Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140109

Heated up to avoid that concern. I had no plan to do it during the transition. I was trying to get through the transition. But we had a town halls during the second term and tried to do as many as we did the first time. I enjoyed the town hall setting and process. And the fact is i think i dont believe ive lost the trust of the people of new jersey. I think the people of new jersey see when mistakes are made how the leader is going to react. And i believe i will take the action ive taken today will say mistakes were made, the governor had nothing to do with that but hes taking responsibility for it, and hes made the decisions that need to be made and has promised he will continue to make those decisions as necessary going forward. Michael . [inaudible] Transportation Committee this afternoon . Thats between david and his attorney. Hes represented by counsel now. I would love to hear the whole story for my own purpose, but i cant advise him what to do. If someone is represented by counsel hes going to make his own judgment. [inaudible] i just did. I said i would like to hear the story that im not in the position to instruct someone to do something because they are represented by counsel. They believe it is in their best interest, certainly, you know, during the story would be good for everybody. [inaudible] i dont know. I dont know. I mean, listen, up to this period of time the emails released yesterday, it was the senators testimony that mr. Wildstein initiated at his approval, with his approval. Now, you know, i dont know given some of the emails that i saw yesterday. But clearly mr. Wildstein played a major role whether it is his idea and initiation that they testified. I guess time will tell. But clearly there was knowledge of this action, whatever it was, prior to the beginning. And that was something that i would direct to answer weeks ago was not the case. Thats what we were told and after repeated questioning from all the people around here and i was lied to. And for that she has been terminated. Angie . [inaudible] first off, i would love for you and others to believe i interviewed hundreds if not thousands of people as u. S. Attorney. I did not it was the very rare occasion when the u. S. Attorneys himself or herself goes into a room and interviews a witness. It probably happened a dozen times in seven years. Its a very rare occurrence. And she, if you try to understand this on a personal level, if youve worked with someone for five years, and theyve been a member of your Political Team and government team, and you look at them and say to them what do you know about this and did you have any involvement, did you have any knowledge of it . And they look at you and they say no. And you have never had any reason before to believe that they were anything but truth telling, why wouldnt you believe them . I work on the basis of trusting people, and i assume over a period of time that most people are trustworthy, unless proven otherwise. And so, when we asked those questions and we got those answers, there was no reason at that time we asked the questions for us to believe that they werent true based upon the comments ive even if you look at the stories today written about bridget i dont think youve heard anybody in their stories talk about her in any way but very positive ways had given her history in the house and working for the legislature. So i have no reason to believe that shes telling anything but the truth. And thats why i was heartbroken. Because i trusted that i was being told the truth, and i wasnt. At i was sent by somebody that i placed a significant amount of trust in. Did i miss that . I mean, thats why we are here. We missed that. But what do you do when you find out you miss it . I found out a little before nine yesterday morning, by 9 00 this morning her position was terminated. And i think that is a swift, appropriate action that people would expect from the chief executive of the state. [inaudible] i understand what youre saying. I cant read anything else in 28 beyond you are injuring certain things from the email. I think that is a reasonable interest but i dont know the answer. Remember when we ask questions, we need to know about the existence of the email triet i found out for the first time at 8 50 yesterday morning. And you can only imagine, as i was standing there in my bedroom with my ipad looking at that, incredibly sad and the betrayed i felt. Josh . [inaudible] what instructions are you giving your staff, what will you do come and do you expect [inaudible] listen, i have absolutely nothing to hide, and ive not given any instruction to anyone yet. But my instruction to everyone would be to cooperate and answer questions. Josh, i have nothing to hide, so anybody that has questions that they want to ask me can ask. From law enforcement, anything they want to ask, they can ask. We have nothing to hide, and this administration has nothing to hide. [inaudible] deutsch to think this could have an impact on the nomination to the attorneygeneral said he was the chief of staff and will [inaudible] absolutely not. Kevins confirmation hearing will go forward on tuesday. And i expect that he will be vigorously questioned like any candidates for attorney general would become and i expect he will get a swift and certain confirmation because he deserves it. [inaudible] i have not thought about that yet. A lot of things i have been thinking about that wasnt one of them. I will put it on my list, but i havent thought about it yet. [inaudible] we have been given no documents, elise. I dont know. But certainly none were offered to us to review. The first time we saw any documents was on the web site yesterday morning. We havent been offered any. Charlotte . Did she have the authorization to carry out significant decisions such as authorization of [inaudible] or founding without getting prior approval from you or senior staff [inaudible] listen, i dont believe bridget had a policy authority on any issue. Bridgets jobless to interact with the other governmental agencies and to have interaction with members of the legislature. And that was her job. So, my understanding is that she had no authority on policy. Policy issues had to be run through. She is the staffs office and so, no. Again, i know there are certain suppositions and that question, but my understanding of bridgets authority was not that extent of policy. Melissa . [inaudible] can they find it hard to believe bridget as reflected in that email yesterday. She had no prior approval. Putting aside the supposition, she had no prior approval from the chief of staff who is her director to report, and she had no prior approval from the governor. She did not seek out and we were not informed about it. So if she acted in a manner that exceeded her authority, which seems, you know, to be a possibility, thats what she did. But i have no knowledge of this and neither did the chief of staff. Melissa . [inaudible] i spoke to mike last night. David act that time was considering whether or not to resign. And he made the determination the next day in the meeting with the administration to resign, but i dont believe from my conversation with mike last night that that was the main topic of the dinner that night. The dinner was a social dinner, not a professional dinner. Jenna . [inaudible] to the extent i cant, jenna. From what i know at this point, the position is that they were closed to do a traffic study. And i have heard nothing from them that changes their position. I now see emails which indicate that there is a political overtone to what went on. I dont know what the situation is. Like i said, i think i answered this before. I dont know whether this was some type of a political operation that morphed into a traffic study, or a traffic study that morphed into an offical i dont know. You know, mr. Wildstein is scheduled to speak at the legislature so its not like hes available for interview. So, you know, im not going to as i said in a response to a question over here, im not going to give you the middle of a legislative process that people have already noticed to be witness to it i think that would be inappropriate. Let them do their job. If i did that i would be accused of trying to play around with testimony, which im not going to get involved with. Marsha . [inaudible] listen, you think im suggesting any Traffic Studies [laughter] i dont want a traffic study in front of my house. Never really in it and it definitely dont want to be. Here is what we should do. As a policy going forward, that should be left to the professional staff at the port authority. With the professional engineers and those folks deal with whether those things should be done or not done. Im pretty confident in saying that is the current position of this administration. Luke . [inaudible] listen, i can say they have every right to do what they are doing giving what we revealed yesterday. Im certainly not going to question that. In terms of their right to conduct an investigation, given what was surveiled yesterday, i was shocked by it. I assume they were, too triet i have a Good Relationship with the incoming speaker and i will work with them every way possible to make sure we put this matter to rest triet so, i certainly am not going to question their right or ability to do that. John . We are leaving governor christies news conference. You can see it in its entirety of the website, cspan. Org. Now live to the floor of the u. S. Senate for a possible vote on extending longterm Unemployment Benefits quorum call mr. Baucus baucus madam presid . The presiding officer the senator from montana. Mr. Baucus madam president , 52 years ago in 1962 the presiding officer the senates in a quorum call. Mr. Baucus i thank the chair. Madam president , i suggest further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Baucus madam president , 52 years ago in 1962, president john kennedy signed the trade expansion act into law. At the signing, he spoke about the importance of trade to the United States and its partners abroad and how it helped secure our preeminence in the global economy. Heres what he said quote we now have the means to make certain that we build our strength together and that we can maintain this preeminence. His words still ring true today. International trade is a cornerstone of our economy. Mr. Hatch madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch my friend from montana is absolutely right. International trade is crucial to americas economy. Last year exports supported 9. 8 million american jobs, including 25 of all manufacturing jobs. Jobs created through trade are good jobs. On average, u. S. Plants that export overseas pay their workers up to 18 more than nonexporting plants. They increase employment 2 to 4 faster than nonexporting plants. But we can do even better. More than 95 of the worlds population and 80 of the worlds purchasing power is outside of the United States. To succeed in todays world, our farmers, ranchers and job creators must be able to fairly access the world market. Mr. Baucus madam president . The presiding officer the senator from montana. Mr. Baucus madam president , i hope everyone listened to my good friends words. I mean, he made a very important point, statistics i think most americans are unaware of. And if they were to think about it more, would realize the importance of trade. We export so much now. Its such a large percentage of our economy. It supports goodpaying jobs. Frankly, im perplexed that more americans dont want to work harder to get trade agreements passed so we can export more and create more goodpaying jobs in america. I might say, madam president , that today we have a bold plan to strengthen our trade ties with nations across the pacific and with europe. Whats our goal . Our goal is to seize new export opportunities so we can boost our economy and create jobs here at home. We all know the big to and fro here with Unemployment Insurance, madam president. The key really is to have fewer people unemployed. How does that happen . That is more goodpaying jobs. And as a first step we can take to make that happen, that first step, though, is something we have to do so we can act on our trade agenda and what is that . Its called trade Promotion Authority, otherwise known as t. P. A. And thats why this afternoon, senator hatch and i introduce the bipartisan congressional trade priorities act of 2014. Mr. Hatch madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch our own bill will help guarantee these landmark trade deals get done and get done right. First, the bill updates t. P. A. By by addressing 21st century issues. What are these issues . Nonscientific barriers to u. S. Agricultural products. Unfair competition from stateowned enterprises. Arbitrary localization barriers which require u. S. Companies to turn over their intellectual property or locate facilities in a foreign country in order to access foreign markets. And unnecessary restrictions on digital trade and data which flows across borders. Mr. Baucus thats right, madam president. Our bill also addresses Critical Issues such as labor, environment, and innovation for the first time, currency manipulation. Our bill addresses it. Senator hatch and i have worked with our good friend across the aisle across the hallway here in the other body, our friend, ways and means chairman dave camp, to carefully craft these negotiated objectives and ensure that congress is a full partner in trade negotiations. Our bill helps lay out in clear terms what congresss priorities are for trade. Its our opportunity to tell the administration and our partners overseas what we must see in an agreement if it is going to be approved by congress. It boosts congressional oversight, it increases transparency in trade negotiations, and it gives every member of congress the right to a strong voice in the process. Mr. Hatch madam president , i want to praise the distinguished chairman over in the house of the ways and means committee. Hes worked long and hard on these issues and i think is a great partner to not only the two of us but to every senator in the United States senate. What the senator from montana has just said is absolutely right. Our bill empowers congress but it also empowers our negotiato negotiators. Its approval will help them conclude highstandard agreements that will open new markets for u. S. Exports, ultimately bringing more jobs and ultimately bringing jobs and Economic Growth to the United States. Lastly, before i turn back to the chairman, i just want to say again how critical this legislation is for our nation and to commend my friend from montana, the distinguished chairman of the finance committee, for working to make trade Promotion Authority a reality. Hes always been a tremendous leader on International Trade and im glad to stand by his side to ensure the finance committee and the Senate Considers this jobcreating legislation in a fair, thorough, and expeditious manner. Mr. Baucus madam president , i say thank you very much to my good friend from utah utah. As president kennedy said 52 years ago, this is about working with our trade partners to build strength together. Its about maintaining u. S. Preeminence. Thats why t. P. A. Is so important, because it makes our jobcreating trade agenda work and helps secure the future. I yield the floor. Mr. Hatch madam president . The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch i ask unanimous consent that kevin rowsen balm, detailee to the Senate Committee on finance and stephanie dirie be granted floor privileges during the duration of the congress. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Hatch thank you. With that, i i yield the floor. A senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman madam president , i happened to be on the floor to hear the news from senator hatch and senator baucus that they have reached an agreement on trade Promotion Authority. I want to congratulate them on that working with chairman camp over on the house side. This is incredibly important. These two gentlemen have worked as republican and democrat closely together over the last few months with the administration to put in place the opportunity for American Workers, american farmers, American Service providers to be able to sell their goods, their services on a level Playing Field by opening up more markets for u. S. Products. I really congratulate them on that. It is sad to me, madam president , that for the past five or six years, we havent had trade Promotion Authority. And without their strong efforts, we still wouldnt have it today. It has been noted that this administration, the obama administration, is the first one since f. D. R. Not to have asked for even the ability to open these markets through whats called trade Promotion Authority and its predecessors and to until earlier last march. So until last spring, they hadnt even asked for it. They did ask for it, and thanks to the hard work of these two gentlemen and congressman camp, we now are going to have that opportunity. This does give our workers, our farmers, our Service Providers the ability to be able to access these markets that senator baucus and senator hatch talked about, and its critical to Economic Growth. If you look at the growth in the last two or three recoveries, much of it was because of expanding exports, and we all believe that the current level of Economic Growth is disappointing, its anemic growth. Were looking at longterm unemployed being at historic levels as we talked about on the floor all week here. One solution, clearly, is for the United States to do more exporting, and you cant do that without trade Promotion Authority. I speak as a former u. S. Trade representative who had the honor of traveling the world representing our great country. I will tell you when you got down to the negotiating across the table with another country, how do you knock down both tariff and nontariff barriers to trade, if they didnt know that there was an ability with an upordown vote to get that trade agreement done in the United States congress through Something Like trade Promotion Authority, they would not put their last and best offer on the tail. Thats a reality. Our system is different than the systems of most countries around the world. We have to have trade Promotion Authority, that has been our experience, in order to get these trade agreements done that help, again, to knock down barriers to the people in the United States who make the best products in the world, who provide the best services in the world and just are looking for a fair shake and a level Playing Field. These two gentlemen by doing this today have opened up the possibility for us now to have trade agreements that give us the opportunity to grow our economy and create, as they both said, goodpaying jobs with good benefits, and i congratulate them for that. I would be happy to yield to my colleague and chairman, Ranking Member from utah. Mr. Hatch well, i want to compliment the distinguished senator because he he was our trade representative. He traveled all over the world. He understands how important these issues are. He understands that without t. P. A. , we wouldnt be able to get these particular trade agreements done. He understands how hard we have worked to try and come up with language that we can all accept, in spite of some of the proclivities of this administration. He also has worked diligently with both sides of the floor on these issues, both as trade representative but also as a member of the Senate Finance committee. And im so grateful that we have him on the Senate Finance committee with all this knowledge and experience to be able to help us on these particular issues. I was a little nonplused last week when one of the leading trade Union President s in this country got on television and was was decrying International Trade. When i made the point a little bit earlier that it means tremendous jobs, highpaying jobs, growth in our economy. That means more jobs that if the unions want to organize they might be able to organize. Its hard for me to understand why anybody in the Union Movement would be against these free trade policies. It basically allows us to export our materials while, yes, we import others. But that is what free trade is all about. I just want to personally express my very high opinion of the distinguished senator. I can tell you this, we are so lucky to have him in the United States senate with all of his experience in this particular area, but in many other areas as well, because he was in o. M. B. As well. There are very few senators in this body who can claim that they have the equivalent experience to what our distinguished friend has. I just want to personally express my admiration and my resolve to help him and others on this and the other side of the floor to understand how important his words are here today, how important it is to have free trade, how important it is to have the trade Promotion Authority so that we can have free trade, because every president since f. D. R. , including him, has been for trade Promotion Authority, every president. There is a fear around here among some of the democrats that the union is going to turn against them. My gosh, they are going to be the main beneficiaries of major trade legislation. Its hard for me to comprehend how they can even make a semi argument against this matter. And hopefully they will back up and realize that this is in their interests, too, because it puts us in the real world, getting real jobs that are higher pay than we would otherwise get if we didnt have these these Free Trade Agreements and if we werent able to get this passed. I suspect well get this passed in large measure. I think along with the distinguished chairman of the committee, my friend who has just spoken will be one of the main reasons why we do. I yield the floor. Mr. Baucus will the senator from ohio yield for a question . Mr. Portman i am pleased to yield to the senator from montana. Mr. Baucus i might ask my good friend from ohio if he could expand on what i think is a very important point. Its namely this. With the world becoming more competitive, with globalization, its ever more important for the United States of america to strive ahead and to keep working to develop good products, good High Technology products and to compete in the world. I think frankly when you are treading water, youre sinking. You have to keep moving. You have to keep moving ahead if youre going to make products and boost incomes and help the American People. Which leads to another point, mainly this. If the senator could just tell us a little more, explain to frankly some people who may not realize this whats involved with t. P. P. Of course we need trade Promotion Authority in order to get t. P. P. But isnt it important, isnt it critical, isnt it crucial that the United States include a strong Transpacific Partnership agreement, not only for economic reasons but also for geopolitical reasons, to show to the world, to show to Asian Countries were wondering where the United States is, is the United States going to show up, is the United States going to maintain its presence in asia or not . What will happen if we dont pass trade Promotion Authority . How will that affect the Transpacific Partnership negotiations . And what effect will that have on other countries and asias perception of the United States. We know this better than anybody that unfortunately president obama was unable to travel to Southeast Asia to attend the conference, and many people around the world are wondering if the United States is going to show up or not anymore in asia. So if the senator could just address how important is it that we engage countries in the pacific as we negotiate the Transpacific Partnership, in addition to the economic reasons, but also if he could address the geopolitical question, issue, the question to which it is important for the United States to negotiate the agreement, successful agreement, and to be there and show up. Mr. Portman reclaiming my time. I appreciate the question from my colleague from montana. I would say just based on his question, were going to miss his wisdom and his experience on the trade issue. He takes some political risks sometimes, i know, as he did in coming up with an agreement on trade Promotion Authority, because there are many on both sides of the aisle, particularly on his side of the aisle who take a different view of this. He has been willing to help educate them as to why this is in the interests of montana farmers and ranchers and workers , and senator hatch talked earlier about the impact of trade on the people he represents. Youre absolutely right. The trade Promotion Authority enables us to take that step toward things like the Transpacific Partnership called t. P. P. A lot of alphabet soup here. T. P. A. For t. P. P. That is important as the gentleman just said because this is the Fastest Growing region of the world. These are the pacific countries, countries including in south america but also in asia. Its where the majority of the global g. D. P. Is now, and it is an area where, frankly, because of chinas strong interest in trade, other countries in the region are looking to the United States to provide not only a market but also to help them with regard to their own markets. Therefore, more u. S. Exports, more of that, as you said, best technology in the world thats the United States, best products in the world that are made here to be able to export to those countries. So they want to have this relationship with us. And as a future ambassador to to china, i will just stipulate i think the gentleman from montana understands this issue very, very well, but what this Transpacific Partnership does is two things one, expands trade in an area of the world again thats the Fastest Growing part of our globe and a place where the tariffs and nontariff barriers are higher, relatively speaking, than they are here. In other words, by lowering barriers, we get a relative advantage. This agreement also, i hope, will deal with the currency issue, as you all have negotiated in this trade Promotion Authority, which i support. This is pioneering work you have done in this area. We have to be sure that currency levels are appropriate, there is not unfair trade advantage being given by countries that depreciate their currency by interfering in it. So i think it is about trade, and thats very important for our workers, our farmers, our Service Providers, but second, it does have this geopolitical element where those countries in the asia pacific area who are allies of ours are looking to us to develop a stronger relationship on the commercial side but also on the intergovernmental side to be able to ensure that the United States role continues in that area. And i think this t. P. A. That these gentlemen have negotiated today that they are announcing is incredibly important because its a first step toward the Transpacific Partnership and other agreements that we can complete, as we just have recently under the old t. P. A. With south korea, with panama, with colombia, countries where we are seeing expansion of exports and also a stronger relationship with Key Countries in the region. Mr. Baucus if i might ask one more question just very briefly, and thats this. One more opportunity here with trade Promotion Authority. With trade Promotion Authority, clearly were going to get the trade Partnership Agreement and clearly without it we wont. Other countries will go their own ways, so they can wonder where is the United States. There is another issue here. In addition, there is another issue here. I wonder if my good friend would agree with this or not. That is this. Not only does trade Promotion Authority enable our country to negotiate trade agreements in the pacific, t. P. P. , but isnt it also true that it allows the United States of america, passage of t. P. A. , to negotiate with european countries, and doesnt that mean that between asia t. P. P. And the european countries, that thats about 70 of world trade, its an opportunity for the United States to lead in harmonization of trade provisions and regulatory provisions, not only in asia and the pacific but also in europe, its an opportunity to lead. And if we dont pass t. P. A. , isnt the United States squandering a huge opportunity to lead here in a way that will raise incomes, not just in our country but in other countries in the world . Mr. Portman reclaiming my time, the gentleman is absolutely right. The alternative is not to pass a trade Promotion Authority and to have continue happen which frankly has been going on for the last six or seven years, which is these other countries around the world are actively negotiating agreements, as you say, using their own standards but also opening up markets for their workers, their farmers, their Service Providers and cutting us out of market share. So whats happened is the european union, the chinese, the canadians, others have been actively pursuing agreements while we have been on the sidelines because we havent had trade Promotion Authority. So not only does this give us an opportunity with this possible agreement with the european union, which would be an agreement not like a Free Trade Agreement but would be a a partnership on investment, on standards, on being sure that there is a harmonization thats more like the beneficial metrics that we use here in this country that can help both in our economy and as you say globally, none of this can happen without us being able to say were going to have a possibility of taking trade agreements to the congress for an upordown vote, a fair vote, and every one of these agreements will be voted on separately, because in these other countries they wont put that last best offer on the table until they know that. They will not be nickel and dimed or amended to death until they get to the congress. Thats the reality. We have to get reengaged. We have to help our economy, help our workers to get their fair share, to get their market share, and right now we are losing that market share as literally over 100 trade agreementsnegotiated while agreements have been negotiated while we have been sitting on the sidelines without trade promotion agreement. The gentleman is correct. This is a great opportunity for us to frankly take this anemic economy and give it a little shot in the arm. It is part of an overall effort we ought to be doing to proit the Economic Opportunity we want for the people we represent. Mr. Hatch will the senator yield . Mr. Portman im happy to yield to the senator from utah. The presiding officer the senator from utah. Mr. Hatch we should be listening to this man, the senator from ohio who has had a wealth of experience not just in budget matters but also especially in these trade matters. You know, there are 11 countries in the t. P. P. Or in the Transpacific Partnership that wed like to come up with an agreement on. There are 28 Different Countries in the urine agreement on ttp wed like to bring to european agreement wed like to bring to fruition. You can go on from there. Having said that i cant compliment my friend from ohio enough but i want to pay tribute to our chairman of the committee. Hes willing to do this, he believes in it, hes had plenty of witness that this is the way to do good trade, and hes willing to stand up and see that its done. And i cant think of a better sendoff to china as the new ambassador, as soon as we finally finish these confirmation proceedings, than having passed t. P. A. Which enables us to do Free Trade Agreements all over the world and enables our our fellow countries to realize that we can get it done. And i want to pay tribute to my chairman as well as my colleague from ohio for their work in this area and just say that this this country will be much the better once we pass t. P. A. And then get these other agreements done because it says the United States is resuming its role in the world as the worlds chief economic competitor and doing it in a way that will benefit the whole world but more importantly benefit this country. So i want to thank my colleague from montana, my colleague from ohio as well. My colleague from montana is going to be here at least a little bit longer and hopefully we can get this passed in his honor. And i think he deserves that honor and i know that the distinguished senator from ohio and myself will do everything in our power to assist in this matter. Mr. Portman i yield back my time. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from connecticut. Mr. Blumenthal thank you, madam president. I ask that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Blumenthal thank you, madam president. Many of us have come back from a couple of wonderful weeks in our home states, traveling and visiting with families and had the privilege of spending time with loved ones and sharing our hopes and plans for the new year. Not everyone was so fortunate. I rise today to honor the memory of yet another tragic victim of gun violence in connecticut and our country. On december 28 in new haven, shortly before the beginning of this new year, one familys time together with their son was cut short when Javier Martinez was shot and killed. And his picture is here, his memory is with us today as i ask this body to honor him along with other victims of gun violence. Who have died since newtown and who have died before newtown and nowp i ask to be remembered, not only in words but also in action by this body so that javier shall not have died in vain. He was only 18 years he old. He was a senior at Common Ground high school in new haven, one of the really extraordinary educational institutions in our state. His teachers and classmates describe him as a kind, intelligent young man who was becoming a leader in the school and in his community. He had a Bright Future. In fact, he had the whole world, his whole life ahead of him. At Common Ground, a Charter School that focuses on sustainability and connecting students with Natural Resources in our community and in their own communities, he was absolutely thriving. Ive heard that some of his classmates and teachers at Common Ground are perhaps watching right now or will watch at some point and i want to thank them for joining in honoring his memory and continuing his work to make our planet, our world, our nation and the community of new haven better and keeping faith with his memory. Javier cared about his community and the environment and the issues of sustainability and clean air and clean water, and he took action to improve the world around him. Last summer he participated in a highly competitive internship at the Nature Conservancy where he worked to protect endangered species, a director of this program regarded javier as one of the most outstanding participants that the program ever had. And he spent last spring planting trees, planting trees with the new haven urban resources initiative. He planted trees that he will never sit under, but the world will be better for all that he did. One small act, one small part of what javier did to make new haven and the world better. And this fall he joined a crew of west river stewards, identifying and documenting sources of pollution along the west river in the new haven area. Not only did he have a Bright Future ahead of him, but he knew what he wanted. He was pursuing the american dream, he was seeking and working to make america a better place for him and for his fellow students at Common Ground. And by all accounts, he was not only dedicated, hardworking, but he had a good heart. He had a great sense of himself, he stayed out of trouble, he had no criminal record whatsoever, it goes without saying, and he worked hard at his studies. He was loved in new haven by his classmates, by his teachers, by all who knew him. And he had a growing dedication to protecting that world. Unfortunately, our society failed to protect him. Failed to protect him during the simple act of walking home. Failed to protect him from gun violence. Failed to protect him in a neighborhood where he thought he would be safe as he walked. On that Early Morning of december 28, shortly before 1 00 a. M. , he was found shot to death on the streets of new haven. And, in fact, he was walking from his house to a friends house. He didnt have a car, so his only choice was to walk. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds and was pronounced dead at the scene. Police are continuing to investigate. Ii have no doubt that they are working hard and the new haven police have been extraordinarily responsive and responsible in combating gun violence so i know they are going to get answers here. Whether they will ever get enough answers to prosecute someone remains to be seen but i know they are dedicated to finding out what happened on that night. The death of Javier Martinez is a tragedy, heartbreaking, as heartbreaking as many of the random deaths in america resulting from gun violence. This young man is a testament to our continuing responsibility, our obligation, and our opportunity to combat and prevent gun violence on the streets and the neighborhoods across our country. Just a few weeks ago i spoke on this floor in this very place about another promising young person from connecticut who was killed by a person with a gun whose name was Erica Robinson. The victim of that crime, Erica Robinson, just like javier, was killed because she was at the wrong place at the wrong time. And we ought to remember some of the other victims. We should keep in mind all of the now tens of thousands, just since newtown, who maybe survived but who are changed and challenged in ways they never could have envisioned their lives have been changed forever. Amber smith, who worked as a manager in the new haven burger king restaurant was shot on december 13, 2013 when two robbers entered that burger king. The robbers demanded that she open a safe in the business, and one of them shot her in the upper hip through her leg. She was just 19 years old. At the time. September 15, 2013. And she remembers that she was thinking she was going to die. And wondering who would take care of her two small children. She almost bled to death but was saved fortunately by receiving surgery in the emergency room. So she survived the shooting but she lives with the psychological and the physical trauma of that shooting every day. These random acts of violence may not always make the national news, they may not always take a life, but they change lives and they take lives, one, two at a time and that shooting death of Javier Martinez and Erica Robinson has become all too often the mundane evil of our time, the banality of evil is found in gun violence, and we seem to accept it all too often with indifference as another news item. And yet it should be as repugnant and abhorrent and unacceptable as the deaths of 20 innocent children in newtown and six great educators because every act of gun violence diminishes us as a nation and as a community. Our country has come to the point that gun violence can happen anywhere. If your life hasnt been touched by it, theres a near certainty it will be at some point, tragically, unfortunately, because far too often communities suffer in silence, and we need to end that silence. We need to end the inaction and the acceptance of this mundane and banal evil that lives among us. While we have failed to act in this chamber, even though we had a majority of 55 senators ready to approve, very simple, commonsense measures to stop gun violence, the president has done what he can through executive actions most recently on Mental Health, i commend him for those actions. He has done what he can to strengthen federal background checks for firearms purchases. I thank him for that action. These changes are incremental, but they are steps in the right direction. And states have taken the leadership on this issue as well, maybe even more so than the federal government. My own state of connecticut, laudably, has passed laws to effectively ban, for example, the sale of assault weapons. But this body and this government needs to act. The federal government has a responsibility that only it can address because we know that guns are trafficked across state lines, stolen, and illegally bought guns are trafficked across state lines, and no single state can put a stop to it. We know that without action in this body, Mental Health will remain o an unmet need in this country. We know that without action, background checks for people who buy firearms will be incomplete and inadequate. And so javiers death should be a reminder and a call to action, and as the people of his family and new haven mourn his death, we should celebrate his contributions in making our planet better, in protecting the precious resources that, unfortunately, he was unable to enjoy, and resolve to protect better the innocent people, particularly our children, who at any moment, at any place may become victims of gun violence thank you, madam president. I yield the floor. Madam president , if i may, i ask unanimous consent that the senate be in morning business for debate only until 3 15 and that the majority leader be recognized at 3 15 with all other provisions of the previous order remaining in effect. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Blumenthal madam president , i yield the floor, and i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator madam president . The presiding officer the senator from indiana. Mr. Coats madam president , i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the call of the quorum. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Coats madam president , we have been discussing the last couple of days the unemployment issue. A number of us have had concerns relative to the effectiveness of the program, relative to the cost it would undertake and how it would be paid for, if it goes afford and is extended, the refor the purposes that we think are needed to make this a much more effective program. We have not been offered the opportunity to do more than just discuss it on the floor. We have not been offered the opportunity to offer amendments, offer our ideas, have them debated and voted on. Now, it is minding the majority leader will be coming to the floor shortly to potentially well torque mak, to well, tos whether well have that opportunity. Let me just quickly say, ive been working with my colleagues senator ayotte from New Hampshire and senator portman from ohio. Alall three of us voted for the motion to proceed because we thought this should not be dismissed because we would like to make corrections to the program. We would like to raise the issue of, is in a better way to deal with unemployment in this country . And we have some amendments that would allow us to move and improve and notify that what we think is a better way, as well as pay for a bill that exceeds without being paid for exceeds the budget agreement we just entered into. So i offered four amendments. I wasnt insisting on offering all four. They were similar to what my colleagues had offered, and the three of us, i think, want to just very briefly speak to these and indicate to our colleagues a what it is that we would be doing. I originally offered the original bill way last fall that would delay the individual mandate under the Affordable Care act. As you know, the president as we all know, the president has delayed for one year the mandates on the employer, who provides Health Insurance for their employees, but didnt do so for individuals, or those who dont have coverage under their employer. We did not feel that was fair. Why one entity and not the other . It also violated the law, but the president took the liberty to exercise that. Were saying, well, lets at least be fair, that those who are not covered by the oneyear delay on the mandate on employers would be subject to having to comply, and weve i wont go through all the details, but weve seen the disaster thats happened in terms of that rollout. So my amendment, number 2611, to this, im going to select that out as the amendment going afford with, as my colleagues have also had excellent ideas, and theyll be offering those. And frankly, i agree with both with all of their amendments and when theyre dosmght so i think were pretty much on the same page u thi. This amendment would delay the individual employer mandate mans under obamacare for one year rmt the estimated cost savings is 35 billion. I think thats a savings that obviously can be used for a number of offsets, and i think at this point id like to yield the floor and let me colleague from New Hampshire explain her amendment and how that would be the savings would be applied to some very, very necessary things. So, madam president , with that, i yield the floor. Ms. Ayotte madam president . The presiding officer the senator from New Hampshire. Ms. Ayotte thank you, madam president. I want to thank my colleague from indiana. As he said, i, like my colleague from indiana and my colleague from ohio, moved to allow this bill to go afford for debate, and i thought it was important that we have a debate on, obviously, the situation of struggling workers in our country and on the issue of whether to extend Unemployment Benefits for them. And ive been clear that on the pending bill, if there is a way we can responsibly pay for this temporary threemonth extension do that, that i would be willing to support that, except the current bill does not have a way to pay for it, because i dont believe that we should be adding to our debt 17 trillion and our yearly deficits in order to do this. But let me just say that i have a very commonsense amendment. It is amendment 2603. Let me just say what it is about. My amendment fixes what is abuse in our tax code. The treasury Inspector General found that individuals who are not authorized to work in this country are collecting billions of dollars in tax refunds by filing for the additional Child Tax Credit. The disturbing part about this is the trend is that there has been a steady increase each year of billions of dollars collected by illegal workers seeking these refunds. And investigations of these tax refunds have found some gross examples of fraud. Examples of refunds for children that dont live in the United States of america, examples of fraud of many who are children that may not even exist. For example, in indiana they found four unauthorized workers claiming over 20 children who lived if a residence fraudulently collecting tensions o tens of thousands of taxpayr dollars. They found examples of tax refund claims for children who live in mexico, not the United States of america. In North Carolina 1,000 tax returns linked to eight addresses 1,000 tax returns linked to eight addresses refunding 5 million in tax refunds. Another example in North Carolina 398 returns associated with two applicants. 398 returns refunding 1. 9 million to unauthorized workers not authorized to work in our country. The and there was no evidence that the children being claimed either lived in the United States of america or even existed, for that matter. So my amendment is very straightforward in terms of the fix the filer of the tax return, who is going to claim the additional Child Tax Credit, would have to list a Social Security number. This is the same requirement for those who claim the earned income tax credit for which you can receive a tax refund, if you qualify. And so it would be simply to add that same requirement. And what the joint Tax Committee has estimated is that we could save 20 billion over the next ten years simply by treating this Child Tax Credit, the filers of that a Social Security number, just like the earned income tax credit, that they would have to put a Social Security number as well. And what would this 20 billion go for . With this 20 billion, we can pay for the recent cuts in the budget that were unfair, where our men and women in uniform, military retirees, were singled out for cuts to their retirement, to their costofliving increases, including, by the way, our wounded warriors, those who are medically retired, who got a cut to their costofliving increase in the recent budget. This is the only group that was singled out this way. Those who have taken the bullets for our country, many who have done multiple tours for us in afghanistan and iraq, and some who have suffered horrible wounds, including those that many of us have had the privilege of visiting in walter reed. So we can pay for and fix the military retirement cuts, as many members on both sides of the aisle have said we have a commitment to do that because we think that that was unfair. What else can we do with this . We can also pay for the bill pending on the floor, the three months of extension of Unemployment Benefits for American Workers who are struggling during this period, who are trying to get back to work. And finally, we can also take the remainder of the savings and afly to the deficit. So again, fix tax abuse where there has been fraud, rampant fraud found by investigations, by requiring a Social Security number, just like the earned income tax credit, and in return it is a threefor. We can pay for the threemonth unemployment extension on this floor, we can fix the unfair cut to military retirees and to our wounded war yes warriors, and wn help reduce our deficit. The presiding officer the senators time has expired. Mr. Reid madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, all postcloture time with respect to the motion to proceed to s. 1845 is considered expired. Mr. Leader. The clerk will report the bill. The clerk calendar number 265, s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain Unemployment Benefits, and for other purposes. Mr. Reid madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid this is like groundhogs day, because this is a picture we have already seen. The very lucid speech given by my friend from New Hampshire. She should have gone back to the congressional record. We have been through this before. We are not going to hurt american children, and thats what it does. We have been through this. This is something they have tried to use in the past to pay for things that are really unfair to american children. Now, madam president , the other issue is there have been some efforts made, goodfaith efforts by the senator from ohio to stop double dipping. People with disability drawing Unemployment Insurance. We agree with that. We can take care of that. But it does not save 5. 4 billion or 5. 6 billion. The Disability Community to this point is outraged that anyone will even suggest this. We can stop the double dipping. We are happy to join with them doing that. But that saves a little over a billion dollars. Were happy. Thats part of the proposal that well all have in just a little bit. I received a phone call from a person who has done more for helping people who are disabled, than any person in the history of this body, the senior senator from the state of iowa. He had been previously engaged and he heard about this, and those of us who know tom harkin knows how he what he does to protect disabled. So i know my friend from iowa has good intentions, but the Disability Community will never allow this to happen, and theyre right. So, madam president , my friend the junior senator from nevada had as some of us know, he has had casts on one leg and now the other leg. He has had some surgery on his ankles. He has had to replace the achilles tendons on both of his legs. The cast broke i think its on his left leg. Maybe its his right leg. I dont remember. I talked to him this morning. He had to go to the emergency room and get his cast replaced. So i am waiting to hear from him as to i have explained this proposal in some detail to him and his staff, but he hasnt been able to speak to his staff since he rushed to the emergency room, at least thats my understanding. So i am waiting until he gets back. The proposal that senator reed has come up with extends Unemployment Insurance through mid november. The package does what the republicans wanted. Entirely paid for, entirely paid for. They get their structural changes which they have been demanding. So we have done that. It has reforms slightly the number of weeks a person can remain on unemployment while all along continuing to extend the weeks. The legislation proposed by senator reed tightens the rules for Unemployment Insurance that would include a proposal much like that advocated by the senator from ohio and senator portman. It would people b prevent people from collecting unemployment and Disability Insurance at the same time. Thats clear. Much of this offset is simply an extension of the murrayryan amendment that we all voted for a lot of us voted for earlier. This provision would extend sequester on mandatory programs for another year. If republicans have a complaint about this, dont call and complain to jack reed. Call paul ryan. This is his. It is his idea. Maybe not on this specific issue, but this is this is his proposal, his idea. So we believe if its good enough to help other proposals propounded by my republican friends on the house, its good enough to help the unemployed. So in this proposal, there has been a desire to address the concerns of the republicans and democrats. Is it perfect . Of course not. Jack reed has done a remarkably good job, and we believe this sound and balanced proposal. Now, i would also say this, mr. President madam president , im sorry. This takes care of it for the good part of next of this year. I wish we could have done it until the first of the year. We cant find enough money. I have been waiting here for more than 24 hours for a reasonable proposal by my republican friends to pay for this. We dont have one yet. Were not going to strip the rights of people who have Health Insurance, and were certainly not going to go after little boys and girls in america. Who have the Child Tax Credit. So there comes a time when we have to move forward. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The presiding officer the senator from california. The senator from ohio. Mr. Portman i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator i object. The presiding officer objection is heard. A senator is there an objection . The presiding officer yes, objection was heard. Clerk will continue to call the roll. Quorum call mr. Portman i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer is there objection . Objection is heard. The clerk will continue to call the roll. Quorum call mr. Reid madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid madam president , i, first of all, appreciate everyones cooperation here and patience more than cooperation. Were doing our best. I have already said what were trying to do here. I will just repeat of part of it. We have a proposal thats paid for. Its a payfor that we have used and its something that i think is totally valid. Its something that we the idea original idea came from paul ryan, but we have used it on another occasion. This does nothing to change that original proposal except extend it for one year. Under the proposal, my friend from ohio, he has alerted us to an issue and we think we have taken care of that in this amendment. I think its a fine proposal, but the the breadth of what he is trying to do is really unfair, and we cant do that. So were doing our utmost. We have got structural changes in this. Its paid for. It will pay for it almost at the first of the year, as much money as we are able to find. We have done everything the republicans wanted. Its paid for, there are structural changes, and we have taken care of the double dipping of the of those in the Disability Community and unemployment. So on behalf of senator reed of rhode island, i have an amendment at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the amendment. The the clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, for mr. Reed of rhode island, proposes amendment numbered 2631. Mr. Reid i ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment, madam president. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. Reid i have a seconddegree amendment at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, proposes an amendment numbered 2632 to amendment numbered 2631. Mr. Reid i have a cloture motion on the reed of rhode island amendment. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the amendment numbered 2631 to s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain Unemployment Benefits and for other purposes. Signed by 17 senators follows reid of never mr. Reid reid with the consentf the senate, i ask that the names not be read. The presiding officer is there objection . Without objection. Mr. Reid i have a meetings to commit s. 1845 and it has instructions. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, moves to commit the bill to the committee on finance with instructions being amendment number 2633. Mr. Reid i ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. Reid i have an amendment to the instructions at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, proposes an amendment numbered 2634 to the instructions of the motion to commit s. 1845. Mr. Reid i ask for the yeas and nays, madam president. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. Reid i have a seconddegree amendment at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, proposes an amendment numbered 2635 to amendment numbered 2634. Mr. Reid i have a cloture motion at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain Unemployment Benefits and for other purposes. Signed by 17 senators as follows. Reid of nevada, reed of rhode island, klobuchar, warren, durbin, whitehouse, markey, baldwin, leahy, coons, mikulski, murray, warner, hirono, murphy, harkin and brown. Mr. Reid note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Portman madam president , i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer is there objection . A senator i object. The presiding officer objection is heard. Mr. Reid madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. The presiding officer is there objection. Without objection. Mr. Reid madam president , i have the floor here. The presiding officer the majority leader. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman i thank you, madam president , for recognizing me. Ive been trying to be recognized before the majority leader decided to what we call around here fill the tree, which means taking away the opportunity for amendments to be offered, although there will be an attempt i believe in a moment to offer some. Im disappointed in that because i think we were very close to reaching an agreement which would have enabled us to move forward with allowing senators on both sides of the aisle to offer some of their ideas on the Unemployment Insurance extensi extension. Recall, this is an important debate were having for the American People. It is about whether we go beyond the roughly 26 weeks in Unemployment Insurance to have an emergency extension again, and on this side of the aisle, there were a few of us who crossed over, in fact, to vote with the entire democrat majority to say, lets have that debate. We thought we were doing so in good faith, that there would actually be a debate on two issues, really. One is whether it should be paid for or not and how it should be paid for. Which ill address in a second. But second was how we should reform the Unemployment Insurance program and, in fact, do other progrowth policies to actually get at the pro, which is a record level, record level americans are longterm unemployed. Clearly what were doing isnt working and we believe this is an opportunity for us to help improve the program, to actually address the real problem. The president of the United States wants to do that. He called me on monday and told me that he had hoped that we would be able to address this issue by voting for the motion to proceed to begin this debate so that over the next few mont months, while we short had a shortterm extension of this program, there could be even more detailed discussions about how to improve the legislation and how to add other elements to it. Specifically on how to give people who are longterm unemployed the skills they need to access the jobs that are available. Unfortunately, were not going to have that opportunity now, it appears, to be able to have this debate over how to pay for it, what the payfors ought to be and, again, how to improve the program. But let me just say, this is unfortunate because we had 60 votes to proceed. That includes certainly three of us who are here on the floor today, all three of us are willing to move forward with this with a reasonable provision to pay for this over the three months. And, again, during that period to come up with a better and improved Unemployment Insurance program. We were not part of the discussion as to the payfor that the majority leader has just put forward. I appreciate his good faith in wanting to include one of the proposals that i had in my amendment. I honestly do appreciate that. I will say that the offset that he has put in i have just learned about because i didnt have the opportunity to see it until now, and there is an important difference between what was just offered in the new democrat proposal and what is in my proposal. My proposal, as ive come to the floor to talk about three times now, has been previously proposed in the house. It says that if you get Unemployment Insurance or you get trade adjustment assistance, then you also do not receive Social Security Disability Insurance in that same month. Why . Because these programs are mutually exclusive. If youre on Social Security disability, ssdi, that means you are not working, by definition. If you are working and lose your job, you are then continuing to look for work, you get t. A. A. If you have lost your job and youre continuing to look for work, which is required, you get Unemployment Insurance. This is why this same General Program is laid out in the president s budget and, in fact, is something that i believe the administration supports and others. The proposals the democrats have included says that if you receive Unemployment Insurance in the month you receive Social Security, then your ssdi is reduced by the amount of Unemployment Insurance received. Why does that matter . Its not the same thing and it matters because the proposal that the majority leader has proposed saves a lot less money, according to the congressional budget office, my proposal would save about 5. 4 billion. Theirs, as i understand it from the distinguished majority leader today, would save about a billion dollars. So, again, i appreciate him wanting to include it and i think it is in the same spirit as the amendment that i offered, but honestly we havent had the chance to sit down and talk about this. Ive tried today to sit down with the democrat sponsor of the underlying legislation, the other senator reed, who in good faith said he wanted to talk about it but we havent been able to schedule that and so we have not had the discussion. So we are just learning today what is in, again, these sort of takeitorleaveit proposal thats in the majority leaders proposal in filling the tree. Now, there is a possibility i think procedurally, the majority leader has expressed some interest in looking at this, of taking that agreement and altering it somewhat over the next couple of days because the cloture would not ripen, as i understand, until monday afternoon. But that still doesnt give all of our other colleagues a chance to offer their good ideas and there are a bunch of them out there. The senator from New Hampshire offered hers day before yesterday, talked about it today on the floor, where she wants to take away some of the existing mispayments in are in the Child Tax Credit. I would think all of us would want to do that to preserve the Child Tax Credit for those who are truly eligible. For those that are not eligible, they shouldnt have access to it. Seems like a sensible amendment to me. Im a cosponsor of that amendment. Senator coats has raised his ideas today and i think he has some good ideas that ought to be debated. So my hope is that we would be able to go back to where we were prior to filling the tree and to say, lets have a discussion. It can be limited. I think there are a very limited number of amendments. I see the distinguished republican whips on the floor. I think he indicated to me today there are something under 20 amendments offered by the republican side. I dont know how many of those have actually been filed but it seems to me that we could have had a good debate on that and still should. So my hope is that we can come up with a solution here. I do think its going to require us providing some opportunity for other people to be engaged and specifically for those of us who want to get to a solution, which is a lot of people on this side of the aisle and that side of the aisle. Both sides of the aisle. Lets sit down and talk. Were adults. You know, we have been elected by millions of people to represent them and its our responsibility, indeed, our commitment to them that we would sit down across the aisle and work these things out, as you would in any other relationship, in your marriage, in your business, with your neighbors. We had some discussion about this yesterday, that for some reason in the United States senate, it seems we are unable to even have the most basic level of discussion and debate. So im open to that. I had hoped to do it today. I put my ideas out there. Parts of them have been ack sementd. I appreciate that. But, frankly, not the way that we had laid it out in my own amendment. And i do believe that we have the opportunity, if we are to back up, to actually solve this problem, meaning provide what the president says he wants which is a threemonth extension of longterm unemployment so that we can sit down, roll up our sleeves, as republicans and democrats, and come up with a better way to address what is a crisis in this country, which is more people longterm unemployed than ever in the history of our country. Those people are hurting and clearly the Current System isnt working. So just to extend it is not the answer. The answer is for washington to do its job and that is to reform these programs so they work for the people we represent. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid its the same tune time and time again. Things are never quite right. They want to offer amendments. We have been waiting here since monday for payfors. The only payfor weve heard realistically to take care of this is something that everyone knows we disagree, to take away Health Care Benefits from the American People. The proposal by my friend from ohio is not a good proposal. It hurts people who are disabled and thats the fact. We have stopped dual payments, thats what our amendment does. This is something weve been going through and the American People have been going through now for years. My friend worked with the senior senator from New Hampshire on energy efficiency. Now, if that wasnt quite a show. I had conversations on numerous yeah, weve got it all taken care of. Republicans are fine to move forward on this. It went on for weeks and weeks and weeks. We never got anything done. So, madam president , we are where we are where we are. The democrats dont need a memo to say to tell them to be have a good conscience about people who are disabled, be compassionate about people who are unemployed. We dont need a memo. We know people who are longterm unemployed are disparate for help. We are compassionate. We dont need a memo to tell us that. The American People want to know where we stand. Are we going to extend Unemployment Benefits for people who have been out of work for a long time, thats the issue before this body. And we have bent over backwards through jack reed to come up with a proposal to pay for this, to get rid of this issue for this year. Weve we have structural changes in this amendment. We have a payfor that came from paul ryan, the republican president ial vicepresident ial candidate this last election cycle. Hes chairman of the budget committee. So, madam president , we have done i think a yeomans job through jack reed and we need to move on and thats what were going to do. Its a time there comes a time now, if there is a proposal that my friend has, we know his expertise, but the problem is with his expertise its never quite right. Its almost but not quite right, and so the time is now to fish or cut bai t and they can make all the motions they want to complain about we didnt get offered enough amendments, we need to be more like the senate used to be. Madam president , i know what the senate used to be because i used to be a senator and it this doesnt work the way it used to not because of anything we do wrong but because of the obstruction of president obamas agenda every day its more obstruction. A senator would tom yield for a would the senator yield for a question . The presiding officer the senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn id ask the majority leader its his position of his caucus and him personally that people ought to be able to collect Unemployment Compensation and disability benefits simultaneously. Mr. Mr. Reid no, and thats what why this legislation, jack reeds proposal stops it. Mr. Cornyn i would ask the majority leader its my understanding the distinguished senator from ohios amendment would discontinue the simultaneous collection of disability and Unemployment Benefits but you objected to that amendment and instead are blocking this amendment and other amendments by the republican side of the aisle by one that changes the effective day of the bill one day, in other words, its purely a blocker bill, has zero substance whatsoever and does nothing to improve the underlying bill. Mr. Reid is there a question here in all this . What is the question . Mr. Cornyn isnt that right . Mr. Reid is what right . Is what right . Mr. Cornyn what i just said. Mr. Reid no, its not right because what the senator from ohios amendment does is hurt people who are disabled. This amendment, i pete thats part of jack reeds amendment stops people from dprawg both benefits at the same time. Mr. Cornyn i would ask the distinguished majority leader if he would let me ask one more question of him. The presiding officer the majority leader. The senator from texas. Mr. Cornyn is the majority leader aware there are 24 republican amendments on file, almost all of which deal with the underlying bill and attempt either to improve Work Force Education and training, provide other reforms to the Unemployment Compensation system or otherwise help the economy recover so that people dont have to depend on Unemployment Insurance, they can get a job. Are you aware there are those amendments and those ideas on this side of the aisle . The presiding officer the the majority leader. Mr. Reid i dont know the exact number but there are always a lot of proposed amendments around. What i would say is this rather than continually denigrating our economy, our president and frankly, i believe our country i think we should have more constructive things around here. For example, we had today a conversation for an hour and a half with chairman bernanke. Hes going to be there until the first of next month. And it was a very good discussion and he talked about the vibe russians of this vibrancy of this economy now. He said its not as good as it should be but with a little bit of help it would be on fire and why isnt interest on fire . Because of the obstruction over here. And as you know, the new fed chair, chairmantobe yellen has also said that Unemployment Benefits are a great impetus to helping the economy. For every dollar put into the economy with benefits we get a dollar and a half back. This bill recognizes that these benefits dont go on forever. Thats why weve made structural changes chaings. We would be happy any time to sit down and have a good discussion with the senior senator from texas and anyone else to talk about things we could do but we have not had a work force work force whats that program called since 1998. We have had a lot of programs, madam president , that deal with job retraining and its really in 1998 when we did that it wasnt a bad deal but here it is all these many years later so of course we need to sit down and talk about ways to improve retraining. This whole country needs that. Thats also something that chairman bernanke said today. So i repeat, madam president , lets start being constructive around here and instead of talking about how terrible things are, lets talk about how things are improving. We have eight million new jobs since obama has been president , we have a lot of good things that happened. Has it been perfect . Not even close to perfect but lets start working together. Mr. Mcconnell would the majority leader yield for a question . Mr. Reid i yield for a question. Mr. Mcconnell is it the majority leaders intent to allow any votes on republican amendments . Mr. Reid on what . Mr. Mcconnell on the bill were just discussing. Mr. Reid we have been waiting for this is thursday since monday to get a proposal from the minority, from the republicans as to what they believe would be a good way to pay for this. Othernothing other than whack obamacare. The answer is were where we are now. Weve tried a number of different ways on many pieces of legislation to say okay, lets have lets just do germane amendments. No. How about relevant amendments. No. How about a specific number of amendments and give the minority more than the majority. No, cant do that either. We want unlimited amendments on everything and as a result of that, we have the continued obstruction that has taken place in this body for five years. Its time we get back to legislating the way we used to. Mr. Mcconnell is the answer to my question, i would say to the majority leader, no . Mr. Reid the answer is no. Mr. Portman madam president . The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Portman madam president , thank you. I wants to take two correction and yield to my colleague from indiana. One is the proposal that i did offer had nothing to do with obamacare, as the majority leader i thought understood and others do not including the senator from New Hampshires amendments so we do have a number of amendments, a number of good ideas, we had a debate, it is in the president s budget so if its such a terrible proposal im surprised the president would propose it. Mr. Reid would my friend yield for a question . Mr. Portman of course. Mr. Reid do you understand in the president s budget he calls for revenue in the budget, does he not . Portman he does call for major tax increases on the American People. Mr. Reid my friend would also acknowledge when president s submit comeez budgets dont they propose a budget rather than nitpicking different pieces of their budget one at a time . Mr. Portman the gentleman is correct. I say you have to stand by all those policies. If you k5u8d on the office of management and budget or the Treasury Department they would say they stand by these proposals. So yes, its a package, but they put them in because they think theyre good policy. My point, i think weve got some good ideas not related to obamacare since that seems to be an objection by the distinguished majority leader and look, i hope we can work something out here. I think theres an opportunity for us to do so but i dont think we can do it unless there is a give and take and discussion at least which weve not been able to have yet. With that i yield to my friend from indiana. The presiding officer the senator from indiana. Mr. Coats i will be brief. I know my colleagues have travel plans, probably, but this is something that we had earnestly hoped that by supporting the motion to proceed, six of us, we would have the opportunity to offer an amendment, debate that amendment, and have our colleagues vote on that amendment. To simply say that for for the majority leader to say well and i quote him ive looked at these amendments that republicans have offered, and none of them are reasonable. Isnt that something this body is supposed to achieve by something called a vote . Do we have one person here who runs the place and says ill decide whether or not your amendment is reasonable, and if i decide your amendment is reasonable along with all the other 23, then we wont have any vote or debate, ability to offer a any amendment whatsoever. So i thought the way we settled things here as to whether this body thought something was was reasonable or helpful or might correct some of the inequities that have been talked about here was decided by a vote of 100 senators. But its been decided by the vote by the decision of one 1240r who has the power to do what hes doing but this just perpetuates i the majority leader said that hes been waiting since monday for republicans to offer 35 a payfor. To offer offer a payfor. I was down here tuesday offering four option to pay for. I know the majority leader doesnt sit in the office and come to the floor when i come down to speak or tune to the television but i think his staff would have told him, well, coats has four payfors and i said im not asking for all four, mr. Leader, you select the one you think best fits the thoughts and ideas and values of your caucus. So i put four out. The majority leader said, you know, were delaying time, weve been waiting for nearly two days now for the majority leader to make up his mind in terms of what he wanted to do. The three of us, three of us who were listed as surprise votes for the motion to proceed werent even asked to be part of any negotiations. So we were trying to look for a solution to the problem, come together, and have something to offer to our colleagues to vote on. But we werent even asked to be part of that. So here we are, im representing the people of indiana, their voice is shut down. I dont even have the ability to offer an amendment that my constituents think is a they sent me here to do. They didnt send me here to be told just sit down and forget it, one person decides. Im very disappointed. But with that i would like to in the interest of time ask unanimous consent to call of my amendment number 2611. Mr. Reid madam president . The presiding officer the majority leader. Is there objection . Mr. Reid yes. The presiding officer the majority leader. Objection is heard. The majority leader. Mr. Reid just withhold a minute and he can offer his amendment. I do want to say this madam president , we get nowhere with dueling amendments. Weve learned that in the past. Dueling amendments doesnt do the trick. The issue is pronounced. Its here before us. And we went a step further. In the past we havent paid for this. We have five times, president bush signed bills, extended benefits, not paid for. Again, madam president , weve done a good job of reducing the debt. We have a lot more we can do, but weve reduced it almost 3 trillion already. The issue is now before us, are we going to extend benefits for people who have been unemployed for a long time . Thats the question. We bent over backwards to try to come up with a compromise, a bipartisan piece of legislation, and, i repeat, its paid for with a paul ryan pairvetion l