Floor Statements

Madam President, I thank the Senator from Connecticut for his partnership on this legislation. He has been a real friend and a true partner. We are happy to have the support of Senator Murray from Washington as well as Senator Sanders. They have been working on this issue for a long time.

This is the middle class issue of our time. It doesn't just belong to college-aged students; it belongs to all of us. Senator Murphy spoke about how important it is for those of us who have young children and are beginning the process of trying to save for our children's college education, but it also belongs to the grandparents' generation. So many people are thinking about whether they can help their kids to ameliorate their existing student loans or their grandkids to be able to afford college.

As Senator Murphy mentioned, we spend almost $150 billion in some form or fashion on Federal financial aid for institutions of higher learning, and that is good. That is a matter of national strategy. That is about the American dream. That is about the premise that the President talked about in his State of the Union Address, which is that if people work hard and play by the rules, they can move up the economic ladder. Higher education is one of the best ways to do that. It always has been in the United States of America. But here is the problem. The Senator from Connecticut talked about an individual example, but let me give the aggregate data.

Over the last 10 years, we have spent 20 percent more and we have gotten 25 percent less. We are spending 20 percent more and we are getting 25 percent less. That means that although our investment in higher education and theoretically in college affordability has increased, the net cost for students has gone up by 25 percent. We now have more than $1 trillion in student loan debt. It is the second largest source of debt, to mortgage interest, and it has now outpaced credit card debt.

This is a real crisis not just on the consumer level but as a matter of economic strategy for our Nation, because to the degree and extent that young people or people who want retraining or people who want to get a culinary degree or become a master carpenter or who want to become an architect or a doctor start to evaluate higher education and decide it is not a good value anymore, that doesn't just impact their individual family or their individual community but it impacts our national economic strategy.

College is no longer affordable to many people, and that is despite the fact that we are spending more in raw dollars and in inflation- adjusted dollars than ever before.

Senator Murphy talked about the innovation portion of this legislation. We also have an accountability portion of this legislation. Here is the basic premise: As an institution of higher education, if you are a for-profit, if you are a not-for-profit, or even if you are a public institution, it is not the Federal Government's job to determine what your mission may be. And certainly if you are a private for-profit, we are not here to dictate your organization's mission. But a for-profit institution has no special right to Federal funding. If you are going to receive billions of dollars in Federal subsidies, we think it is reasonable, as we endeavor to reauthorize the Higher Education Act, that we tie some reasonable public policy strings to those dollars.

All we are saying is that we want institutions of higher learning-- and especially their leadership--to wake up every morning and not think first about profits, not think first about how they are going to market to find more customers, but to think about access and affordability. And what we are saying is that different institutions may have different missions. A community college has a different mission than a

training institute, and a 4-year institution has a different mission than a graduate institution. That is all fine, and that is why we have established in this legislation an independent commission, comprised of experts, to determine what matrix of incentives and possible penalties would be appropriate for each institution.

But here is the bottom line: We are spending more and getting less, and we are spending $150 billion. This system is not working, and we are pleased to have the support of several of our colleagues. We are going to be enlisting the support of many others.

I am looking forward to continuing the conversation with the Senator from Connecticut.

I think the Senator is exactly right about that one. Let me give you some data. In 2011 only 38 percent of undergraduate students in a 4-year institution graduated on time. So when you think about the cost of college, you think about the per-year cost. But if it is taking 6 or 7 years, then the per-year cost is not as important as how realistic it is for you to finish on time. Just to be clear, those data could be skewed by the fact that there are part-time students and all the rest of it. That is not what we are talking about here. It is simply hard to finish on time.

But there is hope on the horizon. For instance, the University of Hawaii has undertaken a program called 15 to Finish. The basic idea is that students, especially in their freshman year, need to know that they need those 15 credits. They need to get help from their counselors so that by the time they are in their sophomore year, they are well on their way to completing their major of choice in the 4-year period of time.

The challenge now is that given that legislatures have cut funding to institutions of higher learning--and as a result you have fewer counselors and fewer people to assist in the student services office-- oftentimes you do not get real counseling with respect to what you need until it is too late, and then you find that you are on a 5- or 6-year plan. Your family may not have made the financial arrangement that puts you in a position to be on the 5-year plan.

From a revenue standpoint, if your mission as an institution--for- profit or not-for-profit--is just to fill those seats and to generate those dollars, then that does not matter to you. But the challenge we have right now is that the institutions--the publicly traded ones--have pressures to generate profits. But even the not-for-profits and even the public institutions--the Universities of Hawaii and the Universities of Connecticut--have had their funding reduced by the legislatures. So their CFOs are trying to figure out new revenue streams, and as long as they can keep enrollment up, that enables them to go back to their legislature and say: We are in the black.

What we are saying is that is not good enough. We are not asking you to be in the black. We certainly understand the need to be fiscally responsible. We certainly understand the need to generate tuition revenue. But here is the thing: The point of higher education is for students to be able to move up that economic ladder, and to the extent that not only is it not accomplishing that goal, but it is actually doing the opposite for some of our students, they end up with a mountain of debt and either no degree or a degree that they find does not make them employable in the marketplace. That is a national shame. That is why we have to address this issue.

The good news is we believe we are spending a sufficient amount of money on the Federal level so we can effectuate these changes just by saying: If you want to receive Federal dollars for your institution of higher learning, then we are asking you to focus on access and affordability.

I want to give one last piece of data because it actually shocked me, even as much as I have been working on this issue. The for-profit institutions comprise about 12 percent of the students and 30 percent of the Federal dollars. Madam President, 12 percent of the students and 30 percent of the Federal dollars.

So while there are institutions that are for-profit that are doing great work and there are not-for-profits and public institutions that have to do a lot better, let's call it like it is.

One of the major challenges here is we have to wrap our arms around undue profits and publicly traded companies that are generating profits and spending Federal dollars on marketing to students and not providing very much in the way of value.

I think the Senator is exactly right. We had the Senator from Indiana talking about debt and deficits and making sure we spend every Federal dollar intelligently. Right now, we are simply not spending this money in the most efficient and efficacious way possible. That is what this legislation is about.

Senator Murphy and I talked about how it might have been a little more

politically satisfying in the short run to put hard caps on college tuition and precipitous goals that would have been very easy for us to articulate. But the fact is, given that you have different institutions with different missions and you have great work being done at the community college level, at the certificate level, and at the 4-year and at the graduate level, we wanted to account for the different missions, and we wanted to make sure we did not create the kind of incentive program that, for instance, would prevent an institution from wanting to take a kid in who is from a lower income area and maybe, statistically speaking, is more likely to default on his or her loan.

We really want, as a matter of policy, to focus on access. So it is access; it is affordability; it is the consistency with the mission. But here we are spending $150 billion--more than we ever have--on this national priority, and our results are worse than ever. So the status quo cannot stand, and I am really looking forward to working with my colleague on this important issue.

Mr. President, last night the Senate passed the Native American Memorial Amendments Act of 2013. The bill now heads to the President for his signature. I introduced the Native American Memorial Amendments Act in May. I have worked with Representative Mullin since he introduced an identical bill in the House in June.

This bill is needed to facilitate construction of a long-awaited Native American Veterans' Memorial on the National Mall. This memorial has languished for almost 20 years since the passage of the original Native American Veterans' Memorial Establishment Act. This legislation builds off of the great work of Senator McCain, who introduced the initial bill to authorize the Native American Veterans' Memorial, and Senator Inouye, who as the Indian Affairs Committee chairman worked to enact the law in 1994.

My bill also continues Senator Akaka's great legislative effort to fulfill the promise of this memorial. Native Americans, including Native Hawaiians, Alaska Natives, and American Indians, serve and have always served at a higher rate in the Armed Forces than any other group of Americans per capita.

In every conflict since the Revolutionary War, Native Americans have answered the call to serve and defend our country. I introduced my bill so our Nation can recognize Native Americans' service and patriotism with a fitting memorial. A memorial to Native veterans will make sure future generations learn about the sacrifices Native Americans have made in service to our Nation.

It will commemorate their exceptional commitment to the principles of freedom and democracy. Last month, Congress awarded its highest honor, the Congressional Gold Medal, to the American Indians we know as code talkers. These brave men played a critical, and for too long unacknowledged, role in both World Wars. The celebration of our legendary code talkers in Emancipation Hall at the U.S. Capitol was a historic and proud moment.

But it is regrettable that most of the 216 honored did not live to see their heroic contributions acknowledged. Congress was decades late in recognizing the Native American code talker's work when we needed them most. We cannot make that mistake again. I believe now is the perfect time to move forward on a lasting tribute to all Native veterans, including the extraordinary contribution of Native Hawaiians.

My home State of Hawaii is second to none when it comes to patriotism, public service, and personal sacrifice. The heroic deeds of Anthony T. Kaho`ohanohano from Wailuku, Maui, prove just how true this is. He joined the Army to fight in combat in the Korean war.

He was assigned to Company H, 17th Infantry Regiment, 7th Infantry Division. Private First Class Kaho`ohanohano displayed extraordinary heroism near Chopra-Ri, Korea, on September 1, 1951. Due to the enemy's overwhelming numbers, troops were forced to execute a limited withdrawal. As the men fell back, Kaho`ohanohano ordered his squad to take up more defensible positions. He provided cover fire for them.

Although painfully wounded in the shoulder during the initial enemy assault, he gathered a supply of grenades and ammunition and returned to his original position to face the enemy alone. Kaho`ohanohano delivered deadly, accurate fire onto the advancing enemy. After going through all of his ammunition, he engaged the enemy in hand-to-hand combat until he paid the ultimate price fighting to protect his fellow soldiers.

President Obama awarded U.S. Army Private First Class Kaho`ohanohano the Presidential Medal of Honor, our Nation's highest military honor, posthumously. Private First Class Kaho`ohanohano, the thousands of Native Hawaiians, and Native Americans who have served our country with such honor deserve a memorial on the National Mall.

My Native American Memorial Amendments Act that passed last night will allow for a privately funded memorial to be located on grounds under the jurisdiction of the National Museum of the American Indian. The museum will have the much needed flexibility to raise funds and take on a more active role in planning and construction.

The Native American Memorial Amendments Act of 2013 was endorsed by the National Congress of the American Indians, Alaska Federation of Natives, the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement, the largest three Native American membership organizations in the country. The National Museum of the American Indian and the National Park Service are in agreement as well.

I wish to thank the strong support of the bipartisan cosponsors of this bill: Senators Barrasso, Begich, Heitkamp, Inhofe, Murkowski, Tester, Thune, and Wyden. I also wish to thank especially chairwoman Maria Cantwell for her work to ensure the passage of this bill. It is long past time for our Nation to honor the uncommon contributions of Native Hawaiians, Native Alaskans and American Indians and other Native veterans. These brave men and women have served during war and peace to preserve our freedoms in remarkable high numbers. The valor of our Native American veterans, their dedication to duty and remarkable record of military service must forever be remembered. This memorial will do just that.

I yield the floor.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for up to 10 minutes.

The budget agreement that we passed is an important step forward for our country and for our government. I know Chairman Patty Murray worked tremendously hard to get to a conference in the first place and to reach this agreement with the House. I commend Chairman Murray for all of her work.

The U.S. Government has been lurching from crisis to manufactured crisis and using short-term stopgaps to fund the government. The threat of a shutdown and the lack of uncertainty has hurt our economy and has eroded the American people's confidence in our ability to solve problems.

It is our job to produce a budget and to figure out a way to work together and not shut the government down. That is what the people expect of responsible leaders in a divided government.

This budget agreement is the way to move forward. It ends the reckless threats of government shutdown and lays a clear path to end sequestration.

The sequester hit my home State of Hawaii very hard. The across-the- board arbitrary cuts from sequester have been devastating for our middle-class families and to our economy.

I wish to read a letter that I received from a professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in September.

He wrote:

I was contacted today, as I often am, by a student wanting

to join our graduate program in the Department of Geology and

Geophysics.

Unfortunately, I had to tell this student that funding for

accepting new students is low right now, which may make it

impossible for me to accept him as a graduate student,

despite his excellent qualifications.

This exchange reminded me that one source of the problem is

the budget cuts to NSF (and other science funding agencies)

that are the result of sequestration. The current situation

is having the following impacts, which are happening right

now at research centers nationwide, including UH Manoa:

Many scientific workers are being laid off or are not being

hired--this includes individuals in Honolulu.

Research groups are being forced to cut infrastructure that

took decades to build.

Some scientific discoveries that could help our society are

not being made.

Some bright young students are not being given

opportunities to advance their scientific careers.

I think that this last point is the saddest result because,

it negatively impacts the hopes and dreams of many young

people.

Furthermore, these students are the future of our

scientific workforce--people that will be leading us toward

the innovation and problem-solving that is crucial for our

country's future.

This professor urged me and this Congress to do everything that we can to roll back the sequester. That is one of the many reasons why I supported the budget today.

Sequestration caused Federal workers to be furloughed or laid off throughout Hawaii. Sequestration hurt our national defense, U.S. competitiveness, and harmed education programs.

Head Start in Hawaii had to cut children from its programs this year. This early education program is critical for

a young child's success later in life. Some of these kids and parents don't have other options without Head Start.

Without this budget agreement, there would have been an additional $20 billion cut to our defense programs hitting next month. Those defense cuts are going to disproportionately hurt my home State of Hawaii. Without this budget agreement, 25,000 Federal civilian workers in Hawaii could be furloughed or laid off.

Hawaii can't afford that. I voted for this budget to prevent those cuts.

The bipartisan budget agreement finally provides relief from the sequester and a path forward to get our economy on the right track. Most importantly, the budget protects Social Security and Medicare benefits.

Although this budget is the right choice for many reasons, we know it is not perfect. I do believe we need to work together to improve parts of it.

I find it unacceptable and inexplicable that the House of Representatives left town for the holidays without extending long-term unemployment benefits, and I know we are working on making it a priority as soon as we return in January.

In addition, Senator Shaheen has introduced legislation--which I am proud to support and cosponsor--to protect military retirees from the cost-of-living pay adjustment. The cost-of-living pay adjustment won't take effect until January of 2015, which means that we have time to fix this issue, but we must fix this issue.

This legislation that I am cosponsoring with Senator Shaheen will fully pay for the change by closing a loophole that some companies are using to avoid paying U.S. taxes with offshore tax havens. This is a commonsense fix that I believe we can get bipartisan support for. We need a long-term budget, but not at the expense of our military retirees.

We can replace the money raised by closing this tax loophole that some companies are abusing. We have time to fix this issue, and we have to do so before 2015. But now is the time to move forward, to protect jobs, and to give our country some economic certainty.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, today I wish to honor the memory of one Hawaii's fallen sons, Air Force Capt. Reid Nishizuka of Kailua.

I was deeply saddened to learn of Captain Nishizuka's death after an MC-12 aircraft carrying him and three of his fellow airmen crashed outside Kandahar Airfield in Afghanistan on April 27, 2013.

Captain Nishizuka heard the call to military service early in his life. While attending Kailua High School, he served as the commander of his Junior ROTC class before he joined the ROTC at the University of Notre Dame.

Through his training as a reserve officer, Captain Nishizuka cultivated the skills and experience that prepared him to commission as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.

With a passion for flying and a spirit of service to a cause greater than himself, Captain Nishizuka embodied the commitment and character that make our military great.

His family and friends will remember his gentle and unconditional love and support.

I hope his family finds solace in knowing that Captain Nishizuka's service exceeded all measures of honor, courage, and devotion to his country.

America will not forget his sacrifice, nor will we ever repay the great debt we owe his family for allowing their son to give his life in service to his Nation.

I stand today before the Senate on behalf of a grateful nation to recognize and remember Capt. Reid K. Nishizuka. I ask for a moment of silence in honor of Captain Nishizuka's memory as a son, a brother, a friend, and an airman.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes as in morning business.

Five days ago Typhoon Yolanda devastated the central Philippines. As a category 5 supertyphoon, this was reportedly the strongest storm ever to make landfall anywhere in recorded history, sweeping away almost everything in its path.

Nearly 10 million people were impacted by this supertyphoon and tens of thousands of homes were destroyed. Eighty to ninety percent of the homes in city of Ormoc, the second largest city in the Leyte Province, are gone. The stories of loss are shocking and heartbreaking.

We do not yet know the full extent of the devastation this typhoon has brought to the Philippines. Local authorities estimate as many as 10,000 people may be dead in the Leyte Province alone, one of the hardest hit regions.

The State Department has said roughly 3,000 Americans were impacted when the storm hit. Our Embassy in Manila is coordinating with U.S. agencies to locate these Americans and bring them home.

The United States and the Philippines share a special bond, rooted in strong cultural and historical ties between our two countries. In Hawaii, where more than 197,000 Filipinos have made their home, we know this bond well.

Our Filipino community has been a part of the islands for more than 100 years, and many at home maintain close relationships with family and friends in the Philippines. My deepest condolences go to those who have lost family and friends in this tragedy.

Although the storm is over, our work has just begun. Millions of survivors are without clean drinking water, food, shelter or power. Rescue workers are attempting to reach isolated coastal communities, but debris and downed power lines are blocking road access.

The U.S. Government is helping the Philippines to recover. We have provided $20 million in humanitarian aid and deployed a Disaster Assistance Response Team to support the Philippine Government. These experts will help to assess the extent of the damage and determine what resources remain to be added.

The USAID Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance has shipped relief supplies, including shelter materials and hygienic supplies, to help around 10,000 families. We are partnering with the U.N. World Food Program to provide $10 million for emergency food assistance because close to 2.5 million people will need food assistance over the next 6 months.

This aid will help airlift 55 metric tons in emergency food to feed more than 20,000 children and 15,000 adults, providing immediate relief for the next 4 to 5 days. It will bring more than 1,000 metric tons of rice to feed 60,000 people for 1 month.

U.S. marines are on the ground. Our military is helping to airlift relief supplies, conduct aerial damage assessments, and coordinate search and rescue operations.

U.S. Pacific Command has forces in Manila to help deliver food and water to the impacted areas. The George Washington Carrier Strike Group and its 5,000 sailors are expected in the area soon to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

For those still searching for displaced or missing loved ones, I urge you to contact the Philippine Red Cross or the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council operations center.

Google has also launched the Person Finder: Typhoon Yolanda. Americans can also visit CNN's iReport Web site to upload photos and information about people you may be looking for.

The challenge for the Filipino people is great, but the Philippines is a resilient nation and a true American ally. They need our help. Please donate.

I am proud of our local organizations in Hawaii collecting donations to help survivors and the families of victims. The Philippine consulate in Honolulu, Filipino Chamber of Commerce, Filipino Community Center, Congress of Visayan Organizations, and Kokua Philippines have all stepped up in this time of tremendous need. A full list of organizations is available on my Web site schatz.senate.gov. One may also text AID to 80108 to give a $10 donation to the mGive Philippines Typhoon Disaster Relief Fund. Text AID to 80108 if you would like to give $10 to the relief efforts.

I wish to especially recognize and thank all of the women and men of the U.S. Embassy in Manila, USAID mission in Manila, the State Department, USAID in the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Pacific Command for their great efforts in coordinating our ongoing response.

Today I introduced a resolution expressing the support of the Senate for the victims of the typhoon, along with several of my colleagues. I thank Senators Menendez, Durbin, Cardin, Rubio, Hirono, Tom Udall, Boxer, and Begich for cosponsoring this resolution.

As the Philippines begins the recovery from this tragedy, I ask that we all pledge together to work with them. When they rebuild their communities, rest assured they will emerge stronger than ever.

I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to offer floor privileges to my staffer, Michael Inacay, for the remainder of the evening.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Madam President, yesterday Senate Republicans rejected a cloture motion on a strictly party-line basis for a simple measure to prevent default for the United States of America. This bears repeating. Yesterday we voted on whether to proceed to a bill to prevent default, and not one Senate Republican voted for it.

I think it is fair to say that many of the Senate Republicans are operating in good faith and have a strong desire to get out of this mess, but they are concerned about embarrassing and undermining the Speaker of the House by moving too quickly on this measure. Too quickly came and went a couple of months ago.

Worrying about undermining the Speaker of the House should not be our primary concern given the crisis upon us. We should be singularly focused on protecting the dollars as the reserve currency, maintaining our ability to borrow at the lowest possible rate, and

retaining our ability to solve problems as the greatest Nation in the world.

The time for worrying about the implications for one or the other political party or a faction within it has long since passed. It is time to reopen the government, to pay our bills, to ensure the full faith and credit of the United States, and to return to the negotiating table on all of the challenges in front of us. In short, it is time to get back to governing in the way we should.

I would like to emphasize a point that is not made often enough about the current crisis; that is, there is simply nothing conservative about the behavior of the House Republicans. Conservatives traditionally have been characterized by holding a respect for institutions, a focus on the needs of the private sector, and a desire to not waste money.

Are these principles being upheld or subverted by the actions of House Republicans?

First, with respect to our Democratic institutions, the procedural violence being done to the Congress is hard to overstate in this case. The idea that a faction of a party is demanding concessions in exchange for ceasing their infliction of pain on America is unbelievable. Why? Because we are all Americans here. We all want to do right by our country.

So the idea that one party is willing to inflict terrible pain on our country, or else, was so beyond the pale that there is no rule against it because no one ever contemplated that a major political party would ever behave in such a way. The assumption has always been that elected leaders would find a better way to stand for strongly held beliefs than by threatening to bring the American economy to its knees. Up until now that has been a safe assumption.

This is the least conservative behavior imaginable because it throws us into a permanent crisis, unable to solve major problems for the foreseeable future.

Second, conservatives traditionally have wanted to protect the free marketplace. Some default deniers surmise that maybe the U.S. Government can service its debt while delaying other payments, that we can simply prioritize. The United States of America cannot do that. Even if it were operationally possible, which the Treasury Department assures us it is not, it would cause such severe harm to markets and undermine our credibility so terribly that even talking like that may be doing damage to our economy.

In 2011, Congress's delay in raising the debt limit forced the Department of the Treasury to take extraordinary measures to ensure that our government could pay its bills. GAO estimates that this raised Treasury's borrowing costs by about $1.3 billion in fiscal year 2011. That is $1.3 billion in added government costs just for coming close to defaulting. This does not include the lingering added costs of borrowing that continued beyond fiscal year 2011.

It also does not include the wasted time and resources that these extraordinary actions meant. After all, this manufactured crisis took the Treasury Department's focus away from other important cash and debt management responsibilities. The Bipartisan Policy Center projects that the full cost of that crisis to the Federal Government alone, not to the economy, just to the Federal Government, will be around $19 billion over the maturity of the debt.

There is nothing conservatively virtuous about defaulting on what we owe. It will cripple free markets. It is Russian roulette played with a bullet in every chamber. There so nothing conservative about that.

Finally, there is the conservative principle about saving taxpayers' dollars. Two points: First, with the likely passage of the House bill to provide retroactive pay to Federal employees, let me tell you what is happening. We are paying Federal employees to stay home. We are paying our dedicated Federal workers, who want to do their jobs, not to do their jobs. This is not conservative. This is not liberal, for that matter. It is upside down.

We are preventing Federal employees from doing their important work, such as assisting small businesses and combating terrorism. Let me be clear. Federal workers did not cause this shutdown and should not lose pay because of it. That is why I cosponsored Senator Cardin's bill to make sure they receive back pay when the government reopens. Our Nation's furloughed public servants want to work, and many Federal civilian employees are being required to work during this shutdown without pay.

While it does not make sense to punish Federal workers for Congress's dysfunction, it makes way more sense to simply reopen the Federal Government. Still, the House refuses to vote on a clean continuing resolution that can reopen the government tomorrow but instead voted to give backpay after the shutdown ends. What is conservative about paying people to stay home?

Second, this shutdown is costing us money, not saving us money. In just the first week, it cost the economy $1.6 billion in lost economic output and is estimated to cost an average of $160 million each additional day. This is hurting small businesses and working families across the country, and it is completely avoidable.

As the Presiding Officer knows, people are in real pain. This needs to stop. There is nothing good in this shutdown or in the threat of default. As a progressive, I have talked on this floor about how it hurts our economy, the American people, and the priorities I am fighting for. But you do not have to share my priorities to think this is an awful mess. You can be a rock-ribbed conservative too. This is bad for all of us. There is a simple way to move forward: Open our government, pay our bills, and start negotiating on the issues that matter.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, most people believe in compromise. Coming from Hawaii, I certainly believe in compromise. It is part of who we are.

When you live on an island--no matter how contentious issues may get--because of your geographic limitations, you will always see someone the following morning at the Safeway, at the coffee shop, at the bus stop or back at work. So I am deeply personally inclined toward compromise, and so are the people that I represent back in Hawaii.

The problem here is that the House Republicans' supposed compromise is not a compromise at all. Absent from their press conferences and their photo ops is the truth. They are attempting to extort the end of the Affordable Care Act in exchange for doing the job that they were elected to do--a job that 800,000 Federal employees need them to do-- which is to simply just pass a bill to fund the government.

Passing observers, people who were busy last week may be tempted to cast blame on both parties, but the reality is that there is no question, by any objective measure, of whose recklessness has forced our government to halt many of its most important services. This shutdown is on the Speaker and the tea party.

Meanwhile, my friends and neighbors back home are suffering. About 25,000 people in Hawaii are civilian Federal employees, and most of them are going without paychecks. More than 36,000 women and children in Hawaii depend on the Special Supplemental Nutritional Program for Women, Infants, and Children, which makes sure that low-income mothers and infants are fed. Without funding, these families could actually go hungry. More than 3,000 children in Hawaii participate in Head Start programs. Head Start is a program that provides early education and related social services to children and their families. Without funding, these kids will have no place to go every day.

Only 3 weeks after 250,000 gallons of molasses spilled into Honolulu Harbor--one of the worst environmental catastrophes in the history of the island of Oahu--Federal support for investigation, cleanup, and restoration activities have essentially had to stop. Those Environmental Protection Agency and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration employees responsible for assisting are not allowed to report to work.

At the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, 2,600 employees are furloughed. Workers are forced to stay home, causing real economic hardship. This continued uncertainty not only affects them, but affects the decisions of future shipyard workers who may now choose other professions rather than become the naval engineers that Hawaii and our Nation desperately need. With nearly half of their workforce at home, officials at the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard are forced to make hard choices about what work they can perform. We need to end this shutdown so that the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard can continue to ensure that our entire naval fleet is ready to respond to any contingency in the Asia Pacific.

These are not theoretical hardships or decisions. My constituents have been sharing their situations with me. I have received many letters. Let me give an example of a person from Kailua on Oahu, who wrote to me saying:

Let me start by stating that I am a U.S. citizen. I love my

country, I love my job, I want to work and am proud to

support the war fighters when I can work. But I am truly

disappointed and feel a sense of betrayal over the past three

months of furloughs, budget cuts and being worried about my

job and career.

Another constituent of mine from Mililani on Oahu serves in the Reserve. She relies on the money she receives from her monthly unit training assembly to pay her mortgage. She knows she may not be able to meet all of her financial obligations at the end of this month, which is when her paychecks may stop arriving. But she asked me not to give in on the Affordable Care Act because millions of uninsured Americans deserve access to health care.

Even residents who do not collect a paycheck from the Federal workforce are suffering. One small business owner from Makawao, on the island of Maui, is suffering because her business relies on traffic to and from the Haleakala National Park, which has been closed since Monday. She says:

Many small businesses like mine felt an immediate impact on

our sales as tours cancelled their trips into Hawaii's most

visited attraction.

Last night I got an e-mail from someone who is waiting on a small business loan that is not coming through because of the delay in processing SBA loans. This person is expecting to have to lay off 40 individuals from their small company.

So the idea that this is somehow a pro-business shutdown, the idea that they are protecting the rights of employers, the idea that this is in any way good for the economy is just belied by all of the facts.

Personally, working with a reduced staff, I began answering phone calls myself this week and many of the stories were similar: Without pay and Federal services, life has become uncertain and worrisome for thousands of families. This is all because House Republicans are throwing a temper tantrum and refusing to take a reasonable vote to reopen the government. This really is a tea party temper tantrum, and it is totally unprecedented. It is a low point for the Congress.

But there is a solution to this, and the senior Senator from Michigan pointed it out. It is simple. All that has to happen is for the Speaker of the House to put our legislation on the floor and let the House vote. There is a broad bipartisan majority of Members of the House of Representatives who want to reopen the government.

So I have two questions. First, for the media and for the constituents of Speaker Boehner: Please ask him, why in the world--if there is a majority of Members of the House of Representatives prepared to reopen the government--why he would not use his authority to put that legislation on the floor? And I ask everyone to ask all of their Members of Congress to let the House vote. If we let the House vote, this crisis will be done on Monday morning.

Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 15 minutes.