quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

is. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader.

mr. reid: i ask the chair to lay before the senate a message with the house with respect to h.r. 1299, the united states capitol police authority legislation. the presiding officer: the senate lays before the chair -- the chair lays before the senate a message from the house. are. the clerk: the house agrees to the husband from the -- a title an act to make technical corrections for certain administrative authorities of the united states capitol police and for other purposes. [inaudible] mr. reid: i move to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment and i have a cloture amendment. thpridg officer: the the clerk will report. the clerk: we, the undersigned senate hereby move to bring to a close the the debate on the

motion to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 1299, the united states capitol police administrative technical corrections act signed by 17 senators as follows. : reid, feingold, leahy, inouye, bingaman, merkley, durbin, reed, begich, murray, sanders, casey, boxer, tester, and rockefeller. mr. reid: madam president, i thought it was important that the clerk read those names. sometimes they're hard to read. madam president, i ask if the clerk would report the amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. mr. reid: we -- the names have been read. i move to concur on the house amendment. and i ask that the clerk report the amendment.

the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from nevada moves to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment with an amendment numbered 3326. mr. reid: i now ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment now at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment number 3327 to amendment number 3326. mr. reid: now, madam president, i have a motion to refer with instructions which is also at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to refer the house message to the senate committee on rules with instructions to report back forthwith the following amendment number 3328.

mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that, madam president. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have an amendment to my instructions that is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment number 3329 to the instructions on the motion to refer h.r. 1299. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes amendment 3330 to amendment 3329. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be waived with respect to the cloture motion. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i have 10 unanimous consent asks for -- requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate.

i ask that the requests be agreed to these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, i would say for the benefit of members, under the rules have cloture motion will ripen friday morning. i don't think there's going to be a lot of talk during the next two days on this matter and i would certainly be happy to move this time up and have the vote earlier, but -- on that. we'll wait to hear from the republicans. i note the absence of quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. reed reed: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: madam president, i would request unanimous consent to dispense with the calling of the quorum. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. reed: thank you, madam president. we have today taken a very strong, positive step forward in terms of responding to the nu and that's jobs. for all of our people. and under leader reid's leadership, we were able to get a bill through with a huge majority, and it signals i hope not only attention to jobs but also the willingness and the ability to find common ground to serve the people of our country. we are now on the travel promotion bill, which is another piece of legislation designed to encourage job creation in the travel industry. all of this is good news. the legislation we proposed this morning combined elements of tax breaks for small businesses so they could expense their items, increase their cash flow, hire more people, credits for hiring

people, a huge investment in our infrastructure which will put people to work in the building industry, in the industries that supply all these infrastructure projects, and also a significant commitment to build american minds. these are good programs and they were paid for, also, so we are now taking up i think the challenge to put people to work, to do it in a responsible way and to do so in a way that we can attract bipartisan support. but there's much, much more to do. and there's the recognition that we have to not only create jobs but for the foreseeable future deal with those people who have been looking unsuccessfully for jobs and are unemployed. in my home state of rhode island, the unemployment rate is 12.19%. that's the official rate.

but unfucially, it's much higher, as people have dropped out of the workforce. if you look at sectors in terms of ethnicity or age, the numbers are even more startling. the bill we passed this morning is a good step forward, a good first step, but we have to do much, much more. and i think one of the first jobs that we have to address is the extension of unemployment benefits. they will expire sunday -- this sunday. we have to recognize that, despite many efforts here, there are millions of americans who are looking every day and not finding work. they need the support and, by the way, all the economists have looked at these programs, indicate that not only do they support individuals and families, they provide tremendous multiplier of economic activity for every dollar we commit to the program.

there is a, as i say, a big bang for the buck. people who are without a job will take their benefits and invirginiaablinindiana variablyo -- and invariably, they'll go to the grocery store. they're not saving this money. this helps in the sense of increasing demand and the economy overall and increasing our economic growth. there are, in my state 1,200 rhode island theirs each week are not able to find work, and it's a time small and that's a big -- and it's a small state and that's a big number. we have never before in our history -- at least post-war history -- ever terminated extended unemployment and emergency unemployment benefits until at least the unemployment rate was 7.4%. at that point, it appears in

most cases that there is a self-sustaining economic growth that will itself begin to continue to lower the unemployment rate. we are far from 7.4%. as i said, my state of 12.9%. the national average is hovering around 12.10%. we have to do this. we've always done it. eight times congress has extended benefits in this situation -- 1958, 1961, 1971, 1974, 1982, 1991, 2002, and 2008. not to do this would essentially reject the consistent record of this congress, whether the majority is republican or democrat, of helping americans when the unemployment rate has reached such extraordinary proportions, as it is today. we did approve last november,

without opposition, an extension of up to 20 weeks, but now we need to pass a further extension. and, as i said before, this is not just about helping families and individuals; it's also about helping the economy. for every $1 we invest in unemployment benefits, we see $1.-9d 0 in economic activity overall throughout the economy. and one of the reasons that i heard to oppose this morning's legislation -- well, it's not enough demand to justify these tax incentives; they won't be used. well, one of the things that does create demand, consumer demand particularly, is the unemployment compensation program. it's not the way we want to do t what we'd like to see is a productive economy with jobs and the demand comes from they're not only working but being compensated and also being able to -- with discretionary income to make consumption choices that

today they can't. now, as i said before, we have to think about an agenda for jobs. we've passed one provision today. we're discussing the travel legislation at this moment. we have to move then to the legislation with respect to unemployment compensation. we have to also think about supporting the states with additional fmap. that's the funds for medicaid. because, again, not only will that help our states but without it you're going to see a contraction in our health care industry in terms of hospitals being aiblg to hire or willing -- being able to hire or willing to hire. so we have many more steps to go forward. one aspects is that many of these programs that we've talked about -- for example, the tax credits for hiring -- are nationwide and in this -- the point that there are some areas

that are much more affected by unemployment than other areas. we have states and their good fortune is something we should be proud of and they have rates as low as 4.7% for unemployment. yet they will qualify thor these genevgeneral generic programs. i think we also have to think about how we can target those programs to areas that have critical, critical unemployment situations. rhode island at 12.9% is one, but there are many others. if you look within states, there are regions that have significant unemployment problems. and, again, i think we have to take the steps to extend our benefits, but as we go forward, as we consider additional legislation, let's also think seriously about how to make it more officiate, more targeted. -- more efficient, more targeted. i would encourage my colleagues

to move or country and our economy forward. with that, madam president, i would yield the floor and note the abnce of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota's recognized. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. dorgan: the legislation on the floor of the senate at this point includes legislation i have worked on with my colleagues for about three years. it's a bipartisan piece of legislation called the travel promotion act. and i wanted to talk just a bit about it today. but, before i do, let me describe the reasons for its importance. when we began to put this together, as i said, three years ago last month, working with a

good numbers of sectors in our economy to try to evaluate how do we promote international tourism in the united states. at that point we were not in a very deep recession much we were in period of economic growth. in the intervening period, our country has fallen into a very significant and deep recession and it makes the urgency all that much greater to create new jobs and to do so as soon as possible. somewhere around 15 million to 17 million people, according to official estimates, woke up this morning in this country of ours without a job. they want a job, looctd for work and can't find a job in the united states of america. now, that number of 15 million to 17 million is ominous enough. think of one person this morning who woke up not able to work because they cannot find a job. think of 15 million or 17 million and fast forward and think of 25 million to 26 million, which is what is

estimated to be the total population of people who are unemployed in america. many of whom have stopped looking for work because they couldn't find work at all. this is a very big problem. and it affects our country in many, many ways. it affects our economy in a devastating way. it's very hard on american families when they're not able to find work to able to take care of themselves. it results in more federal spending for unemployment insurance and the other things. so we trying to find ways to put people back to work. and we passed earlier this week with the leadership of senator reid and many others, work that i and senator durbin and senator schumer, and many others have done, a jobs bill that will begin to put people back to work when it is signed by the president. the legislation on the floor today that senator reid brought to the floor includes the travel promotion act which will also put people back to work. i want to talk through this and explain why this is important.

let me begin by saying in 2001, 9/11, we were the victims of a devastating terrorist take on our country. thousands of americans were killed that day. and, as a result, we have since that period of time been engaged in an effort to prevent terrorism, to track down the terrorists and destroy the terrorists networks that would visit that kind of tragedy upon our country. but it also during that period and following became clear to the rest of the world that our country was champing down on visitation to our country. many people felt the united states doesn't want us to visit them anymore. harder to get vasa to come to the -- a visa to come to the united states. we're not welcomed in the united states. and so what happened was there was a dramatic reduction in visitation to our country by overseas' travelers. now, why is that important? well, when you have millions of

people who are traveling around the world to go experience and see the sights and take vacations and so on, they're spending a fair amount of money on those trips. they are creating jobs in many, many areas. not just hotels an cars and restaurants and so on, but in many other areas as well. and our country, now for the last six and eight years, has been a country in which the rest of the world has said, we're going to visit italy, we're going to visit france, japan, and india but fewer of us are going to visit the united states of america. in fact, the -- we've seen a circumstance where after 9/11, we had fewer and fewer visitors coming to our country, that is, fewer than came before. and last year in 2009, we had

2.4 million fewer people visit our country than visited our country in the year 2000. let me say that again because i think it's important. we had 2.4 million fewer people come to the united states of america to visit as overseas travelers than visited here in the year 2000. the presiding officer is from state of new next. it is a wonderful state and i know that is a state that attracts a lot of visitation. not only in our country, but people who come from outside of america to see the wonders of new mexico. but it doesn't matter if it is the wonders of new mexico or old faithful or yellowstone or you name it, the wonders of our country, the great national parks. 2.4 million few people showed up last year to visit our country

than before. let me explain why that is happening. "the sydney morning harold," headline, "coming to america isn't easy." describes the difficulty of getting visas and coming to america. "the guardian" in england, "america, more hassle than it's worth?" again, difficulty coming to america. "the sunday times" in london. "travel to america? no thanks." says the headline. it's already a nightmare, the paper says, now they want to make it tougher, so let's not go says matt rudd. well, let me describe what is happening in other countries at the same time that we're taking leave on this issue. other countries are very busy

advertising to the world to say, are you traveling? are you taking a vacation? are you seeing the world? come to our country. come to see what is happening. it says, "arrived looking for an experience to remember, departed with an adventure you'll never forget? come and see australia. sometimes you -- to find yourself, sometimes you need to lose yourself. in australia they call it going wawlg-about -- walk-about. if you're traveling, come to australia. come and see what we have to offer. a campaign for the emrald island. go where ireland takes you. if you're taking a tip, be sure and visit -- trip, be sure to visit ireland.

come to ireland, it says. and it's an international campaign. japan says, sweet secrets from japan. with its many culinary arts and traditions, they entice travelers with with a stunning arrays of specialties and on and on. come to japan. thinking of traveling? come to japan. are you taking a trip with your family? how about coming to the eiffel tower. come to france in 2009. viva la france. and so france and japan and india and ireland say come and see us. belgium, a national campaign that says if you're traveling with your family, come to belgium where fun is always in fashion. brussels, the capital of cool. well, i think you get the point.

one special reason to visit india in 2009 -- any time is a good time to visit the land of taj, but there's no time like now. we have millions and millions of people traveling around the world. on average an overseas traveler spends nearly $5,000. nearly $5,000. and all of these countries are saying to those overseas travelers, "come to our country. see our country. see the wonders of what we have to offer the world." the united states of america, we've not done that. and that's why, in my judgment, at least in part, we have 2.4 million fewer visitors last year than we had in the year 2000. it's pretty unbelievable. so this proposition is simple. there's a problem. the number of people between the year 2000 and 2009 visiting

other countries -- that is overseas travel -- that has increased by 31%. and during the same period the number of people coming to the united states of america has decreased nearly 10%. so international travel is up; travel to america is down. now, there's another important point here. there's been a lot of polling done, and it's quite clear that to visit america is to really have great respect for and love for this country. there's almost no one that comes to this country and tours and travels and visits our country that doesn't leave america with a special understanding of the wonders of this great place. and so at a time when we want people to understand more about our country, we ought to be inviting them here to saydom america. come to see what we have to offer. we ought to be engaged in this process, but we are not.

now, this legislation that we are bringing to the floor of the united states senate is legislation that will actually increase jobs, we think, by close to 500,000 jobs according to estimates. so you increase 500,000 jobs. and in addition to that, the congressional budget office says this will reduce the federal budget deficit by $500 million. how many pieces of legislation come to the floor of the united states senate that will both create jobs and reduce the budget deficit and also give us the opportunity to tell the rest of the world what a wonderful and great place this country is? so that's the reason for this. as we build one step at a time, opportunities to create additional jobs, this is part of it. now, mr. president, this is the congressional budget office

enacting s.1023 will reduce the budget deficit over this period. as i indicated, it will create jobs and reduce the budget deficit and i think very much help our country. the specifics of this legislation will encourage international travel to all parts of this country and i think provide economic growth to all parts of our country. this promotes a corporation for travel promotion. that's what we created, an independent nonprofit corporation governed by 11 members of the board of directors and creates a travel promotion in the department of commerce, one that used to exist but hasn't for a long while. the purpose of this is to engage the kind of campaigns that exist in most other parts of the world to say to those traveling around the world "come here. you are welcome here. come and understand and experience this country called

the united states of america." the work that we have done, let me pay special attention to the work that senator reid has done, senator ensign is a cosponsor, was a cosponsor in the commerce committee with me. senator inouye, senator vitter, senator klobuchar, and especially senator klobuchar, let me say, who in the commerce committee, working on tourism, following my chairmanship of the tourism subcommittee, has taken on this issue with a gusto and is a very important part of getting this done. my hope is that when we finish this, that when the president signs this bill, all of us will understand that at a time when there is so much partisanship and it appears to the american people that so little can be agreed upon and so little gets done, you know, there's all that notion out there, the fact is this is bipartisan. this is good for the country.

this will reduce the budget deficit. this will increase jobs and put people back to work. if ever something had all o t ao have merit and to be worthy,this that. my colleague from minnesota, senator klobuchar, as i indicated, has done yoemen's work with myself and others to put this together. we hope that those who would come to our country would especially visit north dakota and minnesota and stay for a very long period of time. all of us, of course, have parochial interests. but perhaps north dakota even more than minnesota i might say, just from my own perspective. i do think it is seldom we can come to the floor of the senate and say here's a piece of legislation that republicans and democrats support. we've had one vote on it already. it had 79 votes in support in the united states senate. seldom can we say here's a bill

that is bipartisan that does a lot of really good things for our country. thanks to the majority leader for putting this back on the floor. congratulations to him for his work on it and to my colleague as well, senator klobuchar. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota is recognized. ms. klobuchar: i ask to speak up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. klobuchar: thank you very much. mr. president, i want to thank senator dorgan for his great leadership. for so long he has been working on this, and i have a feeling this is finally going to get done. it is traourbgs we invite the presiding officer -- it is true, we invite the presiding officer to visit north dakota and minnesota. i think he thinks his state of new mexico is pretty cool but he never visited teddy roosevelt park. our market campaigns are done by specific cities -- las vegas, new york. that is very important. when you look at this country,

marketing our country as a whole is going to mean something. we're competing against countries the world over that do this all the time. that's why we've seen a 20% decrease in our international visitors. when i held a hearing on this issue along with then-senator martinez this part year, there was a story in "the washington post." it was in good humor about all the senators kind of hawking their own states and the deals you could get, whether senator begich's $99 cruise in alaska or the stuff i was talking about with duluth, minnesota. in truth we were doing that because we know people need to know about the opportunities in america. doing this in a commerce hearing is not going to be anything compared to what you see france doing and indonesia doing and all these countries around the world. they are bringing in visitors. and their visitors, if they came here, would spend thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars. this week we're doing this jobs bill. an important part of this as well is the travel industry. you know how many people it

employs? one out of eight americans is employed in the travel industry. and what will this bill do? well, one, as senator dorgan mentioned, it is going to give us that ability to market our country. secondly, it's going to give us the funds we need to better process these visas, because it's expected to bring -- and this is not our estimate. this is an estimate of a nonbiased, nonpartisan organization decreasing 1.6 million new international visitors each year, and they spend $4,500 on average when they come here. you can do the math. 1.6 million new visitors, mr. president, times $4,500 every single year. there's some expectations it could generate $4 billion in new spending. the bill is estimated to create 41,000 new jobs. what is the cost to the taxpayer? there's a lot of concern. i'm one that's been pushing on this deficit reduction and putting our commission together.

but what is the cost of this bill to the taxpayer? zero. zero. and i think that was a part of the great thing about this bill. we're doing something to create jobs. c.b.o. estimates, and we're doing it at zero costs. because as you know, it's a small fee on foreign visitors to our country. like other countries do to our people when they visit, with of course canada exempted. what i found out is that people really care about this bill not just in the halls of congress. when i was in minnesota, in the area of the home of paul bunyan, they were skpaoeuted about this because -- excited about this because they want to be able to market our country. the problem is we've gotten so far behind what a lot of people who are living in, say, france have to think -- and this is what's going on right now in this country and they're deciding where they're going to go on their summer vacation. they're thinking am i going to go to america where maybe it

will take months to process my visa or am i going to spend my vacation in sraoe sarbgs just -- visa, across the channel. that's what's happening. that's why we have lost 20% of the overseas travel. 48 million more global overseas travelers in 2008 than 2000. that's the worldwide figure. more people are traveling. it makes sense. you've seen more market power across this world, even though we've had this recent recession. yet, 6 33,000 fewer visited the united states. as world travel goes up, the people coming to the united states has gone down. that means less jobs in this country. so, mr. president, i really believe that we need to be on an equal playing field with the rest of the world. if we want to compete, if we want to compete as our goods that we want to make and produce and send overseas, we also have to compete in the tourism

market. and i'll end with this: duluth, minnesota, it was in some really, really hard times in the 1980's. it was so bad that they actually put up a billboard that said "the last person to leave, turn off the lights." that's where that town was headed. and they rebuilt. they rebuilt because they were smart about some businesses that came in but they were smart about tourism. beautiful lake superior right there. that's what they did. when we did a tourism hearing, a field hearing out there and they were talking about how obviously in many areas of the country with the recession, business convention centers had gone down nationally, the woman from duluth whispered to me "ours has gone up." theirs has gone up because people are looking for different things in different parts of their lives. when times are tough they think maybe we'll have our convention in duluth and look at lake superior instead of looking at the pacific ocean. this is a country we're proud of. we want people to visit from other parts of the world.

we want to create those 41,000 new jobs. that's what this bill is about. i really am very hopeful we're finally going to get this bill done, get this bill passed and support the tourism part of our country. one in eight americans. let's keep it strong, keep it going. i see senator dorgan is back, and i want to thank him so much for his tremendous leadership. i'm proud as he moved and did a, covered and chaired various committees and subcommittees, i got the opportunity to take over the subcommittee that includes tourism. a lot of work had been done on his bill. and i'm proud to take over that committee and work on it very hard, and we'll make sure this gets done. mr. dorgan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota is recognized. mr. dorgan: i mentioned there are incremental ways to create jobs, which is very important. senator reid has taken the lead to bring bills to the floor that do that. earlier this week the jobs bill that was passed and then in addition now, the travel promotion act, which is job-creating.

i want to just mention as well, the majority leader has indicated that he intends to bring the f.a.a. reauthorization act to the floor of the senate probably during this work period. it also is going to be job-creating. and i chair the aviation subcommittee in the senate. it is very important that we reauthorize the f.a.a., pass the the legislation, what is called next gen, to do the next generation of air traffic control systems. we have an archaic system of ground-based radar that controls all those airplanes up in the american sky. whereas most people are walking around with cell phones today, a much more sophisticated way of tracking anything -- a g.p.s. system. most kids with a cell phone have the opportunity to be able to track, if their friend wants them to, where is the location of their friend at any moment. they can track up to 20 friends. you know something? a teenage kid can track their friends but we can't track an airplane in the sky with g.p.s.? most of our commercial airliners are not equipped. we don't have that next gen

system that would modernize our air traffic control system, allow you to fly more direct routes place to place with less spacing than now exists, using less fuel, better for the environment. all of those things will be capable when we modernize the air traffic control system and go from a ground-based radar system to a g.p.s. system for aviation flights. that is so very important and it is very job creating. i want to say i appreciate the majority leader saying that that needs to be a priority to bring to the floor, get to a conference with the house and get a bill passed and signed by the president. there are also safety issues we have to deal with in the f.a.a. reauthorization act. tomorrow i'll be chairing a hearing in the commerce subcommittee on aviation on the crash in buffalo, new york, that tragedy that occurred on that winter icey evening in which the dash 8 crashed and took the

lives of so many wonderful people and took the life of the pilot and copilot as well. there are so many questions about that flight and the circumstances that led to the crash and the national transportation safety board will be testifying tomorrow at my subcommittee. i won't go into all of the issues, but the issues of pilot fatigue, the issues of training, so many different issues, the icing issues that occurred that evening, it will be a very important hearing tomorrow. but the reason i raise it is a safety issue. the safety issue is so important. yes, we have a system in which we fly people all over this country and the world, you know, we have not had fatal accidents by and large in commercial aviation. it's been enormously safe. the most recent accidents have been accidents that have been very substantially investigated. the colgan crash in buffalo, new

york, has been investigated now at great length and we will have the results of that and the discussion of that at our subcommittee tomorrow, and that will also give us a road map of what we might need to address in the f.a.a. re-authorization bill on the safety issues. mr. president, i make a -- i yield the floor and i make a poinof oer that a quorum is not present. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you,

mr. president. may i ask that the pending quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: thank you, mr. president. i want to speak just briefly about today's vote. today this body, in a rare but very welcome moment of at least partial bipartisanship voted to pass leader reid's jobs bill. while that bill does not include every provision that i would like to see, it is certainly an importantship and i commend my leagues from both parties for supporting these provisions to put people back to work. as a senator from rhode island which currently faces one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation, at near 13%, i know that the help contained in this bill, which builds on the programs we passed last year in the recovery act, cannot come soon enough.

and i hope the vote is a watershed. over the past few months, i've heard from hundreds of rhode islanders who are struggling just to find work. i've heard from carol in north providence, rhode island, who'd worked all her life but was laid off two years ago from her position as a destruction -- con project manager. carol has a bachelor's degree in business administration and an associate's degree in architecture and she has plenty of experience as a construction project manager. but for two years, she has been unable to find any work. talented, hard-working, and unemployed. i also heard from nathaniel in cof entri, rhode island -- in coventry, rhode island, who recently graduated from law school. that is a wonderful achievement and is ordinarily a benchmark

that kids pass through on the way to success, certainly to employment. but nathaniel is carrying $100,000 in student loans and cannot find a job. i heard from bryant in saunderstown, an unemployed construction worker who's been unable to find a job for more than a year. he's been receiving unemployment benefits but he is justifiably concerned that those, too, might soon run out. he loves to work. he doesn't want to be on unemployment. but right now in this economy, there is no other option for brian and for his family. leader reid's jobs bill, the "hire act," will help put rhode islanders back to work. the bill provides a payroll tax holiday for businesses to encourage hiring, increased cash

flow for small businesses that can be used for investments and payroll expansion, and an expansion of the build america bonds program to subsidize and encourage local infrastructure projects. in addition, the "hire act" extends federal highway funding through the end of the year which will make a $225 million difference for rhode island alone in 2010. this legislation, mr. president, will be a big help for my home state but it is only a first step toward restoring economic growth. it is certainly not the last step we need in this work session to take. as i said, i hope the vote yesterday and today is a watershed. outside in washington, the heavy snows of february are melting away.

perhaps, just perhaps, the blockade that has stifled this senate is melting away a little also. we must now act to extend unemployment insurance and cobra subsidies to make sure that unemployed workers like bryan and their families continue to be able it pay their bills and to maintain the family's health insurance coverage. and i hope that we will soon thereafter turn to new investments in our failing transportation, water, and school infrastructure. mr. president, we had a hearing in the budget committee this morning with transportation secretary lahood, and he agreed very strongly that where you have decrepit infrastructure -- and everyone knows the united

states of america has an enormous infrastructure deficit -- of decrepit infrastructure, that we are going to be able to repair sooner or later. if we need to repair sooner or later, why not do it now, while we need the jobs? if we need to repair it sooner or later, repairing it now does not add anything to our nation's long-term liabilities. indeed, under the old yankee principle that a stitch in time saves nine, under the commonsense principle that when you get to maintenance and repair earlier than later, it costs less to do the repair. there's a pretty strong case to be made that there are net savings from moving the repair of our did h decrepit infrastrue forward. so it is really a win-win, as secretary lahood acknowledge.

so i look forward to continuing to work with my colleagues, as we go forward, pass today's watershed votes and into the following votes to help restore our economy and meet the needs of carol and i nathaniel and brn and millions of americans who are unemployed and need help now. mr. president, thank you very much. i note the eables after quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

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host: senator ben cardin, thank you for being with us. what do you hope to see come out of the health care summit? guest: i hope we do see engagement by it -- by republicans and democrats. it would be nice to see broader support. as long as the legislative or is are committed to bringing down the cost -- legislators are committed to bringing down the cost i hope we can come to a broader consensus. host: the gop responded in a press conference, that they expect little from obama's health reform. but that throw up a roadblock? guest: if you look in the past, republicans have been opposed to comprehensive health care reform. they have not really brought up

any suggestion that would bring down cost and by affordable health care for all americans. i think we are very close to getting this done. the house and senate have both passed bills. the senate has come in -- the president has come out with his proposal that bridges the differences. we will be the last industrial nation in the world that will finally say at last that healthcare is a right. host: you are for reconciliation for the public option? guest: i think it is the way we will ultimately get the bill done. i think it is difficult to get 60 votes in the u.s. senate and reconciliation allows us to have the majority make the decision. host: you are for reconciliation, period, and you did not foresee it public option? guest: i think the public option would help bring down costs. i should point out that the senate bill that passed,

although it is not as strong on the public option than the house, it does provide for qualified plans to be available and guaranteed to be available. host: be you think reconciliation would be a blow to bipartisanship? guest: it has been used many times over the years by both democrats and republicans. it is a way to move forward in a way in which the majority gets to make the final decisions. reforming our health care system will bring down health-care costs, it will help us balance the budget in the future, so it is an important policy and that is what reconciliation was designed to the. host: there is a letter in circulation that some democrats signed onto, that would support the use of reconciliation with a public option. you have not yet signed on to the letter. you have any intention? guest: i am for the public option, i'm for the issue of reconciliation.

i cannot make it clear. when the president said he supports the senate bill, that is the most likely result to move forward. host: let us the right to our callers. republican line from stafford, virginia. caller: my comment is, as everyone knows, dick cheney was in the hospital with another heart attack and many people did not realize that once you are elected to washington or appointed, those officials, even if they have one term, have lifelong life insurance at the taxpayers' expense. what the harvard medical report indicating 122 americans are dying every day in this country because they do not have access to health care, what would you say that urgency is on the democrats' part knowing they will have to overcome the republican roadblocks in making sure that people who don't have çaccess to taxpayer health care get the care that they need -- a

122 a day is outrageous. guest: members of congress like federal employees is under the federal employee health benefit plan and when they retire they are entitled to retirement benefits like any other federal employees. it is a good plan and we want to make sure all americans have access to the type of coverage federal employees have and members of congress have. our objective is to provide that kind of option, the choice to every american, that they have access to affordable and quality health and -- health insurance and health care. host:, laura, democratic collar -- caller. caller: it is a pleasure i can actually speak to you. i grew up in maryland, a recent transplant to south carolina and i miss it so much i think i want to come home.

guest: but not missing the snow, i tell you that. caller: i don't miss that. i am glad to hear you speak so much in favor of the public option. it is something that i have signed petitions for, talked to people about. when you look at all of the polling, the majority of the american public i think is really in support, with the exception of a few states. i worry so much that the democrats are going to make a mistake if they pass this health care bill without some even scalpriform of a public option because -- skeletal form of a public option because of the and there of not simply insurance companies -- because of the gang their act not simply insurance companies but anyone who has

been taken advantage. the middle-class, working poor. this would be one little thing. guest: medicare is a public option. it is a very popular program. i agree that a strong public option would help provide not only access to affordable care to all americans but help bring down the overall health care costs in this country. the bills we are working on will have major private health insurance reform, to prevent insurance companies from discriminating based on pre- existing conditions, automatic renewal ability. we will have exchanges so there would be options available, multiple options available to everyone, whether an individual trying to find insurance or a small business owner. i think you will find that many of the concerns of why we have been so strongly in favor of the public insurance option is being taken care of either in the senate or house bill or what the president is suggesting as a

compromise. i agree, i am disappointed we could not have a stronger option but i think at the end of the day if we get the bill but you will be pleased. host: what do democratic congressman and white house need to be willing to negotiate on? guest: the president laid out a marker and i think it has been well received by both the players in the house and senate. as far as the democrats and republicans, you really need to ask the republicans that question. what are they going to bring to the table? we are not exactly sure what they will bring. but if they bring forward a good faith a recommendation that brings down the cost of health care and provide an affordable quality health insurance -- health insurance option to everyone in america, does it within the budget, then we have something to negotiate. they don't do that, i think we will be with the president's marker and that will be the game to get it passed. a host of baltimore, maryland --

host:, baltimore, maryland on the democratic line. caller: i am a constituent. i need you to comment on the ever-increasing rates on the health-care issue. we look to california and we see 39%, that is outrageous. that is absolutely ridiculous. will you deal with that -- when you have the meeting tomorrow or your counsel, can you address the outrageous hits we are getting what increases as well as denial of services? the other point i had out you -- for you. acorn issue. if you could please comment briefly on that because the guy who called themselves exposing a court has been exposed. if you got a second to comment on that. guest: let me just say again, one of the three major points that must be included in health care reform is bringing down the cost of health care, the growth rate, making