Transcripts For CSPAN2 Key Capitol Hill Hearings 20140227

This is about giving veterans who have sacrificed everything, every option we have to help them fulfill a simple dream of starting a family. Now as we all know, our men and women in uniform have become increasingly susceptible to productive spinal and traumatic brain injuries due to the changing weapons of war. But as we know, thanks to modern medicine, many of these Service Members are being kept alive and are returning home. In fact, as of the new year, there are 2,348 Service Members who are living with reproductive urinary or pelvic injuries as a result of this war. And like so many of our veterans, these men and women come home and want to return to their lives. They want to find employment. And importantly, they want to start a family. Yet, what they find when they go to r. V. A. Is that the Fertility Services that are available dont meet their extremely complex needs. In fact, veterans who suffer from these injuries find that the v. A. Is specifically barred from providing more advanced assisted reproductive techniques like i. V. F. They are told that despite the fact that they have made such an extreme sacrifice for all of us, we cannot provide them with the medical services that they need simply to start a family. Now these are veterans like Staff Sergeant mack kyle and his wife tracy. Despite returning home from iraq as a quadriplegic, Staff Sergeant kyle and tracy started talking about and exploring the possibility of starting a family together. But because his injuries prevented him from having children naturally, tracy turned to the v. A. And began to explore her options for fertility treatments. But because of that v. A. Ban, they were told no and turned away. So they were out of options, and the kyles decided that this was important enough to them that they were willing to pay out of pocket, out of their own pocket for i. V. F. Treatment in the private sector to the tune of 32,000 per round of treatment. Well, mr. President , thankfully Staff Sergeant kyle and tracy welcomed twins matthew and faith into the world after just one round of treatment. And tracy told me after that and i want to quote it to all of you the day we had our children something changed in both of us. This is exactly what we had always wanted. Our dreams had arrived. The v. A. , congress and the American People have saeupd countless times have said countless times that they want to do everything they can to support my husband or make him feel whole again, and this is your chance. Having a family is exactly what we needed to feel whole again. Please help us make these changes so that other families can share this experience. End quote. Mr. President , tracy and matt arent alone. There are many men and women out there who share this Common Thread of a desperate desire to fulfill their dream of starting a family only to find that the catastrophic wounds they sustained while defending our country are now preventing them from seeing that dream through. It shouldnt be that way. Now, unfortunately, republicans are indicating they will not join us today in overturning this absurd and antiquated ban. Apparently they would rather our nations heroes spend tens of thousands of dollars of their own money in the private sector to get the advanced reproductive treatments they need just to start a family. They dont see the problem in letting our veterans marriages dissolve because of the stress of infertility in combination of course with the stress of readjusting to life after such a severe injury driving relationships to a breaking point. Mr. President , any Service Member who sustains this type of extremely serious injury deserves a lot more, because you know we came very close actually to making this bill a reality in the last congress. In fact, tracy kyle who i just talked about, watched from the gallery here when we unanimously passed this legislation. Unanimously. But here i am today once again imploring republicans to stand up and explain to our men and women in uniform who i know are paying very close attention to this debate and explain to them why they now want to turn their back on the catastrophic reproductive wounds that have become a signature of these wars. Just yesterday i spoke to a crowded room of heroes from disabled American Veterans and told them the heartbreaking story of the kyle family that i just shared and why this legislation is so important. And if their cheers and applause are any indication, i say they wholeheartedly agree that our womens veterans deserve this. Our male veterans deserve this. And certainly our military families deserve this. So, mr. President , im here on the floor today to ask my colleagues a simple question are you willing to tell those brave men and women that didnt ask questions when they were put in harms way that youre going to let politics get in the way of our commitment to them . That catastrophic wounds that we have seen from injuries in iraq and afghanistan have meant that our veterans dreams to start a family have been put on hold because of the tremendous cost of i. V. F. Services . We believe that is a cost of war, and we believe that the v. A. Absolutely should cover and it is unacceptable to let unrelated issues stand in the way. Mr. President , even the Major Veterans Service Organizations and their leaders have said to us that issues like the iran sanctions that the other side wants to offer have no flays in comprehensive veterans legislation. People like commander Daniel Dillinger who said iran is a serious Issue Congress needs to be to address but cannot be tied to the bill which is extremely important as our nation prepares to welcome millions of u. S. Service men and women from war. Or v. A. Founder and c. E. O. Paul rykoff who called this comprehensive legislation and i quote a game changer that will change the trajectory for veterans for years to come. As serious and as timely as they may be, unrelated issues like iran sanctions are just calculated attempts to intentionally dismantle our bipartisan effort to expand health care, education opportunities, employment and benefits for our nations heroes. We cant allow our commitment to them to lapse or to get caught up in separate issues or political grand standing. So, mr. President , i want to thank the senator from vermont and all of his staff for their tireless work on this comprehensive legislation that they brought to the floor. And i really hope that our colleagues will reconsider opposing this commonsense and important step to give those who have sacrificed everything the reproductive treatments that they need to start a family. Thank you, mr. President. And i yield the floor. Mr. Kaine mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from virginia. Mr. Kaine mr. President , i inquire how much time is left for democrats during morning business. The presiding officer 12 minutes. Mr. Kaine mr. President , i ask unanimous consent to use the remainder of the democrats time. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Kaine i ask unanimous consent that be. Mr. San sangerra be granted floor privileges. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Kaine i rise to speak about the slaughter in syria, a country of 23 Million People, a proud country is being transformed before our eyes into a land of rubble, skeletons, refugees and ghosts. Three million syrians have fled to neighboring countries. That number will likely exceed four million by year end. Nearly seven million syrians are refer skwraoes within their own country refugees within their own country driven from their homes by the atrocities of the assad regime, more than 130,000 innocent people have lost their lives during a threeyear civil war. Were witnessing one of the greatest humanitarian crises since world war ii, and it can be stopped. It can be stopped. Last summer my Armed Services colleague, senator angus king of maine, and i visited turkey and jordan to explore the dimension of the refugee crisis. We visited refugee camps, talked with government leaders and n. G. O. About the damaged lives and the stressed communities that result from this unprecedented displacement of syrians. Last week the senator from maine and i visited lebanon to see the scale of the Syrian Crisis in that country. In a country of only slightly more than four Million People, there are already over one million Syrian Refugees have fled into lebanon in the last three years. One in four. Think of the scale of that refugee crisis if we were to receive in the United States war refugees at that scale it would be 75 million to 80 Million People, nearly one in four. In lebanon last week we met with government leaders, n. G. O. s and the high commissioner on refugees. What we learned is staggering. The lebanese people have been resilient. The water and health of that nation are strained to the breaking point. The lebanese economy already fragile is teetering. Schools in blob now operate in lebanon operate on double shifts with lebanese children in the morning and refugee children in the afternoon, accommodating tens of thousands of children with more coming every day. The decision by the lebanese terrorist militia hezbollah to go all in to support the regime of Bashar Alassad has led to a wave of extremist bombings against Leaders Within lebanon in which many, many civilians are casualties. Senator king and i witnessed a bombing in downtown beirut while we were there. Many in our group heard the explosion, saw smoke rise. We felt certain that our meetings would be canceled that day but one of the most grim aspects of our trip is that a bombing that killed five people, a suicide bombing and injured nearly 100 caused no one to change their daily routine. That is what life is in lebanon largely because of the syrian civil war. The crisis extends beyond turkey, jordan and lebanon. Refugees are going into iraq by the thousands, 30,000 a day on one day in august exacerbating a deterioration of that countrys stability and drawer a deeper intersectarian conflict. This photo is on the iraq border with syria and youll see refugees stretching into the distance and the hills beyond. This is what is happening with all of the neighboring countries to syria. As you know, the United States is the largest provider of assistance to the refugees who have fled outside of syria. We have provided 1. 3 billion in aid thus far, 340 million in lebanon alone. But getting relief into syria is the next challenge. Because, mr. President , the conditions in syria are even worse than the conditions i described in lebanon. Nearly seven million syrians are displaced within their own country. More than nine million syrians need humanitarian aid. But theyve not been able to receive basic humanitarian aid food and medicine due to the actions of the Bashar Alassad regime and also due to the complicity of the regimes patron, russia. The denial of humanitarian aid is a war crime, pure and simple. Thousands are dying of starvation. Cases of tuberculosis, polio, typhoid and other diseases are expanding at an exponential rate. And none of this is an accident. The assad regime is using forced starvation and forced sieges as a weapon to destroy the syrian people. Last month i met here in the senate with syrians who had survived the chemical weapons attacks carried out by the assad regime in august of 2013. They described in gruesome detail what they and their families, many young children, endured in august. But the most shocking moment of the interview, mr. President , came when a 22yearold survivor who had fled syria through lebanon said if she had to pick, she would rather die a death because of chemical weapons than be hit by a barrel bomb or starve to death, because death by chemical weapons would be quicker. In recent weeks nothing has epitomized the brutality of the regime more than the use of these barrel bombs. The bombs are crude weapons. They are simple oil drums that are filled with shrapnel and explosives. Helicopters often deliver the weapons and helicopters often hover over neighborhoods for minutes to just scare everyone who knows whats coming. The barrel bombs drop, they explode, shrapnel level neighborhoods. This is an example of a neighborhood in aleppo. At one point hundreds were killed when barrel bombs were dropped on aleppo earlier this month. You see the size and scope of the devastation, and you see families and their children fleeing the area in the aftermath of a barrel bomb. And this is going on every day in syria. Secretary kerry has rightly called these barrel bomb attacks unacceptable and barbaric. The primary architect of these crimes is Bashar Alassad, but he has a patron who funds and supports what he does and who has the ability to stop the atrocities. Russia is assads principal support. Since the start of the syrian war, russia has shoang it is complicit in these war crimes but it is also capable of stopping them. In the United Nations russia has used its veto power and threat of veto on the Security Council numerous times to block action to help the syrian people. Three of these vetoes were used, mr. President , to block basic humanitarian aid. What possible reason could any civilized nation have to denying war victims food and medical supplies . But russia has shown that it can be persuaded or shamed into taking action to try to promote basic safety of syrian citizens. In august, with the threat of u. S. Military action to punish the assad regime for use of chemical weapons against its own civilians, russia realized that it could no longer be the sole global apologist for this atrocity. And so it persuaded syria to admit to the crime, acknowledge the existence of a stockpile and commit to the complete destruction of these inhumane weapons. While that process has been slow, the weaponry has not been used since russia realized that the world would not tolerate such a clear violation of international law. Similarly, after repeatedly blocking u. N. Action to deliver humanitarian aid in syria, russia decided in the midst of the sochi olympics that it could no longer stand in the way of basic humanitarian aid. The eyes of the world were on it, and it knew it could no longer be seen as the sole obstacle blocking people from receiving food and medicine. So it finally agreed to u. N. Security Council Resolution calling for the provision of humanitarian aid inside syria. When the eyes of the world were on it in the middle of the olympics last week, it finally joined in with the rest of the world in calling on syria to allow aid to its people. In the aftermath of that resolution, the real test lies ahead because those were worded on paper and now we must see whether the aid will be delivered. Because this is the situation in syria today. This is a recent photo from a suburb of damascus that has been under siege by the assad regime without access to food and basic medical care. Witness this photo. Look at the destruction. Look at the rubble. Look at the throng of hungry people stretching to owe belief onno the distance. See the hunger in their faces and bodies, and look at the questions in their eyes. It is incumbent upon the Syrian Regime to allow unhindered access of humanitarian aid to all syrians. Opposition groups have that same obligation. Mr. President , in conclusion, let me say a final word about russian responsibility to respond to these poor syrian people. When the russian government and their people see this picture, it should remind them of their own history. During the siege of le leningrad during world war ii, the nazis used these same tactics, forced starvation and siege, as a tactic of war to cause horrible deprivation to the russian population of that stivment russians should look in the eyes of these victims of intentional starvation and grapple with their responsibility to them. Russia can cause the assad regime, just as it did in august, to open access so that these people can have food and medicine. Russia can finally agree russia has finally agreed to words on paper at the u. N. , but the world will watch the actions of this nation. Mr. President , one final thought when senator king and i were traveling last week in the middle east, we went to other countries as well. One country that were engaged in a backandforth with over the provision of u. S. Military assistance, what we are raising are legitimate questions about some democracy reforms that this nation needs to undertake if were to be better and better partners. A leader of that nation said to me, if the United States wont provide assistance, then well find a way to make russia our partner. Well, to anyone thinking that making russia your partner is a good thing, you a tout look at this photo, too, because this is what has come of syria choosing russia as its principal partner. Is this the kind of partner you want . We must keep the spotlight on these atrocities. We must keep the spotlight on assads responsibility. We must keep the spotlight on russias complicity to bring an end to these atrocities and to work with other nations to find a resolution to the syrian civil war. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. The presiding officer the senator from missouri. Mr. Blunt mr. President , first of all, i want to say that im glad senator kaine has been here talking about this important issue today. The tragedy of syria, the tragedy of the barrel bombs, as a hideous way to kill people where you fly over with helicopters and first terrorize people, wondering where youre going to drop these weapons and then basically shove them out of the side dosh of a helicopter door of a helicopter. The russian complicity in this and what were seeing even today in russia beginning to flex their muscles as it relates to the people of ukraine. I had the Prime Minister from georgia in to see me on monday and, of course, the day the olympics were over, the russians were there the next day, were aggressively partitioning off that part of georgia that they have seized in the last couple of years. The same argument that they could easily try to make in ukraine. Ukraine, the soviet satellite states, the one that has the most potential future positive impact on russia, if they could get it back. And the countries of the west the countries of the european union, the United States should be aggressively uniting in trying to reinforce the desire for people in ukraine to want to have Economic Freedom and want to have personal freedom and sending the strongest possible messages against those who work against that, whether theyre in russia or whether they were complicit in the activities of ukraine. This sudden moving around of Russian Troops today, unannounced until just the last few hours that theyd be maneuvering, its usually no consequence its usually no coincidence if the russians are moving troops around at a time of crisis on their borders, and we should be very vigilant in sending the message of freedom, the message of supporting people who want freedom. My concern about syria is that our policy hasnt worked there either. And, frankly, our policy hasnt worked in such a way that it makes it hard for us now to say there will be consequences for russia if something happens in ukraine. We need to be sure that the United States of america, when it talks about consequences, the world knows that there will be consequences, theyll be meaningful, theyll be certain be, that things like syria cant be allowed to continue and worse things in ukraine cant be allowed to havment but, allowed to happen. But, mr. President , i came today to talk about health care again. I saw the leaders comments, heard his comments over the weekend, senator reids comments were referring to the president S Health Care plan. He said, there are plenty of Horror Stories being told. And then senator reid said, they are all of them are untrue. All of them are untrue. Now, i dont think anybody has come to the floor more frequently than i have in the last two amongsts, three months, two months, three months, ten weeks i believe i have come to the floor every week with the ten weeks we were in session with stories about missourians. We say senator reid is is going, senator blunt is going to come to the floor and talk about what youre going through. In virtually every case, they said, we told you these stories because we want other people to know. We want people to know how were being affected by the president S Health Care bill. And they seem to have plenty of facts backing them up way beyond senator reids assertion that all of them are untrue. They are not all untrue. In fact, i have ever reason to believe theyre all true and there are many more stories out there to be told. In fact, today i wanted to talk about the changes in Medicare Advantage and had to have some discussion with our team. Well, how many of these stories are you not going to tell this week if you just tell the stories about Medicare Advantage . If youre in senator reids view of the wocialgd world, i guessk the active imagination of missourians is just running wild because theyre contacting our office constantly talking about higher premiums, higher deductibles, insurance they used to have that worked and insurance that doesnt work, and it doesnt work because the federal government, without thinking through the goal of trying to be sure that more people had access to insurance, didnt think about all of the unintended things that could happen. The last or the latest i am afraid it woint wont be the. I wish it was the last broken promise. The latest broken promise related to the 15 Million People in america that have Medicare Advantage, something they liked and something that theyre not going to be able to have in many cases the way they use you had to have it. This is another application, if you like your insurance, you can keep it. Well, all the 15 million americans that have Medicare Advantage, many of them are going to find they cant keep it. And before this is over, all of them may find out they cant keep it. You know, the Health Care Plan the president S Health Care plan already cut hundreds of billions of dollars from medicare, not to save medicare but to fund the new program. Now, Everybody Knows that medicare is one of the great challenges we have going forward. How are we going to maintain medicare . And only in washington would you be able to get by b saying medicare is in real trouble. And lets cut it to start another program. This is the only place in america where you wouldnt be laughed off the legislative dais or legislative floor. Weve got this one program in trouble. Were not going to do anything to reform it. Were just going to cut it so we can start another program. Weve already cut medicare by 300 billion. On top that have thats Medicare Advantage. On top of this cut to Medicare Advantage, we now see that plans are being changed and being changed in significant ways. Why do we have Medicare Advantage . For states like mine, the state of missouri with lots of rural areas, lots of rural hospitals, not always Competitive Health care providers, Medicare Advantage provided the competition, and it was in the competition in Medicare Advantage and medicare partd that made them work and made them work at much less cost than anybody can anticipated. The marketplace works if you focus on a competitive marketplace rather than trying to run health care to be sure that theres competition out there. Thats what Medicare Advantage did. In our state, one out of four people on medicare are on Medicare Advantage, 237,000 missourians on Medicare Advantage. On february 14, i joined my colleagues in urging c. M. S. Not to make anymore cuts in Medicare Advantage. There were 40 of us this sig thd that letter. 19 of the 40 senators that signed that letter were democrats, 21 were republicans p. A pretty bipartisan sense that something must be happening out there to hurt these programs thats true, not untrue. And why would we continue to do that, i dont know. So i join the Republican Leaders in a letter just this week calling on secretary sebelius to stop moving forward with these misguided policies that do things that impact people on Medicare Advantage, that do things that impact people who had Health Insurance with a deductible they could afford but no longer had that. The administrations proposals contend once again to continue to contradict that idea that if you had health care that you liked, you could keep your health care policy. If you had doctors that you liked, you could keep your doctors. And more and more people are seeing that thats not true. In stories that i firmly believe to be true not untrue, no matter what the majority leader of the senate might have said let me share a few of those with you today as i move toward the conclusion what i have want to talk about. Darcy is a registered nurse. She works in facilities and with medicare patients daily. She says that the effects of rising expense of Medicare Advantage is having a real impact on the people she deals with. A quote from her letter was our seniors and other Medicare Advantage advantage members should not, as they already do, have to make choices between paying for medicines and other health carerelated expenses or paying for food or housing. She says, i hope youre able to see the Bigger Picture as i do, as a 30yearold professional nurse who is on the front lines each and every day taking care of these individuals and their families. Sounded truthful to me. Edward from saint peters, missouri, say he and his wife live on a fixed income. He says my wife and i are retired seniors living on a fixed income. I have Medicare Advantage provided by mercy, a st. Louisbased health care company. Im told ill lose coverage next year due to obamacare cuts. Why must the cost of obamacare this is continuing his letter. Why must the cost of obamacare, which missourians did not want, be paid for by cuts to seniors . Please change the obamacare law to leave Medicare Advantage alone. Again, 19 democrats, 21 republicans, signed a letter just last week asking that same question. Dont go any further. This letter didnt even say reverse what youve done. It just says stop making these cuts that are being made right now. Ronald from ray town, missouri, says his copay increased as a result of the administrations cuts to Medicare Advantage plans. Heres what he says. Please protect our Medicare Advantage plans. As you know medicare is presently underfunded. I do not appreciate those that permit obama to willfully take hundreds of billions of dollars that we seniors have paid into medicare and use those moneys to fund obamacare. Im counting on you to protect our Medicare Advantage plans and realize that the Less Government involvement in our Medicare Advantage plans, the more efficient the plan. As a result of obamacare, my copay has increased. My guess is ronald knows whether his copay has increased or not. And in talk to him, im certainly persuaded that like the other people were talking about today, the facts hes presenting are true. Jennifer from blue springs, missouri, heres what she says in her letter. My husband and i are both on medicare already. The copays for our Medicare Advantage plans have doubled and in many cases tripled from 2013 to 2014. And that is why im responding with a nightmare story. The other thing jennifer said she did, she and her husband are retired. Theyre musicians, and they had a business where they would go to Nursing Homes and play gospel music just for their expenses. She points out that because of the increased health care cost, Nursing Homes no longer have room in their budget for something thats entertaining like live gospel music. The reverberations of what happens when the government decides that the government is better prepared to manage not just medicare and medicaid, as if we didnt have enough challenges already, but 16 or 17 of the economy are seen out there every day, and i certainly believe there have to be some people that are benefiting from this, but the numbers dont suggest that the overall benefit is nearly as good as the overall damage. People losing insurance at greater numbers than people getting insurance. Peoples premiums going up more than peoples premiums going down, deductibles rising. It would be nice for those who supported this to convince people that all these stories are untrue. But i think too many people have true stories to tell for their neighbors and their friends not to realize whats happening because of this government interference with the Health Care System that was working instead of doing the hand full of things we could have done to make the best Health Care System in the world work better. They were there. They were offered. The president knew they were there. Thats not the course we polled. And the course were following is not leading to a place that most americans want to be. And i would yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from indiana. Mr. Coats mr. President , could i inquire what the order is here in morning business relative to time . The presiding officer there are 15 minutes remaining on the republican side. Mr. Coats thank you. I dont think ill use that much time but appreciate this opportunity to come to the floor to speak about a different subject but one that is imminent and necessary for us to consider, and that is the current iranian sanctions issue. Back in 2007 when iran had only about 700 centrifuges spinning to enrich uranium, we and i mean by we i mean nearly the entire community of nations determined that this iranian behavior by this Iranian Regime was simply too dangerous to tolerate. The u. N. Security council began the process of passing a series of resolutions demanding that iran stop these activities completely. The United States led by many here in the United States senate began the very careful and painstaking process of amassing an International Coalition backing increasingly tough sanctions aimed, all of these aimed explicitly at forcing the Iranian Regime to end enrichment activities. And the reason for this was a Nuclear Weapons capable and armed or armed iran posed an imminent threat not just to the middle east but to the World Community. That was the consensus agreed to by the World Community and supported by resolution after resolution on the Security Council of the United Nations and by proclamations from not only our country but countries around the world. That entire effort for some years has been devoted our entire effort has been devoted to this goal. Ending uranium enrichment activities with the con ses u. S. S. Consensus that Nuclear Weapon capability posed unintended consequences. Neither that goal is nowhere in sight. Neither the interim agreement that currently is being employed nor the administration, nor any of the negotiating partners even refer to these resolutions or this Multiyear Strategy of achieving the objective that we set out to achieve. That objective was iran would cease enrichment of uranium that could be used as enriched uranium to achieve Nuclear Weapons capability. That goal has suddenly been totally abandoned the Current Interim agreement explicitly concedes to the iranians their right to continue enrichment activity with only meager limitations, all of which can be reversed by iran, the mullahs there, in an instant. The mullahs in iran boast publicly of this great negotiating victory for them, which goes against everything weve been trying to do for the past six or seven years. It seems unassailable that iran came to the negotiating table at long last directly as a result of the consequence of the hardship that was achieved in turn by employing these International Economic sanctions imposed by this regime. They resisted coming to the negotiating table until these things really started to hit home. But whats equally clear is that the regime wants sanctions relief and has sought this deal, this interim deal to accomplish it, which unfortunately, we have given them that relief. And what did we get in return . What we get in return is negotiating, having gettinged away our very having negotiated away our very core purpose for doing this in the first place. Instead of using our leverage at this point for greater vulnerability on the iranian side, making the progress, continuing to make the progress we had to bring iran to its, to the position of ceasing to enrich that uranium, we have blunted our very best leverage and our very best tool. Instead of pressing our long term advantage, weve begun to relieve the pressure on iran to cease their efforts to gain Nuclear Weapon capability. And why have we done this . Why have we abandoned our goal to stop uranium enrichment . Because the uranium negotiating team told us they would never tolerate the long path to an enrichment industry. So heres my conclusion about all of this, my central conviction on this matter. If those on the other side of the table tell us in advance that our longheld conviction and purpose is asking too much instead of meekly complying with their request, then we must increase that pressure until they change their mind, not abandon our own goal as being too tough. So what have we bought with this interim agreement . According to the bipartisan policy center, which i used to be a part of, a player with, the main practical consequence of this claimed freezing is that the time iran now needs to produce a Critical Mass of highly enriched uranium, which is 20 kilograms, with current centrifuges has gone from an estimated 59 days to 63 days. What did we gain from the agreement . Four days. Four days longer that it will take iran once they flip the switch to enrich that, get that highly enriched uranium which allows them Nuclear Weapons capability. It seems clear to me that among irans principal objectives now is to break apart the Strong International consensus weve worked so hard over so many years to forge, and prospects for them to do so, the iranians, look pretty darned good. Now that weve given away the store, we already hear talk of further interim agreements. All the talk about this interim agreement is going to be enforced, and by golly, if they dont live up to what weve asked them to do, no more extension, no more interim agreements. Well, it doesnt look like that is whats going to happen because clearly iranians have not lived up to what they agreed to do or what weve asked them to do. But there seems to be no prospect in place for our returning back to sanctions unless, unless the United States senate on a bipartisan basis and there is bipartisan support for this is able to impose that next round of sanctions should this interim agreement not achieve its purposes. And yet, we are being blocked currently with bringing this legislation to the floor. I again want to repeat, this is Bipartisan Legislation led by the chairman of the Foreign Relations committee, led by those who have been actively engaged and involved in this. I may have made a mistake there with the chairman. Senator menendez of new jersey is leading this particular effort, and it is a bipartisan effort. But now were being asked to stand down. Were not even given a chance to exercise our vote on this, which were attempting to add to the pending legislation here. And again delay, delay, delay is putting us in a position of essentially conceding to the iranians for what they want to have and to give them the opportunity to continue to pursue their quest for Nuclear Weapon capability. Obviously for them, thats just fine. If they can turn the protracted uncertainty and gradual sanctions relief into a series of lesser agreements. But for us, more interim agreements will mean that our allies will become accustomed to these gradual changes and the increasing commerce of iranian oil. They will become less inclined to again reverse course, almost regardless of iranian actions. And following that prolonged process, then when we confront a far healthier iran but with a weaker coalition opposed to Iranian Nuclear ambitions. Iranian ambitions and capabilities will grow. Our efforts will halt the iranian quest for nuclear capability; those will diminish and we will then be left with a choice of containing or taking military action against a nuclearcapable, if not nucleararmed iran. The president has said repeatedly that containment is not an option and its not for me either. And since he has said also that military force is an option, it seems clear to me that this current course is more likely to bring us to that start point than to anything like a negotiated settlement. We must be determined to do what we can here in the senate to prevent us from reaching that point. Not only must we refocus our government and other friendly governments on the need to eliminate Irans Nuclear infrastructure in any final agreement, no matter how difficult that might be, we must also oppose irans likely intentions to prolong the negotiations process intended to continue to weaken our coalition. The Nuclear Weaponsfree iran act that i have cosponsored will give us great leverage in doing that. It will make it clear that the United States senate will not support playing irans game any longer than we already have. Mr. President , i deeply regret we are not being given the opportunity to debate this issue before the American People and among ourselves, that we are not being able to have a vote in the United States senate as to whether our current policy that this administration is pursuing is the right policy to achieve the goal which we all agree to. Four president s, two democrat, two republican the four last president s have declaratively said a nuclearcapable iran is unacceptable. This president , this current president , president obama has stated that over and over. And yet here we are engaged in a process that advances that prospect. It puts us at a disadvantage, and were giving away the one tool that has brought iran to the negotiating table, and they trumpet publicly how they have outsmarted us and outnegotiated us and diminished our opportunity to achieve what the World Community wants to achie achieve. We will rue the day when we have had iran almost to the point where we could achieve our goal and we stepped back and conceded to their promise, their commitment to continue to enrich to continue to add centrifuges, to continuing their pursuit of Nuclear Weapons capability and Nuclear Weapon ability and being armed with that. That wilthat will pose unimagine consequences to us. Yet here we stand at the moment of decision, right when we, in a sense, had them where we wanted to get them, and we concede that. I deeply regret that we have not been able to move afford wit foh these additional sanctions. If in this first interim agreement iran does not live up to the objectives and goals that we have demanded. Mr. President , with that, i yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call mr. Merkley mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oregon. Mr. Merkley i ask that the quorum call be lifted. The presiding officer without objection. Morning business is closed. Under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 1982, which the clerk will report. The clerk calendar number 301, s. 1982, a bill to improve the provision of medical services and benefits to veterans and for other purposes. The presiding officer under the previous order, the time until 2 00 p. M. Will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. Mr. Merkley thank you very much, mr. President. Im i am thrilled that we are here at this moment debating benefits for our veterans. Our veterans have stood up for america, fighting for us overseas. When they come home, weentsdz to be we need to be standing up for them. Over time, weve come to recognize that there are a number of shortfalls in the way we address our benefits for veterans that need to be improved, and thats what this bill is all about. And so yesterday we had a motion to close debate on whether to debate this bill, and that was successful. So here we are at this moment. And lets recognize that america mass been at war for more has been outalitybeen at war for mo2 years. More than 50,000 americans have been wounded in combat. 2. 5 million americans have at some point left their homes and families to serve our country in iraq and in afghanistan. And many of these men and women have served more than one deployment. 400,000 have served more than three deployments. They have gone back to the theater of war repeatedly, sacrifices at a personal level, sacrifices for their family, sacrificings fosacrifices for t. Today we need to make sure that the benefits promised are there and where the benefits are insufficient, that they are improved. So i am hearing that there is a possibility that there may be an effort today to block this bill, this bill on behalf of our veterans. And i certainly hope that that will not be the case. How can we explain that the ongoing partisan politics that have so poisoned and paralyzed our nation are more important than addressing the benefits of our veterans, our servicemen and women who have fought for our country . Today is not a day for partisan politics. It is a day for keeping faith with those who have served our nation. I want to address a particular provision that is in this bill today. The bill takes on many issues, one of which is to work very hard to shorten and eliminate the big lag in time that occurs when our veterans apply for benefitbenefits. Benefits delayed are, for a period of time, benefits denied. And the department of veterans services, they have made progress. But more progress this bill will make a difference in eliminating that backlog and addressing the needs of our veterans in a timely fashion. And timeliness is very important. But there is another provision in this bill that i in particular want to emphasize because it comes out of conversations that occurred six years ago when i was talking to folks about running for the u. S. Senate, and people in oregon said, we really need to take care of our gold star families, our families that are striving and struggling to be on their feet after we have lost a Service Member in combat. And this is a challenge, of course, for the children, and it is a challenge for the spouses. And so a veteran brought up to me the fact that we needed to provide much better educational benefits, and i am very pleased to have a bipartisan sponsor, senator heller of nevada, because there is nothing about helping our veterans that should be a partisan issue. There is nothing about addressing the needs of our gold star game families who have losa member of the f. T. A. Famil famit that should be a partisan issue. A veteran talked to me in 2008 right before came to this chamber about this issue of education benefits for the children and for the spouses. Because when often the primary wage earner for a family is struck down in battle, the rest of the family needs a lot of help regaining their feet. And that means Educational Opportunities for the children, but lets not forget that the spouse who has to take over major financial responsibilities also needs educational benefits. Well, shortly before i came here, the post9 11 g. I. Bill went into effect, creating the machine Gunnery Sergeant frye scholarship. That scholarship fulfilled the vision that Robert Thornhill and i talked to, and it evening went further to include a book stipend. But it d. H. S. So for the children of the fallen but it only did so for the children of the fallen. And mr. Thornhill followed up with me. Noted that we need to take on and extend these benefits to spouses as well while in the long term the children need help going to college. In the short term spouses often have to be retrained to adopt that their new role as the major breadwinner for the family. So for several years ive been advocating that we fulfill this vision of taking care of the Educational Opportunity issues for our gold star families. Education is a powerful tool to rebuild a familys financial foundation, but it has to be affordable. So in this bill today is a provision that mr. Thornhill championed, a provision that is fundamental to fairness for our spouses of those who have fallen, and a provision that is fundamental to the future success of our gold star families. So this provision, the spouses of heroes education act, is one element among a number that our Veterans Committee has so ably assembled to address shortfalls in the programs that assist those that have stood for our country. So let us not forget today what were here working to do, to keep faith with those who have served our country. Let us set aside the petty, partisan, poisonous games, and lets keep in mind Holding Faith with our veterans. Lets get this bill done. Lets get it to conference with the house. Lets get it to the oval office. Let us keep faith with those who have stood for our country. Thank you, mr. President. I yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from georgia. Mr. Isakson mr. President , im delighted that the senate is talking about our veterans. Im disappointed that the bill thats before us did not go through the entire committee process. Im grateful that senator burr, the ranking member, has brought forward a sidebyside bill which i would like to discuss for a moment on the floor of the senate, and i am particularly glad that that bill also brings up the iran sanctions issue. I know the administration has kind of backed away from the sanctions because of some things that happened recently and does not want a sanctions bill to pass the senate, but i followed closely whats happened in the middle east. I go back to 1979 when georgians were held hostage in the American Embassy initarian for in tehran for 444 days. I have a lot of experience with that part of the world, and i think there are some things we should be reminded of. This bill, the burr bill, that includes the veterans benefits, also includes Nuclear Weapons sanctions on iran and most of the provisions of the Nuclear Weaponsfree iran act. In particular, three things are important to note. One, it reimposes existing sanctions suspended under the interim agreement if iran cheats on its commitment, drags its feet in negotiations or threatens the west with longrange missiles or terrorism. Number two, it ensures that the final agreement must require iran dismantle its infrastructure to prevent iran from being able to produce a Nuclear Weapon. And third, it threatens to impose additional economic sanctions in the future should iran cheat on its commitment or fail to agree to the final deal that dismantles its nuclear infrastructure. I have watched the television set. I have seen the report international reports. I have listened to what the iranians are saying since we have had this interim agreement, and here is what it says. Iranian president had a san rouhani pledges that under no circumstances, and thats a direct quote, would iran agree to dismantle a single centrifuge in a final nuclear agreement. This is what essaying now and were talking about getting to a final agreement months from now. Second, during irans national day celebrationses during which american flags were burned, rouhani declared we will continue to progress our nuclear technology. Third, former top Nuclear Negotiator told iran media in a recent interview that the islamic public will never, i underscore never, agree to dismantle portions of its nuclear infrastructure. Iran Nuclear Negotiator reiterated iran would not accept the cloture of, and i quote, any of its nuclear sites. Next, an iran official on february 12 set aside the idea of potentially altering a Nuclear Reactor so that other nations would fear the production of atomic bomb fuel. And finally, iran will determine its needs regarding iranian enrichment on its own, the countrys chief Nuclear Scientist said on february 25, and will not, and i underscore not, accept foreign powers dictating its enrichment policy. Iran is advancing its nuclear ballistics testing system and has fired Nuclear Missiles to test its capability. Iran has deployed two ships in the atlantic just as a show of force on the United States of america. And they continue in every way possible to be a surrogate fighter in syria, empowering the hezbollah and lebanon andhams and and hamas and gaza and continuing to cause dismantling disturbances throughout the middle east. Why should we not as a congress of the United States in talking about our veterans include within that talk a clear shot across the bow for iranians not laughing at us or poking their finishinger in our face when we talk about a nuclearfree iran. We do not need a nucleararmd iran in the middle east for a plethora of reasons. It will be a very unstable Nuclear Arms Race in an unstable part of the world. Its the biggest enemy the United States has. Our best ally, israel, lies in the path of iranian resistance. Its important that the sanctions be reinstated and that we have conditions on the iranians so if they violate their promises or they look the other way on their commitments or they do what they are saying on their own National Television networks today, they understand there will be a consequence to their actions. I remember 1979. I remember when nightline game a television show, because for 444 days, americans were held hostage in tehran. I remember that just the day before president reagan was sworn in as president of the United States, president carter finally negotiated a release of the hostages in iran. For one simple reason iran knew that once president carter was out of office and president reagan came into office, he would follow through on what he has said and that is he would do whatever it took to free the hostages. There is only one thing the iranians understand. They understand someone who will stand up to them, someone who will take them on and somebody who will not settle for their looking the other way on the agreements they make. It is critical and important that the senate of the United States send a clear message to the iranians that we will not be lied to, we will not be misled and we will expect them to leave up to the live up to the commitments they had promised they would lead up to. If they dont, there will be consequences for their actions. The world bank and the International Monetary fund are already pointing out that the economy of iran is now improving with the interim agreement that we currently have. We have no certainty in a final agreement thats coming in the next few months. We have no certainty that the iranians are going to do what they say theyre going to do anyway. If we sit here passively saying it will be all right, if we dont let them know there will be conditions if they violate the sanctions, if we dont let them know we mean business, then america will have turned its back on the most dangerous enemy that we have and that is the enemy of terrorism and a radical Islamic Republic of iran. Mr. President , i appreciate our veterans and the sacrifice they have made to try and free us from terrorism. I appreciate the volunteers who have sacrificed their sacred treasure and their families and their own personal blood and their own personal life to try and defend america and liberate the people of iraq and the people of afghanistan. I dont want us to turn and leave the middle east. I want us to instead let the middle east know and its biggest ogre, the nation of iran, that we will not stand for a Nuclear Weapon in iran. If they continue to try to progress toward that, there will be sanctioning, then be crippling. America will not turn our back on iran. We will stand toe to toe with them and say this will not stand. I commend senator burr for his leadership in including that in this portion of the veterans bill, those members of the Foreign Relations committee and the other 57 members of the senate who have signed the iran sanctions bill. It is my hope and plea that sometime in the weeks ahead before the iranians think we have no teeth left at all, that we will do the right thing on the floor of the United States senate and enhance the sanctions against the the conditions of sanctions against the nation of iran if they lie to us or fail to prepare the promises they have made in the interim agreement and the ultimate permanent agreement that we make. And, mr. President , i yield back my time and would note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. Quorum call a senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from alabama. Mr. Sessions mr. President , i would ask consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Sessions mr. President , we have got a lot of challenges before this nation and this congress. I believe the most critical challenge is how we handle the financial matters that have been entrusted to us, how we handle the budget, the spending, the debt that we are accruing in america and are we able, do we have the will, do we have the integrity to stand up and put this nation on a sound fiscal path . I would note to all my colleagues just the week before last before the bhj committee, our own Congressional Budget Office director, mr. Doug elmendorf repeated once again which is absolutely accepted by virtually every economist in america, this country remains on an unsustainable debt course. This is an unsustainable path were on. He indicated and said flatly we could indeed face a fiscal crisis, Something Like 2007 perhaps, Something Like greece, because our debt is so large and growing at such a pace weve never been here before, were in the red zone on the tachometer, were in danger area and we need to get out of it. So i would say to my colleagues, isnt this true, does anybody doubt it, does anybody deny it . Then why dont we respond in an appropriate way . I was shocked, deeply disappointed, amazed and saddened that this headline appeared earlier in the week in the washington post, and this is what it said with 2015 budget request, obama will call for an end to the era of austerity. What does this mean . Every member of this Congress Knows what it means. It means that the president of the United States is no longer interested in fiscal responsibility. He is saying we no longer need to tighten our belt. Hes saying hes going to attack anybody that suggests more spending is bad. Hes going to say that hes going into this election with the idea that hes going to promise, promise, promise more and more spending, more debt, and hes not concerned about it. Thats what it means. Im not exaggerating. I think every member of this body knows exactly what that signal was. So well see the budget, it will be out next tuesday, and well have a hearing in the Budget Committee of which im the ranking republican on wednesday, but i suspect and im confident it will do just like his last two budgets. It would increase spending 1 trillion above the amount of spending we agreed to in 2011 and just reaffirmed essentially with the ryanmurray bill he signed about four weeks ago into law. We cannot do this. This is how we go we destroy a country, 0how we weaken an economy. And i dont have words to express it. Ill just say one more point. Economists are telling us that our Economic Growth today is falling is below what it otherwise would be because of the size of the debt this country faces. Right now, not in the future, right now. Its a wet blanket on Economic Growth. The Rogoff Reinhart study talks about Slower Growth and weve consistently seen projections for growth not be met. Director elmendorf in his testimony, i asked him about it. Two years ago he predicted 2013 would allow us to see 4. 6 Economic Growth. It came in as 1. 9 , a stunning miss, well below, below 2 growth means youre not creating jobs, youre not creating wealth wealth, youre basically stagnant with an increasing population. We need to be at 4. 6 . We need some of that kind of growth. One reason were not is bigger government, more taxes, more regulation, and more debt. And were not going to get out of it until we get off that path. So now we have a veterans bill before us. Nobody, i dont believe, is more committed to veterans in this body than ive been and so many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle want to do the right thing for veterans. But its an audacious thing that were seeing here today. Lets review some of the history. Just two months ago, every Senate Democrat, every Senate Democrat voted for a bill to cut military pensions for our soldiers. Our military retirees and even our disabled veterans. It was in their bill. Senate democrats then blocked not once but twice my efforts, other republican efforts to restore those cuts by closing a tax credit loophole for Illegal Immigrants. I see my colleague and friend, senator sanders, here. Im going to get to the point, ill just do it now because i know hes got a busy agenda and i think i know how the script will all play out and if i just had my glasses i might could read this better. Here they are. Senator sanders and colleagues, the pending measure before us today s. 1982, the comprehensive Veterans Health and benefits and military retirement pay restoration act of 2013 2015, which is a good title for a bill would cause the aggregate Budget Authority and outlays for fiscal year 2014 deemed pursuant to section 111 of public law 113 667 to be exceeded. Therefore i raise a point of order under section 311a2 of the congressional budget act of 1974. And, mr. President , i would mr. Sanders mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from vermont. Mr. Sanders i thank my friend from alabama for accommodating my schedule and ill have more to say on this issue later this afternoon. Let me at this point simply say, mr. President , that pursuant to section 904 of the congressional budget act of 1974 and the waiver provisions of applicable budget resolutions, i move to waive all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of the pending bill and i ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There is a sufficient second. The yeas and nays are ordered. Mr. Sessions mr. President , reclaiming the floor, now you have it in stark clarity. This bill proposes to spend more than we agreed to spend passing the ryanmurray act a few weeks ago. President obama signed it four weeks ago. The ink is hardly dry on it. And here we have another bill to raise that, raise the spending again, and it wont be the only one. Were going to see bill after bill after bill, and its part of the president s strategy. What is it, the era of austerity is over. He signs ryanmurray, signed the budget control act but he had no intention of complying with it, he will not support enforcement of it and that is a failure of leadership of a monumental proportion. It is a stunning event. Swrng judge why we have a congress, pass laws that say were only going to spend so much money and then waltz in a few weeks later and spend billions more than we agreed to. And well just waive the budget we just passed. This is important. But everybody knew when we passed the limits on spending that there were going to be important bills. Im actually shocked, even by senate and congressional standards how blase this body has been about these laws. I thought at least people would pretend to honor them. There is no pretense here. And its a failure of responsibility in this body if such spending were to pass. But let me just say so my colleagues voted to cut the retirement pay of veterans, which i opposed and republicans opposed, that was already in law. A commitment wed made to military people that if they served 20 years, they get this retirement benefit. And they waltzed in to save 6 billion supposedly and they were going to reduce their pension benefits. I didnt feel like number one, it was necessary, there were other ways to save money, and i felt like we had ways to save the money in a different way. And i offered legislation to that effect. So the attempts to fix it were blocked twice. So now we have and what was in the ryanmurray bill was fiscally responsible, bad policy, but responsible fiscally. This bill is not. This bill increases creates new veterans programs, new spending more veterans, and its not paid for in any way. Its all borrowed money. Were already in debt so when you enter and commit ourselves to additional obligations above what weve agreed to, every penny of that is borrowed. Every penny of that will add to the debt of our country. So this bill busts the caps that we agreed to and these are caps that we all voted for, or at least our colleagues did, the democrat colleagues, because i didnt feel for the ryanmurray bill. I thought it eroded the budget control act more than i wanted it to. But and it raised the caps, but it kept them in place. It eased pressure in several areas that the shoe was pinching badly, and it seized that pressure , eased that pressure, but thats not enough now . Weve got to have more . So its using the veterans as a political tool, in my view. I dont think our veterans want their programs to be enhanced if every penny of the money thats going to enhance those programs is added to the debt of the United States of america. So this is eight times, at least, since the budget control act was passed that weve seen efforts to bust it. So our military men and women have worked tirelessly, selflessly for the good of this country, theyve always put duty first. Shouldnt we put duty first . This massive federal budget of ours is filled with waste, filled with projects that cannot be defended intellectually. It was our duty to get rid of wasteful pet projects and do the right thing for our veterans. For example, colleagues, you could have closed the tax credit loophole for Illegal Immigrants that is costing america billions of dollars. The cut to the veterans pension was about 6 billion over ten years. Annually, according to the president s own Inspector General at his own department of treasury, were losing 4 billion a year in improper tax credit payments to illegal aliens. Why dont we fix that . The Inspector General asked that we fix that. It would save 40 billion over ten years. No, sir. What did they tell us . Were not doing anything on immigration. Well, the first thing you should do to create a lawful system of immigration in america is to quit rewarding people financially who come illegally. Thats the first thing for heavens sakes. Whats wrong with that . Is that immoral . We had an instance in which there was a trailer i believe in indiana, a number of people lived there, no children, they claimed 19 children, and got refunds from the United States of america of 30,000. All of which were not proper. None of which were proper. Thats what the Inspector General was talking about. Youre not entitled to come to america illegally, have a children in some other country and then demand that we give you a tax credit which is the equivalent of a direct check from the the United States treasury, a tax credit is not a deduction. Its a check from the United States treasury. But oh, no, we wont even discuss that. Thats a nonstarter. So it looks like politics trump helping veterans. So if we had had a plan to fix the veterans retirement, that could have all worked together on a good basis, but so here we have now another veteran bill thats not going to work. Are there no programs, are there no Spending Plans out there that couldnt be trimmed, eliminated or reconfigured that could help us honor what we the commitments we make to our veterans . There surely are, lots of them. You have seen a lot of them offered. So i challenge any of our colleagues, Senate Democrats to come to the floor and name one program theyre willing to terminate in order to help fund our veterans adequately. Come down here and lets hear it. There is a circling of the wagons in this administration. What did the president mean when he said the era of austerity is over, as the Washington Times reported it . What did he mean . He meant were not cutting anything else, and he meant that hes going to propose, as he has in the past, new spending programs, not fewer spending. We cant even get amendments up on this legislation. The majority leader has filled the tree. He wont allow us even to vote on alternative proposals. We cant have an honest debate in this chamber over how to legitimately and responsibly meet the needs of veterans or any other group, it appears, so really in effect the majority leader and his caucus wont allow a vote on soldiers. He wont just our veterans to have a vote, really. As long as thats the case, you have got no right to proceed with this legislation, in my opinion. So to those who come to the floor and attack republicans who dont care about veterans, i will issue this challenge tell your leader and because he cant function without your support, tell your leader to let us offer some amendments, let us offer some offsets that would help pay for this. Tell your leader to let this chamber work its will in the constitutional and historic way, because if you dont, its clear that your goal is to create a misleading headline and not do whats right for veterans. And one more thing. Because congress has refused to live within its means, interest on our debt is surging. Unbelievably so. It will crowd out this kind of spending, defense spending, education spending, highway spending throughout our whole government. Let me draw your attention to this chart, colleagues. This is what director elmendorf told us two weeks ago, last week in his testimony before the Budget Committee on the budget of the United States of america. He told us that the interest we paid this day, this past year was 230 billion, not the savings from reducing veterans retirement over ten years was 6 billion. The federal highway bill for one year is approximately 40 billion. The amount of money we spend on education is around 100 billion, all these programs that we spend it on. The amount of money we spend on the Defense Department is about 500. So this year, last year, we spent about 230 billion on interest. We dont when we borrow money, we go into debt, we borrow the money. People loan us the money. We give them treasury bills, with interest. Look at this chart. Its so stunning. So this year is 2013, its 230 billion. Look at the increase director elmendorf told us we can expect over the next ten years, and in 2024, ten years from now, colleagues, interest on the debt will be 870 billion in one year. How many good projects are going to have their programs cut to just pay the interest on the debt. Its the Fastest Growing item in the United States budget, and what do we have . We want to do something for veterans. A few weeks after we agree to limit spending, come right in with a bill to waive the spending, spend above that, borrow every penny of that money and increase this interest in debt situation. Because he didnt count that. He assumed his cal his calculations assumed we honor the budget control act and the ryanmurray spending limits. He assumes were honoring whats in law. But what do we have . A motion to waive, spend above that limit. This whole reckless spending is what admiral mullen meant when he said the greatest threat to American Security is our deficits, our debt. Its going to crowd out other spending. It threatens our economic viability, our growth potential, and it actually places us at risk for some financial crisis in the years to come. So i our voters deserve better. And look at how they tend to maneuver this legislation. Its just so absurd sometimes. We should laugh about it if it werent so serious, and it is serious. The sanders bill, the veterans bill that we are being told we must vote for or they will accuse us of being unkind and unsupportive and unsympathetic to our veterans. That days over. Were not going to be intimidated on this. Were going to do the right thing for veterans and america. This bill would exceed the spending limits for the current fiscal year that congress and other and the president agreed to just three months ago. Initially and it gets worse in the outer years, it would clearly add another 260 million in mandatory spending and authorize another 182 million this year, fiscal year 2014 were already in, 182 million. And it gets worse. So we agreed in 2011, august of 2011 to set certain spending limits, the president signed that, both houses of congress voted for it, and come january, the president of the United States had signed that bill, laid forth his budget which would increase spending a trillion dollars over the limits that we agreed to in that august. So less than six months later, he was coming back before congress, completely ignoring the will, the established law, the budget control act limitations on spending that he agreed to and actually bragged about this is no way to get our country on a sound financial path. Its not any way to do it. Let me point out one more thing, this chart, before i go into that. They say that we are cutting spending. This is austerity, that america is cutting its spending. Look at this chart. Its just a simple chart. In 19 in 2007, before we had the fiscal crisis, we were spending about 2. 6 trillion in that year. In 2011, right before we signed this august budget control act agreement to limit the growth of spending only the growth. It didnt limit spending. It limited growth spending. We were spending about 3. 5 trillion. And the c. B. O. Baseline projects that in 2015 thats the year we are working on now, trying to prepare our budget and so forth, we are going to spend even more than we spent then. So the spending is going up. We made a few adjustments to curtail the growth in spending, which is good, but really not enough to get us on a sound path, and the reason i assure you that were not on a sound path is this chart that shows the interest were going to be paying over ten years. So this is this year last year, 2013, and this is what they tell us were going to be paying in interest in 2024. It goes up every single year. Were on an unsustainable path. You cant get something for nothing. Julie andrews told us nothing comes from nothing, nothing ever could, and it cant. And so so im flabbergasted, really. The most disappointing thing to me is i know now what were going to see in the president s budget come next tuesday. Any hint at belt tightening is going to be gone. Were going to see proposals for massive increases in spending. Oh, not spending. Investments. Thats what were going to see, but we dont have the money and we dont have to damage america. We dont have to destroy our country. This is what we agreed to now that shows continual growth. Not in the budget control act. Were going to see growth in spending every year. There is no reduction in spending. Its going to grow every year for the next ten years. But it wont grow quite as fast as if we didnt have a budget control act. And it looks like if we continue to have efforts to waive the budget and just spend above that, it will be even worse than this, the growth will be even greater. I want to share one point and i will wrap up. The bill also relies on a budget gimmick. It claims that its got some payfor, that its not all borrowing money, and it claims its paid for, and its really a gimmick that every honest observer has commented on, has just mocked it. Its the ocko gimmick. The bill proposes to reduce overseas con continue ten just operation programs used to Contingency Operation programs. O. C. O. , overseas Contingency Operations. Every penny of that is borrowed. Its not in the regular budget. Its spent above that as emergency spending, war spending. Thats how its been done. For good or ill, thats the way its done. We at least while im troubled by the president s policies with regard to iraq and afghanistan, it has the costs are coming down and they are projected to come down every year until we basically eliminate those costs. And it claims that reducing the amount of money we borrow to fund the war and support our military is somehow now available to spend on whatever the project of the day is. Today its veterans. It will be Something Else tomorrow. They have tried this before. Its ludicrous. Its like claiming credit today for the end of vietnam. We are not borrowing money to fight the war in vietnam, so we can spend that money. This is how a great nation goes broke. So they will do this to the tune of 18 billion. Thats what its going to take to fund senator sanders bill. The problem is the money was never going to be spent at this rate and its not a real savings. Every piece of legislation that the majority has tried to move since january has exceeded the levels that we have reached in the december agreement. Unemployment insurance, the farm bill, Flood Insurance and now the veterans bill. All of them spent above what we agreed to, colleagues. These measures represent critical needs. I know we want to do something about all of them and acknowledge that people have suffered and are suffering under the policies that promised to do so much good but havent. But the solution is not to abandon fiscal discipline. The solution is not to breach the agreements we reached just a few weeks ago to have some modest limitation on the growth of federal spending. So this approach has been widely derided by as a gimmick that the Congressional Budget Office says this is not money, real money that can be spent. Of course its not. Mr. Elmendorf followed up with a letter to congressman paul ryan, our budget director, mr. Elmendorf wrote this quote establishing caps on discretionary discretionary appropriations in the future would not affect spending under current law and would not offset changes in direct spending or revenues. Further, appropriations for warrelated activities have declined in recent years and may decline further as military operations in afghanistan wind down. Caps on overseas Contingency Operations that are lower than base line projections might simply reflect policy decisions that have already been made and that would be realized even without such constraints. If policymakers believe that National Security required appropriations above the capped amounts in future years, they would almost certainly provide emergency appropriations that would not under current law be counted under the caps. It just points out this is an unacceptable way to count money. Experts on the federal budget have said the same. Maya mcginns, a capable observer said using the war gimmick to offset other costs or count toward deficit reduction would send a message to the American Public and our investors that we are not serious about controlling the debt. In fact, it would send the message that not only are we not serious, but were going to try to trick everyone that were actually doing something productive on the deficit. Thats the hyatt of height of irresponsibility, close quote. Myra mcginns, a director at the committee for responsible federal budget, said that last november. So were not going to go for this. Were not going to go for this. Were not going to waive the budget in this fashion. Its not going to pass. And it should have been known beforehand when senator sanders and senator reed have sought to push this bill through that its never going to pass. Because there are enough senators in this body have enough strength of will to honor the commitment we made a few weeks ago in the ryanmurray legislation. And were not going to use some bogus gimmick to justify busting the budget. So the deal is over. Nada. Its not going to happen. And i dont expect and i will defend my commitment to veterans and seeing that theyre treated fairly in this country. Now, a lot of positive things we need to be doing in america. This is certainly not one of them. We need to figure out how to run this government on the spending increases that weve already agreed to. And, in fact, we need to reduce those increases more than we have. Otherwise, were placing at risk our economy today, job creation today, and the future of our children. I would thank the chair and yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from pennsylvania. Mr. Casey thank you, mr. President. I rise this morning to speak about two issues, the first will be on the matter thats before us, the veterans legislation. Ill also speak let me ask consent to speak as if in morning business on a separate topic and would ask that that appear at a different part of the record. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Casey mr. President , thank you very much. Im grateful for the opportunity to speak about the legislation. I want to commend the work of chairman searchedz and others who have brought us to this searntdz and others sanders and whose who have brought us to this point. We know have have a challenge to pass this legislation and the good news is that these issues are bipartisan, both parties have a real concern about what happens to our veterans, what happens to our veterans families. We often have different pathways to get there, but i think we do have a bipartisan concern. But its appropriate to start with with a reflection on what i think our obligation is as members of the United States senate but i think its our obligation as citizens as well, and years ago i heard it expressed we often express it by using the word worthy. When we consider what our veterans have done for us, its important that we express gratitude in so many different ways and sometimes thats one on one expressing to a veteran we appreciate their service, sometimes when theres a parade or another demonstration of public support for our veterans, thats important, but i think the question we have to ask ourselves both, again, as elected officials and as citizens, is the following are we doing everything we can to prove ourselves worthy of the valor of our veterans . And i think the answer to that question depending on what year it is or depending on what time period it is, will get different answers to that question. Most of the time we like to believe that the congress is worthy of the valor of those veterans, that were doing everything we can to help them. But weve got to be honest with ourselves and say that there are substantial periods of time when this body and the other body, both senate and house, not have been worthy of the valor of our veterans because we havent done the job to help veterans and their families. We hope, we pray that this can be one of those moments when we are proving ourselves worthy of the valor of those veterans. Who served their country and they didnt ask the price, they didnt ask they didnt put down conditions, they just served their country and they ask us to enact legislation and policy that is commensurate with the sacrifice and the commitment that they made to their country. So it really is about keeping promises, and i hope we can be in one of those moments right now. The bill as across the country know, the bill improves v. A. Health care coverage, it reauthorizes important job Training Programs for unemployed veterans and provides instate tuition benefits for all post9 11 veterans through the g. I. Bill. We know when you look at the unemployment data that some of the highest percentages for any sector or category are post9 11 veterans. A much higher Unemployment Rate than the overall Unemployment Rate and even a higher Unemployment Rate than their fellow veterans. In this case for this bill, hundreds of people across pennsylvania have reached out to my office urging that the senate pass this bill. It has the support from various syrians Service Organizations including the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, the american legion, and the v. F. W. Just to name a few. I just wanted to address a couple of provisions in the bill, ones that are particularly significant to pennsylvanians and some of the work that weve been doing. The v. A. In pittsburgh, v. A. Health care system in pittsburgh had a terrible tragedy not too long ago where several people lost their lives, several veterans lost their lives while in the care of the v. A. Health care system. There was a legions legionnaires outbreak, a problem in the water system and that terrible tragedy was obviously a devastating loss for those families, the not just the city of pittsburgh but all of southwestern pennsylvania was affected. So were thinking of them today when we reflect upon some of the provisions in this bill. Veterans and their loved ones need to feel confident and secure in the care that they receive at all v. A. Health care facilities and the failures theres no other way to describe them the failures that occurred at the v. A. In southwestern pennsylvania surrounding this outbreak of legionnaires disease is in a word, unacceptable and, frankly, thats not a Strong Enough word to express the outrage that i felt and i know people across southwestern pennsylvania and beyond felt. So i worked to in led the introduction of legislation to deal with this. Portions of what we worked on are included in this bill and were very happy about that. Specifically, the bill requires the v. A. To implement local and state reporting, reporting requirements of infectious diseases. The bill also requires that the v. A. Develop Performance Measures to assess whether veterans whether the Veterans Integrated Service networks and medical centers are complying with these requirements. So were happy that thats part of the part of the legislation. Secondly, i just wanted to highlight another part of the legislation which is very important to me. Fortunately it includes the Corporal Michael j. Cresens act which senator toomey and i introduced last year. The bill renames the v. A. Medical center on woodland avenue in philadelphia after corporal cresens. He was philadelphias only the city of philadelphias only medal of honor recipient from the vietnam war. Just a quick description of why he was awarded the medal of honor for his service in vietnam. We know its the highest honor that can be granted to any soldier. In this case, for his actions in vietnam on november 20, 1968. His medal of honor citation states that he gave his life when he quote left the relative safety of his own position, seized a nearby machine gun and with complete disregard for his safety, charged 100 meters up a slope toward the enemys bunkers which he effectively silenced. It goes on to say the following as a result of his heroic actions, his company was able to maneuver freely with minimal danger and to complete its mission, defeating the enemy unquote. So were grateful that his family will have some measure of peace of mind that his sacrifice and his service is remembered and i want to thank chairman sanders for including that in the bill and i know senator toomey joins me in that note of gratitude. Mr. President , i want to move to a separate subject which, as i asked, would be in a separate part of the record, and this is the just a brief discussion about the able act. Which is a piece of legislation which has been the subject of enormous and substantial bipartisan support both here in the senate and in the house. We know that a lot of families have have relied upon and have really benefited from the socalled 529 plans, a section of the i. R. S. Code which allows families to save taxfree for education. What were trying to do with the able act is to replicate that process or that opportunity as is a better way to say it, so that families that have a loved one with a disability it may be one disability or it may be more than one, but every family that has a loved one with a disability should have the opportunity to save just like they might for education in a taxfree manner, in a taxadvantaged way. So weve been working on this legislation for a number of years, senator richard burr, the senior senator from North Carolina and i have led this effort in the senate and i said, it would build upon that 529 model for education. The able act enjoys the support of 63 United States senators, 63 cosponsors in the thousands its up to 335 members of the house. So thats why we mentioned over 400 members of the congress agree, and thats why that hashtag pass the able act, exclamation point, is important to highlight. There i should say there are few measures that come before the senate or the house that enjoy that kind of bipartisan support. In the senate, for example, theres no more than five bills that enjoy the support of 63 or more senators. So were happy about that, but its not were not done yet. We still have a long, long way to go to get this legislation done. So as important as it is to highlight the numbers, its also important to highlight the people that did the hard work to get us there. Id like to be able to commend members of the house and the senate, but the ones who are worthy of even more substantial commendation would be a lot of individuals, some of whom are here in washington this week. The National Downs Syndrome Society i was just with folks from the national downs syndrome