Transcripts For CSPAN2 US Senate 20160914 : comparemela.com

400,000 killed. Mr. Graham all with families. Mr. Mccain all with families. Barrel bombs, poison gas. By the way, there has been a recurrence, poison gas. Six Million People are now refugees. Six Million People are refugees, putting enormous strains on europe. And you can go around the world and see where all this weakness is reflected, whether it be in syria, whether it be in iran, threaten two american surveillance planes as they flew over the straits of hormuz, philippine leaders seeking arms from russia and chinese, chinese leaders seeking aggression in the south china sea, and the list goes on and on. In summary, i agree with the editorial in in the Washington Post yesterday. Whether or not the syrian ceasefire sticks, putin wins. This election is going to be a very important one. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. Mr. Manchin mr. President , i rise today in a colloquy with my colleagues. Its a bipartisan bill we have been working on thats one of the most important pieces of legislation that we have before us today, and that basically 16,000 retired miners and their widows are counting on this to be done. If we dont do it by the end of the year, were going to have 16,000 miners loose their Health Care Benefits at the end of this year. Well have another 35 hundreds miners that will lose their health care in march of next year. Another 3,500 will lose it by july. So 23,000 miners lives are at stake. This is a piece of legislation that fulfills the commitment and promise we made starting back to 1946, 1950, 1974, 1990, 1992, 1993 and 2006. So basically, we as a government, we as lawmakers here have understood the value of the coal that has been produced by the coal miners of america and the United Mine Workers, and this is to fulfill the promise that we made back in 1946 for what they had done from the start of the century, early 1900s, providing the energy in a very difficult, tough way, and then basically being able to guarantee a pension and a Retirement Plan to keep this country moving forward. Thats what this is about. If we dont fulfill this promise to the people who have given us the life we have and the superpower that we live in and the freedoms that we enjoy, i would say god help us all. With that, i have my colleagues that are here that understand these people, understand how wonderful they are, the hard work they have provided to the mine workers all over this country, and with that, im going to go ahead and turn to my good friend from ohio, senator brown. Mr. Brown i thank the senator from West Virginia. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I last week joined senator manchin, senator capito and others to speak to hundreds of coal miners rallying on the lawn right outside the capitol. It was an oppressively hot day, but the heat and humidity seemed to bother them not at all. Theyre used to working in mines and working in some of the hardest and sometimes less safe conditions of anyone in this country. One of the things that impressed me most at the beginning of this rally when president cecil roberts, the president of the umwa, stood up and asked at the beginning of his remarks how many of you are veterans, and a huge number of mine workers put their hands up. He then asked about family members and world war ii veterans. You think about these mine workers, these mine workers, some of them stayed in the mines and continued to mine coal, to win our wars and to power our defense plants and power our homes and our commercial establishments and everything else. So many of them went off to war. As if we dont owe them for the work they have done in the mines and the promises that senator manchin mentioned, we also owe so many of them for serving our country the way that they did. This is about Retirement Security. In my state alone, 6800 ohioans are covered and will be betrayed if we dont do our work if this senate doesnt do its job. If Congress Fails to act, retired miners lose their health care this year, and the Pension Plans could fail as early as 2017. This is Retirement Security, these miners worked for, security they fought for, security they sacrificed their own health for. One of the things senator manchin and senator capito and i understand that frankly a whole lot of senators dont is that when unions bargain sit down at the bargaining table, they often almost always give up raises today for Retirement Security in the future. You know, we call these legacy costs. I have heard during the auto rescue, i heard a number of my colleagues complain about the legacy costs that afflict in their words the united auto workers. Its the same thing here. These are workers that rather than take more pay now, they say okay, well forgo some of these raises and well put this money to guarantee and ensure our futures. So then they arent wards of the state. They are not they are not living off taxpayers. They are living off their own wealth they created, invested so that they will have Health Insurance and so that they will have pensions when they retire. Thats good for the country, not bad for the country. But a number of antiunion members in this senate and i would say in the house where senator capito and i used to serve dont really understand that. They have earned this health care, they have earned these retirement payments, they have been promised to them. These workers have more than held up their end of the bargain. I wanted to tell a couple of stories and turn it to senator capito. As the two West Virginia senators you know, they have more mine workers in their state than i do, but its a major part of our state and a major part of the Southeast Quadrant of ohio. Ive talked to some of these workers. Ohioans like norm skinner and dave dilly and babe earnest. I have known babe earnest for years. I appreciate the work senator warner has done who is joining us, too. Norm is a veteran. He started working as a miner in what became peabody coal 40 years ago. He worked 22 years. He retired in september of 1994. For every one of those years, he earned and he contributed to his Retiree Health care plan and his pension plan. 60 of his colleagues he told me at the mine have died of cancer because of the chemicals. Norm has been lucky, but after putting in decades in that mine, hes in danger of losing that health care that has kept him alive. We know how to fix this. This block, if you will, seems to be down at the end of a hall, the majority leaders office, we would get a Strong Majority because of the work of senator capito and senator manchin and senator warner and others. We would get a Strong Majority of members of the senate to pass this if we could get it up for a floor vote. We must mark this bill up and the committee that senator warner and i sit on the finance committee. I would hope this week, for whatever reason its pushed back to next week. Senator manchin and i have talked about we hope this isnt a slow walk to delay it through the end of the year because this senate has not been in session much this year. Were not doing the work we should. This is absolutely mandatory that Senate Finance move on it next week with senator casey of that committee who has also been supportive. Its time we do that. Senator manchin, thank you for your work. Senator capito and senator warner, thank you for your work on such an important issue for our country. Mr. Manchin thank you, senator brown. At this time i would like to call on my colleague, senator capito, from West Virginia. The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia. Mr. Capito thank you, mr. President. I want to thank my fellow senator from the state of West Virginia for his lead on this, and im happy to be his primary cosponsor. I want to thank senator brown. He brings a lot of passion. I got to follow him the other day when we were at the rally. He is a hard act to follow. Senator warner, certainly your state in virginia in the southwest portion where you are lucky enough to be really close to West Virginia is going to feel a lot of this. I think senator brown really stated it, something of the rally that we saw last week. It was a very hot day. It was a there were thousands of miners and families that were there. We all went for the show of hands. Senator portmans here now. Lets have a show of hands of those from ohio. Lets have a show of those from West Virginia. It was really spread throughout the country. It wasnt just or throughout the eastern part of the country. It wasnt just one state or the other. And everyone that i shook hands with, i was i asked, you know, is this personally affecting you . And it was amazing to me that most of the people i talked to, it personally affected them. And many of them are retired. They are not spring chickens, as a lot of us are not, and they were willing to weather a really long bus ride, a really hot day to stand arm in arm in brother and sisterhood for something that we all believe in and that we are approaching a critical deadline. So as has been said before, these are the workers who have powered our nation, who work hard, who my kids have gone to school with their grandchildren, we go to church with many of them. I mean, in a small state like ours, senator manchin and i certainly know, we know many of the folks and of the faces that we saw that day and the ones that are affected by this. So we cant leave them in the lurch. This is where we are. We hear the statistics, 22,000. Some of the statistics are a little bit different, but could be losing their health care here in the next three months. The pension plan is that provides benefits to over 90,000 current retirees could become insolvent. We have a fix. Senator portman and i have talked a lot about this because we have those adjoining parts of our states that are very much affected, and we have worked hard to bring this fix and get it to the point which we think and we are assured that the vote will come through the finance committee which senator portman serves on, and so i look forward to that even though it disappointedly was pushed back a week, we still are fighting the fight. The war on coal in our state is as a result of really thousands of lost jobs. Six of our counties are in a deep depression. We were at a local hearing in morgantown where our state economist said that six of our counties are in the in a very severe depression. Most of these a lot of these points are where a lot of these folks live. These counties and communities across our state, the situation if we dont do something is going to get even worse. This is not a partisan issue. We have republicans and democrats here. I would say its more of a regional issue than a partisan issue. Were working with chairman hatch to get this bill marked up in the finance committee, and hopefully that will get us the next step that we need, which is the big step, which is to get it across the floor here in the halls of the United States senate. So, you know, with the hardworking men and women of appalachia, with the leadership that senator manchin has shown on this and many of us here working together and the many different ways that we can affect the votes of our colleagues. Somebody said to me, well, whats going to make the difference . Youre on that side of the aisle where maybe there are a lot of folks that cant see why we should vote for this. And, you know, what i would implore them to do is look at the human faces of what of the people that are affected here. These are people, most of them worked hard their whole lives. Many of them have health issues, Severe Health issues. Many of them are living on limited resources. And this really just kind of kicks the stool out from under their entire family. So i join with everybody here today to make that real difference that we need to make, and well keep the fight going here as we move through the next several weeks and months. Thank you. Mr. Manchin i want to thank my colleague, my friend. This is definitely a bipartisan piece of legislation. We just need a little bit more help, but were going to get there. Let me just paint the picture very quickly for everybody what were talking about. The energy from this Young Country in the early 1900s, the energy was needed to build a country into the industrial revolution, if you will. Then we had world war i and we had world war ii back to back. We needed the Domestic Energy in order to defend ourselves. From 19001946, these were people that would go down into the mines, they would work hard. They would provide the resources we needed to win the wars, to build the industrial revolution, to build the middle class. They got no pensions, no benefits. I will give you one personal story. In 1927, there was a young man who had four children and his wife was expecting her fifth. Christmas time, 1927. If you have ever heard the song 16 tons and what do you get . Anotherdayolder and deeper in debt, Tennessee Ernie Ford wrote that song. I owe my soul to the company store. That was the fact. That was the absolute truth. At the end of the day with the a paycheck at the end of the week, there was nothing left. There was no money to take care of your family. There was no pension to rely orks no Retirement Plan. There was no health care as far as given you the health care you need to stay healthy and your family. This is what happened. A person, a young man in 1927 was talking to other people saying weve got to do something. We cant continue to carry on like n. We cant live this way, cant take care of our family, cant take care of ourselves. Were not getting ahead at all. That night christmas eve, all his furniture was thrown in the middle of the road rgs everything, all four kids, an expectant mother was thrown out. That persons name was joe manchin, sr. When you think about the commitment they made to our country and the effort, that was my grandfather, and you think about what they were willing to do and sacrifice everything for this country, and we didnt get a piece of legislation till 1946 and harry s. Truman, president harry s. Truman sign d an agreement signed an agreement because it was so important after the war to keep the economy going. And without the minors that were providing the product, the coal that fired this nation, we wouldnt have been able to we might not be the super power of the day. We would not. People forget that. I think it sets the stage of who we are, what were fighting for. This is a commitment that we owe. This is a responsibility that we have. And i thank all of my colleagues who are here, all the colleagues that are supporting this. We have 46 democrats supporting this and we have an possibly more of our republican friends supporting it also. We need a few more and we think we will be able to get that help and get that commitment for the markup. It should have been done this week. It wasnt. With that i want to recognize my good friend from virginia, former governor, that we served together. He worked in the coal fields. We meant many times in the coal fields. These are the greatest people, the most patriotic people youve ever met. A coal min miner is usually a veteran. They built the country that we have today. They have given their blood, sweat and tears and hard work. With that i want to turn it over to my good friend from virginia who knows these people all so well. Senator warner. Mr. Warner thank you, mr. President. I want to start by echoing what senator brown and senator capito and others have said. And thanking my friend, the senator from West Virginia, for continuing to wage this fight. It feels a little bit like deja vu all over again. We have been down here time and time and time again to simply reinforce the case that the senator from West Virginia just went through in terms of history. I think its sometimes interesting that im sure the senator frommest virginia from West Virginia but it was the early 1990s the first time i went underground and see the working conditions that miners across this country, even with advances in technology and 21st century still endure. Its hard work. Its gritty work. Many of the miners who spent years working underground come out with black lung, other illnesses. Their Life Expectancy is much shorter than so many other jobs. The senator from West Virginia has already gone true at some length. Our historic commitment to these miners started with president truman, was renewed a variety of times, democrats and republicans alike. And through this past year again because of the senator from West Virginia and those of us who tried to help and his states got the most. Probably kentucky has the second most. Virginia has about 10,000 folks that are affected. We did finally force and i want to thank the chairman and Ranking Member of the finance committee, senator hatch and senator wyden. We did have the hearing. And families came in and all they said was to us was keep your promise. The United States of america, we said were going to honor this commitment to make sure your pension benefits and your Health Care Benefits are honored. The remarkable thing here, there are many folks including myself who were greatly concerned about our debt and deficit. How are we going to pay for this . Weve identified a source of funding that is industry generated. So many of the typical while maybe not now, what if or how does this happen, all of those issues have been addressed. The miners protection act that the finance Million People<\/a> are now refugees. Six Million People<\/a> are refugees, putting enormous strains on europe. And you can go around the world and see where all this weakness is reflected, whether it be in syria, whether it be in iran, threaten two american surveillance planes as they flew over the straits of hormuz, philippine leaders seeking arms from russia and chinese, chinese leaders seeking aggression in the south china sea, and the list goes on and on. In summary, i agree with the editorial in in the Washington Post<\/a> yesterday. Whether or not the syrian ceasefire sticks, putin wins. This election is going to be a very important one. Mr. President , i yield the floor. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia<\/a>. Mr. Manchin mr. President , i rise today in a colloquy with my colleagues. Its a bipartisan bill we have been working on thats one of the most important pieces of legislation that we have before us today, and that basically 16,000 retired miners and their widows are counting on this to be done. If we dont do it by the end of the year, were going to have 16,000 miners loose their Health Care Benefits<\/a> at the end of this year. Well have another 35 hundreds miners that will lose their health care in march of next year. Another 3,500 will lose it by july. So 23,000 miners lives are at stake. This is a piece of legislation that fulfills the commitment and promise we made starting back to 1946, 1950, 1974, 1990, 1992, 1993 and 2006. So basically, we as a government, we as lawmakers here have understood the value of the coal that has been produced by the coal miners of america and the United Mine Workers<\/a>, and this is to fulfill the promise that we made back in 1946 for what they had done from the start of the century, early 1900s, providing the energy in a very difficult, tough way, and then basically being able to guarantee a pension and a Retirement Plan<\/a> to keep this country moving forward. Thats what this is about. If we dont fulfill this promise to the people who have given us the life we have and the superpower that we live in and the freedoms that we enjoy, i would say god help us all. With that, i have my colleagues that are here that understand these people, understand how wonderful they are, the hard work they have provided to the mine workers all over this country, and with that, im going to go ahead and turn to my good friend from ohio, senator brown. Mr. Brown i thank the senator from West Virginia<\/a>. The presiding officer the senator from ohio. Mr. Brown thank you, mr. President. I last week joined senator manchin, senator capito and others to speak to hundreds of coal miners rallying on the lawn right outside the capitol. It was an oppressively hot day, but the heat and humidity seemed to bother them not at all. Theyre used to working in mines and working in some of the hardest and sometimes less safe conditions of anyone in this country. One of the things that impressed me most at the beginning of this rally when president cecil roberts, the president of the umwa, stood up and asked at the beginning of his remarks how many of you are veterans, and a huge number of mine workers put their hands up. He then asked about family members and world war ii veterans. You think about these mine workers, these mine workers, some of them stayed in the mines and continued to mine coal, to win our wars and to power our defense plants and power our homes and our commercial establishments and everything else. So many of them went off to war. As if we dont owe them for the work they have done in the mines and the promises that senator manchin mentioned, we also owe so many of them for serving our country the way that they did. This is about Retirement Security<\/a>. In my state alone, 6800 ohioans are covered and will be betrayed if we dont do our work if this senate doesnt do its job. If Congress Fails<\/a> to act, retired miners lose their health care this year, and the Pension Plans<\/a> could fail as early as 2017. This is Retirement Security<\/a>, these miners worked for, security they fought for, security they sacrificed their own health for. One of the things senator manchin and senator capito and i understand that frankly a whole lot of senators dont is that when unions bargain sit down at the bargaining table, they often almost always give up raises today for Retirement Security<\/a> in the future. You know, we call these legacy costs. I have heard during the auto rescue, i heard a number of my colleagues complain about the legacy costs that afflict in their words the united auto workers. Its the same thing here. These are workers that rather than take more pay now, they say okay, well forgo some of these raises and well put this money to guarantee and ensure our futures. So then they arent wards of the state. They are not they are not living off taxpayers. They are living off their own wealth they created, invested so that they will have Health Insurance<\/a> and so that they will have pensions when they retire. Thats good for the country, not bad for the country. But a number of antiunion members in this senate and i would say in the house where senator capito and i used to serve dont really understand that. They have earned this health care, they have earned these retirement payments, they have been promised to them. These workers have more than held up their end of the bargain. I wanted to tell a couple of stories and turn it to senator capito. As the two West Virginia<\/a> senators you know, they have more mine workers in their state than i do, but its a major part of our state and a major part of the Southeast Quadrant<\/a> of ohio. Ive talked to some of these workers. Ohioans like norm skinner and dave dilly and babe earnest. I have known babe earnest for years. I appreciate the work senator warner has done who is joining us, too. Norm is a veteran. He started working as a miner in what became peabody coal 40 years ago. He worked 22 years. He retired in september of 1994. For every one of those years, he earned and he contributed to his Retiree Health<\/a> care plan and his pension plan. 60 of his colleagues he told me at the mine have died of cancer because of the chemicals. Norm has been lucky, but after putting in decades in that mine, hes in danger of losing that health care that has kept him alive. We know how to fix this. This block, if you will, seems to be down at the end of a hall, the majority leaders office, we would get a Strong Majority<\/a> because of the work of senator capito and senator manchin and senator warner and others. We would get a Strong Majority<\/a> of members of the senate to pass this if we could get it up for a floor vote. We must mark this bill up and the committee that senator warner and i sit on the finance committee. I would hope this week, for whatever reason its pushed back to next week. Senator manchin and i have talked about we hope this isnt a slow walk to delay it through the end of the year because this senate has not been in session much this year. Were not doing the work we should. This is absolutely mandatory that Senate Finance<\/a> move on it next week with senator casey of that committee who has also been supportive. Its time we do that. Senator manchin, thank you for your work. Senator capito and senator warner, thank you for your work on such an important issue for our country. Mr. Manchin thank you, senator brown. At this time i would like to call on my colleague, senator capito, from West Virginia<\/a>. The presiding officer the senator from West Virginia<\/a>. Mr. Capito thank you, mr. President. I want to thank my fellow senator from the state of West Virginia<\/a> for his lead on this, and im happy to be his primary cosponsor. I want to thank senator brown. He brings a lot of passion. I got to follow him the other day when we were at the rally. He is a hard act to follow. Senator warner, certainly your state in virginia in the southwest portion where you are lucky enough to be really close to West Virginia<\/a> is going to feel a lot of this. I think senator brown really stated it, something of the rally that we saw last week. It was a very hot day. It was a there were thousands of miners and families that were there. We all went for the show of hands. Senator portmans here now. Lets have a show of hands of those from ohio. Lets have a show of those from West Virginia<\/a>. It was really spread throughout the country. It wasnt just or throughout the eastern part of the country. It wasnt just one state or the other. And everyone that i shook hands with, i was i asked, you know, is this personally affecting you . And it was amazing to me that most of the people i talked to, it personally affected them. And many of them are retired. They are not spring chickens, as a lot of us are not, and they were willing to weather a really long bus ride, a really hot day to stand arm in arm in brother and sisterhood for something that we all believe in and that we are approaching a critical deadline. So as has been said before, these are the workers who have powered our nation, who work hard, who my kids have gone to school with their grandchildren, we go to church with many of them. I mean, in a small state like ours, senator manchin and i certainly know, we know many of the folks and of the faces that we saw that day and the ones that are affected by this. So we cant leave them in the lurch. This is where we are. We hear the statistics, 22,000. Some of the statistics are a little bit different, but could be losing their health care here in the next three months. The pension plan is that provides benefits to over 90,000 current retirees could become insolvent. We have a fix. Senator portman and i have talked a lot about this because we have those adjoining parts of our states that are very much affected, and we have worked hard to bring this fix and get it to the point which we think and we are assured that the vote will come through the finance committee which senator portman serves on, and so i look forward to that even though it disappointedly was pushed back a week, we still are fighting the fight. The war on coal in our state is as a result of really thousands of lost jobs. Six of our counties are in a deep depression. We were at a local hearing in morgantown where our state economist said that six of our counties are in the in a very severe depression. Most of these a lot of these points are where a lot of these folks live. These counties and communities across our state, the situation if we dont do something is going to get even worse. This is not a partisan issue. We have republicans and democrats here. I would say its more of a regional issue than a partisan issue. Were working with chairman hatch to get this bill marked up in the finance committee, and hopefully that will get us the next step that we need, which is the big step, which is to get it across the floor here in the halls of the United States<\/a> senate. So, you know, with the hardworking men and women of appalachia, with the leadership that senator manchin has shown on this and many of us here working together and the many different ways that we can affect the votes of our colleagues. Somebody said to me, well, whats going to make the difference . Youre on that side of the aisle where maybe there are a lot of folks that cant see why we should vote for this. And, you know, what i would implore them to do is look at the human faces of what of the people that are affected here. These are people, most of them worked hard their whole lives. Many of them have health issues, Severe Health<\/a> issues. Many of them are living on limited resources. And this really just kind of kicks the stool out from under their entire family. So i join with everybody here today to make that real difference that we need to make, and well keep the fight going here as we move through the next several weeks and months. Thank you. Mr. Manchin i want to thank my colleague, my friend. This is definitely a bipartisan piece of legislation. We just need a little bit more help, but were going to get there. Let me just paint the picture very quickly for everybody what were talking about. The energy from this Young Country<\/a> in the early 1900s, the energy was needed to build a country into the industrial revolution, if you will. Then we had world war i and we had world war ii back to back. We needed the Domestic Energy<\/a> in order to defend ourselves. From 19001946, these were people that would go down into the mines, they would work hard. They would provide the resources we needed to win the wars, to build the industrial revolution, to build the middle class. They got no pensions, no benefits. I will give you one personal story. In 1927, there was a young man who had four children and his wife was expecting her fifth. Christmas time, 1927. If you have ever heard the song 16 tons and what do you get . Anotherdayolder and deeper in debt, Tennessee Ernie Ford<\/a> wrote that song. I owe my soul to the company store. That was the fact. That was the absolute truth. At the end of the day with the a paycheck at the end of the week, there was nothing left. There was no money to take care of your family. There was no pension to rely orks no Retirement Plan<\/a>. There was no health care as far as given you the health care you need to stay healthy and your family. This is what happened. A person, a young man in 1927 was talking to other people saying weve got to do something. We cant continue to carry on like n. We cant live this way, cant take care of our family, cant take care of ourselves. Were not getting ahead at all. That night christmas eve, all his furniture was thrown in the middle of the road rgs everything, all four kids, an expectant mother was thrown out. That persons name was joe manchin, sr. When you think about the commitment they made to our country and the effort, that was my grandfather, and you think about what they were willing to do and sacrifice everything for this country, and we didnt get a piece of legislation till 1946 and harry s. Truman, president harry s. Truman sign d an agreement signed an agreement because it was so important after the war to keep the economy going. And without the minors that were providing the product, the coal that fired this nation, we wouldnt have been able to we might not be the super power of the day. We would not. People forget that. I think it sets the stage of who we are, what were fighting for. This is a commitment that we owe. This is a responsibility that we have. And i thank all of my colleagues who are here, all the colleagues that are supporting this. We have 46 democrats supporting this and we have an possibly more of our republican friends supporting it also. We need a few more and we think we will be able to get that help and get that commitment for the markup. It should have been done this week. It wasnt. With that i want to recognize my good friend from virginia, former governor, that we served together. He worked in the coal fields. We meant many times in the coal fields. These are the greatest people, the most patriotic people youve ever met. A coal min miner is usually a veteran. They built the country that we have today. They have given their blood, sweat and tears and hard work. With that i want to turn it over to my good friend from virginia who knows these people all so well. Senator warner. Mr. Warner thank you, mr. President. I want to start by echoing what senator brown and senator capito and others have said. And thanking my friend, the senator from West Virginia<\/a>, for continuing to wage this fight. It feels a little bit like deja vu all over again. We have been down here time and time and time again to simply reinforce the case that the senator from West Virginia<\/a> just went through in terms of history. I think its sometimes interesting that im sure the senator frommest virginia from West Virginia<\/a> but it was the early 1990s the first time i went underground and see the working conditions that miners across this country, even with advances in technology and 21st century still endure. Its hard work. Its gritty work. Many of the miners who spent years working underground come out with black lung, other illnesses. Their Life Expectancy<\/a> is much shorter than so many other jobs. The senator from West Virginia<\/a> has already gone true at some length. Our historic commitment to these miners started with president truman, was renewed a variety of times, democrats and republicans alike. And through this past year again because of the senator from West Virginia<\/a> and those of us who tried to help and his states got the most. Probably kentucky has the second most. Virginia has about 10,000 folks that are affected. We did finally force and i want to thank the chairman and Ranking Member<\/a> of the finance committee, senator hatch and senator wyden. We did have the hearing. And families came in and all they said was to us was keep your promise. The United States<\/a> of america, we said were going to honor this commitment to make sure your pension benefits and your Health Care Benefits<\/a> are honored. The remarkable thing here, there are many folks including myself who were greatly concerned about our debt and deficit. How are we going to pay for this . Weve identified a source of funding that is industry generated. So many of the typical while maybe not now, what if or how does this happen, all of those issues have been addressed. The miners protection act that the finance Committee Held<\/a> a hearing on and miners from southWest Virginia<\/a> came in, a couple of folks from grundy, couple folks from wise close to the state of West Virginia<\/a>, close to ohio, folks whose lives were going to be dramatically affected if these benefit, these Health Care Benefits<\/a> then pension benefits are taken away. And disproportionately as the senator from West Virginia<\/a> has repeatedly said, the vast majority of these individuals candidly are not former miners but theyre the widows because so many folks have passed that are now widows that depend upon these benefits in many ways that are still the life blood of communities that have been hard hit by the changing of power, by government regulation, by a host of other things. So last week on that incredibly warm day, the good friend, the senator from ohio and i were there speaking to miners from all across the arent and others who were supportive of the cause. And the question i got as i walked through the crowd was, are you guys going to keep your word . Not democrat, republican, not particulars of the bill. Are you going to keep your word that this country made to the coal miners and their beneficiaries that their pension and Health Care Benefits<\/a> are going to be honored . Were going to be tested on this at least in terms of the next step. My hope and expectation had been as a member of the finance committee and my friend, the senator from ohio, a member of the finance committee and in this case we have the support of the chairman, the Ranking Member<\/a>. We would member that we would mark up this legislation, that we wouldnt add extraneous other things that would take us off course or take us down some into some other briar patch but that we would honor this commitment on the umwa health and pension benefits. As things often happen here, it got delayed. But i for one dont believe even if we get our c. R. Done, get zika done, that the finance committee should leave town without having this markup. That commitment was made earlier in the year. I went through a whole group of folks, not just from v. A. But from West Virginia<\/a>, ohio, pennsylvania and kentucky and said, yes, i believe well at least get the next step done and get this bill marked up out of finance committee and it should be then not just got out of finance committee, its actually got to be acted upon here on the floor of the senate. Weve all gone through the facts and the details on the variety of times that we have spoken to this issue on the floor. My appeal, mr. President , is that to my friends, the chair and the Ranking Member<\/a> of the finance committee that this date on the 21st does not slip again. I know in that committee markup, we will have the votes. We need to get that bill reported out. We need to get it acted on before the end of the year because as the senator from West Virginia<\/a> has so relentlessly continued to make the point, this is not something that we can kick the can on anymore. People start losing these benefits that their lives depend on at the end of calendar year 2016. So i say to my friend from West Virginia<\/a> and the senator from ohio, we are on this together. It is bipartisan. There arent enough things that are dunbar here. I thank my friend from West Virginia<\/a> for being relentless on this issue. I thank my friend, the senator from ohio whos sometimes its an issue that looks like its stacking up more one side than the other, his leadership on this as well. I tell you, i think we owe it to those miners and to the families that depend upon these benefits that we keep our word, keep the word we told them we were going to keep back when we held the hearing, keep the word that all of us said to the miners and others who rallied last week in the middle of that heat, we do our job next wednesday, well be able to keep our word, bring this bill total floor and get it passed. With that, mr. President , i thank the senator from West Virginia<\/a> and yield back my time. Mr. Manchin thank you, senator. I appreciate the support. He does know the miners so well because we joined in the southwest and his southwest miners and my West Virginia<\/a> miners work very well together. With that being said, were very proud to have our neighbors and friends from ohio and senator portman has been a dear friend and colleague. He knows the mine workers of the southeast where most of them have congregated and where they really mine the coal along with West Virginia<\/a>. Were very proud of that. Senator portman, we appreciate you being part of this colloquy port first i want to thank my colleague from West Virginia<\/a> for holding this colloquy today. I enjoyed listening to his colleague from West Virginia<\/a> talk about it, senator capito. I know senator brown was here. Senator warner from virginia was out there just before me. I get to follow him again and what i said the other day when we were at the rally was the fact that this is not a partisan issue. This is one where you have republicans and democrats coming together to identify a real problem, a hundred thousand, a hundred thousand miners having their pensions endangered and 20,000 miners potentially losing their health care at the end of this year. Thats a really urgent problem for them. He did a good job today talking about some of these issues. I love when senator manchin talked about the fact that this country was built on an Energy Economy<\/a> that included coal. And i will tell you we have mined four million tons of coal in ohio. And were still a state and a country that depends on coal for our electricity. And in ohio its about 58 of us who turn on a light when go home get our electricity from coal. So its incredibly for our economy and has built this country in effect and has given us in ohio the ability, frankly, to attract a lot of industry because we have had relatively low energy prices, Stable Energy<\/a> prices. So this is about telling these miners that for years and years have been doing the hard work, playing by the rules, doing exactly what theyre supposed to do that were not going to let them down. Thats all this is about. And its just not fair to pull the plug after all these years and as was noted earlier having talked to a lot of these miners, some of them are in poor health. Part of the reason theyre in poor health is because they were in the coal mines for many years. There are higher rates of cancer, for instance, among some of these miners and there are a lot of widows because some of the spouses have moved on. And so this is about keeping true to our commitment and our promise. I do think that we are going to have this Committee Vote<\/a> a week from today. Im told it was pushed back from today to a week if today because the Congressional Budget Office<\/a> had not done the score yet, what this costs. Okay. Thats fine. But lets be darn sure that we do not leave town to go back in october without addressing this issue. And thats something that im going to insist on as well as my other colleagues. I heard from them today. Ive got a commitment on this. I got a commitment from the leadership, from the chairman who i know is good to his commitments, and weve got to be darn sure that we do the right thing for these miners. We had a hearing on it. We had people come forward and talk about the specifics of it. I will tell you i know some people have differences of opinion on the fiscal impact of this. As a person who is a fiscal conservative and proud of that, i will tell you the alternative to this is that these plans could potentially go insolvent and pbgc which is the Government Program<\/a> that backs all these up, the pension benefit guarantee corps would then be in deep trouble because this is the second biggest multiemployer plan that could be in trouble. That could result in taxpayers having to pick up the tab in a much more significant way. So the actuaries have looked at our plan. They believe that the way we do it, it is paid for. They believe that this will enable us to get through this period of time where weve got a tough issue with so Many Companies<\/a> going bankrupt. The senator from West Virginia<\/a>, senator manchin and i talked have talked a lot about the underlying problem here which is there are a lot of people who are trying to do away with coal and the socalled war on coal is leading to some of these brups of these companies bankrupt sis of these companies. The federal government also had played a role. We need to recognize that as well. So i want to thank my colleagues for coming out to the floor today. I want to say we look forward to the opportunity to debate and discuss this issue in committee a week from today to get a strong vote. Lets make it a strong bipartisan vote and lets be sure that it comes to this floor with that kind of support and goes over to the house and we can get something done here to help those people who did work hard and play by the rules and deserves now for us here in the United States<\/a> congress to look out for them. I thank my colleague and i yield back to him. Mr. Manchin thank you, my friend from ohio, senator portman. Let me say in wrapping up, theres some concern and theres talk about were concerned about the United Mine Workers<\/a> which are all union miners and nonunion miners. Im as concerned about all miners. But the agreement, and if you think back to 1946 about anybody and everybody who worked in the mines belonged to the United Mine Workers<\/a> of america. Thats the agreement that was made to stop a strike from happening, to basically get people back to work to keep the country moving forward. And we ratified that again. We ratified it in 1974. We did it in 1990, 1992, 1993, and 2006 and it has the hand stamp of basically th of the president of the United States<\/a>. If we cant keep that commitment, if we wont fulfill that promise and people think basically that everybody is talking about, well, were going to subsidize this. Its the federal government guarantee. It was a guarantee that the coal that was mined, that the mine operators would pay into the pension plan. Then through bankruptcy courts thacourtsthat evaporates. If i could just i ask unanimous consent to finish up shall wrap up one minute, mr. President. Okay. Mr. Enzi that has already exceeded the time that it was supposed to go. Mr. Manchin if i could just mr. Enzi oblg. Officethe presiding officer wit objection. Mr. Manchin weve been gone for nine weeks. This that is to be brought out of the finance committee. Thats what were asking for. Thats what was promised. I would hope that awful my colleagues would that all of my colleagues would fulfill that promise that was made to the minors that have been depending on this. I would hope that this body will rise to the occasion and take care of the people they made the promise to the United Mine Workers<\/a> of america. Thank you, mr. President. Xi stey mr. President . Officer mr. Enzi mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi i am going to turn to the Water Resources<\/a> development act. It is a necessary update for corps projects and for Water Quality<\/a> systems and i applaud the chairman and the Ranking Member<\/a> for working in a bipartisan manner to ensure its passage. However, the amendments inclusion of direct spending for flint and other public Drinking Water<\/a> supply systems doesnt comply with the Budget Committee<\/a>s rules of enforcement. It would provide 100 million in Drinking Water<\/a> state revolving funds. It would provide 70 million in Water Infrastructure<\/a> loans. And it would provide an additional 100 million for led exposure programs. The flint provisions would also result in 350 million for bonds to finance Water Infrastructure<\/a> profntle the sponsors have sought to offset this new spending by prohibiting new loans after 2020 under the advanced Technology Vehicles<\/a> manufacturing atvm program. This program was originally created in 2508 and was designated in 2008 and was designated as an emergency. When we designate an emergency, we make a conscious decision to spend above the limits of the budget. We tell the american taxpayer that these dollars are necessary to respond to sudden and unforeseen circumstances. In the case of the atvm, senators argued that the emergency designation was necessary to respond to the precipitous drop in auto sales caused by the 2008 credit crisis and subsequent recession. Because advanced Technology Vehicles<\/a> manufacturing dollars were originally provided under an emergency designation, budget rules will not allow the cancellation of future atvm funds to be used as an offset. Very simply, if atvm money didnt count going out, it cant count coming in. And what were talking about is dollars that might go out after 2020. In all of our budget process, we are going to have to refrain from spending future money in the present. It just wont work. Now, the Government Accountability<\/a> office has recommended that congress rescind all or part of the remaining credit subsidy due to the lack of demand for new atvm loans, and congress ought to do that. The remaining dollars of the atvm program should not be spent. That was a 2008 crisis, not a 2016 crisis. Definitely not a 2020 crisis. But to use the emergency atvm money eight years later to increase nonemergency spending elsewhere represents a failure of congress to act as good stewards of taxpayer money and is not compliant with our budget rules. Congress must restrain when designating expenditures as emergencies. If we dont, future lawmakers will simply designate everything as an emergency to escape the budget limits, and then years down the road reprogram the funds for an entirely different nonemergency purpose. The senate must be judicious with its use of emergencydesignated funds or risk diluting the meaningfulness of the designation altogether. C. B. O. Has estimated that under senate scoring rules, the substitute amendment increases the unbudgeted deficit by 299 million over 2091620 20162026 period. As such, it exceeds the 2017 enforceable senate payas oyouo levels. I do have a motion that i will be making at the appropriate time, but in order for other discussion to happen, i will yield the floor and reserve the balance of my time. Mr. Inhofe mr. President . The presiding officer the senator from oklahoma. Mr. Inhofe yeah. First, let me say that i agree with my good friend from wyoming that we must not allow bills to move forward that are not fallly paid fully paid for. But this is not the case for the substitute. What were talking about now is the inhofeboxer substitute, which would become s. 2848. So but let me be clear, the substitute, s. 2848, does not add to the debt or the deficit, which c. B. O. Has verified. The issue with this point of order involves a disagreement between the Senate Budget<\/a> Committee Rules<\/a> and the c. B. O. , as it relates to the atvm spending offset used. While c. B. O. Gives us credit for rescinding it, the Budget Committee<\/a> does not. The fact is that when we reported this bill out of committee and that was in april c. B. O. Verified that the rescission of Spending Authority<\/a> for the advanced Technology Vehicle<\/a> Manufacturing Program<\/a> generates 300 million in real savings to the u. S. Treasury. In this substitute, we are taking those funds from a program that many believe is wasteful and unnecessary, and we redirect the funds towards a crisis a cross the nation that involves failing and outdated infrastructure which we address in this bism bill. Other issue is that the Budget Committee<\/a> is concerned that the substitute is not budgetneutral over five years based on how atvm Loan Authority<\/a> is rescinded. However, over a 10year budget window, c. B. O. Says we actually reduce the deficit. The Budget Committee<\/a> does not want to count the rescission of an unnecessary atvm program as real money because of how it was authorized, but the fact remains that it is real money. And we will be and it will be used to offset other spending, if not used now, for some other time for this urgent and real need. So after the 901 vote cloture yesterday to end the debate on this bill and a voice vote to adopt this fullypaidfor substitute, i urge members to waive this budget point of order, which i will make at the appropriate time. I yield the floor. Mr. Enzi this the appropriate time for me mr. President , parliamentary q i parliamentary q is this the appropriate time for knee make it request . Mr. President , i would mention the presiding officer the senator from wyoming. Mr. Enzi i would mention that the coppingal Budget Office<\/a> has prepared a revised cost estimate store s. 2848 and i have a copy of the letter here, which says that the revenues are subject to payasyougo procedures which would increase budget deficits by 294 billion over the 2016 hfer 2026 period. As such, mr. President , the pending measure substitute amendment number 4979 would violate the senate paygo rule and increase the onbudget deficit over the period of filers 20162026. Therefore i raise a point of order against the measure pursuant to section 201a of s. Con. Res. 2 is the concurrent resolution of the budget for fiscal year 2008. I yield the floor. Mr. Inhofe mr. President , surpursuant to section 904 of the congressiona congressional f 1974 and the waiver provisions applicable budget resolutions, i move to waive all applicable sections of that act and applicable budget resolutions for purposes of amendment number 4979, as amended, and ask for the yeas and nays. The presiding officer is there a sufficient second . There appears to be fnl. Mrs. Boxer mr. President , i yield back all time from our side. The presiding officer all time is yielded back. The question is on the motion to waive. The yeas and nays have been previously ordered. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 85, the nays are 12. Threefifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to and the point of order fails. The question occurs on amendment number 4979 as amended offered by the senator from kentucky, mr. Mcconnell, for the senator from oklahoma, mr. Inhofe. Is there any further debate . Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. Those opposed say nay. The ayes appear to have it. The ayes do have it. The amendment as amended is agreed to. The clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. The clerk cloture motion. We, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on calendar number 523, s. 2848, a bill to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the secretary of the army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States<\/a>, and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. The presiding officer by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. The question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on s. 2848 to provide for the conservation and development of water and related resources, to authorize the secretary of the army to construct various projects for improvements to rivers and harbors of the United States<\/a> and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. The yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. The clerk will call the roll. Vote vote vote the presiding officer are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote . If not, this vote, the yeas are 94, the nays are 3. Threefifths of the senators duly chosen and sworn having voted in the affirmative, the motion is agreed to. A senator mr. President . The presiding officer i ask that i may enter into a colloquy with my freshman colleagues. The presiding officer without objection. Mr. Daines mr. President , just yesterday i joined a colloquy with my freshman republican members on the importance of our National Security<\/a>. The importance of our troops, the importance of the threats that are currently facing our nation. I was honored to be here on the floor with my fellow freshman members including senators rounds, capito, sullivan, lankford and gardner. Today senators ernst and perdue will also join us. I want to take this opportunity to talk about the republican freshman class, who we are. We were all elected just about two years ago, the fall of 2014. While each one does much more than these brief descriptions, i thought it might be important to share this. Senator joni ernst from iowa, retired Lieutenant Colonel<\/a> in the Army National<\/a> guard, where iowa, of course, is home to Camp Dodge National Guard<\/a> base. Senator ernst was the first woman to serve in the United States<\/a> senate and also see combat. Senator dan sullivan of alaska, Lieutenant Colonel<\/a> United States<\/a> marine corps reserve. Senator sullivan, a marine my dad is also a marine. And of course alaska is home to joint base elmendorf. Senator mike rounds, the governor of south dakota, a great businessman, and he resides from south dakota, which is also the home of the Ellsworth Air<\/a> force base. Senator cory gardner of colorado served on the Foreign Relations<\/a> committee. I served with cory in the United States<\/a> house. Colorado is home to the United States<\/a> air force academy. Senator david perdue of georgia, senator perdue has over 40 years of business experience including being a c. E. O. And of course georgia is home to many military operations, but is the home to fort benning as well. Senator Shelly Capito<\/a> of West Virginia<\/a>, the first woman ever elected to the United States<\/a> senate from West Virginia<\/a>. I also served with shelly in the United States<\/a> house. West virginia is proudly the home of Mclaughlin Air<\/a> National Guard<\/a> base. Senator James Lankford<\/a> of oklahoma. Senator lankford, i served with james in the house. Oklahoma is home of the Tinker Air Force<\/a> base and many others. Senator lankford is on the homeland security, Government Affairs<\/a> as well as serving on the Appropriations Committee<\/a>. Well talk more about that here in a moment. Were all new to the senate, and i can tell you we are scratching our heads trying to understand why this institution is not funding the department of defense. Here are the facts. The department of defense appropriation, with defense appropriation passed the United States<\/a> house of representatives in june on a bipartisan vote of 282138. 48 democrats were part of that vote in the affirmative. I serve on the Appropriations Committee<\/a> of the u. S. Senate. We passed the defense appropriation bill out of the Appropriations Committee<\/a> on may 26. Now there are 16 republicans and 14 democrats on that committee for a total of 30, and it passed 300. It was a shutout. Not one member on either side of the aisle opposed funding the defense appropriations. So i ask my colleagues whats changed . The other side has in total filibustered our troops six times in the last year and a half. Senator capito raised a very good question yesterday, a simple question. Why . This past friday i visited Maelstrom Air<\/a> force base in great falls, montana, home of 4,000 airmen in my home state, and i thought the same thing. Here we are having a remembrance ceremony there in the beautiful chapel on the air force base, a 9 11 remembrance ceremony. Here we are in the middle of Maelstrom Air<\/a> force base to protect us by having responsibilities for 147 intercontinental ballistic missiles. Why cant my colleagues on the other side of the aisle vote to support the troops to keep us safe . I can tell you one thing for certain. The worlds a very dangerous place and the defense of our country relies on properly and promptly funding the department of defense. Usually the defense appropriation is one of the easiest appropriations to get passed. Its the layup, if you will, that this body can do. But i can tell you one thing. Our enemies arent waiting around for democrats to drop their political games. Why cant they support a bill that was voted out of committee unanimously on a bipartisan basis . Why cant they work with us to pass this very important bill that would provide the necessary funding for our military . What has changed . I think i might have figured it out, and its not a good answer. Its about political credit. The other side does not want to fund our military because they dont want the republicans to take credit for funding our troops. Now that cant be, can it . I hope this body, the United States<\/a> senate, the great deliberative body of congress, has not become a place where we hold up a noncontroversial bill that funds our troops because one side is playing politics. Now im very honored to have senator joni ernst of iowa join me here today. And senator ernst is a great american. Senator ernst was in the u. S. Military, the first woman who served in both the United States<\/a> senate and has been in combat. And senator ernst, it is an honor to stand with you here today on behalf of our troops and looking forward to your comments. Mrs. Ernst thank you senator daines, very much. It is an honor today to join my freshman colleagues on the floor of the United States<\/a> senate to talk about our failing National Security<\/a> strategy. This past weekend we all bowed our heads in remembrance to the nearly 3,000 brave souls we lost on september 11, 2001, and the response to those horrific attacks was not as our islamic extremist enemies had hoped. America did not falter. We bonded together, and we fought back. We fought back. The response to 9 11 was a comprehensive one with an object as clear as its name. The global war on terror. From places like subsaharan africa, afghanistan, and the philippines, u. S. Troops operating under Operation Enduring<\/a> freedom showed those responsible for 9 11 the true power of the United States<\/a> of america. From combat operations in somalia to advising missions in south america, there has long been a global and a comprehensive strategy to our response to 9 11. There was american leadership. American leadership. Today the administration has dismantled that global strategy. There is no leadership. Their failure to develop a strategy in 2011 for the troop withdrawal in iraq and their continued fight for lower troop numbers in afghanistan, those are just a couple of examples that are at the tip of the iceberg. One of the most alarming things in this administration, one of the most alarming things that they have done is not only ignore threats, but also fuel those threats just as they did with the iran nuclear deal. The nuclear deal that this administration brokered with iran is putting taxpayer dollars into the pockets of the largest state sponsor of terrorism. Lets look at some of the recent headlines that are centered on iran. Cnn. Iran continues to seek Illicit Nuclear<\/a> technology. Thats from cnn. Reuters. Iran test fires ballistic missiles. Which, folks, is against international law. The wall street journal, iran begins construction on second nuclear","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"archive.org","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","width":"800","height":"600","url":"\/\/ia800508.us.archive.org\/1\/items\/CSPAN2_20160914_180000_US_Senate\/CSPAN2_20160914_180000_US_Senate.thumbs\/CSPAN2_20160914_180000_US_Senate_000001.jpg"}},"autauthor":{"@type":"Organization"},"author":{"sameAs":"archive.org","name":"archive.org"}}],"coverageEndTime":"20240625T12:35:10+00:00"}