to medicare and i am also deeply concerned about the other cuts to health care in this budget. you know, we don't control -- we all wish we could control whether or not we get sick or whether or not our children get sick or moms and dads get sick. but the reality is that health care is an issue for all of us. it's not a frill. it's a necessity medicare has addressed that for seniors and people with disabilities in a way that gives them peace of mind and confidence in a quality medical system. we just addressed through a bill last night the whole question of making sure that doctors are paid and that they are available to people who are on medicare. we have another part of the health care system called medicaid, which is a lifeline to so many americans who continue to feel, they feel the effects of the great recession are

struggling for basic health care needs. and 80% of the medicaid program spending 80% of the dollars goes to seniors in nursing homes and in some way impacts all of us. friends, neighbors relatives. so we are looking at a budget on the medicaid front when you combine it all up, eliminating the medicaid expansion and the other cuts in the budget of $1.2 trillion -- trillion dollars -- in the senate budget. the senate republican budget cuts medicaid health care 80% of which goes to seniors in nursing homes by $1.2 trillion. now it's even worse in the house. and i worry we're now looking at going to conference with the house of representatives where their combined cut was $1.7

trillion to medicaid, most of which money goes to low-income seniors in nursing homes. and they would then also turn it into a block grant and cut it on top of that, and we don't even know if it would get spent on health care. unfortunately, in budget, mr. president, while not really balancing is tempting to be balanced on the backs of our most vulnerable americans in our country, and our seniors are taking a huge hit in this budget. the house cuts all together $3616 billion and moves -- $316 billion and moves away from the medicaid benefit to something called vouchers or other structures that don't look like

medicare. in the senate all together now when you add it up, we're looking at a cut of $566 billion. so mr. president, my amendment would stop that $566 billion cut in medicare, or at least it would instruct. i should clarify that. i wish it would just automatically stop it, but it would instruct the final conference committee to not move forward on that $566 billion in medicare cuts. we're talking about americans who have worked hard all their lives and they have earned that health care benefit. now let me also say that when we think about a budget that would reflect opportunity for everyone to get ahead or one that keeps a system rigged against the average american, we saw vote after vote where unfortunately

colleagues on the other side of the aisle let opportunities slip away to provide real equal pay for women equal pay for equal work. yesterday was the day on which women finally made as much money in 2014. what a man-made in 2014, it took us until yesterday the majority of women in this country to make the same amount of money. we have an opportunity to fix that and republican colleagues said no. we had an opportunity to really invest in rebuilding america roads, bridges sewer systems crumbling infrastructure. our distinguished ranking member a champion on the issue of infrastructure, and we had an opportunity to create millions of jobs, and republican colleagues said no. we had an opportunity to really invest in education. but instead we saw and we see a bill that takes away funding for pell grants, that doesn't help

millions of americans who are struggling to pay back college loans. i just left a group of students, high school students from brighton michigan, and the question i received was what are you doing about the cost of college? and i'm worried about the cost of college. i want to do the right thing. i want to go to school. i want to do what we're all asking them to do to get skills so they can compete in a global economy, be responsible adults. and too many will come out of that college experience with more than enough debt to buy a big house. and then they won't be able to buy the house as they dig themselves out of debt. and we all know that in this bill the republican budget both in the house and senate repeals the affordable care act between 16 million people, health care gone on top of all of the cuts to medicare and senior citizens, senior citizens in nursing homes under medicaid. when we had an opportunity to

close tax loopholes i offered again my bring jobs home act to say, you know, a company shouldn't be able to move on paper out of this country and avoid paying their fair share to contribute to the services of america. they still breathe the air. they still drink the water. they still drive on the roads. they still get the educated workforce. but they move on paper and now they're not a part of those contributing to america. i don't think that's very patriotic, frankly. we had a chance to dose that and instead -- to close that and instead support the middle class, people working hard. republican colleagues said no. unfortunately we have in front of us a budget that says no to opportunity to the majority of americans and yes to continued policies that frankly have not worked because they're focused on a privileged few. if i might take just one more minute mr. president, i want to

put my hat on as ranking member, former chair of the senate agriculture committee and say also that as a member of the budget committee and the agriculture committee i strongly urge the leadership in the senate not to accept the reconciliation instruction related to agriculture and to, therefore, open up the farm bill. all the phases of the farm bill that we worked so hard to get passed in a bipartisan basis. i want to commend the chairman for not including that reconciliation instruction in the senate. i very much appreciate that. but the house does. and we have members on both sides of the aisle deeply concerned about reopening up what is economic certainty. we have a lot of places there's not certainty but in rural america at least we have five years of economic certainty through the farm bill. and we have, mr. president nearly 400 agricultural organizations led by the

american farm bureau, food groups conservation groups, nutrition groups who have asked us not to open up the farm bill again in this process. and i am very hopeful that the senate's position on that will be the position that is maintained. so mr. president i offer an amendment that we will be voting on on medicare. i think it would be wonderful if we came together and said "no" to the cuts in medicare and that we would show that we understand what's at stake for that program. and also i hope that we will very clearly indicate that we want to stand with rural america and our farmers and make sure that they don't have to worry about opening up the policies of the farm bill until the five years of the farm bill has been completed. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president i'd yield such time as the senator

from nebraska needs to offer two amendments. those will be the last two offered, after which i think both sides are prepared to yield back their time and begin voting on the 13 different votes which we'll be asking for consent on when she finishes her speech. i yield the time to the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending motion and call up my motion which is at the desk. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report. mrs. fischer: mr. president? the presiding officer: would the senator suspend. which motion does the senator wish to have first? mrs. fischer: equal pay. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nebraska mrs. fischer moves the managers on the part of the senate conference of the disagreeing votes of the two houses on the house amendment to the resolution s. con res. be instructed to insist that the

final conference report include a provision relating to promoting equal pay which may include preventing discrimination on the basis of sex and preventing retaliation against employees for seeking or discussing wage information as included in section 356 of s. con res. 11 as agreed to by the senate. mrs. fischer: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending motion and call up my motion which is at the desk. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nebraska mrs. fischer moves that the managers on the part of the senate on the conference of the disagreeing votes of the two houses on the house amendment to the bill s. con res. 11 be instructed to insist that the final conference report include a provision relating to a deficit-neutral reserve fund relating to tax credits for employers providing paid family and medical leave.

mr. enzi: mr. president i'd note the absence of a quorum so we can get final agreement. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: mr. president, i would ask consent that all time be yielded back except for five minutes equally divided between the managers and that the senate vote on the pending motions to instruct in the order listed with two minutes equally divided in the usual form between each vote and that all votes after the first in the series be limited to ten minutes. the first would be brown on wall street banks. the second would be postal plant closures. third would be student loans. fifth would be sanders social security. sixth would be senator schatz same-sex marriage benefits. seven would be bennet climate change. eight would be fischer side by side. mikulski equal pay for equal pay. murray eliminate sequestration. followed by stabenow's medicare

cuts. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president as i have indicated on many occasions, i think this republican budget is, frankly a disaster. it causes severe harm to some of the most vulnerable people in this country. it throws 27 million people off of health insurance. it forces elderly people to pay more for prescription drugs. it cuts $90 billion in mandatory pell grants at a time when young people are struggling to be able to afford to go to college and pell grants are one of the significant ways that they are able to go to college. $90 billion is cut.

it cuts head start significantly, such that 110,000 fewer young children will be able to enroll in head start. it cuts title 1 education program money directed to schools with low-income kids, the schools that need the help the most. at a time when so many of our families are struggling to put food on the table this budget cuts nutrition programs, including the w.i.c. program by $10 billion, and that's the nutrition program that goes to pregnant women mothers and infants. it makes other massive cuts in nutrition. it makes cuts in affordable housing. it makes cuts in job training. now, in the midst of all this,

what it does also unbelievably while wreaking havoc on the lives of millions of working families it decides that we can afford to give huge tax breaks to the very, very, very wealthiest people, the top .2% by abolishing the estate tax which would provide $263 billion in tax breaks for the wealthiest .2% of the american people. but then after giving huge tax breaks to the very, very, very rich what it does is raises taxes for low-income and working class families by increasing taxes by $900 apiece for more than 13 million families by allowing the expansions of the earned income tax credit and the trial tax credit to expire.

so massive cuts in health care, education and nutrition working families huge tax breaks -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. sanders: i ask for one more minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: huge tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, and then increased taxes for low-income and working people. this is moving the country in exactly the wrong direction. now, what we have done today is our side of the aisle has brought forth ten separate motions to instruct, which if passed would make this budget a much much better document, and i hope very much that both sides of the aisle will support these motions, and with that, i would yield. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i just want to thank the ranking member for his cooperation to date and look forward to working with him on the conference committee along

with the members of the house both the republicans and the democrats. the purpose of that is to make -- to make this a better budget bill. i would reiterate that i had about four weeks to get it put together and four months to get it done, and there hadn't been one done in eight years so it was quite a challenge. we're getting closer now. and today we'll have an opportunity to voice some concerns and i'm glad that we're at this point. i look forward to working with the conferees. so i'd yield back any time. the presiding officer: there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the motion offered by the senator from ohio related to wall street banks. who yields time?

mr. sanders: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: this motion is being introduced by senator brown of ohio. our big banks are too big. the largest banks are now 38% larger than they were before the crisis in terms of loans outstanding. one out of seven americans is being pursued by a debt collector. u.s. banks are so big that the six largest financial institutions in this country today have assets of roughly $9.8 trillion, just equivalent to 60% of the nation's g.d.p. being big and powerful is good for the banks and bad for this

country, and bloomberg, for example, says the too big to fail subsidy is massive. by being big they get huge subsidies. it amounts to $83 billion a year. that is why i support this provision to stop too big to fail. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i would mention that this bill is cosponsored by senator vitter from our side. i would mention that if a big bank fails under the senator's reforms, there's nothing that protects the taxpayers from having to save the bank. in other words this approach does not do what many experts believe is needed, which is to expand the bankruptcy laws to permit an orderly disposition to failed banks without taxpayer bailouts. i would note that the specific policies listed are all authorities that exist today in various financial regulatory agencies and i believe that all senators support the goal of eliminating the risk of taxpayer bailouts. having said that, i would ask

all the republicans to support this and would offer to take it and take it on a voice vote. mr. sanders: on this one i would ask for a roll call vote. i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote, the yeas are 8 of, the nays are 11. the motion is agreed to. -- the yeas are 86, the nays is 11. the motion is agreed to. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a motion offered by the senator from vermont relative to postal

plant closures. the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: thank you mr. president. in the state of vermont -- and i think -- mr. president could we have order please. thank you. in the state of vermont and i suspect all over this country especially in rural areas what we have seen is a significant slowdown in mail delivery by the united states postal service. what this provision is about is the establishment of a deficit-neutral reserve fund which establishes a moratorium to prevent the shutting down of up to 82 mail processing plants all across in this country. it is asking that we rein-state overnight delivery standards down what the postal service has

done that we protect rural services and we allow the postal service to innovate and adapt to compete in a digital age. the basic financial problem with the postal service is they have to pay out $5.5 billion every year in retirement benefits. that program already has $50 billion in its account. do away with that, the postal service is making a modest -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expire. mr. enzi: mr. president i think there is a huge concern particularly in rural america about the closing down of the processing centers in those states. our state no lorpg has a processing center -- sno longer has a processing strvment it takes an extra day to get the mail. i'd urge my colleagues to sthep motion and i'd ask if the sponsor would take it by a voice vote. mr. sanders: i would ask v. to have to ask for a roll call vote. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second?

does the senator ask for the yeas and nays? mr. sanders: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not the ayes are 85, the nays are 11 and the motion to instruct is agreed to. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the motion offered by the senator from north carolina, relative to student loans. mr. burr: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. burr: burr: mr. president -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. mr. burr: mr. president i rise to offer a motion to instruct conferees that would insist that the final conference report on the budget include a provision to address student loans. this very simple motion to

instruct that tracks the amendment introduced by myself, senator king, warner and alexander that was included in the budget resolution by a voice vote. the senate's already demonstrated its support by unanimously passing this under a voice vote and i would ask my -- and i would yield to my cosponsor, senator king. mr. king: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. mr. king: mr. president, i rise to support this amendment. this simply -- this simply simplifies the repayment options for students under the present student loan program which is, frankly, very confusing. up to nine different programs with confusing names confusing terms. boils it down to two simple ones -- a fixed repayment schedule or a variable schedule based upon income. and i should mention that i see this as an important stand-alone provision. i'm also going to be supporting senator warren's amendment on refinancing student loans. but i think this is an important amendment. i urge my colleagues to vote "yes."

the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. a senator: ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. who yields time in opposition? the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. mr. enzi: we'd ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: without objection, all time is yielded back. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote? if not the yeas are 97, the nays are zero. the motion is agreed to. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote

in relation to the motion offered by the senator from massachusetts relative to student loans. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: mr. president i support simplifying student loans, the bill that just passed 97-0 and i commend senators king and burr, but it is not enough. we need to cut the interest rate on student loans. the federal government should not be making a profit off the backs of our kids who are trying to get an education. it is paid for this bill, by asking millions and billionaires to pay taxes at the same rate that middle-class families do. this is a bill that really puts it to the united states senate. are we here to work just for the millionaires and billionaires or are we here to work for young people who are trying to get an education? this senate works all the time for billionaires. today i hope we can make it work for our students. i urge adoption of this amendment.

a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from north carolina. mr. burr: mr. president, i would urge my colleagues to vote against the warren amendment. what senator warren is doing is creating yet another repayment program which will ultimately end up costing students more than the income-based repayment. she puts hundreds of billions of private debt on the federal books and pretends like that cost is free. rather than fixing the maze of repayment programs, she adds to it with a new program that is ultimately less generous than the existing programs, whereas the federal government income-based repayment program and other related loan repayment plans will cap payments as a percentage of an individual's income senator warren's legislation would only lower the interest rate on those payments, potentially steering students into higher monthly payments than they would face in those other programs. so i would urge my colleagues oppose the warren amendment.

i yield back. the presiding officer: the question is on the motion. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote?

if not the ayes are 45, the nays are 52. the motion to instruct is not agreed to. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote in relation to the motion offered by the senator from vermont relative to social security. mr. sanders: thank you mr. president. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senate will be in order. please take your conversations out of the well. the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: mr. president social security is arguably the most important federal program that we have. it is life and death to millions of senior citizens, people who have to figure out how they pay for food, how they heat their homes, how they pay for their medicine. social security is not going broke, it can pay out all benefits for the next 18 years. what this provision does is make it clear that we go on record to not cut social security benefits not raise the

retirement age not privatize social security. let's stand with the seniors of this country let us protect social security, not cut it. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: under the budget rules we can't do anything to social security. so this doesn't provide permission or denial of anything that we can do at the present time. we cannot touch social security under the budget. so i'd ask for the senator to take a voice vote. mr. sandy roll call vote. mr. enzi ask for the yeas and nays then. mr. sanders ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll.

vote: