persist, but title 1 assistance to america's neediest schools has made a dramatic difference for the good of millions of low-income children. if it's been such a great failure, i would ask any senator, any senator who wants to repeal title 1 and defund it please step forward speak up here on the senate floor. say that you want to do away with title 1 and defund it. i'll bet i don't get any takers. and what about the failure of the higher education act in 1965 it was rare for young people from disadvantaged and low-income backgrounds to go to college. so president johnson and congress passed the higher education act creating need-based grants and loans with reduced interest rates. today pell grants created in a

later version of the higher education act help more than nine million low-income students gain access to higher education. the higher education act has swung open the doors to college to countless americans creating new opportunities and access to terd. -- the american dream. again, i suppose some see this as another failure another government handout that prevents people from standing on their own two feet. well, you can decide for yourself. if vastly expanding access to higher education constitutes a failure. but before you do, talk to a lower-income student striving, say, to become a doctor. the first in her family to go to college. thanks to the trio program upward bound. thanks to pell grants.

thanks to low interest college loans. ask her if she feels like she's an undeserving taker unwilling to stand on her own two feet. in august of 1964, again just a few months after declaring the war on poverty lyndon johnson signed into law the food stamp act. prior to that act hunger and malnutrition were shockingly widespread in america especially in rural areas and in our urban ghettos. now, today we still have millions of food-insecure people in america but thanks to the supplemental nutrition assistance program -- the new name for the food stamp program -- abject hunger in america is rare. tens of millions of americans more than half of them children are ensured a basic

nutritional minimum. is this another failure, food stamps? well apparently many members of this body think so. in june of 2012, 33 republican senators voted to block grant the food stamp program and slash the funding by over $300 billion over ten years. i ask senators who voted for those cuts, have you ever talked to fairs grader who is finally able to concentrate in class because she had a breakfast, paid for by food stamps? have you asked her whether she would prefer to tough it out without a meal at the start of the day? mr. president, in 1965, lyndon

johnson's office of economic opportunity created 269 local legal services offices across the country providing legal assistance to low-income americans. this later evolved into the legal services corporation. and as a proud former legal aid lawyer myself, i know firsthand what a difference this can make in so many circumstances. a struggling family facing foreclosure, a battered woman trying to leave an abusive marriage a senior citizen victimized by a financial scam. i know that without access to an attorney the poor are often powerless against the injustices that they suffer. is the dedicated work of legal aid attorneys a failure? i vigorously disagree. and the american bar association dig russly disagrees it

strongly supports legal services. you know, every federal judge and supreme court justice in their oath of office -- in their oath of office -- swears to -- quote -- "administer justice without respect to persons and to do equal right to the poor and to the rich." to do equal right to the poor and to the rich. well it's legal services and legal services lawyers who help to translate that ideal into a reality for poor people in courtrooms all over america. well mr. president our front-line soldiers in the war on poverty are the dedicated professionals and volunteers in community action agencies, another great society program.

these are funded by the federal community services block grant. in 2012 these locally driven agencies served nearly 19 million low-income americans. including more than five million children. more than two million people with disabilities and 2.5 million seniors. served by community action agencies. these agencies quip people with -- equip people with skills to return to work, they provide food, clothing, other emergency assistance, administer head start programs, other preschool programs and could a lot more. so i guess you can decide if the community action program community action agencies and the community services block grant has been a failure. but before you do, drop in on a community action agency in your state, see for yourself the amazing work they do in relieving poverty and helping people to escape it.

speak to members of a local community action agency board. you'll find that they're local business people, bankers lawyers, as well as people who receive the services. they will tell you how these agencies do so much with so little performing indispensable services in their communities. talk to them. well mr. president i could spend hours citing so many other great society initiatives but let me mention just one more. the civil rights act of 1964. prior to that act the african-americans faced open legalized discrimination and segregation. we had our own version of apartheid. right here in washington, d.c., african-americans could not eat

at the same lunch counter with whites could not use the same bathrooms, water fountains they literally were consigned to the back of the bus. well because of the civil rights act of 1964 those jim crow laws and practices were ended in the united states of america. and became illegal to discriminate based on race, color, religion, gender, or national origin. i guess some apparently call that a failure. one of the great society's many -- quote -- "failures." you can decide for yourself. whether america is better off today, whether we're better as a society stronger as a nation because we did away with segregation. you decide that. president reagan in his state of the union address in 1988 -- listen to this -- president

reagan in his state of the union address in 1988 said that the great society -- quote -- "declared war on poverty and poverty won" -- end quote. one of president reagan's catchy one-liners. but with all due respect to president reagan, it simply is not historically accurate. not even close. from the time president johnson took office in 1963 until 1970, as the full impact of the great society programs began to be felt the number of americans living below the poverty line dropped from 22.2% down to 12.6%, almost cut it in half. the poverty rate for african-americans fell from 55% in 1960 to 27% in 1968. the poverty rate among the elderly, as i said earlier

fell by over two-thirds. now, the great shame the great shame is that this progress this war on poverty of the great society was cut short. the war on poverty gave way to the war in vietnam. and then it gave way in retrenchment later on in later administrations which cared less about giving a hand up, a hand up to the poor, than about giving handouts to the rich in the form of giant tax breaks and other advantages. what was started as a percolate up economy under the great society became a trickle-down economic society under later administrations. so mr. president on this 50th anniversary of president

johnson's great address to congress let me state unequivocally and factually historically factually the great society has been an historic success. however, i must note that 50 years later our nation confronts a new set of economic challenges. societal challenges. challenges that are every bit as dangerous to our democracy every bit as daunting and intractable as those confronted by president johnson and the congresses of his time. our economy is still struggling to recover from the great recession. the sluggish recovery has left us with chronic unemployment and a middle class in crisis. social mobility, the ability to work your way up the economic ladder is now lower in the united states than in europe. for the vast majority of

american workers incomes have been stagnant for decades. but the rich have grown fabulously richer. think about this. since the official end of the great recession in 2009, 95% of income gains in the u.s. have gone to the wealthiest 1%. in the last five years. 95% of income gains have gone to the wealthiest 1%. so mr. president unlike in president johnson's day it's not only -- today it's not only the poor who are at risk, our great middle class are endangered. millions of formerly middle-class americans have lost their homes their jobs, their savings, their hopes for a decent retirement. for too many of our citizens the american dream has become hopelessly out of reach. this is the crisis, this is the

challenge of our day. and are we rising to meet this challenge as previous generations of americans have done? no. i'm afraid we are not. here inside the washington bubble too many of our political leaders have persuaded themselves that the biggest issue of the day is the budget deficit ignoring chronic unemployment and a struggling economy. this 113th congress and the previous congress have pursued policies of relentless austerity slashing budgets defunding research and investment destroying jobs, and even refusing to extend federal unemployment benefits for the long-term jobless. 1.3 million of whom lost their last life line of support just

three days after christmas. so i am disturbed mr. president, by an apparent shift of attitude by many elected leaders toward the ordinary people, ordinary people who do the hard day-in and day-out work that makes our country strong. i said it before and i say it again, we're seeing an attitude of harshness harshness. you know, we used to agree that if you worked hard and played by the rules you should be able to earn enough to support your family, keep a roof over your head put some money away for a rainy day have a secure retirement. we used to agree that if you lose your job through no fault of their own especially at a time of chronic unemployment you should have some support while you're looking for new work. we used to agree on both sides of the aisle that no child in

this country should go to bed hungry at night. but in recent years these fundamental principles and values and agreements have come under attack in our public discourse. for instance recently on a sunday talk show the junior senator from kentucky said it would be a disservice, a disservice to the long-term jobless to extend federal unemployment insurance. i have his exact words right here. senator paul said this. "when you allow people to be on unemployment insurance for 99 weeks, you're causing them -- causing them -- to become part of this perpetual unemployed group in our economy. and while it seems good, it actually does a disservice to the people you're trying to help

." when there's three people looking for every job? when in some areas some states unemployment is even worse than that. you cut off their long-term unemployment where are they going to get a job? maybe what the senator doesn't understand is that before you can even get unemployment benefits, you have to be actively looking for work. a disservice? i guess i guess our new attitude is tough luck, you're on your own. if you struggle, even if you face insurmountable challenges, well it's your own fault. tough luck, you're on your own. if you're a kid born into poverty or a single parent working for minimum wage, starting po to* pay the bills -- starting to pay the bills and put food on the table tough

luck you're on your own. if you're a 55-year-old worker who lost her job due to outsourcing or technological change tough luck, you're on your own. if you're a person with a significant disability struggling to find work and independence and dignity tough luck you're on your own. mr. president, there's a harshness among too many and powerful positions toward those americans who have tough lives who are ill-educated or marginally employed or who have lost their job through no fault of their own. a harshness among too many people in powerful positions toward these americans. president johnson would rebuke this harshness and this callousness. as he said in remarks three months after his war on poverty

speech listen to what president johnson said. quote -- "god will judge his children not by their prayers and their pretensions but by their mercy to the poor and their understanding of the weak. i tremble for our people if at the time of our greatest prosperity we turn our back on the moral obligations of our deepest faith." end quote. president johnson. so today 50 years later mr. president, i remind my colleagues that we are still a nation of great prosperity. we are the wealthiest nation in the world. we are the wealthiest nation ever in the history of the world.

our problem is that this prosperity and wealth is concentrated at the very top. the workers who have created it are not getting their fair share. so on this 50th anniversary of president johnson's war on poverty address, i cannot agree with those who say the budget deficit is our number-one priority. i'm concerned about far more urgent and compelling deficits, the deficits of jobs and opportunity, the deficit of research and development the deficit of early education for all our children, the deficit the deficit of basic human understanding and empathy for those in the shadows of life. i'm also concerned about the deficit of imagination today in washington. i'm concerned by our failure to confront today's economic

challenges with the boldness and the vision that earlier generations of americans summoned in times of national challenge. indeed our republican friends reject the very possibility that the federal government can act to spur economic growth and create good middle class jobs. this is their ideological position and they're sticking to it. but this flies in the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary across our nation's history. you can go back to president lincoln who insisted that every american has a -- quote -- "right to rise. " to that end he provided for the continental railroad, established the department of agriculture with the mission to help farmers raise their standard of living. president teddy roosevelt who fought for safe workplaces, the

eight-hour work day think of franklin delano roosevelt who put to work millions of unemployed americans including my father, in the works project administration building roads and dams and bridges and schools, many of which still exist today. franklin roosevelt who created social security to end the scourge of poverty in old age. think of president eisenhower who championed investment in our infrastructure beginning with the interstate highway system which has expanded commerce and opportunity for nearly six decades now. and as we are doing today let us pay tribute to one of our greatest presidents, lyndon baines johnson and the enormous achievements of his war on

poverty and a great society. now, mr. president i've not come to the floor today just to look back fondly and nostalgicically or to try to correct the achievements of the great society. i'm here at the beginning of this legislative year to urge my colleagues to look at the urgent economic and societal challenges confronting the american people today. we need to think more broadly and with more ambitious vision about how we in congress can come together to create a greater society an america of greater opportunity greater economic mobility, greater fairness. we need to create what i call a new america. let us dare to imagine a new america for every child has access to quality early learning. let's dare to imagine public

investments to create a truly 21st century infrastructure modernizing our roads bridges ports and canals, building high-speed rail systems from maine to miami and seattle to san diego. and new infrastructure for a new america. let us dare to imagine retrofitting all of our building to make them energy-efficient making wind, solar geothermal and other renewables the main sources of our energy. yes, a renewable energy basis for a new america. let us dare to imagine doubling our investment in the national institutes of health, making possible a real war on cancer and alzheimer's and other devastating diseases. think of that, a cancer-free alzheimer's-free new america. let us dare to imagine a true

health care system where wellness and prevention and public health are the first priority keeping people healthy in the first place in this new america. let us dare to imagine a new retirement system where every worker builds a private pension that can't be touched until they retire and a stronger social security system, solvent secure with increased benefits for the next 50 years. think of it. a secure retirement for every citizen in this new america. these are the big challenges that we in congress should be addressing. i know by all means there are issues demanding our immediate attention beginning with the need to extend federal unemployment insurance for long-term jobless. we'll be voting on that motion to proceed here within the hour. i said earlier some 1.3 million

americans were cut off just a couple of weeks ago. another 3.6 million americans will be cut off over the course of 2014. these benefits are not much but they make a critical difference for those with no other lifeline. and so this is immediate concern and it must be our most immediate priority in these initial days of this session. in addition, the senate will soon take up my bill to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour and to link it to future cost of living increases. get this, since the minimum wage peaked in 1968 as part of the great society it has lost one-third of its buying power. so if you were making the minimum wage in 1968 compared to what you're making today, you could buy one-third more than you can buy today.

over the decades the minimum wage has become a poverty wage. think about it. people go to work every day. they work hard. sometimes two jobs and they're still below the poverty line. no person in america who puts in a full day's work ought to have an income below the poverty line. these two are the immediate moral and economic issues that we need to address. and i say yes moral and economic issues. today we do confront huge economic challenges. as americans we pride ourselves on our robust free market system and some say that the unfettered free marketplace will solve all of our problems. just let it go. they glorify the ideas of ayan rand and academic theorists who

say greed is good who reminds me of the philosopher of burton russell nearly a century ago. he said -- and i quote -- "the modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy. that is the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness. end quote. and i remind my colleagues it is the unrestrained often run amok free marketplace that has created so many of the problems we face today. financial and real estate bubbles, and who suffered because of that? ordinary americans. chronic unemployment. who's suffering? ordinary americans. stagnant wages. who is suffering? ordinary americans. gaping inequality? who's suffering? not the few at the top.

disappearing pensions. who's suffering? ordinary working americans. on and on. like a busy highway system, our free marketplace only really works for all when all the players obey essential rules of the road, rules put in place by government to avoid crashes and bubbles, to rein in wasteful and dishonest money manipulators and, yes to provide for social and economic justice. and there are some things, big national undertakings that the private sector simply is not capable of doing. at critical junctures going back to the beginning of our republic congresses and presidents have acted decisively to spur economic growth, foster innovation help create jobs and no question that is where we're falling short today.

members of congress and elected officials across america can learn from the successes of the war on poverty and the great society. we need a new generation of leaders with lyndon johnson's passionate commitment to improving education expanding opportunity, fighting inequality and discrimination. as i said, we need to come together to create a greater society, a new america. we need to act with boldness and vision. the war on poverty and the great society initiatives have defined the modern united states of america as a compassionate inclusive society a genuine opportunity society where everyone can contribute their talents and abilities. we see in the great society all around us today in cleaner air and cleaner water young people from poor background attending college, seniors and poor people who have access to decent

medical care, people of color exercising their right to vote and to live in the neighborhood of their choice. we see the great society and head start programs, quality public schools vocational education programs, college grants and loans all those runs on the ladder of opportunity that put the american dream in reach of every citizen even those from humble, hard scrabble background like lyndon johnson himself. you notice, i said "ladder of opportunity." i didn't say an escalator. i think a lot of times my conservative friends always say well if we -- we just want to give everything to everybody just give away ... ive everybody a free ride. i always talk about a ladder of opportunity. i don't talk about an escalator.

an escalator is a free ride. but with a ladder, you still have to exert energy and initiative to get up. ah-h anchtsha but the wrongs wrungs still have to be on that ladder. the programs provide the wrungs oned ladder. sometimes people fall off the ladder through no fault of their own. very lose their job become disabled they contract a terrible illness. in those cases, it is the moral duty of government and society working collectively to provide a hand back up. things like, yes unemployment insurance, disability insurance job training, and many others.

and, you know, up until 1990 we looked around america and we saw that there were some people that no no matter how hard they tried could never climb that ladder of opportunity. these were americans with disabilities. and so what we did in 1990 we passed the americans with disabilities act. again, we built a ramp of opportunity, a ramp. and, again we didn't build a moving walkway. that's a free ride. i've often pointed out, there is enot one nickel, one dime in the americans with disabilities act that goes a person with a disability. what we did is we broke down the barriers. we built the ramps the accessible buses and trains, provided accessible workplaces, widened doors accessible

bathrooms, we broke down the barriers so that people with disabilities could exert their own energy and initiative to get up that ramp. mr. president like every great leader in our nation's history lyndon baines johnson brought us a giant step closer to achieving our highest ideals as a people. he fought passionately for social and economic justice for all americans. he fought to put the american dream within reach of every citizen, and he saw this as a moral imperative. and that's why i consider him one of our greatest presidents. this is the legacy we salute today. this is the lesson we should

learn from, as we move afford in this country as we move from this 50th anniversary of president johnson's great address to congress. it is this spirit of ambitious public purpose that we should strive to emulate in the legislative year ahead and the legislative years to come. mr. president 50 years ago today lyndon johnson spoke to our deepest moral underpinnings. he didn't just couch it in terms of an economic solution. it was justice. it was making sure the american dream really was alive for all. we can't in our time become

smallminded, looking upon just what is good for today or what is -- what are the economics of things. we have to think about it in terms of what our commitment is for moral economic, social justice for all americans. as i said, that was the lesson of president lyndon johnson. that's what we should take from this 50th anniversary moving ahead. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. murphy: thank you mr. president. when the history books are written about those who fought hardest against poverty who stood up for those with no voice with very little power in an

increasingly unfair comirks unfair economy l.b.g. and hiseconomy,l.b.j. and his war on poverty will be a pretty big place in that book. i salute the role that senator march kin has played. it is just an inspiration to many of us who have sought this office to try to stand in his shoes and in his place. mr. president, i want to talk about the same subject because over the holidays, i had the chance to spend a day in new haven, connecticut with a 40-year-old homeless man who up until last spring had been employed for the better part of the last 20 years but a as has happened to millions of americans over the last several years, this man -- who i'll call for today's purposes "nick" -- lost his job. nick has had it tough his whole lievment his fatherlife.

his father was a drug addict, who got nick addicted to crack when he was 13 years old. he was born in a psyche you will of drug use -- he was born into a cycle of drug and violence u despite the odds against him nick graduated from high school, built a career for himself around sales and now after 20 years of working and 40 years of fighting the odds, nick, for the first time in his life, is homeless. and so i spent the day with nick seeking shelter from the cold, using the public library to apply for jobs, attending meetings that have helped keep him clean and sober. and aside from receiving the support that he needs for his health issues, nick spent most of that day just looking for work. he wants to work. he desperately wants to get back on the job. and he's hopeful that one day he will find work soon. but he is caught right now in

this vicious downward spiral of homelessness. he can't find a job without a hoax he fills out dozens of job applications but with his address being a holeless homeless shelter, he doesn't compete very well with other applicants. how can you get a home without a job? he's caught, he's stuck like millions of other americans. one of the things that keeps nick from starving, other than the food and shelter that he gets from columbus house and the local kitchen is the $100 he used to get up until last week in unemployment insurance. without that measly $^1 00 a week things get pretty dire, right now as we speak for nick. the fact is while unemployment benefits make homelessness more manageable for a guy like nick, these emergency funds are often the only thing that are standing between a family where their primary breadwinner sought of

work and a life on the streets. it is during a long stretch of unemployment where these meager benefits continue to be the only way a family can continue to pay the mortgage or keep up with the rent. if we don't restore unemployment benefits right now tens of thousands more people will be living on the street. that's reality. they will be then cap inured captured in that same catch-22 of homelessness. no home without a job and no job without a emwho. there are 28 million americans who have needed emergency unemployment assistance. you know them. they're our friends. p they're our neighbors. they're people who have worked their entire lives and want to get back to work again. i recently sat down with about a half dozen long-term unemployed individuals in bridgeport, connecticut, and you see the

pain and the agony on their faces as these recount their daily hours' long quest to find work applying to hundreds of jobs making dozens of phone calls and coming up emtivment emempty. there's something almost dehumanizing about that effort to seek work, to prove your worth, and to come up empty time after time again. one guy i met ron ron ronnie, he worked his entire life in a white collar job. he said he would take any jobs, he would sweep floors just to get back to work. he is not lazy. he is not gaming the system. he's just one of millions who would rather do any job at all than be unemployed. our colleagues on the other side of the aisle say thatter this a that they're opposed to extending unemployment benefits because they want to get back to normal.

but that reasoning just totally ignores the relative this recession. unlike the recession of 1980 and 2001 the unemployment has not fallen after the entsdz of the recession with respect to people who are long-term unemployed. the rate of those that are unemployed for more than 26 weeks is at the highest today that it has been in 60 years there are now three unemployed workers for every one job opening compared to two or fewer workers per job opening in the wake of previous recessions. this just isn't a normal recession. there are more people out of work for longer periods of time than at any time in moves our lives. if you are in the top 10% of earners prior to this recession things are pretty much back to normal for you. in 2012, the top 10% of earners took about half of all income home in the united states. let's say that again. 10% of income earners took home

half of all the income earned in this country. and guess what? those people have recovered. and during that time corporate profits are also at an all-time high so for those people and for those entities, things are back to normal. maybe that's why some republicans think that it's right to bring unemployment insurance back to pre-recession norms. but i.t. not. -- but it's not. one of the hallmarks of this be a normal recession is the amount of people who become unemployed and stay unemployed. 43% of unemployed people in connecticut are long-term unemployed. 43% of the people in connecticut don't have a job have been out of a job for months and years. rebecca, who lives in connecticut rsconnecticut, e-mailed my ossments for the first sim time

since i was 16, i'm unemployed. another woman wrote my husband has been out of work for 52 weefnlings he spent 30-plus years in banking. hisnow 52 weeks without a job. frank writes, i've worked out my life. 43 years. i was laid off in 2009 and again p in 2013. bloaj both instances i dedicated my unemployed time searching to find job. i prefer to work. with your assistance? extending the e.u.c. prarnlg i may at least have a fighting chance of finding employment. please afford me the opportunity to continue the employment search without the added burden of discontinued benefits. but we shouldn't only extend benefits because it is the right thing to do. it is also the economically start thing to do. the congressional budget office tells us that 200,000 jobs are going to be lost this year if we don't restore emergency unemployment benefits. in the week since unemployment

benefits lapsed, 4 $400 million has been drained from states' economies. when we give people during their time oust works they spend that money and they spend it quickly. it ofersz the best bang for the buck that you can offer our economy. every dollar that we put into u.i. returns as much as $1.90 to the commitment of c.b.o. says that by extending unemployment benefits through 2014, we'll boost the g.d.p. by .2%. now, no matter what we do, it is still going to be a long road back for those who have been unemployed for a year or more who are going to face discrimination based on their age or based simply on the fact that they have been unemployed nor a long period of time. just giving them benefits doesn't magically put them back twork.

-- to work. but the most remarkable thing you find when you talk to these individuals is that while they are frustrated, their spirit isn't embrown. every time somebody sheds a tear to me recounting their ordeal of unemployment their story always ends with a hopefulness that employment is just around the corner. and nick it that kind of guy too. he knows that things are going to get better for him. but as we walked around new haven in the cold for 10 hours last week we talked virtually the entire time. he wondered whether anybody down here really cared about the dehumanizing existence of being without a job and being without a home. he wondered why congress would turn their backs on him and the millions of others who have been clobbered by the worst recession in our lifetime. i've kept in touch with nick in the days since i spent the day

with him and just yesterday he sent me an e-mail. he said, "i'm sitting right now in the department of labor office updating my resume. chris, i've not had any luck yet with employment but i will keep trudging just as i'm doing in pretty much every aspect of my life. i know it will get better, as i continue to strengthen my faith and stay on a straight and narrow path. as long as i continue to do those two things, the sky is the limit for me, chris." nick believes that things are going to get better for him. millions of other americans who have been out of work for 50, a hundred weeks still believe that salvation is around the corner. all they ask is that we extend some modicum of support to them so that they can make that win win winnowing dream a reality.

i yield the floor. mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont is recognized. mr. sanders: thank you mr. president. hopefully later this evening or tomorrow there will be a very, very important vote regarding the extension of long-term unemployment benefits. and what that vote is about is to make it very clear which side we are on. are we prepared to stand with over 1 million workers and their children and say no, we're not going to turn our backs on you we're not going to leave you literally out in the cold worrying how you're going to heat your homes or pay your rent or put gas in your car or, as

fellow americans, we're going to stand with you and make sure that you at least have some income through extended unemployment benefits coming in to your family. mr. president, as we all know, the good news is that unemployment has gone down in recent years. when president bush left office, we were hemorrhaging over 700,000 jobs a month clearly unsustainable, clearly a tragedy for our nation. today, while the economy is nowhere near where it needs to be, where we want it to be the fact of the matter is, we are growing several hundred thousand jobs a month. that's the good news. the bad news is that real unemployment today is close to 13% if we count those people who

have given up looking for work and those people who are working part time when they want to work full time. and the even worse news is that long-term unemployment today is almost the highest that it has ever been on record. today it takes about 37 weeks for the average unemployed american to find a job. 37 weeks. today 37% of unemployed americans have been out of work for more than six months. today, there are three job applicants for everyone job opening. and the reality is that there are simply not enough jobs for the 11 million americans who

actively seek work. and if we do not extend unemployment benefits now for this 1.3 million americans the situation will only become worse worse. and by the end of the year, we will be looking at close to 5 million americans whose benefits will have been exhausted. mr. president, i understand that some of my republican friends are saying, well, yes, we are prepared to extend these unemployment benefits but we need an offset. so let me suggest to some of my republican friends that if that is their position -- and i should point out that under president bush when long-term unemployment was not as serious

a position -- a problem as it is today under president bush, time and time extended unemployment benefits were seen as an emergency and were passed without offsets. but if my republican friends think that they desperately need an offset now that barack obama is president let me just suggest a few of the areas that they may want to explore. mr. president, we are losing about $100 billion every single year because corporate america is putting their money into tax havens in the cayman islands bermuda and elsewhere. well if we need an offset, what about telling the one out of four corporations in this

country who today pay nothing in federal taxes that we're going to end their loopholes? are we prepared to demand that corporate america start paying their fair share of taxes so that long-term unemployed americans can afford to have food on their table or heat in their homes? mr. president, many of my republican colleagues think that we should repeal completely the estate tax a tax which only applies to the top .3% of the wealthiest people in america. we are talking about families like the walton family that are worth $100 billion. if some of my republican friends think that the walton family, the wealthiest family in america, needs another tax break

while working americans who are desperately searching for work should not get any help at all i would suggest to my republican colleagues that they are way way out of touch with the values of america and the values that make this a great country. mr. president, i think there are some people who think that the folks who are long-term unemployed right now just don't want to work. that is grossly unfair and grossly untrue. and let me just give you a few examples. in hagerstown, maryland, 3,600 of our fellow citizens recently applied to work at a dairy farm to process milk and ice cream. this dairy farm will be hiring 36 people and yet 3,600 people

applied for 36 jobs. do those people want to work? they sure do. last october wal-mart received over 11,000 applications for stores they are opening in washington d.c. and as we all know, wal-mart is not the highest-paying employer in america. and yet they received 11,000 applications here in the d.c. area at a time when they will be only hiring 1,800 workers. and that type of scenario is true in many, many parts of this country. an employer puts an ad in the paper, makes it known that the company needs workers and you're seeing 10 times as many workers apply for the limited jobs. last point that i want to make, mr. president is not only is this a moral issue the issue of

not turning our backs on people, some of whom have worked for their entire lives, at this moment when they and their families have so much need. that's the moral issue. but there is an economic component as well. if a long-term unemployed worker does not get the average $300 check that he or she would otherwise get what kind of money does that person have to spend locally? and what the economists tell us is that when we dry that source of spending up in communities all over this country when people don't have the money to buy the goods and services that they desperately need that in itself that lack of spending will result in several hundred thousand jobs in the overall economy being lost. so not extending unemployment

not only hurts the individual but it hurts our overall economy economy. and the economists also tell us that not extending long-term unemployment benefits will reduce our g.d.p. by about .2%. so mr. president, we have a moral issue, we have an economic issue and if my republican colleagues want offsets, there are more than enough offsets available if they are prepared to ask some of the wealthiest people in this country and some of the largest corporations in america to start paying their fair share of taxes. but the bottom line is that in an economy which today is still hurting very deeply we cannot -- cannot -- punish people who are severely in need. and with that, mr. president i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thanks, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you mr. president. president johnson 50 years ago as senator harkin was talking about, declared the war on poverty in -- down the hall in

the house of representatives in his state of the union message 50 years ago this week. a little later he visited athens ohio, in the heart of appalachia and he said, "i came out here today to see you because we can't always see poverty from the capitol in washington but you can see it when you go out and ride the rivers and the range the mountains and the hills." when president lincoln was in office even though his staff said stay in the white house win the war free the slaves preserve the union president lincoln would say no, i need to go out and get my public opinion baths, i need to meet with people and talk to them and see their problems and understand their problems. pope frances recently exhorted his parish priests to go smell like the flock obviously using the alegory of the sheep in the old testament and new testament but also saying to the priests understand how people live, talk to them about their issues and

their problems in their lives and live among them as much as you can. something we, perhaps all of us -- and perhaps none of us in this body -- i know the presiding officer from vermont possibly does more town halls and meetings with people than almost anybody in the senate -- all of us need to do that more to understand better. but i -- as we debate this extension of unemployment benefits $500 a week is the average benefit 52,000 people in my state were cut off from benefits at the end of the year. tens of thousands more will lose their benefits if we don't act. it's not just what this means to a family so they can feed their families and continue to look for work as the presiding officer knows they need to continue to look for work in order to get these -- this $300 a week, on the average. we also know it helps the economy. go -- go back 100 years ago this week. henry ford made an announcement that stunned the country. he said everybody in my auto plant is going to receive $5 a day. the boy the young man sweeping

the floor the auto worker, they are all going to receive $5 a day. whether it was done out of generosity or not what henry ford knew was putting money in workers' pockets is just the same as when you put money in people's pockets for unemployment benefits, insurance they paid into that they get out, it will help -- it will help grow the economy, it will help people to be able to do things they weren't able to do otherwise. that's the importance of the extension of unemployment. that's the importance of -- of passing minimum wage legislation, which senator harkin also spoke about. the fair minimum wage would raise the minimum wage 90 cents upon the signature of the president, 90 cents a year later, 90 cents a year after that. at the same time, it would link -- it would raise the sub minimum wage, those people who work in diners, who push -- who push wheelchairs in airports who are valets at restaurants often make less than the minimum wage. the subminimum wage, the tipped

wage is only $2.13 an hour, hasn't been raised since 1991. this legislation the harkin-sanders-brown others who are part of this legislation on the minimum wage bill will increase the tipped minimum wage over time up to 70% of the real minimum wage. i will close mr. president with this -- i got a letter from karen in columbus. she said i had to come out of medical retirement because i couldn't make ends meet. i have now worked at a department store for four years. i still don't make $9 an hour. my salary goes entirely toward rent and utilities. my water bill just went up $8. now, for us in this chamber the water bill goes up $8 okay, you deal with it, it's not that big a deal. she is making not even $9 an hour. her increase in her water bill was one hour's pay at this department store. my water bill went up $8 as it goes up every year just like the electric and the gas and the

food. heaven forbid my car would break down or that i would fall victim to a serious illness. i just hope that our colleagues are getting their public opinion baths. i hope our colleagues are out among people listening to these stories. i close again quoting president johnson's speech in athens, ohio, 50 years ago this year. poverty hides its face behind a mask of affluence. i call upon you to help me get out there and unmask it. take that mask off of that face of affluence. let the world see what we have. let the world do something about it. mr. president, we have an opportunity today to do something about unemployment insurance, to help people get back on their feet. we have an opportunity in the months ahead to raise the minimum wage, just to restore it to something close to what it was back in 1968 in real buying power. that should be our obligation. that should be our duty. that should be our mission in the months ahead.

mr. president, i -- mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 6:30 with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: mr. president i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call in progress be vitiated. the presiding officer: without

objection. mr. inhofe: and mr. president i ask that i be recognized for such time as i may consume as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inhofe: mr. president it's kind of -- a little bit humorous to me we're talking about extending the unemployment benefits in the midst of one of the most intense cold fronts in american history. i saw one newscaster yesterday who said if you're under 40, you've not seen this stuff before it has to make everyone question as to whether -- i'm going to tie this together -- whether global warming was ever real. while i know that the left wing media is giving me a hard time for talking about my opposition to the administration's global warming policies when it gets cold outside i think it's important to point out two things. one, that the administration is intentionally ignoring most recent science around global

warming and number two that the global warming policies costing between $300 billion and $400 billion a year along with the rest of the e.p.a.'s environmental regulations are resulting in millions of job losses. now we're talking about extending the unemployment and yet it's really jobs that we need and the jobs are being robbed from us by the overregulation that's taking place in the environmental protection agency. of course the crown jewel of all of those is cap-and-trade. when i say $300 billion to $400 billion a year, that is -- would continues institute the largest tax increase in american history. and it's one -- i find it sometimes when you're talking about these large numbers i'm sure the chair agrees with this that it's hard to relate that to everyday people, to your own state and to how it does affect our families. and so what i do is make a -- at the end of each year i get

the total number of families in my state of oklahoma that file a federal tax return and i do the math. in this case, it would cost about $3,000 for each family in my state of oklahoma to pay this tax, this cap-and-trade tax that supposedly to stop us from having global warming. well it's interesting that even people now realize that this would not stop it even if we did something within the state -- in the united states of the united states, it would affect overall emissions of co2 and that's what they're tbawg. that's what makes it important to mention as we debate the extension of unemployment benefits. if we want-term prove our employment we need to stop the onslaught of regulations that have come out during this obama presidency. first let's talk about the global warming thing. it's interesting that we have

often seen global warming related to events affected by ununusuallily cold weather. often this has occurred when al gore has been involved in an event. in january of 2004, al gore held a global warming rally in new york city that turned out to be what would go down as the coldest day in history in new york city. three years later october of 2007 al gore gave a big global warming speech at harvard university and it coincided with the temperatures that broke boston's 125-year-old temperature record. in march of 2009, the speaker of the house nancy pelosi was snowed out of a global warming rally in washington, d.c. because of all the snow her plane wasn't able to land and they had to cancel her appearance in the event. a year later march of 2010, the senate environment and

public works fee committee had to cancel a hearing entitled global warming impacts in the united states due to a major snowstorm. at that time i was the ranking member of the -- of that committee and they were all geared up ready to have this big hearing and couldn't do it because of the major snowstorm. that was 2010. this has been going on now for every year going back to 2007. just last year, july of 2013, a cruise liner that was chartered to discuss the impact of global warming planned to sail through the northwest passage of the arctic but got stuck because the passage was full of ice. more of that in a minute. and that same month al gore had an event in chicago training people about global warming but was greeted with the coldest temperatures in 30 years. a lot of folks even in the last day have said that just because there are cold temperatures doesn't mean that global warming

has stopped. but in november of 2013, an executive order the president implemented new climate change policies very expensive ones, large tax increases stating that -- and this is a quote -- "excessively high temperatures are already harming natural resources, the economies and public health nationwide." so it does matter when the ice caps are growing and temperatures increase, pause for 15 years, and that's what's happened for the last 15 years if global warming isn't happening, there is no need for ensuing the policies, whether you call it global warming or anything else. yesterday was a cold day. at one point the temperature in the country was average 12.8 degrees. in chicago it was 16 degrees below zero, and that broke the record that was set way back in

1884 when it was 14 degrees below zero. this made chicago colder than even the south pole at the same moment where it was only 11 degrees below zero. even now down at the south pole, a a number of the ships have been stuck in the ice. this has been all over the news for good reason. on november 27 a research expedition to gauge the effect i have global warming on the antarctic began. on december 24 a russian ship carrying climate scientists, journalists, tourists and crew members for the expedition became trapped in deep ice up to ten feet thick. an australian ice breaker was sent to rescue the ship but on december 30 efforts were suspended due to bad weather. on january 2 a chinese ice breaker, the zhu u long, sent out

a helicopter that airlifted 52 passengers from the russian ship to safety though an australian ice breaker. the chinese vessel is now also stuck in the ice along with the russian vessel. 22 russian crew members are still on board the russian ship and unreported number of crew members remain on the chinese ship. on january 5 the coast guard -- that's us. we came to the rescue, called to assist the ships that were stuck in the antarctic ice breaker. this was called the polar star. so our ship is on the way to help these folks out. it's just so interesting to knee so many of these -- interesting to me that so many of these activities related to global warming get canceled or are affected because of cold weather especially when you recall that just a few months ago the journal nature and that is a well-respected publication in

environmental science they published an article that said that over the last 15 years -- quote -- "the observed temperature trend is not significantly different from zero and suggests that a temporary hiatus in global warming is not something that is appreciated by the obama administration." what they're saying is, and this was the journal was that it had stopped. you know, let's go back, when you look back in history you look at these cycles and you have to come to the conclusion that god is still up there. i have this from memory and i think i'll get this right. from 1895 they had a cold spell that came in, and that's when they said that there's another ice age is coming. that lasted until 1918. in 1918 that all changed and all of a sudden it started getting warmer and that's when the

first term of global warming came out. 1918 to 1945 it was a warming period that we went through. then in 1945 it changed and another ice a age was coming. everyone was concerned about it. that lasted from 1945 to 1975. then in 1975 -- and this is interesting because in 1975 we got into this time period that we're talking about now and that is they're saying that global warming is coming upon us. well what's happening now you know these people have an awful lot of their time and resources and reputation at stake here, it's now to a point that it's now reversed and we're going into another one of these cycles. the interesting thing about 1945 was 1945 was the year that is recorded that the greatest surge in co2 emissions happened during that year. that was right after world war

ii and that precipitated not a warming period but a cooling period. in december of 2008, al gore said the entire north polarized cap would disappear in five years. the north polar cap is the arctic ice cap. well, we're now five years later and it should be noted by now the deadline was december of 2013 and the arctic ice is actually doing pretty well. just last month the bbc reported that the arctic ice cap coverage is -- this is a quote now -- "close to 50% more than its corresponding time in 2012." in other words in one year it increased by 50%. this is the very ice cap that al gore said would be gone by now. contrary to what al gore predicted, the ice cap didn't disappear. last year it grew. in may of 2006, gore said in his movie, "the inconvenient truth"

that the antarctic ice cap melt would result in a 20-foot increase in sea levels. you contrast that with the frozen global warming expedition down there right now in september, and a september 13 report in "the washington post" that the antarctic sea has hit a 35-year high this past year. these things, people don't seem to stop and think these are predictions that were made. this is the same al gore that there was an article in "the new york times" saying that arguably he is the world's first environmental billionaire. all these things people are saying that were gospel truth now we know that they're not but nobody talks about them. the media doesn't talk about it. when you put it all together it's impossible not to sit back and wonder if there's not this evidence that the temperatures

are actually getting colder. should we really pursue cap and trade and other similar regulations and policies that will cost the economy $300 billion to $400 billion a year to implement. in light of our high unemployment levels, i don't think so. that is what we're here talking about anyway, unemployment numbers and to help remedy the problem. i'm introducing two amendments. the first one i want to talk about is amendment number 2615. the e.p.a. has systematically distorted the true impact of its regulations on job creation by using incomplete analyses to assess the effects of its rules on employment. they even published that many of their regulations will result in net job creation e.p.a.'s costly regulation as any reasonable person knows actually reduced business profitability and caused actual job losses.

new mandates and requirements do not help the economy add jobs. for example the e.p.a. estimated that its 2011 utility m.a.c., that was passed. m.a.c. means maximum achievable control technology. in other words we come along in all of our great wisdom up here, and we pass a law saying how much emissions can take place and yet there's no technology that will accommodate that. so e.p.a. estimated that its 2011 utility mact, the one that passed into law a rule that would create 46,000 temporary construction jobs and 8,000 net new permanent jobs. by contrast the private study conducted by nera economic consulting that examined the whole economy impact of the rule -- and we're talking about the utility mact now, that is the coal business in the united

states the impact of the rule estimated that it would have a negative impact on worker incomes equivalent to 180,000 to 250,000 lost jobs in 2015 and a negative worker impact would persist at a level of 50,000 to 85,000 such job equivalents annually. the e.p.a. estimated the cross-state air pollution rule would create 700 jobs a year. by contrast, the same nera study estimated the rule would eliminate 34 thousand jobs from 2013 through 2037. it lets you know that the e.p.a. is controlled by the president and they are there to fortify anything that he says, even though we have studies to show just the opposite is true. the e.p.a. also estimated its industrial boiler mact. every manufacturer has a boiler, so this affects all

manufacturers. that rule would create 2,000 jobs a year. by contrast, nera and their study estimated the rule would eliminate 28,000 jobs each year from 2013 to 2037. in addition to those examples the national association of manufacturers did a study that determined the cumulative impact of e.p.a.'s regulations as $630 billion annually and totals about 9 million jobs. of that, the included would be the $3 billion to $4 billion that would get from cap and trade regulations. the e.p.a. has not studied or disclosed the impact of these rules but we know that it's going to be very expensive. if we really want to do something about unemployment numbers in this nation, we need to hit the brakes on e.p.a.'s regulations. let's not worry about extending

the time of unemployment compensation unemployment insurance. let's do something about the cost of the regulations. i think everybody knows some of the disasters that are taking place in the country. they're aware of obamacare. they're aware of what he's doing to the military. they're aware of the excessive spending that's come from his budgets but nobody talks about the regulations which really exceed the cost of supporting greater national debt. so my amendment does this by prohibiting the e.p.a. from making any of its new regulations final until it complies with requirements under the clean air act section 321. section 321 was put in back in 1977 and it was supposed to require the federal government to say to state what the job impact will be to the various regulations. and how many times has the e.p.a. conducted this study? not once. so that amendment would help reduce the impact of e.p.a.'s rules on job loss.

my second amendment would actually help create jobs. it's really kind of unrelated to this but since i'm talking about two amendments that are very significant now, it would resolve our jobs problems to a great extent, it's amendment number 2605 and it would help us take advantage of our vast domestic oil and gas resources. we've seen huge increases in oil and gas development in recent years due to the advancements in precision drilling, hydraulic fracturing and other technologies. these technologies have unlocked the shale revolution. and because of this, official government estimates now predict that we'll become completely energy sufficient by 2035. what they won't tell you is that this could happen a lot faster. right now 83% of the federal lands are currently off limits for oil and gas developers. this is not a good reason -- there is not a good reason for this. it's just the administration

preventing us from having more jobs and energy independence. we now and then hear people from the obama administration saying wait a minute, during the last four years or five years the production has increased by some 40%. well, but that's all on state property and on private land. on federal land it's actually decreased by about 15% because of the war against fossil fuels that's taken place out at the white house. so the amendment that i'm offering would give these resources to the states to unlock and develop on their own. i mean, the assumption here is the states should be in a better position to know what they want to do with the with these regulations in their own state and any damage that might come to the environment. let them make that decision instead of the federal government doing it. a recent report by the institute for energy research estimated that if we completely developed these off-limit federal resources, it would create two

and a half million jobs and generate $14.4 trillion in economic activity but it would also help us achieve energy independence by 2024, 11 years sooner than it would otherwise. if we want to create jobs this is how we can do it. we should embrace our energy future and aggressively expand production. if we want fewer people to lose their jobs in the future, we should prevent the e.p.a.'s regulations from moving forward at least until they fully study the impact of the rules will have on job losses. we've been trying do it this fore long period of time to determine the costs. when the american people find out in terms of the dollars it costs and the jobs lost with excessive regulations, they will come and let their feelings be known at election time. with that, i will yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the

clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mrs. shaheen: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: mr. president i've come to the floor today like so many of our colleagues, to talk about the urgent need to pass legislation to extend unemployment insurance. i was encouraged, as i know many of us were, that the senate voted on monday to move to this legislation, and i really hope that we're able to build on that progress and to pass this critical assistance this week. emergency unemployment insurance has always had bipartisan support. congress has acted eight times since 1958 under congressional leadership and presidents from both parties to establish

extended benefit programs when the unemployment rate is too high. and in fact, as i think a number of my colleagues have said, the program that we're currently looking to extend was actually passed when george w. bush was president with strong bipartisan support. it's important that we don't turn our backs on americans who are struggling to find work right now. and we really can't afford the economic consequences of inaction. failing to renew unemployment benefits will cost us jobs, it will hurt economic growth, it will eliminate a critical lifeline for families who are struggleing to make ends meet. while sh's unemployment rate is be-- while new hampshire's unemployment vat below the national average, if you're out of work, your household is 100% unemployed. the and there are too many families in new hampshire who have already been hurt by the expiration of these benefits. according to new hampshire's

governor and our state's employment security commissioner george kapatis the lapse in this critical program has abruptly cut offvite off vital support for the about,1,350 individuals in new hampshire. for each week that extended benefits are not vaiblg, an additional 500 to 600 new hampshire citizens will exhaust regular unemployment benefit insurance coverage. in total more thank 8,500 citizens of new hampshire could be hurt over the course of the next year and that would result in a potential loss to our economy of as much as $14 million. it is a particular issue in certain pockets in the state. there are counties where the unemployment rate is higher, where we have more long trming-term unemployed who are going to find particular concern about trying to find a job if they don't have any help while they're

looking. so mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the letters from new hampshire's governor and from our commissioner of employment security be entered into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you. as these letters show, the impacts of a failure to extend unemployment benefits are very real for thousands of working families in new hampshire. and of course that's true, we know across the country. failing to pass this legislation will hurt our economic recovery in new hampshire, it will hurt the nation's economic recovery. the economic policy institute estimates that the expiration of unemployment insurance will cost the economy 310,000 jobs, the equivalent of a single month of job growth. and we know from economists, from the congressional budget office that each dollar we spend on extending unemployment insurance generates about $1.50

in economic growth, and it's one of the best places we can spend public dollars to try and stimulate this economy to create jobs that can ultimately put people who are unemployed back to work. and although the unemployment rate has gone down and our economy has shown signs of recovery we still have a lot more to do. we have to get more people back to work. there is so much on the line for jobs for hardworking americans and for our economy as a whole. so we should pass this legislation on behalf of workers and families in new hampshire and across this country. and i also wanted to point out that i have filed an amendment to this unemployment insurance bill -- and i hope we'll have a chance to vote on this amendment. it's identical to a bill that i've authored that has 19 cosponsors including the

presiding officer the military retirement restoration act. this legislation would replace the military retiree benefit cuts that have been included in the recent budget agreement and it would do that by closing a tax loophole that some corporations use it avoid paying their share of taxes. this provision is designed to address corporations that set up shell entities and tax havens to avoid being considered an american company and paying at the tax rate in the united states. and they do that even though these companies are controlled and operated on american soil. it would ensure that those companies pay american tax rates. i think most people would agree that this kind of tax avoidance is unfair, that we should close this tax loophole, and we should do that rather than reducing military retiree benefits. in addition to the 20 cosponsors

of the legislation in the senate, there is a similar bill in the house that has 46 cosponsors. now, my idea of how to pay for the military retirement benefit is just one idea. i know there are other bills that have been introduced, and i'm open to those other solutions. but i hope we can work in a bipartisan way to replace these cuts before they go into effect in two years. it's important that we address this issue for the men and women who have served this country so wcialtion who have put their live -- so well, who have put their lives on the line for us. i hope we can do that as part of this legislation when we vote on it. if we're not able to do that i certainly hope we're going to be able to address this in the near future. so thank you very much, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. casey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you mr. president. i rise tonight to offer a few brief remarks, and i'll joined on the floor by my colleague

senator toomey. we're both here tonight to read a list of names of those who gave as president lincoln said a long time, a "the a lft full measure of devotion to their country," pennsylvanians who lost their lives in operation enduring freedom. we know that since the beginning of the conflict, pennsylvania now has lost to date the latest number i've seen is 92 killed in action. tonight we'll read the names of five who gave that last full measure of devotion. mr. president, before i turn to my colleague i -- it is very hard for me to fully understand or appreciate what the loss of a loved one means when they lose their life in war. we often turn, to quote lincoln or the scriptures and they're both appropriate. one of the best descriptions i heard was by the songwriter

bruce springsteen. he was writing songs in the aftermath of 9/11, and he had one song where the refrain was "you're missing." and of course it could apply to a family who lost someone in war. one line goes, "you're missing when i turn out the lights, you're missing when i close my eyes you're missing and when i see the sun riers a sunrise you're missing." i can only turn to words like that because i've never walked in those shoes's a being a part of family who lost someone u so tonight we pay tribute to those pennsylvanians who gave so much of their country and their family as well as given so much to their country. so i am honored to be joined by senator toomey who will goin read the names u -- begin to read the names. mr. toomey: mr. president?

the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. toomey: thank you mr. president. and i want to thank my colleague, senator casey for organizing this brief tribute that is just so much deserved by the service members we're going to be acknowledging in a few minutes. i'd like to begin by extending my deepest condolences to the family friends loved ones of these true pennsylvania heroes. in the lives that they led and the cause force which they died, these men represent all that's great about this great country. some enlisted right after graduating from high school, during those very tough and grueling days and weeks in basic training i suspect they'd never heard of the places in afghanistan where they would make this sacrifice. these pennsylvanians of course join a long list of soldiers, sailors, airmen, marines and coast guard members who've given their lives for this country to include those who gave their

lives in world war ii, the korean war the vietnam washings and of course the -- the vietnam war, and of course the ongoing war against violent radical islamists around the world. pennsylvania has suffered so heavily in this conflict, as if has in other conflicts in our nation's history. i think it is because in the towns across pennsylvania, towns and cities such as tafford and moten, there are certain values deeply rooted in those communities, the importance of family faith serving this nation. there is a deep conviction that freedom is worth defending and a belief that cause worth fighting for is not just someone else's responsibility. these are the values that have helped shape these service members. these values were exemplified in the lives of our fallen who will forever be honored bid our great commonwealth for their service

to this country. i'll begin reading the names of the men who made the supreme sacrifice last year in this conflict and senator casey will complete the list. chief warrant officer matthew paul roughner, u.s. of course, tafford. chief war rant officer jared michael yoder u.s. army, moten. staff sergeant mehrrick soj anchts u.s. army, phil. i yield the floor to senator casey. mr. casey: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: i want to make up my colleague for starting the list. and i'll read the remaining names. and i should correct myself. i said five at the beginning and i had the count wrong. it is actually six individuals. staff sergeant thomas baysor

jr., united states army, milton, pennsylvania. sergeant patrick hawkins u.s. army carlisle, pennsylvania. salve sergeant patrick. as i conclude the list of pennsylvanians who were killed in action over the past year, we want to say again we honor them, we pay tribute to them, and by this brief commemoration we remember them i we remember them and we also remember the families they left behind. to quote lincoln a second time, he once wrote to a family and i'm quoting "i pray that our heavenly father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement and leave you only the cherish the memories of the loved and lost and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly

a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom e" unquote. none ever us could say it better than abraham lincoln did. but we offer that prayer tonight to the families. so to the families of our fallen heroes from these and from other conflicts please know that they and you are in our thoughts and prayers. again i want to thank senator toomey and i yield the floor. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: