Transcripts For CSPAN2 US Senate 20160913

Send your spirit to empower us to live worthy of your great name. Guide our senators as they confront the struggles of our times, bringing them confident assurance that your purposes will prevail. In the hectic pace of their living, help them to slow down long enough to hear your still, small voice of wisdom. Eviscerate the tensions that pull them apart and keep them from being whole. Lord, you know us better than we know ourselves so have your way in our world. We pray in your holy name. Amen. The president pro tempore please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance to our flag. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Mr. Mcconnell the democratic leader. Mr. Reid the republican leader is on his way. I ask that the quorum begin to be called. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Mcconnell mr. President . The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Mcconnell i ask consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Mcconnell mr. President , days before obamacare passed the senate in 2009, the senior senator from new york predicted that americans would come around soon on the unpopular bill that his party was trying to force through. The reason people are negative is not the substance of the bill, he mused, but the fears that the opponents have laid out. When those fears dont materialize and people see the good in the bill, the numbers are going to go up. Today, years later, one need only read the headlines to see just how wrong that prediction was. Onethird of the u. S. Wont have a choice between obamacare plans in 2017. Another headline. Frustration mounts over obamacare coop failures. And another headline insurers propose massive increase in individual Health Insurance rates. And as my constituents read just recently, get ready to pay more for Health Insurance in kentucky. These headlines tell the story of a failing partisan law and its continuing assault on the middle class. When republicans warned of predictable consequences like these, democrats waved off our concerns and forced their partisan law through anyway, with the middleclass forced to bear the consequences of its sentence. Its time the democrats started finally listening. Thats why last week senators came to the floor to share the heartbreaking stories of how obamacare continues to hurt their constituents and impact their states. Senator capito called obamacare nothing short of devastating in her home state of West Virginia. Working families, she said, are being faced with skyrocketing premiums, copays and deductibles. Senator isakson warned that the numbers do not lie in georgia. Obamacare, he said, is forcing insurance carriers to leave the market, eliminating competition and choice, all while placing the burden of higher costs on the backs of working taxpayers in this country. And senator mccain explained how americans have been hit by broken promise after broken promise and met with higher costs, fewer choices and poorer quality of care. Noting that his home state of arizona had become ground zero for the collapse of obamacare. Just last month, the Obama Administration told americans not to worry about rising costs because they could shop around to find the best plan and save money on Health Insurance. But Many Americans in places like ohio are going to be severely restricted when it comes to choosing an insurer next year, as the states director of insurance pointed out. In fact, 19 of ohios counties are set to have just a single insurer in the exchange and another 28 counties will have only two options. Restrictions like these mean families could lose access to doctors they know and trust, face higher premiums and more outofpocket expenses and have fewer options to shop around for more affordable coverage or plans to meet their familys changing needs. One selfemployed ohioan summarized the pinch facing so many across the country. They fine you if you dont have insurance, and then they take your options away. Thats what she said after learning she would lose her plan. Her frustration is one felt across ohio and across america. More than two Million People could be forced to find a new plan next year. A majority of the nations counties are expected to have only one or two insurers often plans in the exchange, and eight entire states are expected to have only a single insurer in the exchange to choose from. Thats because just last night we learned that connecticut would likely become the latest state with only a single insurer on the exchange next year. We learned Something Else last night as well. One of the few remaining obamacare coops will not offer plans in new jersey next year. This is part of a broader trend we have seen across the country. With obamacare coops shuttering and forcing americans to find new coverage as a result. Just look at what happened in New Hampshire. The granite states coop was, in the words of New Hampshire public radio, the exact type of business that was supposed to make the individual Insurance Market more competitive under obamacare. But the coop recently announced that it would close down operations in the state anyway. Thats forcing thousands to find another plan and its forcing taxpayers to foot the bill. Heres what what one New Hampshire editorial had to say after the announcement. The entire obamacare scheme was set up on faulty premises. You cant force people to buy Health Insurance they dont want. Subsidize meet yoker Insurance Plans people cant afford and still claim to hold down rising medical expenses. The program, the paper continued, is destroying itself. By collapsing coops and withdrawing insurers arent the only signs that obamacare is destroying itself. Just look at my home state of kentucky where premiums could rise by distressing rates, in some cases as high as 47 . Its no wonder my office continues to hear from people who are desperate for relief from this law. Like one louisville mom who said her familys Health Care Costs will consume nearly a fifth, a fifth of their budget this year. This Health Care Law has been far from affordable for my family, she said. Every year, we extensively research for the least expensive coverage we can find. Nevertheless, our premiums continue to skyrocket. Our outofpocket expenses have greatly increased as well. No, we didnt have junk insurance before obamacare, she continued, but im rather certain that what we have now is junk insurance. I wish someone would explain to us how hardworking middleclass family paying this much for Health Insurance became a loser under obamacare. And heres another letter from a lexington father of three and Small Businessman whose provided insurance to his employees at no cost for decades because he says its the right thing to do. Now he worries how he will be able to afford that next year with his Small Business facing substantial increases when it comes to health care expenses. Heres what he said. At these rates, we will likely be forced to consider alternatives, including foregoing forgoing insurance altogether or pushing some of the additional costs to our employees. This is thanks to, as he put it, the cynically named Affordable Care act. These are the realities of obamacare for middleclass americans across our country. Democrats can deny it. Democrats can say this is all some messaging problem. Democrats can pretend that obamacare has been terrific for the country as the democratic leader tried to convince us last week, or they can accept that many years after obamacares passage, the opposite of senator schumers prediction is proving true. And its anything, anything but terrific. The reason americans are negative about obamacare is precisely because of its substance. Unfortunately, their fears have materialized. Obamacare is shrinking choices and higher costs present a stark contradiction to what its champions promise. Democrats gave us plenty of soaring oratory back in 2009, i remember it well, but were finding that sleepless nights, unpaid bills and broken promises are actually becoming the hallmarks of this partisan law. Its time for democrats to stop denying reality, stop ignoring the concerns of our country and stop pretending that obamacares failures can be solved by doubling down on obamacare with a governmentrun plan. Its time for democrats to finally work with us to build a bridge away from obamacare and toward real care for the country, because as one kentucky oped asked, if the a. C. A. Is failing so completely in delivering on its own promises, why keep it . Why throw good money after bad . Mr. Reid mr. President . The presiding officer the democratic leader. Mr. Reid i have a few things to say in a minute, but the first thing i want to say is before coming to the senate, before i came to the house, i was a trial lawyer. I tried over 100 cases to juries, and some of those cases were very, very difficult. During the time that we were there in court with the opponent attorney, there was there it was very hard. But as i look back to those days, never after a case was completed were there any hard feelings between me and my adversary during the trial. The reason i mention that today, i was thinking of my time here in the last few years. I have been in the senate a long time. One of them, someone who has been here a long time but not as long as i have, is the assistant republican leader. Hes had a distinguished career prior to coming here in the law. He was a member of the im sorry, the texas supreme court. He was noted for being the lawyer that he is. So i want to say to him, hes here on the floor today, we have had our differences. We speak about them often. Yesterday, i criticized him for something i thought that he had done that was wrong, not in good keeping with the standards of the senate. But i want everyone to know that my criticism of the senior senator from texas is not based on anything dealing with his character, his integrity. Im going to continue criticizing him and others who i feel are not living up to their responsibilities as a member of the United States senate. I want the record spread because a lot of my intention the last several months has attention the last several months has been directed toward the senator from texas. I want him to know and i appreciate his being on the floor today that i look back with pride is probably the wrong word but satisfaction about my time in the courtroom and those difficult cases that i had. When it was all over with, the feelings the two attorneys, they were over with. There were no ill feelings and we would move on to our next client. So i hope the senator from texas accepts my brief statement here in the manner that it was offered. Mr. President , on other matters, the republican leader loves to come to the floor once or twice a week to talk about how bad obamacare is. What i say to him, his constant attacks on obamacare does not take away if the fact that there is 20 Million People who have Health Insurance today they didnt have six years ago. The senator from california came as the speech was given by the republican leader and said to me, remind him whats going on in california. We love obamacare. Its working wonderfully. Millions of people in california have Health Insurance they didnt have before. And she reminded me that in those states where the republican governors have agreed to do medicaid, its great. In fact, where states have expanded into medicaid, the rates are approaching 10 lower than in other states. Thats i mean not look at california. Lets look at nevada. We have a conservative republican governor Brian Sandoval is his name. Ive learned to accept the fact that hes doing a good job in spite of the fact that in running for governor he beat my son. Brian sandoval is a good person. Hes doing a good job as governor of the state of nevada, and he stepped aside and was not worried about the criticism he would receive by helping the people of the state of nevada. And he has medicaid in the state of nevada which the rates there, some 70 lower had he not done this. My friend the republican leerd complains about leader complains about the few choices in obamacare marketplace. That takes a lot of chutzpah to do that. Before obamacare, people had no choice or the choirs was either choice was either paying a lot or a whole lot or not doing anything. Many people just skipped insurance. They were willing to take their chances. Now, people can go to the marketplace. They have lots of choices. Thats why 20 million more people have Health Insurance now they didnt have before. There are many examples, my friend the republican leader just ignores them. Preexisting conditions. Think about that. Prior to obamacare, if you had a child who was born with a birth defect of some kind, you had a child that developed diabetes, you were an adult who had a car accident or a woman, a woman, that was a preexisting condition you had to pay more for your Health Insurance if you could get some. Everyone seems to ignore the good thats come from obamacare. 85 of the people in the marketplace get Financial Assistance in buying their coverage. People are paying an average of 175 a month for their Health Insurance. So action mr. President , obamacare is a signature issue of the Obama Administration. As he announced yesterday, hes very happy with what obamacare has done for the American People and it should be made better and it could be made better so easily if we would have a little bit of cooperation from the republicans, a little bit. But were going to continue focusing on making sure that people understand how well it has worked. Mr. President , last evening at 4 00 or thereabouts, i had the opportunity to go to the white house and visit with the president. Leader mcconnell, speaker ryan and leader pelosi. We met for about an hour and 15 minutes. It was a very good meeting. We had to discuss a number of issues but discussed a lot of them. Wont talk about all of them today. But there was a discussion about a path forward to fund government, prevent a government shutdown, in spite of what the wall street journal said today. The wall street journal said in an editorial that republicans should just close government again. I dont think there are many republicans that agree with the wall street journal editorial. But there is reason for some very, very cautious option mism about our meeting last optimism about our meeting last night. Well proceed carefully and i know the republicans will do the same. Weve been down this road with the republicans before. This happy talk is just that a lot of times. Weve been optimistic in the past only to see republicans fail to live up to their end of the agreement. If were to pass a c. R. That keeps our government open and funded, there are a number of problems that must be addressed. We have to stop ignoring the problems with zika. This has been a problem according to the president of the United States since last february. Weve done nothing to give these people some relief. And they need it. These people we thought, mr. President , was just a problem that affected women and pregnant women. Its gotten so much more serious than that. Thats plenty serious but now theyre looking at the virus going into peoples eyes causing vision impairment, blindness. Thats men and women. So we have to get something done with d. C. We thought we had it all done here with the work done by senators murray and blunt. We had a bill. It wasnt everything we wanted. It certainly wasnt what the president wanted, 1. 1 billion. And we sent it to the house. And we dont need to go through what they or what gymnastics they went through to throw a big Monkey Wrench into the good wrong we did over here passing it by 89 bipartisan votes. So last week there were 17,000 americans affected with zika. Now were told by the centers for Disease Control that theres now 19,000. Thats a 13 increase in seven days. And each day its only going to get worse. We need to treat the zika virus like the Genuine Health crisis it is, not a bargaining chip for the republicans to use to attack planned parenthood, fly the confederate flag, cut veterans spending by half a billion dollars and other such things that they stuck in that bill that came back from the house. We want to work with the republicans to secure zika funding but well flatly reject any attempt to undermine womens health. Once we have taken care of zika, we must then as the senator addressed republicans, issues dealing with the continuing resolution, riders dealing with the Environmental Protection agency. They want to weaken the clean water act by exempting pesticide spraying from the e. P. A. Overseeing what goes on there. We need to find a way forward on both of these important issues while trying to navigate senator cruzs attempt to slow down the c. R. Unfortunately this is what weve come to expect from my friend, the junior senator from texas. When the senate has a deadline, he tries to obstruct government funding bills. So we have our work cut out for us. Im cautiously optimistic the senate will complete its important work on zika and the c. R. And i hope we can do it quickly but it can only happen if we Work Together and resolve, not to play politics with these important issues. I yield the floor. I ask the chair to announce what were doing today. The presiding officer under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. The senate will resume consideration of s. 2848 which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 523, s. 2848, a bill to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources and so forth and for other purposes. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the assistant republican leader. Mr. Cornyn mr. President , while the democratic leader is still on the floor, let me express my gratitude to him for his remarks earlier. Its true that for better or for worse, we both bear the burden of Legal Training and experience in courtrooms where we learn that adversaries dont necessarily have to be enemies. And to disassociate the arguments we are making from many personal animosity which i think is a very healthy and constructive thing to do, i always remember the excerpt from the taming of the shoe where the speakers do its adversaries in the law, strive mightily but eat and drink as friends. So i think that kind of civility is an important admonition for all of us, one that maybe we dont always live up to but one that i think we should continue to strive to emulate. So let me just say to the democratic leader i appreciate his commends and perhaps we can all do a little bit better in that category. But as he also pointed out, we do have some very big disagreements and it seems like each day is likely to bring more news about the awful side effects of president obamas Signature Health care legislation, obamacare as its become to be called. The truth is the implementation and the reality of obamacare has been nothing short of a disaster for many of the people that i represent in texas, but its not limited to the 27 Million People or so who live in texas. It really is the the problem has been visited on many people as the majority leader commented about earlier with some of the statements he made with regard to its implementation and various other in various other states. Unfortunately when congress and washington make a mistake, its the American People that have to pay the price, and it seems like the consequences of obamacare are only getting worse. I think its worth remembering, i certainly remember on Christmas Eve in 2009 at 7 00 a. M. In the morning when the Senate Passed the obamacare legislation with 60 democrats voting in favor of it and all republicans voting against it. I think that was the beginning of the failure of obamacare because what our democratic friends, including the president failed to learn is that any time signature legislation that affects onesixth of the economy and every american in this country, any time we pass a law like that in the absence of some political consensus where each side gets something and gives up something and builds consensus, then that law is simply not going to be sustainable. And beyond the policy problems that the law has obviously manifested. I still remember like it was yesterday the president said if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. He said if you like your policy, you can keep your policy. He said the family of four, average family of four would save 2,500 on their Health Care Costs. Mr. President , none of that has proven to be true. In fact, just the opposite is true. So thats unfortunately part of the legacy of broken promises of obamacare. It was essentially sold under false pretenses. Back in my old job before i came to the senate, i was attorney general of texas, and we had a Consumer Protection division that sued people who committed Consumer Fraud, who represented one thing to consumers and delivered another. We sued them for Consumer Fraud. Unfortunately, the American People cant sue the federal government for Consumer Fraud or else they would have a pretty good case because of the trail of broken promises known as obamacare. I just want to point out a few a few instances of how obamacare has proven to be such a disaster for the folks i represent in texas. Like many people under the socalled Affordable Care act, which really should be called the unAffordable Care act, many of my constituents in texas are paying more for their insurance, and of course many remember the p. R. Campaign that the president and his administration rolled out to the American People. He promised better coverage, more choices, lower prices. I mean, on the one thing that you would think that Health Care Reform would deliver that obamacare has been a complete failure, and that is lower costs for consumers. In fact, because of the mandates in obamacare, things like guaranteed issue, which is an arcane topic but because of the way in which it was structured, it was bound to cost more money, not less money. And how in the world are you going to get more people covered by charging them more than they currently pay for their health care . Youre not. Unless youre going to come in the back door and use taxpayer subsidies to sort of cushion the blow, but even then many people are finding obamacare simply unaffordable, or maybe they can get coverage but they find out that they have a 5,000 deductible. So when they go to the hospital or when they go to the doctor, basically while they may think they have coverage, they basically are selfinsured. So unfortunately my constituents have learned that obamacare has simply failed to deliver, and many people in my state are suffering, and over the past two months it seems like every week i read another headline in a texas newspaper about the way its hurting my constituents, and i brought a few of those with me today. First of all, heres a headline in the san Antonio Express news. Obamacare hitting texas hard as insurers propose steep rate increases. Now, you might say well, why are we why are you upset with obamacare when its the Insurance Companies that are raising rates . Well, the reason the Insurance Companies are raising rates is because people arent signing up for obamacare if they can avoid it unless they happen to be older and subject to more illnesses, which means that the cost goes up for those that are that are buying those policies. The article talks about how Insurance Companies are losing hundreds of millions of dollars under obamacare. And again, why would we care about Insurance Companies losing hundreds of millions of dollars . Well, as we found out, many of them simply cant sustain themselves in states so theyre leaving. The majority leader talked about that a moment ago. But just to make obamacare viable, many of them are raising premiums by as much as 60 next year just to stay in business. 60 . Unfortunately, texas is not unique. Other states like new york and illinois are looking at doubledigit premium increases in 2017 as well. Thats because under the president s signature Health Care Law, insurers are forced to pass along higher costs to customers. If they cant do it, their only other choice is to leave, leaving consumers with fewer choices and maybe only one choice in the state, and thats what happens when the governmens of the universe in washington, d. C. , think they know better than the market. Its basic economics. But the bad headlines dont stop there. Heres one from the Austin American statesman. Thousands affected in texas asset in a rolls back obamacare plans. Aetna alone has more than 80,000 customers in texas. Its one of the Biggest Health care providers in the country. Their leaving means that thousands of people will have to find a new health care plan. So much for if you like what you have, you can keep it, assuming they even liked the plan, which obviously is more expensive than what many people were paying before obamacare passed. And again, its not just my constituents in texas who are hurting. Starting next year, aetna will offer Exchange Plans in only four states, four states, down from the current 15. So consumers will have even fewer Choices Starting next year. But aetna wasnt the only one the only company to leave the state. This is a headline for the waco tribuneherald. Scott and white is one of our premier Health Care Careers in texas. The headline is scat and White Health Plan leaving obamacare. According to the article, more than 44,000 texans will have to find another Insurance Plan in 2017. And again, because of the extra costs burdening these companies, they simply cant afford to offer coverage, and they have no alternative but to back up and leave. And finally, mr. President , heres a headline from the texas tribune. Health insurers exit spells trouble for obamacare in texas. In this story, the tribune reports that in addition to scott and white and aetna, an insurance startup called oscar Health Insurance also announced it would withdraw from texas exchanges in the dallasfort worth area. The dallasfort worth area is one of the most populous parts of the state. This is absolutely unacceptable. With so many Insurance Companies fulg out of texas, texas will have less texans will have Less Health Care options, plain and simple. Im beginning to wonder whether the conspiracy theories that we heard early on about obamacare that it was built to fail because really what the advocates wanted is a singlepayer governmentrun system, and that this was just a predicate or prelude to that because it could not work as structured. Well, you can draw your own conclusions, but the fact is consumers will have less choice and their Health Coverage will come at a higher price. According to one estimate, 60 counties out of our 254 counties in texas will just have one Health Care Option in 2017. Unless other Insurance Companies decide to enter the market, which is highly unlikely, given the way that obamacare is structured. So that means prices will continue to go up, and you wonder why people are frustrate ed in america. Why our politics seem so polarized and why people seem so angry at whats happening in washington. At a time when their wages have remained flat because of this administrations economic policies and overregulation being a large part of it, their costs the costs for consumers continues to go up. So that means peoples real disposable income is going down, and theyre not happy about it, and they shouldnt be. Texas is a big state. We have very highly Populated Areas like the metroplex in dallasfort worth, san antonio and austin, but we also have a big rural state as well. People who live outside of the major cities or the very demographic that obamacare was supposed to help, but they will be disproportionately hurt as fewer companies are able to offer insurance away from major population centers. Company after company is packing up and leaving the exchanges in texas because obamacare simply wont work as structured. It cant deliver on its promises. And at the end of the day, hardworking texas families have to pay for the partisan policies of this administration and our democratic colleagues who jam this through Congress Rather than try to build some consensus on a bipartisan basis that would make this sustainable. I remember being at a at a program where james baker, iii, who obviously served in the reagan administration, joe califano, former secretary of health and human services, a democrat who served in the clint administration or the carter administration, a democratic administration, but they made the commonsense observation that any time you do something as big, pass legislation as big as obamacare, that its bound to fail because you cant expect people who opposed the legislation from the very beginning to say well, here, let me try to rescue you from a bad decision in the first place, and when they were essentially frozen out of the process. So you saw when, for example, Social Security became law, that consensus was reached, and thats the way it should be done. And so unfortunately my constituents in texas and the American People are paying the price for a bad decision made in 2009 and 2010 to make obamacare a purely partisan piece of legislation. I get letters from my constituents all the time who liked their insurance before it was canceled because of obamacare, they liked their doctor who they could see under their existing health care policy, and they even liked the price they were paying for it. It was affordable before the mandates of obamacare. But one by one, they lost their coverage when obamacare became the law of the land. Ive had some of my constituents tell me they feel terrorized by obamacare. Strong words. And others have told me bluntly that they need relief from it. Please help us. Were drowning in higher costs, in fewer choices, and we dont like what we have under obamacare. So the bottom line is for all of the purported benefits that the democratic leader talked about, more people on medicaid, more people with some form of coverage, we know that a huge majority of people feel like they got a raw deal, and we knew it would be that way from the beginning, and thats the reason many people, including myself, opposed it. Thats also the reason why just this year Senate Republicans passed a bill under the budget reconciliation process to repeal obamacare, because we feel the American People deserve better. Not surprisingly, president obama vetoed it. But what we demonstrated is the Political Support here in the Senate Working with the house to hopefully under the next president , to build a Health Care System that the American People can afford and gives them the choices that they want, because unfortunately obamacare did not deliver on its promises. So we have got our work cut out for us in 2017. We demonstrated that there is enough votes there to repeal obamacare. All we need now is a president who will sign it, as we Work Together to repeal a more affordable alternative to obamacare that gives people the choices that they want and they deserve. Mr. President , i yield the floor. The presiding officer the assistant democratic leader. Mr. Durbin mr. President , when both the republican majority leader and the republican assistant majority leader and whip come to the floor to address one issue, its pretty important to them, and it clierl is the focus of their attention. The issue today is the Affordable Care act, obamacare, which was passed by the senate six years ago and the house as well, and what i have missed in most of the debate no, in fact, what i have missed in all of the debate from the republican side is their proposal, their alternative. They dont have one. No, what they want to argue is we need to go back to the good old days. The good old days of Health Insurance before the Affordable Care act. And you hear the senator from kentucky and the senator from tennessee talk about getting back to those good old days and getting rid of the mandates, the mandates in the Affordable Care act. What were those mandates in the Affordable Care act . Well, heres one. It said that if you or any member of your family had a preexisting condition, you could not be denied Health Insurance. Does any family across america have someone with a preexisting condition . It turns out quite a few. My family, many others. 129 million americans out of 350 have a preexisting condition in their family. Now, what did that mean in the good old days before the Affordable Care act, which the republicans want to return to . It meant that Health Insurance companies would just flat out say no, were not going to cover you. You have a child who survived cancer. You have a wife who is a diabetic. No Health Insurance for you. Those were the good old days the republicans would like to return to. But for 129 million americans, it means either no insurance or unaffordable insurance to go back to the republican good old days under Health Insurance. There was also a provision, another mandate in the Affordable Care act which said you cannot discriminate against women when it comes to Health Insurance. Why would Health Insurance companies charge more money for women than men . Well, women are made differently, have Different Health needs. But why should they be discriminated against when this comes to the cost of Health Insurance . One of the mandates said you treat women and men equally when it comes to the payment of premiums. The good ol days you could discriminate against women. It meant that 157 million american women could pay a higher premium for the same Health Insurance as a man. So the good ol days, which the Senate Republicans would like to return to in Health Insurance, would go back to discrimination against women. There was another mandate. The mandate said that if you were a family that had a son or a daughter and you wanted to keep them on your family Health Insurance until they reached the age 26, the Health Insurance companies had to give you that option. It was mandated. In the good ol day, which the Senate Republicans would like to return to, there was no requirement that you be alads to continue allowed to continue coverage for your son or daughter until age 26. What difference does that make . I remember when my daughter was going to college, graduated. And i called her, i said, jennifer, you have Health Insurance . Oh, dad, i dont need that. I feel fine. Well, no parent wants to hear that. You never know what tomorrows diagnosis or tomorrows accident is going to bring. So one of the mandates which the republicans would like to get rid of is the mandate that family Health Insurance coverage your children up to age 26 while theyre graduating from school, looking for a job, maybe working parttime. They want to go back to the good ol days when you could tell a family no, your son or daughter cannot stay under your Health Insurance plan. There was another provision, too. There used to be a senator who sat right back there i picture him right now Paul Wellstone of minnesota p. He was an extraordinary senator who died in a plane crash you probably remember. Over on that side of the aisle, right in that seat, Pete Domenici of new mexico. Pete domenici a republican senator from new mexico. Two polar opposites in politics, paul w wellstone and pete divmet but they had one thing in common both of them had members of their family with Mental Illness. And the two of them came together, Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici, and said every Health Insurance in america should Coverage Mental Health counseling and care. Mandate Mental Health counseling and care. Those two senators from the opposite poles in politics knew together that Mental Illness is in fact an illness that can be treated. Health Insurance Plans didnt cover it, didnt want to cover it. But the mandate that they came up with included in the Affordable Care act said, yes, you will cover Mental Health illness and Mental Health counseling. Well, youve just listened to the senator from texas talking about doing away with mandates, mandates that require the coverage of Mental Health illness. Theres Something Else they included, too, and most of us didnt know this. It doesnt just say Mental Health illness. It says Mental Health illness and Substance Abuse treatment. And what im finding in illinois and were finding across the country because of the opioid and heroin epidemic, is that many families get down on their knees and thank good n. A. S. Their Health Insurance that their Health Insurance now gives their son or daughter facing the addiction of opioids or heroin Health Insurance coverage for treatment. Another mandate, another mandate in the Affordable Care act which the senators from texas and kentucky believe should be gone. That isnt all. Theres also a mandate in the Affordable Care act that we do something to help senior Senior Citizens pay for their prescription drugs. Under the plan devised by the republicans, there was something called the doughnut hole where seniors could find themselves after a few months each year going into their savings accounts for thousands of dollars to pay for their pharmaceuticals and drugs. We put a mandate in the Affordable Care act to start closing that doughnut hole and protecting seniors. The republicans would have us go back to the good ol days when the Medicare Prescription Drug program, when seniors were defleet pleating were depleting their savings because of the cost of lifesaving drugs. When you go through the long list of things that are mandated in the Affordable Care act, you have to ask my republican critics, which one of these and makes would you get rid of it . They suggested at least the senator from texas suggested we should get rid of all these mandates and go back to the good ol days of Health Insurance. Its true the cost of Health Insurance is going up. My family knows it. Were under an Insurance Exchange from the Affordable Care act. We know it. Others know it as well. But to suggest this is brand new since the Affordable Care act is too ignore reality and to ignore the obvious. If you take a look back in time and not that far back in time before the passage of the Affordable Care act, you find some interesting headlines. The senator from texas brings headlines from texas of the last few months. In 2005, five years before the Affordable Care act was law, there was a Los Angeles Times headline that read, rising premiums threaten jobbased Health Coverage. Shouldnt come as any surprise to those of us who have any memory, the cost of Health Insurance premiums were going up every single year. 2008, four years before the Affordable Care act became law, a New York Times headline read, Health Care Costs rise twice as much as inplacing. 2008, two years before we passed the law, partisan Washington Post headline, Rising Health costs cut into wages. It is naive in fact, it is just plain wrong to suggest that Health Care Costs were not going up before the Affordable Care act and Health Insurance premiums were not going up. If you could buy a policy, you could expect the cost of it to go up every year. What we tried to achieve with the Affordable Care act was to slow the rate of growth in Health Insurance costs. Weve achieved that. More thank 20 million americans now have Health Insurance who did not have it before the Affordable Care act, and were also finding the cost of programs like medicare have gone down over 400 million because were finding cost savings in health care. Cost savings brought about because of the Affordable Care act. I said 400 million. Idits 473billion. Sorry. I was wrong. Saved in medicare since the Affordable Care act because the rate of growth in Health Care Costs has slowed down. For employer premiums, the past five years included four of the five slowest growth years on record. Health care price growth since the Affordable Care act became law has been the slowest in 50 years. Have some premiums gone up . Yes. Primarily in the individual market. Now, the senator from texas and i have something in common. The Biggest Health insurer in my state is also a major Health Insurer in texas bluecross blueshield. And blue cross came to me and said, were going to have to raise premiums. How much i cant say. Ultimately, its still going through the decision process. What was the reason, they said . Not enough people are signing up for the Health Insurance exchanges. What we are trying to do is to get more people to sign up for Health Insurance so that we literally have universal coverage across this country. Weve made great progress 20 Million People. More are covered. But to argue that we should go back to the good ol days of Health Insurance, of discrimination against people with preexisting conditions, discrimination against women, making the decision that if your child had a medical condition, your family wouldnt have helt hundreds, to say that we should go back to say, is that what the republicans are proposing . Im still waiting for the republican alternative to the Affordable Care act. Theyve had plenty of time to work on it. Now, they call it a partisan law, but lets make the record clear. In 2009, when president obama was sworn into office and started this effort to reform Health Insurance in america, max baucus, democrat of montana, was the chairman of the finance committee. He reached out to the ranking republican, Chuck Grassley of iowa, to try to devise a bipartisan bill. They took a long time deliberating and meeting. Many of us were frustrating saying when is this going to result in an actual bill . In august of 2009, senator grassley announced he was no longer going to be engaged in that negotiation and deliberation. From that point forward, no republicans participated in the drawing up of the bill or an alternative. It passed on a partisan roll call despite the best efforts of many senators t to engage the republicans in at least debating the issue and helping us build the bill. They were opposed remained opposed. Still oppose it today. Still have no alternative, no substitute. It is their hope that we somehow return to the good ol days of Health Insurance. Well, they werent good ol days for millions of americans. It meant discrimination, exclusions, expenses, and treatment no one wante want s to return to. One topic thats never meninged by the republicans when they come to the floor tawngdz about Health Insurance i listened carefully yesterday, again today with senator mcconnell and with senator cornyn. The one thing they failed to mention, did you hear them say anything about the cost of pharmaceuticals and drugs . Not a word. Yet when you ask Health Insurance companies, why are premiums going up, some are saying theyre being driven by the cost of pharmaceuticals. One company says 25 of our premium increase goes to the cost of pharmaceuticals. Well, we know what theyre talking about, dont they . When people take over these pharmaceutical companies, grab a drug thats sometimes been on the market for decades, decide to raise the price 100 , 200 , in the case of epipens, 550 these pence that save kid these pen pens that save kids tt have allergic reactions. So if were going to deal with the drivers in the cost of Health Insurance, my friends on the republican side have to be open to the suggestion we need to do more to protect American Consumers from being fleeced by farpharmaceutical companies. Why are we paying so much more for drugs in america that are literally cheaper in canada and cheaper in europe . Because our laws dont give the consumers a fighting chance. Our laws allow pharmaceutical companies to charge what they wish, with little or no oversight. If you want to bring down the cost of health care, we have hospitals already engaged in that effort. Doctors engaged in that effort. Medical professionals committed to that effort. But what one Hospital Administrator said to me is, senator, when are we going 0 get the pharmaceutical companies to join us in trying to reduce the cost to consumers . Let me just close by saying, the senator from texas said and there were those in the senate who wanted to have a government Health Insurance plan. Guilty as charged not as the only plan but as a competitor when this came to these Health Insurance plans. What if we had medicare for all across the United States as an alternative in every Insurance Exchange and allowed consumers across this country to decide whether that is an option that is valuable for them . Im not closing out the possibility of private insurers. Let them compete as well. But consumers at least deserve that option. A nonprofit medicareforall Insurance Plan. It was stopped because we didnt have the support of all the democrats, to be honest with you, and no support from the republican side. I still think thats a viability alternative that we should explore. So ill still wait. There will be more and more speeches about the Affordable Care act, and ill still wait after six years for the first proposal from the republican side for the replacement of the Affordable Care act. I havent seen it yet but hope springs eternal. I yield the floor. Mrs. Fischer mr. President . The presiding officer the . Er from nebraska. Mrs. Fischer thank you, mr. President. Mr. President , i rise to offer remarks on the Water Resources Development Act today. Specifically, i would like to address amendment number 4996, which is whic which has now n modified and included in the inhofeboxer package. First to senators inhofe and boxer, thank you for your commitment to passing the wrda bill every two years. I appreciate your efforts to work with every member in this chamber to make certain that that commitment is upheld. The bill reflects our duty and ability to ensure safe, reliable Water Infrastructure. In large part, it achieves this by granting greater flexibility to the local stakeholders to manage their communities diverse water needs. For example, in nebraska our 23 Natural Resource districts will be allowed to conduct feasibility studies and receive reimbursement during project construction instead of waiting until that project is completed. Wrda also includes real reform for state municipalities like those in omaha struggling with unfunded combined sewer overflow mandates. Personally i am relieved that wrda 2016 eliminates the e. P. A. s flawed Median Household Income affordability measurement. Regarding amendment 4996, i want to thank the chair and the Ranking Member of the e. P. W. Committee and their staff for working with me in a bipartisan manner to ensure americas farmers and ranchers have greater certainty for their on farm fuel and animal feed storage. Mr. President , this amendment provides a limited exemption to farmers from the e. P. A. s spill prevention containment and control, or the spcc rule. Two years ago i worked with senator boxer who was then chairman of the committee in a goodfaith efforts to address concerns raised by my constituents about this rule. And i am really glad for the opportunity to do so again. My modified amendment would wholly exempt animal feed storage tanks from the spcc rule both in terms of aggregate storage and singletank storage. Further, this amendment includes additional language that will exempt up to 2,000 gallons of capacity on remote or separate parcels of land as long as these tanks are not larger than 1,000 gallons each. Ultimately this will allow ag producers greater flexibility to access the necessary fuel kneeledded to power machinery, eqiment and irrigation pumps. Some may think these are just technical tweaks, but let me assure you they are critically important to farmers and ranchers across our country. Most agriculture producers live miles away from the nearest refueling station, and producers, therefore, rely upon onfarm fuel storage to provide the supply that they need at times when they need it. This amendment will ensure producers can maintain that onfarm fuel storage. It would bring some reasonable, measured exemptions to the spcc rule for small and mediumsize farms and for livestock producers. This compromise comes at a critical hour for our ag producers. They are struggling through one of the toughest farm economies since the 1980s. Markets are weak. Margins are tight. This compromise offers muchneeded regulatory relief. For many, its a lifeline. It lifts an unnecessary burden. So i urge my colleagues to support these commonsense exemptions that will limit harmful federal regulations on the men and women who feed a very hungry world. Mr. President , id like to comment briefly on those harmful regulations. As i mentioned, the Senate Passed a provision in the 2014 wrda bill requiring the e. P. A. To do some research before determining what is and what is not an appropriate safe fuel storage level for the average american farmer. Well, its miew my view and its shared by many producers across the country that if theres no risk, then theres no reason to regulate. Dont fix problems that dont exist. The e. P. A. Released results of this study last year, and it is difficult for me to call it a study. The word study ceas with carries with it the implication of careful scrutiny. The e. P. A. s study was in reality a collection of assumptions lacking in scientific evidence. It supported a recommendation that moved the goal post on the exemption levels below the minimum that was previously agreed to by this chamber and signed into law. The e. P. A. Report failed to show that onfarm fuel storage poses a significant risk to water quality. It cited seven examples of significant fuel spills and not one of them occurred on a farm or a ranch. Even more misleading, one referenced a spill of 3,000 gallons of jet fuel. Well, mr. President , i know in your state of south dakota and in my state of nebraska, it would be very hard to find a farmer who employs the use of a jet engine when they are harvesting a cornfield. To place these costly fees and heavy regulations on farmers and ranchers at so difficult a time is really a dangerous thing, and its a serious thing. To do so based on a false report with misleading information, thats irresponsible. I know the impact of federal policies from firsthand experience. Farmers and ranchers understand their success is the direct result of careful stewardship of our Natural Resources. We depend on a healthy environment for our very livelihoods. We know the values of clean water. You cant raise cattle or corn without it. No one works harder to protect the quality of our streams and our aquifers. When it comes to preventing spills from onfarm fuel storage, producers already have every incentive in the world. We live on this will land, and our families drink the water. So again, i would like to thank chairman inhofe and Ranking Member boxer for their willingness to come together, reach a compromise and safeguard the livelihoods of our farmers and ranchers. The senates approval of wrda will be a relief for farmers throughout nebraska and all across america who should not face these unnecessary regulations. The bipartisan provision regarding onfarm fuel storage completely exemption animal feed ingredients, and it does provide greater flexibility to producers to access the fuel where they need it, and thats reflective of the world realties that we face in production agriculture. I appreciate my colleagues support and cooperation on this issue. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. Mr. Wyden mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Wyden mr. President , if ever there was an issue that ought to be bipartisan, its tackling the zika virus, because this virus of course is taking enormous toll on our country. What were seeing is women and men getting infected, research stalling out, babies being born with deformities and severe disabilities. My view is there shouldnt be anything bipartisan about tackling this. It ought to be just common sense. The senate ought to come together, and we ought to have done it quite some time. Yet, Republican Leaders seem to be putting this into slow motion because they want to limit access to the very Health Services pregnant women depend on for their care. It seems when you listen to their view, it is almost like giving pregnant women cans of bug spray and wishing them good luck. Now that, in my view, just defies common sense what ive always felt and this has been true throughout my time in Public Service that the Big Public Health issues were the safety and wellbeing so Many Americans is on the line, you say what were going to do is were going to do our job. Were going to come together. Were going to do it in a bipartisan fashion based on what researchers and Public Health Authorities Say make sense. And yet, here the senate is on an issue thats at the forefront of the minds of millions of american women and families, and what were being told by republicans is that the price of dealing with the zika virus is limiting womens rights and reducing access to Reproductive Health care. And so much of that agenda is a preventive agenda, which is exactly what the Public Health Authorities Say is most important. So my hope is that very quickly this congress is going to say were going to set aside the antiwomen, antifamily language and, as part of a mustpass bill, were going to say were coming together as a body, democrats and republicans, addressing what are clear Public Health recommendations of the leading specialist in this country and do the job that americans told us to do, which is when you have something that affects millions of americans and their health and safety i had a number of forums on the zika virus this summer in oregon. Great concern, concern, for example, at the Oregon Health sciences center, our premier Health Research body, very concerned about the Research Agenda stalling out. So i would just say to my colleagues lets set aside this question of trying to find ideological trophies as part of the zika legislation. Lets address the clear Public Health recommendations that we have received. Lets do it in a bipartisan way. Lets do it in a way that reflects common sense. And lets do it quickly. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor. Mr. Barrasso mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Barrasso thank you, mr. President. I come to the floor having seen the minority leader and then the minority whip both on the floor this morning talking about the president s Health Care Law. Its a law that the president said people should forcefully defend and be proud. And what i heard was in defense of a bill today, now a law, that was passed solely along partisan lines a number of years ago, and its very hard to be proud or defend that law based on what the American People are experiencing. So i come to the floor noting that the president is from the home state of illinois. The minority whip is from the home state of illinois. And there have been a number of stories in the press recently from that state about just how horrendous the impact of the law has been on the people of the president s home state to the point that just yesterday there was a story in the Washington Examiner with the headline illinois gets ready for huge obamacare rate hikes. People say whats not to like about obamacare . According to cranes Chicago Business report just last auguss plenty in illinois. Plenty in illinois not to like about obamacare. But its not just illinois. Its not just nevada where the minority leader is from. A gallup poll of the entire country that recently came out showed that more americans are negative than positive about the Health Care Law. Have therein there been some people that have been helped . Absolutely. But overall most americans in this case have said the impact has been more negative than positive. Its interesting because the way the question was asked, they asked has this Health Care Law helped you personally or has it hurt you and your family . Mr. President , i was astonished to see that 29 of americans say that obamacare has hurt them and their family personally. Three out of ten americans say that this law has hurt them and their families personally. How does that happen . Well, maybe they lost their doctor. The president said if you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor. Many people couldnt, in spite of what the president may have told them. The president told them their Insurance Premiums would drop by 2,500. Instead, people are noticing premiums going up around the country. The president said if you like your plan, you can keep your plan. We know that has not been true. And then the thing that i found additionally astonishing and concerning to all of us as americans and as a doctor most concerning to me is the question is how will this Health Care Law affect your family in the future . More americans expect the Health Care Law to make their Families Health care situation worse in the long term. This is people talking about their own families, not the minority leader or the minority whip or the president of the United States coming here to the floor, talking about this and that theoretical aspects. Im talking about american families. People, men, women, children all trying to live a healthy life and finding that it has been impeded, hurt by the president s Health Care Law. I mean, its amazing. 36 . More than one in three americans expect this Health Care Law to make their Families Health care situation worse. Did we hear about that during the debate on the senate floor . When the bill was written behind closed doors and harry reid in harry reids office when nancy pelosi said first you have to pass it before you get to find out whats in it. Do the American People know that here six years later over one in three say they are personally, their health care and their health and their own families is going to be worse because of this law. So the state of illinois, the headline from yesterday, illinois gets ready for huge obamacare rate increases. First line of the story. Half the insurers selling plans in illinois obamacare marketplaces are hiking prices by 50 on average, according to the final rates that the state published wednesday. Now, these are rates approved by the state of illinois. The president said we wont let them go up that high. The state of illinois said thats the only way that they can stay in business. Another headline, illinois obama rates could soar as states submit Insurance Premium increases to the feds. Rates could increase by average we know what the approval rate is over half of them are going to be increasing by over half, by over 50 . So the enact, its interesting for a 21yearold nonsmoker. Youre talking about somebody who is healthy, doesnt smoke, probably doesnt go to the gym. If they are buying the lowest priced silver plan in cook county, illinois. Were talking chicago, were talking the president s hometown next year, that 21yearold healthy individual, nonsmoker could pay a premium of 221 a month up from 152 a month. Well, thats 70 higher every month, 840 for the year higher premium, a 21yearold who is just trying to get Health Insurance because the law says they have to buy it and the president says you just cant get what works for you. You have got to buy what i say works for you. You have to listen to the president on this. You cant choose what makes sense for you. Now, the president says hey, dont worry. Taxpayers will subsidize it. Well, if youre not receiving a taxpayer subsidy, youre paying the subsidy for that person. But a lot of people dont get the subsidies. According to the situation in chicago, about 25 of the people who buy insurance on the exchange, the customers there, which is about 84,000 people, they dont receive tax credits. They dont receive the subsidy. So they are feeling this in their pocketbooks because the president says they have to buy it because he thinks he knows better, and it sounds like the minority leader and the minority whip have that same opinion. So when the headline comes out whats not to like about obamacare and then the answer to that question is plenty in illinois, it talks about illinois residents who buy Health Insurance through the Obamacare Exchange should brace themselves for steep premium increases. But its not just the premiums. They also have to brace themselves for fewer doctors to choose from, less choice in doctors, less choice in hospitals to go to when they enroll and the enrollment opens on november 1. The big national Health Insurance companies have pulled out of illinois because of substantial losses. There was actually a coop in illinois called the land of lincoln coop. It lost 91 million, and they closed their doors. Is it only illinois . Is it only nevada where theyre down to just one choice in most of the state . Because the president promised a marketplace, but instead its a monopoly because the companies have pulled out, people have very few choices, if any. While people buying Insurance Coverage through the Illinois Exchange may howl because of the increase in the prices, premiums are jumping even higher in other states. For instance, the insurance commissioner of tennessee, declaring the states Exchange Market quote very near collapse, very near collapse in tennessee. They approved an increase of the one Insurance Company, 62 . 62 increase. Is that what the president means when he says forcefully defend and be proud . The president and the senators who are on the floor today talked about the issues and the president pointed to this. He said oh, well, people arent going to have to go to the emergency room after the obamacare Health Care Law has been passed because they will only have to use it for emergency, not for routine care. Well, what came out in in the Chicago Tribune . The president s hometown newspaper. August 30, this year. Illinois emergency room visits increase after obamacare, increase. It says emergency room visits in illinois increased by more than 14,000 visits a month, on average, in 2014 and 2015 compared to before the president s Health Care Law was signed. This is from the annals of emergency medicine. They follow these things. Well, the article goes on in the Chicago Tribune and it says one of the goals of expanding coverage to all was to reduce the use of pricey services such as Emergency Department visits. Thats what the president said. Thats what the democrats said when this bill was being debated because the emergency room was the area of last resort for people who didnt have doctors, doesnt see them regularly, so with the Health Care Law, they wouldnt need to go to the emergency room. But the studys authors noted that this spike in visits in illinois runs contrary to what the president promised and the president s goal. The coops have been especially troubling and certainly in illinois the land of lincoln coop, but its not just illinois. Coop after coop after coop have failed, including one yesterday in the state of new jersey, gone. What does cranes newspaper, Chicago Business say about illinois . Illinois obamacare plan to fold after threeyear run. Land of Lincoln Health and obamacare insurer that launched three years ago to bring competition. The idea the president said he wanted to bring competition to the Online Exchange is liquidating among big financial losses. Location after location, state by state, people that have relied upon the president s promises have been bitterly disappointed. And the thing that is so distressing about what happened in illinois with the coop, because it failed during the middle of the year, done. People then need to go find new insurance. Well, we have talked before, mr. President , about the issues of high copays, high deductibles. When a coop fails and you have to buy new insurance, you have to start over from scratch with paying the copays, paying the deductibles, so somebody that actually bought insurance through the president s idea of this coop that has now failed find themselves with a new Insurance Company if they can find one because the law says they have to buy it, finding themselves with new insurers, but they have to start over. So the land of lincoln, the socalled coop Health Insurer on the state exchange is going to shut down at the end of september, coming up in just a couple of weeks its 49,000 illinois members. This is according to the Chicago Tribune. Its 49,000 illinois members have to get new Insurance Coverage for october, november and december because its done the end of this month. They will likely have to start from zero again on their deductibles and outofpocket maximum payments, in some cases costing them thousands of additional dollars. Is that what president obama means when he says forcefully defend and be proud . There is very little to be proud about about what this president has brought upon the American People, which is why we see so many families suffering. The final issue that i bring to you, mr. President , is the fact that so few people are signing up in spite of the fines, in spite of the taxes, in spite of the mandates to the point that the Washington Post had a front page story, Health Exchange signups fall short. They expected at this point 24 Million People signing up. There are 11 million. So they are 13 million short. There are still almost 30 Million People in this country uninsured. But its not because they are making it hard to sign up. Oh, no, mr. President. You may have seen this story that came out yesterday on cnbc news. Obamacare marketplaces remain vulnerable to fraud. A new government audit finds. Two new government audits reveal that the nations obamacare marketplaces, the article says, remain vulnerable to fraud, vulnerable to fraud after investigators successfully applied for coverage for multiple people who do not exist. They made up people, they applied, and the Obamacare Exchange sold them the insurance and counted them as good. It says in several cases this year, fake people who hadnt filed tax returns were still able to get Obamacare Tax credits. Not just get insurance but get subsidies from hardworking american taxpayers, were still able to get Obamacare Tax credits to help pay their monthly premiums for coverage right now. This year is the first year in which applicants for those subsidies had to actually have filed federal tax returns for prior coverage years, but they hadnt filed them. It didnt matter to the Obamacare Exchange people. They are so desperate to get people to sign up because so few people are signing up that they will sign up people who dont exist. Now, they put up ten fictitious applications. Eight of them failed the initial online identity checking process, but all ten were successfully approved according to the Government Accountability office. It is amazing that yet people all around the country know how poorly this law is working in terms of them, their lives, their families. I heard one of the senators today say the republicans have no options, the republicans have offered plenty of responses to what is happening with the obama Health Care Law. The state Health Care Choice act allows states to make a lot of decisions that are now being made by unelected, unaccountable washington bureaucrats. We have plans working toward patientcentered care to allow people to get the care they need from the doctor they choose at lower costs, things rejected by the democrats because the president has said forcefully defend and be proud. And Hillary Clinton has said defend and build upon. She wants to do it with additional taxpayer subsidies, subsidies that go to people that do not exist, subsidies that dont deal with the cost of care, subsidies that dont deal with the fact that people are meeting facing high deductibles, high copays, cant keep their doctors, and yet in spite of what the president may say and the democrats may say and candidate clinton may say, a huge number of American People have considerable fears that their life will be made worse by the president s Health Care Law and almost three in ten americans today, 29 of americans today say that they and their family have been personally harmed by the president s Health Care Law. Thats a sign of failure, mr. President. Its not a sign of success. Its not something that people should forcefully defend and be proud of. Its a sign that we need to take a different path, a path that is not the obama approach, its not the onesizefitsall, its not the washington knows better than the people at home. We need to get the decisions out of washington made at home so the American People, people who just want to get up, go to work, take care of their family and get Affordable Care when they need it can get the care that they need from a doctor that they choose at lower costs. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. A senator thank urks mr. President. Im here today to speak in support of wrda. The presiding officer the senate is in a quorum call call. A senator i note the absence of a quorum. I ask consent to vitiate the quorum call. The presiding officer without objection. A senator thank you, mr. President. Im here today to speak in support of wrda. Mrs. Capito i want to say thank you so much to chairman inhofe and to Ranking Member boxer for the way theyve worked to very well together to get this very important piece of legislation across the finish line. They did this with the transportation bill and it has this piece of legislation has broad bipartisan support. As you know, West Virginia suffered historic flooding this summer. You can see this in Greenbrier County in West Virginia on june 25, 2016. This just shows how swollen and how filled all the waterways were. We lost 23 West Virginians from the storms and tens of thousands suffered catastrophic damages to their homes and to their livelihoods. And wrda contains a number of provisions that will help prevent this kind of devastation in the future. We can no longer wait until it fails to fix our nations infrastructure. In addition to a major loss of life, communities across West Virginia are dealing with significant economic losses that will take years to discover. Our friends in louisiana are going through the same sort of very difficult building back. Let me touch on some of the highlights of the wrda bill. I sponsored a provision in wrda with my fellow senator from West Virginia, senator manchin to study the feasibility of implementing projects for flood Risk Management within West Virginias river basin, something such as this to prevent this. This bill also addresses dam safety and includes a provision ive been working with senator jack reed. I would like to thank him for his hard work in this area. National inventory of dams, there are more than 14,000 high hazard potential dams in the United States. As you know, the state of West Virginia has a lot of mountains, a lot of valleys, got a lot of water. Weve got a lot of dams. 422 of those dams are located in my state, my small state of West Virginia. Put simply, when a dam has high hazard potential, it means if the dam fails, people will lose their lives and their property. This provision allows for 530 million over ten years for a fema program to fix those dams. I know that states across the nation will welcome this provision. Flood prevention and mitigation is only one of the important parts of this wrda bill. Wrda also addresses the issues with our nations Drinking Water infrastructure, an issue again very important to all of us. In my state of West Virginia, we dealt with this firsthand. In 2014 following the freedom industry spill into the elk river. As you may recall, that caused 600,000 people to lose their water for a larger period of time, several weeks in some cases. Wrda provides assistance to small disadvantaged and underserved communities. It will replace lead Service Lines in these communities and address sewer overflows. We have so much aging infrastructure in this country. It includes 170 million to address lead emergencies like those in flint, michigan and other Public Health consequences. It provides 70 million to capitalize the new Water Infrastructure financing innovation act better known as wifia. That Program Provides loans for water and wasteWater Infrastructure anywhere in the country. This program is modeled after a similar and highly Successful Program that supports our highways. Maximizing the use of our waterways is another part of wrda. In my state are rivers not only provide commercial transport but also vital recreational opportunities. Ive offered a bipartisan amendment which i hope will be accepted into the final bill that emphasizes the increasing use of locks along the river for recreational use. Finally wrda includes consensus legislation to allow e. P. A. To review and approve state permitting programs for the cole coal ash disposal. The rule went into effect last october but e. P. A. Does not currently have the authority to approve our state permitting programs. This bill fills that gap benefiting utilities, states, and the environment by authorizing states oversight of coal ash disposal. Theres no other environmental regulation solely enforced through private lawsuits which is what were seeing so this bill fixes that by giving states the authority and it empowers local entities to help keep their infrastructure strong and functioning. Lastly the bill gets us back to a regular schedule of passing wrda every two years. Doing so will allow us to continue to modernize our water transportation infrastructure and keep up with flood protection and Environmental Restoration needs across the country. So lets seize this opportunity. This is a significant bill with a number of benefits for states, a lot of states all across the country. This legislation proactively addresses a number of concerns r. It will bring short and longterm gains to our economy and show the American People that congress can come together in a bipartisan way to fix problems, to support needed improvements to our infrastructure, and make the right investments in our communities. And lastly, id like to add the devastating floods that we had in West Virginia took as i said 23 lives but what it showed us i think us West Virginians is what a great nation we live in. I want to take the time to thank people from across this country who drove to West Virginia, who sent money to West Virginia, who raised money for West Virginians, who sent supplies, who said prayers, for all the many peoples that were devastated and still suffer the devastation from a flood such as this throughout our state. You know, we do i think sometimes focus a little bit too much on whats going wrong in this country. For me one of the things thats going right is the volunteerism, the benevolence, the loving embrace that we felt in West Virginia from the rest of the country when we went through such a devastating flood but that other areas of the country feel when they suffer like consequences. So with that, mr. President , id like to yield back. I note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator from california. Mrs. Feinstein thank you very much, mr. President. The presiding officer the in a is in had a quorum call. Fine foon i ask that the quorum call be dismissed. The presiding officer without objection. Mrs. Feinstein thank you, mr. Chairman. It is really propitious that you are in the chair today because i am going to talk about our bill, which is part of the wrda bill. Let me begun by thanking you for your leadership. We put together this in 2015. This has to do with lake tahoe. And you were the main author of the bill. Senator reid, senator boxer and i were supporters. Here it is in this bism and i want you to know how i feel. This is the way the senate should work, that we Work Together for something that has so benefited both of our states and were able to say that were getting the job done. And i just want to say congratulations to you. This is so special for me, and im delighted that youre in the chair. And maybe i could go over just a little bit of the 20 years because we missed you i know you couldnt be at the summit this year. But i want i know that you were really missed. And i want you to know that senator reid put together one amazing summit. As a matter of fact, i called him and said, harry, you cant have a rock group at this summit. This is a serious thing. You know, we meet every year and we go over all of the science and all of the planning and all of the problems at the lake. And he said, let me tell you something. Im retiring. Its my turn to do this, and im going to do it my way. And, mr. President , i want you to know, there were 7,000 people for the summit. And our governor spoke, your governor could not be there he was committed to an event in your state. Senator boxer spoke, senator reid, of course, spoke, and the president came. And i was worried that all of us speaking would have a difficult time because there were 7,000 people expecting to hear this Las Vegas Group called the killers. Well, i must tell you, they were the utmost in terms of an audience, and after the program was finished before the rock group came on what i had hoped is that we have a whole new constituency of people to work for the preservation of this lake. I want to just report to you quickly some of the numbers, if i may and i thought i had them here. We have spent 1 mo. 9 billion an investment on the lake. 635 is federal dollars. 759 million california dollars. 124 million nevada dollars. As you know, Southern Nevada land sales have gone into this, thanks to your governor and also senator reed. 99 million by local governments. And i want you to Pay Attention to this number 339 million has been raised over the 20year period by business. So what weve had is a bystate very real combined effort to handle lake tahoe. Now, i also want you to know that at the stakeholders lunch following the summit, jeff schladoe said that his greater concern was the fact that this lake is now warming quicker than any great lake in the world. And that the ambient the state of lake tahoe shows that the ambient air temperature has gone up nearly five degrees. So we are going to have a continuing problem. And i am really so proud of the accomplishments that we together have made. And i really want to thank you for this. Its really important. Tahoe is one of two big clear lakes in the world. The other is bical in russia. So let me just cite what weve done. Weve controlled 729 miles of roads from erosion. We have included 65,000 acres of hazardous fuels treatment. We have restored more than 16,000 acres of wildlife habitat. And weve restored 1,500 acres of environment zones, 2,270 linear feet of shoreline has been added to the lake. But i think overall what we have now is a bystate a bistate team tahoe. I think it took us 20 years to get there. I remember when senator reid got president clinton to come at the beginning. Of of us were there at the beginning. At that time, everybody was fighting. Planning agencies were fighting with homeowners, environmentalists were fighting with others. That doesnt exist today. Today we have effected a team. And im so pleased that you were in the chair this is completely unplanned so that i can say thank you and how very proud i am that we have achieved this, that its part of the wrda bill. And i want particularly to thank your colleague, my colleagues, senator inhofe and senator boxer. The only way you get this done is by working together. And i think the fact that they have worked together has ensured that we now have this opportunity to deal with this new challenge, which is unprecedented warming. And along those lines, just a word as i understand whats happening, the projection is for less snow and more rain, which means more warm water. And so the fish that are cold water fish, the trucking river, which is fueled by tahoe, all of the streams that play into tahoe really depend on that snowpack. So the next few years i think are going to be crucial, and i want you to know that i so look forward to working with you. We must continue the tradition, which senator inhofe and boxer have recognized, senator reid helped to begin, and weve got to carry it on. So i am delighted that the senate is working again and that this bill is part of the wrda bill. And i just want to end by once again thanking you very much for your leadership. And i yield the floor. Thank you very much. A senator i suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call quorum call quorum call the presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio mr. President , is the senate in a quorum call . The presiding officer we are. Mr. Rubio i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Rubio mr. President , i have five requests for committees to meet during todays session of the senate. They have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. The presiding officer so noted. Mr. Rubio thank you, mr. President. I ask that i be recognized to speak as if in morning business. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Rubio thank you, mr. President. Im pleased to report that we finally have some encouraging news yesterday on the zika funding front with the announcement by the Senate Majority leader that additional money to fight the zika virus would be included in the continuing resolution which is the budget document that will hopefully move us forward, at least through december, and that hopefully will be moving through the senate here very soon. Throughout my time in the senate, i have regularly opposed these shortterm spending bills because i dont think funding government on a monthtomonth basis is the smart way to run the government of the most powerful and important nation on earth. But with zika becoming a Public Health emergency the way it has, this is a necessary exception for me to make, and thats why, assuming all else will obviously reserve to see all the other details of this budget document, but assuming it all is as has been reported and as i am aware from the conversations that are ongoing, that thats why i will be supporting this continuing resolution. Its worth making an exception for Something Like that when the zika funding is in it. At this point, i just really believe that we need to get zika funding approved and moving. We need to make sure that the fight against zika doesnt run out of money before the end of this month. Thats for me the most urgent priority. We cant let the perfect be the enemy of the good. The perfect, i believe, is still the full funding that was originally requested at 1. 9 billion which i supported. The good is what will hopefully be finalized soon and hopefully will pass quickly. But the unacceptable, the unacceptable would be to do nothing and to let the money run out on these ongoing efforts to fund the fight against zika. Even the 1. 9 billion the administration requested months ago may not ultimately be enough. We dont know for sure how much more may be needed to win this fight, but the 1. 1 billion for zika thats being negotiated would be a big step in the right direction, and it would mean real resources for my home state of florida, which in the continental u. S. And the mainland has been disproportionately impacted. Just yesterday there were another six cases, i believe, of confirmed transmissions that occurred in the state, not travel related and of course the suffering thats now ongoing on the island of puerto rico in which a significant percentage of the population has now been affected and or infected by zika. I have been talking about this issue since january and its been frustrating to see it tied up in washington political games. As i have said repeatedly, i believe both parties are to blame for us getting to this moment. On the one hand, i believe members of my own party have been slow to respond to this, and there was these efforts i believe to try to cut corners on the funding which will cost us money in the long term. On the other hand, you have democrats here inventing excuses, just making it up in order to oppose it and they do so for purely political reasons. And you have an administration playing chicken with this issue by claiming that money would run out in august only to discover that they had more money than they could than could be redirected from other accounts. And now thanks in part to the lack of action by congress, by the administration, we have nearly 19,000 americans who have been infected, including 800 in florida and 16,000 on the island of puerto rico. We have 86 pregnant women in the state of florida that have tested positive for the virus which as we know carries the risk for heartbreaking birth defects. The Florida Department of health announced, as i said earlier, it wasnt six, it was eight new nontravelrelated cases, bringing that total to 64. That basically means eight new cases of people that got zika somewhere in america, probably in florida. And zika has also had a devastating Economic Impact on florida. The miami herald reported that miami Hotel Bookings are down, that air to south florida is falling, Business Owners in affected areas report steep losses. Polls show many visitors would rather stay away. And as tourism takes a hit, well, so will the entire economy in the state of florida since tourism is one of our cornerstone industries. And thats just see all of us from florida working together across the aisle to get this done. For example, i have worked with my colleague, senator bill nelson, the senior senator from florida on zika from the very beginning. I will be meeting with our governor, governor rick scott later today about this same issue. The bottom line is that at the National Level like the state level in florida, there is no excuse for this issue to be tied up in politics any longer. My colleagues, zika is not a game, and we need to pass this funding as soon as possible so that our Health Officials and experts have the resources they need to conduct the vital medical research that will lead us to a vaccine and ultimately help eradicate zika in florida, across the United States, on the island of puerto rico and beyond. So yesterdays announcement is encouraging. Were closer than we have ever been to getting something done. And now i hope will be the time for action. Hopefully well have something soon thats public and that we can get passed right away, and i sincerely hope that Senate Democrats wont once again make up or find some excuse to oppose this. And i hope that members of our party will work cooperatively on this as well. And i hope ultimately that the house will also do the right thing so we can get this done and we can move forward on the research necessary for the vaccine, on the money needed to eradicate these mosquitoes and ultimately on the treatments that people will so desperately need to deal with the issue of zika once and for all. With that, mr. President , i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call the presiding officer the senator from florida. Mr. Rubio i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Rubio mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that the senate stand in recess as if under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands in recess until Senate Stands in recess until a lot of excitement as he travels across the country with a number of members joining him in the future of making America Great again. Now, on the floor this week we have four different bills. We will deal with tax increases to obamacare, changing the veterans administration, transparency in government and security. Those are issues that mike has been talking about across this country, but theyre issues that america has been telling him about. So first of all, we will deal with, as you know, on obamacare the premiums continue to rise and now the taxes. Martha mcsally has a bill to protect the seniors and the middle class from the tax increase going up with obamacare. Secondly, we watched failure in the v. A. System. The backlog in disability claims. But its become so bad that you cant even fire an employee when they show up drunk. Our chairman, jeff miller, has a bill to deal with that. And as all americans believe, you should have transparency when it comes to washington and bureaucracy. Well be moving a bill dealing just with that. And last, the challenge of where we find security around the world. This is not the time to be releasing those terrorists in gitmo and bringing them to america. Well have a bill that prohibits that as well. So just as our governor, mike pence, travels this country talking about the future, in the house well be leading a better way agenda and look forward to after this election to have a team in the white house that will sign the bills to protect us from the tax increases, give us greater transparency, reform the v. A. System and give us all the security we need. It was great having our friend mike pence join us today. Governor, we appreciate you being there. You could tell enthusiasm in the room with our members, many of whom mike served with. But it was the same kind of enthusiasm ive seen as ive gone around the country traveling, campaigning for house republicans. You can sense in those states, whether its a swing state or not, that there is incredible