Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I join my colleagues and thank the Senator from Missouri for her statement as somebody who has been involved in basically making sure the law is implemented and upheld too. I appreciate her views.

I thank Senator Mikulski for her leadership in advocating for equal pay for equal work. She has been a champion for many years and she is insistent now that we pass this legislation, and that is why we are here, because we want our colleagues to understand how important it is to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

I encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to support this legislation and end the discrimination many women face in America. This is a critical issue, not only for women but for men because, obviously, the households of America deserve to have both people making equal pay.

The message from the American people is clear: They want Congress to focus on the most important economic issues of the day; that is, jobs. And certainly having a job that pays you equally for the work you do with your coworkers is critically important.

The Paycheck Fairness Act is exactly what we should be working on, ways to strengthen the pocketbooks of many Americans.

While we have made progress over the past five decades since we passed the Equal Pay Act, we still have a long way to go. In my State, the State of Washington, women are paid 78 cents for every $1 that men earn for the same work. That amounts to an average wage gap of $11,000 per year. The truth is that many women are the breadwinners in their family, and they should be paid as breadwinners. They should not face discrimination.

Today women make up 48 percent of the workforce in the State of Washington, and these families are very important to our economy. On average, mothers in Washington provide 41 percent of their household income, and nationally 40 percent of women are the sole primary breadwinners for their households. This is an important issue for our economy. Think of the boost they would get, the boost we would see if they were paid equally.

Right now one-third of those families headed by women in Washington live in poverty, so closing the wage gap means they would be able to afford 82 more weeks of food, according to the National Partnership for Women & Families. It would mean better economic freedom, it would mean the ability to buy more essentials, and it means their families would be better off.

But, more importantly, people need to realize that not only does this pay gap affect women's ability to support their family, the pay gap also reduces their ability to save for the future. From around the age of 35 through retirement, women are typically paid about 75 to 80 percent what men are paid, and over their lifetime a woman in Washington will earn $500,000 less than her male counterpart. That is money that can be saved and invested for the future. So we must pass the Paycheck Fairness Act to end this disparity because this act will require employers to provide justification other than gender for paying men higher wages than women for the exact same job. It protects employees who share that information with others from being retaliated against, and it provides victims of pay discrimination with the same remedies available to victims of other discrimination, including punitive and compensation damages.

This is important legislation. It is important legislation that will end the discrimination women are seeing in the workplace.

The Paycheck Fairness Act will also help eliminate the pay gap to help these families who are struggling in our economy. But just in case people get the wrong idea, I want to make sure people are clear. Even in fields such as engineering and computer science, women earn, on average, only 75 percent of what their male counterparts earn. A woman with a master's degree will only make 70 cents for every $1 of her equally educated male counterparts.

It is time the Senate end the pay discrimination by passing the Paycheck Fairness Act. That is why I have been happy to sponsor this legislation and work with my colleagues. I want young women growing up today to know this is not an issue they are going to have to deal with in the future. They will get equal pay.

I thank my colleagues. I hope my colleagues on the other side of the aisle will help us in invoking cloture and providing the votes we need to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Kansas for his remarks and extend my sympathies to the family. I thank the Senator for his rendition of his State's fortitude. My State is working with fortitude right now too in the Oso-Darrington mudslides, and perseverance is a good word.

So I thank him.

Mr. President, we took an important step today to improve the lives of millions of Americans who deal with mental illness. I am talking about the Excellence in Mental Health Act, which was included in the provisions of the legislation we just passed this evening.

I thank my colleagues, Senators Stabenow and Blunt, for their leadership on this bill. Senator Stabenow just gave a very passionate history of why she has been so involved with this issue. People may not realize that she has been working on this since 2005. So I thank her for that leadership because around here it takes time to get things done, and she has never forgotten how important this is for those with mental illness and the loved ones and family members who care about them.

This legislation was bipartisan legislation, and that certainly helped us get the bill passed. It was something I was happy to cosponsor with Senator Stabenow when we worked it through the committee and then also when we tried to get it included in this latest package. So I am proud to be here tonight to thank her and Senator Blunt for their leadership in getting this done.

This legislation improves access to community health centers and leads to better quality of care. It will give access to those participating States that are fortunate enough to be in this first phase of a pilot program, and it will help local governments and health care systems that are all plagued by these challenges. Most importantly, it will help save lives.

Community mental health treatment centers are struggling because they are trying to meet the demand and do so within the balance of their budgets. According to the National Alliance on Mental Illness, States have cut more than $1.6 billion in mental health funds since 2009. So here we are with a very pervasive problem and budget tightening, which, obviously, causes big challenges. What are those challenges? Basically too many people falling through the cracks.

Nationally, more than half of those with serious mental disorders don't get the treatment they need to lead productive healthy lives. In my State, the State of Washington, 55 percent of those with mental illness are not getting treatment. That translates to 500,000 people who are not getting the help they need, according to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Service Administration. When they reach a crisis point, it is not just a burden on them and their families but on our communities, our hospitals, and our criminal justice systems. As a result, our jails and our emergency rooms have become the mental health clinic of last resort.

As the Tacoma News Tribune wrote in a recent editorial, ``Jails and prisons have become our de facto mental institutions.''

Not only is that approach ineffective, it is also extremely expensive. It means local governments spend more for housing and court services and medication and treatment of the mentally ill while in their custody. For emergency rooms it means they fill up with mentally ill patients they are often ill equipped to deal with.

In Washington we have seen a dramatic rise in psychiatric boarding-- or warehousing. Boarding happens when involuntarily committed patients must wait for hours in a hospital emergency room because psychiatric facilities have no open beds.

A recent investigation by the Seattle Times found that boarding has become routine in our State, ``traumatizing thousands of mentally ill residents, wreaking havoc on hospitals, and wasting millions [in] taxpayer dollars.'' Patients are ``frequently parked in hallways or bound to beds, usually given medication but otherwise no psychiatric care.''

This report is the basis of why this legislation is so important. The report also talked about financial costs. Boarding costs Washington State's health care system $10.5 million a year, according to the State.

I believe we can do better, and this legislation helps us do that. We can support proven models that improve efficiency and reduce spending. One such model is this legislation we just passed--community -based care that focuses on prevention, early intervention, and coordination between providers. All of that is why the legislation is so important. It helps increase efficiency while bolstering the community health centers with increased Medicaid support.

It will also enable the State to improve the quality and range of services. It requires the State to certify community mental health centers and meet higher standards. Some of those services would be things such as 24-hour crisis management, screening assessments and diagnosis, outpatient mental health substance abuse services, outpatient primary care screenings to monitor the indicators of health conditions, peer support and counseling, better coordination with veterans' clinics, acute care hospitals, and inpatient psychiatric and substance abuse services.

All of these are missing in our communities, and oftentimes those individuals end up, as I just said, in either the emergency room of a hospital or in a jail. Currently, there are no standards for mental health services in community health facilities. States that will participate in this program will be able to get a Medicaid reimbursement equal to what federally qualified health centers receive for primary care services.

This is so important, and something Senator Stabenow mentioned-- putting this on equal footing. More than 50 mental health, medical, and law enforcement groups and organizations supported this important legislation because it is what they need to help do their job in these communities. Some of those organizations that supported this legislation are the National Sheriffs' Association, the National Association of Police Organizations, the American Psychological Association, the American Medical Association, and the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention.

In Washington we have seen how some of these community-based services are paying off. In rural central Washington, the counties of Yakima, Kittitas, and Klickitat have reduced their hospitalization through strengthening outpatient services and investing in early intervention programs, such as community treatment teams that meet with patients in their homes.

This region in my State now has the lowest per capita psychiatric hospitalizations, according to an editorial in the Seattle Times just last week. This demonstration project builds on what we already know can be successes.

Clearly, we have a lot of work to do, but this important legislation will help us be smarter about community-based care that will keep people out of the emergency rooms and out of our jails, keeping them from becoming the mental health clinics of last resort.

As Chris Imhoff, an official with the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services, remarked:

It's exciting for a community when something like this

happens. . . . It helps us not strand people with psychiatric

emergencies in emergency rooms, which is a good thing.

That is why this legislation is taking us in the right direction. So again, I thank the Senators from Michigan and Missouri for their leadership on this legislation. It is so important we got it passed, and, hopefully, now it will move towards the President's desk and implementation.

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

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 714, 715, 716, 717, 718, 719, 720, 721, 722, 723, 724, 725, 726, 727, and 728, and all nominations placed on the Secretary's desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy; that the nominations be confirmed, en bloc; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be made in order to any of these nominations; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Commerce Committee be discharged from further consideration of PN1058; that the Senate proceed to vote on the nomination; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to the nomination; that any related statements be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that with respect to the Owens nomination confirmed today, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 405, submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 406, submitted earlier today.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 407, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be considered made and 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., Tuesday, April 1, 2014; 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; and that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 3979, the vehicle for the unemployment insurance extension; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucuses.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the provisions of S. Res. 407, as a further mark of respect in memory of the late Senator Jeremiah Denton of Alabama.

Madam President, I ask to be recognized for 3 minutes.

Madam President, I understand that this will be a voice vote.

Thank you Madam President. I want to thank my Senate colleagues and Senator Risch for helping us get the next Administrator of the U.S. Small Business Administration to the floor.

First, I want to recognize everybody's thoughts and prayers here for Oso and Darrington, WA, and for the people who have been hit by an unbelievable tragedy. Our hearts go out to this community and I want to say that this has been a tremendous effort by first responders.

There are hundreds of volunteers, thousands of dollars of contributions. And Darrington High School students made 1,300 sandwiches to try to support the research and recovery effort. I thank them for all of their hard work.

One of the reasons I want to get a Small Business Administrator is because this agency is going to play a role in this recovery. I thank my colleague, Senator Murray, for her help and support.

The Small Business Administration plays an important role for communities in disasters and the woman we have before us is a well- qualified woman who can help us with this crisis and continued small business lending.

The SBA has been without an Administrator for 8 months, and it is critical that we get this position filled today. We cannot forget that small businesses create two out of three new jobs in our country--and the SBA provide $28 million small business assistance that helps them create more jobs.

So every single day we need to think about small businesses in our community and how much we need to help and support them. Businesses, from Chobani Yogurt to Ben & Jerry's ice cream to Federal Express, have benefited from the SBA program. To have somebody like Maria Contreras- Sweet to be this person is critical for us.

I urge my colleagues to support her in this nomination and to move forward on an SBA agenda. Everything from making sure we approve the 504 program, to the STEP export assistance program, and to make sure that we continue to make ground on exporting small business products-- made in the United States of America--to the growing middle-class around the globe.

I thank my colleagues and I urge them to support this nominee.

Madam President, I yield back all time.

Mr. President, I thank Chairman Harkin and certainly

Senator Mikulski and Senator Burr for their leadership on this bipartisan issue but especially Senator Mikulski for her constant leadership in making sure families in America are cared for.

This is important bipartisan legislation, and the reauthorization of this legislation--the Child Care and Development Block Grant Act of 2014--will help ensure that families have access to quality, affordable childcare.

The Child Care and Development Block Grant Program serves more than 1.6 million children per month nationwide. In my State it serves more than 39,000 children per month. With the support of these grants, parents can work, look for work, and participate in job-training programs while their children receive affordable childcare at quality centers or in the child's home.

The child care and development block grants are a primary source of Federal support for childcare assistance, and they play a key role in promoting healthy development of children, especially at young ages. Research on the effects of early childhood development has continually shown that the foundation provided by early learning and childcare networks can prevent the achievement gaps at a young age. This bill enables States to invest in the programs that have proven to work for children and families.

In Washington more than half of the children served by the child care and development block grants are younger than 4 years old, so in my State these grants are vital for preparing our youngest children with the support and skills they need to stay ahead once they enter into kindergarten.

Professor Cathryn Booth-LaForce, at the University of Washington, said:

Child care affects so many children that for society at

large, even small effects are important.

This bill would provide an additional 22,000 children across our Nation with childcare. That is a major effect. Expanding access to quality care can help thousands more children across the Nation get a running start on school. By preventing achievement gaps for our youngest children, we are creating successful students and building a skilled workforce for the future.

This bill allows Washington to make the important investments in our youngest learners and in our future economy. So I am so proud to be here in support of this bipartisan effort, and again I thank Senator Mikulski, Senator Burr, and others for working together at a time when people didn't think this level of compromise would result in such an important piece of legislation moving forward.

Once again I particularly wish to thank the dean of the women Senators, Senator Mikulski, for this effort and encourage my colleagues to support this bill, S. 1086, and make sure we get it passed before the end of this week.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, climate change is not a problem of the future. Climate change is drastically impacting our oceans today. Acidification is increasing at astonishing rates, and our oceans take up 25 percent of our carbon emissions. Carbon and ocean acidification kill our oysters, crabs, and other shellfish, and impact the shellfish that other sea life depends on, such as our salmon, so the impact to an industry in our State that is worth $30 billion and supports 148,000 jobs is serious.

Just last week there was a huge die-off of scallops in British Columbia, resulting in 30 percent of employees in that region being laid off. So climate change is not only killing oysters and scallops, but it is killing our fishing jobs. That is why we are here tonight, because we know we need to act to save jobs and help our economy.

I yield the floor.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I am pleased to join my colleagues tonight in talking about the economic and environmental imperative of addressing climate change. I thank all of the members of the climate task force, all my colleagues who are here, and particularly Senator Schatz from Hawaii, for organizing tonight.

The fact is, as we have heard, climate change is real and it is happening. According to the U.N. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a group of 3,000 scientists from over 130 countries who have studied climate change for over 20 years, global emissions must be stabilized by midcentury in order to avoid the most catastrophic and irreversible consequences of climate change.

Studies from the National Research Council and the U.S. Global Climate Research Program reinforce that global temperatures are steadily rising and contributing to more extreme weather events and rising sea levels. Scientists from the University of New Hampshire have found that humans are responsible for releasing large amounts of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere that are causing rapid climate change. I only need to look at New Hampshire to see the real economic and health implications.

In New Hampshire, climate change is contributing to sea level rise, which

imperils businesses, homes, and coastal communities such as Portsmouth.