i know i'm not telling the american people anything they don't already know. they know it better than any statistic can say. they struggle with these challenges every morning when they wake up and when they go to bed. second-guessing the agonizing decisions they made that day about what to sacrifice to stay healthy. instead i thought it would be appropriate to go back to the basics for the benefit of our republican colleagues. their lack of interest in an open and candid debate, their lack of interest in coming to the negotiating table with productive proposals makes it painfully evident that they need to be reminded of the reality of this crisis. by any measure, these are serious problems, and serious problems deserve serious efforts by serious legislators to develop serious solutions. our republican colleagues

think -- our republican colleagues think things are just fine the way they are, and why shouldn't they? they like the status quo. they are the ones who created the status quo. in fact, madam president, this is hard to kraoepbd. --y k comprehend. yesterday the republican leader saeutd following -- and i quote -- "i think we all understand we've got the best health care system in the world." when we have 50 million people with no health insurance, is that the best health care in the world? when we have 9 million children who have no health insurance, is that the best health care in the world? is it the best health care in the world when we have 8 million fewer people who in 2003 had health insurance through their jobs than they do today? is it the best health care system in the world when people twaoepbg 18 and -- between 18 and 64 in the state of nevada, the second highest rate of uninsured citizens? i don't think so.

is it the best health care in the world when the average cost to the american family is more than twice twhas at the beginning of this -- what it was at the beginning of this decade stphr is if the best health care -- is it the best health care in the world when more than half of the families skip the treatment they need because they can't afford them? so the republican leader saying i think we all understand we've got the best health care system in the world, i think he better go back and check that out, madam president. he said that to a room of reporters. i doubt he would say the same with a straight face to millions of americans who have to skip routine medical checkups or live one accident or illness away from bankruptcy or wonder whether they'll live long enough to fight through the red tape. we've heard president obama talk about the death of his mother and how she fought as strong as she could to get the health care she needed, and she lost that

battle. what about republicans in the senate? we talked about the republican leader in the house. how have they approached the crisis? well, madam president, i'm sorry to say they have only subscribed to more of the same stalling strategy that the american people are tired, tired of. the republicans have introduced 400 amendments to the health care bill that's in the "help" committee, 400 amendments, and they say they have more to come. here's a sample of some of their serious amendments. two amendments would force doctors to spy on each other. multiple amendments just to change the names of sections in the bill. and many amendments that would simply give greedy insurance companies the ability to continue to deny coverage whenever they feel like it. each of the 400 amendments say something different but in treating they all say the same thing -- no. they are designed for no other reason than to slow the process

to a halt. madam president, i'm not making this up. look at this newspaper today. "roll call." senate g.o.p. still saying no. listen to what the story says. this is more than just a headline. "though senate democrats handed in defeat after legislative defeat this year, republicans say they plan to continue trying to slow down the democratic agenda on the democratic floor as much as possible. democrats need to know when they bring bills up, we're going to extend the debate as long as we can even if we can't win so that people back home know that they're voting for this," said one republican senator. and we're going to see it on everything, a stalling on everything. now how is that, madam president, for moving this country out of the problems we have? they plan to continue trying to slow down the democratic agenda on the senate floor as much as

possible. republicans waste the american people's time and money in the morning, and in the afternoon complain that government is efficient. what do i stphaoepb we've wasted the -- what do i mean? we've wasted 60 hours on two postcloture time blocks. during that period of time we could have moved to appropriations bills. we could have moved to the many things -- i have senators come to me. there is a bipartisan bill. kerry has worked with senator kyl dealing with pakistan. it's essential that we do that. but because of what's going on here on the senate floor with republicans stalling, we can't get to that. i've been asked why democrats and republicans, to do something about drug re-importation. we don't have time to go to it because of the stalling. senate g.o.p. still just saying

"no." they complain about the government being inefficient. the only inefficiency i see in washington today is the republican caucus in the house and the senate. again our health care system is in serious distress, and serious problems deserve serious efforts by serious legislators to develop serious solutions. that's why we're committed to lowering the high cost of health care, ensuring every american has access to quality, affordable care and letting people choose their own doctors, hospitals and health plans. we're committed to protecting exist coverage when it's good, improving it when it's not and guaranteeing health care for the millions who have none. doing nothing i don't think is an option, madam president, because the cost of doing nothing is far too great. we must past health care reform this year. as we've said at the start of this congress, at the start of the work period, at the start of this debate, we'll continue

doing our best work with republicans. we'll work with them. they have a place at the negotiating table, and they should take it. and we'll work hard to do a bipartisan bill. but in order for this bipartisan process to work, republicans must d demonstrate an interest n legislating. not this. "senate democrats have handed them defeat after legislative defeat this year. republicans say they plan to continue trying to slow down the democratic agenda on the senate floor as much as possible." democrats need to know when they bring bills up, we're going to extend the debate as much as we can, even if we can't win it. i hope the american people who are watching talk to their republican representatives in the house and their senator and say this isn't right.

despite what we have seen in recent days, such cooperation is not out of the realm of possibility. here's an example of what it looks like when republicans and democrats work together with each other instead of against each other and against the interest of the american people. yesterday -- wednesday -- a group called the bipartisan policy center proposed a thoughtful and thorough plan for extending this country -- for stemming this country's health care crisis. the group has bob dole from kansas, howard baker, tennessee, tom daschle, south dakota. and i would mention tom daschle, i think most people recognize as a man who knows more about health care than just about anybody in america today. he's written a book, among other things. together senator daschle, a democrat -- senators dole and baker republicans -- served a combined 80 years in the united

states congress. they know a thing or two about getting things done. they know our job is public service, not lip service. i may not agree with every part of their plan, but that's not the point here. the point is they have a good-faith effort. they have avoided the temptation to distract each other from the misrepresentation and misinformation of the real problem. they put people ahead of partisanship and were able to find common ground. i encourage republicans in congress to read the report. even if they don't support its conclusions, i hope they take to heart its motivations. baker, dole and daschle. serious problems deserve serious efforts by serious legislators to develop serious solutions. it's time to get serious about fixing our health care. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time be reserved. under the previous order, there will now be a period of morning business for one hour with the

senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half, the republicans controlling the second and the final half. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: madam president, this february congress passed, and the president signed, a historic recovery package setting the stage for the creation of 3.5 million jobs and making critical investments to strengthen the 21st century economy. now, we all agree that that legislation hasn't ended the most serious economic crisis since the great depression. americans know what this administration inherited and the time it will take to get out of it. hundreds of thousands of americans continue to lose their jobs every month. quality health care is still far from affordable for far too many. and we still have a dangerous

dependence on foreign oil that threatens our safety, our planet at the same time. the optimism we feel is real. quick action on our part has contributed to bringing the economy back from the brink of absolute collapse. there are green shoots in this economy and the recovery act fertilized it. it cut taxes for working americans, made education more affordable, jump-started urgent investments that will make our commutes faster and our air cleaner. investments like repairing crumbling bridges and highways and building light-rail and light-speed transit, investments that will pay off over the course of generations. hundreds of thousands of americans who are going to work this morning because of the recovery act can tell us in no uncertain terms the legislation isorking. it's creating jobs, making responsible investments, helping workers damaged by this crisis. but in the face of these

tremendous efforts, some are questioning the effectiveness of these investments. they've decided to attack the entire recovery process by jumping to conclusions, distorting the facts, and spreading outright falsehoods all because of their failed george bush-style ideology that created this crisis in the first place. now there have been some who have commissioned their own report, a report which picked a conclusion first and then attempted to seek out facts later. the old saying goes that the only tool you have is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail. well, that's the case here. radical conservative ideology that led to this report is like a steam hammer, that its operators would like to use at all times, even if it means bashing away at the foundation of economic growth that we're trying to build. now, i notice this report didn't

mention any projects for my home state of new jersey, and i guess because the conclusion they wanted to draw was failure, that would make sense not to include projects in new jersey because in fact if you look at the issue of how new jersey is handling this, among many other states in the nation, you would have to take issue with the thousands of new jerseyans who will owe their jobs to this act. you would have to take issue with an immediate tax cut for the average working family of up to $800, money that helped new jerseyans pay their bills and support their families. or for over 1.5 million new jerseyans who avoided the alternative minimum tax as a result of that law as well. more money in their pockets, less money going to the government. you would have to take issue with the college students and parents of college students in new jersey who are finding their term bills just a little easier

to pay because of the increased pell grants in the recovery act. and in addition to higher education, you would have to take issue with all the ways public elementary and secondary schools are being improved with $957 million in funding they wouldn't otherwise have for critical needs ranging from up-to-date textbooks to better technology in the classroom. you would have to take on all the teachers, police and firefighters who have been able to keep their jobs and the individuals with disabilities who are now getting the support they need at school made possible by the recovery act. the recovery act was intended to create jobs fast, pump money into the economy quickly. how well it has done that in new jersey? well, i saw firsthand how the funding created 250 construction and engineering jobs, improving route 46. it's a project that's going to reduce traffic congestion, cut

time the time it takes to commute, make it easier to do business, protect the roadway against flooding so parents can feel just a little safer as they drive their kids in heavy rain. i saw firsthand the recovery act finally let us break ground on the mass transit tunnel under the hudson river that will ultimately create 6,000 jobs for several years and at the end of the day, when that project is finished, over 50,000 permanent jobs. i met children who will be the future riders that have train and whose parents and neighbors are involved in its planning and construction as we speefnlgt you can see these infrastructure results statewide. the recovery act required our state's department of transportation to get enough projects ready for bidding so that 50% of that funding could be set aside within 120 days, to get people to work. well, new jersey met that requirement and plans to allocate the funding for all of its projects by the end of this month.

so, madam president, the recovery act has been a lifeline for new jersey, and for that fact, for millions of people across the country. now, i couldn't agree more that accountability is crucial. we understand that every dollar in the recovery act belongs to the american taxpayer. they deserve assurances that their money is being invested wisely. we have to ensure unprecedented transparency, oversiect, and accountability so americans can see not only how their money is being spent but also the results of their investments. and that's why this act is being personally overseen by the vice president of the united states, and it's why the act provides for so much transparency, like a web site with all the information about it readily available to the public. and ironically, the fact that there's so much transparency is the reason an individual senator can issue a report about it at

all, and i eight reason we can figure out so easy -- and it's the reason we can figure out so seesly that many of the assertions this n. that report are wrong. accountability means making sure our investments are smart and making corrections as need be. but accountability doesn't mean attacking the jobs that hard-working men and women are do that the legislation made possible because your ideology doesn't square with the facts. that's not accounting. that's undermining. frankly, after eight years of undermining, the american people are ready to build up this country again, and with the recovery act, with health care reform so not only those nearly 50 million americans who have no health care coverage in the greatest land in all of the world but at the same time millions more who are one paycheck away from losing it, and so many who have health insurance but have told me that in fact after listening to their insurance company and following all the rules, they still get

denied for claims that in fact of coverage they really need. that's part of the reform we seek. with additional steps to make us energy-independent, we're going to essence rebuild that country again. that's the process of saying "yes" to america not "no" to america. with that, madam president, i yield the floor. madam president, i observe the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. alexander: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: and for consent to speak up to 10 minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: on the republican side. thank you, madam president. i've just finished reading an

excellent address by secretary of education arne duncan. secretary duncan made this to the national governors' association and he said this. "i'm continually struck by the profound wisdom underlying the american political system. the genius of our system is that much of our power that shapes our future was wisely distributed to the states instead of being confined in washington." continuing he says, "our best ideas have always come from state and local governments which are the real hot houses of innovation in america." secretary duncan says, "on so many issues, energy efficiency, economic development, and education, it is the states that are often leading the way, sometimes with federal help and sometimes without." that is indeed the american way. that's my comment. that american way was recognized by president lincoln, who honored the importance of states. he argued for a limited federal government. he used the limited federal government to confer opportunities through the

transcontinent railway, the land-grant colleges, the homestead act instead of a washington-knows-best command-and-control federal government. it's been our tradition for allowing decentralization of a federal government. it has given us the best colleges and universities and a standard of living that produces 25% of all the money in the world for just 5% of the people in the world, the americans who live here. unfortunately, the wisdom that secretary duncan expressed seems to lie almost exclusively in the department of education in this administration. it's an oasis of common sense. because at an astonishing rate, almost everything else in washington seems to be that washington knows best. i was visited by a european auto executive the other day who said to me jokingly, well, i'm glat d

to be in america's new automotive headquarters, washington, d.c. well, it's also becom becoming america's banking center. it is becoming america's insurance center. unfortunately, even in education washington, d.c., is now about to become americans' student loan center, for 15 million students, because the administration believes washington knows best. instead of having 2,000 banks make 15 million loans, we're going to have the united states department of education make the secretary the banker of the year. and now -- now -- we're discussing in the "help" committee and in the finance committee a brazen takeover of 16% of the economy, which would say washington knows best about our health care system. washington will become america's health care center as well. the health care bill that we're discussing in the "help" committee, of which i am a member, would expand one failed government program -- medicaid -- and create another one, a new

government insurance program, a so-called public option. now, those who support the public option -- and this includes our president -- feel very strongly about it, and they speak eloquently about it. they say things like, as one senator said yesterday in our hearing, "we need to keep the insurance companies honest." that's why we need a government-run insurance program. we need some good, old-fashioned competition, so they said. and we need to keep prices in check. that's why we need a government-run health insurance program. well, if that's the argument, madam president, perhaps we ought to start doing that with every sector of the economy, starting with automobiles. why not just buy the rest of general motors? we already own 60% of it. and let's create a government car and let's keep what's left of the american automobile industry honest by doing that. let's have some good, old-fashioned competition to keep prices in check.

we could own the car company, we could regulate the car company, we could subsidize the car company, we could create a car that we knew was exactly the right sierksz th size, the righ, that got 50 miles per gallon, that ran on solar, that had a windmill on top, and that would be the government car. and to be fair to the american communities across the country, because we want to be, we could mandate that an equal number of parts for the government car could be made in every congressional district and no one could buy an electric battery made in south korea, feign it was the best battery in the world and would make the shiest i have volt an instant success. we could have a board of directors for our government car company of 120 members of the congress or senate. all of us, great car experts, right? we know how to build cars and trucks, how to design them, build them, how to sell them. and there are 120 of us who are

the ranking member of some committee or subcommittee that has the authority to call the head of the car company into washington, presumably driving his or her congressionally approved hybrid car to come testify for three or four hours and then drive back to detroit having not a minute that day to design, build, or make a car. that's what we could dovment and we know what the result would be. the result would be a lot like the soviet cars that we all used to laugh about years ago. they were clunkers. they were the b.t.u. of jokes. -- they were the butt of jokes. no one wanted to buy them. they kept lowering the price so that people would want them and pretty soon they priced everybody out of business. there was only one car -- the government car -- and people either drove the government car or they walked, or that he took the metro, or they found some other way, maybe a bicycle. madam president, that's what we're talking about here, when we talk about a government-run health insurance program to keep

the health insurance -- the insurance companies honest. the same idea as having a government-run car to keep the american automobile honest. we already have one government-run program -- health care program. we call it medicaid. it is a terrible example. the government accounting office says we literally waste 10% of every dollar -- of all the dollars that we give to it. that's $32 billion a year. it's filled with lawsuits, bureaucracies, inefficiencies, it is a tremendous expense to states. it is ruining higher education because governors and legislatures a putting every available dollar into medicaid and have nothing left for the community college. the worst is, it doesn't provide service. it's like giving you a metro pass and there's no subway because 40% of the doctors won't serve medicaid patients, low-income americans, because of the low reimbursement rates. so what do would have with our great government program called

medicaid? twice as many medicaid patients going to the emergency room to get their care as do uninsured americans going to the emergency room. that's what we have with that government program. yet the kennedy bill, which we're considering in the senate "help" committee -- that's the only bill we're considering, even though there are other alternatives on the table -- would expand that government-run program to 150%, increase its costs, both to the federal government and to states, all in the name of keeping insurance companies honest. madam president, there's a better way. that is, to give subsidies or grants to low-income americans so that they may buy their own health insurance. and there's a better way with autos as well. instead of having a government car for the next four or five years, with politicians meddling in how gm and chrysler operate their business, let's just give the stock we own back to the

american people. give the 60% of general motors' stock and the 8% of chrysler's stock to the 120 million americans who pay taxes on april 15 of this year. the reason would be, they paid for it; they should own it. now, some might say, well, let's sell it, and i would favor selling the stock. i'd like to get the stock out of here and end this incestuous relationship of congressmen calling up the president of general motors and saying, don't close the warehouse in my district. but it might take several years, according to the president of gm, to sell that block of stock. so the faster way to do it is a stock distribution, a corporate spinoff. procter and gamble did it with clorox in 1969. time-warner did it with time-warner cable in march of 1969. all the owners simply received

shares. pepsico did it with its reserve restaurant business. k.f.c., pizza hut -- other entities -- if you owned by pepsico, suddenly you had some of colonel sanders' stock. madam president, would you let me know when i have one minute left, please. the presiding officer: the senator has 30 seconds remaining. mr. alexander: i wonder if i exphiet for an extra one minute? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you etch vy much. the main company was not consistent with the core business. we should give taxpayers its shares, get it back in the marketplace where it belongs. it is fast, sirnlings creates a market for the shares. this is not like the soviet union where people aren't used to handling shares. half of american families own shares of stock. it would create a fan base for the next chevy, like the fan base for general motors, where the people on