the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i rise -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum. mrs. boxer: i would note that we would remove that quorum, if we could, by unanimous consent. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank you. mr. president, i rise because we have a crisis on our hands with the f.a.a.

f.a.a., the federal aviation administration. and i know exactly why we have this crisis. it's another made-up crisis by the republicans. this is a republican shutdown. we just got past the most -- well, i feel -- made-up crisis we've ever seen. 89 times we've passed a debt limit extension, and it took us weeks of -- and months of wrangling to get it done, finally got it done. i'm glad we got it done. unnecessary -- people in my state panicked that they wouldn't get a social security check. small businesses saying they couldn't get a decent loan. all that for nothing. we can do our work. we can take the ideas of, mr. president, your gang of six, senator coburn's -- we can have the ideas on the table. we can do this. we did it when bill clinton was president. we work together and we solved the problem. a deficit and a debt -- we

balanced the budget, created surpluses. we don't have to have this taking government hostage. so we just get done withholding the full faith and credit of the united states of america hostage, and now we're seeing an extension of the hostage-take by the republicans of the f.a.a., the federal aviation administration. we need to end it. how do you end it? you end it simply by saying, we have our disagreement disagreem. on this bill, there are a couple of broad disagreements. they're important disagreements. i honor both sides of the argument. the republicans want to overturn a ruling by the national mediation board. this is what they said. they said, rather than count votes by an employee who stays home on a union vote as a "no" vote, only the votes that are cast shall be counted.

well, i ask rhetorically, doesn't that make sense? if you don't vote in an election, your vote shouldn't count. if the people didn't vote for me and they didn't vote for my opponent, how could anyone ascertain who they would have voted for? only the people who show up should be counted. that's what the mediation board d now, this affects the airlines and the rails. and there is such a desire to stop that and overturn it by my republican friends -- and it's going on all over the country, this hostility to workingmen and women. and now it's coming here. it's like a conshay john. we see what's happening in wisconsin. there's recall elections and everything is in turmoil. because they want to go after organized working people. it's sad, but guess what? it's a legitimate issue for the conference committee to deal with. it is a legitimate issue for the

senate -- by the way, the senate already had a vote on that, and we said no, we're he not going to overturn the mediation board. the vote was well over 50 -- 56, i think, votes said, no, leave it alone. it is not our business. let it g.n.p. -- lelt it g but, no the house wants this. so when we said -- when they sent over the original extension it had that attached. this overturning of the mediation board. and we said, that's not right. we want a clean extension. so we -- they sent it back to us and they took up another controversial issue, which is to shut down essential air service in some of our rural communities in our country. short down essential air service. -- shut down essential air sssments i can tell you that i know for a fact that there is room for negotiation in this area. we can work together and resolve t but it doesn't belong in an extension of the f.a.a. bill. this is too important.

we have thousands of people who've been furloughed who are not getting work. i have a situation in my home county, in riverside, where we have a new tower, airport tower being put up, and unexpectedly there was a rainstorm yesterday -- the day before yesterday, and because nobody was working there, they couldn't do anything about it to protect the facility, and we have damage. we are losing money because of this terrible shutdown. 4,000 f.a.a. employees have been furloughed without their pay, hundreds of them happen to live and work in my state. i wonder how these colleagues feel in the house who went home to take their break, how they would feel if they stopped getting their pay?

many of the f.a.a.'s engineers, scientists, research analysts, computer specialists, program managers and analysts, communities planners are furloughed because of this "take government hostage approach" by the republican party. i've been here a while. i am a person with many opinions, and i have no problem with battling out with my esteemed colleagues who's right, who's wrong, who's hurt, who's not hurt. but i know there is no question that people are getting hurt, jobs are being lost. $130 million in investments in california airport construction will be delayed. the associated general contractors of america, they are already hurting. businesses hurting. 70,000 construction workers and workers in related fields have

already been affected by the shutdown. the f.a.a. has issued stop-work orders at 241 airports across the country. i have -- i have in oakland, california, 60 construction workers building an air traffic control tower, they're told to stay home. they won't get paid till an agreement is reached. well, you know, if you ask most americans, they really do live pretty much paycheck to paycheck. they have some savings, this is ridiculous. according to the san francisco chronicle the project contract 0or from oakland, defcon construction is eating 6,000 a day in operating costs and, "if this delay stretches much past the summer, we are in trouble because of inclement weather." i am telling you, this is

another manmade, republican-made crisis. what are we trying to prove? that we're tough guys? let's get a clean extension of the f.a.a. let's take our battles into the conference committee. i want to compliment the senator from kay bailey hutchison. she is working -- and she is on our side on this. she is a republican senator from texas who is working with senator rockefeller, the chairman of our committee, and we all know the house sent over not a clean extension but an extension that cuts this essential air service to some of our rural communities. this needs to be worked on. not agreed to in a gotcha kind of a situation. in sacramento maintenance at the air traffic control facility has come to a halt. seismic modernization at air traffic control towers in livermore, palo alto have stopped. at l.a.x. the biggest airport in

los angeles, and at carlsbad, power and electric projects have stalled. what is going on? can't we just get over these differences in the proper forum? it's wrong. i'm not going to be personally hurt by this. the senator from oklahoma is not going to be personally hurt by this. the senator from virginia is not personal hit by this. it's the people we represent or are supposed to represent. it's the american family. it's the construction workers. it's the construction businesses. it's safety. these are safety projects. at the end of the day, are we saving money? we're losing money. because we're not collecting the tax, the ticket tax that goes to this construction fund. and some of the airlines are pocketing it and that's outrageous in and of itself, and not reducing the -- the

fares. i want to compliment a couple of the airlines who are in fact reducing the fares. virgin america is one. and i'll put in the record the other one. good for them. good for you. so what i'm about to do is to ask for a clean extension of the f.a.a. authorization bill. my anticipation is that the the senator from oklahoma will object and then he'll offer his idea of an extension that does in fact make the cuts in the rural communities, and we're back to square one. why not just clean -- clear the decks, extend the f.a.a.? we've never added anything to the extension in all the times we've done it unless there was unanimous consent agreement. i will be happy to yield.

a senator: i want to thank senator boxer for raising this issue. i can't tell you how many people i've heard from from maryland not just the workers at the f.a.a. who have been furloughed but small business owners who not getting their contracts. mr. cardin: who will have to lay off workers through no fault of their own. it would be absolutely wrong for us to go home on this recess, on this district work period, and not stepped the f.a.a. and for those who think it will save the government on the budget deficit, let me remind you if we don't extend the f.a.a. authorization, we don't collect the revenues on the passenger tax which by the way, is currently being charged by the airlines and extra ticket prices to the passengers so the passengers aren't even getting the break of the lower revenues but we're not getting it. it's $30 million a day we're adding to the deficit problems because we're not collecting the

revenue associated with the f.a.a. reauthorization. so for all of those ropes, for the sake of those furloughed workers, 4,000, that are really not the -- at fault here, that are currently on furlough, that's hurting our economy, for the sake of the contractors who are depending upon the government funds in order to pay their workers many of which are small companies, for the sake of the construction work that needs to be done at our airports including my own airport at b.w.i. and for the importance to move forward with modernization of the f.a.a. itself, i would urge us to find a way to extend the f.a.a. authorization till we come back. by hope that we could get a conference committee together, a reauthorization but at a minimum we should extend the current provisions during those negotiations and senator boxer, you're absolutely right and i strongly urge the senate to allow a short-term, clean

extension of the f.a.a. that's the best way to proceed. and i hope we can find a way to get this the done now so that the damage that's being done no longer will take place. i thank the gentlelady. mrs. boxer: i take that as a question and i will wrap up with my unanimous consent request. because i agree with everything that was said. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the consideration of calendar number 109, h.r. 2553, that a rockefeller-hutchison substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, that the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. coburn: reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from are the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: i would note there is nothing we can do new because the house has adjourned. so even if we were to pass this, nothing would happen with it.

i've been assured that from the leader's office, the majority leader's office. i agree with the senator from california that probably any action on the mediation board is probably inappropriate for this bill. i wouldn't disagree with that. but my -- my reservation -- and i plan on objecting and i think the good senator from california knows that, is both in the house and the senate by significant votes we passed limitations on essential air services. and so -- by majorities that said we could no longer afford to spend thousands of dollars on individual seats on subsidies for people who live 110 miles from an airport or 140 miles from an airport, but what we could do is -- to major airports, that those under --

those above 90 we could still do that and so i understand we place people in difficult positions, but it's us as a body, not individual senators or parties that have done that because we've failed to do our work. so i would object to this unanimous request and then i would offer one of my own, noting that if this unanimous consent request is agreed to, it will go directly to the president, not to the house. and so i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 2553, which was received from the house, i ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, that any statements relating to the bill appear at this point in the record. the presiding officer: is there objection? mrs. boxer: i object. the presiding officer: objection is heard.

mrs. boxer: mr. president. the presiding officer: there was objection to the original request. yes. objection was heard. mrs. boxer: mr. president. so there we are. there we are. there was objection to a clean extension of the f.a.a. and a result -- as a result of republican objection, people are hurting all over this country, safety projects are being delayed, and this is just part of what we've seen since the republicans took over the house. now, my friend said that everything they've put in this had been voted on by the senate. it's just not true. it's not true. not everything in this extension was voted on by the senate. so let's get our facts straight. my friend also said that the house is gone, too bad, give it up. not true. i served there for 10 years. if you can hot line it over there and get everyone to

agree, they're going to be able to pass it over there. so don't give the american people misinformation on this. it can be done. it just takes a will to be done. house members have taken off, gone home, whatever they're doing, god bless them. but i got to tell you, i hope when they go home they hear from the people who are hurting in their states because of this. i hope they hear from -- construction workers are at the highest unemployment rate we've seen in generations. 15%. and now this is going to make it worse. construction businesses are crying for a highway bill, and i'm working on that with senator inhofe in our committee and we're almost there. but i want to put this obstructionism, i want to put this hostage taking into plain

view. you just saw everything come to a halt for at least three or four weeks because the full faith and credit of america was taken hostage by the republicans. and they said to the president it's never happened before, okay, never, 89 times we have seen an increase in the debt limit. we have never, ever seen this hostage taking. they wouldn't allow the president to raise the debt ceiling for things they voted to spend money on. when you raise the debt ceiling, you're paying your past bills. they voted for two wars on the credit card. they voted for tax breaks to the wealthiest among us, the billionaires, the millionaires. they voted for tax breaks for the biggest multinational corporations, including big oil. oh, they were happy. they even voted for a prescription drug benefit without paying for it, mr. president. then the bill comes due and they

say to president obama, sorry, mr. president, we're not going to cooperate with you. they walked out on him. at least three times. we finally got a deal because some of us -- and i say harry reid, strong. vice president biden, strong. mitch mcconnell, strong. nancy pelosi, strong. the president made sure that at the end of the day we didn't default. but what a spectacle in the world. the world can't even believe this, mr. president, and i know your hard work to get what we call a big deal, a major deal, a $4 trillion deficit reduction that was fair. that asked the millionaires and the billionaires and the

multinational corporations to do something. but no, that wasn't to be. and we wasted time. a lot of time. and what happened? we almost brought the country to its knees and thank god it didn't happen is all i can say. and i felt strongly if we hadn't gotten an agreement, the president would have had to invoke the 14th amendment in order to save our country from this hostage taking. so that was a made-up crisis, never happened before. do you know the most times 25 the debt ceiling was raised was under ronald reagan 18 times. under george bush, nine times. i never heard anything like this. before. and i've been around here since the days of ronald reagan, dare i say. i was in the house for ten years. ronald reagan said very clearly, he said don't -- and

i'm paraphrasing, he was very strong, don't play games with the debt ceiling. it's dangerous. even he said the thought of it is dangerous. so we just came out of that mess. now let's look at what else they've done since they took power -- how many months ago? five months? that all it feels like an eternally -- since they took over the house, they stopped the patent bill, which senator leahy says would result in hundreds of thousands of jobs, stopped it cold. why? because the patent office doesn't have any money to work on those brilliant ideas that are coming out of our people. they needed more funding. that bill took care of it. the house stopped it cold. hundreds of thousands of jobs. the economic development administration -- i know about that because i brought the bill here. it's a beautiful program.

it's been in place for generations. it gives a little seed money in areas that have had high unemployment, and that seed money attracts private-sector money, public-sector money, nonprofit money, and jobs are created, they build office parks. we have great examples in california of shopping malls. i'm sure my friend has many examples of the e.d.a. at work. they stopped it. they filibustered it. it never got a vote. the small business innovation bill that my friend, mary landrieu, brought to the floor. the last time we counted, those bills have created 19,000 new businesses. shut that one down. then the house passed a budget that cut into the highway fund, and i want to give you specifically, mr. chairman -- mr. president what that would mean. if they cut -- if we wind up

cutting the transportation program at the level they cut it in the house -- a third, and that's exactly what chairman mica's bill does -- we know because c.b.o. has told us we lose 620,000 jobs, construction jobs. and then they play with the f.a.a., and they object to a clean reauthorization and projects are shut down, and workers are furloughed, and small businesses don't know if they can hang on. okay? i thought this election in 2010 was about jobs. i tell you, i was up in 2010. i know it was about jobs. and i committed to the people i'd go back here and fight for jobs, private-sector jobs, public-sector jobs, jobs, jobs. and everything the house has done since the republicans took over is to stop our progress,

screeching halt. you can hear the brakes go on to this economy. it isn't just one thing now. it's -- five things i've told you. this isn't rhetoric. they've stopped the f.a.a. partial shutdown, they stopped the e.d.a. authorization, they stopped the patent bill, they stopped the small innovation bill, they've cut transportation in their budget there by a third. and that's just the tip of the iceberg of what i'm telling you. so i think it is very sad right now that we had a republican objection to a bipartisan request to allow this f.a.a. to be r reauthorized, and it is vey sad. and i want to again thank kay bailey hutchison, my friend from texas, for saying that she stands with chairman rockefeller and she believes we should do a clean reauthorization.

with that, mr. president, i think i've made my points, but i'm going to make sure i continue to make them throughout this recess, and i would suggest that senators go home and look at the projects in their states that have been stopped due to this republican hostage taking. they are against workingmen and women having accident rights. they're holding this bill hostage. that's what it's rulely all about. it is a very, very sad day. i thank you very much for all this time i've had. and i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: