National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014 - Continued

Floor Speech

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Mr. REED. Madam President, first let me thank Chairman Baucus for his very kind words, but also salute the President of the United States for his wisdom in announcing that he intends to appoint the Senator from Montana to be our next ambassador to the People's Republic of China. I can't think of anyone whose integrity, intelligence, commitment to the Nation, and patriotism would so well serve and be so beneficial to this country as continuing in his public efforts after his days in the Senate in the embassy in Beijing.

I also thank the chairman because he has been an articulate and effective advocate for unemployment compensation benefits for hard-working Americans who are without work through no fault of their own. This economy has suffered a drastic contraction, beginning in 2007, 2008, and 2009. We are seeing some improvements. During this period, the chairman has been the key actor, the key force driving for extended benefits.

Chairman Baucus has been the driving force as well in the context of trying to reform the program. He has implemented efforts such as work sharing, a proposal I brought to him, that is a smart way to do business. It basically allows a company to retain their workers for part of the week and let them collect benefits for the rest of the week, so they keep the workforce together. In Rhode Island, it has been extremely beneficial. It is now a nationwide program because of Chairman Baucus.

He is working very hard--as he indicated, we are working together--to ensure that we do not see this cliff where 1.3 million Americans lose their benefits on December 28.

Yesterday, I came to the floor to discuss some of the economics behind the logic of extending these benefits. I believe the extensive amount of economic research supports the very commonsense notion that I think the vast majority of our colleagues share: That Americans want to work. They are in an environment, however, where jobs are scarce. There are two workers for every job, and in some parts of the country that ratio is even much worse.

However, I hear other colleagues say: That might be true, but we have to fix this program because we have abuse and we have fraud. The chairman, in his efforts, has always demonstrated that we are committed to rooting out any type of fraud or abuse. In 2012, for example, we strengthened the requirement that one has to search for work to qualify for unemployment compensation. We also improved program integrity by having beneficiaries show up more frequently for in-person assessments to help them find a job quicker and ensure they receive the right benefit amount based on their past work history.

So we want the program to be efficient. We do not want the program to be subject to abuse. That means that more people can benefit correctly and not abuse the system. So I am sure the chairman and I are quite willing--I know I am, and I know he is too--to work hard if we need reforms. But we can't do that in 10 days. We can't do that. We need some time.

So I have joined together with Senator Heller to suggest a 3-month extension. That will allow us--and this is a bipartisan effort, and I thank the Senator from Nevada--to keep people from falling off the edge, literally.

The average benefit in Rhode Island is about $350 a week. There are very few people who are going to give up a job to collect about $350 a week. By the way, that money is going right from the check to the local grocery store, to pay for heat or to pay for rent. That is why CBO has estimated that if we don't extend unemployment benefits, we will see a situation in which we lose approximately 200,000 jobs next year which we could have otherwise had, and that we will see our economic GDP growth shrink by about 0.2 percent, because the demand generated by unemployment checks going out in the mail will be lost. It is one of those programs that provides about $1.70, $1.60, for every dollar we invest. So this is about good economics, not just, as Senator Baucus said so eloquently, about our commitment to something beyond ourselves, to the welfare and the good faith of our neighbors in the spirit of Christmas, the true spirit of this holiday.

The other thing, too, is if we look at this argument: Well, we are not going to extend the program because of abuse--we can look at a lot of programs; we can look at the crop insurance program, for example. I don't hear many people saying: Oh, let's cut out that crop insurance program because of abuse. Just recently, this year, the Department of Justice prosecuted a very large, significant case of widespread tobacco crop fraud spanning 6 years. A Federal district judge brought to justice an insurance agent and a farmer. Prison time was ordered, more than $8 million of restitution had to be paid, but no one is standing up and saying: Let's cut crop insurance because of this case.

Let's get realistic. We need to extend these benefits, and we need to do it promptly because the 28th is just upon us.

Shortly, I will make a unanimous consent request, but before that, I wish to recognize my colleague, Senator Stabenow. Then, I ask that at 2:30, if she could yield the floor back to me so that I may make my request.

With that, I yield to the Senator from Michigan.

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Mr. REED. Madam President, I believe I have a few minutes left--2 minutes. So before Senator McCain takes the floor, let me make a few more points that I think are critical.

Last month, the economy did add jobs--203,000 jobs. But what we are seeing is the average length of unemployment is increasing. People are still out of work now an average of 36 weeks. That is more than 20 weeks longer than prerecession levels, and it is longer than the 26 weeks of State unemployment insurance.

That is why we are here asking for benefits. People now are averaging a much longer time without finding work. This is not a situation where they fall within the State program. They have to have these Federal benefits, because it is harder and harder to find work.

I would also suggest, too, that if you look at it another way, in 2008, when President Bush started this emergency unemployment compensation program, it took the average jobless American 5.6 months to find employment. Now, with the increased long-term unemployment, it takes about 9 months.

So again, this is a reason why these long-term extended benefits are absolutely necessary. I would hope our colleagues would join myself and Senator Heller and Chairman Baucus and Senator Stabenow and others and continue to move aggressively forward and see if we can, in fact, extend the benefits so that many Americans can continue to have some assistance and some sustenance as they continue to look for work.

With that, I yield the floor.

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Mr. REED. Mr. President, I rise today in support of the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2014. I commend the work of my colleagues on the Armed Services Committee, especially the chairman, Senator Levin, on reaching an agreement with the House to complete this important legislation. For 51 consecutive years, the Senate has passed a defense authorization bill, and I hope we will be able to soon send the bill before us to President Obama for his signature. We owe it to our servicemembers to pass a law that will support them and enable the DOD to execute this year's budget efficiently and effectively.

We made tough decisions in putting together this bill--especially in these difficult economic times. But this bill will allow DOD to combat current threats, plan for future threats, and provide for the welfare of our brave servicemembers. While it is disappointing that we did not have sufficient time to debate amendments, this is a good compromise bill and it is critical that we pass it.

I would like to point out a few of the highlights of this bill:

It authorizes a 1-percent across-the-board pay raise and reauthorizes over 30 types of bonuses and special pays for our men and women in uniform; includes 36 key provisions to strengthen sexual assault prevention and response programs; extends authorities to continue several ``train and equip'' programs to assist foreign militaries in counterterrorism and counternarcotics missions; and authorizes $6.2 billion for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund to further build the capacity of the Afghan army and police so those forces can take over security throughout Afghanistan by December 2014.

This year I once again had the honor of serving as the chairman of the Seapower Subcommittee, alongside Senator McCain, the ranking member. Working together, our subcommittee focused on the needs of the Navy, Marine Corps, and strategic mobility forces. We put particular emphasis on supporting marine and naval forces engaged in combat operations, improving efficiencies, and applying the savings to higher priority programs. Specifically, the bill includes the required funding for two Virginia-class submarines and provides an additional $100 million to support buying the 10th DDG-51 under the current multiyear procurement program. The bill also approves the funding for other major programs, including the DDG-1000 destroyer, the Aircraft Carrier Replacement Program, the Littoral Combat Ship, LCS, and the P-8 maritime patrol aircraft. I am particularly pleased about the funding for the Virginia-class submarines and the DDG-1000, which so many Rhode Islanders help to build.

Working together with Senator McCain, this bill increases accountability for taxpayers' dollars spent on several major Navy programs. For example, the bill includes language to increase the CVN-78 cost cap, while excluding certain urgent and unforeseen testing costs from that cap. In addition, we require quarterly reports on the program manager's estimate for CVN-79, and we freeze the payment of fees whenever the program manager's estimate of total program costs exceeds the cost cap.

In this bill, we also require the CNO to submit a report identifying the current littoral combat ship, LCS, concept of operations and the expected survivability of each sea frame; we require the GAO to review the LCS program; and we limit future procurements of the LCS until the Navy produces certain reports and the Joint Requirements Oversight Council makes certain certifications about the LCS program.

The bill also amends the language of the annual 30-year shipbuilding report to require the disclosure of ship prices assumed in the plan and a risk assessment whenever the number of ships in the plan falls below the Navy's requirements.

I offer my thanks to Senator McCain and the other members of the Seapower Subcommittee for their diligence in the subcommittee's work this year.

We have a good bill before the Senate, and I urge all of my colleagues to support it.

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