Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 227, S. 1557.

I ask the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar Nos. 239 and 240, which are post office naming bills en bloc.

I ask unanimous consent the bills be read a third time and passed en bloc and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 290, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, and that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 3204, the pharmaceutical drug compounding bill, postcloture; further, that all time during adjournment, recess, and morning business count postcloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3204; and, finally, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

I would tell the senior Senator from Maine, my plan had been to speak for less than 10 minutes. But if that does not work, I certainly will yield to the Senator from Maine and do what she requests.

Madam President, I wish to thank the Senator from Maine. I will do my very best.

I rise to speak about the importance of passing the Employment Non- Discrimination Act, a bill I am proud to cosponsor and to support. It has taken us far too long to arrive at this day. For nearly 40 years, Members of Congress have worked to pass legislation that would protect LGBT Americans from discrimination in the workplace.

Much has changed since Bella Abzug introduced the Equality Act of 1974. Equal marriage is now the law in 14 States--21 States and the District of Columbia have enacted laws to protect against employment discrimination based on sexual orientation. Sixteen States and the District of Columbia also protect against gender identity discrimination.

The Supreme Court has rejected DOMA, a law that legalized discrimination against same-sex spouses by calling that law exactly what it was: unconstitutional. In the private sector, a majority of Fortune 500 companies have adopted policies to protect workers from discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Polling data shows that a majority of small businesses have similar policies in place.

By nearly every measure, we have made progress in a long march toward equality. Yet in the face of all of this progress, nearly one-half century since Congress first enacted title VII of the Civil Rights Act prohibiting employment discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin, we still have not extended these basic Federal protections to LGBT Americans.

The failure to treat all our citizens with the same dignity is shameful. In America, equal means equal.

Many have tried hard to reach this day, and our legislators from Massachusetts have long been leaders in this fight. Senator Ted Kennedy and Congressman Barney Frank both spent decades working on this issue. Senator Paul Tsongas from Massachusetts introduced the first Senate bill to prohibit employment discrimination against LGBT Americans all the way back in 1979.

Progress has been slow. The last time the full Senate voted on ENDA was 1 year ago, when a version of the law championed by Senator Kennedy failed to pass by one single vote, 49-50, back in 1996. In 2007, the House passed a version of ENDA introduced by Congressman Frank, but the bill made no progress in the Senate. Today, there are 55 cosponsors of ENDA in the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, representing the broad majority of support for the bill and signaling the tremendous progress that has been made.

It is all the more shameful that it has taken us this long to arrive at this day because Americans believe in equality. According to one survey, some 80 percent of Americans believe it is already illegal to discriminate against workers based on their sexual orientation, gender, or identity. Unfortunately, however, this is one rare instance where the American people are giving Congress way too much credit, because the truth is we haven't acted yet. The consequences of congressional inaction remain all too real for millions of LGBT Americans.

Despite the successful efforts in many States to pass nondiscrimination measures, Americans living in over half the country can still be discriminated against in the workplace based on sexual orientation or gender identity. It happens. Between 15 and 43 percent of LGBT individuals have reported experiencing discrimination or harassment in the workplace. A quarter of transgender Americans have reported being fired from a job due to their gender identity, and a whopping 90 percent have reported experiencing harassment and mistreatment. There has been a lot of progress toward a more inclusive nation, but for LGBT workers a law to stop employment discrimination can't come fast enough.

The Employment Non-Discrimination Act pending in the Senate will protect LGBT individuals in the workplace, update the law to reflect what the vast majority of Americans already believe to be the law, and help fulfill our constitutional responsibility to protect equality in our Nation. ENDA doesn't provide any special rights to any particular group of Americans. It does not compel any religious organization to change its views. It just creates a level playing field for LGBT workers. It makes sure all workers are judged by the work they do, not by who they are or who they love.

America is ready for this day. An overwhelming majority of voters, both Democrats and Republicans, support the enactment of this law. They know it reflects the values of our Nation.

America's businesses are ready too. Recent polling shows that a large majority of small businesses support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. As for big businesses, 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies have already implemented policies prohibiting discrimination against gays and lesbians in the workplace.

Raytheon, one of the Nation's top defense contractors and a proud Massachusetts-based company, bars LGBT discrimination. One executive at Raytheon is quoted as saying the organization's ``culture of inclusion absolutely gives us a recruiting edge'' when it comes to hiring the best and the brightest.

Shortly before his death in March 2009, Senator Kennedy joined with Senators Merkley, Collins, and Snowe in what would be his final attempt to push this bipartisan legislation over the finish line. At the time Senator Kennedy eloquently explained his continuing support for ENDA by noting that ``the promise of America will never be fulfilled as long as justice is denied to even one among us.''

Those words were true in 1974 when Bella Abzug introduced the Equality Act. Those words were true when the Senate came within one vote of passing ENDA in 1996, those words were true when Senator Kennedy offered them in 2009, and those words are true today. The promise of America will never be fulfilled so long as justice is denied to even one among us.

We deal with a lot of different kinds of legislation in the Senate. This week we have a chance to vote on a law that is a measure of who we are as a people and what kind of a world we want to build. I believe in a world where equal means equal, and that is why I will be voting to outlaw employment discrimination against my neighbors and my friends.

Senator Kennedy, Senator Tsongas, and Congresswoman Abzug are no longer with us, but, as so many others, they fought hard to get us here--to get us one step closer to equality for all of us. It has taken us far too long to arrive at this day, but we are here now, and we are not going back.

I thank the Senator from Maine for giving me this time.

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

Mr. President, before I start, I want to recognize the Boston Red Sox team for an outstanding historic season and to congratulate Red Sox Nation on their third World Series Championship in 10 years. Go Sox.

The Red Sox mean so much to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and to our communities throughout New England, particularly this year. They have been a symbol of Boston's strength and resilience. From their historic one-season turnaround to their

win in front of the Fenway faithful for the first time since 1918, to their scruffy beards, this team will be remembered forever for its heart and for its success. Like all of us in Massachusetts, they have shown what it means to be Boston strong.

I also want to congratulate the St. Louis Cardinals on their 97-win season and their extraordinary achievement for winning 4 pennants in 10 years. Really amazing.

I am honored every day to represent the people of Massachusetts and the values we stand for. I am especially proud to congratulate the Red Sox today.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in support of Congressman Mel Watt's nomination to serve as the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency.

In many areas of Massachusetts and around the country, housing markets have recovered, but in too many other areas the housing market is plagued by underwater mortgages and foreclosures. A wounded housing market continues to drag down our economy and it leaves millions of families struggling to rebuild economic security.

One of the people who can make an important difference in helping the housing market back to full health is the Director of FHFA. The FHFA oversees Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Between them, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac back the vast majority of mortgages in the country, which means right now the FHFA has enormous influence over the American housing market.

The FHFA has the tools to help homeowners who continue to struggle following the 2008 financial crisis. It has the tools to help accelerate our economic recovery. For 4 years now, the FHFA has been led by an acting director. The time has come for some permanence and for some certainty. It is time for the FHFA to have a director, and Congressman Mel Watt is the right man for the job.

He has decades of relevant experience. He spent 22 years as a practicing lawyer, working with middle-income and lower income families on real estate closings and other housing issues. He then spent the next 21 years in Congress as a member of the House Financial Services Committee where he dealt firsthand with housing finance as a policymaker.

When it comes to housing, Congressman Watt has seen it all. Congressman Watt has shown good judgment throughout it all. Several years before the housing market collapse in 2008, Congressman Watt introduced the Prohibit Predatory Lending Act in an effort to stop mortgage lenders from taking advantage of homebuyers. The act would have helped Congress address the underlying cause of the financial crisis by making it harder for lenders to push families toward mortgages they could not repay and too often did not understand.

After that crisis hit, Mel built on his earlier legislation to craft laws that reduced risky mortgage lending and gave homeowners additional protection. Congressman Watt has worked hard to level the playing field for consumers. But he is no ideologue. I have worked with him for many years now. I have seen firsthand that he is a thoughtful policymaker. He can see problems coming, and when he does he seeks common ground and works hard to develop real solutions.

As Congress looks at ways to fix Freddie and Fannie to steady the housing market, Congressman Watt's practical approach is exactly what FHFA needs. The people who know him best, the Senators from his home State of North Carolina, the business leaders in his congressional district in Charlotte, support his nomination without reservation.

So what I want to know is this: Why would anyone in Congress try to block Mel from receiving a simple up-or-down vote? Why would they not want strong leadership in an agency that has been thrust into such a critical role in the economy? It does not make sense, not to the people who know Mel and not to the people who want to put this economy back on track.

Mel's work will help restore the housing market, help lift the economy, and most of all, help strengthen America's families.

It is time for obstruction for obstruction's sake to end, and it is time for the Senate to move forward with an up-or-down vote to confirm Congressman Watt so that he can get to work at the FHFA serving the American people.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, the U.S. Treasury says that in exactly 8 days it will not have enough money to pay the government's bills. We are not in this position because the Secretary of the Treasury or the President spent more than they were supposed to. The Constitution allows them to spend only what Congress tells them to spend, and that is exactly what they have done.

We are not in this position because investors refused to buy our bonds. Investors are lining up around the block to buy those. We are in this position for one reason and one reason only: Congress told the government to spend more money than we have. Congress told the Treasury to run up our debt to pay for it, but now Congress is threatening to run out on the bill.

If that strikes you as bizarre, you are not alone. The United States is the only democracy in the world where the legislature debates whether it should pay the bills it has already incurred. The United States is the only democracy that regularly considers whether to run out on its bills; that is, to voluntarily default on its debt.

Congress exercises direct control over the amount the Federal Government spends and the amount the Federal Government brings in through taxes and fees. Our national debt is simply a function of those two things--the money coming in and the money going out--and so Congress exercises direct control over the amount of debt we have. If Congress is unhappy with the size of the debt, it should change how much it spends or how much it brings in. There is no other option. The idea that we can somehow renege on our debts without paying a huge price is a fantasy, a dangerous fantasy.

Consider what happened in 2011, the last time the government came up to the edge of a voluntary default. Even the possibility that the government would not make good on its debts spooked investors and pushed up interest rates. According to the Bipartisan Policy Center, the interest rate increase from the last time the United States even talked about default will cost the government $19 billion over 10 years. That is $19 billion that could have brought back funding for Head Start, Meals On Wheels or our military. That is $19 billion that could have eased the interest rates on student loans or been invested in medical research. That is $19 billion that could have been used to pay down the debt. Instead, that is $19 billion that was just flushed down the drain. Does anyone here care about wasteful government? Well, then, that is it.

The last time the government came to the edge of a voluntary default, consumers and businesses got spooked too. The S&P dropped by more than 17 percent, $800 billion in retirement assets vanished, mortgage rates went up nearly three-quarters of a point, costing every new homeowner real money. The net result was less consumer spending, fewer business investments, lower home ownership rates, and slower job growth.

That is what happened the last time Congress came to the edge of a voluntary default. What happens if Congress actually defaults? If that happens, there is widespread concern among economists of every political persuasion that we would plunge into another recession.

Government debt may seem to be an abstract and complicated thing, but, in fact, it is pretty simple. The government owes money to two main groups of people. It owes payments on U.S. bonds, which are mostly owned by foreign governments, and it owes money to the American people for things such as Social Security payments and Medicare reimbursements for hospitals and physicians. It owes paychecks to the military and retirement checks to veterans.

If the Treasury does not have enough money to make all of its payments, then it will likely try to minimize the damage to America's credit rating, and that means making payments on the bonds held by foreign investors, leaving others to absorb the losses.

Who will not get paid? Will it be seniors who rely on Social Security to live? Will it be hospitals that rely on Medicare to operate? Will it be our servicemembers who rely on paychecks to help their families back home? Will it be Federal contractors, large and small, who support millions of jobs nationwide?

The Treasury makes 80 million payments a month and many of them will be delayed. As more time passes, unpaid bills will pile up. From there, it just gets worse. The Federal Government's inability to pay its bills could set off a chain reaction of defaults, sending the financial system into turmoil. Millions of people who rely on Federal payments might not have the money they need to keep current on their student loans or their mortgages or their small business loans. That could cause interest rates to spike, leading to a wave of further defaults, while the financial markets would be faced with the very real possibility that the United States would not have enough money to make payments on its bonds.

American Treasury bonds are considered safe investments. They are considered so safe that they are used as collateral in millions of financial transactions around the world. If the United States does not have enough money to pay its bills, parties to these transactions will demand more collateral or different forms of collateral. That has a domino effect throughout the economy. The end result could be the kind of freeze of the credit markets that we saw after the failure of Lehman Brothers collapsed in 2008, the freeze that triggered the financial crisis.

The idea that we can renege on our debts and not pay a huge price is a dangerous fantasy. I have heard some extremists in Congress argue that even if the United States runs out of money to pay all its bills, it will not be so bad because the Treasury will be able to keep current on its bond payments and avoid a technical default.

That is a heck of a best case scenario, making bond payments to foreign governments, mostly China and Japan, while holding up Social Security payments, hospital payments, and military payments here at home. It is a terrible idea. People count on those payments to live.

It is also a terrible idea that would not work. Just ask top Wall Street executives, including the CEO of Goldman Sachs who said publicly and unequivocally that prioritizing bond payments would still create ``insurmountable uncertainty for investors,'' causing a spike in interest rates that would immediately increase monthly payments on student loans, mortgages, other personal debt, and would cripple job growth. Like it or not, the threat of default will cause this country a lot of pain.

I want to make this absolutely clear: If we run out of money to pay our bills, the world will view this as the first default in the history of the United States. Wall Street and the global financial markets will view this as the first default in the history of the United States.

This fight is about financial responsibility. Financially responsible people don't charge thousands of dollars on their credit cards and then tear up the bill when it arrives. Financially responsible Nations don't do that either. When we put our name on the line saying that a debt is backed up by the full faith and credit of the United States, we follow through. We protect our good name. We protect our good credit.

For many things that we do in Congress, we can make a mistake and then back up and fix it. A default on our national debt is not one of those things. If we default and pay late, the damage could be irreversible.

The first time we flirted with default was the first time in history that America's credit rating fell. If we actually default, some economists estimate we will add $75 billion a year to the debt in additional interest payments. That is three-quarters of $1 trillion over the next 10 years. There are a lot of good things to do with that money. Flushing it down the drain is not one of them.

If we default on our debt, we could bring on a worldwide recession, a recession that would pummel hard-working middle-class people, people who lost their homes and jobs and retirement savings and who are barely getting back on their feet. Maybe we can escape a recession--maybe--but we are playing with the lives of every American, and it is not what the American people sent us to do. This is no time to act out dangerous fantasies.

We must raise the debt ceiling. We must raise it now. A bedrock financial principle of government is to tell the world that the United States always pays its debts in full and on time. That is who we are.

I thank the Chair, and I yield the floor.

Mr. President, we are now 3 days into a completely unnecessary, completely avoidable Republican shutdown, and there is more talk than ever about the inability of our leaders to find common ground on central, economic, and fiscal issues of our time.

This government shutdown is throwing a major wrench into a fragile economic recovery. Nearly 1 million Federal employees are sitting at home for no reason, and other public servants are working but not earning a paycheck. Cancer patients are being turned away from clinical trials at the NIH. Veterans' benefits are at risk. Basic nutrition services for pregnant women and new moms will be disrupted. Small businesses won't be able to get Federal loan guarantees. And all this is happening on top of the idiotic sequester--drastic, across-the-board spending cuts that have crippled Meals On Wheels, Head Start, and investments in medical research.

We all know how we got here. For years now we have heard a small minority in this country rail against government. When I hear the latest tirades from some of the extremists in the House, I am struck by how vague these complaints are. From their rhetoric, one would think they believed that anytime we, the people, come together to improve our lives, the Nation is committing some terrible wrong. From their rhetoric, one would think they believe that the government that functions best is a government that doesn't function at all. So far, they haven't ended government, but they have achieved the next best thing--shutting the government down.

But behind all the slogans of the tea party and all the thinly veiled calls for anarchy in Washington, behind all that there is a reality. The American people don't want the extremist Republicans' bizarre vision of a future without government. They don't support it. Why? Because the American people know that without government, we would no longer be a great nation with a bright future. The American people know that government matters.

The anarchy gang is quick to malign government, but when was the last time anyone called for regulators to go easier on companies that put lead in children's toys or for food inspectors to stop checking whether the meat in our grocery stores is crawling with deadly bacteria or for the FDA to ignore whether morning sickness drugs will cause horrible deformities in little babies? We never hear that--not from political leaders in Washington and not from the American people. In fact, whenever the anarchy gang makes headway in their efforts to damage our government, the opposite happens. After the sequester kicked in, Republicans immediately turned around and called on the technical funding for our national defense and to keep the air traffic controllers on the job.

Now that the House Republicans have shut down the government, holding the country hostage because of some imaginary health care bogeyman, Republicans almost immediately turned around and called on us to start reopening parts of our government. Why did they do this? Because the bogeyman ``government'' is like the bogeyman under the bed. It is not real. It doesn't exist.

What is real and what does exist are all the important work we as Americans have chosen to do together through our government. In our democracy, government is not some make-believe thing that has an independent will of its own. In our democracy, government is just how we describe what we, the people, have already decided to do together. It is not complicated. Our government has three basic functions: provide for the national defense; put in place rules of the road, such as speed limits, and bank regulations that are fair and transparent; and build that which none of us can build alone--roads, power grids, schools--that which gives everyone a chance to succeed.

We are a nation of innovators and entrepreneurs, growing small businesses and thriving big businesses. But our people succeed, our country succeeds because we have all come together to put public institutions and infrastructure together. We all decided to pass laws and put cops on the beat so that no one steals a purse on Main Street or a pension on Wall Street. We all decided to invest in public education so that businesses have skilled workers and a kid with an idea can create the next breakthrough company. We all decided to invest in basic science so there is a great pipeline of ideas to create our future. These achievements aren't magic. They didn't simply occur on their own or through dumb luck. In each instance we made a choice as a people to come together.

The Food and Drug Administration makes sure the white pills we take are antibiotics and not baking soda. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration oversees crash tests to make sure all new cars have effective brakes. The Consumer Product Safety Commission makes sure babies' car seats don't collapse in a crash and toasters don't explode. We don't know who they are, but there is no question that there are Americans alive today, Americans who are healthier, Americans who are stronger, because of these and countless other government efforts--alive, healthier, stronger because of what we did together.

The anarchy gang in the House can dump on their make-believe version of government all they want, but when the real government fails to live up to the high expectations we have all set for it, politicians in both parties rush to outrage. Why? Because the American people know government can work and believe government should work.

Today--that is right, today--marks the fifth anniversary of President Bush signing the bank bailout into law. That financial crisis cost us upwards of $14 trillion--that is trillion with a ``t.'' That is $120,000 for every American household--more than 2 years' worth of income for the average family. Billions of dollars in retirement savings have disappeared, millions of workers lost their jobs, and millions more families lost their homes.

In April 2011, after a 2-year bipartisan inquiry, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations released a 635-page report that made it plain: Regulators could have and should have used their existing tools to prevent the crisis. Republicans and Democrats, a bipartisan group, found strong agreement that--we better believe it-- government matters.

The attacks on government are abstract, but the consequences of this shutdown are real: less accountability for cheaters and rule-breakers, less opportunity for our children, cracks in the foundations that businesses need to succeed, and a tilted playing field that limits opportunities for all of our people.

We know that government doesn't always work. We know no institution is infallible. People make mistakes, ideas fail, and sometimes we get it wrong. But our response isn't to give up. Our response isn't to sit back and say: I told you so. We are not a nation of quitters. Our response, the American response, is to fix it, to make government work better.

Our democracy is an experiment, and it is always evolving. We constantly redesign and reimagine and improve on what we do together. But time and time again throughout our history we have reaffirmed the simple truth that government matters. Right now, right at this moment, if we look closely, we will see that we are reaffirming it once again. It is not an accident that the desire to shut down government is confined to one extremist faction of one political party of one Chamber of Congress of one branch of government. It is not an accident that this extremist faction must resort to absurd hostage tactics--threats to turn off the government, threats to default on our debt, threats to tank the economy--to force their views on everyone else. It is not an accident that this faction is doing everything in its power to make government appear dysfunctional.

In a democracy, these hostage tactics are the last resort for those who can't win their fights through elections, can't win their fights through Congress, can't win their fights for the Presidency, and can't win their fights in courts. But these threats are not working and they will never work because this is a democracy, and for more than 200 years our democracy has defeated extremists and rejected the idea that government does not matter.

So to those who have forced us to the brink, to those who rail against a make-believe government, to those who seem to rejoice in anarchy, to those who have salivated at the chance to shut down our government because their extremist views have left them disconnected from the experiences of the American people, it is time to hear a simple message:

You can do your best to make government look like it does not work when you stop it from working, you can do your best to make government look paralyzed when you paralyze it, you can do your best to make government look incompetent through your incompetence and through your ineffectiveness, but sooner or later the government will reopen because this is a democracy and this democracy has already rejected your views.

We have already chosen to work together because we all know we are stronger when we come together. And when this government reopens, when our markets are safe again, when our scientists can return to their research, when our small businesses can borrow, when our veterans can be respected for their service, when our flu shots resume and our Head Start programs get back to teaching our kids, we will have rejected your views once again.

We are not a country of anarchists. We are not a country of pessimists and ideologues whose motto is ``I got mine. The rest of you are on your own.'' We are not a country that tolerates dangerous drugs, unsafe meat, dirty air, or toxic mortgages. We are not that nation, we have never been that nation, and we will never be that nation.

Today, a political minority in the House that condemns government and begged for this shutdown has had its day. But like all the reckless and extremist factions that have come before it, their day will pass and our democracy will return to the important work we have already chosen to do together.

I thank the Chair.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time for morning business with debate only be extended until 8 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, and that the majority leader be recognized at 8 p.m.

Madam President, I come to the floor today in a state of disbelief. With millions of people out of work, with an economic recovery still far too fragile, with students and families being crushed by student loan debt, with millions of seniors denied their chance at one hot meal a day, with Meals On Wheels, and millions of little children pushed out of Head Start because of a sequester, with the country hours away from a government shutdown and days away from a potential default on the Nation's debt, the Republicans have decided that the single most important issue facing our Nation is to change the law so employers can deny women access to birth control coverage.

In fact, letting employers decide whether women can get birth control covered on their insurance plans is so important that the Republicans are willing to shutter the government and potentially tank the economy, over whether women can get access to birth control in the year 2013,-- not the year 1913, the year 2013.

I have a daughter and I have granddaughters, and I will never vote to let a group of backward-looking ideologues cut women's access to birth control. We have lived in that world and we are not going back--not ever.

This assault on birth control is just one more piece of an ongoing Republican assault on the orderly functioning of our government and the orderly functioning of our economy. In effect, the Republicans are trying to take the government and the economy hostage, threatening serious damage to both unless the President agrees to gut the Affordable Care Act.

This assault is utterly bizarre. Congress passed the Affordable Care Act to solve real, honest-to-God problems. Our health care system is broken. Forty-eight million people in this country had no health insurance. Women couldn't get access to cancer screenings. People with diabetes were denied health insurance because of a preexisting condition. People with cancer hit the caps on health insurance spending. Health care spending in this country was growing way too fast. So we worked hard. We compromised. We came up with a solution--a solution that will substantially improve the lives of millions of Americans--because that is the way democracy works.

It is time to end the debate about whether the Affordable Care Act should exist and whether it should be funded. Congress voted for this law. President Obama signed this law. The Supreme Court upheld this law. The President ran for reelection on this law. In fact, his opponent said he would repeal it and his opponent lost by 5 million votes.

I see things such as this and I wonder what alternate reality some of my colleagues are living in. So let me be very clear about what is happening in the real world. The ACA is the law of the land. Millions of people are counting on it--people who need health care coverage, people who need insurance policies that do not disappear just when they are their sickest. Women will get insurance coverage for birth control. The law is here to stay, and it will stay. Earlier today the Senate emphasized that reality by flatly rejecting the Republicans' newest ransom note, just as we did last week.

We should be having a real debate about our budget because we have real problems to solve. Earlier this year automatic across-the-board cuts went into effect throughout the Federal Government. That is the sequester. The sequester hits American families where they live. During my visits to cities and towns across Massachusetts, I have heard from families, small business owners, and community development organizations--from the Berkshires to the Cape. They tell me what it is like trying to stay afloat with mindless, across-the-board spending cuts weighing them down.

More than a thousand employees at Westover Air Force Base and Barnes Air National Guard Base in western Massachusetts are facing furloughs. This fall, more than 2,000 Massachusetts kids could not get into Head Start because of cuts, and the Head Start Program in Billerica will close completely at the end of this year. Federal workers across our State stand to lose as much as 30 percent of their salaries. Every one of those losses will tighten family budgets. And when families make less money, they have less to spend with local merchants and less money to pay off bills and less money to save and less money to do all that keeps our economy humming.

In fact, the Congressional Budget Office says ending the sequester would add 900,000 jobs to the economy by the end of next year. Next time you think about someone you know who is looking for a job or who is working part time but hoping to get full-time work, think about the 900,000 jobs the sequester has destroyed.

Scientists and medical researchers in Massachusetts are also getting pounded by the sequester. They are working hard to expand our medical knowledge and develop new cures for devastating diseases. They are working on discoveries that will help us in ways we cannot even imagine. Yet here we are, bluntly hacking away at their funding, delaying their research, and cutting off promising new work before it even starts--not because we have to, not because it is inevitable, but because Washington has its priorities all wrong, and it is making some truly terrible decisions.

Consider the Framingham Heart Study. It is a generations-long study of the causes of heart disease, a study that has helped create groundbreaking advancements in medical knowledge. There are people across this country who are alive today in part because of the work that began with this study. This study continues to yield extraordinary results, but it is scheduled to lose 40 percent of its funding--40 percent. Next time you think of someone you love who has heart trouble, think about the sequester cutting one of the world premier heart research programs.

Senate Democrats have put forward alternatives that would adequately fund the government while also addressing our budget deficits. Back in March the Senate passed a budget that would have ended the sequester. It was not easy. We had to make some compromises. No one loved everything in the final bill, but we debated it and we passed it. This is what Congress is supposed to do. But after we did all of that, Senate Republicans decided to filibuster the budget again and blocked us from going to conference with the House on the final bill. That is just pure obstruction, plain and simple.

In July the Senate attempted to pass the first of several appropriations bills to keep the government open and to end the sequester. We had a bipartisan Transportation and Housing bill that would have helped repair crumbling roads and bridges in our communities. It would have created more jobs, and it would have rolled back sequestration in these programs. But, once again, Senate Republicans filibustered and blocked that bill.

Now we are just hours from the government running out of money. We have not fixed the sequester because of all the obstruction. We have not finished a budget because of all the obstruction. We have not even passed a single appropriations bill because of all the obstruction.

The least we can do--the bare minimum we can do--would be to pass a continuing resolution to keep the doors open and the lights on. We can ensure that over a million Federal workers are not simply sent home for no reason. We can avoid a government shutdown. But the Republicans have refused to do even that. They have continued to threaten to shutter the government unless the President agrees to gut the Affordable Care Act. The Senate rejected that position twice. Yet the Republican response has been to continue to threaten to shut down the government.

These threats may continue, but they are not working, and they will never work because this is democracy, and in a democracy hostage tactics are the last resort for those who cannot win their fights through elections, cannot win their fights in Congress, cannot win their fights for the Presidency, and cannot win their fights in the courts. For this rightwing minority, hostage taking is all they have left--a last gasp for those who cannot cope with the realities of our democracy.

The time has come for those legislators who cannot cope with the reality of our democracy to get out of the way so that those of us in both parties who understand the American people sent us here to work for them can get back to work solving real problems faced by the American people. We have real work to do, and that is what we should be doing.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I am proud to come to the floor today to welcome my colleague Ed Markey on giving his first speech on the floor of the Senate.

Long before I became a U.S. Senator, Ed Markey was in the House of Representatives, became the dean of the Massachusetts delegation, and has been out there working for the families of Massachusetts and the families of this country. He has been a leader on issues ranging from energy and the environment to technology and telecommunications, and he knows how to get things done. That is very inspiring.

I just wanted to come by today to listen to his first speech, congratulate him on his first speech, and to say how much I am looking forward to working with my partner Ed Markey in the Senate. We are going to do our best to get something done.

Congratulations.