our governor on medicaid expansion. i am one that respects and writes their voices." close quote. but today i'm told he will perform a breath-taking about face and vote to do away with montanans' health care. there is a longer list. republicans in ohio, west virginia, the state of nevada will all embrace medicaid expansion. republican governors. in nevada, brian sandoval considered by many to be staunch with his republican party, but he displayed courage by expanding health coverage for tens of thousands of nevadans. so i hope my friend and fellow senator from nevada will follow our governor's example and stand for our constituents' health care. too few republicans will. if obamacare is so awful, why are republicans in kentucky, wyoming, montana, north dakota,

new hampshire eager to use it? it's simple. the affordable care act expands coverage and it cuts cost. it's good for the states. that's why arizona expanded medicaid. it's insuring hundreds of thousands of arizonans as we talk now. i was disappointd with my friend, who we served together, we came to the house together, came to the senate together -- that's the senior senator from arizona. he made it clear that he'll vote for repeal in spite of all the people benefiting from obamacare back home. here's what john mccain said -- and i quote -- "obviously the governor and legislature in my state decided that they wanted that program, and so it is going to trouble me in the vote." close quote. the senior senator from arizona ignores that he is casting a vote in direct option to the needs of the -- direct opposition to the needs of the people in arizona. if republicans aren't listening to state leaders to whom are they listening?

corporations, billion-dollar companies have no trouble getting congressional republicans to do their bidding, even as they try and snatch health coverage from 17 million americans, republicans are throwing money at corporations. that's why they plan to do -- that's what they plan to do with the money saved by repealing the affordable care act. they'll hand it over to corporations in the form of tax breaks. so i have news for my republican friends. these multibillion-dollar companies don't need your help. they're doing just fine on their own. the american middle class needs help but this republican congress is doing nothing to aid working families. why are we here if we're not here to help people at home? the republican presidential candidate, somebody i came to the house with, in 1982, john kasich was asked earlier this year why he chose to expand medicaid in his state, the state of ohio. he gave this remarkable answer -- and i quote -- "when you die and get to the meeting with st. peter, he's probably not going

to ask you how much -- he's not going to ask you much about what you did about keeping government small. but he's going to ask you what you did for the poor. you better have a good answer." close quote. from john kasich. he's right, this is an opportunity to help unfortunate americans who lack quality health insurance. i wish governor kasich could convince the junior senator from ohio of that simple truth. i say to my republican friends do the right thing. stop this nonsense about repeal of obamacare. everyone knows this repeal of the affordable care act is going nowhere. so instead of wasting everyone's time, instead of ignoring the wishes of the people home, let's work together to improve health care coverage. there are a lot of things we can do working together to improve health care coverage for americans. let's move beyond repeal and start making the affordable care act work even better for the

american people. mr. president, i would ask the that you announce the business of the senate today. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 3762, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 299, h.r. 3762, an act to provide for reconciliation pursuant to section 2002 of the concurrent resolution on the budget for fiscal year 2016. mr. reid: i would ask consent that the quorum call which i will announce -- my unanimous consent request is that the time in quorum calls by the chair be divided equally by the majority and minority. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the time until 1:30 p.m. will be equally divided in the usual form. the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. cornyn: mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader.

mr. cornyn: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cornyn: mr. president, this morning, i will be joining at the president's invitation a bipartisan group of congressmen and senators to discuss the need for criminal justice reform in the country, and i'm actually really glad that the president has shown such an interest in this topic, one that we have been working on here in the congress for a number of years. i've said it before and i i'll y it again, i don't don't agree with the president on a lot of things, perhaps most things, but i'm glad to know he is making this issue a priority, and i really think it's one of those rare magical moments where you see things coming together on a bipartisan basis across the political spectrum where we can actually make some real progress that will benefit the american people and make our criminal justice system fair and more effective. of course, here in the senate, a diverse bipartisan group have shared this concern for a very long time, so while i appreciate the president's vocal support

and for convening the group to discuss it this morning, i want to make clear that this legislation has been years in the making. actually, the impetus for the part that i contributed to the bill emanate interested a 2007 experiment in texas and prison reform, but that legislation has manifested here in the senate is now called the sentencing reform and crebz act of 2015 -- corrections act of 2015. it's the result of a lot of hard work and some compromise, which is the only way things actually get done around here in order to build a bipartisan consensus, and it brings targeted and much-needed reforms to the federal justice system. and i'm really glad to be able to join with the junior senator from rhode island, somebody again who is probably at the opposite end of the political spectrum from me in terms of ideology but where we found common ground on this important prison reform component.

because most prisoners will eventually be released into society which is something we have forgotten. unfortunately, our prisons have too often become warehouses for human beings and we have forgotten the reality that many of them will be released back into society and we have yet done very little to help prepare them to successfully re-enter society rather than get into that turnstile that sometimes characterizes our criminal justice system and ends up right back in prison again. now, we can't save everybody, but i believe we can offer an opportunity for some who want to save themselves, to improve themselves, to be better prepared, to re-enter society as productive individuals. this reform as i said is based on an experience in texas starting back in 2007, and people perhaps think of texas as being tough on crime, and indeed we are.

we finally realize that we also have to be smart on crime, that prisons cost money, that every time somebody reoffends and ends back up in the prison system, you have to pay the salaries of prosecutors, public defenders, judges and others that's expensive. and if we can find a way to be fiscally more responsible and actually be more effective when it comes to the results, we ought to grab that opportunity. and i happen to think that it represents the way we really ought to legislate here in washington, d.c. that is based on successful experiments in the states. it's no coincidence that louis brandeis once called the states the laboratories of democracy, but it represents the -- really, the opposite of what we've seen here in washington, d.c., when, for example, in obamacare, the president decides we're going to take over 1/6 of the u.s. economy and we're going to mandate from washington what's a

one-size-fits-all approach for all 320 million or so americans, and it just doesn't work as we have documented time and time again on the floor. so i'm optimistic that we have found an area where we can work with the president and move this legislation forward, and all i would ask is the president roll up his sleeves and work with us, along with the democrats and both houses of congress and so we can make this criminal justice reform a reality. i mentioned obamacare, mr. president. that's my second topic for today. this afternoon, we will keep a promise that we made to the american people that we will vote to repeal obamacare. and obamacare, were this legislation signed into law, could not sustain this mortal wound that's going to be inflicted this afternoon. are we doing this for partisan reasons? i would say no, absolutely not. what we are doing is listening to our constituents who have told us that they have had one

bad experience after another with obamacare. they have been forced by the federal government to buy coverage that they don't want and they don't need and that they can't afford. and so what we propose to do is to send a bill to the president that would repeal obamacare and then replace it with affordable coverage that people actually want. but we made clear to the american people that if they gave us the privilege of leading here in the congress that we would keep this promise and we would fulfill that promise here in the senate today. i remember voting at 7:00 a.m. on christmas eve in 2009 when 60 democrats voted to jam obamacare down the throats of the american people, and they made promises after promise. the president himself said that if you like what you have, you can keep it. that proved not to be true. the president said a family of four would see an average

reduction in their premium costs by $2,500, and that wasn't true. and so as somebody who has spent a little bit of time in law enforcement, as a former attorney general of my state, i would call this a deceptive trade practice. this is defraudinged american people, selling them a product based on a set of promise that ends up not being true. so i believe that it's time to repeal this bad law and to replace it with something that people want and that they can afford. my state has been hit hard, as all states have been, including that of the presiding officer, by the effects of obamacare, and almost every day we read news accounts of escalating health care costs, including premiums and fewer choices and options and less access for our constituents. just recently the houston chronicle reported next year that the houston area patients won't have access to any plans

on the obamacare exchange that cover costs at m.d. anderson, the premier cancer treating facility in america. if you can't buy insurance to cover catastrophic events like cancer at the hospital of your choice, what good is it? as a matter of fact, i remember our former colleague, senator tom coburn from oklahoma, who sort of, he's used up most of his nine lives but he's experienced cancer at least three times to my recollection and he actually was seeking treatment at m.d. anderson and he said as a result of obamacare he no longer could get coverage from the insurance policy that he had because m.d. anderson wasn't an acceptable provider under the obamacare policy. today i want to provide a very quick snapshot of the thousands of letters that i received, and i'm sure they're typical of the letters that we have all received about -- from our constituents about the problems they've encountered with obamacare. one of my constituents recently wrote me to tell me her story,

and it's similar to the narrative i've heard from many others. her insurance plan was canceled last fall because it didn't meet the mandates of obamacare. and as a result, she had to switch to a more expensive policy, one with a higher monthly payment, an $11,000 deductible. what good is it to have an insurance policy with an $11,000 deductible? how many americans can self-insure and pay that bill so that they can take advantage of what limited coverage that they actually have under such a policy? so she went on to say that she was notified that her plan would once again be terminated for the next year. and her monthly costs would go up again as a result. and to top it off, she'd end up losing her primary care provider. in other words, the doctor that she preferred would no longer be available to her under this new policy that she would be forced to buy at a higher price.

so she's like a lot of folks around the country, full of questions and frustrations and seemingly nowhere to turn to find any relief for her spouse, for her children on or their sml business. this particular constituent implored me and congress to do something about it. she said, senator cornyn, this has caused turmoil throughout texas. we are terrorized in other own country by the so-called benefits of the affordable care act. now those are her words, not mine. she said her family was terrorized by obamacare. but the strong message she conveyed is not all that different from what i've heard from other people. another constituent raised a similar issue. he is for now, for the third time in as many years searching for yet another health insurance plan after his was canceled. he went on to highlight another theme that's impossible to miss when i talk to folks back home

about this topic. he said, i seem to remember that the president said something about liking your insurance and being able to keep it. for myself and my family, it's been just the opposite. we loved our insurance coverage prior to the passage of the act and have since been forced to purchase much more expensive insurance at much higher deductibles. well, he's right, and in just a few hours we're going to have a chance to vote on the senator from wisconsin, senator ron johnson's amendment to this legislation we'll be considering on an if you like it, you can keep it amendment, to keep that guarantee and we'll see how our friends on the other side of the aisle who forced this flawed legislation down the throats of the american people, how they vote based on this experience. well, just like many other texans, the people i've talked about back home have seen their premiums and their deductibles skyrocket to unaffordable

levels. and along with the anemic economy and flat wages, people have really found themselves with less and less money in their pocket and found themselves with a decreased and diminished standard of living, which has caused a lot of frustration. this particular constituent ended his letter to me by asking the members of congress to -- quote -- "do anything within your power to reverse this terrible health care trend. i need relief," he said. so we've reached a pretty scary time in our nation's history when we have americans writing and calling their elected representatives saying they need relief from their own government. the threat is not outside. people are being threatened by their own government and the overreach that they see and the negative impact it has on their quality of life and their standard of living. so we have a duty now. we have a mandate, i believe, to repeal this terrible law and to

make it a relic of the past. and we are going to do our duty, we are going to keep our promise to the american people today. well, there was an outcry from my constituents back home on another topic that gripped our attention, the horrific videos released showing planned parenthood executives callously discussing the harvesting of organs from unborn children. we seem to have forgotten those terrible videos and what they depicted. so this bill will also do something to defund planned parenthood and redirect those funds to the many community health centers that exist in texas and across the country that day in and day out diligently provide health care to people in my state and around the country. so there will be no less money directed toward public health care. it will be redirected away from planned parenthood and to the

community health centers. and oh, by the way, there are a whole lot more community health centers so there will be actually improved access for most americans at community health centers. so by repealing obamacare, we are doing more than just delivering on a promise. we are providing a way forward for millions of americans around this country who have been hurt. not helped, but hurt by obamacare. and we will do our best to help them find some relief as one of my constituents who i just quoted implored. we look forward to passing this legislation to scrap obamacare and to bring this country one step closer to making it history. and again, mr. president, this isn't just about repealing obamacare. this is about replacing it with coverage that people want, that suits their personal need at a price they can afford. you would have thought that health care reform would all be about making health care more affordable. but in fact, obamacare was just

the opposite. it made it more expensive and less affordable, as you've seen, as i've tried to point out in my remarks. so, mr. president, at this time i would -- i don't see any other senator interested in speaking, so i would note the absence of a quorum and yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: mr. president, when i woke up this morning, i'd hope that yesterday's tragedy in san bernardino was just an

unimaginable nightmare, and then as i usually do in the morning, i go through the clips from my state, and i read the headlines. "blood bath in san bernardino." "14 slain at california office party." "carnage in california." "shooting rampage sows terror in california." "at least 14 dead in mass shooting." "deadly rampage at holiday party ." "a day of horror." "horror hits home." "horrific" just one word.

"masked mass murder." these are from papers from all over my state and a couple of national headlines. my heart is broken after this rampage that led to the tragic loss of life, so many injuries, so much trauma and pain for the people of san bernardino. i want to thank the medical personnel who are working as we speak to save lives, and all the brave, courageous law enforcement officers who rushed to the scene and later stopped these killers. we know that the victims in this attack were county employees at the san bernardino department of public health. i began my career as a county supervisor and i oversaw in marin county, the department of public health. and i know how dedicated those county employees. they are right there.

they're right there in the communities. and the facility was really dedicated to helping to save people. so for this to happen at a holiday party where these employees were gathering in friendship, it's a stunning shock. and while details about the motive behind this despicable attack are still unknown, here's what we do know. because these killers used military-style weapons, 14 people died and 17 people were wounded in a matter of minutes. the purpose of these guns, these military-style guns, is to kill a lot of people very fast, mr. president. the scene looked like a war zone, and there's a reason for

that. again, because these weapons, they're designed for the military. they're designed for the police. and i have to be honest with you, sir. i have never heard one persuasive argument about why anyone else would need to have this type of weapon. these weapons of war, they just don't belong on our streets and in our communities. my colleague, senator feinstein, for years has been pushing sensible legislation that would keep these military-style weapons off our streets. we need to stand with her. we need to stand with her across party lines and pass it. it is so discouraging, mr. president, that we can't even pass legislation here that would keep suspected terrorists who are on the no-fly list from legally buying a weapon, any kind of a weapon. so it isn't enough for us to

keep lamenting these tragedies. we need to take action now before something else like this happens again in your state, in my state. you know, when we take an oath of office, we swear that we will protect and defend the american people. i just don't think we're protecting them. will we allow these type of weapons to get into the wrong hands? this year, we're averaging more than one mass shooting every single day. multiple people killed by guns, innocent people every day. this is america. this doesn't happen in other industrialized nations. 31 people die every day from gun violence. 31 people. after ten years of the vietnam war, we lost nearly 60,000 americans, and people were in

despair. we lose more than that to gun violence in less than two years in this great nation. if it was anything else that caused the death of 30,000 americans a year, every single senator would be in their chair, and we would be demanding action and we would be crossing over party lines to stop it, because that, my friends, is an epidemic. people deserve to feel safe in their communities. i don't understand it. they deserve to feel safe when they go to a holiday party at work. they deserve to be safe sitting in these galleries, they deserve to be safe. going to a movie theater, they deserve to be safe in their school when they are 6 years old or 16 or 26. they deserve to be safe in their workplace.

at a shopping mall, at a restaurant and at a health care clinic. this is job, to keep our people safe. we know the threats that face us abroad, and we have threats at home. so we need to do both. we need to protect our people abroad from threats abroad and from threats at home, and the very best way to honor the victims of gun violence is to take sensible steps that are supported by the american people like universal background checks , keeping assault weapons in the hands of our military and our police, safety features on guns, keeping guns out of the hands of people who were unbalanced, unstable criminals, and then we can prevent these tragedies. will we prevent every tragedy? no. i know my friends say well, someone could have a knife.

yes. it's a lot easier to get away from a knife than an automatic weapon that most you down before you can even look up and figure out what's happening. so i'm crying out today for support for sensible gun laws. and regardless of motive, regardless of motive we need to make sure that military weapons belong in the hands of the military and the police. it's pretty straightforward. our people are not safe. i don't care what state you look at, i don't care what city you look at, i don't care what town you look at. san bernadino is a beautiful place. i don't live far from there. i have an office about 15 minutes or less from there. people deserve to feel safe in our communities. and so i send my love, my

prayers, my solidarity to the community, to the families, to the first responders, to everyone there. and yeah, we're going to pull together, like all these communities do, but we need to prevent these things from happening because if we don't, we're liable. i believe we're liable. we know what's killing people every day. it's gun violence, and we know it. i'm not a lawyer but i have a lot of family members who are lawyers. my son, my father was, my husband is. and i think once you know something is happening and you can do something about it and you don't do something about it, you're liable. maybe not in a legal sense. in the moral sense.

so i hope we're going to come together around this. every time the press comes and asks me tragedy after tragedy after tragedy. will something happen now? after sandy hook, i said absolutely, we're going to come together. we did not. we did not. and i want to just close with this. in california, we have tough gun laws. i don't know how these weapons got where they were. we'll find out. and people say well, you have these gun laws. look at this. we have had a 56% reduction in gun violence since 1993 in my great state because we have taken action, but this is one nation under god. somebody comes from a nearby state, from north, from east and they have a gun. so that's why it is so important for us to work together and have sensible national laws, universal background checks. almost 90% of the people support

it. the majority of n.r.a. members support it. what's wrong with us that we can't do that? what are we afraid of? and these military assault style weapons that kill so fast and so many people, we should make sure that they're in the hands of the military and the police. mr. president, my heart is heavy, and it will remain so. this was supposed to be a great day for a lot of us who worked so long and hard on a highway bill. this is a moment that we were waiting for. and that's what life's about. you know, there are these moments that you savor and there are moments that you wish to god you never had to talk about or experience, and that's the kind of day it is for this particular senator, and i know senator feinstein feels the same way. i thank you very much, and i

yield the floor. ms. hirono: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. ms. hirono: mr. president, i rise today to discuss an amendment i filed to the reconciliation bill, amendment number 2887 to strengthen pell grants. this amendment provides middle-class families with the kind of stable funding source that they can rely on when it comes to paying for college. pell grants have historically been the key investment in helping low-income students pay for college. most of my colleagues would agree that a good education is one of the surest paths to the middle class. in 1980, the maximum federal pell grant covered about 77% of in-state four-year college tuition. now pell grants only account for about a third of those costs.

rising college costs prevent many low-income students no matter how hard they work from being able to go to college and thus from reaching the middle class. if the u.s. senate can accomplish one thing that invests in our nation's future, it should be to enact policies that help to stabilize and expand the middle class. we all know that there is a growing income disparity in our country which is whittling down our middle class and making it harder and harder for people to get ahead in the first place. key to the path forward for many is college affordability. pell grants are a critical part of college affordability. almost half of all college students in the u.s. receive pell grants to help fund their education, including 23,000 students in my home state of hawaii. unfortunately, pell grants, the largest federal student aid

program which are primarily funded by discretionary, not mandatory funding appropriations, do not provide the kind of stable funding source that families can rely upon. each year, congress in its discretion determines how much funding goes to pell grants. this should change. federal financial aid should be a resource that students and their families can count on, that they can plan around. to that end, the amendment i filed would do two things. first, it would convert the pell grant program from the discretionary side of the budget to the mandatory side of the budget for five years. that way, eligible families won't have to worry each year about congressional appropriations, at least for five years, and they can plan their finances for an entire four-year degree. second, my amendment would index pell grants annually for

inflation. that means that as college costs rise, so, too, does the amount of federal aid to low-income students. students and their families should have confidence that if they commit to earning an education, federal support will be there to support their hard work. my amendment would give them that stability. this amendment is paid for by closing tax loopholes for corporate executives and hedge fund managers and by instituting the buffett rule to ensure that americans who earn over $1 million per year pay their fair share of taxes. tax fairness from those who earn more in a year than many college graduates make in their lifetimes, to give a hand up to the next generation of strivers is more than reasonable to me. access to educational opportunity is not a handout. graduates will still have to work hard to get good jobs,

start businesses and succeed, and when they succeed, our country succeeds. i urge my colleagues to support my amendment to stabilize and strengthen the middle class, to invest in our next generation of leaders. my amendment to the underlying bill would improve it, but the underlying bill is deeply flawed. the underlying bill before us would take away health care access for millions of women, seniors and low-income working people by gutting the affordable care act, defunding planned parenthood and undermining investments in prevention and research. the resultant harm to our people is a poison pill that we cannot impose on american families. this republican bill which does little for the middle class and working people will be vetoed by the president. the republicans know this, and

yet they are bound and determined to pass this harmful legislation as soon and as fast as possible. i ask my colleagues to stop, pause and get our country back on track by supporting and strengthening the middle class, by giving a hand up to the people who represent our country's future and by not yanking the rug from under the millions of americans who rely on health care. i yield back. ms. warren: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: mr. president, a few months ago, i asked my republican colleagues if they had fallen down, hit their heads and thought they woke up in the 1950's, and today i am back to check on my republican colleagues because it appears that they are suffering from a serious case of memory loss. now, before i call the doctors at mass general, i just want to say this really isn't a joke. i truly, honestly cannot come

out -- up with a better reason why my republican colleagues have forced us back to the senate floor once again to talk about another reckless scheme to defund planned parenthood. what's with you guys? you know, remember this summer? republicans launched a deliberate, orchestrated plan to defund women's health care centers. let me just clarify, this was not a plan to defund abortions, because for nearly 40 years, the federal government has prohibited federal funding for abortions. no, the plan was to defund planned parenthood health care centers that nearly 2.7 million people use every year, health care centers that one in five women across america have used for cancer screenings, pregnancy and s.t.d. tests, birth control and other basic medical care. to a lot of women and to a lot

of men, the effort to defund planned parenthood health care centers was an overt attack on women's access to needed and legal health care, and when the republicans forced the senate to vote on a bill to defund planned parenthood, it failed and rightly so. that should have been the end of it, but republican extremists just won't quit. in fact, they are doubling down. today senate republicans will use a special maneuver to hold another vote to defund planned parenthood, this time needing only 50 votes to pass instead of the usual 60. now, even if they pass this reconciliation bill, president obama has said he will veto it, but some republican extremists vow to press on, using the most extreme tactic possible, taking the government hostage. they want to attach a rider to the government funding bill and threaten to shut down the

government ten days from now unless the democrats agree to defund planned parenthood. does that sound familiar? well, that's because it is the very same tactic used in 2013 when republicans shut down the government over the affordable care act and flushed $24 billion down the drain, the very same tactic that former speaker john boehner admitted was a -- quote -- predictable disaster. republg politics with planned parent hoot but this isn't a game for the millions of women who depend on planned paren planned parentc medical care every day of the year and have nowhere else to go. and threatening to shut down the government is certainly not a game. not a game for cancer patients, who could be turned away from clinical trials at n.i.h. it's not a game for small businesses that depend on our national parks being open for tourist visits. it's not a