and the people of bellingham stood with me every single step of the way. the parents of the young victims who were tragically lost this day came to washington, d.c., to testify. so did our bellingham mayor, mark sdmonson and carl weimer with the pipeline safety trust and that trust came into being thanks to the families of safe bellingham. so together with them and the great support of colleagues in the senate, senator mccain tock toa tremendous lead, and slade gordon and congress members, and many others, together we worked very hard and passed and president bush finally signed into law legislation in 2002 to give the office of pipeline

safety the resources and the muscle it needed to keep americans safe. that law improved the training of pipeline personnel. it raised the penalty for safety violations. it invested in new technology badly needed to improve pipeline safety, it improves the inspection practices and, importantly, expanded authority to our states to conduct their own safety activities. so, mr. president, children today in every corner of our state are safer because the people of bellingham stood up and said we don't want this to happen again. but the work is not done. our law has reduced the number of pipeline tragedies there are sometime accidents every year and that is why i am on the floor to introduce viewn 10 at t

"national pipeline day," to encourage state and local governments to continue to promote pipeline safety and to create public awareness of the pipelines that run under and through every one of our communities. this ten-year anniversary is a reminder of a terrible pain we must never forget, a reminder we cannot just assume that someone else is taking care of things. we cannot slip back to where we were before. we have to stay vigilant and continue to work to improve the safety of our pipeline systems. that is the best way to celebrate and honor steven, wade and lena. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of s. res. 181, submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 181, a

resolution designating june 10, 2009, as national pipeline safety day. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection, the senate will proceed. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate and any statements related to this resolution be placed in the record in the appropriate place, as if read. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. and i thank my senate colleagues and i remind all of us as americans we have to be vigilant about what's around us and when we are we can make a difference in the lives of a number of people. the trnl difficult that occurred ten years ago will remain with me always. and the families of bellingham but if we did our work and fund the office of pipeline safety and insist on strong protections

we can protect families in the future. that's what's important about today. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mrs. murray: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mrs. murray: mr. president? i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed. .the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. murray: earlier this morning i have been interested to hear commends from our republican counterparts on the issue of health care and they're talking about canada. that's interesting. and i appreciate that coming from a state close to canada. but, mr. president, the discussion about what canada does with their health care system has no bearing on what we

are trying to do here in the united states senate and congress to reform the american health care system. i guess -- and i'm only guessing they want to talk about canada because they don't want to talk about the real priority. their real priority coming out and inflating a discussion that shouldn't exist because it is not what we're talking about is simply because they want to protect the status quo. they want to protect the status quo in our health care system today. so they're out here talking about canada. well, mr. president, that's not an option. let me tell you what we are doing. this is a senio very important discussion we are beginning our work on in the senate. the status quo is not acceptable. this is an extraordinary moment of opportunity for real reform in health care. we in the senate are working very hard to come up with legislation that will reduce the costs for our families, for our businesses and government. like all of my colleagues, i go

home every weekend and i hear from individual families and people, from community leaders, from businesses, that the status quo is not acceptable. they will not tolerate a debate in the united states senate that goes for the status quo. we in the senate are working on legislation that will protect people's choice of doctors. will protect their choice of hospitals. will protect their choice of insurance plan. if you like what you have today, that will be what you have when this legislation is passed. and that is very important, mr. president. we're also working as a goal to assure that affordable high-quality high care is available for every american. that is not the case today. our work really builds on the existing employer-based system we have. we strengthen it. again, if you like what you have, you will be able to keep it. mr. president, let me say this again: if you like what you have when our legislation is passed and signed by our president, you

will be able to keep it. but if you don't like what you have today in terms of health care or if you don't have health care insurance at all we will provide new openings for you so you have better health care. health care reform is not a luxury. it is an imperative today. our health care system puts far too many americans into crisis and reforming it is an urgent necessity that demands our immediate attention. if we're going to restore our economy and secure our nation's fiscal future now is the time to make health care more affordable for american families and business and government at every level. doing nothing is not an option. as we move forward on this debate i mind all of us, don't be distracted by arguments that don't apply to the bills we're discussing. the bill we will move forward in the senate makes sure if you like what you have today you can keep it.

as we boat know we both know, tt afford their health care or they cannot get health insurance because the insurance company said you have too many problems and we will not insurance you. we want to make sure health care is available to every american. i am proud of the effort going on as we speak. the health care committee is meeting with our republican colleagues to walk through our ideas that we have been putting together and get their input and ask for their options on this. we're hope to work with them side-by-side and giving them every opportunity to do so because health care has to work for all americans. so despite the rhetoric we hear on the floor this amon morning t canada -- i love canada, it's a great country -- we're moving forward on health care reform that is needed. the status quo is not an option. doing nothing is not an option. stopping us from moving forward,

that is not an option. this is an issue we have the courage to take up and move forward because america needs us to do that. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mrs. murray: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, today we are debating a bill that would allow the food and drug administration to regulate one of the most deadly substances for sale in america, tobacco. the substance responsible for 400,000 deaths, more than

hiv-aids, for example, each year. more death thans illegal drug use, alcohol use, motor vehicle accidents, suicides, and murders combined. the substance responsible for $100 billion in health care costs every single year. now, i'm glad that we finally reached this point. i hope that we can pass this with a strong bipartisan vote. this moment has been coming for 20 years. there are senators who deserve great credit for where we are today in coming to this moment in history. none more than senator ted kennedy. senator kennedy has been our leader on this issue. unfortunately, his personal health struggle prevents him from joining us regularly. and he may not be here for the vote today. but we wouldn't have reached this point without him. his dogged determination to reduce the number of tobacco-related deaths and

illnesses of in america -- illnesses in america has really brought us to this moment in history. we will be voting with him in mind as we should. thanking senator chris dodd, who once again, has stepped in in an extraordinary way, just as he did with credit card reform, in passing a bill that had been decades in the making, again, senator dodd has been called in at the last moment and has done a spectacular job on the floor of the senate to move this bill forward. i'm hoping that we can pass this and get it enacted into law. it will save lives. but you can't blame tobacco for all of the faults in our health care system. there are many parts that need to be addressed. the u.s. spends about 17% of its g.d.p., gross domestic product, on health care. this amounts to $7,400 per person on health care each year. we spend more than twice as much as any other country on earth when it comes to health care.

as of 2006 health spending in the united states was 90% higher than other industrialized countries. health insurance premium increases consistently outpace inflation and growth in family earnings. about 30% of the poor people in america spend more than 10% of their income on health care. since the beginning of this decade, health insurance premiums have gone up by 78%. everybody knows this. no matter who you work for, private business, public entity, you know the cost of health insurance, it just keeps skyrocketing. wages have only gone up 15% in that same period. people and families in america cannot keep up. overall 46 million americans have lost their insurance and many lose their insurance for periods of time during the course of a year because of changing jobs or losing jobs. but the -- with the amount of money our country dedicates to health, the facts just don't

line up. yesterday my colleague from arizona, the senate republican whip, jon kyl, spoke about the problems with our health care system. i'm glad that he agreed that there are problems to address. but i need to clarify at least in my view some of the things he said. now, democrats in congress are committed to working with president obama to ensure that americans can keep the health care they have, if that is their choice. yesterday senator kyl from arizona said and i quote -- "if you're an employee of a small business, for example, when your insurance contract runs out and those contracts are usually one year or two years, the bottom line is even though you may like it at the end of the next year when the contract runs out, you don't get to keep it." close quote. that's just not accurate. and i have to say that senator kyl is saying something that doesn't reflect the position of the president nor any democrat i know in congress. we believe, and we stand by

this, that if you like your current health insurance plan, you'll be able to keep it. plain and simple. straightforward. senator kyl alluded to specific frustrations felt by small business owners across the country. well, believe me, i understand that issue better than some. i've been working with senator blanch lincoln of arkansas, senator snowe of maine, senator klobuchar of minnesota, to come up with a plan so that the small business owners will be able to afford health insurance. and i'm happy to say that at least at this moment in time there's an indication the finance committee is considering our bill as part of their overall work product. just as important as keeping your health plan, if you like it, if you're a small business owner, you find your health premiums have increased 200% because you have one sick employee or one sick baby born to one of the families of your employees, we want to make sure you're no longer subject to

those unfair practices of raising premiums for that kind of situation. in today's system at the end of the contract small businesses are really at the mercy of insurance companies who are in it for profit. earlier this week, i talked about a small business man in springfield, my hometown, who in the span of just a few years have seen his insurance premiums increase by 500% though he's never turned in a claim. he's been forced to change his health care plan repeatedly and because he is a small business owner, he has no bargaining power. what we're trying to do is to ensure that americans are protected from this kind of price increase and that they're promised services that they can have when they need them. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle continue to raise tactics of fear and concern to steer us away from the real issues at hand. yesterday the senator from arizona talked about -- quote -- "a new regime of regulation for the insurance companies." end of quote. he expressed concern that

democrats in congress are trying to control what health insurance companies are doing. well, if the senator is talking about trying to take under control some of the practices of health insurance companies in america today, i'd say it's long overdue. people know what happens when their health insurance premiums go up dramatically even though they haven't turned in a claim. folks know when health insurance companies say we're going to exclude preexisting conditions and your health insurance policy is virtually worthless because the problems you face in life can't even be covered. folks know what it is to call that health insurance company and bargain or argue with some clerk over coverage. changing those things, if that's what regulation is all about, it's long overdue. it's time that customers, consumers, families, and businesses had a fighting chance when it came to health insurance companies. you're going to hear plenty of speeches on the floor of the senate, the house of

representatives too, in opposition to health care reform for a lot of people who are speaking for the health insurance companies. well, why don't they come up and just say it? if they want to come to the floor and say we like the current system, we don't believe it needs to be changed, we don't believe there is a crisis facing us in terms of cost, he we believe the health insurance companies are doing a great job and shouldn't have to change their ways, let that be their position. but it is a position indefensible with the vast majority which of american people. they understand that we should be focusing on the best interest of patients and families, not the best interest of health insurance companies nor the best interest of the federal government. the bottom line is: we have to come up with health care reform which starts to reduce the cost of health care, make it more affordable, preserves qualities, creates incentives for good health care outcomes, and is focused on the family and the patient. not on the government agency.

i'm encouraged that my colleague from arizona raised the issue of insurance contracts given his concern with small businesses and their access to health care, i think he would want additional attention paid to what insurance companies are doing to these small businesses. earlier this year the g.a.o. released a report showing how little competition there is and what a tough time small businesses have to find health insurance. the median market share of the small care market was 24%, raising from 21% in arizona to 96% in alabama. this leaves american small businesses with few choices. we want to change that. those who come to the floor of the senate defending the health insurance companies and saying they want no change in the health care system have to defend the indefensible. how do you explain what small businesses and families are facing across america now when they're trying to find affordable quality health insurance? if my colleague from arizona

really wants to help small businesses, let him join us in the bipartisan bill that senator lincoln, senator snowe and klobuchar and i are offering, the shop act. by doing so, he'll be working with us on the committees to really make a positive change. i also want to clarify one thing, time and again senator mcconnell on the republican side and senator mcconnell have come to argue against government health care. well, they talk about it in the most general terms. what they're actually arguing against is a public option. what we hope to see come from all of this debate about health care reform is lots of opportunities for america's families and businesses to shop for health insurance from private insurance companies, but to have in some circumstances an option of a government-run plan. that they can choose if they wish. voluntary choice. now, of all of the criticism heard on the floor of the senate about government health insurance, i have yet to hear

senator mcconnell or senator kyl criticize medicare. you know why? because 40 million americans count on it. they know that were it not for medicare, they couldn't afford health insurance. people live a whole lifetime without health insurance protection, finally when they hit age 65, they have medicare. and they thank the lord for that day. and medicare does a great job. medicare is a proven success for over 40 years medicare has provided quality care to america's seniors and disabled and we have seen the longevity, the life expectancy of seniors increase every year and their independence increase because they don't end up with a mountain of health debt to pass on to their children or to exhaust their savings. if the senator from ken kennedy the senator from arizona want to come to the floor and argue against medicare, i welcome the debate. want to be here on -- i want to be here on the floor when they say that that govert