Floor Statements

Mr. President, I wish to join with my ranking member, Senator Bond, in a colloquy to correct clerical errors in the attribution table accompanying division A of H.R. 3288. Senator Merkley and Senator Wyden are listed as having requested the Oak Street Extension, Schereville, IN, project under surface transportation priorities. My staff has confirmed that this project was not requested by Senator Merkley or Senator Wyden, and, as such, Senator Merkley and Senator Wyden's names should not be listed as requestors.

Mr. President, Senator Bond, is correct. My staff has confirmed that the changes to the attribution table should be made so that the Senators listed above can be appropriately recognized as having requested the projects cited above.

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that Richard Burkard, a detailee from the Government Accountability Office to the Appropriations Committee, be granted the privilege of the floor during consideration of the consolidated appropriations bill.

Madam President, I rise this afternoon to speak about the Transportation-Housing title of the bill now before the Senate. This is a bill that has broad bipartisan support because it addresses the very real housing and transportation needs of American families across the Nation.

There is a lot to be proud of in this conference report, and I am pleased with what we have been able to accomplish working with my colleague from across the aisle, Senator Bond, Chairman Olver on the House side, and Congressman Latham and all their staffs.

This bill makes needed investments in our transportation infrastructure, creating critical jobs, while also supporting housing and services for our Nation's most vulnerable.

It ensures that two critical Federal agencies--departments that communities across the country depend on--have the resources they need to keep our commuters safe and our communities moving and prospering.

The bill before us touches the lives of Americans in ways they can appreciate each day. Because we are talking about transportation projects and housing assistance, we are also talking about jobs and stemming a housing crisis that has contributed to our current economic troubles.

Whether it is the parent who commutes every day and needs safe roads or new public transportation options so they can spend more time with their families or a business that depends on solid infrastructure to move goods and attract customers or the young family searching for a safe and affordable community in which to raise their children or the recently laid-off worker who needs help to keep his or her family in their home, this omnibus bill before us has a real impact on Americans who are struggling in these troubling economic times.

Our bill takes a balanced approach that addresses the most critical needs we face in both transportation and housing, while remaining financially responsible and staying within the constraints of the budget resolution.

I am especially pleased that the bill provides over $10.3 billion to support and expand public transit, which continues to see record growth in ridership.

The bill also includes $600 million for the competitive multimodal surface transportation grant program, which supports projects making a significant impact on communities and regions--in addition to the over $41.8 billion included for our Nation's roads and bridges, which will support good-paying construction jobs and lead to safer and more reliable infrastructure.

These transportation investments are critical to supporting our Nation's economy and creating good-paying jobs.

In addition to these important investments in transportation, the bill represents a firm commitment to provide critical housing and supportive services to families most impacted by the economic crisis.

This bill includes increased funding for the section 8 program, which provides housing for low-income families across the country. In addition, the bill increases housing programs for some of our Nation's most underserved populations, such as the elderly, the disabled, and Native American communities.

Senator Bond and I are particularly proud that this bill includes $75 million for vouchers for the joint HUD-Veterans Affairs Supportive Housing Program. That program will provide an additional 10,000 homeless veterans and their families housing and supportive services. We should all be very proud of the inclusion of that in the bill.

I am also pleased the bill includes more than $150 million for housing counseling programs to help families avoid scams and stay in their homes, instead of facing foreclosure.

Our bill provides assistance to those who need it most, and it directs resources in a responsible and fiscally prudent way.

It addresses the needs of families and businesses in every region of the country--families who are looking for the Federal Government to step up and provide solutions to everything from congestion solutions to transportation safety, to foreclosure assistance, to affordable housing.

This bill helps our commuters, homeowners, and the most vulnerable in society. Most important, it will create jobs and support the continued recovery of our national economy.

I hope we can get past the differences we have and move quickly to send this bill to the President's desk.

Before I close, I thank all our Senate staff who worked extremely hard over this past year to move this bill forward to our subcommittee, through full committee, to the floor of the Senate, through conference committee, and now here at its final stop before it reaches the President's desk. They have worked many weekends and evenings putting this together. These staff members are: Matt McCardle, John Kamarck, Ellen Beares, Joanne Waszczak, Travis Lumpkin, Grant Lahmann, Michael Bain, Dedra Goodman and Alex Keenan and especially Meaghan McCarathy and Rachel Milberg for their outstanding efforts to help us get this bill to the floor today. We are the ones who stand before everybody and take credit for these bills, but it is our staffs who have helped us get here. I thank the staffs on both sides of the aisle for getting us here today.

I urge our colleagues to get past our differences and move the bill quickly to the President's desk.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from California for her debate, for outlining the serious concerns we have, and I rise today not only in strong opposition to the Nelson amendment but in strong support of women's health care choices, which this amendment would eliminate.

Mr. President, we can't allow a bill that does so much for women and for families and for our businesses and for the future strength of this Nation to get bogged down in ideological politics because in every single sense of the word, health insurance reform is about choices-- giving options to those who don't have them: options for better care or better quality, and insurance that is within reach. This bill was never supposed to be about taking away choices, and we cannot allow it to become that.

Mr. President, this bill already does so much for millions of women across America. Already so far, the Senate has passed Senator Mikulski's amendment to be sure that all women have access to quality preventive health care services, and that screenings, which are so critical to keeping women healthy, are available. This underlying bill will also help women by ending discrimination based on gender-rating or gender-biased preexisting conditions, on covering maternity care, preventive care and screenings, including mammograms and well-baby care, expanding access to coverage even if an employer doesn't cover it, and giving freedom to those who are forced to stay in abusive relationships because if they leave, they or their children could lose their coverage.

Mr. President, the amendment before us today would undermine those efforts and goes against the spirit and the goal of this underlying bill. All Americans should be allowed to choose a plan that allows for coverage of any legal health care service, no matter their income, and that, by the way, includes women. But if this amendment were to pass, it would be the first time that Federal law would restrict what individual private dollars can pay for in the private health insurance marketplace.

Let me repeat that: If this amendment were to pass, it would be the first time that Federal law would restrict what individual private dollars can pay for in the private health insurance marketplace.

Now, the opponents of this bill have taken to the floor day in and day out for months arguing that this bill takes away choice. This bill doesn't take away choice, Mr. President, but this amendment sure does. This amendment stipulates that any health plan receiving any funds under this legislation cannot cover abortion care, even if such coverage is paid for using the private premiums that health plans receive directly from individuals.

Simply put, the amendment says if a health plan wants to offer coverage to individuals who receive affordability credits--no matter how small--that coverage cannot include abortion.

In this way, the amendment doesn't only restrict Federal funds, it restricts

private funds. It doesn't just affect those receiving some amount of affordability credits, it also impacts people who are paying the entire cost of coverage but who just happen to purchase the same health plan as those with affordability credits.

The bottom line: This amendment would be taking away options and choices for American women.

There is no question this amendment goes much further than current law, no matter what our colleagues on the other side contend. Current law restricts public funds from paying for abortion except in cases of rape or incest or where the woman's life is in danger. The existing bill before us represents a genuine compromise. It prohibits Federal funding of abortion, other than the exceptions I just mentioned, but it also allows women to pay for coverage with their own private funds. It maintains current law; it doesn't roll it back.

This amendment now before us would be an unprecedented restriction on women's health choices and coverage. Health insurance reform should be a giant step forward for the health and economic stability of all Americans. This amendment would be a giant step backward for women's health and women's rights. Women already pay higher costs for health care. We should not be forced into limited choices as well.

We are standing on the floor today having a debate about a broken health insurance system. It is broken for women who are denied coverage or charged more for preexisting conditions such as pregnancy or C- sections or domestic violence. It is broken when insurance companies charge women of childbearing age more than men but don't cover maternity care or only offer it for hefty additional premiums.

The status quo is not working. Women and their families need health insurance reform that gives them options, doesn't take them away.

I urge my colleagues to stand up for real reform. Reject this shortsighted amendment.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I come to the floor this afternoon, although I know this is an extremely important issue we are debating, health care, but I wish to speak on a different topic.

(The further remarks of Mrs. MURRAY are printed in today's Record under ``Morning Business.'')

Madam President, tomorrow will be a somber and very difficult day in my home State.

That is because tomorrow, just over a week after the single worst act of violence against law enforcement in Washington State history, police officers from across the State and Nation, heartbroken Washington State residents, the community of Lakewood, WA, and the families of the victims of last Sunday's brutal attack on four police officers will gather to say goodbye.

Tomorrow's memorial for the four officers killed on the morning of November 29th will begin with a procession that leaves from just steps away from the coffee shop that was the site of that senseless and cowardly attack.

An attack in which four officers were targeted solely because they were in uniform, solely because they had sworn to protect their community.

The procession will then weave its way through that very community-- Lakewood, WA, a community that has been devastated by this tragedy, a community where these four officers were original members of their police force--and were loved and respected by their colleagues and the people they served.

Along the way, the procession route is expected to be lined by thousands of Lakewood residents and by all those who have been so deeply affected by this tragedy from throughout my State.

At the Lakewood Police Department the procession will stop to pick up the families of the fallen officers--families who together now include nine children left without a parent--families whose grief is hard to imagine.

The procession will end at a service that is expected to be attended by more than 20,000 law enforcement officers from every corner of my State and from throughout the Nation.

It will be an emotional end to a week that has rocked my home State.

It will also be farewell for four police officers who devoted and ultimately gave their lives to protect others.

Law enforcement is not for everyone. In fact, it takes a special kind of person to be willing to wake up each day--motivated and ready to be the line of protection between dangerous criminals and our neighborhoods and people.

But in the case of Sergeant Mark Renninger and Officers Gregory Richards, Tina Griswold and Ronald Owens it is easy to see where they got that motivation from.

When you hear their life stories, it is clear that, to a person, these were officers who beyond all else, were dedicated to family; officers who knew that the work they did protected those they love and families just like theirs.

In a telling quote this week, a fellow Lakewood officer described his fallen colleagues by saying that they were executed because they were cops, but that none of them saw their lives that way.

Instead he said they saw themselves first and foremost as family men and women.

For these four police officers any reminder of just how critical the duties they performed each day were came when they went home each night.

Officer Greg Richards leaves behind a wife and three children. He was an 8-year veteran who served in the Kent Police Department before joining the Lakewood department.

In memorials he has been described as a glass-half-full guy, someone who made things better for the people around him. His wife Kelly has talked this week about his passion for music, his job and of course his family.

Officer Tina Griswold leaves behind a husband and two children. She was a 14-year veteran who served in the police departments in Shelton and Lacey before joining the Lakewood police force in 2004.

She stood 4 foot 11 but as her colleagues have said many times--she wouldn't back down from anyone. She was a member of the riot response team, a hard-charging officer and mom who loved her job and her family.

Officer Ronald Owens leaves behind a daughter. Owens followed his father into law enforcement and was a 12-year veteran who served on the Washington State Patrol before moving to the Lakewood Police Department.

He has been remembered as spending almost all of his off-duty time with his daughter--attending all of her school

functions, riding bikes together, and treating her to nights out whenever he could.

Sgt. Mark Renninger leaves behind a wife and three children. He was a veteran, who wore the uniform of the United States before putting on the uniform of the Tukwila Police Department in 1996. He joined the Lakewood Police Department in 2004.

He was an Army Ranger and has been described as having the kind of natural leadership abilities that put other officer at ease in difficult situations.

He was a SWAT team trainer known for an enthusiasm for his job. But he was also remembered this week for the joy that family brought him-- whether it was trips to Mariners games or family vacations to Mount Rainier.

This was a senseless and brutal killing--and it specifically targeted the people who sacrifice each day to keep all of us safe.

This terrible crime has not only left the families of the victims shattered, but it has shattered our sense of safety and left an entire community in disbelief.

It was also part of a shockingly violent month for my State's law enforcement community that has also included a senseless attack on October 31 which killed Seattle Police Officer Timothy Brenton and left another officer--Britt Sweeney--injured.

These attacks remind all of us of the incredible risks our law enforcement officers take each day, and that even when doing the most routine aspects of their jobs, our law enforcement officers put themselves on the line for our safety.

Already this year more than 100 police officers across our country have given their lives while serving to protect us.

Each of these tragedies sheds light on just how big a sacrifice our police officers make in the line of duty.

But these most recent attacks in my home State also offer an important reminder that our officers are always in the line of duty, even when they are training other officers, out on routine patrols, or simply having coffee.

There is no doubt that these senseless attacks have left many law enforcement officers across my State and our country feeling targeted. But there is also no doubt that their willingness to put themselves on the line to protect us will continue unshaken. That is a testament to the commitment they make to serve and protect us every day, and it should remind all of us that these brave men and women deserve all the support we can provide to keep them safe.

As my State prepares to say goodbye to these four heroes, I again extend my condolences and the condolences of the entire Senate to their families.

Our law enforcement professionals put themselves between us and danger every day. Right now, in light of such horrible events, we hold them even closer in our own thoughts and prayers.

Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Madam President, I thank my colleague from Maryland, and I would just say that wherever she stands on the floor of the Senate, she leads us all. So we are delighted you are here and thank you so much for

your leadership on this critical issue of making sure women have access to quality preventive health care services and screenings which are so critical to women across the country.

Madam President, the Senator from Maryland offered this amendment, and I worked with her in the committee. She has been a leader on this for many years, and I echo her comments as well that this has always been an issue. For as long as I have been here--since 1993--the women in the Senate, on both sides of the aisle, have stood up to make sure that women's care is part of health care, and we understand we have to stand shoulder to shoulder. It is unfortunate at this time that we see this in a little different light, but I agree with Senator Mikulski. We will keep working together throughout our time here to make sure women's preventive services are covered.

I do support the Mikulski amendment and the Mikulski approach. Her amendment requires all health plans to cover comprehensive women's preventive care and screenings at no cost to women. I just wanted to come to the floor for a minute and point out why this is so important.

When the economy is hurting, women on the whole tend to think of caring for their families first and not caring for themselves. They take care of their children and their spouses first, and they end up delaying or skipping their own health care in order to take care of their families. In fact, we know in 2007, a quarter of women reported delaying or skipping their health care because of cost. In May of 2009, just 2 years later, a report by the Commonwealth Foundation found that more than half of women today are delaying or avoiding preventive care because of its cost.

That is not good for women, it is not good for their families, and it is not good for their ability to be able to take care of their families and to take care of themselves. So Senator Mikulski's amendment is extremely important, especially in this economic time. We know if women get the preventive care and care for their needs, then they are able to care for their families. Yet the situation we find ourselves in today is that women are not taking preventive care. They are not taking care of themselves. Therefore, when they get sick, they end up in the hospital and then their families are in trouble. So we know preventive services can save lives, and it means better health outcomes for women.

We have to make sure we cover preventive services, and this takes into account the unique needs of women. Senator Mikulski's amendment will make sure this bill provides coverage for important preventive services for women at no cost. Women will have improved access to well- women visits--important for all women; family planning services; mammograms, which we have all talked about so many times, to make sure they maintain their health.

Madam President, I want to emphasize that this amendment preserves the doctor-patient relationship and allows patients to consult with their doctors on what services are best for them. This has become a large topic of conversation over the last several weeks, and Senator Mikulski's amendment makes sure if a woman under 50 decides to receive an annual mammogram, this amendment will cover it. She will be able to work with her own doctor and take care of her health.

So, Madam President, I come to the floor today to strongly support the Mikulski amendment, to thank her for her leadership, and I hope we can get to and vote on this important issue and move on and pass health care reform.

My constituents, when I go home, say: Move on. Get this done. We have to take care of this because of our economy, because of the impact on small businesses, because of the rising costs of premiums, and because of the large number of people who are losing their health care coverage. This health care bill is going to make a major difference when we get it passed, and the American public can take a deep breath and say: Finally, our government has moved forward.

So let's get past this amendment. I support strongly the Mikulski amendment. Let's move on this bill and take a major step forward for health care coverage for all Americans and pass the health care bill.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Abortion

Madam President, I add my thanks to the Senator from Maryland, Ms. Mikulski, for bringing forth this important issue as we address health care reform in this country to ensure that all our families have access to health care.

One of the most important things we can do is make sure the caregivers in our families--the women--get access to preventive care so they can take care of their families.

This amendment will require all the health plans to cover comprehensive women's preventive care and screenings at no cost to women. That is extremely important. We all understand that--but especially in these tough economic times, when families across the country are struggling. One of the results has been that a lot of women are skipping or delaying their health care. We all know this personally. As moms, you take care of your kids first. When you do that, you often leave your families at risk because you haven't gotten the necessary preventive care.

We know that, in 2007, a quarter of women reported delaying or skipping health care because of the costs. In May of 2009, a report by the Commonwealth Foundation found that more than half of women delayed or avoided preventive care because of its cost.

This amendment will ensure that those women don't delay their preventive care because they cannot afford it. It is extremely important for this bill, it is important for women in this country, and it is important for men and children in this country as well.

I add my thanks to the senior Senator from Maryland and all our Senate colleagues who have been down here to make sure that one of the first things we do as we move the bill to the floor is make sure women's preventive care is covered.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, we are obviously in the middle of a very important debate on health care. I thank the managers of this bill for allowing my colleague from Washington, Senator Cantwell, and me to interrupt this important debate to talk for a few minutes about a very tragic event that

occurred in Washington over this past weekend.

Just 2 days ago, our State was shocked and saddened and appalled by news of the deadliest attack on law enforcement in Washington State's history. On Sunday morning, just after 8 a.m., a gunman walked into a coffee shop in Pierce County, WA, and opened fire, killing four members of the city of Lakewood Police Department who were going over the details of their upcoming shift.

It was a senseless and brutal killing. It specifically targeted the people who sacrifice each and every day to keep all of us safe--our police officers.

This terrible crime has not only left the families of these victims shattered, but it has shattered our sense of safety and left an entire community and State in disbelief.

It is also part of a shockingly violent month for my State's law enforcement community that has also included a senseless attack on October 31, which killed Seattle police officer Timothy Brenton and left another officer, Britt Sweeney, injured.

These attacks remind all of us of the incredible risks our law enforcement officers take each day and that even when doing the most routine tasks and aspects of their jobs, our law enforcement officers put themselves on the line for our safety.

Today my thoughts and prayers, like those all across Washington State and our Nation, remain with the families of the brave police officers who were killed on Sunday.

Officer Tina Griswold was a 14-year veteran who served in the police departments in Shelton and Lacey before she joined the Lakewood Police Force in 2004. She leaves behind a husband and two children.

Officer Ronald Owens followed his father into law enforcement. He was a 12-year veteran of law enforcement and served on the Washington State Patrol before moving to the Lakewood Police Department. He leaves behind a daughter.

SGT Mark Renninger was a veteran who wore the uniform of the United States before putting on the uniform of the Tukwila Police Department in 1996. He joined the Lakewood Police Department in 2004. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

Officer Greg Richards was an 8-year veteran who served in the Kent Police Department before he joined the Lakewood Police Department. He leaves behind a wife and three children.

Because of this senseless attack, nine children have lost their parents. These were officers--mother and fathers, husbands and wife-- who woke up every day, put on their uniforms, and went out to protect our children, our communities, and our safety. On Sunday, they did not come home.

Already in news reports, Internet postings, and candlelight vigils thousands of tributes to these officers' dedication to their families and jobs have been shared. They paint a picture of brave officers who not only kept our communities safe but were also respected and revered members of our communities; a mother and fathers who in the wake of this tragedy will leave young families behind; neighbors and friends who coached softball and helped repair local homes and reached out to help those in need. They are police veterans who helped build the foundation of a new police force. They are public servants who put the safety of all of us behind their own every single day.

Already this year 111 police officers across our country have given their lives while serving to protect us. Each of those tragedies sheds light on just how big a sacrifice our police officers make in the line of duty. But these most recent attacks in my home State also offer an important reminder: that our officers are always in the line of duty, even when they are training other officers or out on routine patrols or simply having coffee.

There is no doubt these senseless attacks have left many law enforcement officers across my State and our country feeling targeted. But there is also no doubt that their willingness to put themselves on the line to protect us will continue unshaken. In fact, over the last 3 days, law enforcement officers from all across my State have risked their own lives in the successful search to find the man accused of this killing and to keep him from hurting more innocent people. That is a testament to the unwavering commitment they make to serve and protect each of us every day. It should remind all of us that these brave men and women deserve all the support we can provide to keep them safe.

No words are adequate to express the shock, the anger, and the disbelief that comes with such a brutal crime. No words will be enough to lessen the loss. Our law enforcement professionals put themselves between us and danger every day.

Right now, in light of such horrible events, we hold them even closer in our thoughts and our prayers.

Mr. President, I yield to my colleague from Washington State, Senator Cantwell.

Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from Ohio for sharing those stories. It tells the compelling reasons why tomorrow night's vote to move to this bill is so important, and we are all honored to be a part of that.

After a lot of hard work, it is amazing that our country really is now closer than we have been in decades to passing a real health insurance reform bill that will help provide our families and our businesses with affordable and stable health insurance coverage. There is a lot of debate and there is a lot of work still ahead of us, but it should not go unnoticed that this is a big moment for our country, and you know what. It couldn't come soon enough.

Our economy is hurting. Americans across the country are so worried about keeping their jobs and making their mortgage payments. The last stress people need today is to worry about the cost of getting sick or being dropped from their insurance plan or opening the mail and seeing yet another premium increase.

Health insurance premiums for families in my home State of Washington have more than doubled in the last 10 years, and they are rising at a rate that is five times faster than people's salaries. Families and small business owners are paying more and more for their coverage, and often they are getting less and less in return. These numbers demonstrate clearly what families and small business owners across my State of Washington understand all too well. The status quo in the health insurance system is unsustainable and the cost of inaction is just too high for them to bear.

The news we got back from the Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday is encouraging. It shows the American people that our bill, our legislation will save money while protecting Medicare, and it ensures that families and businesses can take back control over their own health care choices.

If we do not pass this bill, health insurance premiums are going to continue to skyrocket. If we fail to act, health insurance companies will continue to deny patients coverage simply because they are sick. And if we let another year go by without reform, more and more families are going to lose their coverage and more and more businesses are going to collapse under the growing burden of the cost of health insurance. It doesn't have to be this way. We have been talking about reforming our health insurance system for a very long time here. Now we owe it to the American people to give them more than just talk; to give them, finally, the stability and security of a health insurance system that will be there for them when they need it and that cannot be taken away from them if they get sick or if they lose their jobs.

Six months ago, I sent a letter to my constituents asking them for their stories and their thoughts on health insurance reform, and the response I got was overwhelming. I received over 10,000 letters and e- mails from people across Washington State sharing their health care stories with me. Those stories came from small business owners, from employees, from moms and dads who told me how they are struggling with the cost of care today. So many of them cannot afford the status quo and deserve health insurance reform that allows them to keep coverage if they like it, gives them additional options if they don't, makes their care more affordable, and guarantees, finally, stable coverage that cannot be taken away when it is needed the most.

I have come to the floor many times over the last several months as we have worked to put together our Senate bills and I have shared some of these stories on the floor. Now that we have a plan on the table, I wish to tell two of these stories once more to really demonstrate the desperate need for us to move quickly and to get this bill passed.

Chris Brandt, from Spokane, WA, told me a story about his problems finding coverage. Chris told me he is a healthy young man who works for a small business that cannot afford to provide coverage to its employees, so Chris, as do a lot of Americans, had to find coverage on his own through the individual market. He told me that after paying his mortgage, his car payment, and his student loans, the only insurance he could afford is a catastrophic plan that might keep him out of bankruptcy if he gets sick. But even the cost of that plan has doubled--has more than doubled in the last 2 years.

So here is a man named Chris who wants insurance. He doesn't want to be a burden to anybody else if he gets sick, but he cannot keep up with the rising cost. We have to have a system that encourages people such as Chris to get high-quality insurance that covers preventive care so that those small, inexpensive medical problems can be treated before they become large, expensive medical problems. That is what will keep our families healthy, and it will save money in the system in the long run.

I also received a very compelling story from a woman named Patricia Jackson who lives in Woodinville, WA. Like a lot of working families, the Jacksons told me they have insurance through their employer and they pay their premiums each month directly through Patricia's paycheck. But also like a lot of our families, the burden of those premium payments is rising too quickly. Patricia told me that to care for her family of four, she paid $840 a month in 2007--$840 a month. In 2008, her payments jumped to $900 a month. This year, Patricia paid $1,186 a month. Now, before this year is even over, she got a new bill and her rates have been hiked to $1,400 a month. That is an increase of over 66 percent for her premiums in just 3 years.

Patricia, not surprisingly, told me she and her family can no longer afford to pay this, and she is not alone. Family health care coverage rose over 86

percent between 2000 and 2007. That is an increase in my State of over $5,600 per family. Wages during that time period only grew 16 percent.

The largest private insurance company in my State sent out a letter in August to all of the people who get insurance through them and told them they were raising rates by 17 percent--17 percent. Some of my small business owners are telling me premium increases are going up 40 percent. This makes families and businesses have to make choices about what they can pay.

Families are really struggling today in this tough economic climate. It is the worst since the Great Depression. They cannot afford these cost increases. So the bill we are about to bring to the floor will finally--finally--make insurers compete for the business of the American people. That is what families and small business owners in my State and across the country want and need, and it is what they deserve.

The bill we are going to bring before the Senate will make health insurance more stable. It will end the unfair and deceptive insurance company practices such as cherry-picking and cancelling coverage because of preexisting conditions. It is going to reward what works in this system and change what doesn't. Finally, it will start reining in those costs so that health care can become more affordable. It is going to allow people such as Chris to get high-quality coverage, and it is going to rein in the costs for people such as Patricia. This is more important now than ever before as our economy struggles and the cost of that care continues to rise.

We have been talking about health insurance reform for a long time, and while we were talking, families and small businesses have suffered. It is now time to end the politics and end the partisanship and come together to bring our families and our small business owners the health insurance reforms they deserve.

As we move forward in this debate, I am going to be working very hard to make sure that the needs and priorities of Washington State families and businesses are preserved and that we move forward in a way that ensures that the future health of our families and the strength of our economy is there. So I urge all of our colleagues to work with us now in a very constructive way over the next several weeks as we debate this bill. and to rise above the partisanship. Let's make health insurance work for our families, our economy, and for our country. That is what this debate is about.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, last week many of us spent time back home celebrating our veterans and honoring the great sacrifices they made for our country. I had the opportunity to commemorate Veterans Day at the Tahoma National Cemetery in Kent, WA. It was truly an honor to stand with veterans and their families as we paid tribute to their service.

This recognition is important, it is certainly deserved, but it is not enough. We owe it to our veterans to make sure our commitment to them extends beyond Veterans Day and that they have access to the health care and services they have earned.

Growing up, I saw firsthand the many ways that military service can affect both veterans and their families. My father served in World War II. He was one of the first soldiers to land in Okinawa. He came home as a disabled veteran, and he was awarded the Purple Heart.

Like many soldiers of his generation, my dad did not talk about his experiences to us when he came home. In fact, we only learned about them by reading his journals after he passed away. That experience offered me a much larger lesson about veterans in general.

They are reluctant to call attention to their service. They are reluctant to ask for help. That is why we have to publicly recognize their sacrifices and contributions. It is up to us to make sure they get the recognition they have earned. Our veterans held up their end of the deal, now we have to hold up ours.

As a member of the Veterans' Affairs Committee, I am keenly aware that we have a lot of work to do for the men and women who served us. Not only must we continually strive to keep up our commitments to veterans from all wars, but we have to also respond to the new and very different issues facing veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan today, wars that are being fought under conditions that are very different from those in the past. That is precisely what the caregivers and veterans omnibus health bill that is before us today aims to do.

One of the changes we have seen in our veterans population recently is the growing number of women veterans who are seeking care at the VA. Today more women are serving in the military than ever before, and over the next 5 years, in fact, the number of women seeking care at the VA is expected to double. Not only are women answering the call to serve at unprecedented levels, they are also serving in a very different capacity.

In Iraq and Afghanistan, we have seen wars that do not have traditional front lines; therefore, all of our servicemembers, including women, find themselves on the front lines. So whether it is working at the check points or helping to search and clear neighborhoods or supporting supply convoys, women servicemembers face many of the same risks from IEDs and ambushes as their male counterparts.

But while the nature of their service has changed, the VA has been very slow to change the nature of the care they provide for these women when they return home. Today at the VA there is an insufficient number of doctors and staff with specific training and experience in women's health issues, and even the VA's own special studies have shown that women veterans are underserved. That is why included in this veterans health bill we are talking about today is a bill I introduced that will enable the VA to better understand and ultimately treat the unique needs of our female veterans. That bill authorizes several new programs and studies, including a comprehensive look at the barriers women currently face in accessing care through the VA. It is a study of women who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan to assess how those conflicts have affected their health.

There is a requirement that the VA implement a program to train and educate and certify VA mental health professionals to care for women with sexual trauma, and there is a pilot program that provides childcare to women veterans who are seeking mental health services at the VA.

This bill is the result of many discussions with women veterans on the unique and very personal problems they face when they return from war. Oftentimes after veterans meetings I held in which male veterans would speak freely about where they believed the VA wasn't meeting their needs, women veterans would approach me afterwards and walk up to me very quietly and whisper about the challenges they face.

Some of these women told me they don't view themselves as a veteran even though they served, and therefore they don't seek care at the VA. Others told me how they believed the lack of privacy at their local VA was very intimidating, or about being forced into a caregiving role that prevented them from seeking care as they would often have to struggle to find a babysitter just in order to keep an appointment. To me and to the bipartisan group of Senators who have cosponsored my women veterans bill, these barriers to care for women veterans were unacceptable.

As more women now begin to transition back home and step back into careers and their lives as moms and wives, the VA has to be there for them. This bill we are talking about today will help the VA modernize to meet their needs.

Another way this bill meets the changing needs of our veterans is in the area of assisting caregivers in the home. As we have all seen in Iraq and Afghanistan, medical advances have helped save the lives of servicemembers who, as we know, in previous conflicts would have perished from the severity of their wounds. But these modern miracles also mean many of those who have been cast catastrophically wounded need round-the-clock care when they come home. In many of our rural areas, where access to health care services is limited, the burden of providing care often falls on the families of those severely injured veterans.

For these family members, providing care for their loved ones becomes a full-time job. Oftentimes we hear they have to quit their current job, forfeiting not only their source of income but often their own health care insurance as well. That is a sacrifice that is far too great, especially for families who have already sacrificed so much. That is why this underlying bill provides those caregivers with health care, with counseling, with support, and, importantly, a stipend.

This bill also takes steps to provide dental insurance to our veterans and survivors and their dependents.

It improves mental health care services and eases the transition from active duty to civilian life. It expands outreach and technology to provide better care to veterans who live in rural areas. It initiates three programs to address homelessness among veterans at these especially difficult economic times.

This is a bill that is supported by numerous veterans service organizations, by the VA, and it is supported by many leading medical groups. It was passed in the Senate Veterans' Affairs Committee with broad bipartisan support, after hearings with health care experts and VA officials and veterans and their families. Like other omnibus veterans health care bills before us, bills that have often passed on the floor with overwhelming support, it puts veterans before politics. It is a bipartisan bill designed to move swiftly so its programs can be implemented swiftly. It is a bipartisan bill designed to make sure our veterans do not become political pawns. Yet we have faced a lot of delays in getting here. Those delays are all too common here in the Senate. We have seen bipartisan nominations stalled, funding bills slowed down to a crawl. It has taken us months to pass a simple extension of unemployment benefits for people who are out of work.

Providing for our veterans used to be one area where political affiliation and bipartisan bickering fell to the wayside. I hope those days are not behind us. Our aging veterans and the brave men and women who serve in Iraq and

Afghanistan need our help now. How we treat them at this critical time is going to send a signal to a generation of young people who today might be considering military service.

As I have said many times, it is so important that we keep our promise to veterans, the same promise Abraham Lincoln made to America's veterans 140 years ago, ``to care for the veteran who has borne in battle, his widow and his orphan.''

Our veterans have waited long enough for many of the improvements in this bill. We cannot ask them to wait any longer.

I spoke last week on the floor on the eve of Veterans Day urging colleagues to move quickly on this bill. I am so glad progress is now being made toward making that happen. As we wait to pass this bill, our promise goes unfulfilled to many of our Nation's heroes. I urge my colleagues to pass this bill quickly so we can get to the work of providing our veterans with the support and services they have earned.

I thank the Chair.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote and I move to lay that motion on the table.

The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

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

I suggest the absence of a quorum.