SENATE—Thursday, February 3, 2011
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1176 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 157, Pt. 1 February 3, 2011 SENATE—Thursday, February 3, 2011 The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was The assistant legislative clerk pro- sume we are back to normal every time called to order by the Honorable TOM ceeded to call the roll. we hear encouraging news. We don’t UDALL, a Senator from the State of Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- have that luxury because it is not true. New Mexico. imous consent the order for the We can’t let our guard down and we quorum call be rescinded. can’t waste any more time on symbolic PRAYER The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- votes. The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- pore. Without objection, it is so or- The fight to repeal the patients’ fered the following prayer: dered. rights enshrined in the health reform Let us pray. f law is behind us now. The arguments have been made, the votes have been Eternal God, whose Name is love, SCHEDULE draw our Senators to You by the cords counted, and similar to the majority of of Your eternal love. Help them to Mr. REID. Mr. President, there has the American people, the Senate has strive to know You, cultivating a rela- been a minor change in the schedule. It decided the law of the land is better tionship of peaceful trust in Your prov- has been cleared on both sides. I ask than the broken system it replaced. idential leading. Lord, may the experi- unanimous consent that, following any I don’t wish to spend a lot of time ence of being in Your presence enable leader remarks, the Senate proceed to talking about health care because the them to better comprehend the role a period of morning business until 10:30 vote speaks for itself, but I will say You desire for them to play in fulfilling a.m. this morning, with Senators per- this. Those who want to deny Ameri- Your purposes on Earth. Sharpen their mitted to speak during that period of cans the right to afford a healthy life vision to perceive Your movements in time for up to 10 minutes each. had their say in 2008, when President our Nation and world. Where there is The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- Obama was elected on the promise of anxiety, give them the poise that pore. Without objection, it is so or- change. They had their say in 2009, comes from a confident faith in You. dered. when we first passed this law. They had We pray in Your merciful Name. Mr. REID. Following that morning their say in 2010, when we finalized it. Amen. business, the Senate will resume con- Now they have had their say in 2011, sideration of S. 223, the Federal Avia- when they tried to repeal it. Each time f tion Administration authorization bill. the votes fell on the side of patients, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Currently, we have one amendment patients’ rights—more rights, not The Honorable TOM UDALL led the pending. Other Members are waiting to fewer. The Senate voted each time to Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: offer their amendments. It is my un- put people, not insurance companies, in I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the derstanding Senator WICKER is ready to control. The Senate voted each time United States of America, and to the Repub- offer his as soon as the bill is reported. for health, not sickness. So it is time lic for which it stands, one nation under God, Senators should expect rollcall votes to to move on. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. occur throughout the day in order to Let’s talk about jobs. We are on a f make significant progress on this most jobs bill right now, the Federal Avia- tion Administration authorization. The APPOINTMENT OF ACTING important legislation. Aviation Modernization Act, which is PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE f this bill, is to bring to America modern The PRESIDING OFFICER. The THE ECONOMY air travel, travel into the 21st century. clerk will please read a communication Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have a This legislation will create hundreds of to the Senate from the President pro long way to go before our economy is thousands of jobs—not hundreds, not tempore (Mr. INOUYE). back to normal. Ask any American and thousands but hundreds of thousands. The legislative clerk read the fol- they will tell you: We have a lot more That is why we are fighting so hard for lowing letter: jobs to create and fill, a lot more this legislation. It is a bipartisan piece U.S. SENATE, homes to save, and a lot more con- of legislation. It is not a Democratic PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, sumer confidence to recover. bill. It is not Republican. It is a bipar- Washington, DC, February 3, 2011. I hear every day from families in Ne- tisan bill. The same bill passed the To the Senate: vada who still need us to fight for Senate unanimously last year. So I Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, them. I know every Senator hears the of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby hope we come together in the spirit of appoint the Honorable TOM UDALL, a Senator same from citizens in their State. compromise we all promised and finish from the State of New Mexico, to perform There are currently bits and pieces of it as quickly as possible. This bill alone the duties of the Chair. good news. They are not enough, that will not eradicate unemployment, but DANIEL K. INOUYE, is for sure. But the Dow Jones opened it will help. It is going to move us fur- President pro tempore. this morning above 12,000. That is the ther toward that goal, and the quicker Mr. UDALL of New Mexico thereupon highest in many years. Manufacturing we pass it the quicker 280,000 Ameri- assumed the chair as Acting President is rising more than expected. Consumer cans will breathe easier by knowing a pro tempore. spending is beating forecasts also. Cor- good, consistent paycheck is on the f porate profits are higher than anyone way. predicted. We got a decent jobs number We are all concerned about the def- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY today, better than most economists icit. There is nothing more important LEADER predicted—not good enough but decent. than creating jobs, though. We can The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- So it is not all bad news. But I am not never have a healthy economy when we pore. The majority leader is recog- satisfied hearing that things are sim- have 15 million people out of work. We nized. ply better than expected. Nevada, simi- can never have a balanced budget when Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest lar to every other State, is still hurt- we have 15 million people out of work. the absence of a quorum. ing, and our job is not to beat expecta- The deficit is something that is very The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- tions, it is to beat unemployment and important. Jobs, as I indicated, will pore. The clerk will call the roll. beat back the deficit. We cannot as- work toward solving that problem, but ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Mar 15 2010 12:29 Jan 09, 2014 Jkt 099102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 J:\BR_BACKUP\S03FE1.000 S03FE1 WREIER-AVILES on DSK5TPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD February 3, 2011 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 157, Pt. 1 1177 it is not the only way to strengthen yet a part of it, he had many fewer to see him for the giant figure in his- our economy. We also need to keep friends. tory that he was. digging out of the fiscal hole we inher- One opinion writer in 1986 made his And while we are thankful that, for ited over the last decade. In the short disdain clear when he wrote this: most of us, Ronald Reagan’s vision and term, we can responsibly cut spending. It seemed to us, the carping critics, that accomplishments are still within living In the long term, we can cut our def- this man was not terribly bright, not ter- memory, his life, his vision of a freer icit. There are some things we have to ribly thoughtful or well informed, not ter- America and a free world, and his ac- be careful to avoid, such as jeopard- ribly honest, and in most other ways not up complishments to achieve that are izing the full faith and credit of our to the most important job in the world. most assuredly in the history books. great country. That is what will hap- But it seems a lot of people just did I yield the floor and I suggest the ab- pen if we don’t raise our Nation’s debt not understand Ronald Reagan’s vision sence of a quorum. limit. If we don’t act, if we allow the at the time—not just his Communist The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- country to default on our legal obliga- adversaries, not just his political oppo- pore. The clerk will call the roll. tions, we will send our economy into nents here at home, even those in his The assistant legislative clerk pro- default for the first time in its history. own party, and on his own staff some- ceeded to call the roll.