Floor Statements

Mr. President, I would like to take a moment today to recognize Judy Olson for her years of service to the U.S. Senate and the people of Washington State. Judy served on my staff for 11 years prior to becoming the Washington State Director of the U.S. Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency in August of 2009.

During her many years on my staff, Judy served as my eastern Washington regional director. Covering a region that spanned 13 counties and 24,239 square miles, Judy brought a tireless dedication to the needs of my constituents in this vast region. A longtime resident of Whitman County, Judy and her husband farmed wheat, dried peas, and lentils. This gave her deep understanding and firsthand knowledge of the challenges facing our farmers and agricultural communities. Over the years, Judy continuously worked to ensure that the people of Washington State, whether they lived in Spokane or in Omak, were well served by the Federal Government.

I would like to thank Judy for her years of service to me and the people of Washington State. Her career is a tremendous example of public service, and her dedication to her work is truly appreciated. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors and know that her many talents will continue to serve the Farm Service Agency in the Obama administration.

I ask unanimous consent to use 1 minute and for Senator Kerry to have the second minute.

Mr. President, I am offering the youth summer jobs amendment to build on the extremely successful summer jobs program that made it possible for over 313,000 young people to have a job. I have personally heard amazing stories from these young men and women who got a job. It changed their lives and gave them the experience they needed.

This amendment will provide $1.3 billion to create up to 500,000 temporary jobs this coming summer. It will invest in critical employment and learning programs that will help not only these young people but the businesses that hire them. The underlying bill is going to help millions of families across the country who need a job. This amendment will make sure young people get a start in their professional lives, firmly planted on their feet and moving toward success.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, let me be clear: Working with the Finance Committee, this amendment is paid for over 10 years.

I ask that the budget point of order be waived.

I move that the budget point of order be waived and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I rise this morning because I am offering an amendment on youth summer jobs that will build on and extend the extremely successful summer jobs program we included in last year's Recovery Act. Last summer's program put over 313,000 young people to work and provided a much needed shot in the arm to them, their families, and businesses and communities around the country. I have personally heard stories from young men and women who participated in the program who told me how much it changed their lives and gave them the skills and the experience they know they need to exceed in school and in the workforce. That is why, while we are focusing on legislation that will support unemployed Americans and help workers get back on the job, we should also continue investing in a successful program that helps our young people get to work.

The amendment I am offering today will provide $1.5 billion through the Workforce Investment Act to create 500,000 temporary jobs for young people across the country. It will invest in critically needed employment and learning programs that will help stimulate our local economies while providing meaningful short-term work and learning experiences for the young people who really need it the most.

In addition to the summer jobs program, this amendment also supports year-round employment and longer term efforts to help our young people obtain a postsecondary degree or credential.

Growing up, I had every different kind of summer job you can ever imagine. I started out working in my father's five-and-ten-cent store on Main Street in Bothell, and, along with my brothers and sisters, I did everything from stocking the shelves, to working the cash register, to sweeping the floor. Later on, I worked at a summer job at Sacajawea State Park in Pasco, where

I did weeding, kept the restrooms clean, and helped make the park presentable. One summer, I answered phones at a glass company in my hometown of Bothell. I also, one summer, worked at a psychiatric ward at the VA during a summer in college.

Looking back, I can tell that each one of those jobs I held as a young person helped me in a very unique way. Each one of them taught me skills and lessons I have been able to use throughout my life. Those jobs taught me everything from the value of hard work to the daily challenges of running a small business, how to dress and act in a professional work setting, but, most of all, those jobs helped me be exposed to new experiences and new people and new challenges. In fact, my time working at the Seattle VA that summer gave me an appreciation of our veterans and health care workers that has driven me to fight for them every single day I am in the Senate now.

It is not just me. Summer jobs have been proven to teach skills and life lessons for everyone. Studies have shown that people who get early work experience as teenagers make more money as adults. In fact, early work experience has been shown to raise earnings 10 to 20 percent over a lifetime.

However, as we all know, today teens are finding it especially difficult to find a job. Over the past 2 years, the number of employed teens in the United States has declined by nearly 25 percent, and their overall employment rate fell to a new post-World War II low of 25 percent by the end of last year, more than 18 percentage points below the rate in 2000. In fact, the total proportion of young people who were employed last July, the traditional peak time for youth jobs, was only 51.4 percent. That is the lowest July rate on record.

Today, with families who are cutting their spending so they can pay their bills and businesses having to freeze hirings so they can pay theirs, that means even fewer jobs for young people today.

I don't think we should forget teen jobs will help stimulate our local economies because, as anybody who has had a teenager at home knows, young people are a lot more likely to spend their paychecks in their communities than pocket them. When a young person does, in fact, save their wages, oftentimes they are saving for college or making a critical contribution to their families in this very difficult time.

Sometimes I hear people talk about these big national programs and too often forget there are real people being impacted, real families being helped, and real young people being offered such an important helping hand. I wished to share with everyone a story about what this funding meant for a program in King County, WA, last year for a young man who had the opportunity to participate because of the funding we provided last year.

Back in 2007, King County was able to provide 200 local youth jobs for that year. They were able to provide about the same number--200 or so--in 2008. Then, last summer, with the funding we secured for them in the Recovery Act and under the leadership of a great CEO, Marlena Sessions, they were able to provide 900 young people with summer work experience. Nine hundred young people in King County last summer had the opportunity to productively engage in their community and avoid that high risk in criminal activity we worry about and, importantly, learn the 21st century skills employers value, such as critical thinking and teamwork and problem solving and communication.

One of those participants in King County was a young man named Ryan. He spent his summer last year working at a maritime supply company in Seattle, a company called Washington Chain. Ryan had gotten into a lot of trouble in his life in the past. He was actually on work release from prison. He didn't have many of the skills employers are looking for in employees, so he went out and applied for job after job, fast food restaurants and more of the same. He actually put out 200 applications in total without a single one willing to take a chance on him after they found out about his record.

Well, Ryan heard about the Seattle King County Summer Jobs program, and you know what. It changed his life. Ryan was accepted into a program that was a partnership between a youth service provider and a community college. He spent 3 weeks in class, followed by 3 weeks in a paid internship at Washington Chain. The company wasn't planning on hiring any new full-time employees, but at the end of last summer, this experience changed Ryan so much and they were so impressed with Ryan and his work capability that the company found a full-time job for him. It was a real job for Ryan, with a decent salary and good benefits and a future. For the first time in his life, Ryan was able to take pride in his work and finally support himself and his young children.

After the program was over, Ryan said the program was ``one of the best things that ever happened to me.'' His boss at Washington Chain said the company was lucky to find Ryan. He said Ryan had been ``willing to do just about everything we have asked him.''

The summer jobs program we passed last year gave Ryan and many more like him an opportunity they would not otherwise have had. It is a new lease on life for him, and doors opened to him that had always been closed to him. Ryan is far from alone. There are hundreds of thousands of young people around the country whose lives were changed by the experiences they had last summer.

So if this amendment I am offering today passes, there will be 500,000 more by this time next year. Five hundred thousand young people will be providing much needed services in hospitals and daycare centers, in senior centers, in parks, in public and in private organizations, staying off the streets, helping their communities, gaining the skills and the experiences they need to put them on a better path to success in school and life. Yes, by the way, they will be spending those paychecks and contributing to our economic recovery.

I urge our colleagues to support this amendment. The underlying bill we are considering today is going to help millions of families across the country who need some help right now getting back on their feet. This amendment will help young people across this country start their professional lives by firmly planting them on moving toward a successful, productive, and fulfilling career. I hope all our colleagues take the time to think back and think about what happened to them and people they know in their lives, where they had a summer job experience that helped set them on a path they may have never thought available to them and that it is our responsibility, in this Chamber, to now provide that same opportunity for young people who are following in our footsteps.

Thank you. I yield the floor.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to now use time from morning business on this side.

Madam President, right now, families across my home State and the entire country want nothing more than to see us come together and pass meaningful help for the people they see struggling every day. They want to see help for people such as their neighbors and friends and family members who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves out of a job and who, despite their best efforts, are unable to find one today. They want help for the seniors in their communities who are being turned away from doctors because of devastating cuts in Medicare reimbursement rates, or all those who are struggling to afford health care because they lost a job and are now facing the impossible task of affording care on their own.

Americans understand that during these difficult times people need help to make ends meet. They understand there needs to be a lifeline for people who never thought they would need assistance from the government but who now have nowhere else to turn. But what Americans and those in my home State of Washington do not understand is why Washington, DC, cannot seem to deliver; why, when they make hard choices every day in their own lives to support their families and help those in need, Washington, DC, cannot do the same; why, at a time when needs have never been greater, the only words they hear out of Washington, DC, are ``gridlock,'' ``stalemate,'' and ``standstill.''

Today we have a clear-cut example to show the American people what is wrong with Washington, DC; that is because today one single Republican Senator is standing in the way of the unemployment benefits of 400,000 Americans. One single Republican Senator is blocking an extension of COBRA benefits for 500,000 Americans. One single Republican Senator is forcing doctors to take a 21-percent cut in Medicare reimbursement rates that could force seniors to be turned away from the Medicare coverage on which they rely. One single Republican Senator is blocking an extension of critical highway funds that has construction workers and transportation employees at home today and that has cut critical payments to struggling States. One single Republican Senator has put posturing before people, politics before families, and point scoring before the needs of struggling Americans.

The legislation we are trying so hard to pass is very straightforward. It is aimed at helping real families with real problems they face every day, and the consequences of it being blocked by one single Republican Senator are just as real.

The bill we are trying to pass includes an extension of unemployment insurance that, by the way, in my home State hundreds of thousands of individuals rely on to buy groceries and to pay their mortgages and to help pay for school for their kids. For years, these benefits have been routinely extended in tough times. And times, by the way, have rarely been tougher than they are now. But today families in every single one of our States are sitting around their kitchen table trying to figure out how they are going to make it through the weeks and the months ahead without these payments.

This package we are trying to pass also includes an extension of COBRA, health care for workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own, and health care benefits that come with it. In my home State, thousands of unemployed workers have the ability to see a doctor solely because we have provided this important assistance. It is a provision that is critical because health care is often the single biggest cost that unemployed workers face. In fact, you should know on average a monthly health care premium payment to cover a family costs over $1,000, which represents about 80 percent of the average unemployment check.

Another vital health care measure included in this bill we are trying to pass is a provision that would overturn a staggering 21-percent cut in payments to doctors who accept Medicare patients. Just yesterday my office heard from a doctor in a small community in my State, Poulsbo, WA, who is one of very few in the region who is taking new Medicare patients. He said he feared just what this cut would mean for him and his practice. He told my staff this cut would limit his ability to continue serving the needs of seniors in his area.

He is not alone. In Washington State that cut will affect over 60,000 employees, 700,000 Medicare patients, and nearly 350,000 TRICARE patients.

Finally, this bill also includes an extension of the Federal Transportation Funding Act, which is known as SAFETEA-LU. Allowing SAFETEA-LU to expire, which has now happened, not only hurts construction workers and contractors who are working on these major Federal highway projects in my State and across the country, it leaves our State governments bearing all the burden for the costs of these projects.

In Washington State, a reimbursement payment of $13.5 million for federally sponsored projects that is due tomorrow--tomorrow--is now in limbo, again, all because of one single Republican Senator.

Last October, I was out on this floor fighting for an extension of unemployment benefits, and I told the story of a woman from Seattle whose name is Kristina Cruz. At the time, Kristina had been unemployed for 20 months after spending over 10 years in human resources. Kristina had just written to my office and talked about going above and beyond in her job search, a skill, by the way, she picked up in her career in HR. Even with all her experience, interviews for her have been few and far between. Kristina talked about how she was not interested in living off the government long term and how, in the midst of this economic crisis, she did not have any other choice.

Since I talked last October, Kristina has stayed in touch with my office, and, unfortunately, today she is still having a hard time getting back to work. She recently wrote an e-mail to my office and said:

It's truly devastating to me that I've made choices in my

life like getting good grades in school and getting my

education, and building up professional experience only to

find that I'm unable to get a job.

I thought I had made decisions to help ensure my success in

life, and many times, I barely had enough money for food.

My family isn't rich and can't afford to support me. I

literally do not know what I'm going to do.

Kristina went on to voice the frustration of so many about the needless holdups in getting this bill passed on providing assistance to struggling Americans. She said:

I find it to be really egregious that we live in

a democratic society and yet a few misguided, outlying

voices, despite overwhelming bipartisan majority support,

can hold up and block a much needed unemployment

extension. It really flies in the face of all the things

I've learned about in my history books.

I'm not sure how I can survive many weeks and weeks of

needless holdups when I have rent and bills to pay. Sometimes

I feel that if some of these Senators were forced to walk a

day in our shoes, then maybe they would have a sense of how

it is to try and survive in this economy.

That opinion is not unique to my State, to one political party, or to an issue. Every evening, families across the country turn on the nightly news and hear another story about gridlock in our Nation's Capital. Oftentimes they have spent their days scanning through the classifieds, going to another job fair with long lines and few job opportunities, or working many times multiple jobs to meet their families' most basic needs. When they get home, they wonder just how we have spent ours.

What they see is this entire Congress forced to spend time fighting with one Republican Senator; a Congress that is forced to jump through procedural hoops and endure endless delay tactics to get meaningful and, by the way, largely bipartisan legislation passed; the obstruction of a single Republican Senator who, by the way, voted to extend these same benefits in 2008 but who has now suddenly changed his mind.

The entire Republican Party, except for a few who have been out here courageously, sit idly by as one of their members brings this entire body to a halt. The American people are sick of this, and the backlash to the blockage of this bill is evidence of that. It is time for all of us to stop and think. Think about Kristina and all the other Americans who sent us here to go to work for them; the people who will watch the news tonight and think: What about me? What about all of us?

Kristina wrote to me again recently to say it seems as though government is broken. I know that sentiment is something we hear all the time now. But the truth is, it is only broken if we allow it to be. It is only broken if we allow stunts such as is happening now to rule the day. If we can come together and put an end to shortsighted political point scoring that says obstruction is good politics and partisanship trumps progress, then we can help struggling families.

If we can join the way we did to pass the Children's Health Insurance Program or fair pay for women in the workplace, we can then restore the faith of the American people. Until we put an end to delays such as the one we face by one Republican Senator today, Americans are going to continue to have every right to be fed up.

I come to the floor of the Senate today to ask the Senator from Kentucky to allow us to finally move forward with consent on this bill so that Americans can get access to the help they desperately need in these very tough economic times. This is critical. Families across our States are hurting, through no fault of their own, through an economic recession they did not make happen.

We all want our country to get back on its feet. We all want to be strong again. We all want this lifeline for our families so that when our country begins running strong again, they can use the skills they have been holding in abeyance and go back to work; so they can get the health care they need for their children and their families until they can get that job and get moving again; so these construction projects across our country do not come to a slamming halt causing more Americans to sit at home without a paycheck, more Americans who cannot go to the store and buy things; so more stores start to fail because they do not have the income they need, and restaurants where people cannot go because they do not have a paycheck.

We are asking that the Republican colleagues who worked with us on this bill come to the floor and urge one Republican Senator to work with us to get consent so we can move past this and get to the job we have come here to do: to get people back to work, to make sure families have health care, to make sure we do the business of this government in a way that works for American families.

I yield the floor.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that it be equally divided.

Mr. President, I would like to recognize the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO as it marks its 20th anniversary as an advocacy organization for America's transportation workers.

The Transportation Trades Department, TTD, has been an outstanding leader on behalf of the men and women who form the backbone of this critical industry. In the face of repeated economic and security challenges, these workers continue to do all they can to safely and efficiently move passengers and freight across town and across the globe. In these difficult times for the transportation industry and its employees, TTD has effectively brought workers' voices to bear on important policy debates in Washington.

TTD has been one of the leading advocates for a strong investment in our Nation's transportation infrastructure. They have been at the forefront, explaining to policymakers and the American people the need for a stronger, safer, and more efficient transportation network. New transportation investments are the building blocks of economic recovery, as they create skilled, family-supporting jobs. They help rebuild our Nation, facilitating faster and more efficient movement of people and goods. Throughout our Nation's history, strong investments in transportation infrastructure have proven to be a successful strategy to create good jobs and improve the quality of life for the American people.

As chairman of the Senate Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development Appropriations Subcommittee--and as a Senator from a State with many transportation hubs--I have enjoyed a close and productive relationship with TTD. Its leaders and front line workers have always brought a highly knowledgeable and responsible approach to their efforts. TTD has helped workers in such a large, complex industry speak with a clear and effective voice as our Nation seeks to address these important economic and homeland security issues.

I congratulate the Transportation Trades Department, AFL-CIO on this milestone anniversary and look forward to continuing to work closely with our nation's transportation workers.

Madam President, I thank the Senator from North Dakota for his passion on this issue. I would add one other issue within this, which is that we have to be training our workforce for the coming years with those skills to make those things in America--whether it is airplanes in my State or cars in the Midwest or South, or whether it is the widgets he talked about. We are losing people today in this country who have those basic skills--welding, electricians, those kinds of skills that are basic to these industries. As we move into this coming year and look into our budget and look at our education policy--and we will be talking about the President's education policy on the committee on which I sit--we have to make sure we are going down into our middle schools and high schools and making sure our kids have career pathways that help fill these skilled manufacturing jobs we want to have here in this country. I thank the Senator for his words.

I am here this afternoon to rise again in support of President Obama's nominee to serve as Solicitor of Labor, Patricia Smith. I have to tell everyone I am very confident she is the right person for this critical job. The work she is going to do to protect our workers is more important than ever before.

American workers are facing an incredible challenge today. We all know that. They are struggling with record unemployment, a devastating economic crisis. Today more than ever they need and they deserve strong leaders in the Department of Labor who are passionate about public service and committed to being there to fight for them. The Department of Labor is this agency with a name that sounds bureaucratic, but it is important because that agency is charged with a very critical mission in our Nation's government. Its role is to foster and promote the welfare of America's workers by improving their working conditions, by advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, by protecting workers' retirement and health care benefits and helping employers find workers who are skilled in the jobs provided and strengthen free collective bargaining.

I believe during these challenging economic times it is absolutely critical that the Department has leadership within that Department to make those goals a reality. I was very pleased when I heard President Obama nominate such a strong candidate for the position of Solicitor of Labor.

Ms. Patricia Smith, as the Presiding Officer knows, is Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor. She has been there since 2007. She is cochair of the New York State Economic Security sub- cabinet and she oversees today 3,700 employees in 80 offices with an annual budget of $4 billion.

For the previous 20 years, Tricia worked in the Labor Bureau of the New York Attorney General's Office and she served on the Obama administration's transition review team for the Department of Labor.

I have received many letters of support for Patricia Smith from people who admire her work, from people she has worked with, and from workers she has helped. I want to take a couple of minutes this afternoon to read some excerpts from those letters because I believe they demonstrate Patricia's broad support and why she should be confirmed by the Senate.

One letter I received was a letter of support from the CEO of the Plattsburgh, NY, Chamber of Commerce, who knows Tricia well. He said:

Patricia Smith has been an outstanding partner as

Commissioner of the New York State Labor Department and will

be an outstanding Solicitor for the U.S. Labor Department. We

strongly encourage her earliest possible confirmation by the

Senate.

I heard from the United States Women's Chamber of Commerce. They wrote to me and said:

After learning of Ms. Smith's qualifications, her expertise

and the laws she has worked to uphold, I can clearly see that

she is someone who would work with conviction to enforce the

laws of the United States of America. Additionally, I am

impressed with her out-of-the-box thinking in creating

programs that will keep jobs. We especially need these

attributes in these times of economic challenge.

That is from the United States Women's Chamber of Commerce.

I also received a letter from a group of professors and scholars of labor and employment law and labor relations, from over 50 scholars of highly respected institutions, institutions such as Georgetown University Law Center, Columbia Law, Thomas Jefferson

School of Law, Yale Law, and Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. They wrote to me and urged speedy confirmation saying that Tricia has:

consistently demonstrated the highest integrity and

commitment to ethical standards. She is experienced,

intelligent, thoughtful and energetic. We believe this is

exactly what the U.S. Department of Labor needs in a

Solicitor. Once confirmed, she will be among the best

Solicitors of Labor the Department has known.

I would tell my colleagues that her support transcends party lines. Former New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco, who is a Republican, had this to say about his former employee:

Patricia Smith has proven herself as one of the foremost

experts in the nation in the realm of labor law, which is why

President Obama saw fit to nominate her. . . . She was an

asset to the New York Attorney General's office and I am

confident . . . she will be an asset to the Department of

Labor.

Tricia Smith has bipartisan support. As Chair of the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety, I know the challenges American workers are facing today. I know they deserve a Solicitor of Labor such as Tricia who is going to fight every single day to protect them. When she is confirmed as the Department's top legal counsel, she is going to have the profound responsibility of enforcing more than 180 Federal laws and managing more than 450 attorneys nationwide. She is going to be responsible for defending the Department in litigation, as well as providing legal advice and guidance on nearly every policy, legislative, regulatory, and enforcement initiative of the Department. But, most importantly, she is going to be responsible for defending the rights of workers when they are not able to speak for themselves. Tricia has a big job ahead of her, but we need to act now to allow her to get started. We owe it to our country's workers to have a confirmed Solicitor of Labor in place.

I have had a number of conversations with Tricia myself, and I am confident she is highly qualified, and she is eager to get to work. So I will be voting, hopefully later this afternoon or soon thereafter, to confirm Tricia Smith. I come to the floor this afternoon to urge my colleagues to do so as well.

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

Mr. President, I am very pleased to rise in support of President Obama's nominee to serve as Solicitor of Labor, Patricia Smith. I am very confident that she is the right person for this critical job. The work she is going to do to protect our workers is more important now than ever before.

American workers are facing incredible challenges today. They are struggling with record unemployment and a devastating economic crisis. They need and they deserve strong leaders in the Department of Labor who are passionate about public service and committed to fighting for them.

The Department of Labor is charged with a critical mission in our Nation's government. Their role is to foster and to promote the welfare of America's workers by improving their working conditions, advancing their opportunities for profitable employment, protecting their retirement and their health care benefits, helping employers find workers, and strengthening free collective bargaining. I believe during these challenging economic times it is absolutely critical that the Department has the leadership it needs to make those goals a reality. That is why I was very pleased that President Obama nominated such a strong candidate for the position of Solicitor of Labor.

Patricia Smith has been the Commissioner of the New York State Department of Labor since 2007. She is cochair of the New York State's Economic Security subcabinet, and she oversees 3,700 employees in 80 offices, with an annual budget of $4 billion.

For the previous 20 years, Tricia worked in the Labor Bureau of the New York Attorney General's Office, and she served on the Obama administration's transition team for the Department of Labor.

I have received many letters of support for Patricia Smith from people who admire her work, from people she has worked with, and from workers she has helped. I want to take a moment this afternoon to read some excerpts from some of those letters because I believe they do demonstrate Patricia's broad support and why she deserves to be confirmed by the Senate.

I have received a letter of support from the CEO of the Plattsburgh, NY Chamber of Commerce. He knows Patricia well. He said:

Patricia Smith has been an outstanding partner as

Commissioner of the New York State Labor Department and will

be an outstanding solicitor for the U.S. Labor Department. We

strongly encourage her earliest possible confirmation by the

Senate.

That was the CEO of the Plattsburgh, NY Chamber of Commerce.

I also heard from the United States Women's Chamber of Commerce. They said:

After learning of Ms. Smith's qualifications, expertise,

and the laws she has worked to uphold, I can clearly see that

she is someone who would work with conviction to enforce the

laws of the United States of America. Additionally, I am

impressed by her out-of-the-box thinking in creating programs

that will keep jobs. We especially need these attributes in

this time of economic challenge.

I also received a letter from a group of professors and scholars of labor and employment law and labor relations, from over 50 scholars of highly respected institutions across the country such as the Georgetown University Law Center, Columbia Law, Thomas Jefferson School of Law, Yale Law School, and Cornell University School of Industrial and Labor Relations. They too urged speedy confirmation, saying that Tricia has:

consistently demonstrated the highest integrity and

commitment to ethical standards. She is experienced,

intelligent, thoughtful and energetic. We believe this is

exactly what the U.S. Department of Labor needs in a

Solicitor. Once confirmed, she will be among the best

Solicitors of Labor the Department has known.

Her support transcends party lines. Former New York Attorney General Dennis Vacco, a Republican, had this to say about his former employee:

Patricia Smith has proven herself as one of the foremost

experts in the nation in the realm of labor law, which is why

President Obama saw fit to nominate her. . . . She was an

asset to the New York Attorney General's Office and I am

confident. . . . She will be an asset to the Department of

Labor.

I am here this afternoon as Chair of the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety. I know the challenges American workers are facing right now. That is why they deserve a Solicitor of Labor such as Tricia Smith who will fight every day to protect them. If she is confirmed as the Department's top legal counsel, she will have the profound responsibility of enforcing more than 180 Federal laws and managing more than 450 attorneys nationwide.

She will be responsible for defending the Department in litigation as well as providing legal advice and guidance on nearly every policy, legislative, regulatory, and enforcement initiative of the Department. Most importantly, she will be responsible for defending the rights of workers when they are not able to speak for themselves.

Tricia has a big job ahead of her, but we need to act now to allow her to get started. We owe it to our country's workers to have a confirmed Solicitor of Labor in place. I have had a number of conversations with Tricia and I wanted my colleagues to know I am confident she is highly qualified and very eager to get to work. I will be voting with confidence to confirm Patricia Smith. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I yield the floor.

I ask unanimous consent for 5 minutes to speak on the judicial nomination coming before us at 6 o'clock.

Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to recognize a very special advocate and former Governor of my home State of Washington who is celebrating his 100th birthday on Thursday.

Albert D. Rosellini served two terms as Governor of Washington State, first being elected in 1956. Before he was elected Governor, he served as the deputy prosecutor of King County and 18 consecutive years in the State senate.

Throughout his career, Governor Rosellini has been a dedicated public servant and an inspiration to generations of public servants. I know that Governor Rosellini's knowledge, drive and passion for service has made my home state a better place to live and work. It is an honor to have had the opportunity to earn the support and advice of such an extraordinary figure in my State's history.

In the State senate, Albert was a champion for labor, small business and equality, introducing an unfair practice bill to ensure small businesses receive decent prices, a fair employment practices bill, and an equal wage bill for women.

He strived to improve the quality of education in Washington State by supporting measures to improve retirement programs and raise salaries for teachers. He also promoted improvements to schools for the mentally disabled, deaf and blind. As a sponsor of the Youth Protection Act, Albert promoted progressive correctional programs for delinquents and revitalized penal institutions and juvenile institutions that are still in use today.

In 1951, he introduced a bill that created a teaching hospital on the campus of the University of Washington, continuing his goal to improve education and medical facilities across the State. That hospital is the basis of the acclaimed medical center we have there today.

As Governor, Albert worked to diversify Washington State's industry by creating the Department of Commerce and Economic Development which brought international trade to Washington. This department helped launch the high tech industry in this area and developed Overlake Park in Bellevue where Microsoft and other high tech companies are currently established.

The leadership abilities displayed by Governor Rosellini were quickly noticed by his colleagues and he was elected chairman of the National Governors Association during his second term as Governor.

Since leaving office, Governor Rosellini has continued his commitment to better Washington State. In 1979 he helped our State's athletes attend and compete on the world's stage

as the chairman of the United States Olympic Committee for Washington State. Additionally, as a result of the great improvements made to Washington's transportation system while Governor, he was made a member of the Washington State Transportation Committee for 11 years, acting as chairman for the last 2.

I greatly respect the Governor for his unmatched dedication to public service and the State of Washington and thank him for making such a critical difference in the history of my State.

Mr. President, I thank my colleague from Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, who, I remember, months ago, with a smile on his face, said we can get this done. We are on the verge, and we owe him a huge debt of gratitude. So I thank the Senator very much.

As this debate now moves forward, it has become apparent that some of our colleagues are losing sight of what we are working on. What should be a robust debate about a critical issue that is facing all of our families and businesses is being bogged down by distractions and political gimmicks and obstructions and a lot of delay while American families watch and wait and wonder where they exactly fit into this conversation. So I want to be clear with my colleagues and with Americans across the country today: This bill is about you. It is about your loved ones. It is about the people just like you across the country to bring down your premiums, expand your options, and increase your stability.

It is about helping our economy and creating jobs by reducing the drag that has been created by the skyrocketing premiums and unlocking the potential for new health care careers. It is about supporting the doctors and the nurses, the hospitals and the clinics that work every day to take care of you. It is about helping you or your father or your mother, your grandfather or your grandmother, by increasing benefits, cutting waste, and strengthening the Medicare on which you depend. And it is about Katerina.

Katerina is a woman from Redmond, WA, and she is one of my more than 10,000 constituents from my home State who have sent me their stories about their experiences with our broken health care system. Katerina is a single mom. She has a good education, she told me, and she has a good job and a solid middle-class lifestyle. But like a lot of Americans this year, struggling in the toughest economy since the Great Depression, she was laid off from her job, and she lost her employer- provided health care. She was able to scrape enough money together to pay for COBRA coverage, but she told me she didn't dare go to the doctor because she knew she wouldn't be able to afford the copays. So though she was technically covered right now, in practice, neither she nor her child have access to true health care or preventive services. She found that living that way had some real consequences.

Last month she told me she got an eye infection and eventually had to go to the doctor for treatment. She said after all of her out-of-pocket costs and still with no job and no income, she had to make some very serious and very tough choices about her family's food and clothing budget. Who knows what would have happened if Katerina or her child got seriously ill.

Our broken health insurance system is failing Katerina, and she is not alone. Millions of people have lost jobs in this current recession.

Millions of families have been tossed out of their employers' plans-- families who had health care, who felt secure, all of a sudden understand how broken the system really is and how few options they actually have today for affordable care. That is why we need health insurance reform for Katerina and millions of Americans in similar situations and the hundreds of millions of Americans who may switch jobs or move or start small businesses or who just want more options for high-quality affordable health care.

Mr. President, let me talk for a minute about how this bill will specifically help Katerina and many others. Our plan sets up a market where people can shop for and purchase insurance, where insurance companies would have to compete for your business, and where people such as Katerina would be able to choose a plan that fits her family best from among a range of options in an open marketplace.

It would inject competition into the insurance market, it will lower costs, and it will give families, such as Katerina's, more choices. That means instead of just having one choice when she is laid off, which was to purchase high-priced COBRA, Katerina will be able to compare the price and performance of plans and make a decision for her family with the benefit of true options.

That will increase stability and keep insurance companies accountable. Never again will insurance companies be able to drop a family's plan simply because somebody got sick. No longer will losing your job mean losing access to affordable coverage, and no longer will people such as Katerina have to choose between food, clothing, and health care for herself and her child.

It will also keep families secure by ensuring that all insurance plans offer an adequate level of coverage, including free preventive care that will keep them healthy and ensure that minor, inexpensive medical issues can be treated before they become major, expensive medical problems.

Our plan will increase options, enhance security and stability, and it will reduce costs for people such as Katerina by providing credits and premium assistance. So families will no longer have to worry about their coverage if they lose a job, switch jobs, move, or get sick.

Mr. President, that is what this plan is about. It is about Katerina, it is about her child, and it is about the millions of Americans in similar situations.

If the status quo wins out, things will only get worse. If some of my colleagues continue to play politics with this issue, Katerina will continue to struggle.

If we continue to have delay and distraction and obstruction, families will pay more for less, they will lose coverage, and they will be denied treatment and continue to have to fight insurance company redtape to get the care they deserve.

That is what this is all about. I am going to continue to stand up and tell the stories of families and small business owners from Washington because they are counting on us to fix this broken system. I urge my colleagues to focus on their States' families and join with us to pass true health insurance reform.

Before I yield, I want to take this opportunity to make an additional point. As everybody knows, we have been working incredibly demanding schedules in recent weeks. Senators have seen this floor at every conceivable hour--late at night, early in the morning, in the face of a blizzard. Far too frequently, we forget that every time we are here, there are literally hundreds of staff forced to be here along with us. In fact, they are often here long before we arrive and long after we leave. This body could not function without the tireless dedication of these men and women.

Many of them are here now: the clerks, Parliamentarians, cloakroom

staff, doorkeepers, Capitol Police officers, and the maintenance workers. They work very long hours, nights, mornings, and weekends-- with no regard to a government closure, dangerous snowstorms, or the need to complete their holiday shopping. If we are here, they are here. They deserve our thanks.

I want to express my gratitude to every one of them and to my own staff as well. It hasn't been an easy time. You should all know we are deeply appreciative of your service.

I, for one, am strongly supportive of bringing this debate to a close so that each one of you can be home with your families enjoying some well-deserved time off for the holidays.

I yield the floor.

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

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

Mr. President, I come to the floor on behalf of over 10,000 constituents from my home State of Washington who have sent me letters and e-mails over the past 6 months to tell me their stories and their struggles with our health care system.

I come to the floor on behalf of the thousands who do not have the time or who do not have the resources to write to me and ask for help but who are struggling as well.

I come to the floor on behalf of small business owners, parents, senior citizens, and people with preexisting conditions, people with insurance whose premiums are skyrocketing, and people without insurance who spend their nights praying they do not have an accident or fall ill.

These people are all worried about keeping their jobs or making a mortgage payment and for whom the cost of getting sick today or being dropped from their health care plan or opening their mail to see another premium increase is too much to bear. Those are the people who deserve a real debate and a real plan, not distortions or silly distractions, such as conversations about how many pages are in this health care bill. What is more important than the number of pages in this health care bill is the help within those pages for businesses and families across this country.

I have watched, day after day, as our colleagues on the other side of the aisle have come down to this floor. They have made outrageous claims. They have handed out reams of paper and stacked copies of the Senate bill on top of copies of the House bill to try and turn a serious debate into a sideshow. But if my colleagues on the other side want to focus on pages, fine, let's focus on pages.

Beside me is a photo of a woman named Doreen Kelsey. In front of Doreen is a stack of papers. Those are hundreds upon hundreds of pages of forms and rejection letters and appeals and denials from her insurance company. These are pages that have taken hours and hours to fill out and that have stood between Doreen's husband and the care he desperately needed.

I met Doreen at a roundtable I hosted in August in Spokane, WA, in my State. Doreen told me she is self-employed and isn't able to purchase her own health insurance because she has a preexisting condition. Now, luckily, she and her family have health insurance coverage through her husband Tony's employer. She told me she and Tony thought their family had good insurance coverage. But when he asked for a colonoscopy, they soon discovered the lengths to which insurance companies will go to deny, to delay, and to dispute the care families such as the Kelseys assumed were included in their coverage.

Their insurance carrier told them before they would pay for this preventive care, it would have to be approved by a primary care physician. After being delayed for more than a month because of

that requirement--and this whole stack of papers here--the colonoscopy ultimately confirmed their fears, and he was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. With that diagnosis in hand, the Kelseys were determined to beat this terrible disease together, but rather than focusing on fighting cancer they were forced to fight their insurance company.

Doreen told me although they had faithfully paid their premiums throughout their entire working lives, now that Tony desperately needed lifesaving treatment, he was in a constant struggle of paperwork with his insurance company to pay for even routine care. They weren't asking for anything new, they weren't asking for anything experimental, they were just asking for the care that a lifetime of paid premiums should have entitled them to.

The Kelseys assumed what most Americans do when they are paying for good health insurance. They assumed that while their insurance was expensive, it would be there for them when they needed it. Well, Doreen and her family, like many other American families and businesses, have come to find out that in our current health care insurance system, stability is sometimes nothing more than an illusion.

With each procedure and each battle, the Kelseys faced a new fight-- more paperwork stacked on more paperwork, another appeal and another appeal. At one point, Doreen told me she had to appeal all the way to the State insurance regulator just to get a corrected explanation of benefits form--paperwork--from her insurance company. She told me they had to borrow thousands of dollars to pay doctors while their claims were tied up in what seemed like an endless appeal process--paperwork.

The Kelseys' insurance now costs more than their mortgage, and they are constantly worried that Tony's employer will drop that coverage. But, thankfully, she told me Tony is working hard and successfully battling his cancer. In the meantime, Doreen has successfully been battling her insurance company. But this isn't how our system should work. When we pass the Senate's health care reform bill we are debating, it will not be.

Let me tell everyone--and the Kelseys--how our bill will help them. First of all, our bill ends insurance company discrimination for preexisting conditions, so Doreen will be able to purchase insurance on her own and not have to rely on her husband's employer. Doreen would also have access to a number of different plans through an exchange that we are setting up where insurance companies, for the first time, would have to compete for her business. Our plan would inject competition into the insurance market, and we know that will lower costs and give families such as Doreen's more choices.

Our plan also makes it illegal for insurance companies to drop people when they get sick, so Doreen and Tony wouldn't have to worry about losing their coverage at the moment they need it the most. Since we know that preventive care is critical to saving lives and saving money on health care costs in the long term, our bill ensures free preventive services under all insurance plans.

Our plan invests in prevention and in public health to encourage innovations in health care that prevent illness and disease before they require more costly treatment. It would have allowed Tony to get a colonoscopy when he first needed it so he could get his treatment started sooner.

Mr. President, we also know families deserve the security and stability of knowing that if they or their loved one do get sick, they will not be forced into bankruptcy to pay for the cost. Our bill restricts the arbitrary limits that insurance companies currently place on the amount of coverage families receive. It caps the total amount that insurance companies can make people pay out of pocket on copays and deductibles. And it eliminates the lifetime limits insurance companies can impose on coverage.

In addition to putting in place those important consumer protections that would help people such as Doreen and Tony, it will give families the stability and security they deserve and lower the cost of care so Americans such as Tony and Doreen would not have coverage that costs as much or more than their mortgage. We do that by putting in place premium rate reviews to track increases and crack down on excessive insurance company overhead costs.

When our bill passes--and I am confident it will, despite the delay and the delay and the delay that we are seeing on the other side of the aisle--insurance companies will no longer be able to hike up Doreen's premiums to pay for a bureaucracy they will then put to work battling her claims.

We also provide sliding scale premium tax credits--tax credits--for families who still can't afford coverage, which would help 450,000 people in my home State of Washington get the coverage they need.

Mr. President, the bill before us today--which some of my colleagues have sitting on their desks and they bring out here on a daily basis to show us the pages--will help families such as the Kelseys. That is what is within the pages of the bill they keep throwing at us. So I think, rather than talking about the number of pages in the bill, our colleagues on the other side of the aisle might actually want to talk about what is in the bill because right now, instead of debating the merits of bringing down costs or protecting families from losing the coverage when they get sick, our colleagues are actually spending time complaining this bill has too many pages.

I ask the Presiding Officer and my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to take a look at this photo of Doreen sitting next to hundreds and hundreds of pages of correspondence and appeals and fights with her insurance company. These are the pages we ought to be talking about. These are the pages that impact people's lives, and the Kelseys are the people we ought to be talking about.

So when my colleagues come down here and complain about the number of pages in our health reform bill--those pages that will help our families and businesses lower costs--I want them to think about the number of pages right here in front of Doreen. These are pages that have caused the Kelseys unimaginable heartache, and these are the pages that have come between them and the health care they paid for.

These are the numbers we ought to be focusing on--the 14,000 people who are losing coverage every day. These are the numbers we ought to be focusing on--the 51 million people who have no insurance. Those are the numbers we ought to be focusing on, not the number of pages in the bill.

Mr. President, we have to end the politics, end the delay and the partisanship. We need to end this obstruction because that is what the Kelseys faced every day, delay and obstruction. They are facing it again on the floor of the Senate. It is time for us to come together on this important bill and bring our businesses and our families the insurance reform they have been asking for. I hope that is what Americans will remember at the end of the day, that the pages in this bill are going to change their lives so they don't have to fight their insurance companies again.

Mr. President, we are here today in the Senate--nobody on the floor, just me talking about what we ought to be doing, and you in the Chair, waiting. Why? Because we have a Defense appropriations bill in front of the Senate. It is a Defense appropriations bill that needs to be passed by the end of this year. It needs to be passed so we can get back on the floor and pass our health care reform bill.

Some people on the other side of the aisle have decided that delaying this Defense bill will somehow help them delay this from ever being passed--the health care bill that would help Doreen and her family. Well, Mr. President, it isn't just about making a political point. What we are doing is having our soldiers--who are serving on the ground in Iraq, in Afghanistan, around the globe and here in our country--wonder what they are going to get for Christmas--a delay from the Senate?

The bill in front of us provides a 3.4-percent military pay increase. This is an All-Volunteer Force we have out there working for us. Many of them are away from their families this Christmas. They do not want to hear that the Senate is delaying passing this important bill that will give them the security they need because of political obstruction in order to delay a health care bill.

This Defense bill is critically important. It has very important support for our military and their families. It has passed through this Senate before, and we are ready now to make the final trip to the White House, which needs to be done, by the way, by tomorrow. So I hope our colleagues will not continue to delay. I hope they will allow us to move to final passage on this bill so our men and women who are serving us in the military and around the globe know there is a Senate who is working for them.

I have heard some of them on the other side complain that some things were added to the Senate Defense bill--that also need to be done by the end of the year, besides the Defense bill--such as making sure our families, whose benefits are running out for unemployment, or COBRA for health care insurance, get a 2-month extension. So should our Christmas present to them be: Sorry, you aren't going to get your small little help as we end this year. We want to keep that going for another 3 months during one of the worst economic times we have seen. So, of course, we put it in this bill.

Because of the obstruction on the other side, we can't get it through in a timely fashion. It has to be done by the end of this year. We are doing the right thing for our families. We are doing the right thing for our military by putting it in this bill and getting it done and to the President so we can finish our work.

Mr. President, these are all critical issues. We are all tired. We have been here day after day after day. It is time to get this done. Let me tell you why. Because Doreen and her husband are facing piles and piles of paperwork to care for her husband. They are fighting their insurance company. And all we have to do is put these bills in front of us, get them done, and provide some relief for America. I hope that is what we focus on, Mr. President. I hope we stop the deny and delay and obstruction that the Kelseys have had to fight with their insurance company. Let's move these bills and go home to our families for Christmas.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Madam President, today I would like to take a moment to recognize a very special advocate, activist, and champion for equal rights in my home State of Washington on his birthday.

Tomas Villanueva has been a farmworkers, warehouse packers, and other economically disadvantaged laborers advocate since the early 1960s. Tomas was one of the first people involved in the United Farmworkers Union in my home State and has fought for years to ensure that workers are treated with dignity, respect, and under the protections of the law.

Tomas' involvement with the human rights movement began in the early 1960s when he was inspired by UFW leader Cesar Chavez. And since that time, Tomas has fought for numerous causes and people while maintaining his reputation as a kind, generous, compassionate and humble leader.

Tomas has also been a close friend and partner of mine for a very long time. He has helped my staff and I recognize the depth of the difficult conditions that farmworkers face, and has been a consistent voice in fighting to improve conditions through the legislative process.

Farmworker housing is a moral issue, an economic issue, and a family issue. Too many workers and their families face very difficult living conditions. Some live in their cars. Others share run-down, overcrowded rooms with other families. These are not the kinds of living conditions we can tolerate in the United States in the 21st century. They are certainly not suitable for the people who help put food on our tables and who keep our State's economy strong. Tomas knows that we can and must do better.

Tomas Villanueva was 14 when his family emigrated from Mexico. After following the crops for three years, the family settled in Toppenish, Washington in 1958. Tomas spent the next several years working various jobs before earning a high school GED and enrolling in Yakima Valley College.

Hearing about Caesar Chavez's United Farm Workers movement, Tomas travelled to California in 1967 to learn about organizing. Returning to the Yakima Valley, he helped found the United Farm Worker Cooperative, one of the very first Chicano organizations in the State of Washington.

From 1967 to 1974, Tomas devoted himself to farm worker organizing and Chicano movement activism. Out of these efforts came the Yakima Valley Farmworkers Clinic, the United Farm Workers Service Center, a wave of hop harvest strikes in 1969, 1970, 1971, and a successful grape boycott.

In 1974, Tomas started a construction company with his father and brothers, but in the 1980s he was back in the union movement. In 1986 he became the first president of the newly formed United Farm Workers of Washington State. Today he lives in Toppenish and remains active in State and local politics.

Tomas Villanueva continues to be a valued friend, hard-working partner, and widely-respected leader in his community. I am so pleased to recognize his lifetime of achievements on this special day.