Employment Non-Discrimination Act of 2013--Motion to Proceed--

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in morning business for 5 minutes.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

UNIONS IN AMERICA

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I will speak as in morning business before addressing the matter that is pending before the Senate. I will speak in morning business on two issues, to respond to the Republican leader who just left the floor, as he spoke on two issues; first is the issue of unions in America. History shows us that after World War II, when labor organizations across the United States were at their peak organizing workers, giving them an opportunity to bargain collectively in the workplace for wages, benefits, safety, retirement, and health care, that was one of the most amazing periods in America history. The growth of the American middle class was unprecedented as men and women--some fresh from serving in the war--came home and had a chance to earn a livelihood, to build a family, to build neighborhoods, communities, and literally build the middle class in America. It is no coincidence that when the workers were given this voice and this strength through the collective bargaining process, they prospered and America prospered.

Today, we are in a much more difficult and challenging situation, when so many workers are living paycheck to paycheck while their productivity gains, when it comes to our economy, are well documented. While the companies they work for are showing unprecedented levels of profit, when the individuals who are managing these companies are being compensated at the highest levels in our history, many of these men and women working every day are falling further and further behind. If we look to the state of unionism, I think the facts speak for themselves. Those in the private sector who are in organized labor--part of a labor union--are in very low percentage.

I think there is a parallel that can be drawn. At a time when workers had a voice in the process, when their rights and their futures were within their control at a bargaining table, they prospered and America prospered. Today, without that strength at the bargaining table, many of these same families are falling further and further behind, despite the profitability of the companies they work for. So those who want to eliminate the opportunity for collective bargaining and make it more difficult for workers to stand and speak for themselves in the workplace, frankly, are going to condemn us to a much slower growing economy and much more injustice when it comes to compensation.

THE AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Secondly, the Republican leader spoke to the whole issue of the Affordable Care Act, which is characterized by some as ObamaCare. It is ironic that the Commonwealth of Kentucky is one of the top three States that is the most successful in signing up people for this new approach to health insurance. Some 31,000 people have signed up already through the Affordable Care Act. Governor Beshear was on television just about 10 days ago talking about the opportunities for Kentuckians to finally have an opportunity for affordable health insurance, some of them for the first time in their lives. It is an opportunity which I voted for and I support. I will make no excuses for the dismal rollout of this Web site, and I hope it is fixed soon so people across the country will have ready access to the information they need about their health insurance.

But I will not apologize for standing up for 40 or 50 million Americans who have no health insurance today.

Those of us who have gone through life experiences as a father with a sick child and no health insurance will never forget it as long as we live. To sit in a waiting room of a hospital in Washington, DC, with your baby and wonder who is going to walk through the door and take care of her because you do not have insurance--you just have to hope that the charity care being offered in that hospital will be good care--that is a feeling no one should ever have.

I have lived it. I do not want others to have to live it. We have to give to every American family a chance for health insurance.

Let me say a word about this notion of canceled policies. The market of insurance we are talking about here are people who are buying individual health insurance, not the group plans at most places of employment. It is a small segment but an important segment of our population. If you look at the facts you will find that almost two-thirds of the people who are in the individual health insurance market buying their own plans for their family--through a broker, for example--almost two-thirds of those plans are literally changed and canceled every 2 years. There is a lot of flux and change in this market, and prices continue to go up.

At the end of the day, here is what we are facing: Some 2, 3, or 4 million people may find themselves in a more difficult position because the policy they once had does not meet the standards which have now been established in law for minimum health insurance coverage in America.

What are those standards that we say should be in every health insurance policy?

No. 1, you cannot discriminate against people because of a preexisting condition. Is there a person alive in America today--any family who does not have someone with a preexisting condition? It can be something as basic as asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, cholesterol issues, mental illness. These things literally disqualified people from coverage in health insurance. We have changed that law and said you cannot discriminate based on preexisting conditions. That is basic.

Second, we have said you cannot put a lifetime limit on how much the insurance policy will pay. Who knows--who knows--whether they are one diagnosis or one accident away from needing health insurance that costs way beyond what we can even imagine. Mr. President, $100,000, $200,000 is not an unusual charge for what used to be considered somewhat routine. We say you cannot cap the coverage in a health insurance policy because life is unpredictable and our medical future is unpredictable. That is one of the provisions that has to be built into the policy.

We also say you cannot discriminate against people in selling health insurance because they happen to be women. And there was rank discrimination against women in America when it came to the issuance of health insurance before this new law.

We go on to say that 80 percent of the premiums you collect have to be paid into medical services, not taken out in profit and marketing.

We also say that if you have a health insurance policy, your son or daughter can stay under it until they reach the age of 26. That is important to every family with a graduating college student or someone looking for a job in the household. They may not find a job, or if they do, it may not have benefits. Don't you want the peace of mind as a parent to know that up to age 26 you can keep them on the family policy?

I have just given you five parts of so-called ObamaCare, five parts that have to be written now into every health insurance policy and five reasons why many companies are saying: We have to cancel the old policy and reissue a new one consistent with these five principles, with these five protections. That is why many of these policies are being rewritten. The President should have been more expansive in his explanation, but the fact is that is the story. That is what the Affordable Care Act does.

I hear the Senator from Kentucky tell us that 120,000 people may face a new policy. I would like to ask, what is the normal turnover in health insurance policies in his State or other States. It happens with some frequency. It is estimated that 17 million Americans are going to have help in paying for their health insurance because of the Affordable Care Act. That means some will qualify for Medicaid. That means others will receive tax credits and tax benefits to help with their health insurance payments.

We are moving toward a society that has health insurance protection for all, and that is good, not just for the peace of mind of each and every individual and family affected by it but also because the system becomes more just, more fair. Uninsured people get sick. They go to the hospital. They go to the doctor. They incur bills, many of which they cannot pay, and that burden is shifted to everyone else in America.

Let's accept the personal responsibility of health insurance. Let's move forward as the Presiding Officer's State of Massachusetts has already done. Some 98 percent, I understand, has health insurance protection in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, thanks to the leadership of Governor Mitt Romney and the cooperation of both political parties. Massachusetts has shown us the way. Let's follow that now. Let's not turn our back on it.

The last point I will make on this issue is that I keep hearing from the Republican side they have a better idea. What is it? I would like to see the proposal from the Republican side that they would put up against the Affordable Care Act. You will never see it because they basically believe: Let the market work its will. The market working its will has resulted in 40 to 50 million uninsured Americans. The number is growing, and it should not, it will not, under the Affordable Care Act.

Mr. President, I would like to address the business pending before the Senate: the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.

It was about 20 years ago that I first heard the name Margarethe Cammermeyer. I had no idea who she was, but I read about her, and it turned out she was a remarkable woman. She started off during the Vietnam era as a combat nurse in the Air Force. She risked her life in Vietnam to save the lives of those who were in battle and those who were injured and wounded. Then, after the war, she rose through the ranks and became a colonel in the U.S. Air Force.

There came a time when she had to make a disclosure, a regular disclosure, and in that disclosure she said, for the first time publicly, she was gay. Margarethe Cammermeyer, a colonel in the Air Force, conceded she was gay. As a result of that concession and statement, she was discharged from the Air Force. Had she done anything wrong? Not a single thing. She had done everything right, including risking her life as a combat nurse in the Air Force and moving up through the ranks with a stellar record. But her admission that she was gay in those days, 20 years ago, was grounds for her discharge from the U.S. Air Force.

I never met her, but I heard her story and thought: That is just plain wrong. She served our country and served it well, and to discharge her from the military because of this admission is just unfair.

The first time I ever saw her was a few years ago. President Barack Obama was signing into law the repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell. I was in the audience when that signing ceremony took place, and they called the name: Margarethe Cammermeyer, for her to come up and lead us in the Pledge of Allegiance. It was the first time I had ever seen her.

I remember that day also because there was a rabbi who gave an invocation. He said in this invocation that if you look into the eyes of another and you do not see the face of God, at least see the face of another human being. How apropos that Margarethe Cammermeyer would lead the Pledge of Allegiance and the rabbi that invocation because it really calls into sharp focus what is pending on the floor of the U.S. Senate.

We waste too many hours and too many days and too many weeks on Capitol Hill with government shutdowns, threats of defaulting on our debt, but every once in a while this Senate and this Congress can rise to the challenge and do something of a historic nature. Yesterday was one of those days. Yesterday, on the floor of the Senate, with 61 votes, we voted to move forward on the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. Here is what it says: that you cannot discriminate against a person because of their sexual orientation or sexual identity.

What I thought was unfair about Margarethe Cammermeyer--dismissing her not for anything she had done but for who she was--can happen now in more than half of the States. In more than half of the States, there is no protection against discrimination based on a person's sexual orientation or sexual identity. It means that in those States, you can literally be fired, denied a promotion, denied a raise, simply because of your sexual orientation. That is not right.

Hiring, promoting and retaining employees based on performance is not only the right thing to do, it helps American business attract and retain the best and brightest employees.

Attracting and keeping the best and the brightest employees is essential to succeeding in a global economy. That is why 88 percent of Fortune 500 companies already have policies preventing discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

More than 100 companies have already endorsed this bill, including a number of leading companies in my home State of Illinois such as Motorola, GroupOn, Hyatt Hotels, BP America, Orbitz, Nielsen, Miller Coors, HSBC North America, and others.

It is time that Federal law caught up with the best practices that have already been adopted by leading companies across the country.

Luckily, we had bipartisan support last night. Seven Republicans joined us in voting to move forward on this bill. I came to the floor yesterday to thank one of them who spoke, Senator Collins of Maine. Her statement in the Congressional Record is an important one for everyone to read.

But I would like to call attention, as well, to my colleague Senator Mark Kirk of Illinois, a Republican, who came to the floor of the U.S. Senate yesterday and gave his first speech on the floor in 2 years. You see, my colleague suffered a stroke, and as a consequence he has gone through a lengthy rehab and hospitalization, and he has really made a remarkable comeback.

I was here on the day when he walked up the steps of the Capitol to the Senate, and there were people of both political parties, Senators cheering him on, as they should. I have watched his progress ever since, and it is remarkable. His determination to serve our State and Nation continues.

Yesterday, he gave his first speech on the floor in 2 years. That speech was brief, but it was important. I would like to quote from my colleague's speech. This is from Senator Kirk's statement yesterday in the Congressional Record:

I think it is particularly appropriate for an Illinois Republican to speak on behalf of this measure--Speaking of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act--in the true tradition of Everett McKinley Dirksen and Abraham Lincoln, men who gave us the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 13th Amendment to the Constitution.

It was a brief statement but it was important. Senator Kirk joined in a bipartisan effort to move this bill forward. I searched the Congressional Record. I searched the Congressional Record of yesterday to look for one statement in opposition to the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. There is not one. There was a specific opportunity given for anyone opposed to that measure to stand and speak. Senator Tom Harkin of Iowa supported it. He spoke eloquently from this desk yesterday before the vote, and then time was allocated to those in opposition. No one stood to speak. But then 30 voted against it.

So what I would like to do is encourage my colleagues to take, in the spirit of Senator Kirk and Senator Collins, this opportunity for us to truly do something in a bipartisan way. Let us move this Employment Non-Discrimination Act forward, and let us do it with dispatch. We know it is the right thing to do. America is not a stronger nation when there is discrimination anywhere--anywhere--including the workplace, and this bill will end that form of discrimination.

There are those who say: Well, you are just wasting your time, Senator, because Speaker John Boehner of Ohio has already announced that he not only opposes this, he will not let it see the light of day in the House of Representatives.

The Presiding Officer served there for many years; I did as well. The Speaker has lots of control in the House. He can decide what is going to come to the floor and what will not come to the floor. Unless a majority of the Members of the House overrule him with a discharge petition, he usually has his way. But if we can show a strong bipartisan vote, even beyond the vote yesterday, when seven Republicans joined the Democrats in trying to end this form of discrimination, then perhaps we can prevail on the House of Representatives to move forward in what Senator Harkin characterized as a historic achievement putting an end to discrimination.

There was a time in our country when it was perfectly acceptable to refuse to hire or even interview someone based solely on the color of their skin, their religion or gender. It wasn't easy, but Congress ultimately corrected this wrong by passing title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

At one time, employers could fire someone solely because of their age. Congress recognized this was wrong and passed the Age Discrimination in Employment Act to put an end to age discrimination.

There was also a time in our country when an employee could be passed over for a promotion solely because they were living with a disability, even if they were the most qualified person for the position. The Americans with Disabilities Act put an end to this type of discrimination.

We now have an opportunity to outlaw one of the last vestiges of discrimination in the workplace. All Americans deserve an equal opportunity to succeed or fail in their jobs based solely on their ability and performance.

This is our opportunity to take a historic stand against discrimination. Passing ENDA is our chance to get on the right side of history and close an embarrassing loophole in our Nation's employment laws.

I urge my colleagues to support the Employment Non-Discrimination Act so that all Americans have an opportunity to excel in the workplace based on their job performance--not who they are or who they love.

We will be a better nation for it. Both political parties should gather together all the political strength and support they have to make this a reality.

I yield the floor.

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