mr. isakson: the senator is correct. in fact to be precise, there were seven concerns about the legislation when the first u.c. was propounded on our side, five of which involved potential amendments that would be made, or need to be made to the bill, or in their opinion needed to be made. in the case of two of those and working with the leadership on the democratic side they are acceptable and would be included in the base bill. there are three that would be allowed to be debated with time equally divided on the floor and they've asked for a 51-vote threshold. and there is the potential, as we all know, always for a point of order but only three amendments in a point of order would be the only things that i am aware of in all those conversations. and i continue to work at this very moment to get a final agreement so we can get a u.c.. but we're just not there quite yet, and i'm going to try to continue to work towards that goal. ms. landrieu: so let me just ask for a quorum call and to say i'm aware that we're not quite

mr. isakson: mr. president, before i make my remarks, i want to commend the senator from south dakota and underscore what the senator said regarding the skills act passed by the house of representatives. i'm on the health education labor and pensions subcommittee. six years ago the act expired in its authorization and for six years it languished in the bowels and in the heart of the united states senate and in the united states senate house of representatives going unauthorized. between 2008 and today america has experienced terrible unemployment, terrible job loss, terrible increases in unemployment and extensions of that unemployment. the gentleman from south carolina is exactly correct, if we were doing our job and just reauthorizing the programs in the law today like the workforce investment act and training people for the skills of the 21st century and the jobs of the 21st century we wouldn't be talking about unemployment compensation. we wouldn't be talking about the great tragedies of america.

mr. isakson: i yield back all time on the republican side. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 265, s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits, and for other purposes. signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate the debate on the motion to proceed to s. 1845, a bill to provide for the extension of certain unemployment benefits and for other purposes, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and the nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? on this vote the yeas are 60. the nays are 37. three-fifths of the senators d

mr. isakson: i'll be brief in our wasn't minute to express my thanks to senator menendez from new jersey, senator landrieu around vitter and all those that came together 20 put together a great bill for the people of the united states senate. it was a bipartisan effort, it was a equally divided effort between the democrats and the republicans. i thank the senator from new jersey for his cooperation. mr. menendez: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: let me first i want to urge all of our colleagues to cast a yes vote on the passage of the home homeowners flood insurance act. this is a great week for the senate, gridlock far too often pervades this chamber and we've had an honest and open debate on this issue that's critical to the american people, we've had a respectable debate on good faith amendments that were germane to the bill and live up to the ideals of the senate and now we're poised to pass a critical piece of legislation which i believe overwhelming bipartisan support which will provide relief to millions of american families. i want

mr. isakson: i want to thank the senator from iowa for letting me jump in front of him. i want to commend the senator from louisiana and confirm everything she said. the vote tonight on the motion to proceed is important. this is an important debate not just for coastal states, not just for the coastline but for the entire united states because the unintended consequence of biggert-waters as it goes into place is less insurance coverage for less and less americans and more damage in case of another terrible storm like sandy or katrina. so i commend the distinguished senator from louisiana and the coalition she has worked with to bring this issue forward, and i do hope all our colleagues will vote yes on the motion to proceed tonight. i yield back. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: tomorrow night, we have the state of the union address, and news reports say that one of the things that the president will be talking about is income inequality. that brings me to something i should have spoken on a couple weeks ago becaus

i commend senators menendez, landrieu and isakson for their hard work. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: tonight members of both parties will welcome the president to the capitol as he lays out his plans for the coming year. we look forward to hearing what he has to say. we also look forward to hearing what congresswoman rogers has to say too. she is a leader in our party with a compelling story, someone who truly understands what it means to overcome adversity, someone who is dedicated to helping every single american realize her greatest potential. the people of washington's fifth district are lucky to have her, and so are we. as for the president's speech, this is a pivotal moment in the obama presidency. we're now entering our sixth year with president obama at the helm of our economy. the sixth year of his economic policies. and at this point we've seen just about everything in the president's toolbox. we've had a year's long clinic on the failures of liberalism, the government stimulus, the taxes, the regulatio

mr. president, the need to pass the menendez-isakson-landrieu bill is extremely important. here in new york -- in new york, we're not here, i wish i were -- in new york we have seen the follies of the present flood insurance law. we've seen follies in a variety of ways. most of all, we have seen homeowners charged a fortune which they can't afford, we have seen homeowners told even 23 if they're not going to be charged immediately when they sell their home the rate-rate will go so high they can't sell the home or the value of the home decreases. we have seen people, victims of sandy whose homes were destroyed or largely hurt, rebuild their homes and then be forced maybe to lose them because of ridiculous flood insurance claims. we have seen the problems with the maps, areas five miles from the nearest flood, somehow get called a flood zone and have to pay more insurance. we have even seen fema overreaching in terms of drawing maps. in fact, in my state they used sufficient fox county's flood maps -- and flood levels and just transposed them on nassau oint county, a differen

so i yield the floor and thank senator menendez, and senator isakson for their leadership today. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak for probably 15 minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, this is the 56th time, the 56th consecutive week that we have been in session in the senate that i have come to the floor to sound an alarm about carbon pollution and the harm it is causing to our oceans and to our coastal communities. the 56th time. and, frankly, i'm getting a little sick of it. i'm getting sick of the republican party being completely the tool of the polluters, i'm sick of the phony denial and of not getting anything done. and i'm sick of what it's going to say about american democracy --. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. mr. whitehouse: i'm sick about what it's going to say about american democracy if we keep failing at this. but i'm going to keep pounding away because it is so vital to my ocean

mr. speaker, i along with peter welch, and senators wyden and isakson introduced bipartisan legislation to truly bend the cost curve and improve medicare. medicare today, mr. speaker, is very different than it was in 1965 as 68% of all beneficiaries have two or more chronic conditions which account now for 93% of all medicare costs. our legislation will help seniors, like darlene from my district, who suffers from multiple chronic conditions, including arthritis and diabetes. the complexity of gaining input from her many doctors and nurses makes it very difficult for her to manage her own health. this is a difficulty that many seniors typically face today. but by modernizing the medicare payment system, paying for results, not just activity, incentivizing people to take care of themselves and removing the barriers to innovation, we can ensure that seniors get the right care at the right time. we can also take advantage of health care technology in telehealth. we can brean down the barriers of geographic barriers to bring chronic care management like the mayo clinic in minnesota to life. mr

and there are a few other amendments senator isakson and senator menendez will speak to more directly as we wrap up this debate today. and i yield the floor. mr. menendez: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: thank you, mr. president. it is good to see my colleague from new jersey in the presiding chair. i rise in support of this legislation we're about to consider, the homeowner flood insurance affordability act, which, again, is unique insofar that it is a bipartisan, bicameral piece of legislation to ensure families will be able to afford flood insurance so they can stay in their homes, so that businesses can stay open and property values won't plummet. and i also want to rise in opposition to the toomey substitute amendment which would completely undermine our bill and perpetuate a failed policy. while we support putting the national flood insurance program on a path to solvency, current law hikes rates so fast and so high that it will actually undermine the solvency of the program. these drastic increases will act as a de facto eviction notice for homeowners who have lived in their homes and pl

mr. president, finally, we're going to have a vote when we come back on flood insurance. menendez, landrieu, isakson worked on this long and hard. landrieu has been -- what's the right word -- persistent, and that's an understatement. she has been on this like she can get on something and never get off of it. we have come over the last several months within just inches we thought of being able to have an agreement and move it to the floor, but she and isakson worked hard, did this consent request to bring it to the floor and they are always just a little bit short. so i am filing cloture in just a few minutes on the motion to proceed to this matter, and that will be the vote we have when we get back. if they are able to work out an agreement and we can always modify that vote and move to -- move forward. as i understand it, there is five to ten amendments they want to have that are relevant for that bill. we have all agreed that's okay. so we hope we can do that when we come back. i thank those senators for the good work. mr. president, could i ask what the pending business is? the presiding officer

isakson for joining me in supporting this effort. and i know we need to get back on the appropriations committee so i yield the floor and i thank the point of personal privilege. mr. cornyn: madam president? the presiding officer: the republican whip. mr. cornyn: madam president, four and a half years ago, the united states went through a terrible recession, what we now know as the great recession, but since that time we've had the slowest economic recovery since the great depression and our labor force participation rate, which is number -- a fancy way of saying the number of people -- the percentage of people who are actually in the work force looking for work, is much lower than it was at the height of the recession. so even though the unemployment rate is coming down little by little, the main reason why that's true is because people -- many people are simply giving up looking for work. last month alone, 345,000 people dropped out of the work force. even when we look exclusively at workers between the age of 25 and 54, their participation rate is significantly lower than it was when president obama took office. meanwhile, 4 million people who are still in the