Floor Statements

Madam President, I wish to begin by thanking Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Alexander, Senators Franken and Roberts, and all of their staffs for their tremendous leadership on this bill. This bill was also developed in concert with our counterparts in the House of Representatives. I extend my thanks to ranking member Henry Waxman and chairman Fred Upton and their staffs of the Energy and Commerce Committee. What we have now is a bipartisan, bicameral bill that addresses two very serious issues: the safety of compounded drugs and the security of our entire drug supply.

Last fall an outbreak of fungal meningitis stunned the Nation and thus far has claimed the lives of 64 people and has sickened 751 in 20 States. This issue hits home for me because it started in

Massachusetts. At the center of this tragedy was the New England Compounding Center, also known as NECC. It is located in Framingham, MA. I met some of the victims of this terrible outbreak and heard about their struggles, people like Jerry Cohen, a resident of Pikesville, MD, who went to the doctor for routine steroid injections to treat recurring back pain and received two doses that came from the contaminated lots. Jerry suffered a stroke and had to adjust to a new life, dealing with dizziness, nausea, weakness, and exhaustion. Melanie Norwood's mother Marjorie went into a Tennessee hospital to treat an acute back injury she suffered while mowing the lawn. Instead of walking out of the hospital, Marjorie became severely sick, spent months in the hospital and a nursing home, and now has permanent nerve damage and medical bills that are close to putting her into bankruptcy.

For the last decade complaints about sterility, safety, lack of valid prescriptions, and mass production of drugs have been lodged against NECC. Yet the company was allowed to continue operating largely unchecked, falling between the regulatory checks that exist between Federal oversight of drug manufacturers and State oversight of pharmacies.

Sadly, NECC was not an isolated instance. Almost a year ago I issued a report detailing more than a decade of violations and problems at compounding pharmacies all across our Nation. Contaminated IV solutions, tainted steroid injections, and fouled eyedrops permanently impacted thousands of patients' lives across this country and killed or injured dozens across 34 States. The New England Compounding Center, like many large compounding facilities, fell into a regulatory black hole. That is because there are two kinds of compounding pharmacies: the neighborhood pharmacist you have known and trusted for years and the large drug manufacturers operating in the shadows that have slipped through the regulatory cracks.

Traditional compounding pharmacies make custom medication that fits the needs of an individual patient, such as creating a liquid medication instead of a pill for an elderly patient or a child because it is easier to swallow. We are familiar with that corner-store pharmacist who does that for a patient. These pharmacies are an important tool in our medical arsenal and have historically fallen under the jurisdiction of the States. They are the corner pharmacies that people grew up with. They are the corner pharmacies that people trust.

But there has been a recent disturbing trend of larger compounding pharmacies entering the market, making high-risk drugs sold to hospitals and clinics throughout the country. These compounding facilities are operating more as modern-day drug manufacturers rather than the mortar-and-pestle compounders of yesteryear on the corner near your home. They are not on Main Street, and they do most of their business out of site and under the FDA's radar.

In 1997 Congress passed a law to define FDA's role in the oversight of compounding pharmacies, but just 2 days before the new law was to take effect seven compounding pharmacies sued to block its enactment. Since then, the law and the FDA's authority to regulate compounding pharmacies have been mired in litigation and uncertainty. The result is that oversight of even large-scale drug manufacturers, such as NECC, has been largely relegated to the States.

How are the States doing their job? Well, last April I issued an investigative report that took a deep look at how States actually oversee and govern the activities of compounding pharmacies. What I found was a regulatory state of disarray. My investigation found that nationwide most State regulators did not look at the safety of compounding pharmacies. They do not make all their activities and investigations public. Some of them did not even know how many compounding pharmacies exist in their State, and States typically are not equipped to regulate the safety of large companies shipping massive quantities of drugs outside their own borders into States all across our country.

Since the NECC outbreak, some States have made efforts to improve their regulations and guidelines over compounding pharmacies, but the results are not consistent. Within the last month my home State of Massachusetts passed through its house and senate a bill that I am proud to say will put in place the strongest State regulations in the country overseeing the compounding pharmacy industry. However, while Massachusetts has become a national leader in the oversight of compounding pharmacies in the aftermath of what happened at NECC, this does little to protect the residents of other States. It cannot protect residents of Massachusetts from drugs that are shipped in from other States that do not have strong safety standards in place.

The Drug Safety and Security Act in front of us today helps to solve that problem by creating for the first time a national and uniform set of rules for compounding pharmacies that wish to register with the FDA and be subject to FDA oversight and enforcement. The bill also provides transparency by requiring the FDA to publish a list of the name and location of registered facilities that are compounding drugs in large quantities without a prescription. The Drug Safety and Security Act also mirrors several concepts from the VALID Compounding Act of 2013, legislation which I introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill distinguishes between compounders engaging in traditional pharmacy work and those making large volumes of compounded drugs without individual prescriptions. It places limits on the types and quality of ingredients that can be used to compound drugs. It ensures that drugs removed for the market for safety and effectiveness reasons are not compounded. The bill requires reporting of adverse events, such as patient sickness or hospitalizations that could be caused by compounding pharmacies that are registered with the FDA. It provides more information on the label of compounded drugs, including identification of the drug as being compounded--the first time ever that this information will be required.

Because of this bill, for the first time ever, the FDA will know who these large sterile compounding entities are and what they are making. The FDA will be given the resources it needs to conduct inspections of those facilities. For the first time ever, hospitals and health care facilities will have the option of purchasing compounded drugs that are subject to rigorous FDA quality standards and oversight. Because this bill removes the legal ambiguities of existing law, compounding pharmacies will no longer fly under the radar. This bill will go a long way in ensuring that public health is protected and compounded drugs are safe.

I specifically thank Chairman Harkin and his staff for including in this bill a provision that I authored requiring the GAO to examine whether States and Federal authorities are doing their jobs to properly ensure the safety of compounded drugs.

Congress needs to continue to keep a close eye on the FDA and this industry, holding them accountable for their new responsibilities. This study will assist us in carrying out effective oversight of this new law. We need to ensure that a tragedy like the NECC meningitis outbreak is never repeated.

With the passage of the Drug Safety and Security Act, today we have a clear example of what Congress can accomplish when both sides come together in a bipartisan fashion. We can protect the public, we can hold industry to high but achievable standards, and we can support small businesses that have been doing the right thing for years.

This is a very important, historic piece of legislation. It goes right to the heart of what Congress can do to make sure that when drugs are in interstate commerce, we are protecting people so that the health of their families is, in fact, being protected. That is the essence of what Congress should be doing.

It is a very good day when Congress is working to protect the people of our country. Today is one of those days. Throughout the course of this week we are going to have a discussion about the role the Federal Government has to play in ensuring that the drugs which families in our country use are, in fact, safe for their consumption, that the representations that are made to those families are accurate. We cannot accept a rollback of the protections,

which did happen in this area. That exposed families to the kinds of risks that generations ago were common within our country. It is a big day. It is a historic piece of legislation. I urge its unanimous passage through this body.

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

Mr. President, today I am introducing the Consortia-Led Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Networks Act.

For more than a century, America's innovation community has been the foundation of our high-tech economy and generated broad-based growth to support a strong middle class. While our innovators remain the best in the world, we have seen a disturbing trend in recent years. When it comes to moving innovations out of the lab and into the factory, we are getting beat. Breakthroughs achieved in U.S. research universities and laboratories are all too often being commercialized and manufactured overseas. As recent research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others has demonstrated, innovation and production are closely related. When manufacturing facilities move overseas, we lose more than just those manufacturing jobs. We can lose our ability to continue to innovate in that industry and lose our hold on those jobs forever.

At the same time, we have some industries in the United States dominated by deeply entrenched companies that are resistant to innovation or adaptation of century-old business models. In those sectors, we need to look at ways of partnering with our innovators on proof-of-concept and demonstration projects so that more breakthroughs can bridge the so-called ``Valley of Death'' between the lab bench and commercialization of a new technology. That will ensure that innovative and potentially disruptive technologies can actually reach the market, and provide badly needed competition in industries where incumbents may be failing to innovate. This is what my legislation is intended to address.

In order to reach their full market potential, scientific breakthroughs must be translated into commercial applications, demonstrated, connected to appropriate markets, and scaled up. The bill I am introducing today would fertilize America's innovation ecosystems by making available $100 million to 6 or more consortia to support these types of activities and help shepherd innovations through the commercialization process. Consortia could include a mix of research universities, large and small companies, national laboratories, venture capital, and state and nonprofit entities with expertise in technology commercialization. The bill includes rigorous cost-share requirements to ensure that taxpayers are only partnering on the best ideas in which the private sector also has significant capital committed.

We have seen the benefits of regional innovation ecosystems in places like Silicon Valley; Boston, Cambridge and the Route 128 Corridor; the Research Triangle in North Carolina; Austin, TX; and elsewhere. The geographic proximity of institutions in these areas improves the flow of information between scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, and it facilitates the sharing of skilled human resources and facilities. Most critically when it comes to commercializing innovations, these regions have demonstrated a unique ability to pull investor capital off the sidelines and channel it into new production. We need to bolster these existing ecosystems and help nurture new ones.

America's universities and research institutions are truly national treasures. Our venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are the sharpest in the world. When we sprinkle the right mix of scientific brain power and capitalist drive, we get something uniquely American and extremely potent.

This legislation will help link inventors with investors, professors with producers, and get technologies out of laboratories and into factories. It provides the type of responsible and forward-looking partnership that we need with the private sector right now. This legislation builds on provisions I included in both the Waxman-Markey bill and the America COMPETES reauthorization, bills that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Mr. President, today I am introducing the Consortia-Led Energy and Advanced Manufacturing Networks Act.

For more than a century, America's innovation community has been the foundation of our high-tech economy and generated broad-based growth to support a strong middle class. While our innovators remain the best in the world, we have seen a disturbing trend in recent years. When it comes to moving innovations out of the lab and into the factory, we are getting beat. Breakthroughs achieved in U.S. research universities and laboratories are all too often being commercialized and manufactured overseas. As recent research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and others has demonstrated, innovation and production are closely related. When manufacturing facilities move overseas, we lose more than just those manufacturing jobs. We can lose our ability to continue to innovate in that industry and lose our hold on those jobs forever.

At the same time, we have some industries in the United States dominated by deeply entrenched companies that are resistant to innovation or adaptation of century-old business models. In those sectors, we need to look at ways of partnering with our innovators on proof-of-concept and demonstration projects so that more breakthroughs can bridge the so-called ``Valley of Death'' between the lab bench and commercialization of a new technology. That will ensure that innovative and potentially disruptive technologies can actually reach the market, and provide badly needed competition in industries where incumbents may be failing to innovate. This is what my legislation is intended to address.

In order to reach their full market potential, scientific breakthroughs must be translated into commercial applications, demonstrated, connected to appropriate markets, and scaled up. The bill I am introducing today would fertilize America's innovation ecosystems by making available $100 million to 6 or more consortia to support these types of activities and help shepherd innovations through the commercialization process. Consortia could include a mix of research universities, large and small companies, national laboratories, venture capital, and state and nonprofit entities with expertise in technology commercialization. The bill includes rigorous cost-share requirements to ensure that taxpayers are only partnering on the best ideas in which the private sector also has significant capital committed.

We have seen the benefits of regional innovation ecosystems in places like Silicon Valley; Boston, Cambridge and the Route 128 Corridor; the Research Triangle in North Carolina; Austin, TX; and elsewhere. The geographic proximity of institutions in these areas improves the flow of information between scientists, engineers, and entrepreneurs, and it facilitates the sharing of skilled human resources and facilities. Most critically when it comes to commercializing innovations, these regions have demonstrated a unique ability to pull investor capital off the sidelines and channel it into new production. We need to bolster these existing ecosystems and help nurture new ones.

America's universities and research institutions are truly national treasures. Our venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are the sharpest in the world. When we sprinkle the right mix of scientific brain power and capitalist drive, we get something uniquely American and extremely potent.

This legislation will help link inventors with investors, professors with producers, and get technologies out of laboratories and into factories. It provides the type of responsible and forward-looking partnership that we need with the private sector right now. This legislation builds on provisions I included in both the Waxman-Markey bill and the America COMPETES reauthorization, bills that passed the U.S. House of Representatives in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

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

Madam President, I ask to be recognized to speak on behalf of the passage of ENDA.

Madam President, I rise today in support of equal treatment for all Americans. The Employment Non-Discrimination Act, or ENDA, is aimed at protecting all lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender

Americans from workplace discrimination based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. All Americans deserve to be free from discrimination in the workplace, and ENDA is a crucial step to ensuring equal treatment.

I have been a cosponsor of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act every time it was introduced in Congress since the bill was first drafted in 1994. Two years later, in 1996, I was one of only 67 Members of the House of Representatives to vote against the Defense of Marriage Act. That seems like ancient history now--so long ago.

I am proud to say that the Employment Non-Discrimination Act has its roots in my home State of Massachusetts. Back in 1994, it was originally written by two titans of Massachusetts politics: Congressman Gerry Studds in the House of Representatives and Senator Ted Kennedy here in the U.S. Senate. We are coming up now close to 20 years since those bills were introduced first in the House and in the Senate.

While neither of these visionary leaders is with us today, their tireless work for equality lives on. They helped pave the way for this debate by challenging the pervasive view that LGBT people do not need or deserve the same legal rights and protections as everyone else.

We began debating this actually in the Massachusetts State legislature in the mid-1970s. In Massachusetts, in the 1970s, a law like this could not pass. But in 1989 Massachusetts became the second State in the Nation to adopt a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation in employment, public accommodation, housing, and credit services.

In 2004 Massachusetts became the first State in the Nation to extend marriage equality to same-sex couples. Massachusetts is again paving the way with the passage of one of the first transgender equal rights laws in the Nation.

The people of Massachusetts know that when some of our citizens are being discriminated against, the liberty of all people is diminished.

From schoolrooms to boardrooms, members of the Massachusetts LGBT community have made stunning progress toward full legal equality. Simply put, equality works in Massachusetts, and it works for Massachusetts. By ensuring that LGBT individuals have the same employment protections as everyone else, we have made the light of liberty in our State burn even more brightly.

The same basic civil rights protections that have been extended to LGBT residents of Massachusetts should be extended to LGBT people across the entire Nation.

For the last two decades, the people of Massachusetts have supported a national employment nondiscrimination law because we cannot allow our Nation to have one standard in States that pass laws that protect people from discrimination and have other States that do not. We cannot have the careers of people, the dreams of people, to be in fear of prosecution as people move from State to State. There should be a national standard which we establish--a standard that ensures that every person knows that wherever they are in the United States of America, they are going to be protected, that they were created by God, and they have a right to these protections in every State in our country.

Today the number of States that have adopted their own antidiscrimination laws is basically increasing. I applaud the progress that has been made to advance the cause of equality on the State level. However, 29 States still do not have these critical protections in place. That is 29 States too many that still refuse to provide those protections.

In the end, it comes down to this: We should treat others as we would like to be treated ourselves. The LGBT community is made up of our friends, our neighbors, our coworkers, and our families. We all deserve the same rights regardless of who we are, regardless of where we live in our great Nation. That is what is truly exceptional about America. Despite our challenges, we remain the brightest beacon of freedom, opportunity, and equality in the world.

I have a great deal of pride in our Nation and our people. I truly believe that despite our differences, we can come together with one voice to say that discrimination is wrong. So let's here, this week, all stand together for a future without discrimination in the workplace. It will make America more productive. It will make us more wealthy but, most importantly, it will ensure that we have removed that stigma of discrimination that puts fear into the hearts of American citizens unnecessarily. This is a huge, historic week that we are about to see unfold in our Nation's capital. I pray we can pass this bill and send it over to the House of Representatives so we can have this full debate in our Nation for equality for every person who lives within our boundaries.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2013, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Housing Finance Reform: Protecting Small Lender Access to the Secondary Mortgage Market.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 4, 2013, at 2:30 p.m., to hold a hearing entitled ``Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities''.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2013, at 10 a.m. in room SD- 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Online Federal Health Insurance Marketplace: Enrollment Challenges and the Path Forward.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2013, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security Subcommittee of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR-253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

The Committee will hold a hearing entitled, ``The U.S. Aviation Industry and Jobs: Keeping American Manufacturing Competitive.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Bankruptcy and the Courts, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on November 5, 2013, at 10 a.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Changing the

Rules: Will limiting the scope of civil discovery diminish accountability and leave Americans without access to justice?''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, Subcommittee on Conservation, Forestry, and Natural Resources, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. in room SR-328A of the Russell Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Shortchanging Our Forest: How Tight Budgets and Management Decisions Can Increase the Risk of Wildlife.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Oversight of the Committee on Environment and Public Works be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2013, at 2:30 p.m. in room SD-406 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled, ``Fugitive Methane Emissions from Oil and Gas Operations.''

Madam President, I come to the floor to discuss the first policy-focused legislation I am introducing as a Senator. I believe it will be a win for Massachusetts and a win for the Nation. But before I do so, I would like to comment briefly about another win last night for Massachusetts and for Red Sox Nation everywhere.

Behind the mighty bat of Big Papi, the tireless and tough arms of Jon Lester, John Lackey, and Koji Uehara, and the incredible power of the beard, this unlikely Red Sox team took us from last in the division to first in the world.

For many of us in Massachusetts, this was not just about baseball. Because on Patriots' Day, when the Sox play in the morning and New England comes together for a celebration, evil visited our city at the Boston Marathon this year.

While this team cannot bring back the lives we lost or heal the wounds inflicted, it did what no other team besides the Red Sox can do: It reaffirmed our common bond in Massachusetts, in New England, and with Red Sox Nation fans everywhere.

It is often said that baseball is a game of inches. But it is also a game that can span miles, bringing people together across entire communities and cultures, bridging differences and building friendships. That is what Red Sox baseball did for Boston, for Massachusetts, and for New England this year, when we needed it the most. The Red Sox gave us the chance to all raise our hands in triumph once again together as one.

The Red Sox came back to win in dozens of games. They never gave up. They fought to the last pitch in every game, showing the resilience that reflected the response of an entire city and region after the marathon tragedy, and in doing so they gave us so much more than entertainment. They gave us hope, something to cheer for, and something else to talk about at a time of deep sadness in our region.

As the song says: ``Don't worry about a thing, `cause every little thing gonna be all right.'' Watching the celebrations last night in and around Fenway and especially on Boylston Street, just a brief distance from the marathon finish, reminds me of how proud I am to represent this great city and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the Senate.

The Sox team that won the World Series in 2004 allowed us to release 86 years of disappointment. This year's team allowed us to cheer again after months of mourning. For that, we congratulate and thank the 2013 World Series champions, the Boston Red Sox.

(The remarks of Mr. Markey pertaining to the introduction of S. 1627 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. President, as for the other win for Massachusetts, today I am introducing my first major piece of legislation as a Senator. My bill, the American Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act, will allow every single American to have access to clean energy and money-saving efficiency.

In our slow economic recovery, there has been one very bright spot in Massachusetts and the national economy, the incredible growth of clean energy, energy efficiency, and the jobs that come with these industries.

According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, our State alone has gained 20,000 jobs in these sectors since 2010, with another 10,000 new jobs expected in the next year alone. Massachusetts has become the Nation's most energy-efficient State. Boston is ranked as the Nation's most energy-efficient city. Our shores will host the first offshore wind farm, with a new construction terminal built in New Bedford, allowing our fishermen to work alongside our wind energy workers. Massachusetts is No. 7 in the Nation in deploying solar energy, even though we are more well known for the ``Perfect Storm'' than perfectly sunny days.

These advances, these jobs, these technologies have flourished in Massachusetts because we have set the right policies and encouraged our companies to lead.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick set high goals for clean energy deployment in our State, and we have already surpassed them. Boston Mayor Tom Menino wanted Boston to be known as green for just more than the Green Monster in Fenway Park, and he has delivered. Boston is now the greenest city in the United States. That is why I am introducing my first bill as a Senator to take our Massachusetts leadership and make it national.

My bill would require that electricity sold to American consumers increasingly be generated using renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass. By 2025, the bill would require 25 percent of our electricity to come from the free fuel of the Sun, the wind, and the Earth.

Since the cheapest and the cleanest powerplant is the one we never have to build, my bill would also require utilities to put people to work on large-scale energy efficiency programs.

My bill would build on the efforts of Massachusetts and the 30 other States that already require utilities to provide customers with minimal amounts of renewable electricity and ensure that America joins the 118 other nations that have already established renewable energy goals.

My bill would quadruple renewable energy production in the United States. It would create more than 400,000 new jobs. We can put steelworkers and ironworkers and electricians back to work building the new energy backbone for America, from Massachusetts to Montana.

The energy efficiency measures in my bill would save the average household $39 per year on utility bills, and it would reduce carbon dioxide pollution by the equivalent output of 120 coal-fired powerplants, helping our efforts to battle the advancing tide of dangerous climate change.

A renewable electricity standard passed the House of Representatives twice while I was a Member of the body--as recently as 2009--and it has passed the Senate three times since 2002. Before it was held hostage over the Affordable Care Act, the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill showed there is real bipartisan support for energy efficiency in the Senate. These are policies that should be embraced and not blocked.

If we do not take these steps, we will lose the international race to dominate the multitrillion-dollar clean energy sector. Right now, China has already overtaken the United States as the No. 1 most attractive place to invest in renewable energy. Sixty percent of all new companies going public in the clean energy sector are doing so in China. More than 100,000 clean energy jobs are being created there annually. China now has more wind capacity installed than any other country, and they produce two-thirds of the world's solar panels.

It is time for our country to scale up our clean energy deployment and innovation. It is also time to take a look at revolutionary approaches to driving that innovation. All too often we are unable to move clean energy-related discoveries and breakthroughs out of the labs and into the marketplace.

That is the problem my clean tech consortia legislation addresses. I have included this bill as part of the Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative, launched this week by Senator Coons and some of my Democratic colleagues. My bill would fertilize America's innovation ecosystems so that scientific breakthroughs can more effectively navigate the so-called valley of death between the lab and the factory and reach their commercial potential.

America's universities and research institutions are truly national treasures, and our venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are the sharpest in the world. When we sprinkle the right mix of scientific brainpower and capitalist drive, we get something uniquely American and extremely potent in terms of its economic impact.

My clean tech consortia bill, which I will soon be introducing, will link inventors with investors, professors with producers and get clean energy out of the laboratories and into the factories. That is the type of partnership we need with the private sector right now in our country.

The other bill I have included in this package, the Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative, and which I will also be introducing soon, is called the Build America Bonds Initiative. Here is how it works and here is what it does.

When a State or local government wants to build and renovate schools, bridges, roads, and hospitals, they need financing, and they issue a bond. Investors buy those bonds, giving the State capital to hire workers and update infrastructure, and investors get a return in the form of interest. Build America Bonds say to State and local governments: We will help with the interest payments and help put more Americans back to work.

From the inception of this program in April 2009 to when it expired at the end of 2010, there were 2,275 separate

bonds issued nationwide, which supported more than $181 billion of financing for new public capital infrastructure projects, such as bridges, schools, and hospitals.

Build America Bonds were a huge success in Massachusetts. My State issued close to $5 billion in bonds. Build America Bonds helped finance Massachusetts' Accelerated Bridge Program, which repaired and rebuilt hundreds of structurally deficient bridges.

Other examples of projects include a new laboratory at UMass Amherst, a new courthouse in Salem, and a new building at the Worcester State Hospital--improving energy efficiency and reducing costs.

I plan to work with my good friends Senator Wyden and Congressman Neal--both leaders on this issue--to ensure we continue to invest in both our infrastructure and our future.

These are the kinds of programs that will put America back to work. I want American workers to build and export wind turbines and solar panels that say ``Made in America,'' instead of the American economy importing millions of barrels of oil a day that say ``Made by OPEC.''

I want American inventors dreaming up the newest energy technologies that convert patent applications for a prototype into job applications on the factory floor. I want American workers repairing our crumbling bridges, roads, and schools.

We are in a terrestrial technology and manufacturing race as important as the celestial race President Kennedy began 50 years ago. These are three of the programs that will put America into a new economic orbit, looking down on our competitors. We should pass all three and put America back to work.

Mr. President, as for the other win for Massachusetts, today I am introducing my first major piece of legislation as a Senator. My bill, the American Renewable Energy and Efficiency Act, will allow every single American to have access to clean energy and money-saving efficiency.

In our slow economic recovery, there has been one very bright spot in Massachusetts and the national economy, the incredible growth of clean energy, energy efficiency, and the jobs that come with these industries.

According to the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center, our State alone has gained 20,000 jobs in these sectors since 2010, with another 10,000 new jobs expected in the next year alone. Massachusetts has become the Nation's most energy-efficient State. Boston is ranked as the Nation's most energy-efficient city. Our shores will host the first offshore wind farm, with a new construction terminal built in New Bedford, allowing our fishermen to work alongside our wind energy workers. Massachusetts is No. 7 in the Nation in deploying solar energy, even though we are more well known for the ``Perfect Storm'' than perfectly sunny days.

These advances, these jobs, these technologies have flourished in Massachusetts because we have set the right policies and encouraged our companies to lead.

Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick set high goals for clean energy deployment in our State, and we have already surpassed them. Boston Mayor Tom Menino wanted Boston to be known as green for just more than the Green Monster in Fenway Park, and he has delivered. Boston is now the greenest city in the United States. That is why I am introducing my first bill as a Senator to take our Massachusetts leadership and make it national.

My bill would require that electricity sold to American consumers increasingly be generated using renewable sources such as wind, solar, hydro, geothermal, and biomass. By 2025, the bill would require 25 percent of our electricity to come from the free fuel of the Sun, the wind, and the Earth.

Since the cheapest and the cleanest powerplant is the one we never have to build, my bill would also require utilities to put people to work on large-scale energy efficiency programs.

My bill would build on the efforts of Massachusetts and the 30 other States that already require utilities to provide customers with minimal amounts of renewable electricity and ensure that America joins the 118 other nations that have already established renewable energy goals.

My bill would quadruple renewable energy production in the United States. It would create more than 400,000 new jobs. We can put steelworkers and ironworkers and electricians back to work building the new energy backbone for America, from Massachusetts to Montana.

The energy efficiency measures in my bill would save the average household $39 per year on utility bills, and it would reduce carbon dioxide pollution by the equivalent output of 120 coal-fired powerplants, helping our efforts to battle the advancing tide of dangerous climate change.

A renewable electricity standard passed the House of Representatives twice while I was a Member of the body--as recently as 2009--and it has passed the Senate three times since 2002. Before it was held hostage over the Affordable Care Act, the Shaheen-Portman energy efficiency bill showed there is real bipartisan support for energy efficiency in the Senate. These are policies that should be embraced and not blocked.

If we do not take these steps, we will lose the international race to dominate the multitrillion-dollar clean energy sector. Right now, China has already overtaken the United States as the No. 1 most attractive place to invest in renewable energy. Sixty percent of all new companies going public in the clean energy sector are doing so in China. More than 100,000 clean energy jobs are being created there annually. China now has more wind capacity installed than any other country, and they produce two-thirds of the world's solar panels.

It is time for our country to scale up our clean energy deployment and innovation. It is also time to take a look at revolutionary approaches to driving that innovation. All too often we are unable to move clean energy-related discoveries and breakthroughs out of the labs and into the marketplace.

That is the problem my clean tech consortia legislation addresses. I have included this bill as part of the Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative, launched this week by Senator Coons and some of my Democratic colleagues. My bill would fertilize America's innovation ecosystems so that scientific breakthroughs can more effectively navigate the so-called valley of death between the lab and the factory and reach their commercial potential.

America's universities and research institutions are truly national treasures, and our venture capitalists and entrepreneurs are the sharpest in the world. When we sprinkle the right mix of scientific brainpower and capitalist drive, we get something uniquely American and extremely potent in terms of its economic impact.

My clean tech consortia bill, which I will soon be introducing, will link inventors with investors, professors with producers and get clean energy out of the laboratories and into the factories. That is the type of partnership we need with the private sector right now in our country.

The other bill I have included in this package, the Manufacturing Jobs for America Initiative, and which I will also be introducing soon, is called the Build America Bonds Initiative. Here is how it works and here is what it does.

When a State or local government wants to build and renovate schools, bridges, roads, and hospitals, they need financing, and they issue a bond. Investors buy those bonds, giving the State capital to hire workers and update infrastructure, and investors get a return in the form of interest. Build America Bonds say to State and local governments: We will help with the interest payments and help put more Americans back to work.

From the inception of this program in April 2009 to when it expired at the end of 2010, there were 2,275 separate

bonds issued nationwide, which supported more than $181 billion of financing for new public capital infrastructure projects, such as bridges, schools, and hospitals.

Build America Bonds were a huge success in Massachusetts. My State issued close to $5 billion in bonds. Build America Bonds helped finance Massachusetts' Accelerated Bridge Program, which repaired and rebuilt hundreds of structurally deficient bridges.

Other examples of projects include a new laboratory at UMass Amherst, a new courthouse in Salem, and a new building at the Worcester State Hospital--improving energy efficiency and reducing costs.

I plan to work with my good friends Senator Wyden and Congressman Neal--both leaders on this issue--to ensure we continue to invest in both our infrastructure and our future.

These are the kinds of programs that will put America back to work. I want American workers to build and export wind turbines and solar panels that say ``Made in America,'' instead of the American economy importing millions of barrels of oil a day that say ``Made by OPEC.''

I want American inventors dreaming up the newest energy technologies that convert patent applications for a prototype into job applications on the factory floor. I want American workers repairing our crumbling bridges, roads, and schools.

We are in a terrestrial technology and manufacturing race as important as the celestial race President Kennedy began 50 years ago. These are three of the programs that will put America into a new economic orbit, looking down on our competitors. We should pass all three and put America back to work.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Housing Finance Reform: Essential Elements of a Government Guarantee for Mortgage-Backed Securities.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 10 a.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 10:15 a.m., to hold a hearing entitled ``Syria''.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 2:15 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Attaining a Quality Degree: Innovations to Improve Student Success'' on October 31, 2013, at 10 a.m., in room SD-430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 10 a.m. to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Navy Yard Tragedy: Examining Government Clearances and Background Checks.''

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 10 a.m. SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct an executive business meeting.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 31, 2013, at 2 p.m.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on October 9, 2013, at 10 a.m., to conduct a hearing entitled ``Housing Finance Reform: Essential Elements of the Multifamily Housing Finance System.''

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

Madam President, we need to bring this government shutdown to an end, and the way to do that is for the House of Representatives to pass the bill for a $986 billion budget to run the government for 1 year which John Boehner and the Republicans in the House of Representatives asked the Senate to pass. That is the number they wanted. That is not the number the Democrats in the Senate wanted.

They wanted $986 billion to run the government for 1 year. That is the budget we sent over. They will not pass that budget. So now we have a situation where we should be negotiating over health care, over environmental issues, over other issues because the budget has been passed--but, no. They are going to hold the entire country hostage.

Consider where our country stands right now. When George W. Bush left office, the Dow was at 7,900. It is now above 15,000. At the height of the great Bush recession, unemployment peaked at 10 percent. It is now at 7.3 percent. Our deficit has been cut in half. We are making progress. But we are not there yet. Many Americans continue to struggle.

As our country climbs back from the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the tea party Republicans are sending America into reverse. The

tea party Republicans shut down the government. They are putting our economic recovery at risk. They are signaling to the world that America cannot perform the most fundamental job of government--passing a budget.

In the alternative, the tea party Republican universe they have created here has the tea party demanding that we fund health care research while simultaneously trying to end health care coverage for millions of Americans; to pay for our troops but sideline the intelligence agents who keep us safe from terrorist attacks; and claim to defend the Constitution but shut down the building where it lives and breathes. This tea party Republican logic is tying our country in knots, and it makes no sense.

Although the government shut down at midnight this past Monday, the seeds of the shutdown were sown years ago. This shutdown is the product of more than a decade of disdain for the democratic process waged by the tea party Republican party that is increasingly out of the mainstream. When the Republican Party started losing congressional seats, they redrew electoral maps in their favor and passed laws to suppress American voters they had alienated. And when a historic bill was signed into law to finally make health care a right for millions of low-income Americans, a law that was upheld by the Supreme Court, a law that opened for business on Tuesday, the response of the tea party Republicans was to shut down the entire government.

At the core of this tea party Republican ideology is the idea that the democratic processes our country runs on can be dismissed, that they can be manipulated, that they can be contorted to cater to the privileged at the expense of the poor, the vulnerable, and the disenfranchised of our country.

This isn't about the Republican Party versus the Democratic Party. This is about tea party Republicans versus democracy itself. The essence of American democracy has been our ability to govern by majority rule while respecting minority rights. Our system is inherently designed to enable compromise and avoid the divisiveness of ideological extremists.

I know about these tea party extremists. I served in the House of Representatives with them. They live by the Republican tea party paradox: They hate the government so much that they have to run for office in order to make sure the government doesn't work. And now there is a new Republican tea party paradox: They want to pay Federal employees not to work while blocking the legislation that will put them back to work. The Democrats are fighting to open the government so Federal employees can return to work and can earn their pay, not pay them for not working. That is the new Republican paradox.

The tea party Republicans have a three-step plan. No. 1: Deny democracy. Tea party Republicans ignore the fact that the Affordable Care Act passed the Congress, was signed by the President, and upheld by the Supreme Court. Tea party step No. 2: Manufacture a crisis. The tea party Republicans shut down the government and put our country on the brink of default, because they refuse to accept the fact that the Affordable Care Act is the law of the land and the American people reelected President Obama. Step No. 3: Turn out the lights. Just shut down the government.

What is at stake if the Affordable Care Act is repealed? Without the Affordable Care Act, for women everywhere in America the agenda will go back to being a preexisting condition. They could be charged higher insurance rates because they are women. For families everywhere in America, the threat of personal bankruptcy will return, caps on insurance benefits will be reemployed, and medical bills will once again lead to personal bankruptcies. For a young college graduate struggling to find a job, their parents' plan is no longer an option. For a low-income family who has spent years taking their kids to the emergency room instead of regular doctor appointments, it will mean more late nights in emergency waiting rooms.

Who else will be harmed if the tea party Republicans continue to refuse to expand the Medicaid Program in their respective States, the expansion that is a key part of the Affordable Care Act? The answer is two-thirds of the country's poor, uninsured African-Americans and single mothers, and more than half of the low-wage workers in the 26 States where Governors have turned down Federal funds to expand Medicare.

Let's take Texas, for example. Texas currently has the highest concentration of uninsured Americans in our country--6 million people. Many live in poverty. Under the Affordable Care Act, every State has a choice: It could give the poor and sickest and neediest of its citizens health care coverage through expanded Medicaid paid for entirely by the Federal Government or it could say, no, thanks, and leave these poor people, these uninsured people, in a state of uncertainty. Texas turned down cold more than $100 billion in Federal funding over the next decade, denying health care coverage for the 1.5 million Texas residents who live in poverty.

That is what the tea party Republicans are fighting for--to not take the money to ensure that the poorest people get health insurance. That is what it is all about. That is what they are fighting for. They believe they have a right to say, no, we are not going to cover these poor people. No, we are not going to give them insurance. That is their right--they should have the freedom to deny all these people that health insurance. And 26 other States, all with Republican Governors, did the very same thing. Every State in the Deep South but Arkansas said no.

There is an ancient Greek proverb that says the world will know true justice when those who have not been harmed are as angry as those who have been harmed. You can see all across America people are angry. People who have not been harmed are angry about those who are being harmed by what the Republican tea party is doing here in Congress. That is why everyone in America wants this shutdown ended. They know that eliminating the Affordable Care Act would gravely harm the poor in our country, the children, the working families. Not since the Great Depression have so many Americans suffered from such severe economic problems. There are 46 million Americans living in poverty today. That is $23,000 a year for a family of 4. The poverty rate for African Americans is 27 percent, for Hispanics it is at 23 percent. There are almost 50 million people in our country at risk of not having enough food. Sixteen million children live in poverty in the United States as we stand here today. There are more than 11 million Americans out of work, 13 percent unemployment for African Americans, 9.2 percent for Hispanics, and it is too high for Whites, for Asians, for Native Americans--for everyone in our country.

Behind each of those numbers is a name, each of those statistics is a story, each of those figures is a face and a future that is at risk.

Behind each furlough is a Federal worker who has a vital job not being done. Somewhere in Georgia in the midst of the flu season there is an employee of the Centers for Disease Control who is at home instead of stopping a flu outbreak at a local elementary school. Somewhere in Florida is an FDA employee who was shut out of his job inspecting fish imports for toxic contamination while a mother shops at the local grocery store picking up salmon for dinner. Somewhere in the gulf coast there is an oil rig safety officer catching up on their chores at home instead of stopping the next potential BP spill before it happens. Somewhere in Boston a doctor has now put on hold a clinical trial to bring a new treatment to children born with a rare form of heart disease while a mother in Milwaukee holds her sick newborn, wondering if a cure could ever be found. Somewhere in Massachusetts a civilian military employee tasked with developing the best in protective gear for our soldiers is barred from entering his military base while abroad a soldier takes fire on the front lines. And here at the Capitol there are police officers who threw their bodies in between the public and a threat just this week, doing so without even receiving a paycheck.

This government shutdown is just a preview of coming attractions. If Republicans force us to default on our debt, millions of jobs could be destroyed. We could go from a shutdown of our government to a meltdown of our entire economy.

We won't be blackmailed, we won't be threatened, we won't back down, we won't give up. We will stand and we will fight. We will fight for the families who have dreamed of the security of health care, we will fight for the Federal workers who deserve a paycheck, we will fight for the working families reaching for the American dream. Because--make no mistake--what is at stake here isn't just health care, it isn't just a functioning government, it isn't just the stability of our economy. What is at stake is the future of our democratic system. Because you can shut down the government, you can engage in revisionist history and revise the rules to fit your ideology, but the American people will rise up--and they are rising up--to say put America back to work. They will not let the tea party Republicans stop the progress of our country. They are going to demand justice. They are going to demand that the shutdown end and the spirit of the American people be recognized.

What we need to do is to get the government back to work for the American people. The Senate has to send the House a bill that will end the shutdown. The House should schedule the vote for this bill immediately. It will pass. We should not be cutting the National Institutes of Health, which is working to find the cure for cancer, for Alzheimer's, for Parkinson's and other diseases that devastate.

We should not be keeping our civilian defense workers off the job. We should be coming together to create jobs to build better futures for all Americans. We should make sure America pays its bills and does not default on its debts. We need to raise the debt ceiling. Now is the time. Let's get to work.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask to be recognized for 6 minutes.

Mr. President, what we have is the tea party Republicans' version of Elizabeth Kubler-Ross's five stages of grief. More than 40 years ago, Dr. Kubler-Ross laid out the five different emotions experienced by people when they faced what they considered to be an awful, unacceptable fate: Making affordable health care available for millions of Americans is anathema to today's tea party Republicans. They

cannot accept it. They shut down the government to try to stop it.

The tea party Republicans cannot handle the fact that the Affordable Care Act will guarantee that millions more Americans are going to have access to quality, affordable health care coverage; that being a woman is no longer going to be a preexisting condition--women cannot be charged higher insurance rates just because of their gender; no one is going to go bankrupt just because they get sick.

Before the Affordable Care Act, medical bills contributed to more than 60 percent of all personal bankruptcies in the United States. That all ends with ObamaCare, which lifts lifetime caps on insurance coverage. Mr. President, 6.6 million people on Medicare have already saved more than $7 billion on their prescription medicines. The tea party Republicans are in the grip of the political equivalent of the five stages of grief. It is the American people who are getting squeezed.

The first stage, denial. The tea party Republicans refuse to accept the fact that the Affordable Care Act is the law. They have tried to repeal it more than 50 times. It has been ruled constitutional by the Supreme Court. They ignored last year's Presidential election in which the Republican candidate who promised to repeal the Affordable Care Act if he was elected was soundly defeated. The tea party Republicans deny the decision by the Supreme Court that found the Affordable Care Act constitutional.

The second stage, anger. The tea party Republicans are enraged that the Affordable Care Act is going to work. We know it is going to work because we have 7 years of experience in Massachusetts, where now 97 percent of all adults and 99 percent of all children are covered. We have a poll conducted in April of this year by the Massachusetts Medical Society. It indicates that 84 percent of Massachusetts residents are satisfied with their health care. They like their health coverage under the Massachusetts system, which is the very model of President Obama's plan.

The tea party Republicans cannot stand the fact that the Affordable Care Act will finally make health care a right and not a privilege in our country, in the words of the great Ted Kennedy. The tea party Republicans are so angry about ObamaCare that they closed down the Federal Government today, sending hundreds of thousands of Federal workers home without pay.

The third stage, bargaining. The tea party Republicans are doing a lot of bargaining these days. They are using the entire Federal budget and soon the full faith and credit of the United States as leverage in their negotiation to try to gut ObamaCare. Bargaining rarely provides a sustainable solution, especially in this case. That is because the tea party Republicans do not want to negotiate. They want to eliminate the Affordable Care Act and the benefits it provides to millions of Americans. They say they want to bargain, but they don't. They say they want to negotiate, but they don't. They just want elimination of the health care program and that is not going to happen.

The fourth stage, depression. The tea party Republicans are clearly depressed that they are getting blamed for shutting down the government, that public opinion is sharply turning against them and that many Republicans are repudiating their tactics and their extremism. Republicans are fighting amongst themselves, struggling to find a way out of the mess they have made for themselves.

Finally, the fifth stage, acceptance. The tea party Republicans have not yet reached this final stage of acceptance. They still do not fully understand the backlash that they are facing from the public, which will justifiably blame them for the Republican tea party shutdown. The tea party Republicans do not yet regret their destructive ways. They certainly are nowhere near acceptance.

So I say we are witnessing the tea party Republicans in the throes of their grief over losing the last election and losing the battle over health care reform, but it is the American people who are paying the price for this political psychodrama that is tearing the Republican Party apart and hurting our country and hurting the health of millions of Americans in our country. Now is the time for them to get over it. Now is the time for ObamaCare to be the law of the land. It is not going away.

Now is the time to join together to ensure that it works for the American people. Now is the time to move forward to pass a budget that funds our government. Now is the time to get our economy back on track, create jobs, and build a bright future together for all Americans. Now is the time for the tea party Republicans to accept what the American people have voted to make the law of our land and the person whom they voted to make the President of our country.

I yield the remainder of my time.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for 5 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. President, we are just hours away from a government shutdown. I think tea party Republicans saw the ``Breaking Bad'' dramatic depiction of reckless behavior last night and thought they could put on an even better finale, create even more drama, and cook up even more toxic ideas. They thought they could break this government in every bad way possible. These tea party antics are the stuff of fairy tales. The way the GOP is writing this story at the stroke of midnight as we turn the calendar toward October, our government and potentially our economic recovery turn into a pumpkin.

But it is the tea party GOP who are in fantasyland by thinking we will allow them to cut off ObamaCare, shut down government, and melt down our economy. Democrats are not going to allow them to do this.

What do the American people want? Americans want our military to get paid on time. Americans want our seniors to get the benefits they have earned and depend on. Americans want to be able to respond to floods in Colorado or wildfires in the West.

The American people don't want the government to shut down. Americans want a business plan that completes this recovery, creates jobs, and gets our economy back on track. They want us to work together to accomplish this goal.

What are the effects of the tea party Republican tactics? By forcing Congress to govern by going from crisis to crisis, tea party Republicans hope to chip away at the bedrock programs that run our country and help our people.

First, the tea party did this with sequestration, which is a fancy word for mindless cuts in programs that help ordinary families in our country. Now they are going after the ObamaCare law. What is next are their enduring targets such as Social Security, Medicare, and the safety net programs that millions of Americans depend on. These are the same Republicans who want to privatize Social Security. They want to turn Medicare into a voucher program. Now they want to reverse the progress achieved by the legendary Ted Kennedy, who made it clear that in the United States of America health care is a right and not a privilege.

The tea party Republicans are playing high-wire politics with our economy so they can take away the social safety net for millions of American families. This bill is just a preview of coming attractions. Two weeks from now we will be careening to the next crisis, this time over whether America will pay its debts. If we do not raise the debt ceiling, we will not be able to pay our bills starting on October 17.

What is the harm of defaulting on our debts? Our Nation's stock and bond markets could go into a free fall that will damage the full faith and credit of our country, the bedrock of the entire American economy. What does that mean? The full faith and credit of the United States is in question.

If you took out a mortgage, had a car loan, bought some furniture, and when the bill came due you said: I am not going to pay these bills, what do you think would happen? Your credit score would plummet. It would throw your financial life into chaos for years. No one would lend you money, or, at a minimum, you would be hit with sky-high interest payments because of the risk that you wouldn't pay the next time either.

Americans ran up these bills. We promised these payments. We should pay what we promise, and then we need to stop lurching from one crisis to another, scrambling to stitch together last-minute deals that only last until the very next crisis.

It is time to end these games. It is time to end the uncertainty. It is time to do what we were sent here to do--to get to work creating jobs for American families so they can have a mortgage and put their kids through school. That is what we should be talking about here, the prosperity of all Americans.

This shutdown today is a preview of a debate over a meltdown of the American economy. If, in fact, we go to a debt ceiling and we haven't found a way of working together here on the Senate floor, Democrats and Republicans, along with Democrats and Republicans from the House of Representatives, those who are in the most jeopardy are those who are watching us with their mouths open, agape, wondering how their system of government can operate this way.

I thank the Presiding Officer, and I yield back the remainder of my time.

Mr. President, where is America now? We have an economy in recovery. The Dow was at 7,900 when George W. Bush left office. It is over 15,000 right now. Our deficit is heading downward. Unemployment is still high, but jobs are coming back. But, as we make this progress, people continue to struggle, and they expect us to put together a business plan for America, here on the Senate floor, and work with the President--work together as Democrats and Republicans--to put that plan together for every American family.

What is the tea party Republican response? It is to shut down the government, to stamp out signs of our fragile economic recovery, to send the signal that America can't perform the most basic job of government--and that is to pass a budget.

What is driving these tea party Republicans? I know all about these tea party extremists. I served in the House of Representatives with them. I served over there for years. They live by the Republican tea party paradox: They hate the government but, paradoxically, they have to run for office in order to make sure the government doesn't work, and that is where they are today.

They sent us a bill from the House and they know it won't pass. This is a bill to nowhere, and nowhere is where the tea party Republicans want the government to go.

The tea party Republicans want to repeal ObamaCare. I say to those who want to repeal ObamaCare, to those who do not like ObamaCare, and to those who like ObamaCare: We have had that debate. We debated here in Congress. The bill passed. It was signed by the President. It was held up by the Supreme Court of the United States. It is the law. It is time to stop playing games and to let the law work. But that is exactly what the tea party Republicans are afraid of--that the law will actually work.

Shutting down the government for ObamaCare is like canceling the World Series because your team didn't make it. ObamaCare is the law. We can't cancel the government. We can't cancel the World Series. We have to accept the reality that it is the law. We had an election. But what we have here are the mad hatters of the Republican tea party in Congress who have decided that their approach to government--to the old, to the sick, to the needy, to every single principle of the United States of America that we stand for--it is off with their heads for all of those people who depend upon these programs in our country. We are living in an absurd ``Alice in Wonderland'' Republican tea party world here.

This government has to work for the American people. Instead, what they are about to do, over this weekend, is send another Maalox-moment- for-the-marketplace signal to the credit markets of the world that the United States cannot be depended upon to operate a government, to pay its bills, to respond to the needs of the families within our own country, to meet its obligations not only here but around the world.

And those families who are dependent upon a paycheck from the Defense Department? They are wondering, along with the families who are dependent upon a Federal helping hand, whether or not they are going to get that help over the next week, over the next two weeks, over the next month.

I will just give my colleagues one final example. The National Institutes of Health budget--well, it is really the national institutes of hope. That is what we give to families who have somebody with Alzheimer's, with Parkinson's, with cancer, with heart disease--is being cut and cut and cut and cut. It is being cut at the same time that last year we spent $132 billion worth of taxpayers' money on Alzheimer's patients in our country. We can't cut the money for the cure and simultaneously say we want to cut the money for taking care of those who have the disease. We can't have it both ways. That is what this nihilistic tea party approach is bringing to our people.

I thank the Senator from Rhode Island for yielding. I hope the tea party Republicans come to their senses.

Madam President, I would like to pay tribute to a little boy named Joey O'Donnell. Joey was a great kid. Full of energy. Full of imagination. Smart as a whip.

Joey suffered from a rare pediatric disease called cystic fibrosis. The disease attacks early and it affects the lungs, pancreas and several other critical systems of the body.

It is in honor of Joey that I started the Congressional Cystic Fibrosis Caucus in the House of Representatives. Joey died in 1986 as a result of his worsening condition. Back then we didn't have the amazing life-changing therapies we have now. Today, we have a novel and life- saving therapy known as Kalydeco that gives those suffering from cystic fibrosis and their families hope. It was developed by Vertex, headquartered in my home State of Massachusetts. It is the first and only FDA approved medication to treat a particular mutation associated with cystic fibrosis.

It is in that spirit of hope that I wish to acknowledge the extraordinary efforts happening today in Belmont, MA to once again honor Joey. Hundreds of Vertex employees are volunteering their time along with hundreds of others to rebuild the original ``Joey's Park'' in Belmont.

I congratulate and thank those hundreds of volunteers for building this fantastic playground, which will inspire hope and imagination in all kids. It will serve as an important place in the community and is a fitting way to honor Joey and his spirit.