our job now is not to bring more carbon into the atmosphere. it is to transform our energy system away from coal, away from fossil fuel, into energy efficiency and into sustainable energy. that should be the direction of this country and we should lead the world in moving in that way. 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:

mr. alexander: mr. president i ask consent to vitiate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. i ask consent to -- that the senator from colorado, senator bennet and i along with the sthor from maine senator king, the senator from new jersey, senator booker the senator from

georgia, senator isakson and the senator from north carolina, senator burr, be able to engage in a colloquy on higher education for the next half-hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you mr. president. and i -- i further ask mr. president, unanimous consent to use a piece of demonstrative evidence in my remarks. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. alexander: thank you mr. president. mr. president, the senator from colorado michael bennet, and i have been working for a year to make it easier for 20 million american families who fill out a -- the federal application form for grants and loans for colleges to make it easier for them to do that. and the piece of demonstrative evidence that senator bennet and i have been carrying out in

tennessee and in colorado is in. this is the form that 20 million americans fill out. it is familiar to many families. it is 108 questions for those families and it's important to them because about half of the american families who have students in college have a federal grant/loan to help pay for college. the problem with this is that it's generally unnecessary. senator bennet and i were at a committee hearing of our health, education, labor and pensions committee, and we heard four witnesses from many different directions in our country say that we only needed two questions to answer 95% of the information that we needed to know about whether we could make a federal grant or loan to a student infrastructure from wisconsin who wanted to go to community college. so we are introducing the fast

act and it will turn these 108 questions into two. one about amount of family income and one about the size of family. and it will free -- it will free students and their families from the dreaded fafsa. it will eliminate thousands of hours of busywork by guidance counselors by -- by college administrators by parents by accountants. and i'll use a specific example. on friday i'm going to tennessee with president obama who's been attracted to tennessee because we've become the first state to say to all of our high school graduates that community college is tuition-free. how can we do that in tennessee? well the tuition like in most places in the country is about $3,600 for -- per semester. and the pell grant can pay up to $5,600. and so for about half the students there's only a small gap between the amount the

federal pell grant pays and what tuition costs of so the state will make up the difference. but here's the catch. the major obstacle to tennesseans who want to take advantage of the new tennessee promise program is this 108-question form. the president of the community college in memphis southwest community college told me he thinks he loses 1,500 students a semester because of the complexity of the form. they won't fill it out. so it's a terrific example of how the federal government with good intentions, have built up over the yearsy enormous amount of paperwork that's getting into the single greatest need our state has which is to have more of our students better trained so the businesses that are attracted there with good jobs will be able to hire people who are properly trained. now, in addition to that our bill does the following things. it not only eliminates the 108 questions and replaces it with

two it tells families earlier in the process. for example if you have a daughter who's a junior in high school now you'll be able to go on-line and find out answering two questions how much money you're eligible for in grant and loan. now you have to wait until the second semester of your senior year. the next thing it does, it streamlines the federal grant loan programs by combining two federal programs into one pell grant program reducing the six different federal loan programs into three. one undergraduate loan program one graduate loan program one parent loan program resulting in more access for students. fourth it enables students to use pell grants in a manner that works for them. they can use it year-round. now you can't use it for three straight semesters. and at their own pace. next it discourages overborrowing. too many students borrow money they don't need to borrow to go to college. for example, you're entitled under the federal rules to borrow the same amount of money if you go full-time as if you go

half-time. that makes no sense and it saddles students with debt that they can't pay back. and, finally it simplifies the repayment options. now there are nine different ways to pay back repayments. we suggest two. and senator king and senator burr have their own bill which they'll be introducing today and talking about a little later about streamlining repayments. so i'm delighted to have been working with senator bennet. i want to congratulate him. his background as a denver school superintendent and as a father has made him a very effective advocate for this. we've listened to -- to educators and parents in our own states. the bill's been out there now for more than half a year. we've attracted other sponsors, including senator booker and senator -- and senator isakson. and we hope that other senators will want to join in. and finally i would say before going to senator bennet that as

chairman of the senate committee that handles education -- health education labor and pensions, that we're ready to move on this. and as soon as we can finish our work on fixing no child left behind, which we've been working on for six years and had 24 hearings on and almost all the members of the committee who are there now were there last year when we reported the bill, as soon as we can finish that work, we're ready to move to reauthorize the higher education act to deregulate higher education and to start with the fast act and with the legislation that senator king and senator burr have promoted. so mr. president i thank the senator from colorado for his partnership on this and is a salute him for his leadership. mr. bennet: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you mr. president. i am delighted to be on the floor today with, among others, senator alexander who has worked so hard on the bill we're talking about today. through the chair, i want to wish him well in his new role as

chair of the health, education labor committee on which i serve. he's quite right to have said this bill came out -- came to us as a result of testimony in front of that committee by a variety of witnesses but all of whom agreed that the current system is completely unwieldy. and the also like the other cosponsors, senators booker, burr isakson and king, for joining the efforts and for being here today as well. you know, i first became aware of this problem when i was superintendent of the denver public schools and we had a couple that very generously donated $50 million 5-0 million for scholarships for kids that were graduating from denver public schools and who had applied to college. and one of the things we learned in that process was how terrible the process was for filling out the financial aid forms for the federal government. and that was a requirement that we had for people to be able to be eligible for this scholarship. we literally had to put new

rooms in our schools in our high schools and staff them with people in order to fill out these forms. and every year, tens of thousands of students and parents in colorado, and millions more across the country, fill out the fafsa as part of the college application process. it is the gateway to financial aid. by some estimates over 2 million people that are eligible for fafsa -- for financial aid pell grants don't get it simply because of the complexity of the form. and with unanimous consent i'd ask to show some demonstrative evidence mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bennet: here is this year's form. it's a different color than the one we had last year. but this is the form that a student has to fill out with its 108 questions. this is the instruction manual that goes with the form that is something in the neighborhood of 6 pages long. it's very tiny print.

-- 60 pages long. it's very tiny print. and to be honest with you the ridiculousness of this form would be funny if it wasn't for the lost time, money and energy our country spends on it. here's some of the examples of the questions families have to put up with on this form. several times there are questions about income. we've been told by the witnesses that we had that we only need two questions. there are a number of questions just about income, investments and assets. each requires notes and instructions which are contained in here. question 36 -- "what was your and spouse's adjustment gross income for 2014?" question 37, enter your and spouse's income tax for 2014. question 39, how much did you earn from working in 2014? question 40, how much did your spouse earn from working in 2014? it's ridiculous. the questions become even more more complicated. question 42, as of today what is the net worth of your and your spouse's investment including real estate but don't include the home you live in?

that's the kind of reaction we get all over the country when we talk about this. and at home. the -- the instruction form here says for question number 43, the net worth of business and investments or farm. business or farm value includes the current market value of land building, machinery equipment, inventory, et cetera. do not include your primary form. do not include the net worth of a feanl-owned and controlled -- family owned and controlled small business with more than 100ful time orful-time equivalent employees. and just to make it really clear, in dark bolded print it says business/farm value minus business/farm debt equals net worth of business farm. this is as complicated as any tax form mr. president. and at a time when the demands of the global economy require us to have more college access, not less it's a shame that this bureaucratic piling up of questions is making it harder and harder for people to go to

college. so i think this is going to be great for our students. we'll get it down to a postcard that's just got two questions on it. and the estimate is -- the estimate is that the time saved by moving away from this existing form is the equivalent of 50,000 jobs. 50,000 jobs that could be spent actually providing college guidance to young people who will now have the benefit of knowing, as senator alexander said so eloquently, will now have the benefit of knowing what financial aid they'll be eligible for in their junior year before they even apply to college, rather than wait until their senior year until they've already been admitted to college. that makes no sense to the people that we represent and there's a reason for it mr. president -- it's because it makes no sense. so my hope is that this is a bill that we'll be able to move this year. and again, i want to thank senator alexander for his tremendous leadership. and then i will yield the floor i think to -- i yield back to

senator alexander. mr. alexander: thank you mr. president. i thank senator bennet. and i'd like to send to the desk the higher education act that senator bennet and i would introduce with the cosponsorship of senator booker, senator burr, senator king, and senator isakson. and, madam president -- mr. president, in this -- in this colloquy, i'd like now to recognize the senator from new jersey for five minutes to comment on the bill if he would like. i see him. the presiding officer: the bill will be received and appropriately referred. mr. alexander: thank you very much. and following that, the senator from income flc and the senator from maine -- north carolina and the senator from maine who are cosponsors of this bill who are here but they also have a separate bill on income repayments which they will discuss. mr. booker: i want to thank senator bennet and senator

alexander for their work on this legislation. it's going to keep our -- help our nation's students make a better smarter more informed decisions about higher education. historically, the united states has been the leader globally in expanding college opportunity. we understand that an educated work force is essential to our nation's economic competitiveness. without highly skilled workers america will not be able to compete in the global economy. and the average price of a college degree in this united states is climbing, about $13,856. and please put that in perspective with our competitor nations, nations who are keeping the cost of college low knowing that their long-term competitiveness as a country depends on the education of their children. nations like the united kingdom that has a college education that costs less than half of ours. nations like germany where kids pay a mere $933. the average american student now

is graduating from college with around $29,000 in loans. in new jersey, that's up from an average of $27,000 in 2011 and $23,000 and change in 2010. this is unacceptable, mounting debt that's undermining not only the success of our individual young people in our country but it's undermining the long-term competitiveness that our nation has in a global knowledge-based economy. and this is one reason why it's important we work to make the process of obtaining financial aid simpler and more straightforward. you saw the redicklessness which senator -- ridiculousness which senator bennet held up in the length of the form, the explanation document. well this has to change. something i recognized when i was mayor of the city of newark, that literally bebrought classes -- we called them i think "financial aid university," where we brought experts in just to try to help

students navigate all of that. we spent so much resources just knowing that for our kids from newark to be competitive we had to help them navigate this labyrinth of challenging questions and documents that it does take perhaps a college degree or more to figure out. when i first came to the united states senate about 13 months ago one of the first pieces of legislation that i offered having had that experience was a way of simplifying these forms. there is an urgency here because the college board estimates 2.3 million students do not fill out the free application for financial aid form because the form is a gateway to financial aid having 2.3 million people being deterred from actually filling it out is a harm to our nation not just to those individual students. many students who qualify for federal aid skip the form because they find it, as we

obviously saw, too complex. because eligibility is currently based on income information from the year immediately preceding enrollment financial aid deadlines mean tax data is often not yet available. as a result students must determine how to fill out financial aid questions on the form on the fafsa form and make additional steps to later submit the tax documents. we know more can be done to make this process simpler. and accessible. which is why i am pleased i was really rejoicing when senator alexander, senator bennet showed me there was a way we could work to even further than my legislation i introduced in the last congress to reduce it to two questions saving time saving energy, saving stress but even more importantly, empowering students who get their education to contribute to our economy so we can compete with other

countries who seem to be doing a much better jobs job than us at keeping the cost of college low. this bill streamlines the financial aid system, simplifies the fasfsa form discourages overborg which is -- overborrowing which is a problem and gives students information to make better decisions for them. this bill is a good step. this bill is a great step. i'm looking forward to working with the higher education community as well as students and families in new jersey on how we can be successful in simplifying this process increasing access to college and boosting not just enrollment but boosting economic output of our citizenry. again, i want to thank senator alexander and senator bennet for their work and leadership. i'm happy to be with them in this effort and look forward to continuing the conversation this year. the presiding officer: the

senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: the senator from new jersey is known in his state as a pioneer in education having his valuable support and advice on this bill will be a great advantage in helping it go from the senate floor to the president's desk into law. in 2013, congress made significant steps forward in improving the student loan program, the $100 billion a year that the moving loans to students to help them go to college. it put a market pricing system on had the effect in that year of reducing the rate for undergraduates by cutting it about in half and two senators who led that were the senator from north carolina, senator burr and the senator from maine, senator king. senator burr and senator king have continued to work on student loans making it easier for students to go to college easier for them to pay their loans and easier for them to pay them back. we're proud to have them as

cosponsors but they have their own legislation on student loan repayments which i'm glad to cosponsor and will be a top priority in the senate help committee as soon as we finish fixing no child left behind and now i would like in this colloquy to turn to senator burr and senator king. mr. burr: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. burr: mr. president i thank chairman alexander senator bennet, and i want to commend them for what they have proposed with the fast act. as a parent who went through that two kids going to college and presenting that form, i realized i wasn't capable of doing it and i remember a story still today of a dear colleague of mine in the house of representatives, many know sonny bono. we asked sonny why did you come to congress? he said, well, i became mayor of a city for one reason, because i opened a restaurant and when i went to get a sign permit, they gave me 50 pages to fill out

and i didn't graduate from high school but i filled out it was easier for me to run for mayor win and make the sign permit win, and instead of filling out 50 pages. that's how he got his start in politics and as a parent, to be able on a postcard apply and know whether i was eligible for my children's student aid and income would be a tremendous thing for all parents. but senator king and i are here to talk specifically about the repay act. and as we have looked at student loans and as the government has become the primary loan component for student loans what we've seen is that the consolidation of one's loans has dramatically dramatically increased in an incoherent way. some might say that's exactly what government does.

we say we're going to fix a problem and we fix it in a way that you don't understand it, it's way too cumbersome and what we've tried to do as we've made an effort to provide more avenues for -- or options for children to choose or parents to choose how to pay back student loans, what we've done is complicated as the form that senator bennet showed which determines eligibility. currently the federal government offers 12 repayment options for students. among these 12 options students are offered a series of terms and conditions that often overlap amongst several other programs with very similar sounding names and stated benefits and the problem gets worse annually mr. president. the administration continues to do new regulations every time we see a problem. and those regulations then overlap with existing

regulations on student loans to where individuals don't know exactly what their options are. what senator king and i want to do, we will introduce hopefully today the repay act. it provides now two options that kids choose from. a fixed rate option for repayment, and an income-based option for repayment. you see, we also realized that under the income-based options that are out there today an individual who is married could file as married filing an individual tax form, and their household income isn't considered to -- for the amount of repayment that they're going to make on a monthly basis. that's not how we designed this. we designed it so that what their income capability was that their repayment would reflect it. in other words we've got people gaming the system today because their one spouse makes a

lot of money and one doesn't make much and they pay a minimal amount of monthly student loan repayments and when they do that they cheat the other students behind them. because they take money out of the system that can be used for those individuals that desperately need it. the repay act streamlines the multitude of loan programs and creates a fixed base and income-based repayment. it does by consolidating all income-based repayment programs into one repayment program that caps borg at -- borg at $57,500 for 20 years. and limits to 25 years the repayment period for loans over $57,500. while ensuring the monthly payments rise at a reasonable rate based upon that annual income level. again, the household income level. the benefits for students is they'll upfront have the

knowledge they need of what they'll expect to pay based upon the amount they borrow. we believe this will lead students to limit the amount of debt they take prior to going to school. behavioral economists argue when an individual's options are less complex and straightforward individuals will more likely -- are more likely to make rational decisions. senator king and i believe the changes included in the repay act will promote those rational decisions that will ultimately lead to smarter borrowing that leads to repayment and healthier financial situations for our nation's graduates. why are we here? only 80% of our student loans are being repaid. 80%. that means 20% is in default. and what we need to do is we want to see kids gate get a

great education the ability to be paid for and we want that money to be repaid based upon their success in -- in the marketplace. i believe that this act will put us on that road to do it. now, i don't want to pretend and i don't think senator king will pretend this isn't something we crafted and created. this is the results of ideas that were put forward by the national association of student financial aid administrators, the education finance council the council of education the young invincibles the institute for college access and success, the american -- new america foundation and many other groups. this is truly congress -- the united states senate at its best reaching out to organizations that do this day in and day out just like i think the chairman did on the

application card, student aid form. and we've tried to search the best ideas and from that we've gleaned them and put them into the repay act. we will introduce this bill, i thank the chairman, it does complement very much the fast act and i thank my colleague senator king, for his help on the introduction of this. i yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i thank the senator from north carolina. no one was more instrumental in the work in 2013 than -- that reformed student loans in a way that in that year reduced the interest rate for undergraduates by nearly half. in his state of north carolina, many of the best universities and two-year colleges in the country and i know education has been and is foremost for him and

i look forward to working with him, the democratic members of our committee and on the floor as we go through the process have a full amendment process and i hope we're able to work with president obama again. in this year the same way we were in 2013 in coming to a result. an advocate was senator maine who has the advantage of having been a governor, senator king, and we'll let him have the final say in this colloquy. mr. king: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. mr. king: economic development and jobs. that's what unites us here in this body, that's what we all want. that's what everyone here is striving to achieve. jobs and opportunity for the people of this country. there are many factors that contribute to that, and we can discuss and debate all of them this year, i suspect we will, infrastructure tax policy, smart regulation, regulatory reform but the one about which

there is very little dispute is education. the single greatest job creation and economic development act in the history of the united states was the g.i. bill. subsequent to world war ii, which opened the doors of college and higher education to millions of americans and literally built the middle class in this country. education is what it's all about and education is even more important now than it was then. there was a time in this country when you could graduate from high school and get a good job in a mill and make good money and have two cars in the garage and lead a successful life. that's much more difficult today. even those jobs in those mills require more education. in my state of maine we did a survey a few years ago that 70% of the jobs had people touching a computer every day. and that's what -- that takes education. and to get education takes

access. i'll share one rather chilling statistic in terms of the competitive nature of the 21st century, and mr. president we are engaged in competition. we are engaged in competition with the entire world and they want our jobs. here's a little statistic -- the top 8% of high school graduates in china are equal in number to all the high school graduates in the united states. think about that for a minute. the top 8% of equal in number to all the high school graduates in the united states. we are going to have to work to compete. and the only way we're going to be able to do that is if we work smart and the only way we're going to be able to work smart is with education and expanded opportunity and access to

education. and higher education in the 21st century i would submit is more important than ever. there's been attention to this over the years by state governments, local governments, by parents by students and by the federal government going back to the midst of the civil war when one of the great education bills of all time was passed, the land grants college system in 1864, support for research at our great universities has been a federal effort. students loans have been a part of what we have tried to contribute to this system for many years. and then of course pell grants which has enabled millions of students to find opportunity in higher education. but ironically, the very programs that are designed to increase access to higher education have themselves become inaccessible. senator alexander and senator bennet made a dramatic showing today with these ridiculous forms.

you read the forms and the conclusion is my kid i guess isn't going to go to college. we have created a system where you need an accountant and a lawyer at your shoulder in order to fill out a form for financial aid, and the people who need it the most are the least likely to have the resources to bring those experts to bear on the process. programs designed to promote access have themselves become inaccessible so that is what today is all about. that's what our discussion is all about. it's with accessibility and simplification. senator alexander and senator bennet and senator booker have brilliantly articulated the power of the idea behind the fast act reduce the questions to get the necessary information. you don't need 80 pages of instructions to answer two questions. it will open the doors to literally millions of students

that we need. this isn't nice to have. this is need to have. this is an economic security and a national security question. we need these people. the current form is discouraging the very people we want, those who may or may not take the plunge into higher education. the simple fact is you shouldn't need an accountant to figure out whether or not you can get financial aid to go to college. now, the complementary bill that senator burr and i are introducing today along with senators rubio and warner is called the repay act. senator alexander's bill is accessibility and simplification on the front end. our bill is accessibility and simplification on the back end dealing with the issue of repayment. it basically reduces eight current options which i have a

chart that it would make rube goldberg blush in terms of the complexity of the current options to two. one is a ten-year fixed repayment plan which certain students can select. it makes sense for them. and the other is a variable income-driven plan. as senator burr pointed out the ideas for this bill came from across the spectrum, from students financial aid offices financial aid administrators, republicans, democrats and president obama. and one of the people that senator burr mentioned is the young invincibles. i would like to join that group because sometimes i don't exactly feel that way but this is an idea that i think is invincible because it just makes so much common sense. borrowers can switch between the fixed payment and the variable payment depending upon their circumstances, but they never pay more than 15% of their disposable income. i think another important

provision is if a borrower is totally and permanently disabled and the loan is forgiven, they don't have to pay tax on the loan that's forgiven. under current law they would have to pay an income tax on the phantom income of the loan that is forgiven. i want to particularly thank senators warner and rubio for joining us on this bill. they had their own bill on this repayment structure last year, and they have generously decided to join forces with with us on this bill, and i believe that that will add a substantial weight to our work, and they have already made contributions to the drafting of the bill, and i think -- i think that that will help us considerably as we move forward with this legislation. quite often around here we're -- we talk about things we can't do. we can't do, problems we can't

fix. this is something we can do. this is a human problem of our making by layering programs over one another and having the bureaucratic rules build up over the years to the point where as i said it's created an accessibility problem for the very program that's designed to give access. mr. president, these are important bills. they are not necessarily the bills that are going to get the headlines, that are going to cause all the fights and the friction but these are the quiet kinds of changes that will change our country. they will provide opportunity for our students, for our families and for our country. i'm proud to join senator alexander, the chair of the health committee and senator burr particularly who has worked so hard on this bill, and i think we have got a combination of bills here that will really

make a difference in people's lives and in the future of this country. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: mr. president the colloquy is concluding. i thank the senator from maine and the senator from new jersey for their leadership and the senator from north carolina. i can assure them that the king-burr bill, with the support of senator rubio senator warner, will be combined with our bill and be front and center on the agenda of the help committee as early as we can this year. as far as i'm concerned it's the next priority after we fix no child left behind, and i'm hopeful that we can bring it to the floor by this spring, give the full senate a chance to consider it, combine it with action in the house and work with the president and get a result just as we did in 2013. i'm going to turn to senator bennet in just a minute and let him have the concluding word, but i wanted to say this. as i mentioned, president obama is going to tennessee on friday.

he's going to celebrate an initiative that tennessee is taking by itself to say to all high school graduates two years of community college education is tuition free. of course, that's based upon the pell grant. the state just makes up the difference which isn't that much. but if i'm going to have an opportunity to say to the president, mr. president, the one thing the federal government can do to make more tennesseans have an opportunity to take advantage of tennessee promise is to get rid of this thing because the president of southwest community college in memphis says 1,500 students a semester are turned away from community college who ought to be going just because they and their families are intimidated by this or can't fill it out. there is no excuse for that. we're going to fix that. maybe it's three questions. maybe it's four questions but surely it's not 108 questions

and 70 or 80 pages of instructions, wasting the time of administrators, guidance counselors parents accountants, students and discouraging americans from taking advantage of education. so i thank the president for the time, i thank my fellow senators and i yield for the final words of the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you mr. president. i want to again say thank you to the chairman of the help committee for all his leadership and his work dealing with this form. we have been after this for about a year, and i can tell you that in my travels around colorado that this might be a quiet bill, as senator king had said earlier but in my travels around the state i can't find anybody who is unhappy with this legislation except for the people who have already filled out the forms who are asking where were you five years ago when i was having to do this for my student or where were you when i was having to fill this out for my college education?

it makes absolutely no sense. i'm sure many of these questions are well intentioned but what we have learned in the hearing that we've had and the testimony is that they are not necessary and if they are not necessary we shouldn't be asking them. our students would be a lot better off spending their time figuring out what college they want to attend, figuring out what course of study they want to undertake than they are spending their time with this bureaucratic nightmare. so i am enormously optimistic that we're going to be able to get this passed with the chairman's leadership, and i look forward to working with my colleagues on that, and i'd like to thank the senator from new jersey again for signing on as one of the original cosponsors. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: i ask consent to conclude -- to include following my remarks this one-page summary of the fast act. i yield the floor.

mr. brown: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you mr. president. in his first legislative message to the 89th congress in 1965, 50 years ago, i believe this month, president johnson laid out what would become a key marker in the legislative fight for medicare and medicaid. the bill was passed in 1965. president johnson signed it in independence missouri, i believe at the home of president -- former president truman. president johnson in 1965 in his legislative message to this -- to the house and senate said in this century medical scientists have done much to improve human health and prolong human life, yet as these advances come,

vital segments of our population are being left behind behind barriers of age and economics and geography and community resources. today the political community president johnson said, is challenged to help all our people surmount these needless barriers totten enjoyment of the promise and the reality of better health. 50 years later, we have made historic improvements to our health care system thanks in large part to a couple of things, a number of things, certainly. one, medical research funded both by taxpayers and by often drug companies foundations universities and others. and second, because of social insurance programs like medicare and medicaid. before the passage of medicare, you hear these numbers. 30% of our nation's seniors lived below the poverty line. only half our nation's seniors at this time 50 years ago early

in 1965, only half of our nation's seniors had health insurance, and insurance usually only covered visits to the hospital in those days. now thanks to medicare, 54 million seniors and people with disabilities have access to guaranteed health care benefits. let me share a letter. donald from toledo, ohio, wrote me in the last congress at the end of last year, during the year when the house of representatives threatened to turn medicare into a voucher program as part of its budget proposal, donald wrote to me -- "thank you for your efforts to keep medicare from being privatized. i am 63. i am going to be eligible for medicare before too long. in looking at the affordability of health care is critical. if medicare is privatized, i will not be able to afford it any more than we can afford private health insurance today." that is kind of the whole point. the reason there is a health care insurance the reason there

is social insurance is in 1965 when only half the people in this country had any kind of health insurance. it's a little disconcerting to know that after working all our lives, donald writes, and living comfortably that in our retirement years we either have to try to find full-time employment or be in a position of affording medicare, privatized medicare. i'm sure i don't need to tell you how difficult finding a job is these days when you're older. i know normally i'm writing you from the opposing side. this time we definitely see eye to eye. ralph waldo emerson died 150 or 160 years ago. he said that history has always been a fight between the conservators and the innovators. conservators. legitimate place in society for both creating the tension that moves our country one way or the other. conservators are -- want to protect the status quo want to preserve privilege want to hold onto their wealth. conservators fundamentally don't believe the government should be

involved in ensuring a decent standard of living. innovators what today we might call progressives, understand that our society is only as strong as its most vulnerable members. if you go back to the key congressional votes the key congressional votes not necessarily even final passage to advance debate of the medicare bill in 1965, most republicans voted no. then it was the john birch society that opposed it. today 50 years later it's the tea party who opposes social insurance. some of the most privileged interest groups in washington oppose creation -- opposed creation of medicare, but they were wrong. medicare as i said earlier 30% of seniors lived below the poverty line prior to medicare. medicare helped to cut the poverty rate in half by 1973, only eight years after its passage. we see the same attacks today. budgets proposed in the house of representatives over the past several years have tried to dismantle medicare by and large by privatized vouchers, to help offset the cost of tax cuts for

the wealthiest americans. they privatized the program they undermined its guaranteed benefits. ohio seniors have worked hard, they have paid into medicare. they deserve a program that truly meets their health care needs. they deserve better than the underfunded voucher that would put them at the mercy of the private insurance industry. than kfully we've been able to block this in the senate. the affordable care act provided significantly enhanced benefits for beneficiaries. in my state alone mr. president, in my state alone in ohio, more than one million ohio seniors have gotten free -- meaning no co-pay, no deductibles -- free preventive care benefits under the affordable care act. if you're on medicare and your doctor prescribes annually a physical to get a checkup your doctor asks that you be given an

osteoporosis screening diabetes screening, all the things doctors order for their patients for preventive care, those are provided under the affordable care act under medicare, no co-pays, no deductibles. the presiding officer: would the senator suspend his remarks for a moment. suspend the remarks so that the senate might receive a message from the house of representatives. the clerk: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senate will receive a message from the house of representatives. the clerk: mr. president a message from the house of representatives. the clerk: mr. president a message from the house of representatives. i have been directed by the house of representatives to inform the senate that the house has passed h.r. 26, a bill to extend the termination date of the terrorism insurance program established under the terrorism risk insurance act of 2002 in which the concurrence of the senate is requested. the presiding officer: the

message will be received. the senator from ohio. brow brow -- mr. brown: i thank the messengers from the house of representatives. i think it is importance to understand and i will go or the remarks, to a moment talk about the bill that passed the house of representatives. understand this is legislation that we need, tria, which is terrorism risk insurance we passed a bill last year, but what the house of representatives has done, looks like what they'll probably do in the future. they have taken legislation which is really important to the country, which passed the senate bipartisanly and they have loaded on to that legislation extraneous provisions. that's what people in this country, frankly are tired of. when legislation that must pass that has overwhelming support is

about to pass, special interest groups come and add their language to it. that's exactly what happened here. it's the first step if the house of representatives gets its way if wall street gets its way it's a first step to begin to slice away at the dodd-frank legislation. and when i hear a number of my colleagues in this body and down the hall in the house of representatives, when they say they support progrowth policies and deregulation, what they're saying is they want to roll back the protections for consumers in dodd-frank the wall street reform bill, and they want to weaken -- they want to weaken the provisions in the rules that govern wall street behavior. i don't quite understand it, mr. president, because what i do understand is less than a decade ago, because of wall street greed, because of wall street overreach, because this body and

the body down the hall weakened the rules on wall street and because the previous administration appointed regulators who would really look the other way, we had terrible damage done to our economy. i know in my neighborhood where i live in cleveland about a mile north the zip code i live in had the highest number of foreclosures of any zip code in the united states of america. that was because of deregulation. it was because of bush appointees to the to many of the bank regulatory bodies. so i caution my colleagues as we accept this legislation -- and i assume that we will, the tria legislation -- the terrorist risk insurance but i want my colleagues to understand that that is not going to be behavior that we are going to sanction in the senate where they take must-pass legislation and they find ways to attach to this legislation, roll back of consumer protections weakening of wall street rules.

that's what got us into this and we can't let these special interests who have so much power in the house of representatives who have so much influence in the house of representatives we can't let them have their way on legislation like this. mr. president, i will -- if my remarks since the gentleman came in could be put in a different place in the record, i ask unanimous consent for that. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you mr. president. i appreciate that. and i will continue with the discussion on medicare. many of the efforts to privatize and voucherrize medicare mean taking away prescription drug protections that were added to medicare under the health care, under the affordable care act. others want to raise the medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. let me tell a story about that. i was in youngstown, ohio, a couple of years ago in a town hall. a woman stood up. she said i hold two jobs. i'm barely making it. i think the two jobs were close to minimum wage. she probably was making $8 an

hour and $8.50 in another. she was i think a home care worker and doing something else. she said to me, she said, senator -- she had tears in her eyes. she said, you know -- here's what she said: i'm 63 years old she said. i need to stay alive until i can get health insurance. this was before we passed health care laws. this was maybe five years ago. imagine you're 63 years old and your goal in life is just to find a way to stay alive so you can have health insurance. so some geniuses in the house and maybe in the senate think it's a great idea to raise the medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67. just because we dress like this and just because we have jobs that aren't all that physical other than walking back and forth from our offices to the floor of the house of representatives, just because we have this kind of lifestyle and just because we're privileged enough to get to dress like this and get paid well and get to do these incredible privileged jobs as members of the united states

senate, there are a whole lot of people in this country whose bodies won't last until they're 67. they can't work until they're 67 to get medicare. they are working at wal-mart, they're standing on floors all day. they're home care workers working at fast food restaurants. they're construction workers. both my wife's parents died before the age of 70 in large part because of the work they did, the kind of heavy strenuous work and the chemicals they were exposed to and all that. when i hear my colleagues propose to raise the medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67 -- and i know they say we can't sustain these entitlements, whatever that means what they want to do is raise the eligibility age to raise the eligibility age to medicare to 67 they need to take abraham lincoln's advice. president lincoln his staff wanted him to stay in the white house, win the war and free the slaves and preserve the union.

president lincoln said i need to get out and get my public opinion bath. he meant i have to get out and talk to people. when i hear senators say they want to raise the medicare eligibility age from 65 to 67, whether they're in troy, ohio or zanesville ohio, when i hear people say they want to raise the ohio age or the medicare eligibility age, what i think when i hear senators say that is they're not out talking to people not talking to real people. we know we can do a number of things to improve and strengthen these programs so future generations can continue to move into retirement years with the sense of security. last congress i was an original cosponsor. medicare protection act which would make it difficult for congress to make changes that would reduce or eliminate guaranteed benefits or restrict eligibility criteria for medicare beneficiaries. today with several of my senate colleagues, i will introduce a resolution commemorating the 50th anniversary of the creation of medicare and medicaid a reminder that these programs must be protected not

weakened not rolled back, not undercut not privatized, not voucherrized, if that's a word. a reminder that all these programs must be strengthened as we move forward in protecting social insurance, we should remember president johnson's words speaking to the house and senate 50 years ago. whatever we aspire to do together our success will rest finally upon the health of our people. mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask consent mr. president, to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president i rise today to highlight a presidential message that was delivered to the congress 50 years ago today. but before i go into the importance of medicare and medicaid facts that i think all my colleagues would agree to, i'd like to take a brief look

back at where america has been and to recall what life was like for so many of those who were poor and disabled and vulnerable uninsured or unlucky before these programs, programs that are today a lifeline -- medicaid medicare and medicaid -- were in place. mr. president, those were the days of the poor farm and the o oms house. these were the places where the poor and the uninsured would go for care. very often on the outskirts of town out of sight out of mind, not a happy choice and more often than not for seniors and the poor, it was the only choice. these were places that provided

care. it was also very basic and it very often carried a stigma. the accommodations were sparse, at best. and in return for health care and housing residents were expected to work on an adjoining farm or do housework or other chores to offset the costs of their stay. this was the primary option for someone whose extended family couldn't offer care -- or didn't want to care. and this wasn't thousands of miles away from the shores of our country. this was right here in the united states. not very many americans remember those days mr. president. in fact, i think it's fair to say, hardly anybody under 50 remembers those days. now, president johnson submitted his message to the congress 50 years ago today.

and fewer than half of america's older people even had any health insurance. in that era it wasn't uncommon for older people who got an illness to be treated like second-class citizens, and many older people without family to care for them ended up destitute, mr. president no health care, often on our streets. it was a time no one wants to revisit, a time when sociologists describe as another america where 40 million to 50 million citizens were poor, who lacked adequate medical care and were socially invisible to the majority of the population. and i bring this up because i want to spend just a few minutes this evening talking about how far america has come, and i want to make sure that we here in the

congress as we look to this anniversary of these critical programs -- medicare and medicaid -- and the vivid difference that they've made in the daily lives of americans that we also spend just a few minutes talking about the health care advances that we have seen over the years. so here are a couple of facts. today, with rock-solid essential medical services, 54 million americans, virtually every senior and those with disabilities now has access to what we call -- and i remember this mr. president from my days as director of the gray panthers -- we call it the medicare guarantee a guarantee of secure medicare benefits for our older people. medicaid has made a critical difference for 68 million of the nation's most vulnerable,

including more than 32 million kids 6 million seniors and 10 million individuals with disabilities. and because medicare and medicaid made health care possible for millions of people, they have also been the catalyst for innovation in treatment that benefits people of all ages. mr. president, i emphasize this because it's often not appreciated that medicare, as the flagship federal health program, often is the spark the cat acatalyst for innovations that get copied in the private sector. for example in the first 30 years of medicare alone the medicare program helped to reduce deaths from heart disease by a third for people over age 65 and by providing coverage

and access for millions, these programs became catalysts for change in how medicine is practiced and paid for for americans across the age spectrum and helped us to find the root causes of disease and perfecting better therapies to treat them. as time as marched on, these programs evolved and improved and the rest of the health care system followed. in 1967, early and periodic screening, diagnosis and treatment programs, comprehensive services for all medicaid youngsters under age 21 was created and that has helped improve our country's health starting with our children. in 1981, home and community-based waivers were established so that states could provide services in a community setting, allowing individuals to remain in their home for as long

as possible. every state mr. presi uses this option to facilitate better care and services to the medicaid population and i think it's fair to say every single senator -- and this is something i heard again and again and again in those gray panther days -- seniors would sigh, why say why can't we good, quality affordable care at home because it'll also save money compared to the alternative, which is institutional care? in 1983 medicare took one of many big leaps away from fee-for-service with the advent of a new reimbursement system for hospitals. it was government perspective payment, a system that pays hospitals based on a patient's illness an how serious it was not solely on howmp it costs to how much it costs to treat them. this was a radical change at the time.

mr. president, today it is commonplace and accepted. in 2003, the prescription drug benefit was added to medicare providing access to necessary medications for those most likely to need them. as a result of greater access to prescription drugs seniors' health has dramatically improved. in 2010, as a result of health reform preventive services became free to patients, prescription drugs became cheaper for beneficiaries who fell into what was known as the doughnut hole, and again medicare moved further away from fee-for-service, volume-driven care you and on to paying for quality and value. and, mr. president, that was good for seniors and it was good for taxpayers because it helped to extend the life of the medicare trust fund. and finally in 2012, the centers for medicare and medicaid began releasing for the

public to use actual claims data access to this information in my view, is a key element of the challenge with respect to understanding the costs of care, the variations in the way medicine is practiced across the country and clearly access to medicare claims data is part of the path to improving quality and holding down the costs of health care in our country. these examples are easy to forget the most recent ones, mr. president, because now they're commonplace but that makes them no less remarkable. and i'm going to close with one last point mr. president that i hope will be part of what guides the work of the senate in this session. i see the distinguished senator from illinois here senator durbin. he's to be joined by the majority leader, senator

mcconnell here shortly and i'm just going to close my remarks with respect to these critical programs by pointing out -- and i hope it will be remembered frequently -- as big issues are tackled in this congress, medicare and medicaid were bipartisan efforts. bipartisan efforts. and the enactment of these programs shows that the congress can craft bipartisan solutions to complex and politically difficult problems. that's what happened in 1965 when the senate passed the legislation creating medicare and medicaid by a 68-32 vote after the house approved it three months earlier on a 313-115 vote. so as this congress gets underway and as the leaders come to the floor to discuss a

critical aspects of how we move ahead i just hope that all of us here take a page from that particular playbook. let us recognize that with medicare and medicaid, there was an opportunity to come together to tackle a big issue. and my hope, my hope, mr. president, is this congress will not use partisan tactics when the solutions have to be bipartisan. and that's the lesson. despite sharp differences and partisanship, the congress of those days that i've been speaking of was able to rise above the culture and those challenges to find agreement and make our country a better place. and as this new congress begins i hope we can use that 50-year-old spirit to strengthen protect and improve medicare and medicaid to keep

that guarantee strong ensure health care to those who need it most and protect a program that has been a lifeline to millions of americans. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. 68 million from medicaid, my state three million. we understand the importance of this program. almost half of the people who live in illinois are covered in health insurance by medicare and medicaid, and when you add in the affordable care act, you have literally half the population of my state. it's a testament to the fact that when we made a commitment and followed through on a bipartisan basis as you said, we created programs that had

vibrancy and really served people for a long time. i read something that you're aware of i'm sure recently that because medicare was a complete federal payout, it was implemented throughout the united states almost within a year. it took 17 years for every state to join into the medicaid program. it wasn't until 1982 that the last state joined in the medicaid arizona and because there was a state contribution. look at the experience we have now with the affordable care act where some states are reluctant to join in, so that is part of it. but the point i want to get to and you've made so well is how it changed life for senior citizens and for those who are poor. it gave them a chance for quality health care that didn't bankrupt them in the process. medicare has been a dramatic success and for critics of government health programs and critics of medicare, the 2011 survey found 70% of physicians

across america accept medicare patients. you'd believe from some of the critics the opposite was true. 70% accept medicare patients. so it's a good program the reimbursement attracts 70% of physicians willing to treat them. the last point i'll make to the senator from oregon particularly, if you happen to know a good bookstore by suggest that you consider the new book by dr. gwandi entitled "being mortal." i'm virtually through it and he really challenges us to look beyond health care for the elderly to where they are living how they are living and how they are being treated. so i'm hoping that we can rise to another level of conversation beyond medicare and medicaid, celebrating this anniversary but accepting a responsibility, a new responsibility to that generation of seniors who served america so well. i thank the senator from oregon for reminding us of this anniversary, ask consent to put my statement in the record in

its entirety. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you mr. president. i rise to speak about the 50th anniversary as well and i want to commend the remarks of both the senior senator from oregon and the senior senator from illinois about this 50-year anniversary since president lyndon johnson first sent his message to congress that would later become both the medicare and medicaid programs. as was referred to earlier the number of americans benefiting, 100 million people benefit from these programs including in my home state of pennsylvania, 4.8 million people when you consider both programs together. when president johnson sent this

message, he said and i'm quoting here, "our first concern must be to assure that the advance of medical knowledge leaves none behind. we can and we must strive now to assure the availability of and accessibility to the best health care for all americans regard less of age or geography or economic status" -- unquote. so said president johnson all those years ago, and how prescient he was how knowledgeable he was as well to be thinking about that future. and to be considering advances in technology and holing all of us to the highest possible standard when it came to health care for older americans or health care for the poor or for children. we know that in the ensuing 50 years now we've strived to make that vision of president johnson a reality.

first, of course with medicare and medicaid and then more recently recently meaning the last 0 years or so with the children's health insurance program known by the acronym chip c-h-i-p and then followed a couple of years a number of years after that i should say the affordable care act which included an expansion of the medicare program providing coverage to millions more americans. we know that when medicaid was created in 1965, the u.s. government put forth a promise to ensure that the most vulnerable members of society would have access to health care. whether it's our children or whether it's frail elderly members of our family living in nursing homes or individuals with disabilities. medicaid ensures that they have access to health care. so we have made great strides and let me again quote president

johnson. "poor families increasingly are forced to turn to overcrowded hospital emergency rooms and to overburdened city clinks as their only -- clinics as their only resource to meet routine health care needs." again president johnson way ahead of his time dealing with was a problem but remains a problem but less so because of medicaid. this important life line, medicaid, to health care having been created 50 years ago was strengthened in 2010 and helps ensure that millions of americans have access to quality comprehensive health care. so we must continue to make sure that we guarantee medicaid remains strong and provides such needed care to those in our society who often get overlooked. we must never forget that medicaid is the program that many middle-class, middle-class families and lower-income older

citizens and people with disabilities turn to when they need extended nursing home care. sometimes we referred to it as long-term care. so when it comes to long-term care for poorer families and also long-term care for middle-class families, often millions of americans are turning and have turned for their long-term care to medicaid. and we should remember that. so let us as we celebrate this 50th anniversary always ensure that both medicare and medicaid remain strong and programs that so many americans can turn to and we must do our best to be true to lyndon johnson's vision -- quote -- "that the advance of medical knowledge leaves none behind" -- unquote. so mr. president it's a very important anniversary and it's a good reminder about our obligations here in the united states senate to protect both

medicare and medicaid. and with that i would yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: constitution the senate proceed to consideration of s. res. 1 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 21 making majority party appointments for the 114th congress. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? mr. mcconnell: --. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: execution the motion to reconsider be made with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: for the information of all senators, we are designating the full member membershipship of each committee plus the chairman of the armed services and energy committees tonight. we'll appoint the rest of the chairmen tomorrow once we have had a quick meeting of the republican conference to ratify

the names. now, mr. president -- mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed with resolution of senate resolution 22 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 22 to constitute the minority party's membership on certain committees for the 114th congress or until their successors are chosen. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection so ordered. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to the motion to reconsider considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd just say for the record to follow the comments of the majority leader these are the minority committee assignments and ranking member positions for all the standing committees.

mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the appointments at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent to incerta colloquy with senator durbin on in the congressional record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business it adjourn until 11:00 a.m. tomorrow that following the prayer and college pledge the morning business deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date aand the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following any leader remarks the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: now tomorrow the energy committee is scheduled to mark up the keystone bill so that we can move on to that bill next week. we anticipate a full and robust debate with a fair and open amendment process.

in addition, the house sent us the tria bill a few moments ago, the bill passed the house 416-5. we'll look to forward on it tomorrow and send it to the president for signature as soon as possible. so mr. president if there if there is no further business 20 come before the senate i ask unanimous consent it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m.

yesterday we inaugurated the 114th senate of the united states congress. we welcomed back many dedicated members and swore in many new ones. i have high hopes for our new colleagues. they share the resolve of my conference to restore the senate to a place of high purpose and they are determined to make a positive deference in the lives of the people who sent them here. the men and women we just swore in have inaugurated one significant change already and that's the majority we seated yesterday. i look to this new beginning with optimism and a profound sense of purpose. and i look to my colleagues with gratitude for their trust.

next to serving the people of kentucky, this is the highest of honors. i recognize the serious expectations of the american people and i kno i recognize the serious expectations of the american people and i know they are counting on us and i do mean every single member of this body. we are in a moment of great anxiety as a nation. the people that we represent have lost faith in their government. they no longer trust washington to do the right thing. many face the reality of losing health plans after being told otherwise. many struggled with rising medical costs after washington officials repeatedly said that they would be lower. confidence in the american dream has plunged. anxiety about the type of country that we leave to the next generation is widespread. and for many it has never seemed

more difficult just to get by. when americans look overseas they see a world filled with chaos. instability in the middle east terrorist pressing an aggressive agenda and autocrats stopping at a superpower that it doesn't seem to have a real plan. at home they see a government that is either uninterested or not capable of addressing their concerns. a government that seems to be working for itself instead of them. whether it is washington's dysfunction or a bureaucracy that is so unaccountable to muzzle political opponents and ignore the needs of the veterans. the american people have simply had enough mr. president and this november they had their

say. the brakes four years ago this time they spun the wheel. they said they want the administration to change course and move to the middle. they said they want congress to send legislation to the president that addresses their concerns. this november the american people didn't ask for a government that tries to do everything and fails and they didn't demand a government that aims to do nothing and succeeds. they asked simply for a government that works. they want a government of the 21st century one that functions with efficiency and accountability competence and purpose. they want a washington that's more interested in modernizing and streamlining government than adding more layers to it. and they want more j and they want more jobs