Family had to resort to asking their neighbors to pay for their sons medical bill. Story after story after story about medical insurance denials convinced me that the Affordable Care act will make a difference in reforming Health Care Coverage practices by the Insurance Companies as well as enabling families to avoid the financial travails of bankruptcy. Let me say finally, connecticut has been a leader in Insurance Markets with many leader insurers headquartered in my home state. I am proud that connecticut has been that leader, that its home to many Insurance Companies, and that Access Health connecticut, the individual marketplace in connecticut has been working tirelessly and successfully with these Insurance Firms to put together a groundbreaking exchange. The Kaiser Foundation recently found that the likely cost for a family of four in hartford, connecticut, earning 60,000 a year would be 122 a month. Thats a cost of about a Starbucks Coffee every day. The products being offered through the exchanges are high quality and they are available even to people who have a preexisting condition, in fact, the Affordable Care act enables Health Care Insurance for all people with a preexisting condition. No longer will people have to confront their Insurance Companies as regularly and frequently as they did. No longer will Insurance Companies be permitted to engage in the egregious practices they did and hopefully no longer will the services of my office such as i did when i was attorney general and now as senator be necessary as often. Shutting down the government is a movie weve seen before. It ends badly. It ends with undercutting investment, undermining job creation and economic growth, its a disservice to our nation. Hopefully with bipartisan cooperation and compromise we can afford it and proudly go on with the work of this body and of the federal government. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid mr. President , i know of no further debate on the motion to proceed. The presiding officer is there further debate . If theres no further debate, the question is on the adoption of the motion. All in favor say aye. Those opposed. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes have it. The motion is agreed to. The clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 195, h. J. Res. 59, making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2014 and for other purposes. Mr. Reid i have an amendment at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, proposes an amendment numbered 1974. Mr. Reid on the amendment juts reported i ask i ask for the yed nays. 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 1975 to amendment numbered 1974. Mr. Reid mr. President , in relation to that i have a motion to recommit a motion to commit h. J. Res. 59 and that has instructions at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the motion. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, moves to commit the bill to the committee on appropriations with instructions to report back forthwith an amendment numbered 1976. Employed on that i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. Mr. Reid i have an amendment to the instructions. The presiding officer the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk the senator from nevada, mr. Reid, proposes an amendment numbered 1977 to the instructions of the motion to commit h. J. Res. 59. Mr. Reid on that i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be. The yeas and are ordered. Mr. Reid i have a seconddegree amendment at the desk. The presiding officer the clerk will report the amendment. The clerk the senator from nevada proposes amendment number 1978 to amendment numbered 1977. Mr. Reid i have a cloture motion at the desk. I ask the clerk to report if the chair so advise. The presiding officer clert the cloture motion. The clerk cloture motion in accordance to rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on h. J. Res. 59 a joint resolution making continuing appropriations for fiscal year 12014 and for other purposes signed by 17 senators as follows. Reid of nevada, mikulski, donnelly, durbin, whitehouse, bennet, leahy, heitkamp, schumer, warner, heinrich, kaine, baldwin, coons, king. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule 22 be waived. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid mr. President , i now ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business, senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider the nominations on the seetarys desk in the air army, ny,hat thenominations ben bloc, the motion to reconsider made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further motion be in order to any of the nominations, any related statements are printed in the record and president obama immediately notified of the senates action and the senate resume legislative session. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to calendar number 13, s. 252. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 13, s. 252, a bill to reduce preterm labor and delivery and the risk of pretty pregnancyred deaths and so forth. The presiding officer is there objection to proceeding to the measure . Without objection, the senate will proceed. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the alexander amendment at the desk be agreed to. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid mr. President , i know of no further debate on this measure. The presiding officer is there further debate . If not, all in tbaifer say aye. In favor say aye. Those opposed. The ayes have it. The bill as amended is passed. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid i ask to lay before the senate the message from the house on s. S. 793. The presiding officer the chair lays before the senate the following message from the house. The clerk resolves that the bill from the senate s. 793 an act to support revitalization and reform of an organization of american states and for other purposes do pass with an amendment. Mr. Reid mr. President , i ask that the senate concur in in the house amendment and the motion to reconsider made and laid on theable, with no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. Res. 255, 256, 257, 258, 29, and 260. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed to those measures en bloc. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc, there be no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid finally, mr. President , i ask unanimous consent that question when the senate completes its business it adjourn until 10 00 a. M. On thursday, september 26, and that following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for use later this day, following any leader remarks the senate resume consideration of h. J. Res. 59 the continuing resolution with the Time Beginning at 10 30 a. M. And that be controlled in onehour increments with the majority controlling the first hour and alternating thereafter. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Reid mr. President , staff has worked so hard the last couple of days and i want to acknowledge that. Everyone has worked hard. Weve tried to space it out and staff has done a remarkably good job, but some people spent the night here. And one group that worked so very, very hard, we only have four reporters that can cover all the proceedings here. So think about what theyve had to go through. They have to prepare these their notes immediately and theyve been working, as i said, for two days. Im confident that they are exhausted. I hope they rest well, i hope everyone rests well tonight and well be back tomorrow hoping that we can even speed things up a little more than what the rules require. Id like, as i said before, to move this as quickly as i could, we could. The cloture vote will occur you exush one hour, the filing deadline would be 1 00 p. M. On h. J. Res. 5959. If there is no further business to come before the senate i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands adjourned until Senate Stands adjourned until texas senator ted cruz spoke on the floor of the eos senate for over 21 hours in his fight to get the senate to defund a Health Care Law finishing up at noon today. Senators Mccain Durbin and schumer came to the floor later to respond to comments made by senator cruz. This is 20 minutes. Sneed madam president i wont take a lot of time here on the floor. The floor has been well used over the last day or so. I would like to make sure that my colleagues and especially those who were not here in 2009 understand that there are many of us who are opposed to obamacare as it is called, the Affordable Care act, and the opposition that we mounted in 2009. Its a matter of record that the senate to start with the Senate Finance committee considered the Affordable Care act over several weeks and approved the bill in october 13 of 2009. At that time members of the finance committee submitted 564 amendments, 135 amendments were considered and 79 roll call votes taken. 49 amendments were adopted and then the Senate Health education labor and Pensions Committee approved the Affordable Care act by 1310 after a monthlong debate. 500 amendments were considered and more than 160 republican amendments were accepted and then it came to the floor of the senate. The Affordable Care act was on the floor for 25 Straight Days including weekends between thanksgiving and christmas of 2009. 506th amendments were filed, 228 of which were republican 34 roll call votes were held. Most roll call vote resulted in partyline votes including emotion which i had to commit the bill to the finance committee for a rewrite. Final passage of the bill because of our insistence in exercising every reasonable parliamentary procedure we could take place on Christmas Eve of 2009 much to the discomfort of many of my colleagues. But we fought as hard as we could and in a fair and honest manner and we lost. We lost one of the reasons is because we were in the minority and in democracies almost always the majority governs and passes legislation but i was extremely proud of the effort that we on this side of the aisle made to attempt to defeat what we thought was a measure that was not good for america and it was an interesting debate. I think an educational one. We had a lot of us this and my friend from illinois on several occasions he and i basically had debates on the floor of the senate which of course i won every one but the fact is, the fact is that this legislation was hard fought it was the legislative process. I didnt like the end of it but im proud of the effort that we made and frankly the other side of the aisle allow the debate to take place. And again, we finally finished up on december 24 of 2009 at 7 05 a. M. So to somehow allege that many of us havent thought hard enough i think does not comport with the actual action that took place on the floor of the senate now many of those who are in opposition right now were not here at the time and did not take part in that debate. I respect that but i would like to remind them that the record is very clear one of the most hardfought fair in my view, debates that has taken place on the floor of the senate since the time i have been here. And then i would remind my colleagues that in the 2012 election obamacare as it is called and i will be more polite polite aca was a subject that was a major issue through the campaign. I campaigned all over america for two months everywhere i could and in every Single Campaign rally i said we have to repeal and replace obamacare. Well the people spoke. They spoke much to my dismay, could they spoke and they reelected the president of the United States. That doesnt mean that we give up our efforts to try to replace and repair obamacare but it does mean that elections have consequences and those elections were clear in a significant majority that the majority of the American People supported the president of the United States and renewed his stewardship of this country. I dont like it. Its not something that i wanted the outcome to be but i think all of us should respect the outcome of elections which reflects the will of the people. So we just went through a long, many our discussion i cant call it a filibuster because they filibuster is intended to delay passage of legislation. There was no doubt that there was a time certain that the time on the floor would have to expire so i guess the thing i can say is extended oratory that took place for many hours on the floor of the senate which is the right of the senate and a senator to do. I respect that right and obviously the longevity of the discussion was something that was certainly admirable. But during the course of that discussion conducted by my friend from texas compound he said quote if you go back to the nine teen 40s in nazi germany look we saw in Britain Apple chamberlain who told the british people accept the nazis. Yes they will dominate the coned of europe but its not our problem. Lets appease them. Why . Because we cant possibly stand against them and then he went on to say i suspect those same pundits who say defining obamacare cant be done. If it had been in the 1940s we would have been listening to them. They would have been saying we cannot defeat the germans are you irish sounding labored check that allegation. That allegation in my view does a great disservice, a great disservice to those brave americans and those who stood up and said whats happening in europe cannot stand. When the ship was turned back and the passengers on that ship were sent directly to the gas chambers, when czechoslovakia failed and the slaughter continued. There were many who raised their voices. And then there were those who went to war because of the barbaric and the great threat to civilization and everything we stand for, amongst them were my father and grandfathers. I do not agree with that comparison. I think its wrong and i think its a disservice to those who stood up and shouted at the top of their lungs that we cannot appease, that we must act and we did act and its a disservice to those who did act. I spoke to senator cruz about my dissatisfaction about his use of this language and he said he only intended it to be applied to pundits and not to members of the senate. I find that a difference without a distinction. I find that something that i think i had to respond to. I do not begrudge senator cruz or any other senator who wants to come talk, as long as they want to and as long as they can depending on the rules of the senate but i do disagree strongly to a ledge that there are people today who are like those who prior to world war ii didnt stand up and oppose the atrocities that were taking place in europe. Because i have an open and honest disagreement with the process of not agreeing to move forward legislation which i agree with, which was passed through the house of representatives and comparing it to those who appease with the appeasers as senator cruz described them is an inappropriate place for debate on the floor of the United States senate. I think i colleagues. And president . The senator from illinois. Would you be kind enough to tell us the state of time remaining . There are 15 minutes remaining for the majority. No time limits for the minority. Senator schumer is going to come to the floor shortly and as soon as he does im going to yield to him but i would just like to say in response to senator mccain senator mccain whose father father and his son as well as other family members who had made extraordinary contributions to this country, i am proud to come as a friend and colleague in the United States senate and we have come to at least a draw on several occasions and i respect him very much even when we disagree. I know that his statements were heartfelt. We started in congress with senator reid and senator mccain and i together in the house in 1982 and i hope that his statement is taken for face value that we respect very much all of those who have stood up and fought for america and though we may have many differences politically on the floor on issues we will never question those who have risked and given their lives in defense of this great nation. Madam president at the risk of taking more time than i should i do want to say a word though that at the conclusion of this debate we will have an important vote here on the floor of the senate. Its a vote on cloture on the motion to proceed and basically what it says is this, shall we proceed to consider the bill that was sent to us by the house of representatives quits the bill that was sent to us was not one that i agree with. I hope we can change it but i certainly believe it would be a serious mistake for us not to give the 60 votes necessary to proceed to debate on this bill. That would literally bring us to the point where the