayers of america that one day we will balance our budget. I would love to tell the taxpayers of america, our investors, that they can have confidence in our ability to lead us in such a way that future debt increases will be less likely to happen. Madam president , i have not seen such a plan. Im not ive not heard conversations about controlling our debt, only conversations about increasing the limit to create more debt. Madam president , i am concerned that as we wrestle with the problems of today, we have no focus on tomorrow. I hope that this body will work diligently not only to have a conversation about the debt limit of america but a conversation about how we take care of the underlying problem. Thank you, madam president. The presiding officer the senators time has expired. The senator from california. Mrs. Boxer madam president , i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer madam president , i understand that h. J. Res. 79 has been received from the house and is at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. The clerk h. J. Res. 79, making continuing appropriations for certain components of the department of Homeland Security for fiscal year 2014, and for other purposes. Mrs. Boxer madam president , i would ask for its second reading and object to my own request. The presiding officer objection having been heard, the bill will be read for a second time on the next legislative day. Mrs. Boxer madam president , i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 11 00 a. M. On saturday, october october 12, 2013, and that following the prayer and the pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that the time until 12 00 noon be equally divided and controlled between two leaders or their designees. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Boxer madam president , at noon tomorrow, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to s. 1569, the debt limit legislation. Madam president , if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order, following the remarks of senators sessions and blunt. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sessions madam president . The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Sessions madam president , the republican senators met with president obama earlier today and discussed many of the Financial Issues facing america and the difficulties we are having in achieving an agreement that cuts us on a sound financial path. There surely are actions that we can take together to improve our situation. I believe there was some progress made and some avenues for progress that could be opened up in the hours to come, and i hope that we can do that, but now its well to recognize that our medicare and Medicaid Programs are surging in cost, and as the president rightly noted to us at our meeting earlier today and hes done this for a number of years. Hes noted that government Health Care Costs are the biggest drivers of our debt. In other words, it is increasing at a faster rate than other programs, and we project it will continue to increase at those rates. And i think thats true, it is true. We have a huge challenge there. But importantly to this whole discussion, i would recall that the president in a former address to a joint session of congress in september of 2009 promoting his Affordable Care act, he stated this that it would help fix this problem of the growing consist of health care and then flatly and unequivocally promised quote i will not sign a plan that adds one dime to our deficits, either now or any time in the future. Close quote. But this is astoundingly inaccurate, and we have to know this. We are voting on and wrestling about what to do about a Health Care Bill, other spending programs, but one thing that has been overlooked is is this promise that the Health Care Bill, the Affordable Care act, obamacare, is not paid for as it was promised. And its astoundingly overbudget. Let me talk to you a few minutes about this issue and its importance as we Work Together to try to reach a compromise, we have got to understand that fact , and as we work to deal with some of our longterm financial challenges, we need to focus on that matter. Indeed, it appears, according to the Government Accountability office, that over the long term Accounting Period to evaluate the unfunded liabilities of the United States, that the Affordable Care act will add 6. 2 trillion to the unfunded liabilities of america, 6. 2 trillion. That does not count the interest on that over this long period of time which may well double that figure, and it puts it in the range and maybe even more almost equal to the liability of Social Security. So this is a big deal. I want to share with my colleagues some thoughts as goodfaith negotiations are going on by members and republicans and democrats are talking and white house staff people are talking and house members and the speaker are talking, some principles that need to be they need to be aware of as we go forward. So i will make a budget warning and make this point. Trust fund improvements, Social Security and medicare primarily, which are produced by saving your in these programs or increased revenues in these programs, and a number of ideas have been floated that could do that and they need to be done, but those savings through revenue or cutting of expenses cannot be used to justify or pay for breaking budget control act caps. And thats very important. So its essential in these hours of financial debate that all members of congress and that the American People understand that the savings gained from muchneeded reforms of our financially unsound Social Security and Medicare Trust funds can only be used to strengthen those funds and not be used simultaneously to support spending for a new program such as the Affordable Care act. You cant use the money twice. Our vital Social Security and medicare programs are not solvent at this time. We know they are going into deficit right now. And when our revenues are increased for those programs, as many ideas are being floated, or the costs of those programs are being brought down as ideas are being floated, and indeed a number of them are in the president s budget which have some merit, the resulting funds can only be spent once. Can only be spent once. The budget control act restricts Discretionary Spending. It says we are not going to increase spending over a certain rate. Were going to reduce the rate of increase in government spending, and the budget control act is in law. It was negotiated by the president , and senator reid, the majority leader here, and the speaker and senator mcconnell, and they agreed that certain limits on spending over the next ten years. We were projected at that time to increase spending over ten years 10 trillion. If its flat spending, we would spend 37 trillion. On the projected growth, it would grow to 47 trillion. Under the budget control act, we said okay, were going to cut spending, but it really wasnt a cut in spending, but we would reduce spending the growth of spending from 10 trillion to growing spending 8 trillion. Thats what the pain that you are hearing from so much of today. And the congress in the two yearsplus in said agreement, except for a few budget gimmicks that my fine Staff Members bring up, for the most part has largely stuck to those limits. Although the president and the Democratic Senate have openly and directly opposed those limits. The president five months after signing the budget control act submitted a budget to this senate that would increase spending 1 trillion over the limits agreed to in the budget control act. Can you imagine that . There is a bipartisan meeting as we worked on the debt ceiling to raise the debt ceiling 2 trillion. We agreed that over ten years we would cut spending 2. 1 trillion. So five, six months less than six months later, the president submits a budget to the United States senate and to the United States house to call for spending a trillion dollars over that amount. So i think that was a breach, a serious act on the president to move away from the promises that he had made and the act he signed into law. Now, to be more specific about it, one of the proposals in the president s budget thats received a lot of discussion is an alteration of the way we calculate inflation index for Social Security. Its been referred to as chained c. P. I. , and its projected to save a certain amount of money, maybe 133 billion or maybe more. Lets just say its going to save 100 billion. Chained c. P. I. , and it would in fact increase the revenue into Social Security, and it would reduce the amount of money thats paid oust Social Security, and it would save, lets say, 100 billion. So this would strengthen Social Security. Theres no doubt about that. It would strengthen Social Security because the Social Security liabilities are going down and the revenue is going up. But what i want to say to our colleagues, as they wrestle with how to bring our numbers into better balance, those savings cannot benefit Social Security and simultaneously justify increased treasury spending over the budget control act levels. You cant use the money twice. This is so basic. And were talking about hundreds of billions of dollars. C. B. O. , our Congressional Budget Office, has analyzed this kind of maneuver, and theyve clearly affirmed that even though the budget score over ten years, using the unified budget accounting methods, would suggest otherwise, you cant spend the money in both places. So if you know how to ask a question of c. B. O. , over the tenyear budget window, it can give the appearance that you have this money because it creates money more money coming into the government that you can spend it over here. But the money is dedicated to Social Security. Its Social Security money. It cant be spent twice. If its going to strengthen Social Security, it cant be spent over here. The presiding officer the senator has used ten minutes. Mr. Sessions madam president , i would ask unanimous consent that i be given five additional minutes. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sessions thank the president most graciously. C. B. O. Has flatly called this, at a request my request in a letter double counting. Thank you imagine, the c. B. O. Office saying the United States congress is doublecounting . Actually, at that case, in dealing with the Affordable Care act, 500 billion of money extracted out of medicare that was being used to claim it would pay for the Affordable Care act when it was medicares money. So im talking at this point and just sharing the example from Social Security and the chained c. P. I. But the principles are the same because both are trust funds. And so it is double accounting. In fact, any Social Security or Medicare Trust fund savings so produced are legally assets of the trust fund and debt instruments of the United States treasury are issued and interest paid from the u. S. Treasury to the Social Security and to the Medicare Trust funds on the moneys that are borrowed in that way. If the savings, as is likely, do not result in a trust fund surplus, then theres really even no surplus that they can borrow. It just simply tends to show more income to the u. S. Treasury. Falsely showing that because, again, the money is committed offbudget to the Social Security. The critical fact is that all of those moneys are already obligated to Social Security and medicare and will be needed by those programs, and more money actually is going to be needed by those programs, to meet the future obligations of those trust funds, which are insolvent. They dont have enough money coming in to pay the obligations that theyre required to make in the years to come. So the scope of this abuse of our Accounting System is truly enormous and threatens our nations very financial future. For example, it has allowed the president to falsely assert that the Affordable Care act would not allow add one dime to the debt. Absent doublecounting, it will increase our debt by over 500 billion over the next ten years alone. And itll impact add vrsl advere economy of america. Theyre going to spend all this money and they were going to make us safe from illegal immigration and it was all paid for, every dime of it, and it wouldnt add to the debt. You know how they did that . Well, they were going to give Social Security cards to millions 11 million or however many would come forward legally and then they would pay more Social Security and then they would have more Social Security money coming into the u. S. Treasury and therefore, they said, that would pay for the extra Border Patrol and other expenses that they said that they have to, a spend money on. But think about it, colleagues. The money paid for by the people whove been given legal status, the Social Security they paid for is their money. Its their money. Theyre going to draw out ever penny of it every penny of it when they get older. You cant say it is available to pay another expense today. Its not going to be there if you do to pay for their Social Security when they retire. How simple is this . This was the message here on the floor. They insisted steadfastly that the bill was paid for, doublingcounting Social Security money. So weve got to get strad straigh soweve got to get stt it ive got to so weve got to get straight about this, ive got to say. Doublecounting is open to manipulation and abuse, which has been done by both parties in the past. Its enabling really the nations financial dangerous trajectory. Finally, as we work to end the nations financial impasse, all should understand that consent to passage of a continuing resolution or debt ceiling cannot be achieved until we have sufficient time to have an accurate c. B. O. Score of it so we know what kind of maneuvers are being used in the bill. So im going to object. Were not going to wake up one day and say weve got to run to the floor and pass a bill with 30 minutes notice or three hours notice and that would be a misstage of i thank the chair and would yield the floor. Mr. Blunt madam president . The presiding officer the senator from missouri. Mr. Blunt i want to first of all follow up on a comment my friend from louisiana from alabama just made on Social Security and medicare. I think its very important that we listen carefully to what he just had to say. That if we do things that are socalled reforms and i think there are many places where we could reform those programs wwe should use those savings to save those programs. We shouldnt say were going to have reforms in medicare more likely perhaps than Social Security and then not use those reforms to extend the life of these important programs. These are programs that we have told americans, in the case of Social Security since the early since the mid1930s, in the case of comairks sinc medicare,e mid1960s that youd be able to rely on. These programs can be adjusted and rye forme reformed but i thr leader on the side of the budget effort, who spends so much time trying to make the case for the right kind of budget decisions, is clearly pointing out that if you make savings in these programs and then use that money to fund other Discretionary Spending, is that the fair thing to do with Social Security or medicare . I dont think so, and i think hes raising a very good point here. And as we try to figure out how to move forward in this year, we need to be sure that savings are real savings, that theyre not doublecounted, that were not saving money in one program that clearly should go toward that priority of that program rather than the other priorities we havent yet set. Which gets me to the topic of setting priorities. You know, would had the opportunity to go to the white house. The democrats yesterday, republicans today to talk to the president about how we move forward with the budget year, the spending year thats already started. And when we were there, the president made it clear once again that we shouldnt negotiate, but on more than one occasion in the morning that we were there the president said, you shouldnt we shouldnt be allowed to negotiate for things that you couldnt get or didnt get in the regular process. And my view of that, madam president , is there is no regular process. As the president said that, i thought, this is like pouring gas on a fire of frustration for members of the senate, particularly in the house, that are frustrated that there is no process. There is no place earlier than a crisis to go and say, lets debate these issues, lets debate these priorities. How many of the 12 spending bills for the year that began 11 days ago have we had on the floor of the senate . One. One of the bills that should have been done starting at about last march and april that should have been completed over the summer, that money would have been spent beginning october 1. One of the 12 was on the floor, and frankly it was a bill that the majority leader had every reason to believe wouldnt pass if it was brought to the floor. Lets not even go there. Lets assume it would have passed. It still would have been one of the 12 bills that we need to run the government. So when the president or anybody else say, you shouldnt use these crisis moments to try to get thi your priorities discuss, theyre the only moments we have. Theyre the only time we have. I dont like government by crisis. I think it is a very unfortunate thing for this presidency that, if you really look at how the government has worked in the last five years, its from one crisis to another. And if i could do anything to help president obama pull away from crisis management, id be inclined to want to that, particularly if inclined to want to do that particularly if that meant we were going to come back and have a fair debate between a divided congress that leads to some way forward that can actually accomplish something. The idea that we wont negotiate at this moment or the president feeling that somehow he wont be held hostage to the debt limit, im certainly going to vote tomorrow mott to even move forward not to even move forwarded with this discussion for a 1 trillion debt ceiling increase with no discussion of what were going to do to change our behavior. You know, president obama, to his credit, entered into a negotiation just two years ago, august of 2011, and in return for 2. 5 trillion worth of spending cuts over a decade, he got 2. 1 trillion in Additional Debt ceiling. Now, the president cant agree to that in august of 2011 and then in october of 2012 say, nobody should ever negotiate on the debt ceiling. 53 times in the since 1978 weve had a change in the debt ceiling, and since 1978, more than half of those debt limits included legislation dealing with either spending or other matters. This is not the president says, i will not be put this on future president s to be the president that goes forward with increasing the debt ceiling under some with a negotiation. Well, every president since 1978 has had the same situation the president had in august of 2011. The same situation, madam president , you a understand i would have you and i would have if we were going to get our line of credit extended and we exceeded our line of credit. Whoever is going to extend that line of credit is going to say, what are you going to do to change the behavior that you have that allowed you to blow through your last line of credit . And the president and others will say, well, this is about america paying its bills. This is about we want the congress, the Current Congress to pay the bills it has incurred. Well, most of the bills have been incurred, werent incurred by this congress. They were inkur incurred by past legislation. 62 of the spending is now and last year, itll probably be higher than this moment were in. 62 of the spending was mandatory spending. It was spending that was put in place by congresses beginning in the 1930s through the Health Care Bill. Thats mostly mandatory spending. The Current Congress didnt get to vote on the Health Care Bill, but more importantly, most of the Current Congress wasnt alive when the when the Social Security act passed. Many of the members of this of the congress and even some of the members of the senate werent alive when medicare passed. This is the time to look at for this congress to look at those pieces of legislation and say, what do we need to adjust them to the future needs of the un