dr. howard dean who says that we should stop this bill in its tracks, which go back to the beginning and have an overall bipartisan agreement. dr. dean, i am with you. >> the senator from pennsylvania. >> mr. president, i ask consent that i may speak up to 20 minutes. >> without objection. >> i have recognition to comment about the patient protection and affordable care act and it has been an extraordinary legislative process with a good bit of the calendar year 2009 taken up with very intensive work to try to pass health care reform. and at the moment, there is still some doubt as to what will happen with the bill. the congressional budget office has not yet submitted a report on the so-called managers package and there is still some concerns being expressed by the senators. and i can understand the frustration that some of them not as we have moved away from a public option. i have been an advocate of a robust public option and think that it ought to be part of the legislation. the public option is just what it says. it's an option. there have been efforts made to demagogue the issue by

dr. howard dean, don't you think 30 million americans with health insurance is worth the effort? i think you do. i think most people do. we can do better, i'm sure. we will work to improve this bill both with the house and to expand that. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: before he leaves the floor, i want to commend the distinguished senator from illinois for his statement and also that the body recognizes that it has been senator sand hoarse has championed this -- sanders who has championed this cause making the case that dollar for dollar there is no better investment in health care than these community health centers. i was going to spend my time this morning talking about the opportunities for democrats and republicans to continue to team up on this health reform issue. i think it's worth noting, that senator sanders, who has championed this effort in this bill, is actually picking up on work that a number of the most influential republicans in this country have been interested in for years. george bush --

dr. howard dean, don't you believe the 30 million americans with health insurance is worth the effort? i think you do. i think most people do. we can do better in short and we will work to improve this bill both with the house and later. mr. president, i yield the floor. >> before he leaves the floor i want to commend the distinguished senator from illinois for his statement and also make sure that the body recognizes that it has been senator sanders who has championed the cause relentlessly making the case dollar for dollar the is no better investment in american health care than these community health centers, and i was going to spend my time this morning talking about the opportunities for democrats and republicans to continue to team up on this health reform issue, and i think it is worth noting senator sanders, who has championed it this effort in this bill is actually picking up on work that a number of the most influential republicans in this country have been interested in for years. george bush, president george bush was a great champion of community health centers and bernie

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dr. howard dean who says we should stop this bill in its tracks, we should go back to the beginning and have an overall bipartisan agreement. dr. dean, i am with you. >> the senator from pennsylvania. >> mr. president i ask unanimous consent i may speak up to 20 minutes. >> without objection. >> i have sought recognition to comment about the patient protection and affordable care act, and it has been an extraordinary legislative process with a good bet of the calendar year 2009 taken up with very intensive work to try to pass health care reform. and at the moment there is still doubt as to what will happen with the bill. the congressional budget office has not yet submitted a report on the so-called managers package and there is still some concern being expressed by some senators, and i can understand the frustration some have had as we have moved away from a public option. i have been an advocate of safe robust public option and think that it ought to be part of the legislation. the public option is just what it says, it is an option. there have been efforts made to demagogue the issue by s

dr. howard dean. who says that we should stop this bill in its tracks. we should go back to the beginning and have an overall bipartisan agreement. dr. dean, i am with you. the presiding officer: time has expired. the senator from pennsylvania. mr. specter: mr. president, i ask consent that i may speak up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. specter: i have sought recognition to speak about the patient protection and affordable care act. and it has been an extraordinary legislative process with a good bit of the calendar year, 2009, taken up with very intensive work to try to pass health care reform. and at the moment there is still some doubt as to what will happen with the bill. the congressional budget office has not yet submitted a report on the so-called managers' package. and there's still some concerns being expressed by some senators. and i can understand the frustration that some have had as we have moved away from a public option. i have been an advocate of a robust public option and think that it ought to be part of the

dr. howard dean. who says that we should stop this bill in its tracks. we should go back to the beginning and have an overall bipartisan agreement. dr. dean, i am with you. the presiding officer: time has expired. the senator from pennsylvania. mr. specter: mr. president, i ask consent that i may speak up to 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. specter: i have sought recognition to speak about the patient protection and affordable care act. and it has been an extraordinary legislative process with a good bit of the calendar year, 2009, taken up with very intensive work to try to pass health care reform. and at the moment there is still some doubt as to what will happen with the bill. the congressional budget office has not yet submitted a report on the so-called managers' package. and there's still some concerns being expressed by some senators. and i can understand the frustration that some have had as we have moved away from a public option. i have been an advocate of a robust public option and think that it ought to be part of the

dr. howard dean, don't you think 30 million americans with health insurance is worth the effort?you do. i think most people do. we can do better, i'm sure. we will work to improve this bill both with the house and later. mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. lugar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. lugar: how much time on either side? the presiding officer: 16 minutes on the republican side. 3 1/2 minutes on the democrat side. mr. lugar: mr. president, the bill before us contains more than $128 billion for operations in afghanistan and iraq. since the president's announcement two weeks ago that he would be ordering tens of thousands of additional u.s. troops to afghanistan, congress held numerous hearings examining the military strategy to be employed. political issues in the region and the dispensation of funding for the war. as we consider our course in afghanistan, we should evaluate options according to how well they contribute to the united states national security. the ultimate purpose of committing tens of thousands of new troops and tens