Temporary Extension Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I rise in opposition to the Bunning amendment. The Senator from Kentucky has decided, after 1 week, to accept exactly what was offered to him last week.

Last week, we said to the Senator from Kentucky: If you want to come up with a pay-for for unemployment benefits and health care benefits, offer an amendment. You will have your chance on the floor.

The Senator from Kentucky said: No, because I may lose. Therefore, I am not going to offer the amendment. I will only object to moving forward with temporary benefits for unemployment insurance and health care and several other things, and I stand by my objection.

The Senator from Kentucky just came to the floor and found four different ways to blame the Democratic majority leader for his objection. He made the objection. I think he was the only Senator out of 100 who objected.

I don't question his motive or his sincerity, but I think, in all candor, let's understand where we are at this moment in time.

During this 1-week period of time while the Senator from Kentucky could have offered an amendment, he did not. As a result, on Sunday night, unemployment benefits were cut off for thousands of people across America, assistance for health care insurance cut off all across America, thousands of Federal employees were furloughed, Federal contracts for construction were suspended. Why? Because he did not want to offer the amendment he is offering tonight.

I am glad he is offering it, and I will tell you why I am going to oppose it. He knows and I know that if we do not pass this bill as it passed the House of Representatives, if we make a change in it, we are destined to send it over to the House to, at a minimum, wait several days or even longer for a conference committee to resolve his amendment. What happens to those unemployed people during that period of time? They don't receive checks.

Mr. President, 15,000 people in Illinois had their unemployment insurance cut off Sunday night because of Senator Bunning's objection. In addition to that, thousands in my State lost the helping hand to pay for their health insurance. The Senator from Kentucky tonight is suggesting just take this little amendment; it will not hurt a thing; it is something you should like. While we mull over his change and move it between the House and the Senate, those people will continue to go without unemployment insurance and without health care assistance. Mr. President, 2,000 more each day are added to those rolls of unemployed people who are going to pay the price for this procedural move by the Senator.

I know there is also pain in his own State. I know many people are aware of the fact that there is high employment across the United States, millions of people who have lost their unemployment insurance. I know it has affected his State. I have seen the numbers.

As a result of the objection of the Senator from Kentucky, 4,300 unemployment insurance claimants will lose their unemployment insurance by March 13 if we do not complete action. What he has done tonight is to delay it. What is even worse about this amendment and the reason why it should be defeated is not just because it will once again delay unemployment benefits to people across America, it will once again create problems where people will lose their health insurance that they may never be able to obtain again because of preexisting conditions in their family.

What is worse, these Federal workers who cannot go to work are going to suspend construction projects that create jobs across America, while this Senator from Kentucky offers this amendment to change.

Let's look at the heart of this amendment. Where did the Senator from Kentucky come up with the resources to pay for this unemployment insurance? He came up with it from the bill that is pending on the floor, where these revenues are already being raised to pay for unemployment insurance. He is not reducing our deficit. In this situation, we have already taken this source of money and put it in the next bill related to unemployment insurance to defray the cost of unemployment insurance. He does not reduce the deficit. He just adds a procedural hurdle that delays the payment of unemployment insurance to people across America.

This could have been done last week. He was offered this chance last week. He would not take it last week. As a result, a lot of people have suffered and a lot of them have gone through hardship.

It is his right to do it as a Senator, but I think the reaction on the floor of the Senate--I might add from both sides of the aisle--is a demonstration that sometimes just because we have the power to do things, we ought to think twice before we use that power. I have the power to put a hold on every nomination this President or any President seeks. I have the power to object to any unanimous consent request that comes to the floor of the Senate. But people elect us not just to make political judgment but to make good judgment. In this case, the political judgment was made that the unemployed people involved were expendable, they could wait, wait for days, if not weeks, until we get around to a political debate about the deficit.

I am troubled, too, by the argument that the Senator believes he is one of the few stalwarts on the floor of the Senate when it comes to deficit reduction. The record suggests he has voted for two wars under President Bush that were not paid for, costing the United States almost $1 trillion, adding directly to our debt.

The Senator also has supported eliminating the estate tax on the richest people in America. Certainly, that is going to blow a hole in any budget and add to the deficit.

The same was true with the Medicare prescription drug program. The Senator voted for that without paying for it, adding at least $40 billion to the deficit.

You know, those of us who have been here for a while have cast many votes--and my critics will find plenty of things to criticize about my voting record--but before I would come to the floor and stop unemployment insurance for people who are wondering where their next meal is coming from, I would think twice about saving that debate so that the victims aren't the most helpless people in America who have lost their job through no fault of their own.

I urge my colleagues, when this amendment comes for a vote later this evening, to think twice. If you vote with the Senator from Kentucky, who takes his revenue source from another bill that we will vote on tomorrow, you will delay the unemployment checks again. We will have come up with another excuse to say no.

The Senator from Kentucky has made it clear he doesn't believe unemployment compensation is an emergency need in America. I disagree. I think we are in an emergency situation in our economy. I have met with these unemployed people in my State and other States. These are desperate people. Some have been out of work for 2 years. They may lose everything before it is all over. I hope they don't. They are training for new jobs, they have exhausted their savings and are trying to keep their families together. A family I read about today said they put everything they own in one of those storage lockers because they lost their home. They moved from homeless shelters to live in the back of their car. Is that an economic emergency? Maybe not to Members of the Senate, because our lives are pretty comfortable, but it is certainly an emergency for those families.

The real question in this debate is who are we are as a Nation? Do we care about these people, these breadwinners who are now down on their luck; these folks who have worked for years and are now out of work through no fault of their own, and doing everything they can legally to find a way to survive or is it just another political debate, another political issue, another chance to score a political point at the expense of some people who really aren't in a very strong position to defend themselves?

I just hope tonight we will defeat the Bunning amendment. Tomorrow, we will have a chance to put a substantial downpayment on unemployment benefits and COBRA benefits in the bill that Chairman Baucus brings to the floor. And I hope we understand that is the right way to do this. What an empty victory if we end up voting for the Bunning amendment and stop unemployment benefits as a result while we try to work out differences between the House and the Senate.

There is a lot more we can do here to help get this economy moving again. One of the things that holds us back is when we get embroiled in these procedural parliamentary tangles that eat up day after day and week after week, which leave us frustrated on the floor of the Senate and people across America angry that we aren't dealing with the real issues that count--issues such as creating jobs, issues such as making sure that there is affordable health care for everyone in this country. We should be dealing with that.

The Senator from Kentucky said: You know, the majority leader could have filed cloture, waited 48 hours, waited another 30 hours. Then we could have gone through the weekend. For what purpose? For what purpose? We have reached the point that was offered to the Senator from Kentucky from the start. He is going to get his vote, but a week has passed. A week has been wasted--a week where we should have rolled up our sleeves and done the things the people of America send us here to do.

What about the deficit and the debt? It is serious. The majority leader has asked me to serve on the deficit commission with Senators BAUCUS and CONRAD. It is a tough assignment. I don't think it is going to be easy to figure out how to deal with a $14 trillion debt in this Nation. But I will tell you this: We will do a lot better with that national debt if we have a strong national economy and people back to work. We will be a lot better off as a nation if families can keep their kids in school and folks can get up and go to work. This notion that we are somehow going to balance our national budget on the backs of unemployed people--please. Aren't we better than that as a nation? I think we are.

Twice last year the Senator from Kentucky voted to extend unemployment benefits without paying for them. Tonight, he insists we pay for them. Everybody is entitled to change their mind. When Abraham Lincoln--who was born in Kentucky, raised in Illinois--was accused by his critics, his President, of changing his mind, he said: Yes, I did change my mind. But I would rather be right some of the time than wrong all of the time. So we do change our minds on these issues. But let's not change our minds at the expense of innocent, helpless Americans who are looking for a helping hand.

If a tornado swept across the State of Kentucky in the weeks ahead, God forbid, and the Senator from Kentucky came and said we have an emergency on our hands, I would stand up to help him, as I believe he would if it happened to my State. We do that because we care for one another in this Nation. We may have political differences--and there have been plenty of them--but they shouldn't be at the expense of our basic need to deal with the problems that we face.

The Governor of Kentucky sent Senator Bunning a letter and a copy to me. In the letter, he says:

Facing an unemployment rate of 10.7 percent in Kentucky and 9.7 percent across the Nation, I urge you to allow passage of H.R. 4691, a vital extension of unemployment benefits to 1.2 million Americans, including tens of thousands right here in Kentucky.

The Governor of Kentucky, who wrote to Senator Bunning, went on to say:

There are 119,230 Kentuckians currently receiving benefits through the Federal extension program. Without a further extension, 14,206 claimants will exhaust all extension benefits within 2 weeks.

It would take us 2 weeks, if the Bunning amendment is adopted, to finally get this done, if we get it done in that period of time. The Governor went on to write:

By the end of March, a total of 22,797 Kentuckians will exhaust their benefits; by mid-April 31,521 will exhaust their benefits; and by July 31, the remainder of those receiving benefits will exhaust them. Beyond the number of those receiving extension benefits, another 90,000 Kentuckians currently on unemployment insurance will not be eligible for the Federal extension program at all.

These unemployed Kentuckians come from hard-working families that have struggled for months to find new employment in the greatest economic recession in our lifetime. They are mothers and fathers who are trying to put food on the table for their children and seniors who are trying to pay the rent.

In addition to the extension of unemployment benefits, this bill also includes important extensions of Federal subsidies to pay health premiums for those unemployed people who lost health insurance when they lost their jobs, current Medicare payment rates for doctors, flood insurance, and small business loans.

The Governor closed his letter to Senator Bunning, saying:

I urge you to reverse your position on this bill and would welcome any opportunity to provide you with further information on its tremendous necessity.

It is signed: Sincerely, Steven L. Beshear, Governor of Kentucky.

That letter could have come from any Governor in our Nation. That is the employment picture and the economic picture in my State and so many States across the Nation.

Please, when we get down to these budget debates, we should be sensitive to the fact that there are helpless victims to some of the procedural moves made on the floor of the Senate. It is time for us to stick together--both parties, I hope--in an effort to stand up for the unemployed and get this economy back on its feet.

I urge my colleagues to defeat the Bunning amendment. It will only slow down the unemployment benefits these people have been waiting for and are worried that they may not receive. It will mean that more and more people will fall out of coverage and health insurance, and it will mean that Medicare services won't be available to seniors across the Nation when doctors decide they are not being reimbursed enough. Those are some of the basics in this bill.

The revenue source Senator Bunning uses is included in this jobs bill that is before us, as soon as this matter is over. If you believe that in helping to pay for unemployment benefits we should use this source, as the Finance Committee has suggested, and I certainly agree with it, you will have ample opportunity to do that immediately after we pass this bill. In the meantime, let us waste no time, waste no effort in making sure that these needy people across America get the helping hand they deserve.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I also received some e-mail and letters from Kentuckians. It is a great State. It is the ancestral home of many Durbins--one hailed from Sunfish, KY, which is a pretty tiny town, I am told, and came up north to Illinois. It is a beautiful State, and I have enjoyed visiting there many times.

A lady named Joy from Florence, KY, contacted me and said:

Hello, I am 50 years old and I got let go a year and a half ago from my job because I was getting older and they could pay less for the younger workers. .....

Most places I applied to won't hire by experience--they want a college degree.

I have an elderly mother and handicapped child. I am behind in all my bills and if there is not another extension I will not be able to pay any bills. I am hoping you will put through another extension--hopefully things will improve come spring.

A letter from someone named J.R.--didn't give a hometown, said he is from Kentucky. I will not read some portions of this letter, but I will read this part:

I would like to say I am unemployed and [unemployment insurance] has allowed me to keep my home etc. There still are no jobs that will allow me to live on. I have ..... cut back to just the basic needs--the Internet next. And then I will start selling my belongings to get by.

I sit and wonder if everyone on unemployment gets cut off, do the Senate and Congress realize the war here in the United States will be worse than the one we are in overseas? There will be so much stealing and ..... no telling what else just for people to try and survive and feed their families.

God help us all.

There is a letter of desperation. It is an unimaginable scene that we would reach in any community here in this country in any State. But I think it reflects the fact that some people who write and say ``cut them off'' and ``so what'' are pretty fortunate people. They probably have a job. They probably have a home. They may not be worried about where their next meal is coming from. But for millions of Americans, that is not the story.

I understand the Senator from Kentucky sees this differently, but I take the issue of health insurance as an example. If you have ever had the experience as a parent having a sick child and having no health insurance, it is something you will never forget as long as you live. It happened to me when I was a law student. My wife and I were newly married, and we had no health insurance and a baby with a medical problem. I try to imagine what it would be like--ours was a temporary experience--what it would be like if that is what you had to face day-in and day-out, week-in and week-out, month after month, year after year. That is what these folks are up against. The only chance they have to hang on to health insurance is this COBRA program.

The COBRA program--let me add parenthetically, that was created through reconciliation. This process that has been condemned by some created the COBRA program and said we are going to provide health insurance for the unemployed people in America, and the President's stimulus package said we will help them pay for the premiums, and the objection of the Senator from Kentucky cut off those COBRA payments for thousands of people across America. I don't know what is going to happen now. I don't know, if some of them lost their health insurance and try to get it back, whether they are going to be denied coverage because of a preexisting condition. I hope that doesn't happen, but it will mean this was not just another political debate for them; it will mean they have lost the coverage which all of us want to have for all of our families.

COBRA coverage consumes nearly 84 percent of unemployment checks if you don't get a helping hand from the government. In Illinois, monthly unemployment benefits are just over $1,300. The average monthly COBRA family health insurance premium is over $1,100. So you can see it is impossible for a family with $1,300 a month to pay a $1,100-a-month premium. So 65 percent of that cost is deferred by this program, and that program was stopped because of the objection by the Senator from Kentucky.

He said we should have gone through the cloture votes; in other words, we should have faced his filibuster head-on and taken all the time it took to resolve our way through it. And each hour of each day that we did that, more and more people would fall out of coverage of health insurance. We don't. As Members of Congress, we have a pretty generous health insurance plan. We share it with all the other Federal employees, 8 million of us and our families. It gives us the very best coverage, with the government picking up about two-thirds or three-fourths of the cost. We don't have to worry about gaps in coverage. As we receive our checks, we are going to be able to protect our families. But for the folks who are unemployed, that just is not the case.

The objection of the Senator from Kentucky also affected, as I mentioned, transportation across the United States. Federal reimbursement to States for highway and transit projects, on the order of hundreds of millions of dollars each day, is stopped because of Senator Bunning's objection, forcing halts in construction work and layoffs of construction workers in the middle of the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression.

Today, the Secretary of Transportation, Ray LaHood, called to tell me of the need for an urgent response to get these people back to work so they can inspect projects and folks working for contractors and working across
America can get back to work. They are stopped cold, dead in their tracks because of the objection by the Senator from Kentucky.

Now he wants to let this go on a little further--amend this bill; let's send it over to the House; let's see if they accept it; maybe they won't; maybe there will be a conference; maybe in a few days or a few weeks we can get it done. It is a 30-day extension, and it defeats its purpose if we accept this amendment and delay it because of those possibilities. He can no more guarantee that it will not happen than I can guarantee that it will, but why do we want to create that uncertainty for people who have been facing this uncertainty?

The objection of the Senator from Kentucky also stopped Small Business Administration assistance to small businesses in Illinois and Kentucky as well. The SBA has an outstanding loan waiting list from small businesses totaling $140 million. Because of Senator Bunning's objection, 3,000 small businesses this month will be denied access to loans they need to run their businesses, to pay their employees, and to create new jobs. In the middle of a recession, can we think of a worse thing to do than to cut off small businesses?

It did not have to happen. If Senator Bunning would have taken the offer he had last week from the majority leader and offered this amendment last week, we could have avoided all of this. A week later, he has decided: All right, I will take the offer. But a lot of people have paid the price in the meantime.

We will not stop until we have provided the assistance that unemployed Americans need, that families in Illinois and Kentucky and across America desperately want us to bring. Eventually, we will prevail and we will care for those who are struggling.

In the meantime, I urge my colleagues, please do not support the amendment of the Senator from Kentucky. It is, unfortunately, a way to delay this critically needed assistance even further.

I reserve the remainder of my time and yield the floor.

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