quorum call:

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the call of the quorum be terminated. officer without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of h.r. 4691 which is a 30-day extension of provisions which expire on sunday, february 28. they are unemployment insurance extension, cobra, the health insurance for the unemployed, flood insurance, satellite home viewer act, highway funding,

s.b.a. business loans and small-business provisions of the american recovery act, s.g.r., which is the so-called doctor fix, and poverty guidelines, received from the house and at the desk, the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid made and laid on the table. i would say, mr. president, that this matter passed the house unanimously today. the reason it passed the house unanimously today, if we don't do something about this, all around america, about 1.5 million people who will be waifinwatching tv will no longeh tv. this is mostly in rural areas of america, rural areas of nevada. and the problem with that -- i mean, i guess we could be hard-hearted and say, they don't need to watch it be much but in nevada, as an example, we have very harsh winters in many parts of the nevada. many of these people, this is the only way that they can get

information is through television. and i just think it could lead to some very, very serious problems. now, if we talk about flood insurance, even though nevada is a very dry state, this is something we need to do for states where we have all kinds of problems with floods all the time. we in northern nevada and in southern nevada had some devastating floods -- not often, but we have them. highway funding -- this costs nothing what we're doing here. the extension costs zero. s.b.a. business loans, mr. president -- this is -- costs $60 million, to allow the s.b.a. to continue processing programs to allow people who want to have a business to get a few dollars so they can continue or start a new business. we're not going to be able to do

this. this expires tend o at the end s month. poverty guidelines -- these things cost nothing. basically nothing. the s.g.r. costs about -- it is my understanding, it costs about $1 billion that is being asked for here. so i just think that it is such a shame that we don't get this done. the big ones, though, from my perspective, are the poor. we have people who weren't poor that are now poor that have been unemployed for so long. this will terminate on monday. i talked to the presiding officer. in just a matter of weeks, 65,000 people in illinois will no longer be able to draw these benefits. in the state of nevada, which is not as heavily populated as the

state of illinois, thousands of people who have been unemployed for long periods of time -- and i repeat -- started out in this business not being poor. they're poor now. and it should be a shame not to give them those moneys. now, mr. president, my friend, the distinguished senator from kentucky, is going to say pay for all this. as i've gone through everything that we've talked about here, it hasn't cost much money. unemployment compensation does. it costs a lot of money. we have millions of people who are unemployed. and in years past when we wanted to extend unemployment benefits, it was an emergency, declared emergency, historical in this body. why? because it is an emergency. and we have rules in effect -- paygo rules -- that we have passed, but of course we can look to that as a step forward.

but that doesn't mean we don't have emergencies. now, i would also say, mr. president, that cobra -- what is cobra? it is a program to help people who are out of work or that lose their job, they can get insurance. so, anyway, i say to my friend, i say to my friend from kentucky, i would hope that for the people i've described here who are just wanting us to do our work, that we can get that done. i would hope that my friend would not object to this. the presiding officer: i is there objection? mr. bunning: yes, sir. the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. bunning: mr. president, i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard from the senator from kentucky, mr. bunning. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate now proceed to h.r. 4691 and that the reid of nevada

substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be considered read, that the republican leader or his designee be recognized to offer a substitute amendment, and there 60 minutes of debate with respect to that amendment, with no -- the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, that upon the use or yielding back of thew time and if a budget point o is made agae amendment, the senate then vote to waive the point of order. if the waiver is successful, the amendment be agreed to and the reid substitute amendment be agreed to and if the waiver fails, the amendment be withdrawn. further, that there be 30 minutes of debate with respect to the reid substitute amendment with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, and upon the use or yielding back of too time, and if a budget point of order is made against the amendment on the motion to waiving a relevant point of order be made. the senate then vote on the motion to waive the order. if the waive certificate

successful, the senate then vote. no further amendments except a motion to reconsider or debate be in order. upon disposition of the reid substitute earnlt the bill as amended be read a third time and the budgetary effects of paygo legislation with respect to h.r. 1586, the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended, that upon passage, the title amendment, which is at the desk the be considered and agreed to. mr. president, before my friend from kentucky makes his feelings known, let me say this: this is something that we worked out yet. when i say "we," that means democrats and republicans. all except one senator. and what is -- what this agreement allows is for the -- all the provisions in this -- these extensions be paid for out of the stimulus economic

recovery money. that's a fair vote. some people want to do that. let's vote on it. we know what the rules are. we were sent here to vote. we are he not sent here to object bh 99 senators want d. when 99 senators want something done. that's not really right to hold it up. my friend has that right, but it is a real problem for so many different people. and i would hope that we could have a vote here, we could do it tonight, and move on to other things. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. bunning: reserving the right to object -- the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky is recognized. mr. bunning: i just want to make sure that i am objecting to the right motion. in the third-last sentence, the leader used, in my opinion, the wrong number. he used h.r. 1586 instead of

h.r. 469 -- mr. reid: the senator from kentucky is right. i have written here -- mr. bunning: