tv U.S. Senate CSPAN July 30, 2015 4:00pm-6:01pm EDT
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actually passed by the republican majority in the house and the senate. that's not the direction we need to go in as we're celebrating the 50th anniversary of medicare and medicaid. and i finally have to say that we still have governors who refuse to use funding that's available to them to cover their seniors and nursing homes under medicaid or moms and babies, you know families, low-income working families. we put in the affordable care act the ability for people that are working in low-paying jobs to be able to have access to health care through medicaid and yet we still have 3.7 million americans who can't get health care not because the money is not there but because of politics. and i think that's pretty
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outrageous. of the 3.7 million again two million are women. that's two million women who can't get health care services whether it's screenings, mammograms that can't get coverage for labor and delivery, prenatal care. and it's available. it's right there. it's right there. it's just not happening because of politics. so i'm determined, as i know our ranking member is and my democratic colleagues are as well to make sure that we are standing up for medicare and medicaid every single day. medicaid, this is a program that allows 72 million americans including nearly 13 million working americans low-income working americans who have gotten coverage because of the affordable care act to be able to go to bed at night with the
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knowledge that if the children get sick they'll be able to take them to the doctor. or if for any of us, for our parents or grandparents, if they need a nursing home, that they'll be able to have one. medicaid in the children's health insurance program together provide 33 million children with the ability to see a doctor to get the operation they need. they'll be able to have their juvenile diabetes taken care of, or other health care issues. so today is not just an anniversary of programs. i think it's an opportunity to recommit ourselves to the ideals that created these programs, to the values that are behind these programs to say that health care is pretty important to families. 50 years ago we decided for our seniors we were going to make sure they could live in dignity
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in retirement and know that they were going to be able to get the health care they needed. and people are living longer, healthier lives. people are living today because of medicare and social security and medicaid all together. and that's a great thing. and we should be celebrating the fact that president johnson working with the congress, got that done. this is, i believe the kind of approach that we need to continue to strengthen for future generations. there's a huge divide right now about what to do on these programs unfortunately. but i can say that we as democrats today are recommitting ourselves to a strong medicare program and a strong medicaid program for the future for
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american families. thank you, mr. president. i would yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from pennsylvania. mr. casey: thank you mr. president. i rise as well, as the senior senator from michigan just told us to highlight and celebrate this anniversary 50 years for both medicare and medicaid. i'm going to focus my remarks on medicaid and to say first that contrary to what we often hear about an important program like this -- medicaid -- is working. medicaid is helping tens of millions of americans. we could all come up with ways to make changes and we probably will over the next couple of years. but medicaid is a maybe one of the most underrated health care programs in recent american history for sure. and not simply in the millions who are benefiting from
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medicaid but in the tens of millions. 68 million americans are medicaid beneficiaries nationally. some 36 million of them are children. so when folks talk about families and children and the priority that we place on helping our families, i would hope, i would hope that that would mean strengthening medicaid, not slashing it, not destroying it and not taking some of the steps that have been proposed in washington over the last couple of years. it's interesting that about 45% of all births in the country are paid for by medicaid. 45% of the babies born in america are on this earth because they have the medicaid program to pay for that, the cost of a birth, which is not inexpensive. we also know that on the other
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end of the aid spectrum, nursing home placement about 60% of nursing home placements in the country come through medicaid. so this isn't a program for someone else far away. this is a program that affects most of america. a lot of lower-, middle-income families and others have the opportunity to place a loved one in a nursing home because of medicaid, as well as what i said about the births. another way to think about medicaid is the impact on children across the country not only children in urban areas or children in communities where most families are low-income. we know that when you combine or when you examine both health care for children as it relates to medicaid and to children who
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receive health care through the children's health insurance program, which we call in pennsylvania the chip program that in rural areas that number is very high, for example. there's a study done last fall that 47% of rural children get their health care from either medicaid or from the chip program. actually a higher percentage of the children in rural areas than in urban areas. so this is serious business when we talk about highlighting the benefits of medicaid, not just celebrating an anniversary but celebrating what's working and also having a sense of purpose and solidarity about preserving medicaid for our families and strengthening it where we can. one of the reasons why medicaid is so successful over time is because of some of the strategies that were embedded into the program many years ago
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especially as it relates to children. we know that medicaid serves children. it serves individuals with disabilities. in fact, that's a big number as well. 8.8 million nonelderly individuals with disabilities are medicaid beneficiaries nationally. so it serves individuals with disabilities. but when you focus just on children as a segment of medicaid here's what we find in one of the strategies put in place years ago. the so-called epsdt: early periodic screening diagnosis and treatment. that benefit is of substantial significance for the future of our children and therefore the future of our country. early periodic screening diagnosis and treatment is responsible for making sure that vulnerable children receive
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quality and comprehensive care. private insurance companies should emulate -- should emulate -- in their care what is provided in so-called epsdt. 25 million low-income children have access to this important program through medicaid. so what is it? well, i think it's evident from the name but it's good to highlight what it means. first of all the early part of it early access in identifying problems early. the second word is periodic, meaning checking children's health at periodic age-appropriate intervals. screening, that's self-evident but maybe you don't remember what is behind screening. providing physical, mental, developmental, dental, hearing vision and other screening tests to detect potential problems. so the screening part of early periodic screening and diagnosis
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and treatment is vital. diagnostic, of course performing diagnostic tests to follow up when a risk is identified. treatment, of course, is control, correct or reduce health problems when they're found. this isn't just vital to the life of that child and his or her family and his or her ability to grow and learn in school and then succeed and get a job and contribute to our country. it's also important to the rest of us. we're going to be a much stronger country if children are the beneficiaries of preventive health care. we all know that. the data's been telling us that for decades. we're just starting to get about the business of finally -- finally, at long last doing more preventive work in our health care system, just like medicaid has been doing on behalf of children for many, many years. so i think we're learning some
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lessons from medicaid that can be applied to the rest of our health care system. we have -- i know we're short on time because we have a number of people who want to make presentations today so i'll reduce my remarks in this fashion. i'll tell one story from my home state. i know there are others we could tell. here's one example of a particular family, the sinclaire family. in this case owens sinclaire was born with a genetic defect with wide-ranging effects. his aaorta wraps around his trachea and esophagus. he has trouble swallowing. he needed extensive treatment at a specialized unit of the local children's hospital in pennsylvania. after birth, he had to stay in the hospital on and off for most of the first six months of his
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life. but his parents' insurance only covered him for 30 days after birth. the test and treatments and the surgeries and medications were far beyond the means the income of his parents. just in the first 30 days, their co-pays alone were more than $15,000. 30 days, $15,000. medicaid literally saved this child's life. owen sinclaire. he needs continued testing and treatment and nutrition support. but the sinclaires worry about their little boy but at least -- at least -- they don't have to worry about going bankrupt because they love him and want him to get the medical care that he needs. so that's the real world of the substantial and immeasurable benefits that medicaid provides in the life of a child, in the life of a family, and obviously in the life of our nation's
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future. so we have to do more today than just celebrate 50 years. that's nice, and we should all take time to celebrate. but we've got to be committed and recommitted to the future of medicaid to strengthen it, to support it. not to undermine it, not to destroy the benefits that we all know are vital to our children, vital to their future development and vital to help them learn. if kids learn more when they're young, they're going to earn more later and we're all better off for that. mr. president, i would yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. kaine: mr. president, if i could ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaine: mr. president, i also rise to celebrate this important anniversary 50 years ago today president lyndon bains johnson signed into law medicaid and medicare with my favorite president sitting next to him president harry s. truman.
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mr. president, i came up and asked you a question, and i'm proud to tell the whole chamber everybody listening, there is only one member, i think, of the current united states senate who was at the inauguration of the president l.b.j. and it was the senator from wyoming the presiding officer, who was at that inauguration in 1964. clearly the signature medicaid and medicare was president johnson's proudest achievement to make care seniors have access to health care, and medicaid helping low-income seniors and people with disabilities get their necessary health care. i want to talk today about medicaid. others have spoken about medicare. senator casey did a good job about medicaid, and i want to do the same, because i have seen the success of medicaid as a mayor and as a governor, and now as a senator it's absolutely critical. in 2014, as senator casey mentioned, medicaid provided health coverage to nearly 70
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million americans including one million virginians. in virginia, about 600,000 children two out of every seven kids are covered through medicaid or its companion program, chip. and medicaid, it's important -- and, mr. president because you're a physician you know this -- medicaid is not just about health care reform. it is not to get you coverage when you need it. it is also about financial security because health bills are often the things that push families into financially stressful situations or bankruptcy so the medicaid coverage that covers 70 million americans gives them financial security. medicaid is about peace of mind. if you are completely healthy but you're going to sleep at night wondering what you're going--what will happen if your wife gets in an accident, that's help that medicaid coverage provides. it is about independence. a lot of citizens with
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disabilities because they're able to be on medicaid, are able to work part-time because medicaid provides them a coverage that enables them to live independent lives. that's what medicaid is about. now, today at 50, we think medicaid is a given but let me remind everybody medicaid was controversial when it was passed 50 years ago. in the house and senate there were a the lot of "no" votes and medicaid was an opt-in program not a mandate. states could decide whether to opt in or not and a lot of states chose we don't want to be part of medicaid. they were the slow poke states. i think every family knows what i mean. i've got a sister-in-law frankly, if we're trying to go to church, a restaurant, to n.i.h.anywhere, we can always count that we we will always have this
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one family member that will hold back. a lot of states wouldn't sign on to medicaid. by seven years later 1972, 49 states had embraced medicaid. 49 states. but the 50th state arizona didn't embrace medicaid until 1982. it took them 17 years to embrace medicaid. arizona was the original medicaid slowpoke. so medicaid, 50 years old controversial at first increasingly accepted later embraced. this kind of sounds familiar to me. the biggest change in the health care system since the signing of medicaid and medicare was the affordable care act. the affordable care act has so many benefits -- protecting people with preexisting conditions rebating premiums back to folks if they have to overpay their health insure,making sure women don't have to pay differential premiums than men, so many other
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benefits. but the big of the benefit of the affordable care act is that in the united states right now there are 16 million people walking around going to work, being with their families who have health insurance coverage because of this expansion of medicaid who didn't have it before. 16 million people. that is a very big number. let me tell you what 16 million people is, mr. president and friends in the chamber to put it in perspective. 16 million people have health insurance coverage because of the a.c.a. who didn't have it before. that is the combined population of alaska, delaware, the district of columbia, hawaii, idaho, maine montana nebraska, new hampshire, new mexico, north dakota, rhode island, south dakota vermont, west virginia, and, mr. president wyoming. 15 states plus the district of columbia -- their combined populations have coverage
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because of the affordable care act. but there's more to do. one piece of the a.c.a. is the ability of states to expand medicaid to cover those who make up to $16,000 a year. it's optional, like medicaid was in 1965. 31 states have embraced the medicaid expansion but as of today we've got 19 slowpokes and i'm sad to say that virginia is one of the slowpokes despite the best efforts of our current governor working so hard to try to get the state to accept medicaid expansion the legislature so far has blocked him from doing so. this is just like 1965, 50 years ago. there are states that get it and embrace the program and then there are the slowpoke states. i'm here today not just to say happy birthday to medicaid and medicare but to urge virginia and the other slowpokes to get with the program. here whs what it would mean in virginia if virginia ception the medicaid a -- if virginia
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accepts the medicaid expansion -- it would open up hurnlg to another 4 million people, health care financial security, independence for those with disabilities peace of mind even when you're well, and if all 19 slowpoke states got on board an additional 4 million americans would get health insurance which would take the a.c.a. coverage number up to 20 million. that's all the states i mentioned earlier plus the state of nevada -- 16 states and the district of columbia. now, you shouldn't be consigned to second-class health status in this country because you live in one of the 19 slowpoke states, especially since your taxpayers are paying taxes to provide you coverage. senator brown and i have authored a letter signed by many in this body to the 19 slowpoke states and we've asked them to join the program during medicaid's 50th year. the program has a macing leg six the program has a bright future. don't be a slowpoke.
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and, mr. president i'm just going to conclude and say this: remember how i said that arizona was the original slowpoke, the last state 17 years later to embrace medicaid in 1982? well they may have been the original slowpoke, but when it came to the a.c.a., they learned something. arizona, with a republican governor two republican senators a republican state legislate tiewrks an overwhelmingly republican congressional delegation, voting for republican candidates in presidential elections arizona is not a slowpoke; arizona has embraced the a.c.a. they're now a jack rabbit. good for them. i hope virginia joins them soon. i hope that all remaining 19 states join them soon. and i hope that 4 million more americans can have health insurance coverage with the health and financial security and peace of mind that that will provide. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor.
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the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: mr. president i rise today to talk about the drinking water protection act. this is commonsense bipartisan legislation. nobody opposes it on the merits, and it is urgent that we get it done for my home state of owe and states all around the country. what could be more important than having access to clean drinking water? you know, a the love pollutants in the water -- a lot of pollutants in the water that contribute to not having clean drinking water. one that's of concern to us in ohio is the toxins that are in the harmful blue green algae that appears in fresh water. it is finding it's way into more and more fresh water bodies that provide drinking water. this is something that is a big concern not just for drink being water but can also cause illness or death in humans, pets, wildlife and it is dock so unfortunately in my state -- and it is doing so unfortunately in my state of ohio and across the country.
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if not confronted, these toxins will continue to appear in fresh water bodies. years agoyears ago there was a ban on drinking water are 500,000 people were affected. i was actually back home in ohio. this has happened over a weekend. and i made a beline for toledo, filled up my pickup truck with a bucket of water because people were desperate. it took a while. and you can imagine the impact on toledo. and the impact on so many other people now all over the northern part of ohio who don lake erie for their water supply because they're wondering again this year wefald a we have a heavy toxic
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bloom. salina gets it's water from grand lakes st. mary's, another fresh water lake, a reserve reservoir for water supply. salina has spent over $400,000 annually just to combat the algae. columbus was forced to spend over $400,000 at the hoover reservoir in 2013. buckeye lake in ohio has also been affected by this. and again i.t. not just ohio. it is happening unfortunately around the country. these harmfullal georgia blooms continue to put public shaft u. safety and health at risk. we'vewe've got to keep our fresh water safe. this isn't just about drinking water either. our waterways are important economic engines as well. lake erie brought in $1.8 billion in business activity last year just through the fishing industry. 226 -- $226 million in taxes in
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2013 alone. ment tourism around the lake now supports one in four private-sector jobs. i was at lake erie last weekend. i had the chance to go out on the lake. i was out there with captain dave spangler. he was the charter boat captain of the year in 20146789 the reason he became the charter boat captain of the year is not only because he is a great fisherman business also a good steward of lake erie. they actually monitor the quality of the water. here is one of the samples he took. this is what i saw when i was on the lake. if you look at that, it is a jar. i was told i couldn't bring it on the floor today because i brought it took from ohio. this is what it looks like. this is the blue-green algae in the water. this is the stuff that's cutting offer the oxygen supply for the fish. it is the stuff that's creating toxins so you can't swim in it. but it's also the stuff that's
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contaminating the drinking water, if you get too much of it as it did last year. and we're fearful it might happen again this year. a lost rain early on. therefore, a lot of run goffoff and now a lost heat. it is a repeal problem for us right now. and it is a real concern to the people i represent in ohio. but also again places all over the country that are dealing with this issue. after we were out on the lake, we hosted a town hall meeting where people came in from the area. this included fishing boat captains but also small business owners marina owners, residents very concerned about the future of the lake. we had a bunch of experts there we talked about the blooms and how to deal with it. wefald to take action, at the local level state level federal level. wefald passed legislation pass -- we have passed legislation on thisment we have come up with a new bill that's going to help to be able to deal with this issue to force the
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federal departments and agencies to come up with a report on thousand better monitor what's happening, how to ensure that we have a strategic plan that identifies the human health risks from condamn nateed toxins recommends feasible treatment, how to prevent the toxins from reaching these water supplies in the first place and to pitt mitigate adverse health effects. this is an appropriate role for the e.p.a. it is an appropriate role for noaa to do the monitoring because they have satellites to help us monitor what's happening on lake erie and other fresh water supplies. this is a critical piece of legislation. it was introduced in the house by congressman bob latta supported on a bipartisan basis in the house. they have already passed in the house of representatives. they passed it in february. it passed by an overwhelming vote of 375-37.
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if it came over here to the senate where sherrod browning an i had drafted legislation on this -- we were just talking about this legislation -- our legislation, we not only put into the process we put it into the process here to begin the process of getting it cleared by democrats and republicans back in march. so far four and a half months we've been trying to clear this legislation. this week i learned that the legislation is cleared that nobody has any substantive concerns with it. we can finally move forward with it. we need this help and we node we need it now. the people that live along the lake and the people that get drinking water from these reservoirs, they are worried. they are closing down beaches in my area because of this. there are pets and people who are seeing negative health effects from it. we need to get e.p.a. more engaged and involved. we have a bipartisan way do that. it passed the house 373-37 vote.
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i am hopeful we can get this passed by voice vote tonight. we need to do everything we can to bring the federal resources together along with the state and local governments to combat this threat. this is something again that is a non-brainer -- a no-brainer, as they saivment it is one that everybody supports. it is one that is an urgent matter for us to ohio. it is a matter that is of great concern to us right now. we need to get it moving and it is one where we have bipartisan support and bicameral support. if we act tonight to clear this legislation, to get it done, it will go to the president to his desk for signature. and of course the president will sign it. why? because it is good, commonsense bipartisan legislation that engages the e.p.a. in an appropriate role to ensure that we can deal with these harmful blooms before they cause more damage and before we have another huge drinking crisis as we had last summer in toledo. so tonight i am going to ask my colleagues to pass this legislation. i'm going to ask that thereby a voice vote on it.
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i would hope that this would go smoothly and we could get this done and again for four and a half months we've had this out there. everybody has had chance to look at it. there are no substantive concerns with t i would like to, if i could mr. president ask that the senate proceed to this legislation which is h.r. 212, which is at the desk and that the bill be read a third time and that the senate vote on passage of the bill with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: it is with great respect with my colleague from it is -- there is a bipartisan proposal out here that another unanimous consent request where this bill is paired with another bill and i ask unanimous consent that the e.p.w. committee be discharged from further consideration of h.r. 212, a bill to provide for the assessment and management of the risk of algal toxins in drinking
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water and s. 1523 a bill to reauthorize the national estuary program, finally that the senate proceed to their immediate consideration en bloc that the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bills and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action. the presiding officer: objection is heard to the request from -- for the senator from ohio. is there objection to the question by the senator from new mexico. mr. portman: reserving the right to object, i don't know what you're talking about. i'm your good friend, i'm from ohio not oregon. it's important i'm sure to oregon and to your state of new mexico and other states around this country. there is no paired bill with this. i'm talking about a bill that's been out here for four and a half months, that's been cleared, no substantive concerns. my understanding is you're talking about a bill that is not out here because it's in committee still. it hasn't even come out of committee, it is not a house
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bill, in other words it happened been passed in the house, it's not going to go to the president's desk for his signature. i would be shocked in my colleagues say they're going to block this commonsense bill that senator brown and i have worked steadfastly on with both sides with both sides of the capitol to get this done tonight on an urgent basis because we have to get it done. ours has been out here for four and a half months. we first heard of yours i'm told 45 minutes ago. 45 minutes versus four and a half months. if you want to block this for other reasons you ought to say so but if you're blocking because of some pairing there is no pairing. maybe you're trying to pair it with something still in committee but let's get this done. this is not a difficult issue. there is concern and i would urge my colleague to let us get this done tonight and i am happy, happy to work on this other bill, whatever it is, of course we don't know because we were just told about it 45 minutes ago. in fact, i've already directed
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the staff because i just heard about it as i came up here, go ahead and run the hot line on the other bill so they've already done that and we'll see what comes tack back. i know what's going to come back. people are probably going to say we haven't had a chance to look at this. it hasn't been out here for four and a half months as ours as has. it's been a couple minutes because i just asked them to do it a couple minutes ago because that's when i heard them about it. i can't believe we're going to block this tonight in order to say we have to move something in committee, has not been passed by the house would not go to the president for signature has not been through the process as this has been, and urge my colleague to withdraw his objection. mr. udall: mr. president,. the presiding officer: the presiding officer: is there objection? to the senator from ohio, is there objection? mr. portman: yeah. the presiding officer: objection has been heard. mr. udall: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: mr. president just
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to clarify here, the bill that's being paired with is s. 1523, it's a bipartisan bill in the same committee. the proposal to pair them has come from the committee chairman chairman inhofe. and so that's the reason for the pairing. they're both sitting in the e.p.w. committee. the chairman believes that this is the way to proceed and that's the state of play, as it is right now. i say that with all due respect to my colleague from ohio. mr. portman: lead? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. portman: i find it very strange that senator inhofe has somehow objected because he has signed off on this. this has been totally cleared cleared to have a voice vote and have it done and have it done tonight. there is no objection from senator inhofe. he has cleared it. i would check your sources on that and i would say i'm really disappointed that this legislation that makes so much sense that is needed right now in my home state of ohio is
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being blocked and i don't know why it's being blocked. i assume there are some reasons that aren't being discussed tonight but this is very disappointing to me. we're going to try this again on monday. we're going to try it again on tuesday. we'll try it again on wednesday. and i would urge my colleagues on that side of the aisle to allow us to get it done, get some relief right now. if you were up there at lake erie talking to these people, talking to the folks who had to go through this water crisis last summer and who were told they can't use the beaches the fishing captains worried about their business, the small businesses of the marinas the folks worried about allowing their pets to walk along the lake and drink the water i think you'd feel differently about it. let's get this done. this is not an example of something that should require some sort of partisan exercise here. let's do this in a nonpartisan way. senator sherrod brown and i have been working on this, we've had four and a half months, i'm disappointed we can't move it
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tonight but i'm hopeful we can move it on monday or tuesday. we're going to keep trying, mr. president, and i urge my colleagues to support it. mr. udall: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. udall: i ask for as much time as i may consume. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent my state department fellow, andrea palapo be granted floor privileges for the remainder of the day. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: mr. president today we're considering a diplomatic agreement about the future of a nuclear armed iran. most of us in this body have strong opinions about that agreement. some believe it will weaken our position. i believe the opposite. and i have come to the floor to express my support. republican and democratic presidents have at all times used the tools of diplomacy.
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those efforts made us stronger, and in some cases brought us back from the brink of nuclear disaster. president reagan negotiated disarmament with the soviet union. president nixon reengaged with china. president kennedy used diplomacy not to war to resolve the cuban missile crisis. these were heroic initiatives. in each case they were attacked fear weakness and in each case they made us safer. i begin my remarks about the power of diplomacy because i want to echo points that senator durbin made so well last week. i would urge my colleagues to review his remarks. to better understand the history and importance of diplomacy in our country. none of the historical deals we reference was perfect. all were fiercely attacked. but they made the world a safer place. they moved us forward and this
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agreement will also move us forward. when it comes to our relationship with iran, there is much we need to do, but there is one thing that we must do -- stop iran from building a nuclear weapon, period. that was our priority, that is our goal, and that is what we all agree on. the sanctions did what they were intended to do, they brought iran to the table and enabled our diplomats to effectively stop iran's nuclear weapons program. the results are clear. multiple centrifuges ready to be disconnected and no access to plutonium. this is an historic moment. this agreement has profound impact if we approve it, and make no mistake if we fail to
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approve it. because let's be clear on one reality -- this is a multilateral agreement. it was confirmed by the u.n. security council just last week the sanctions regime cannot be sustained by u.s. action alone. this is a time for careful review and i hope we can take a step back and take a clear view. in this debate we need to consider three basic points of the agreement. one, what it does. two, what it does not do. and three what it will require of us in the future. i want to start by talking about what this agreement does. to build a nuclear weapon, you need either weapons-grade uranium or plutonium and you need infrastructure. those are the pathways, and this agreement will block them all. before the negotiations began
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iran was well on its way to enough uranium enriched to nearly 20% for breakout to weapons grade possibly within two to three months. with this agreement the breakout time would increase to one year. giving the u.s. and the international community more than enough time to respond. under this deal, iran's uranium stockpile is cut by 98% and i repeat there this is a surprising development here. under this deal iran's uranium stockpile is cut by 98%. enrichment is limited to 3.67% for 15 years. refuges are -- centrifuges are reduced by two-thirds. the international atomic energy
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agency will be able to verify that iran is abiding by its uranium limits by monitoring every stage of the nuclear supply chain. plutonium will be blocked. the reactor core at iraq is a heavy water reactor and can produce plutonium. the core will be removed its openings filled with concrete in a way that the iaea can verify those international inspectors can verify it. so it will not be used for plutonium application. critics rightly ask how will we be sure? iran has cheated before and they may cheat again. that is why the p-5 plus 1 will be closely involved in the redesign and rebuilding of this reactor. if it has -- if it has plutonium, we will know it. the modernized reactor will not use heavy water and will be
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limited to 3.67% enriched uranium. a violation at a alack will be nearly impossible to hide. it doesn't stop here. iran will have to abide by and ratify the additional protocol of the nonproliferation treaty before the deal is finalized. contrary to detractors, this is not an eight-year or ten-year or 15-year deal but a deal that lasts. we all agree on one thing verification is key. i don't think any of us has any illusions here. iran has been -- has had a long and troubling history of deception. i'm pleased the administration included secretary of energy moniz in these discussions. the department of energy is one of the world's foremost experts
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on nuclear energy and nuclear weapons. any agreement on nuclear weapons must be guided by science not politics not speculations, science. our scientists at new mexico's two national labs los alamos and sandia and scientists at lawrence livermore and he oak ridge national laboratories all have played a key role in these negotiations. mr. president, the physics of nuclear weapons is complex. you can't make a bomb out of thin air. i met with our scientists, i've listened to the experts at the department of energy. iran may be able to break the rules of the deal, but it can't break the rules of physics. nuclear materials give off telltale signatures. the radioactive decay of uranium and plutonium is detectable even in the event of delayed access. uranium in nature has a
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half-life of 4.5 billion years. enriched uranium 235 which can be used in a weapon has a half-life of 700 million years. in fact, you can delay but you still can't hide. verification will be strong. that means continuous monitoring. it means tamperproof -- electronic seals and it means dedicated facilities to inspect the iran nuclear program. it includes up to 250 inspectors with long-term visas. we have the best inspectors in the world in iran. they have unlimited access 24/7 to all the declared sites and i would add they are all trained nuclear experts at our national laboratories. i may not trust iran, but i do trust the science and our
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national laboratories. this is a serious debate, and one of the greatest challenges of our time. this agreement will meet that challenge, ongoing and for years to come. but let's not kid ourselves. there are other challenges. there are continued dangers posed by the iranian regime. we all know this. that's why sanctions against iran's support for terrorist groups will remain. and we will stand by our allies in the region, the president has made this very clear. this agreement will take the nuclear threat off the table. that is what it will do but here's what it will not do -- it will not diminish our resolve to combat other threats or to defend our allies in the region. that resolve will be and must be stronger than ever. to my colleagues who argue we should walk away from the agreement, which has already been approved by the world's
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leading powers, i would ask walk away to where to what end to what alternative? has an alternative been proposed? i would make two proposals. first, i urge my colleagues to support this agreement. we have a choice between this deal or no deal. i do not believe we will get another chance. but second, i ask that we be open to ways that congress can reinforce the agreement and that should be part of this process, too. with investment and people and technologies to support nonproliferation enforcement with strong oversight of the implementation plan, not to embarrass or score political points but to ensure iran is abiding by its part of the deal. with increased support for our allies in the region and with clear provisions for a quick snapback of existing sanctions
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should that be necessary. we have a strategic opportunity just as presidents kennedy nixon and reagan did with adversaries in the past. we need to act now from a position of strength and not wait until another day when the danger may be greater and our options may be more limited. i began my remarks with reference to history. i would conclude with one other closer in time and devastating in consequence and that is iraq. instead of exhausting our diplomatic options we opted for war. instead of measured resistance, we opted for regime change. the result was and is tragic. diplomacy takes time. it's often imperfect but these
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but there are times when it is our best option and our best course and this is one of those times. mr. president, i yield the floor. ms. stabenow: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you mr. president. mr. president, when we have so many issues on our national agenda economy jobs, all of the issues that we need to address, making sure every american has a fair shot to get ahead, access to college has retirement security, all of the other issues that we know americans care about unfortunately we are revisiting a very old debate that just doesn't seem to want to go away, over and over and over again and that is whether or not we'll
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provide funding for preventative health care for women. specifically for family planning clinics that provide essential primary health care services for women and men things like wellness visits, mammograms breast cancer screenings. in 2013, planned parenthood performed 500,000 breast exams including 15,000 for women in michigan. planned parenthood provided screenings for cancer and heart disease and h.i.v. in 2013, 400,000 pap tests 4.5 million s.t.i. tests and treatments were conducted. women go to planned parenthood for cervical cancer screenings. life and death cancer screenings. for vaccines, for blood pressure
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checks. in states where republican governors have refused to use the funding that's available to expand medicaid health care under the affordable care act planned parenthood provides services critical for low-income americans. in 2013, more than half the people seeking health services and planned parenthood clinics were covered by medicaid. nearly 80% of these men and women have incomes at or below the poverty level. so we're talking about all across the country many places where there is no other access to health care, no other place to get a mammogram or a breast cancer screening where these services that are literally life and death are being provided. so when we talk about planned parenthood we're talking about
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the full spectrum of women's health care, including contraception and family planning services that serve both women and men. one out of five women has been to a planned parenthood clinic at some point in their lives. in 2013, 2.7 million men, young people relied on planned parenthood for preventative care. about 70,000 of those in my state of michigan. in my state 40% of the planned parenthood health clinics are located in areas that we all medically underserved. there isn't access to other kinds of clinics or health care. there may not be a hospital nearby. there may not be very many doctors nearby. so we're talking about basic health care, and unfortunately we see politics played with
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women's preventative health care and family planning over and over and over again in attacks on planned parenthood. and as i see it, this is really a personal attack on every woman who needs preventative health care services. that's what this is about. so instead of focusing on jobs, on closing loopholes that are causing our manufacturing jobs to go overseas, instead of making sure we're focused on equal pay for equal work or a standard of living that will allow everyone to be able to be successful and economically independent and care for their families instead of focusing on robustly moving forward as an economy, as a country in a global economy oh, no, instead of focusing on that or continuing to focus on making sure people have access to be able to go to college without getting out of college with so
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much debt you can't buy a house because you can't qualify because you already have so much debt it's as if you had a mortgage. instead of all of that one more time here we are seeing the attack on planned parenthood and women's preventative health care. fortunately, the vast majority of the american people recognize the value of having health republicans like planned parenthood that are dedicated to serving women's health care needs, in ever community across the country. that's why polls show that 64% of voters oppose the move by congressional republicans to defund planned parenthood and therefore preventative health care services like mammograms, cancer screenings, blood pressure checks, access to birth
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control. but unfortunately what is the majority view of the public across the aisle is not what we see debated in the house and in the senate. so we have come a long way in actually strengthening our health care system, making sure that women and men older people younger people can get preventative health care services annual wellness visits without having to have a co-pay to be able to do that. we have seen a lot of strengthening of access to health care for women through the affordable care act. and finally actually being a woman is not viewed as a preexisting condition anymore mr. president, where in too many cases that has been the situation, women in child-bearing years having to pay higher rates or because of
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someone having survived breast cancer or cervical cancer or some other kind of challenge in their life. we're finally under the affordable care act able to say no you don't carry that with you the rest of your life. it's a preexisting condition. that's a good thing. a lot of women are sleeping better at night as a result of that. but when it comes to basic preventative health care access to birth control access to screenings and so on, it just seems that somehow we have to speak out over and over and over again to defend these basic health care services. so one more time, we're headed for a big debate, a big fight on the budget. we're hearing people say they won't allow the united states of america to have a budget for next year unless we defund planned parenthood and health care access for millions of women in this country. it doesn't speak well for what the priorities are of congress.
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and i challenge colleagues across the aisle to join with democrats, to join with the majority of american people who support the ability for women to get a full range of health care services through clinics where they don't have any other kind of access, through planned parenthood other community plans that allow them to get the basic health services they need. women should not be treated as second-class citizens. we have come too far as we look at the affordable care act and health care access, and it will be incredibly disappointing disheartening and maddening frankly, if we end up in a fight one more time. as i've seen it before, i have had to participate in holding back the efforts to say we're not going to fund anything
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unless we defund women's preventative health care. it's wrong and i can tell you as one woman and all of the democratic women and men that are here that we don't intend to allow that to happen. thank you mr. president. i yield the floor. ms. hirono: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president i rise today to speak against the bill to defund planned parenthood. i see this bill and others like it as nothing less than an assault on women's health. what else can you call it when defunding planned parenthood
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will result in 2.7 million women in this country -- that's more than twice the population of the state of hawaii -- not getting the cervical cancer screenings, the mammograms, treatment for sexually transmitted diseases and other health care that they need? for over 100 years, planned parenthood has been a leader in improving the health and well-being of women throughout the united states. for many women especially low-income women survivors of domestic and sexual assault young women and others, planned parenthood health centers are their primary their primary health care provider, who they go to for life-saving cancer screenings, birth control disease testing and other essential health care services. one out of five women in this country will pass through a planned parenthood health center for their services at some point in their lives. you know, these numbers matter. one out of five women in this
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country will go to a planned parenthood center, and here we are debating whether or not to close these centers. i find it astounding that some, especially on the other side of the aisle think that this is a good idea. six out of ten women who access family planning services rely on planned parenthood as their primary point of care. in the state of hawaii, my state, over 20,000 women annually have relied on planned parenthood for their basic health services, services that help individuals maintain their health so they can live full, productive lives. this latest attack and -- you know what, basically fearmongering by the fringes of some on the other side against planned parenthood is unwarranted unnecessary. i consider it mean-spirited on top of that.
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so defending one of the largest health providers to women shows how far some of my republican colleagues will go to restrict women's access to basic health care. as previously noted this latest attack on women's access to care will impact nearly 2.7 million women across the country who benefit from planned parenthood services. 2.7 million women that, again is nearly double the entire population of the state of hawaii. lots of women are going to be impacted by this drive to defund planned parenthood. these 2.7 million americans do not deserve to have their access to health care terminated just so politicians can score political talking points. if these women can't go to planned parenthood, where will they go?
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women who rely on planned parenthood for essential health care services will be forced to find medical care elsewhere or tragically go without. defunding planned parenthood means there will be 400,000 fewer cervical cancer screenings. there will be 500,000 fewer breast exams. there will be 4.5 million fewer tests and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases like h.i.v. in indiana, when the state defunded planned parenthood, several clinics closed. the clinic in scott county was the only testing facility for s.t.d.'s. scott county today is in the middle of an h.i.v. outbreak, and the state had to open a popup clinic to offer such services. defunding led to residents in scott county being unable to get services due to partisan
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gamesmanship. we do not want these results replicated throughout the united states. on behalf of the tens of thousands of women in hawaii and millions across the country who rely on planned parenthood for health care services, i oppose this politically motivated attack that will set women's health care back. i will stand vigilant against these attempts to defund planned parenthood and will continue to defend the good work that this organization does for women across this country every single day. planned parenthood has long been on the ideological hit list of those who want to block abortion that's the reality. that's being honest. so today we're talking about defunding planned parenthood as a way to get though that goal of stopping abortions and tomorrow we'll be talking about some other way to limit a women's right to choose. this bill is dangerous to
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women's health, and i urge my colleagues to join me in voting against this bill and any like it that come our way. thank you, mr. president. i yield my time. t? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. the presiding hawaii. -- ms. hirono: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: i ask the quorum calldispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. murphy: thank you mr. president. later this week, we're going to have our first republican presidential debate, the official one that's on tv and a lot of people are going to be watching. there has been a lot of speculation as to who's going to be in the debate, who's not going to be in the debate, who will do well, who won't, who will rise in the polls, who will fall in the polls. but fangly we don't really need to wait for that debate because the
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republican presidentdential primary campaign is playing out right now on the floor of the united states senate. i think to the detriment of the institution. how else would you explain a threat from members of this body and frankly from members of the house -- many of which are not running for president -- to shut down the government over the issue of funding for planned parenthood? now, we've been through this before. we've been through government shut-downs prompted by ideological politics before, and a lot of people got hurt. a lot of people got hurt. a woman in bridgeport, connecticut her life was torn apart because her head start program got shut down because of the federal government shutdown. and she just was just beginning a new job and she had to make a
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choice between continuing in this new place of employment that was going to lift her up out of poverty and essentially sending her kids out on to the street while they didn't have care or leaving the job and taking care of her kids while head start was shut down. that's the consequences of a government shutdown. and so if you're going to shut down the government, your reason for doing it better be pretty good. the reason a couple years ago was a miserable one taking health care away from millions of americans who are getting it because of the affordable care act. but this one is just as insidious. i don't know where women in my state would be without planned parenthood. my wife is one of tens of thousands -- probably hundreds of thousands of connecticut women who got their preventive
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care from planned parenthood. she did that when she was young and didn't have a lot of income and needed to be able to find a primary care provider who could get her access to basic health care services. there's 2.7 million patients all across the country who receive their health care, their present tiff health care from planned parenthood. more than 90% of what planned parenthood does all across the country is engage in preventative health care. in 2013, 400,000 pathway tests, 500,000 breast exams 4.5 million s.d.i. tests and treatment including h.i.v. tests. in connecticut there's 17 planned parenthood centers and they serve -- here's the number -- 64,000 patients in the state of connecticut. and so we're going to shut down
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the government in order to take health care away from 464,000 women in connecticut. all in order for a handful of people to make an ideological point that may get some additional votes within a republican presidential primary. despite the fact that since the 1980's the law in this country has been clear you can't use federal dollars for abortions. now, i oppose that law. because i believe that abortions are part of a panoply of medical services that should be available to people in this country at their choice and i just frankly think that the government should stay out of the business of deciding what medically necessary health care choices women can make. i just don't think we shushed involved in that. so i don't actually support the underlying law that prevents those dollars from being used but it is the law of the land,
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it has been the law of the lapped and will be the law of the land. what we're going to say is we're going to shut down access to 64,000 women in connecticut because the place that they're getting health care from also performs a health care service that is objectionable to people who are running for president. but let's take that logic to its natural extrapolation. let's take it to its logical end point. if you believe that no one should be eligible to get health care services from any institution that has anything to do with abortions or the full array of reproductive health care services, you can't actually stop at planned parenthood. you have to stop funding any hospital that has anything to do with offering a full array of health care services. you have to stop funding for
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health care centers that do the same. why wouldn't you stop sending medicaid dollars to states like connecticut that have codified roe versus wade? what's the logical end to this policy if all of a sudden an organization that spends 90% plus of its resources simply engaging in the good stuff of preventative health care, now all of a sudden can't serve anybody because they engage in a service that is a politically hot topic here in congress despite the fact there's a law on the books that says they can't use any of their federal dollars for that particular service. take this to its logical end and we cut off federal funding for not 64,000 patients in connecticut but virtually every patient in connecticut. if any association with the provision of abortions all of a sudden denies you federal
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funding. i don't concede, i don't concede the fact that the hyde amendment is the law of the land but i acknowledge that it is and it will be and this is just presidential republican primary politics finding their way onto the senate floor. and what this could lead to is not the defunding of planned parenthood because you won't get the votes nor the presidential signature to defund one of the most important primary and preventative health care providers in our states. i won't do that. i won't deny health care to 64,000 connecticut women. and so all you do by creating this line in the sand once again is shut down the federal government sucking thousands of jobs out of our economy and
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leading to tens of thousands of stories of individual misery like that woman from bridgeport who all of a sudden woke up to find that her kid couldn't go to his head start program and so she had to think about quitting her new job in order to take care of her child. i get it that threats about shutdowns, they make good headlines. they play to a slice of a presidential primary electorate but they're big headaches for real people. you're not playing with politics when you talk about shutting down the government over defunding planned parenthood or over repealing the affordable care act. you're playing with people's lives. and so i hope that this is just the issue of the week in the republican presidential primary. i hope that when we come back in september we're not seriously
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talking about another government shutdown. i hope we seriously aren't talking about an attack on women's health care all across this country. i hope we aren't entertaining the idea that tens of thousands of women in my state are all of a sudden going to lose access to services or tens of thousands of women and men are going to lose access to programs like head start and job training all the other things that get affected when the government shuts down. i'm sick of shutdowns. i've only been in the congress for less than a decade, i've been through more of them, real and threatened than i'd care to remember, and i'm certainly not going to stand for a shutdown threatened on the basis of denying health care for women in the state of connecticut or anywhere else across this country. i hope that we can spend some time after this vote next week that as even my republican
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friends in the republican presidential primary will admit is a show vote and get down to the real business of passing a budget that respects the values and priorities of this country that keeps our government operational, and separates to the best we can the business that we do here on the senate floor from the business of sorting out who's going to be the next republican nominee for president. i yield the floor. mr. murphy: mr. president i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.
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period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent that the title amendment which is at the desk to h.r. 22 be considered and agreed to. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of calendar number 166 s. 1172. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 166 s. 1172, a bill to improve the process of presidential transition. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection. mr. mcconnell: i further ask the committee-reported amendments be agreed to, the carper amendment which is at the desk be agreed to the bill as amended be read a third time and passed and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without
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objection. mr. mcconnell: now mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 10:00 a.m. friday, july 31, for a pro forma session only with no business being conducted. further, that following the pro forma session the senate adjourn until 2:00 p.m. monday, august 3. following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following leader remarks the senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to s. 1881. finally, notwithstanding rule 22 the cloture vote with respect to the motion to proceed to s. 1881 occur at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: so if there's no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it stand adjourned under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until
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joined 15 republicans in voting against the measure. south carolina senator lindsey graham was the only one not voting. the chamber passed the house approved three-month extension of highway funding which includes 3.3 billion. current highway funding would have expired tomorrow. thethe senate is in session next week and plans to begin debate on a bill that would defund planned parenthood. mitch mcconnell spoke with reporters earlier today. here's a look. >> good afternoon everyone. further evidence that the senate is back to work just
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about to wrap up a multi- your highway bill. at the beginning of this knew majority a so we need to put the senate back to work, look for areas where they're is potential for bipartisan agreement. we started with the keystone pipeline. we then passed a budget that is typically not a bipartisan exercise and then did the iran nuclear review act which he will deal with in september done a trade education this week. if we are unable to get on the defund planned parenthood vote on monday hopefully we will get on it but if we don't we will turn the cyber security next week and see if we can achieve something additional for the
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american people before the august recess. i am happy to throw it open for a few minutes. >> voted for the law. explain that. >> i have had a long-standing opposition to funding a planned parenthood frequently in the legislative process things come up. my record is 100 percent. i think i just said we're going to try to move to the bill on monday we have not even begun to talk about that yet. we're going to discuss after
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the august recess. we're still trying to move bills that have bipartisan support. >> these things seem to be piling up to within a couple weeks of each other the highway bill, debt ceiling. >> the highway bill hopefully will not pile up. the houses indicated they intend to do it. the goal of the conference obviously will be to get a result. it is unfortunate senate democrats have prevented us from taking up a single appropriation bill. that was designed before discussion about how to fund the government. the appropriations committee actually marked up and reported out all 12 appropriation bills.
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the senate republicans are ready to have a normal process which was prevented by the fact that democrats have made it clear they won't let them be taken up on the floor of the senate. [inaudible question] >> we are not talking about negotiation today. come back after august and discuss the way forward. >> if the senate voted to reauthorize this bill do you believe that can be part of the conference report? >> am sorry, i cannot understand what you are saying. >> given that xm was reauthorized by the senate. >> first we have to have a conference. the house will pass a multi-your multi- your highway bill in early september. we will go to conference and see what is produced. [inaudible question]
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>> i thinki think we have had quite a good week here in the senate. thanks a lot, everybody. >> those remarks took place right after the senate passed a six-year highway and mass transit bill 65 to 34. the chamber passed a house approved three-month extension of highway funding which includes $3.3 billion $3.3 billion for veterans affairs health programs. current highway funding would have expired tomorrow. the senate is in session next week and plans to begin debate on a bill that would defund planned parenthood. follow the senate live here on c-span2. >> c-span2 brings you the best access to congress
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live debate and votes, hearingsblic policy events in every weekend book tv with nonfiction books and authors and behind-the-scenes look at the publishing industry. c-span2, the best access to congress and nonfiction books. >> earlier today senate democrats chuck schumer elizabeth warren and stamina spoke about their chamber under republican control. this is 20 minutes. >> good afternoon, everybody i am joined by my colleagues,colleagues, vice
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chair and senators warren and warner. i thank them for being here. seven months into the republican senate. first half of this year has been defined by the hard right republican presidential candidates hijacking the agenda and leaving the entire republican caucus fighting quixotic battles weeks and weeks on end. we started the year with the republicans threatening to shut down the department of homeland security. after weeks of toying with the country safety republicans were forced to back off. they then spentthey then spent week after week holding up a bill to prevent human trafficking unless they rollback women's healthcare and finally realized the error and futility of their ways all the while loretta lynch waited and waited and waited to be confirmed as attorney general for no reason at all.
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republicans found time to vote fully repeal the aca time to let key part of the patriot act go dark and are now finding time to defund planned parenthood and limit one's access to cancer screening, birth control and other vital services. they have not found time to lift a single finger to help the middle class. if you look at their to do list if it helps a special interest republicans are going around to it. if it helps middle-class has gone down. something to improve workers rights in the workplace that chance raising the minimum wage three-month. republicans have spent nearly every waking hour placating there base and catering to special interest
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