E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 113 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 160 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2014 No. 51 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Tuesday, April 1, 2014, at 12 p.m. Senate MONDAY, MARCH 31, 2014 The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was U.S. SENATE, 3979, the legislative vehicle for the un- called to order by the Honorable CHRIS- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, employment insurance bill. Washington, DC, March 31, 2014. TOPHER MURPHY, a Senator from the f State of Connecticut. To the Senate: Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, HEALTH CARE of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby PRAYER Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish a appoint the Honorable CHRISTOPHER MURPHY, The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- a Senator from the State of Connecticut, to happy baseball opening day to every- fered the following prayer: perform the duties of the Chair. one. Actually, it started last night, not Eternal God, You have withheld PATRICK J. LEAHY, today, but it sounds better to do it dur- nothing we need. Today, continue to President pro tempore. ing the daytime. meet the needs of our lawmakers. Give Mr. MURPHY thereupon assumed the Although it is opening day for Major them so much more than they expect Chair as Acting President pro tempore. League Baseball, it also happens to be the last day for Americans to sign up or merit that they will sing praises for f Your goodness. In these days of chal- for ObamaCare, the Affordable Care lenges and opportunities, empower RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY Act. To date there are over 10 million them with faith, courage, and goodwill LEADER newly-insured Americans benefiting to make the world a better place. Lord, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- from the health care law now in effect, use them as Your servants to bring pore. The majority leader is recog- and there are millions more who have healing to our Nation and world. nized. changed their insurance because of this Today, we also pray for the ill, the be- f legislation. So it is clear Americans reaved, the infirm, the discouraged, the are signing up for this quality health lonely and the homeless. SCHEDULE care in record numbers—and that is an We pray in Your merciful Name. Mr. REID. Mr. President, following understatement. Amen. my remarks and those of the Repub- I also am very happy we have been f lican leader, we will proceed to H.R. able to come to an agreement on the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 4302, Protecting Access to Medicare Medicare physician payment system. It Act of 2014, with the time until 5 p.m. is a 12-month fix. We need to take ac- The Presiding Officer led the Pledge equally divided and controlled between tion on this to ensure that Medicare of Allegiance, as follows: the two leaders or their designees. patients will be able to see their doc- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the At 5 p.m. the Senate will proceed to tors. But the fact remains this legisla- United States of America, and to the Repub- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, executive session to consider the nomi- tion is not perfect. It is not ideal. I indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. nation of John Owens to be U.S. circuit wish we could have followed the chair- f judge for the Ninth Circuit, man of the Finance Committee, Sen- postcloture. ator WYDEN, who came in kind of late. APPOINTMENT OF ACTING At 5:30 p.m. there could be up to four Most of the work was done by Ambas- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE rollcall votes: First, on confirmation of sador Baucus before he came in. But he The PRESIDING OFFICER. The the Owens nomination; then, if a Budg- worked really hard, and he wants to clerk will please read a communication et Act point of order is raised on the pay for it in a way I think is appro- to the Senate from the President pro SGR bill, there will be a vote on the priate—to use the unspent money we tempore (Mr. LEAHY). motion to waive the point of order; have from the wars in Iraq and Afghan- The legislative clerk read the fol- then passage of the SGR bill; and fi- istan, called OCO, the Overseas Contin- lowing letter: nally, on the motion to proceed to H.R. gency Operations fund. But at this ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S1839 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:26 Apr 01, 2014 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31MR6.000 S31MRPT1 smartinez on DSK6TPTVN1PROD with SENATE S1840 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE March 31, 2014 stage it doesn’t appear it is now going perience in other fields. I cannot continue to The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- to happen. help him. I lost my husband last July and pore. Under the previous order the time This legislation wasn’t some last- lost his Social Security. I only have mine until 5 p.m. will be equally divided and minute deal. Senator Baucus worked now. Please do what you can to help those controlled between the two leaders or who are in this position. on this for months, and it is the basis their designees. for what we are going to do here today. So imagine an elderly woman, a Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest There were tough negotiations. Unfor- widow, so desperate to assist her mid- the absence of a quorum. tunately, the parties could not come to dle-aged son that she is using her mea- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- an agreement on what a permanent fix ger Social Security check to help him pore. The clerk will call the roll. should be. I said that I believe a perma- get by. Now her own financial situation The legislative clerk proceeded to nent fix should be what Chairman is in jeopardy. call the roll. Jane and her son have already seen WYDEN suggested and continues to sug- Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- gest. what happens when much-needed un- imous consent that the order for the But House Republicans, though, employment benefits don’t get ex- quorum call be rescinded. chose to pass a partisan bill and in- tended. For Nevadans struggling to pay The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- crease the number of uninsured Ameri- their rent, to keep the lights on or to pore. Without objection, it is so or- cans and raised the cost of premiums. I feed the kids, they have waited long dered. believe we should repeal the defective enough. But we know why Republicans Mr. REID. I would now suggest the payment system without increasing prefer to wait. For many of my col- absence of a quorum and have the time costs and without limiting access to leagues across the aisle, waiting means divided equally between both sides. quality health care. We need to restore doing nothing. So the fact is the major- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- sanity to the Medicare payment sys- ity of Republicans here in Congress are pore. Without objection, it is so or- tem without cutting benefits to seniors simply opposed to helping the long- dered. and without shifting the financial bur- term unemployed. Most won’t say so, The clerk will call the roll. den to hospital and other providers. We but that is the truth. The legislative clerk proceeded to have done enough of that already. But One GOP Congressman from Cali- call the roll. right now we don’t have the votes to do fornia even said that an extension of Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask what would be the better thing to do. unemployment benefits ‘‘will encour- unanimous consent that the order for So for millions of elderly Americans age unemployment.’’ That is a tough the quorum call be rescinded. and their doctors, this fix is good news. one to follow. This elected Congress- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- It means the promise of accessible, man believes that the half million peo- pore. Without objection, it is so or- quality health care to our Nation’s sen- ple in the State of California who had dered. iors is being honored again—this time their unemployment benefits termi- THE ECONOMY for another year. So while I am pleased nated actually prefer to be jobless. I Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, Amer- with this temporary patch, I hope it is don’t think so. ica’s top priority is the same today as our last patch. Here in the Senate last Thursday it was last year, the year before that, In the meantime, I extend my appre- only 10 out of 45 Republicans voted to and the year before that: unemploy- ciation to Senator WYDEN, the chair- help Democrats break the 3-month fili- ment, jobs, and how to get this econ- man of the Finance Committee, for his buster. In fact, the GOP Senators from omy growing again. work to bring stability to the Medicare the State with the third-highest popu- Of course, these are concerns which payment system. From the moment he lation of eligible long-term unem- transcend any kind of partisan affili- assumed the gavel to become chairman ployed—Texas—both voted to block an ation.