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, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 8, 2014 No. 4 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was Commonwealth of Massachusetts, to President Bush—we extended emer- called to order by the Honorable ED- perform the duties of the Chair. gency unemployment insurance bene- WARD J. MARKEY, a Senator from the PATRICK J. LEAHY, fits by declaring an emergency, as we Commonwealth of Massachusetts. President pro tempore. should now. We should realize that Mr. MARKEY thereupon assumed the today there is only one job available PRAYER chair as Acting President pro tempore. for every three people seeking a job. The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- f Think about it. fered the following prayer: This legislation calls for a 3-month RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY Let us pray. extension. That is all. Let’s extend this LEADER Gracious and changeless God, the now and give those people their bene- creator of heavenly lights, Your mer- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- fits, and then we will work to see cies sustain us. pore. The majority leader is recog- whether we can come up with a long- Today, use our Senators to accom- nized. term solution to this issue. I have plish Your will, making them faithful f heard one of the leaders in the House, one of the Republicans, say we need to under trials and resolute when facing SCHEDULE the difficult. Lord, even in their do something about opportunities for sorrowing seasons, motivate them to Mr. REID. Following my remarks jobs. We agree. Let’s see what we can be transformed by Your liberating and those of the Republican leader, the come up with, but let’s extend the ben- grace. Empower them to do the best Senate will resume consideration of efits for 3 months now. they are capable of, bringing a harvest the motion to proceed to S. 1845, the Through the darkest days of the re- of courage, compassion, and service. unemployment compensation legisla- cession, these unemployment benefits Give them the wisdom to place their tion. We have no votes scheduled yet. kept millions of Americans from de- ultimate trust in You. When we are able to work something scending into poverty. We pray in Your holy Name. Amen. out in that regard, we will notify all I again urge my Republican col- Senate offices. leagues in Congress to pass this 3- f f month extension. It is what the Amer- ican people want by a vast majority of PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION all political stripes. We need to do this The Presiding Officer led the Pledge Mr. REID. Yesterday’s vote to ad- so we can negotiate a long-term solu- of Allegiance, as follows: vance a measure which is so vitally im- tion to this issue. Any lapse or delay in I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the portant to our country—to extend the benefits means 1.3 million people will United States of America, and to the Repub- lifeline to Americans who lost their be wondering whether they need to go lic for which it stands, one nation under God, jobs during this great recession—was a to borrow money again or to maybe see indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. very positive development, but we are if they can figure out a way to buy f a long way from restoring benefits to baby formula or gas for their car to go 1.3 million people who have been look- to a job interview if they are fortunate APPOINTMENT OF ACTING ing for work for months, some of them to have a car or a bus ticket. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE for years. If Republicans are so interested in The PRESIDING OFFICER. The The few Republicans willing to even paying for this measure, they should clerk will please read a communication debate this measure have already propose a reasonable way to do so that to the Senate from the President pro threatened to vote against even a doesn’t attack the Affordable Care Act tempore (Mr. LEAHY). short-term extension unless it is fully or punish American children, as the The legislative clerk read the fol- paid for. two proposals they presented yesterday lowing letter: Let me start by saying I am opposed do—go after American children or the U.S. SENATE, to offsetting the cost of emergency un- Affordable Care Act. They should pro- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, employment benefits—I repeat, emer- pose an offset that might actually pass. Washington, DC, January 8, 2014. gency unemployment benefits. I don’t Instead, they propose a string of polit- To the Senate: understand why my Republican col- ical amendments, each more doomed to Under the provisions of rule I, para- leagues can’t read the script from the failure than the last one they offered. graph 3, of the Standing Rules of the administration of their President, our They should also stop masking their Senate, I hereby appoint the Honorable President, President Bush. Five times reluctance to extend these benefits be- EDWARD J. MARKEY, a Senator from the during his time in office—the second hind complaints about how many ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S87 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:17 Jan 09, 2014 Jkt 039060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A08JA6.000 S08JAPT1 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with SENATE S88 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 8, 2014 amendments they have been allowed to I recently received a letter from a sin- fundable tax credits. There are plans offer on this and other legislation. Ev- gle mother of two who has lived in Ne- for job creation that will be offered by eryone within the sound of my voice vada all of her life. She is afraid she Senators PAUL, THUNE, and INHOFE. should understand that is hollow. It will soon be homeless—a single mother. These plans take a different approach has become a common refrain for the She wrote: ‘‘I have no desire to live off than the government-led one we see minority to blame their own frequent the system.’’ She is speaking for vir- from our Democratic friends. They rely obstruction on me. Two Republican tually everyone we are trying to help. on unlocking the potential of the pri- Senators held up progress on virtually This woman is the rule, not the excep- vate sector to actually increase em- everything we tried to do under the tion. ployment. Why don’t we have a vote on first term of this Congress. They To qualify for unemployment is not them in the Senate? I am sure there wouldn’t let any other amendments easy. Someone has to be laid off are many Democratic ideas out there come up unless they got a vote on their through no fault of their own, and they as well, but we won’t get the chance to amendment. have to actively seek work. debate any of them as long as the ma- The fact remains that if my Repub- These unemployed aren’t gaming the jority leader keeps blocking us from of- lican colleagues have complaints about system; there simply aren’t enough fering amendments. my leadership style, they should also jobs to go around. For every job there This obstructionism by the Demo- have complaints about Senator Frist, are three people trying to get that job. cratic majority is against the tradi- my predecessor. He is a fine man, a Re- The longer a person is unemployed, the tions of this body, and it needs to end publican leader. We still stay in touch, more difficult it becomes to find work. because if Democrats truly want to get as I do with the other Republican lead- This is not being made up; this is a anything done this year, they are going er, Senator Lott, whom I worked with fact. The long-term unemployed are to have to learn how to work with us. very closely. I hear no complaints half as likely as their recently let-go I yield the floor. about their leadership style when they competitors to be hired. But that f were leading the Senate. During my doesn’t stop them from trying. Rather RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME time as leader, Republicans have of- than encouraging these people who are The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- fered 7 out of 10 amendments on which desperate for help to keep looking, cut- pore. Under the previous order, the the Senate has voted. Seventy percent ting off unemployment benefits actu- leadership time is reserved. of the amendments we have voted on in ally encourages the long-term unem- the Senate have been Republican ployed to actually drop out of the job f amendments. This has been a greater market altogether. That doesn’t help EMERGENCY UNEMPLOYMENT share than either Senator Frist or Sen- them, our communities, our States, COMPENSATION EXTENSION ator Lott offered. During my leader- and our country. It hurts families, it ACT—MOTION TO PROCEED ship in the 111th Congress, minority hurts communities, and it certainly The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- amendments represented a greater hurts the economy. pore. Under the previous order, the share of amendment votes than during f Senate will resume consideration of any single Congress. Think about it. the motion to proceed to S. 1845, which So Republicans should stop trying to RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY LEADER the clerk will report.