Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 6533, which was received from the House.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 4915 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

I ask unanimous consent that the Baucus substitute amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table; that the title amendment which is at the desk be considered and agreed to, and that any statements related thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 335 just received from the House and at the desk.

Mr. President, I thank Ambassador Holbrooke for the Dayton Accords, held in Dayton, OH, in which Ambassador Holbrooke played such a key roll in bringing forward.

I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution and preamble be agreed to en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc; and that any statements relating to the concurrent resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 704 submitted earlier today.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related thereto be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 657, S. 118.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported substitute amendment be considered, that a Dodd amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the committee-substitute amendment, as amended, be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time, and that a budgetary pay-go statement be read.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 703, submitted earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I would like to take a moment to speak about this last resolution. Bob Feller was a Clevelander through and through. Senator Harkin is the prime sponsor of this resolution. I have joined him on it. Senator Harkin sponsored the resolution because Bob Feller was born in Van Meter, IA.

He was signed by the Cleveland Indians at the age of 16, apparently for $1 and an autographed baseball. He struck out 15 batters in his first Major League start. He struck out 17 in a game at the age of 17. He is the only Major League player in history to strike out in one game the number of batters comparable to his age.

His greatness was he was, perhaps, the hardest throwing pitcher ever in Major League Baseball. He pitched three no-hitters, then a record. It has been passed since. He pitched 12 one-hitters also, sharing that Major League record.

He would have shattered, perhaps, all pitching records short of Cy Young's number of career wins, perhaps, and Walter Johnson's, if he had not served his country for almost 4 years in World War II.

He gladly did it. He won eight battle stars. He served on the USS Alabama as a gunnery specialist. He was so proud of his service to his country. He turned down a huge contract with the Indians in 1942--huge in those days--to join the military to serve his country. He spoke about it frequently and was always very proud of that service.

He barnstormed the country with Satchel Page, the great Black pitcher who was not allowed in the Major Leagues in those days before the color line was broken. Feller and he traveled the country in the ``White Major League Baseball'' offseason and drew huge crowds, with Page and he facing each other in game after game after game.

He was a key member of the last Indians World Championship in 1948.

I saw Bob Feller pitch once. I was 4 years old, so I do not really remember it. My dad took my brothers Bob and Charlie and me to Bob Feller Day at old Cleveland Municipal Stadium in, I believe, 1957.

My dad loved Bob Feller. He was a legend in Cleveland. His statue is the only professional athlete's statue in Cleveland. Right outside Jacobs Field, on East 9th Street, you can see Bob Feller's statue, with his famous windup.

When you go to an Indians game in the new ballpark at Progressive Field--new, it is now more than 15 years old--when you go to the ballpark, people always say: I will meet you at the Bob Feller statue. That is sort of the place where you meet up with your friends and get your tickets and all of that.

He brought great joy to so many, such as my father. He was, perhaps, the greatest pitcher who ever lived. He died at the age of 92 in Gates Mill. He is survived by his wife Anne; his children Steve, Martin, and Bruce.

I was proud to have gotten to speak a number of times to Bob Feller. I do not pretend to have known him well. But he was always a major presence in Cleveland baseball and a major presence in Cleveland civic life. We are all grateful to him and indebted to him for his service to his country in World War II and to our community before, during, and after World War II. So I wanted to honor with that resolution, with Senator Harkin, his name and his life.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the previous order relating to recognition of Senator Specter on Tuesday, December 21, be modified to provide that he be recognized at 10:30 a.m. that day.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider en bloc Calendar Nos. 1090 and 1091; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc; that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the Record as if read; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; and that the Senate then resume legislative session.

Further, as if in executive session, I ask unanimous consent that on Sunday, December 19, following any vote with respect to the Risch amendment to the START treaty, the Senate then proceed to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 892 and 1092; and vote immediately on confirmation of the nominations, with 2 minutes of debate prior to each confirmation vote, equally divided and controlled between Senator Leahy and Senator Sessions or their designees; that upon confirmation, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session; further, after the first vote in this sequence, the succeeding votes be limited to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Sunday, December 19, following any leader remarks, the Senate resume executive session in and consideration of the START treaty; that there then be 3 hours of debate with respect to the Risch amendment No. 4839, with the time divided as follows: 1 hour under the control of Senator Kerry or his designee and 2 hours under the control of Senator Risch or his designee; that no amendments be in order to the Risch amendment; further, that upon the use or yielding back of the time, the Senate proceed to vote with respect to the amendment.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 12 noon, on Sunday, December 19; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed to have expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume executive session to consider the New START treaty, as provided under the previous order.

Mr. President, Senators should expect up to three rollcall votes, beginning at approximately 3 p.m. Those votes will be in relation to the Risch amendment to the START treaty and on confirmation of two judges.

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

Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Pennsylvania. I agree with him that this bill has as broad a public support as you get on a trade bill, a bill that deals directly with tariffs and trade relationships and manufacturing and help for workers who are laid off and help both with training dollars and with health care dollars and health care tax incentives.

It is supported--that is why it passed, I believe, by a voice vote in the House of Representatives last night, meaning nobody spoke out against it when it was passed overwhelmingly by voice vote. There may have been a few scattered ``nos.'' I am not even sure there was that.

The ranking member of the Ways and Means Committee, who will be chairman, Congressman Camp, from Michigan, was supporting it. The Ways and Means outgoing chairman, also from Michigan, Congressman Levin, also supported this.

The AFL-CIO supports it. The National Retail Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce recognize this is good for the country. That is why I am so hopeful my colleagues will not block this legislation.

One person standing up in this Chamber and blocking legislation because it is late in the year--I do not know if they are trying to cut some deal or what the reason is they would use for blocking it. But forget the politics of the support for it around the country, but look what it does that is so important: trade adjustment assistance. Since 2009, 367,000 workers were certified eligible for TAA, trade adjustment assistance. These workers use TAA to acquire new skills. When a worker is laid off, in Erie or right across the State line in Ashtabula, OH, you want to encourage them to go back to school and become, for example, a nurse, if they were working in a plant, and they are 45 years old, or you want them to go back to school and become a computer operator or to have some kind of job that you would hope would pay something comparable to the job they lost. This legislation is essential to do that.

The health care tax credit program helps these trade-affected workers and retirees purchase private health insurance to replace the employer- sponsored coverage they lost. We want people to be able to get back on their feet.

An objection to this motion by Senator Casey, a ``no'' vote on this, really does say: Stop. We are not interested in helping you do this.

If we allow the program to go back, if this is defeated, the jobs that are shipped to China or India or other countries we do not have a trade agreement with would no longer be eligible.

I can name by name factories in places such as Cleveland and Mansfield and Toledo and Dayton--and Senator

Casey can in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, and Altoona and all over his State--companies that have shut down or moved much of their production to China or India. We want them to be eligible, even though we do not have a bilateral trade agreement with those countries as we do with NAFTA or CAFTA or some of the other bilateral trade agreements we have.

That is why this is so important. I particularly ask my colleagues not to object to the passage of this bill. It has passed the House. We have the exact same language here. It is vetted. The Republican and Democratic leaders in both Houses say we ought to do it. Senator Baucus has worked very hard, harder than anyone, to renew TAA before the end of the year.

But I particularly am concerned about the health care tax credit. We have tried to come to the floor and move that already. We have not been successful in doing it because of the peculiar nature of Senate rules and that a very small handful, sometimes as few as one, can stop legislation.

But without the HCTC, come January 1, there will be thousands of people in my State who lose their health insurance. Hundreds of them-- if not several thousand--have spouses who will lose their health insurance because of what this will do in terms of the tax credit for health insurance.

So I guess my question to Senator Casey--and then he can make the motion, which I fully support--is, why? What do you see in this that anybody would object to? I am at a loss to understand why anybody would object to this.

I see some real potential here. I thank the Senator from Alabama. I know Senator Casey and I have fought for American manufacturing for pretty much our whole careers. I know Senator Sessions has had some disagreements sometimes with our trade policy in this country. I think our trade policy has done more--and the way we do globalization has done as much damage to our country as almost anything in terms of jobs, especially manufacturing jobs.

There are several parts of this bill, as the Senator recognizes--the GSP, about which the Senator obviously has some strong feelings; there are things the Senator has sounded as though he was agreeing with on TAA and with HCTC, with the Andean, and with the other part of the trade issue--I am drawing a blank on the other part of the tariff issue. It seems to me that except for the general standardized preferences, or GSP, it sounds as though we have a lot of agreement.

I hope I can speak for Senator Casey as well in saying I will certainly work with the Senator on trying to fix the part of the GSP that doesn't work for Alabama. If we can either separate the other ones out and get a UC or work with them together and go back to the House, we are certainly willing to do that.

I just don't want to see us adjourn--whatever day we adjourn, whether it is Monday or Tuesday or Christmas Day, I don't want to see us walk out of here without helping with trade adjustment, without helping with the health care tax credit, and leaving out Andean trade preferences and those things. So let's work together and see if we can do this in the next 24 hours and come back to the floor and work something through, if Senator Casey agrees with that too.

Mr. President, as Ohio's junior Senator, I wish to add my remarks, as well as I am able, to the comments of Senator Voinovich. He didn't talk much about himself and his career, and I will do that for a moment.

In his almost 50 years of public service, he always has been his own man, whether as a State legislator, county auditor, a county commissioner of Cuyahoga County, Lieutenant Governor, as mayor of Cleveland, Governor of Ohio, and now his 12 years in the Senate. He has always been his own man. He was rewarded in some sense when, as a 1958 graduate of Ohio University, the school created the Voinovich School of Leadership in Public Affairs. It is not often that a State university or any public entity names something after someone still in office, particularly something as prestigious as the Voinovich School of Leadership. I have visited it many times. There are always stimulating discussions that are uplifting to the public discourse. I thank Senator Voinovich for that.

No matter how high George Voinovich rose, he always lived with his wife Janet and his children and grandchildren nearby in Collinwood, OH, in the same house, the same neighborhood in Cleveland, never forgetting where he came from. That tells me a lot about him as a public official.

He likes to say, reflecting on our State's tremendous potential, ``the rust is off the belt,'' as people used to refer to Cleveland as the rust belt but now see it as so much more. It is going be the first place in the Nation with a field of wind turbines on the fresh water of Lake Erie. Clearly, this city has turned around. This is, in some significant measure, due to the efforts of Mayor and Governor and Senator George Voinovich.

There are four things I particularly think of when I think of George Voinovich. One is Janet. Janet often travels back and forth with George, and I see both of them on our flight from Cleveland to Washington. Janet has always been at his side, whether as first lady or as his loving life's partner. The relationship they have is inspiring to Connie and me and many others. We thank you most importantly for that, George.

When I think about the career of George Voinovich, I think of what he brought to this body--the perspective of an executive, of a Governor and a mayor. That is something many of us look to--Governor Shaheen, now Senator Shaheen, and soon-to-be Governor

Brownback. It helps in our deliberations that someone has had the experience as a big city mayor in challenging times, and Governor of Ohio and, perhaps a less challenging time but a challenging time nonetheless, from the perspective that George Voinovich has brought as a chief executive coming to the Senate, sharing those thoughts and ideas with legislators.

The second thing I think of is Lake Erie. If you live in northern Ohio or in the right places in Wisconsin and Minnesota and Michigan and Indiana and Illinois and New York and Pennsylvania, you think about the great lake you live near. In northern Ohio there is an old story. I grew up about 75 miles from the lake, and George grew up much closer. There is something about people who have grown up within 10 miles of Lake Erie. You can ask them wherever they are, which way is north, and they always seem to know.

From what he has done with Asian carp and his belief in the importance of our greatest national resource, the five Great Lakes, his commitment is always to maintaining the pristine quality of that lake in terms of recreation, in terms of drinking water, in terms of industry, in terms of all the things that the Great Lakes, especially Lake Erie, do for Cleveland and everything in between. George Voinovich gets much credit for that.

I think about George Voinovich in that he is always elevating the discussion about the quality of the Federal workforce. The term ``public servant,'' unfortunately, doesn't mean in the public's mind what it used to; partly deserved, perhaps, because of some people's missteps or worse, but mostly because people run campaigns against the government, whatever the reasons there. The term ``public servant'' is so important to George Voinovich, and he has done more than just mouth the words and compliment workers, which he has done often and deservedly. I applaud him for that. He has played a major role in shining the light on how we improve our Federal workforce. How do we give them opportunities for advancement, how do we do training, attract the right people to public service. I still think we have a terrific public workforce. Whether it is at the city, county, State, or Federal level, it is of high quality. And, in the great majority of cases, that is because of a few--and I say a very few--public servants such as George Voinovich who has kept the public spotlight on government service. I know Ralph Regula, the Congressman from Canton who retired in 2008, has shared a lot of those thoughts and ideas and continues to in his retirement with Senator Voinovich.

Whether it is his work on Lake Erie or his contributions here, he has certainly made the Senate of the United States a better place. He has made the United States of America a better country. I thank him for that, as my senior Senator.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to set aside the second-degree amendment to the Reid-McConnell substitute to offer amendment No. 4763.

Mr. President, Senator Stabenow, Democrat from Michigan, Senator Wicker, a Republican from Mississippi, and I bring this amendment to the floor to extend for 1 year modest enhancements to the Health Coverage Tax Credit Program. I am going to throw a slight curve ball and start with the cost of this amendment, which will help place its benefits into context.

While we are awaiting a final score, based on some preliminary numbers, this amendment should come in under $50 million. That is less than .006 percent of the cost of this legislation. It is $50 million out of roughly $800 million.

Now let's look at who the amendment helps.

It helps Americans who took a kidney punch when the companies for which they worked either packed up and moved their operations overseas, or when the companies for which they worked went bankrupt and turned their pension obligations over to the Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation.

I probably do not have to tell you what it means when an American's pension goes over to PBGC. It means that American's pension is slashed--often dramatically.

So these are Americans who either lost their jobs and their health coverage, or lost large chunks of their pensions and their health coverage.

As I stated earlier, this amendment would extend modest enhancements to the health coverage tax credit or HCTC.

The HCTC was established 8 years ago to help these workers and retirees purchase private health coverage to replace the employer- sponsored coverage they lost.

Unfortunately, because of the modest size of the tax credit and other limitations, many credit-eligible individuals have remained uninsured.

And as too many Americans know, the combination of no health insurance and a dramatically reduced pension spells financial hardship. Dramatic financial hardship, particularly for people forced into early unplanned retirement.

These are Americans who worked hard, were loyal to their companies, earned their pensions and employer-sponsored health coverage day after day after day until the day they watched it all evaporate.

Americans like Mike, from Brookville, OH, who wrote me to let me know how important the tax credit is and how worried he is that it will revert back to covering only 65 percent of premium.

Mike is a Delphi retiree, thousands of who were left high and dry when the new GM abandoned them.

Larry from Miamisburg, OH, is another Delphi retiree.

In his letter to me, he said: I am writing to ask for help for us the Delphi retirees. First for the HCTC increase and ultimately for the loss of our retirements. Sir, they have taken everything from us, even now our dignity.

Larry and Mike are victims of what can only be called a myopic pension deal cut by the new GM during its bankruptcy proceedings.

The new GM clung to an agreement signed back in 1999 in order to provide full pensions to some union Delphi retirees and allow other nonunion and union retirees to receive deep pension cuts.

Both groups of former employees--those who received their full benefits and those who did not--devoted most of their careers to GM before Delphi was spun off.

Both groups of former employees earned their pensions by working hard for GM year-in and year-out.

But Mike, Larry, and others like them were forced to live with financially devastating pension cuts, while their counterparts received their full pensions.

And now these same retirees may once again lose access to health coverage.

To prevent it, we need to extend the enhanced HCTC provisions.

Under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act ARRA, the health coverage tax credit was increased slightly and the rules surrounding it were made more flexible.

These modest changes enabled tens of thousands of trade-affected workers and retirees to use the tax credit and purchase private health coverage to replace the employer-sponsored health benefits they lost. Specifically the tax credit now covers 80 percent, rather than 65 percent of coverage costs; rather than 65 percent of coverage costs; beneficiaries are allowed to use the coverage to purchase coverage for themselves and their spouses; and they are allowed to apply the credit to less expensive coverage under a Voluntary Employee Benefit Association VEBA.

Since these provisions were put into place, the number of displaced workers and retirees using the health coverage tax credit has more than tripled, increasing from about 14,000 to approximately 50,000.

But the health coverage tax credit provisions are set to expire at the end of this year.

We can not let that happen.

It does not matter where the enhanced health coverage tax credit provisions come from. It could have been the Recovery Act. It could have been a bill the minority championed. The vehicle does not matter.

But the merits of these provisions do matter. That is why Senators Stabenow and Wicker and I bring this amendment forward.

These provisions have merit. They will keep Americans insured in an environment where the lack of coverage, coupled with pension cuts, could mean impoverishment. If we do not extend these provisions, the spouses of former workers will definitely lose their coverage, and those former workers themselves likely will. That is in no one's best interests.

As I mentioned earlier, approving this amendment would likely increase the cost of this bill by less than .006 percent.

That is a small price to pay for a lifeline. It is a small price to pay to keep middle class Americans from slipping into poverty.

This should not be a matter of debate. This should not be the focus of a partisan divide. This should be a small step all of us take together on behalf of Americans who did what we asked them to do.

They deserve our respect, they deserve our consideration, and--as our economy continues to pose challenges even before the hardships these Americans face--they deserve this modest extension of tax credit benefits.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment, No. 4805, be printed.