mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that theall of quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ey

mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that it be in order for th senate to consider en bloc the following amendments with no amendments in order to the a.m., that once the amendments have been reported by number and modified, if applicable, the amendments be agreed to en bloc, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table en bloc. amendment number 3406, 3349, and 3346 would be modified -- i'm sorry, let's do that last phrase

again. and the motions to reconsider be laid on the tail en bloc. amendment number 3406, amendment number 3409, and the amendment, 3406 be modified with the changes at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, it is so ordered. mr. reid: i now ask, mr. president, we provide to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 372 and we now proceed to that matter. the clerkthe presiding officer:k will report. the clerk: s. res. 372, resolution designating march 2010 as national autoimmune diseases awareness month, and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the matter. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a levin amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the resolution as amended be

agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and that any statements relating to this matter appear at the appropriate place in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i now ask unanimous consent the senate foreign relations committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 431 and we now proceed to that matter. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 431, expressing profound concern, deepest sympathies and solidarity on behalf of the people of the united states to the people and government of chile following the massive earthquake. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the matter. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i now ask consent the senate proceed to the following matters en bloc: they were all introduced today. s. res. 441, 442, 443, 444, and

445. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask consent the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, the motions laid on the table, there be no intervening action or debate, and any statements relating to this matter be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. on march 5, that following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day and the senate resume consideration of h.r. 4213. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask that tomorrow we'll -- i don't ask everybody, i just tell everybody we're going to resume consideration of the tax extenders legislation. there will be no roll call votes

tomorrow. the next vote will occur tuesday morning f. there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow.

>> the next journalism must be one open to blogs and to e-mails that are hammering like this on the door to be let into the conversation. to add new information, to raise new questions, to suggest new context. >> winners of this year's national press foundation awards talk about the role of journalism and a changing society. saturday night at 8:00 eastern on c-span. >> as "washington post" international correspondent tr reid has traveled the world. his books are not only about his travels but about his global views on contemporary issues including the united states of

europe, the healing of america and confucius lives next door. join our three hour conversation with tr reid and your phonecalls live sunday at noon eastern on booktv's in depth on c-span2. >> massachusetts senator scott brown made his first speech on the senate floor. this is about 10 minutes. >> madam president. >> the senator from massachusetts. >> i ask unanimous consent to ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. >> without objection. >> thank you. madam president. >> the senator from massachusetts. >> thank you. i was hoping i could address an amendment that have on the floor today. >> without objection. >> thank you. madam president i come to the floor of the senate today to give my first speech as the, one of the senators from

massachusetts, and first let me say i am deeply honored to have been elected into serve in this great and historic chamber. in addition i am pleased to have the opportunity to address my colleagues and the american people and all the folks up here watching us for the first time about legislation that i am introducing and it is called immediate tax relief for american workers amendment. adam president families in massachusetts and across this great nation are suffering through these tough economic times in one year after congress passed the stimulus package americans are still struggling to pay their bills, to save money for college and to buy groceries just to put on their kitchen tables. but in washington the federal government is driving up our debt and creating government waste on projects that in my opinion don't create enough private-sector jobs or provide immediate relief for the american workers. the hundreds of billions of dollars that we have spent and

continue to spend on the stimulus package have not created one new net job and most americans believe washington is not using the money effectively enough, especially while many americans are suffering and needing immediate and real relief. in fact the federal government right now is sitting on approximately $80 billion of so-called stimulus funds that are either unused or on obligated to specific projects as of this date. that $80 billion in taxpayer money is stuck in what i consider a virtual washington slush fund potential use for special-interest projects or so-called pork projects that many of us personally object to. madam president i feel and others feel it is time to put this money back to work immediately and put it into the pockets of hard-working americans and american families so they can help to get what they need. for example they can provide for their families. they can say for their future

and put real money back into the struggling economy. so by providing an immediate across-the-board relief for working families is not complicated economic policy, and i think it is simple and common economic sense. leaders on both sides of the aisle from president john f. kennedy to ronald reagan have often called for across-the-board tax cuts to put money immediately into people's pockets to help stimulate the economy and i also believe this is a perfect opportunity to do the very same thing. i believe that individual citizens know better. people up here watching know better how to spend their own money than we do in terms of spending it for them and the immediate tax relief for american workers amendment that i am proposing would cut payroll taxes and have across the board tax relief for almost 130 million american workers madam president.

that number again, 130 million evil in american workforce including more than 3 million people in massachusetts would have immediate relief. now, 130 million workers would receive that immediate and direct tax relief by turning the estimated $80 billion of on obligated stimulus monies and accounts over to the american people. are workers would see their payroll taxes reduced by almost, over $100 per month, up to $500 per person, $1000 per couple and within a six-month period could be implemented within 60 days. now, some people in washington may not think $100 or $500 or $1000 is a lot of money but i can tell you, i know the value of the dollar. the people in my state know that is money that can be put into their pockets immediately and spent to pay for oil, food,

medical bills. everyday basic needs. the american people need this relief madam president and they deserve it. families would immediately get the help they need to pay their bills and we would put real money back into the economy, helping start a true recovery. unlike tax cuts of years past this one is paid for entirely. it can be implemented as i said within 60 days. it would be paid for by using the roughly $80 billion in unused on obligated stimulus funds that are currently sitting in the slush fund in washington d.c.. in my opinion madam president it does nothing, nothing right now to stimulate the economy, the struggling as we know it. and not to do this i feel madam president would be a mistake and a disservice to the people who pay the bills and those are the american taxpayers. let me be clear, my amendment would not add 1 penny to our

federal deficit. also let me remind my colleagues in this chamber that bipartisanship is a two-way street. it is not just a one-way street madam president and you commented to me and others have that they appreciate my effort to reach across the aisle last week and help pass a jobs bill that the majority leader was pushing to put people back to work not only in massachusetts but in your state and your state and every state in this country and i took some heat for it. but i held firm and looked at the bill with open eyes as i told the majority leader and minority leader and all my colleagues what i would do. it wasn't perfect but i felt it was a good first up, so that effort of bipartisanship was evident with me last week and many of you came up to me and said boy, what a nice new tone you have said senator. we are proud you are here. we are happy to see that

bipartisanship. let me tell you when i see a good idea i plan on supporting it whether it be a good republican idea or a good democrat ideal, as long as it puts people back to work and has a way to get paid for and it makes good sense for my state and the people of this country, i plan on voting for it regardless of what any special interest groups, regardless of my party and regardless of what anybody else says. madam president here's our chance to show the american people the partisan bickering is now over. we can help them right now. we can actually have a bipartisan effort on this very important bill that will put immediate money into people's pockets in 60 days, up to $1000 per couple and i know many people who could use that money right now. with so many people struggling, i personally don't feel it is time anymore for political gamesmanship. the time now is to do the peoples business and i have always felt that we can do better. the fact that i am here has sent

a strong message across this country and the people in my state and throughout the country that supported me in record numbers are saying do you know what scott? we can do better and when you get to washington work across party lines, get the engine going a little bit and let's get the people's business done. this is my first bill, first amendment i should say to a jobs bill. it makes fiscal sense. it is something that has been done in the past. jfk and ronald reagan have called for across-the-board tax cuts and it worked. we have tried a whole host of other things, targeted tax breaks, a little here and a little there. why don't we give it back to the american people and see what they can do to stimulate the economy. let's give them a chance. with the immediate tax relief for american workers amendment, comes to a vote, my colleagues will have a very fluid choice. they can support a measure that will immediately-- into the

economy or take the usual approach in washington and lee the $80 billion to be used and years from now. the money we are taking is not allocated. it is just hanging out there, and it is unlikely we are going to put it back to reduce the deficit so let's put it to work within 60 days, so people can use it and when the summertime comes they can go out and do whatever they want with it. we can go and create more of a bureaucracy if we want or more government jobs but i have confidence in the american people that they will do what they have always done. they have reached down and tighten their belts. they have made a difference, and they are the folks that are going to help us get out of the struggling economy. i'm not going to.any fingers and say it is therefore it -- my fault. the bottom line is i was sent here for a reason to deliver a

message from the people of massachusetts and all the hundreds of thousands of people that supported me and that is, we can do better. let's get the economy going. this is a simple, simple amendment and i'm hopeful we are going to get bipartisan support on this because i can tell you it is very easy to use procedural points of order to try to delay this particular amendment, and then it gets lost in the shuffle. that is very easy to do. we can do a procedural point of order to delay action on the economic emergency facing american workers. by golly i'm not going to do it. i'm going to do everything i can do every single day to make sure i can put as much money back into the american people's pockets so they can do what they do best. they can save, care for their families. they can do what they have done for years and that is help stimulate this economy. after all, that is what madam president you were sent here to do and you were sent here to do in the people appear watching in

the people on tv expect us to do is to get back to work. solve the problems. let's move on. this is a great opportunity to do just that and i'm hopeful i will get support on this. madam president, i believe there may be other speaking so i respectfully yield back the balance of my time. thank you. >> minority leader mitch mcconnell also discussed health care legislation today. this is just under 10 minutes. >> madam president the american people are asking us to start over on health care. they are asking us to scrap the massive bills democrats have been trying to force on them. they want us to focus on cost instead. that has been their clear message now for over a year. but yesterday democrats in washington said they know better. the president and his allies in congress made up their minds to

turn aside any pretense of bipartisanship and plow ahead on a partisan bill. a partisan bill by the way that americans don't want. in a last-ditch effort to get their way, it they stick themselves to a flawed vision of reform over the wishes of the public. and what is that vision? it is a vision of health care whereby the federal government will become more involved in health care decisions of health care decisions of every man, woman and child in america. where small businesses get hit with a new job-killing taxes. where medicare is slashed for millions of seniors. insurance premiums go up, and federal taxpayers are required for the first time ever to cover the cost of abortions. the administration and its

allies in congress have tried repeatedly to jam this vision of health care through congress without success. now they are doubling down. they have got one more tool in their arsenal. they they have got one more tool in their arsenal and they are deploying it. meanwhile, the american people are watching all of this and other disbelief. the american people are watching all of this in other disbelief. americans do want reform but they don't want this. and they are fed up because the longer democrats cling to their flawed vision of reform, the longer americans have to wait for the reforms they really want. the longer they will have to wait for us to focus on jobs and the economy. the president did a good job of laying out the problem yesterday, but the heart of the problem as he himself described it, is the high cost of care.

and the simple fact is that bill he wants does not lower costs. on the contrary the administration's own experts say the democratic plan increases costs. this alone should be reason enough to start over, start all over and put together a list of common sense step-by-step reforms that will actually lower costs. now the good news is, we already have the list. at last week's health care summit at the white house, both parties acknowledged a handful of reforms that all of us can agree on. that is where we should start, on the things that we agree on. unfortunately even before the summit began, democrats were already intent on pushing the same old vision, the same old version they were pushing before the summit by any means

possible. they couldn't get the old version over the finish line, even with all the backroom deals, the kickbacks, the bios so sometime after the massachusetts election they hatched a plan to win over wavering democrats in the house by promising to use some legislative sleight-of-hand that will only require a slim partisan majority in the senate. this is outrageous on two counts first, because the method they are proposing has never been used on such a sweeping the civil legislation or co-and second, because americans have heart he told us loud and clear that they don't want this partisan approach. what about public opinion to our friends in the majority not understand? the american people are saying loud and clear they don't want us to do this. what is worse, many of the same

democrats who are now pushing this party line vote are on record as being foursquare against it for major legislation like this. here is what one senior democratic senator had to say about partyline votes on major legislation just a few years ago. quote, i have never passed a single bill worth talking about that didn't have as a lead co-sponsor a republican he said, and i don't know of a single piece of legislation that has ever been adopted here that didn't have a republican and a democrat in the lead. that is because we need to sit down and work with each other. the rules of this institution have required that. that is why we exist. i couldn't agree more. americans expect big bills to command big majorities. americans expect big bills to command big majorities. and that is why this isn't a

fight between democrats and republicans. it is a fight between democrats inside the beltway and their constituents beyond it. this is a fight between democrats inside the beltway and their constituents beyond it. there is a better way. there is a better path to reform that none of us will regret. it is time to listen to the american people. it is time to work together on the kind of step-by-step reforms they are asking for. americans aren't stupid. they know the option they are being presented with. the option of some massive bill or nothing? that is a false choice. so let's drop the partisan plan. let's drop this on salvageable bill and let's start over.

madam president, i yield the floor.