Senate Proceeding on Apr 23rd, 2009 :: 6:50:50 to 7:10:50
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6:36:00 to 6:50:50( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Chuck Grassley

6:50:45 to 6:50:51( Edit History Discussion )

Chuck Grassley: that's where the president and congress agree we need to get more job growth as we take final steps on this budget let's match

6:50:52 to 6:51:12( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: that budget with the i yield. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: thank you so grassley's remarks, and i've been in conference here with folks who have read this budget line by line, and i think it's

6:50:55 to 6:56:19( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

6:51:13 to 6:51:35( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: just important for me something as someone who represents the largest state in the union. as i you know, how you look at it. see as it a boon to small business. i don't see one specific tax increase aimed at small business. yes, if an individual is ove over $250,000 a year, all of us

6:51:36 to 6:51:57( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: in that category, the tax will expire. but to say that all small businesses are hit hard, i just think it's an argument that doesn't hold up in my eyes. i have great respect for my friend and i know he's analyzi it in another way, but when i look at the priorities new preside

6:51:58 to 6:52:19( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: democratic congress, what do i see? here are the priorities: investments in energy. that's going to be great for small business. talk to my venture capitalists, i say. they are ready, willing, and able, to make to alternative forms of energy. investments in education, that's also going to be good for our

6:52:20 to 6:52:40( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: people who work in the education field. and health care, we know, madam president, that as we have more insurance out there available for people, there will be many jobs created and many small businesses created around the delivery of health care. so i guess the way you look at this budget, you know, depends

6:52:41 to 6:53:02( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: on your point of view. but clearly i believe our president when he said he had those priorities. and so i view this budget overall as being a boon to small business and being a boon to the american people as we forward with the investments that we'll make that will create many, many jobs. well, madam president, the

6:53:03 to 6:53:23( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: reason i wanted this time in particular was to kind of reargue an old argument that we already had once before that's back before us. senator johanns wants another vote to say we won't use the reconciliation process, which

6:53:24 to 6:53:45( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: for those who don't know what that means, we won't use a process that we only need a majority to win, we're going to need the 60-vote requirement to write and pass global warming legislation. now, i know this is going to passecause it passed before. i think most members feel if we can get 60 votes for this

6:53:46 to 6:54:08( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: climate change legislation, fine. but i have to just say, and i have to say again, after reviewing the number of times that the repubcan party has used reconciliation since 1980, it's been 13 times out of the times that reconciliation has been used.

6:54:09 to 6:54:29( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and i would say to the people who might be listening to this and try to keep it as simple as possible. reconciliation is used when there's a way to reduce the deficit. that's when it's you want to reduce the deficit, so you say therefore if y're reducing the deficit, we'll do it with just a majority vote instead of the supermajo vote.

6:54:30 to 6:54:50( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: that's the thinking behind it. well, a cap-and-trade program, which many of us support in order to combat global warming, will give us the ability, madam president, to reduce the deficit. we know that because that's what we were told last year as we worked on the boxer-lieberman-warner bill.

6:54:51 to 6:55:11( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: much of the funds consumers to help them pay energy costs, but there was a segment of the funds straight into deficit reduction. but oh, no, my republican friends don't want to look at that. and even though they used this 13 times, they want to prohibit

6:55:12 to 6:55:32( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the use of reconciliation for global warming legislation. now, i will tell you, as i look back on the number of times that the republicans have reconciliation, in my view, it didn't make life any better for the american people. this is what they used it for. they used it to cut health

6:55:33 to 6:55:53( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: program block grants to our states. they used it to cut medicaid. they used it to cut food stamps. they used it to cut dairy price supports. they used it to cut energy assistance. they used it to cut education they used it to cut impact aid and title 1 compensatory

6:55:54 to 6:56:16( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: education program for disadvantaged children. they used it to cut student loans, and they used it to cut the social security minimum benefit. so our friends on the other side were very happy to use the reconciliation process, which only required 51 votes, to, in

6:56:17 to 6:56:20( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: my opinion, hurt the american people. did.

6:56:20 to 6:56:24( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Harry Reid

6:56:21 to 6:56:25( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: but when it comes to helping the american people by stepping up to plate and addressing global

6:56:25 to 7:00:00( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Boxer

6:56:26 to 6:56:46( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: warming and the course of doing so -- and in the course of doing so, create millions of new jobs, oh, no, they want to have their super majority. well, senator johanns showed us that he can get the votes to pass that and i know he will. that's why i am so grateful to

6:56:47 to 6:57:09( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: senator stabenow who will say, ok, you say you won't let us use reconciliation, she is saying, we will, in fact, keep the reserve fund in there for global warming so we can move it forward. and this reserve fund will allow us to invest in new jobs that will come about by in clean energy technologies

6:57:10 to 6:57:30( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: which will make us a healthier economy, energy independent, will make us more secure because we'll have to import less foreign oil and we're going see increases in energy efficiency, that will yield amazing benefits. that will help us in the long run reduce energy costs. we're going to use these funds

6:57:31 to 6:57:52( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: to protect consumers and this is what the stabenow-boxer et amendment, also brown, shaheen, lieberman, and cardin, that's what we're seeing here. we want to keep that reserve fund in the budget so we can legislation. and i am really looking forward

6:57:53 to 6:58:13( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: to this moment becau this is long overdue. we've lost eight years, but the kind of approach we need is the kind of approach that senator stabenow is envisioning. we can't afford to wait, madam president. scientists are telling us we're going to face rising sea

6:58:14 to 6:58:34( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: droughts, -- droughts, flowdz, the loss of species, spreading diseases. our own health offic last administration and this administration have told us we have to a. the environmental protection agency has proposed an endangerment finding. and, madam president, i will end on this. we are being told that our

6:58:35 to 6:58:56( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: people are in danger if we do not enact global warming legislation. it is spelled out. severe illnesses. we're going to see them crop up as a result of organisms that will now be living in warmer waters. d to quote the they talk about the heat waves

6:58:57 to 6:59:18( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: and the mortality rate and the wildfires and the drought and the flooding. and this is what they say and i will close with this they say: "that global warming left uncheck is a serious harm to our people. it is not a close case, they say.

6:59:19 to 6:59:39( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: the greenhouse gases that are responsible for global warming endanger public health and welfare within the meaning of the clean air act." and i'd ask unanimous consent to put in the record at this time the e.p.a.'s proposed endangerment finding. and i will say to my friends and my colleagues who are listening to this debate, vote for the staben

6:59:40 to 7:00:00( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Boxer: it's an important amendment. it will keep the reserve fund in there. it will allow us to move forward and attack the of global warming that has gone unaddressed for too long. i thank yield the th mr. wyden: the presiding officer: the senator from oregon.

7:00:01 to 7:00:21( Edit History Discussion )

mr. wyden:adam president, chairman conrad has emphasized how important it will be to tackle care reform and the issue of climate change, in a bipartisan way. i want to spend a few minutes first expressing my support for

7:00:22 to 7:00:45( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: that position and urging that the conference on the budget proceed expeditiously because then the heavy lifting for the united states senate will begin. for example, on american health care, what is needed is nothing short of system.

7:00:45 to 7:05:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ron Wyden

7:00:46 to 7:01:06( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: american health care broken. medical costs are gobbling up everything in middle-class people know that their p and the primary reason is because medical costs take all of what wouldtherwise be a wage

7:01:07 to 7:01:27( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: our newspapers report daily that americans are being laid off at their jobs. they lose their health benefits. and what we see again and again is a spiral of simply lurch from one effort to another to try to find health care and can't get it.

7:01:28 to 7:01:49( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: now, madam president, this is not going to be fixed by a piecemeal approach to health care reform that tackles one part of the system and produces incremental change for perhaps a short period of time.

7:01:50 to 7:02:10( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: what's needed is transformational change. and i believe democrats and republicans here in the united states senate are committed to that objective. i think that there is a growing recognition, madam president, that both parties have had valid point. democrats, in my view, are correct that you can't fix this

7:02:11 to 7:02:31( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: unless you cover everybody. because without that, you can't organize the market. there's too much cost shifting. there's no prevention. you've got to get all americans good-quality, affordable care. americans have valid points, in my view, as well. you shouldn't just turn everything over to the

7:02:32 to 7:02:53( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: government and say that's the answer. what's really needed for transformational change is containing the costs. and the congressional budget office, may said that for the amount of money america is spending today on health care, all americans in a couple of years could have

7:02:54 to 7:03:15( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: good-quality, affordable coverage like their member of congre that's what the congressional budget office said when looked at one approach to dealing with it. what it means -- and i'm very confident under the leadership of chairman baucus and chairman kennedy, that they will have a

7:03:16 to 7:03:36( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: lot of support for transformingalhange is we make -- transformational change is we make sure that all americans have access to good-quality, affordable choices and they get rewarded when they take senble steps, for example, in preventive health care and wellness and shop

7:03:37 to 7:03:57( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: carefully for health care coverage. today, madam president, if you're lucky enough to have health care coverage, you don't get employers. that's not the way it is for members of congress. so why don't we agree, democrats and republicans, after we get this budget conference put together, that we're going to

7:03:58 to 7:04:18( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: make sure that all americans have good-quality, affordable choices like members of congress have. then let's start rewarding them. let's reward them for prevention. for example, the safeway corporation has been doing that for some time. i'd like to say that seniors who lower their blood pressure and

7:04:19 to 7:04:39( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: lower their cholesterol would get reduced part-b that's the outpatient portion of the medicare budget. but these are areas where democrats and republicans can come together. there's been considerable discussion here on the senate floor about the idea of reconciliation for tackling

7:04:40 to 7:05:02( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: health care. i think absolutely right in his approach. and i will say, that there have been many of on both the democratic and republican side as we've looked to health care who want to make the issue of reconciliation irrelevant. we want to make the issue of reconciliation irrelevant

7:05:03 to 7:05:23( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: because we are hoping enough together so that we'll have 70 or more united states senators gathered to fix the health care system. these issues ultimately, in my view, are not ones that automatically produce divide.

7:05:24 to 7:05:46( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: the private insurance system is also broken. it's about cherry-picking. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: would my dear friend from oregon allow me to interrupt for a unanimous consent request? mr. wyden: madam president, of course. how much te do i have left? the presiding officer: 5 minutes and

7:05:47 to 7:05:56( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: mr. reid: i would ask unanimous consent that the statement of the senator from oregon not appear interrupted.

7:05:57 to 7:06:17( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: i ask the chair lay a message from the house on the concurrent budget resolution. the clerk: resolved that the house insist upon its amendment to the house resolutio setting forth the congressional budget and so forth conference with the senate on the disagreeing votes of the two houses.

7:06:05 to 7:07:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Harry Reid

7:06:18 to 7:06:38( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: mr. reid: following will be -- has been approved by senator judd and the republican leadership. i ask consent that the senate disagree to the amendment of the house, request to the request for conference on the houses and the chair be authorizeed to appoint conferees. prior to the chair appointing conferees, the following motion be in order that a majority side

7:06:39 to 7:07:00( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: by side motion to instruct be in order to any republican motion to instruct and that the majority motion be voted first. that upon disposition of all motions any remaining statutory time be yielded back and that the ratio be 2-1 provided further statutory time start running at 3:00 p.m. today and that the time be charged equally to both sides.

7:07:01 to 7:07:15( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the amendments in order are the johanns cap-and-trade, stabenow cap-and-trade which is side by side. gregg no debt increase. ensign point of order relative to raising taxes. cornyn taxes. alexander student loans.

7:07:16 to 7:07:36( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: demint health care. that no point of order be in order to this motion. vitter oil the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: just for the remainder of my time let ofa number of other areas where democrats and republicans

7:07:20 to 7:09:44( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ron Wyden

7:07:37 to 7:07:57( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: on this health issue can come together for transform alternative change -- transformative change. today's private insurance model is also broken. it's all about cherry-picking. it's about taking healthy people and sending sick people over to government programs more fragile than they are. so what democrats and

7:07:58 to 7:08:22( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: republicans want to do, again, in the name of transformative change is we want to say the companies are going to have to take all comers. we understan that that's a key part of health care reform. but we're going to put them all there aren't going to be any price regulatory systems. but everybody's going to be part

7:08:23 to 7:08:46( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: of cost as part of a big pool. we'll reward prevention and wellness which of course isn't done today. and this is something where i think it will be possible for firms in the health care area to both do good and d well by offering better service to our people.

7:08:47 to 7:09:08( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: other health care reform, the issue of portability and making sure that our people can take their health care coverage with them so that they don't lose when they lose their job or they wish to leave their job. that's what happens today. and, of course, much of the health care system doesn't offer

7:09:09 to 7:09:30( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: that kind of portability because it's built around what happened in the 1940's when somebody started working and stayed put for 25 years until you gave them a gold watch. well, today the typical worker changes their job the time they're 40. we need portable coverage. democrats and republicans can work together

7:09:31 to 7:09:46( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: and i want to close again in the name of bipartisanship by talking about how we can help people who have coverage. they haveeen described by some as the americans.

7:09:45 to 7:09:49( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jon Kyl

7:09:47 to 7:09:50( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: i think what we ought to say for those folks, democrats and

7:09:50 to 7:11:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Ron Wyden

7:09:51 to 7:10:12( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: republicans, let's let them keep the coverage they have. let's make wealthier in the new system because they get rewarded when they engage in those preventive practice purchase. let's make sure they're healthier in the new system. chairman conrad is here and has talked about improvements, for

7:10:13 to 7:10:34( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: example, in chronic is certainly part of making americans and finally, let's make sure their job leaves them, as i've touched on, that they're to have a safety net of affordable coverage. each and every one of those

7:10:35 to 7:10:56( Edit History Discussion )

Ron Wyden: points that i have talked madam president, is an issue that democrats and republicans can come together. i hope that the senate will follow chairman about proceeding expeditiously here. i think there are many of the senate who want to tackle these big issues -- climate