mr. bunning: what the senator has proposed in plain english. mr. durbin: how much time do i have stphraeuplg the presiding officer: 5 minutes and 20 seconds. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent that the last five minutes on the democratic side be reserved for senator baucus. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. bunning: reserving the right to object. what five minutes is he talking about? his time or the time that is already reserved for the chairman of the finance committee and the ranking member of the finance committee? mr. durbin: all the time of debate on your amendment has been equally divided between democrats and republicans. i'm not asking for your time. i'm asking that of the democratic time the last five minutes be given to senator baucus. mr. bunning: on the time -- so i understand, on the time that is reserved for the senator from montana and the senator from iowa? mr. durbin: yes. mr. bunning: thank you. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. sessions: mr. president? mr. bunning: i yield whatever time the

mr. bunning: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky is recognized. mr. bunning: thank you, mr. president. ret me begin by addressing -- let me begin by addressing some of the arguments made by the other side of the aisle against my amendment. first, the senator from illinois said that this would cause a needless delay in extending these programs. potentially causing a protracted negotiation with the house. with all due respect, that's nonsense. we all know the house can act very quickly. in fact, they did so when they sent this bill, h.r. 4691, to us. and the house has already passed my black liquor offset. i want everybody to understand that we pay for the extension of unemployment benefits, cobra assistance, health care assistance, so everybody's covered. in the larger bill that we are dealing with on the floor, the one we took off the floor to address this amendment and this bill, also extends these provisions longer than just a month. the highway bill, the doc fix on medicare, the small business loans that we heard about that we are destroying with ou

mr. bunning: and were granted. mr. schumer: that was granted and then we go back and everyone get their full allocation of morning business, and that was granted. there was no intention that the quorum call take against either side. mr. bunning: but that's the normal procedure, isn't it? mr. schumer: i understand. the presiding officer: is there objection? without the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent to use time from morning business on our side. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president, right now families across my home state and the entire country want nothing more than to see us come together and pass meaningful help for the people that they see struggling every day. they want to see help for people like their neighbors and friends and family members who, through no fault of their own, have found themselves out of a job and de

mr. bunning: thank you, mr. president. anyone who has paid attention to the floor of the senate for the last week knows what my amendments are about. i am offering senators two ways to pay for this spending bill. first of all, i'd like to submit for the record the c.b.o. scoring of this current bill that is before us. both the scoring and the offsets offsets -- i ask unanimous consent that they be put into the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bunning: the first amendment is with unspent stimulus funds, and the second is by shutting down unnecessary or duplicate federal programs. in other words, i'm saying we should use money that we have already set aside that has not been spent or eliminate wasteful spending to pay for the benefits that are in this current bill. over the last few days, many senators on the other side of the aisle have come to the floor and said that unemployments are the best form of stimulus available. they say that the families that are getting those benefits turn around and spend t

mr. bunning: mr.dent? the presiding officer: under a previous order, the leadership time is served. there will now be a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. mr. bunning: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. bunning: thank you. just a brief explanation of why we are where we're at with this extension bill, the brief extension of 30 days. there was an agreement between the majority leader of the finance committee and the minority leader in the finance committee, senators baucus and grassley, on a three-month extension of these very same provisions. there were more provisions in the bill also. it cost a little more than the the $10 billion that is asked for because it was a three-month extension. senator reid pulled that bill from the floor of the u.s. senate. he did it. the leader of the democrats pulled that bill from the floor. i support extending unemployment benefits, cobra benefits, flood insu

mr. bunning? >> no by proxy. >> mr. krapo? >> no. >> mr. corker? mr. demint? >> mr. votes no by proxy. >> mr. vitter? >> no. >> mr. johans? >> no. >> ms. hutchison? >> no by proxy. >> mr. gregg. >> no by proxy. >> the vote is 13 ayes, ten opposed. the measure is passed. >> let me thank all of my colleagues. i'm -- the votes haven't started so i'd like to stay and take some opening comments if members would like to make any opening comments. senator schumer? >> could we come back, those of us who can't be here can we come back and make opening statements? >> i'll be happy to do that tomorrow morning -- i'll leave it up to the will of the -- in the morning if you like. i'd be happy to do it then. anybody else who would like to be heard? we've got a few minutes. any members want to be heard? senator corker no? the corker rule? >> probably best for me not to be heard tonight. >> anything else? if not, i thank all the members. the committee will stand >> i actually now have a house in washington d.c. for the first time. i never had an array idea it was going to be this co

mr. bunning? is he sticking to his guns with this one? nate has just come back to work on this monday. bunning was on the floor talking about his views. so was the majority leader harry reid with some latitude how he might procedurally get around this. vice president biden among those who have been critical of bunning, a republican of kentucky. he's not seeking re-election. his basic beef, he says the extension of unemployment benefits, the highway money and other things that are in this package should be paid for not adding to the deficit. well, harry reid countered saying where was bunning when, for example, wars in afghanistan were put forward without being paid for. this is an example of how one senator can slow things down. it's politics, a bit of procedure and a lot of attention on this. it's likely it will be worked out, a permanent fix will be voted through. that can happen in a matter of days. bunning has gotten a lot of people's attention and brought some curiosity to this issue as well as a lot of fire from critics, even from so

mr. bunning isn't taking any questions. >> excuse me. this is a senator only elevator. >> devastation in chile. the death toll from saturday's quake passes 700. looters take to the streets. as aid slowly trickles in. the race to find survivors continues. all of the news and commentary now on "countdown." >>> good evening from los angeles. cobra, the health insurance benefits americans are allowed to keep even after they have lost a job passed by budget reconciliation. the program got its strange name, in fact, from the first letters of the title of the bill it was contained in. the consolidated omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1986. the children's health insurance program known as s-chip without which more than 7 million children would not be covered passed in a budget reconciliation bill. cancer screenings, hospice benefits, protections for patients in nursing homes all paid for by medicare all passed by budget reconciliation. an npr analysis has concluded that over the past three decades almost every major health financing measure

mr. bunning and the republican party, they should not be allowed to just stop people from doing their business, just one person. and the republican party is not saying a word about it. one other thing. when people used to call in and say one battle word about president bush, you used to -- one little word about president bush, you used to hang up on them. now the bacall and and called president obama every word under the sun -- now people call in and called president obama every word under the sun. you never ask them a question about bush. every week it is, how is mr. obama doing? you never asked that about bush, ever. thank you. host: all right. the caller mentioned senator bunning. he was on the floor and had an exchange what senate majority leader harry reid. first, let us show you what senator bunning had to say about why he is holding up this legislation, and then we will come back and show you what senator harry reid had to say. >> i support extending unemployment benefits, cobra benefits, flood insurance, i will fix, small business loans, network television for satellite viewers. if we

mr. bunning and the republican party, they should not be allowed to just stop people from doing their businessnt bush, you used to -- one little word about president bush, you used to hang up on them. now the bacall and and called president obama every word under the sun -- now people call in and called president obama every word under the sun. you never ask them a question about bush. every week it is, how is mr. obama doing? you never asked that about bush, ever. thank you. host: all right. the caller mentioned senator bunning. he was on the floor and had an exchange what senate majority leader harry reid. first, let us show you what senator bunning had to say about why he is holding up this legislation, and then we will come back and show you what senator harry reid had to say. >> i support extending unemployment benefits, cobra benefits, flood insurance, i will fix, small business loans, network television for satellite viewers. if we can't find $10 billion to pay for something that we all support, we will never pay for anything on the floor of this u.s. senate. i have offered several ways

mr. bunning: -- two minutes. why would you vote for a bill when you know it's not going to be honored? why would you vote for a bill that you knew was going to be violated in the first bill brought to the floor after you passed it? as far at doc fix is concerned, i have a history with the doc fix that i don't need to defend to the majority leader or to anybody in this body. just check with the kentucky medical association and all of my doctors that i represent in kentucky. i think the gentleman's letter from louisville states the facts better than me. we want a country that my 40 grandchildren have the same abilities that i did growing up. we want a country that don't owe everybody in the world for our existence. and the question i've been asked mostly is, why now? mostly is, why now? >> and a question i've been asked mostly is why now? well, why not now? what better time for it than to stand up when the majority leader has the ability to do exactly on this bill what he has done on 25 bills in the last five months. file cloture filled with tree, and vote you go or nay. get the 60 votes

. >> reporter: bunning suggested using $10 billion in unspent stimulus funds. democrats said no. >> mr. president, i object. >> reporter: many of bunning's colleague as grew with him how congress will explain how it will spay for the spending. >> virtually everyone approves of extending those benefits, including bunning but a deal expected to be worked out. in the meantime those who see the benefits run out will simply have to wait. >> as we saw, thanks, jon. we head to capitol hill to pennsylvania avenue. when the president gets a physical, the whole country compares the numbers. for instance, blood pressure, great. cholesterol -- jake tapper hat the white house with the first physical. >> reporter: the president appears to be in great shape, but his doctor is concerned about this ldl, so-called bad cholesterol, level at 138, up 42 points since 2007 and rated "borderline high" by the american heart association. the national average is 114.8. the white house blamed it on a white house chef at his beck and call. >> you guys think he eats car r rots and celery, and there's more cheesebur

senator tester came to the floor last week to ask senator bunning to stop blocking mr. punke's confirmation. now, after reading yesterday's "new york times," i felt compelled to also speak about the hold on this confirmation. yesterday's story in the paper reported on china's aggressive filing of complaints with the w.t.o. in the last 12 months china filed more complaints with the w.t.o. than any other country, even though it is cleaning the clock of every country on the planet, including the united states, when it comes to trade. china racked up a nearly $200 billion trade surplus with the rest of the world last year. its trade imbalance with the united states is 4:1. and yet the united states's top position at the w.t.o. -- you guessed it, the position that mr. punke has been nominated for -- is being held up. it's still vacant because there is one senator who is unhappy with canada's tobacco law. that's right. as senator whitehouse has already told us, the hold on mr. punke has nothing to do with whether he's qualified to be ambassador to the w.t.o. his confirmation

bunning is giving for his hold? he wants canada to repeal parts of the antismoking law that they passed in the canadian parliament. i don't think that holds water. mr. president, this job is too important pho to remain open because one senator has a flimsy policy beef with a foreign country. common sense has a prevail. expanding u.s. exports will help rebuild our economy by creating jobs. michael punk is an important part of that goal. michael will be responsible for promoting and securing u.s. trade interests abroad to create jobs for america's farmers, workers, and businesses right here at home. our trading partners use his absence as an excuse to stall process on serious negotiations. mr. president, standing in the way is hurting america's businesses and workers who are affected by these very important negotiations. michael could be working right now to create jobs for american farmers, workers and businesses. but instead some issue about tobacco in another country is keeping us from moving forward. that is not right. that is why a broad coalition of america's farmers and businesses have been calling for quick approval of michael punke by the un

mr. senator, you put too much money in that. i can't vote for it. it's too big an increase. you're either for agriculture or you're against agriculture. what they said to senator bunning down here the other night was, when he said tphoeut insurance -- when he said unemployment insurance should be paid for, they said you're against unemployment insurance. you want people not to have any unemployment insurance. which was absolutely false. and they repeated it over and over again. but he stood like a solid rock, and he didn't give in. he said, i'm not agreeing to it because you could pay for it. it's increasing the debt of my 42 grandchildren. he didn't agree to it. you know, that's just every now and then somebody stands newspaper this senate and says i've -- stands up in this senate and says i've had enough. i'm not going to say yes this time. and i respect him for the courage he showed. well, the committee for common sense -- for a responsible federal budget, which is a bipartisan group in d.c., issued a report not long ago that said that freezing all nonwar-related discretionary spending next year could save us $60 billion in one year and will set up a new baseline t

mr. speaker. i will fast forward to another circumstance that's taking place, yesterday, day before, day before, day before and will be taking place tomorrow, and that is the position that senator bunning has taken with regard to the position of unemployment benefits. if you believe we should pay as we go, that the people should find a way to pay as they go. they passed pay-go here. it's a sham. they bypassed it or ignored it and do whatever they want to do. there's no standard anymore. the integrity has diminished substantially. jim bunning has said, find a way to pay for it. this is in the trillions of dollars. we have a president who is a keynesian. he has an appetite to spendor grandchildren's future income. today, by my numbers, a baby born in america owes uncle sam $44,000. somebody else's number is $46,000. by the time that child starts the fifth grade, if the president's budget is approved, authorized and appropriated, we will see that child owing the federal government $88,000 when they walk in to meet their fifth grade teacher. at the same time, the same administration, laments the college debt that they have. now if you have a student that walks out of college and gets their

mr. bunning: thank you, mr. president. amendment 3360 is simple. it contains all the extensions in the baucus substitute. but rather than adding over a -- the presiding officer: the senate is not in order. the senators please take your conversations out of the senate. thank you senator. mr. bunning: thank you, mr. president. but rather than adding over over $100 billion in costs to the deficit and debt, which the baucus substitute does, my amendment pays for the spending in this bill by rescinding unspent stimulus funding. my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have stated repeatedly that c.b.o. considers money spent stoning unemployment -- extending unemployment benefits to be one of the best kind of stimulus because the people who receive it are likely to immediately spend it. so let's bring back money from an ineffective stimulus bill in which some of the funding won't be spent until fiscal year 2013, or beyond. let's stimulate the economy now. and prevent a massive increase in the debt at the same time. now, i ha

mr. bunning: thank you. thank you. mr. president, i would like to call up bunning amendment 3631. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. bunning, proposes an amendment numbered 3681. at the end of subtitle b of title 1, as the following -- add the following -- mr. bunning bunning: please dise with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. bunning: can we get some order. the presiding officer: please come to order. please show the respect to senator bunning that you did to senator reid and senator mcconnell. the senator has one minute. mr. bunning: i'll be glad to wait until the senate is in order so i can be heard. mr. president, i rise to offer a very important amendment to many of our seniors. my amendment would allow individuals to voluntarily opt out of medicare part-a benefits. right now, if you don't want to have medicare part-a, you have to forego social security checks and you also have to repay any medicare benefits that have been paid on your behalf. i don't think that's fair. if a senior doesn