Floor Statements

Mr. President, I rise today to share an incredible story about a community working together in the aftermath of a powerful storm in Billings, MT.

The storm that occurred on Father's Day spawned at least one tornado that touched down in Billings Heights, blowing apart several businesses and one of the city's most familiar buildings.

If my colleagues will take a look, this is a picture of what the inside of Rimrock Auto Arena looks like today. You can see the tornado ripped off the roof. Thousands and thousands of folks have memories from inside this building, from concerts to sporting events to graduations.

This picture was taken by Larry Mayer, a photographer for the Billings Gazette. Minutes after the tornado tore through, emergency responders, as my colleagues can see, arrived on the scene to keep folks away from the debris in the streets.

The wind twisted guardrails around light poles. The rain turned streets into rivers. Golf ball-sized hail came crashing down.

In our part of the country, we are used to extreme weather--subzero cold, drought, snow, and severe thunderstorms--but a tornado tearing through the middle of Montana's largest city is pretty darn rare. Through it all, only one minor injury was reported, and that was due to hail.

While we stand together in support of the folks who lost their businesses and their property last Sunday, we are grateful no one died. Nobody lost their home. I attribute that to a lot of luck and to quick action and smart decisions by emergency responders in Billings and in Yellowstone County.

Immediately after the clouds lifted, officers kept onlookers out of harm's way. More than a dozen National Guardsmen immediately secured the area, answering a late night call on Father's Day. News reporters went to work sharing the story. Unelected leaders, from councilmen to commissioners, buckled down to hammer out the next steps.

This week, people across the country opened their newspapers and turned on their TVs to see the incredible pictures from Billings, MT. They saw what happens when a community works together in the aftermath of a storm such as this. Everyone lived to share their story, and the community grew stronger because of it.

It is not just Billings that felt the force of wild weather this last week. Further north, the community of Rocky Boy's Indian Reservation is still trying to tally up the damage after a powerful rain storm last Thursday night. In the nearby Bear Paw Mountains, there is word that water wiped out entire roads. Dozens of families in the area were forced out of their homes, and roads were destroyed.

Last week, a microburst destroyed a home near Froid, MT. Ramona Ryder, the woman who lived in a residence there, died in that storm.

Of course, Montana is a State where agriculture is not just the top industry, it is the livelihood of thousands of families. Weather takes its toll on crops and soil and irrigation. But over the past week, we have seen unusual weather across the Big Sky State, and we can expect more of it. From farmers to tribal communities to folks who live in Montana's biggest cities, it impacts everyone.

Now we begin the process of rebuilding the businesses and the familiar buildings destroyed by these storms.

I ask the Presiding Officer and all of my colleagues to stand with me to offer any support we can to the Billings and Rocky Boy's communities and to those folks up in the Bear Paw Mountains and especially to the folks who have to start from scratch because, as we know all too well in Montana, it takes working together to rebuild, and we will become stronger.

With that, Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum, and I ask unanimous consent that the time during the quorum call be divided equally between the Democrats and Republicans.

Mr. President, today I announce to the Senate that after 24 years as chief of staff for the VA Montana Health Care System, Dr. Faust M. Alvarez, MD, has decided to retire. Dr. Alvarez was appointed chief of staff in August 1986 and continued in that position until April 30, 2010. He began his career as a staff physician at Fort Harrison Medical Center in 1984. Prior to joining the VA system he was engaged in private practice in the city of Helena for 12 years. During this time he founded and directed the first Montana hemodialysis unit and renal program at St. Peter's Hospital.

When Dr. Alvarez became the chief of staff at the VA, he sought to provide Montana's veterans with a high quality standard of care, and to provide easier access to medical services. These were challenging goals given that the VA Montana Health Care System has only one hospital and Montana is the fourth largest State geographically. Furthermore Montana has the second largest per capita veteran populations in the country. Through hard work and dedication, he and his staff have achieved these goals and have made the VA Montana Health Care System what it is today.

In 1988 Dr. Alvarez began expanding services for veterans by creating satellite clinics. The first clinics were opened in Anaconda and Kalispell. Today the VA Montana Health Care System has a presence in every major city in the state through 12 satellite outpatient facilities. Three of these facilities have telemedicine access and more are to be activated.

Through Dr. Alvarez's leadership and the hard working personnel of VA Montana, the VA Montana Medical System has been recognized on numerous occasions for its quality medical services. In 2005 the VA Montana was selected as the Nation's VA hospital of the year. Dr. Alvarez believes that Montana's veterans should expect and receive the highest quality medical care and services, and he has strived to ensure this expectation is met. By hiring board certified medical personnel, acquiring new state of the art equipment and incorporating current medical trends into the provision of healthcare services at VA Montana, Dr. Alvarez, and his staff, have made the VA Montana Health Care System the facility of choice for veterans across the State.

I thank Dr. Alvarez for his dedicated years of service. We are all proud of his accomplishments at VA Montana and the positive affect that the VA has had across the State during his tenure. I appreciate his initiative and hard work to continually improve medical services for Montana's veterans and to ensure our veterans receive appropriate care. I am certain that those who come after will maintain the same level of commitment and leadership.

Dr. Alvarez is a fellow of the American College of Physicians, an honorary designation recognizing scholarly and professional achievements in internal medicine. Dr. Alvarez was appointed by various Governors of the State of Montana to the State Board of Medical Examiners where he served for a total of 18 years.

Dr. Alvarez is retired from the U.S. Army Reserve where he served as a colonel and regional flight surgeon. He was also State medical commander for the Montana National Guard as well as flight surgeon to the 189th Aviation Battalion. During his service he received multiple decorations, including five Commendation Medals and five Meritorious Service Medals. Upon retirement, he received the Legion of Merit for exceptional meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements.

Dr. Alvarez and his wife of 43 years, Marie, have been dedicated to and are actively involved in the Helena community. They created the Dr. Faust M. & Marie Alvarez Scholarship in 1975. It is awarded annually to a deserving Carroll College student demonstrating academic integrity and financial need majoring in biology or a health-field program. Dr. Alvarez has also served as a member of the Regional Airport Board and as a senior FAA medical examiner. Both he and Marie are pilots. He also enjoys restoring classic automobiles and building fine wood furniture. He has five daughters and four grandchildren.

Dr. Alvarez has been an outstanding civil servant. I thank him for his service and what he has done for Montana's veterans. I wish him and his wife the best in their future endeavors.

Mr. President, I rise to speak in strong support of Senator Bennet's amendment to begin winding down the Wall Street bailout once and for all.

I also want to express my appreciation for Senator Bennet's effectiveness and stick-to-itiveness in working on this for some time and being able to get this through. This is a very important amendment. As Senator Bennet has said, it will not solve our debt problems, but it is a step in the right direction. I appreciate his vision and leadership.

Montanans were disgusted by the reckless actions of big, greedy Wall Street banks that brought this country to the brink of another Depression.

I voted against both the bailouts of Wall Street and the U.S. auto industry because I thought taxpayers were getting a raw deal. I don't believe in bailouts.

Why? Whether you are a family farmer or a hot-shot executive, the opportunity that allows us to fail is the same opportunity that allows us to succeed.

And America's taxpayers--Main Street small businesses and working families--should never have to pay for the sins of Wall Street.

That is why I am pleased to join Senator Bennet on this amendment to ensure that we get the maximum value for the taxpayer dollars spent through the TARP bailout.

I opposed the bailout then and I oppose it now. But at a minimum, we should recapture taxpayer investments and unused Recovery Act funds to pay down the debt.

This amendment not only achieves that but also begins to wind down TARP by reducing its authority by over $190 billion. And it prevents the Treasury from redirecting funds for other purposes.

The amendment would also establish a sunset for unused Recovery Act funds and improve oversight of unused funds.

Additionally, it would ensure that the proceeds from taxpayer investments in Fannie and Freddie are used to pay down the debt.

We have a commitment to the American people to spend their hard- earned money as wisely as we would spend our own.

Our national debt is something both parties have ignored for far too long. How do we get our arms around it?

It is going to take smart--and very tough--decisions. It is going to take working together. and it is going to take rebuilding our economy by creating jobs and new opportunities, not more taxpayer-funded bailouts.

This amendment will get things back on track to return taxpayer dollars. And to begin paying down the debt that we have inherited.

Once again, I thank Senator Bennet for his leadership.

With that, I yield the floor.

Madam President, first of all, I wish to thank the Senator from Massachusetts for his comments. I very much appreciate his cosponsorship and support of this amendment. I also wish to thank Senator Hutchison for her hard work on this amendment. I very much appreciate her ability to get things done in a fair way, and I thank her very much for that.

Senator Hutchison and I have come to the floor several times to talk about this bipartisan, commonsense amendment to hold banks accountable for their behavior and to preserve the integrity of the FDIC deposit insurance fund. It has been said before that this would direct the FDIC to base assessments on assets rather than deposits, forcing big banks to pay their fair share into the fund. This amendment will ensure that the community banks that make rural America run will pay only their fair share into the fund--no more and no less--fixing the lopsided system we have now. It would also protect the integrity of the deposit insurance fund, which is critically important, ensuring that it has the resources to be self-sufficient and prepared to address any future crises.

Let me say, Senator Hutchison and I think this amendment makes a great deal of common sense, as do the other 13 cosponsors of this legislation. I am pleased we are joined by so many of our colleagues on this important amendment and that it is one of the first amendments up for consideration. It is a question of equity. It is a question of making sure the FDIC insurance fund is solvent for years and decades to come.

I wish to thank all the people who have cosponsored it, and once again let me thank Senator Hutchison as well as the chairman of the Banking Committee, Senator Dodd, for working with us on this amendment.

Madam President, is it appropriate to ask for the yeas and nays?

Mr. President, I inquire of Senator Dodd, at this point in time, does he want me call up my amendment No. 3749 or just talk about it?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment, and I call up amendment No. 3749.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mr. President, I rise to urge my colleagues to support the Tester-Hutchison amendment. My colleague from Texas and I came to the floor yesterday to talk about this bipartisan, commonsense amendment to hold banks accountable for their behavior and to preserve the integrity of the FDIC deposit insurance fund.

Our amendment would force big banks to pay their fair share of insurance by basing assessments on assets rather than deposits. It would fix the lopsided assessment system that we have now, which unfairly burdens our community banks. It would ensure that the FDIC has the necessary resources to maintain the health of the deposit insurance fund.

Senator Hutchison and I think this amendment makes a good deal of common sense. I am pleased this is one of the first amendments up for consideration because it highlights the fact that Democrats and Republicans do agree on ways we can strengthen what is already a very good bill. Senator Hutchison and I are joined by Senators Conrad, Murray, Burris, Brown of Massachusetts, Harkin, Shaheen, Cornyn, Johanns, Nelson of Florida, and Nelson of Nebraska in offering this important bipartisan amendment.

After working on this bill for months with the good Senator Dodd and the Banking Committee, I am pleased we are finally getting an opportunity to debate this bill and move it forward.

I know there are a number of other bipartisan amendments like this one where Members can join together to work to improve this bill. I look forward to considering them also.

With that, when the time is right, when leadership has agreed, I hope we can get a vote on amendment No. 3749.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise today to talk about amendment No. 3749, the Tester-Hutchison amendment.

Before I talk about this amendment, I want to thank Chairman Dodd for his work on a very strong Wall Street reform bill. I think his work has been very much appreciated by me and other members of the Banking Committee. I look forward to getting to this bill and making it even stronger and passing it out of this body to the President and into law.

This amendment would lift a burden inappropriately placed on our community banks in this country.

These are the banks that make rural America run. They do not deserve to be left holding the bag for the risky behavior of big banks.

What the Tester-Hutchison amendment does is hold big banks accountable for their actions by basing FDIC deposit insurance premiums on risk.

Our amendment would force big banks to pay their fair share of insurance. And it would fix the lopsided assessment system that we currently have--which unfairly burdens community banks.

The recent turmoil in the financial sector has placed significant strains on the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund--the first line of defense and resource tapped to provide assistance to troubled federally insured banks.

Since the beginning of 2008, the FDIC has closed 229 banks, including 7 banks last week. That has left a wake of devastation that has impacted the entire banking system.

Some of the larger failures--including those of IndyMac and Bank United--caused significant destruction. They have left the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund depleted and destabilized. In fact, the fund began the year with a negative balance of over $20 billion.

Why is that? We now know that some of these institutions were engaged in risky activities--some far beyond the traditional depository functions.

But, because the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund was still based solely on the institution's deposits--rather than assets, the fund wasn't able to take into account the impact that this risky behavior would have on the fund.

In fact, under the current system, community banks pay 30 percent of total FDIC premiums while only holding 20 percent of the Nation's banking assets.

Let me repeat that Mr. President. Under the current system, community banks pay 30 percent of total FDIC premiums while only holding 20 percent of the Nation's banking assets.

Our bipartisan amendment brings some common sense back into the equation.

The FDIC--and the fund--have never faced such troubling times. In light of these failures, the FDIC was forced to make emergency, upfront assessments on all banks to protect the integrity of the Fund.

Montana banks didn't get involved in this risky behavior--they didn't offer subprime mortgages or sell sophisticated financial instruments meant to manipulate markets.

But Montana banks, like community banks around the country, have had to pay the price for the risky behavior of the larger banks that destabilized the fund.

Mike Richter, President and CEO of the State Bank of Townsend in Townsend, MT, tells me that because of the emergency assessments in December, his bank had to prepay 3 year's worth of premiums--3 years.

For the Bank of Townsend, that was a bill of $190,000 on top of the $70,000 that he already paid in 2009 assessments. I am no banker, but I know that is no way to run a business.

When I think about the impact that the community banks have in my State and the role that they play--originating mortgages and providing small businesses and farms with credit--it pains me to see them suffer as a

result of the risky activities of larger banks.

That is why I have teamed up with my friend from Texas, Senator Hutchison, as well as Senators Conrad, Murray, Burris, Brown of Massachusetts, Harkin and Shaheen in offering this important, bipartisan amendment.

We want to ensure that the FDIC implements a genuine risk-based assessment system to protect the health of the Deposit Insurance Fund and to ensure equity among FDIC-insured institutions.

This amendment builds on the underlying language included in the bill, directing the FDIC to base assessments on assets rather than deposits.

Specifically, the amendment would require the FDIC to implement this change, rather than permitting them to make the change as in the current language.

It also further shifts the assessment base formula to benefit community banks by eliminating ``long term unsecured debt'' as a factor in calculating assessments. And it includes language directing the FDIC to implement risk based assessments for banker's banks and custodial banks which have different structures than traditional banks.

The FDIC has already taken a step forward in recognizing the risks that larger banks pose to the Deposit Insurance Fund, voting to base their emergency assessments on a bank's assets rather than deposits.

The Independent Community Bankers of America also support this amendment. They believe that it will codify these important changes and bring greater equity to the assessment base.

In closing, let me say how much I appreciate all of the work of my colleague from Texas, Senator Hutchison, and how much I appreciate the committee's willingness to work with us on this important amendment.

I yield the floor.

I will.

I very much thank Senator Dodd. I think he is right. It is about equity. It is about assessing the premiums for the FDIC insurance fund to the banks that pose the most risk. Community banks are not among them. They played by the rules, they have done things right, and they have not tried to manipulate the market. I very much appreciate my colleague's comments and appreciate his support.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Blackfeet Water Settlement Act of 2010 with my friend and colleague, Senator Baucus. The bill will ratify the water rights compact negotiated for two decades by the Blackfeet Tribe, State of Montana and U.S. It will improve water infrastructure in the local area and, more importantly, create a self-sustaining homeland for the Blackfeet Nation. The bill enjoys broad support on the local, regional and national level. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it this year.

The time to implement this legislation is now. The United States and Blackfeet Tribe created the Blackfeet Reservation by treaty over 150 years ago. Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that in creating Indian reservations, the government must provide enough water to sustain a permanent homeland for the American Indians living on them. This legislation will fulfill that law.

By ratifying the compact, this bill provides water for domestic and municipal use, irrigation and livestock, and for developing Reservation resources. It will also provide water to sustain reservation wildlife and fisheries located in the majestic Rocky Mountains, next door to Glacier National Park. Enacting this bill not only establishes the Tribe's federally reserved water rights, paper water, but also authorizes resources to construct the infrastructure that will deliver water to Reservation users, wet water.

The process of building critical infrastructure authorized by this bill will also create valuable reservation jobs, where the unemployment rate regularly reaches 70-80 percent. It authorizes funds to rehabilitate the Blackfeet Irrigation Project, construct water storage facilities, repair community water systems and promote economic development.

The bill enjoys strong support in Montana. The State of Montana ratified the Blackfeet Water Compact in 2009. The Montana Legislature has already appropriated $15 million toward the overall Blackfeet settlement. Most recently, the state supports provisions in this bill that commit it to provide an additional $10 million.

This bill is long past due. As Justice Hugo Black said in the 1960 Tuscarora

case: ``Great nations, like great men, should keep their word.'' It is time for this great Nation to keep its word to the Blackfeet people. Senator Baucus and I introduce this bill to do just that. With adequate water, infrastructure and jobs, the Blackfeet Nation will take another step to a secure future for many years to come.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Blackfeet Water Settlement Act of 2010 with my friend and colleague, Senator Baucus. The bill will ratify the water rights compact negotiated for two decades by the Blackfeet Tribe, State of Montana and U.S. It will improve water infrastructure in the local area and, more importantly, create a self-sustaining homeland for the Blackfeet Nation. The bill enjoys broad support on the local, regional and national level. I look forward to working with my colleagues to enact it this year.

The time to implement this legislation is now. The United States and Blackfeet Tribe created the Blackfeet Reservation by treaty over 150 years ago. Over 100 years ago, the U.S. Supreme Court held that in creating Indian reservations, the government must provide enough water to sustain a permanent homeland for the American Indians living on them. This legislation will fulfill that law.

By ratifying the compact, this bill provides water for domestic and municipal use, irrigation and livestock, and for developing Reservation resources. It will also provide water to sustain reservation wildlife and fisheries located in the majestic Rocky Mountains, next door to Glacier National Park. Enacting this bill not only establishes the Tribe's federally reserved water rights, paper water, but also authorizes resources to construct the infrastructure that will deliver water to Reservation users, wet water.

The process of building critical infrastructure authorized by this bill will also create valuable reservation jobs, where the unemployment rate regularly reaches 70-80 percent. It authorizes funds to rehabilitate the Blackfeet Irrigation Project, construct water storage facilities, repair community water systems and promote economic development.

The bill enjoys strong support in Montana. The State of Montana ratified the Blackfeet Water Compact in 2009. The Montana Legislature has already appropriated $15 million toward the overall Blackfeet settlement. Most recently, the state supports provisions in this bill that commit it to provide an additional $10 million.

This bill is long past due. As Justice Hugo Black said in the 1960 Tuscarora

case: ``Great nations, like great men, should keep their word.'' It is time for this great Nation to keep its word to the Blackfeet people. Senator Baucus and I introduce this bill to do just that. With adequate water, infrastructure and jobs, the Blackfeet Nation will take another step to a secure future for many years to come.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Second Amendment Enforcement Act of 2010 with Senators McCain, Begich, Bennett, Brownback, Burr, Chambliss, Graham, Hatch and Wicker to codify the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled Washington, DC's, decades-old ban on firearms unconstitutional. This bill will repeal the District of Columbia's restrictions on semiautomatic firearms, current gun storage law and complicated firearms registration system. It will ensure that law- abiding persons in Washington, DC, are able to fully exercise their Second Amendment rights just like all other Americans.

My cosponsors and I, all signers of the bipartisan friend-of-the- court brief for District of Columbia v. Heller, urging the Court to support gun rights, think this is a very important bill and we welcome our colleagues' support.

Mr. President, I rise today to introduce the Second Amendment Enforcement Act of 2010 with Senators McCain, Begich, Bennett, Brownback, Burr, Chambliss, Graham, Hatch and Wicker to codify the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision District of Columbia v. Heller, which ruled Washington, DC's, decades-old ban on firearms unconstitutional. This bill will repeal the District of Columbia's restrictions on semiautomatic firearms, current gun storage law and complicated firearms registration system. It will ensure that law- abiding persons in Washington, DC, are able to fully exercise their Second Amendment rights just like all other Americans.

My cosponsors and I, all signers of the bipartisan friend-of-the- court brief for District of Columbia v. Heller, urging the Court to support gun rights, think this is a very important bill and we welcome our colleagues' support.

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

Madam President, I assume we are in morning business and we can proceed.

I ask unanimous consent that I would be allowed to speak and that the time be charged to the majority.

Madam President, I rise to talk a little bit about the Wall Street reform bill that the Senate Banking Committee has been working on for the last 6 months. It is my hope we can get this bill through this body and off the floor very soon.

In the past 48 hours, I have been very encouraged by what I have heard as far as the progress of negotiations between Chairman Dodd and Senator Shelby. I urge my colleagues to keep up the good work but remind them that actions speak louder than words and that now is the time for action.

So my message is clear. Let's get this done. I hope we are now at a point beyond creating rhetoric, where we can get down to resolving outstanding issues in a constructive way. We need to end the era of too big to fail once and for all and end taxpayer-funded bailouts that came with that too big to fail.

I voted against both bailouts of Wall Street and the U.S. auto industry because I thought taxpayers were getting a raw deal. I do not believe in bailouts. But I do believe in making sure there are referees on Wall Street to make sure the big banks and the investment firms play by the rules to make sure taxpayers and Main Street small businesses do not pay the price of the sins of Wall Street.

The strong resolution authority and prefunding mechanism included in this bill will strengthen taxpayer protections. Requiring big Wall Street companies to pay into this fund and forcing failing firms into bankruptcy is not going to lead to more bailouts; it, in fact, will have the opposite effect.

But if my Republican colleagues have other ideas about how to provide strong resolution authority to protect taxpayers, I look forward to working with them. So let's stop the rhetoric and get down to the business our constituents sent us to do. We need to address the worst financial calamity since the Great Depression.

Let me also say how much I appreciate the work of my colleagues who have been willing to talk in a thoughtful way about these issues. I wish to say thank you to Senator Corker for speaking the truth, for rightly noting that some of the concerns that have been raised in this bill could have been resolved in 5 minutes.

After listening to some of my colleagues on the floor yesterday, I think our concerns may be more alike than unalike. I am hopeful we can work together to address common concerns.

Everyone knows we have a pretty good bill. My good friend, Senator Shelby, says he agrees with 80 to 90 percent of what is in this bill. I am heartened by the newspapers yesterday that we may be close to an agreement. I hope that means we now have the political will to address substantive concerns and move forward with this bill.

When I was elected to the Senate, I vowed to make Washington look a little bit more like Montana. I hope we can show the people of Montana we have the can-do attitude they expect in addressing problems of this magnitude and in moving America out of this financial crisis.

The American people are watching. Montanans are still steaming mad about the $700 billion bailout. I, similar to them, have a hard time understanding why we have not set the rules yet, rules to prevent the risky behavior that got us into this mess nearly 2 years ago.

Let me say to all my friends in this Chamber: We have waited long enough. We simply cannot afford to wait any longer to reform Wall Street. Doing nothing is not an option. Passing a watered-down version of this bill is also not an option. To do either of those would leave us in a vulnerable position, vulnerable to another collapse.

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

Madam President, I thank my colleague for the recognition and for his leadership and his ability to see through the fog that has been created here in the Senate.

You know I am a farmer. Most folks in this body know I am a farmer and I have been my entire life. One of the things farmers can't deal with is idle hands. When there is work to be done, you roll up your sleeves and you get out there and you get the work done. In Montana, right now it is planting season, and the folks there who are in agriculture--as with small businesses and working families, but in agriculture particularly--are looking at either getting their fields ready or they are in the field putting seeds in the ground because the work is there and it has to be done. You have an opportunity to do it, and you do it.

Well, it is planting season in the Senate all the time. Whether it is creating jobs or turning the economy around or fixing health care or whatever it may be, we have important work to do. The folks on the other side of the aisle, I guess, are watching the clouds roll by, because the fact is, it is time to go to work. Obstructionism is not something that takes a lot of skill, but getting things done requires hard work, and it is time to get things done.

These judicial appointments we have to do right now in the Senate are critically important. They are critically important for this country and for the process to work, and yet they are being held up for literally no reason whatsoever or just because they can be held up.

Let me give a quick statistic, because we always compare what goes on in past administrations. I can tell you that in the first 2 years of the Bush Presidency he had 100 circuit and district court nominations confirmed. To date, President Obama has had 18 over 2 years in. This is idle work. Idle hands get nothing done. It is time to go to work in the Senate, it is time to do away with the obstructionism, and it is time to put the Senate back on the side of the people.

Mr. President, I was wondering if the Senator from Ohio would yield for just a few questions.

One of the previous speakers spoke about President Obama taking over our health care system with government health care. In the Senate bill we passed and that the House is about to take up, is there government health care in that bill?

Absolutely. We have Medicare and the VA and TRICARE and those kinds of things.

As far as government taking over the health care system, is there anything in the bill that would create anything different than we have now?

How about health care costs overall in this country. Does the Senator see those health care costs, if we do nothing, declining or going up?

Exactly. How about insurance companies. If we do nothing, is there going to be accountability for health insurance companies in this country?

What happens to Medicare? If we do nothing, where is it headed?

Isn't it a fair statement that doing nothing is not an option here?

I thank the Senator for his comments.

I rise today with some startling news from the State of Montana. I do not think it is singular to the State of Montana. It is news that drives home the need to get a handle on America's health care problem.

Being a Senator is a tough job, but it is not the toughest job I ever had. The toughest job I had was serving on a school board back in Big Sandy, MT. I also am a former teacher. So as a former school board member and a former teacher, I appreciate the long, hard, often thankless hours teachers put in. To say they are not the highest paid profession would be an understatement.

I was shocked when I heard about the bad news hitting teachers all across Montana. This week, my staff and I spoke with folks such as the ones in Elysian school district in Billings, MT. Employees there just received word that their health insurance rates are going up, and I mean way up. Normally, a big rate hike might be something like 10 percent or 20 percent. Sometimes we hear folks getting slammed for 30 percent or 40 percent. But the rates of the folks in Elysian are skyrocketing this year by 69 percent.

And you think that is bad. Talk with the folks in Hinsdale or Saco, MT. They just found out their rates are going up, too, by more than 70 percent. Then in the Nashua school district, rates are going up by 72 percent. The rate given to those employees who purchase family insurance is going up by 83 percent.

Let me repeat that. Health insurance rates are going up by 83 percent in 1 year. For those in Congress who think nothing is the best option when it comes to health care, I have one question: How much more of their paychecks are Montanans supposed to fork over before Congress finally reforms our broken health care system?

The folks I am talking about do not belong to any big nationwide corporate insurance system. They are not paying for anyone's big million dollar salaries or lobbyists or advertisements. It is just the cost of health care going through the roof that is breaking these Montana families.

For those in Congress who say the American people do not want or need reform, let them talk with the folks I

have talked with, such as the teachers seeing these rate increases, such as the Montanans being forced to sell their family farms and ranches because of medical bills, such as the Montana small business owners who cannot afford to insure their employees.

On Christmas Eve, I stood in this Chamber and cast a vote to keep government out of health care, to cut the national deficit, to hold insurance companies accountable, to strengthen Medicare, and to slow the rise of health care costs. I am very proud of that vote.

This week, after months of listening, debating, and voting, Congress has a chance to work together to get something done. If Congress does nothing, we know what will happen: Medicare will go bust. Costs will continue to break Montana families and this country, and no one will hold insurance companies accountable. And year after year, hard-working Montanans will continue to see more of their hard-earned paychecks eaten up by health care costs.

I am not in the do-nothing camp, especially when hard-working Montana families are trying to make ends meet with 83-percent rate hikes.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, due to a meeting at the White House today, I regret I was unable to make the vote on the motion to table the DeMint amendment No. 3454 to H.R. 1586, the legislative vehicle for FAA reauthorization. If present, I would have voted aye, to table the amendment.