ms. collins: madam president? the presiding officer: the other senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, madam president. first, i want to congratulate my colleague from maine for an excellent amendment. as she indicated the postal service made a major miscalculation -- a mathematical error in the study that it did on the hamden processing center in our state. society senator snowe's amendment would say that if a proposed consolidation of a mail-processing center is appealed to the postal regulatory commission, the commission can be asked to review the underlying study's methodology and the estimated savings to make sure that it's correct because right now there's really no way to challenge a mistake that is made by the postal service in conducting these very important studies that are going to decide whether or not processing centers stay open. so i commend my colleague from maine for a very well-thought-out amendment a understand i urge its adoption by voice vote. the presiding officer: is there further debate? if not the question is on the amendment as modified. all

ms. collins: mr. president, i would suggest the absence of a quorum, but i will be responding. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the chair recognizes the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that proceedings under the call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, let me start by responding to the ranking member of the budget committee by saying that i could not agree with him more that it is absolutely unacceptable that we have not had a budget pass in the senate for more than 1,000 days. that is totally unacceptable. it's one of the reasons that we are in such a financial crisis in this country. so, i completely agree with senator sessions that we should be doing a budget resolution on the senate floor. and i wholeheartedly agree with his comments that it is absolutely irresponsible for us

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm very pleased to join with the chairman of the homeland security committee in urging all of our colleagues to cast a vote for cloture on the motion to proceed to this vitally important bill. mr. president, there are many different views on how to save the postal service but there can be no doubt that the postal service is in crisis. we are at a critical juncture. without passing legislation, the postal service will simply be unable to meet its payroll perhaps as soon as this fall. we simply cannot allow that to happen. the postal service is vital to our economy. it is the linchpin of a trillion-dollar mailing industry that employs nearly 8.7 million americans in fields as diverse as printing, catalog companies, paper manufacturing, newspaper and magazine publishers. these industries and the jobs that they sustain are in jeopardy. if we fail to act, we will deliver a critical, crippling blow to the postal service. as senator lieberman has indicated, the pos

ms. collins: thank you, madam president. before my friend and colleague from maryland leaves the floor, i want to thank her for her passionate advocacy on behalf of her constituents. i have a similar problem in my home state of maine where a processing center has been targeted for closure that would have an extraordinarily detrimental impact on mail delivery for two-thirds of the state of maine. it makes no sense whatsoever, and it would do away with overnight delivery just as the senator has indicated. i would encourage her to continue to work with us and also to look at the specific provisions that we put into the substitute that reflects the input that we have had from her and many other concerned senators, and one of those standards deals with the overnight delivery and the need to maintain that service of standard -- that standard of service. this is an advantage that the postal service has and it helps it keep customers, so to do away with overnight delivery, in my view, would be foolhardy and it would actually cause m

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to speak for up to 30 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. very patient of you, mr. president. mr. president, today the senate begins debate on reform legislation to save an american institution -- the united states postal service. our founding fathers recognized the importance of having a postal service. article 1, section 8, of the constitution gives congress the power to establish post offices. the postal service is also required by law to provide the entire population of the united states with adequate and efficient postal services at a fair and reasonable rate. this is called the universal mandate, and it ensures that the postal service cannot leave behind rural states and small towns. the postal service, which has delivered news to generation after generation of americans, is at great risk of not being able to make its payroll by this fall, according t

ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, let me start by responding to the ranking member of the budget committee by saying that i could not agree with him more that it is absolutely unacceptable that we have not had a budget pass in the senate for more than 1,000 days. that is totally unacceptable. it's one of the reasons that we are in such a financial crisis in this country. so, i completely agree with senator sessions that we should be doing a budget resolution on the senate floor. and i wholeheartedly agree with his comments that it is absolutely irresponsible for us to be proceeding without a budget resolution. and as a member of the appropriations committee, i would say to my colleagues that it makes it very difficult for us to carry out our work due to the cooperation of the chairman and ranking member of that committee. we are operating under allocations for each subcommittee. but it would be far, far preferable if there were a budget resolution that passed, and it should have passed last year, the year b

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, could we have order, please. the presiding officer: the chamber will come to order. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, this amendment would strip from the postal workers the right to collectively bargain. this is an enormous change in labor law. postal workers have had the right to engage in collective bargaining for more than 30 years. we did make changes in this bill in the arbitration process. we made sure that if a contract dispute went to arbitration, that the arbitrator has to consider the financial condition of the postal service. that will help bring balance into the system. but there is no justification for completely removing the right of workers to collectively bargain. i urge that we reject the amendment. the presiding officer: all time has expired. mr. paul: mr. president? the presiding officer: the question is on the amendment number 2039. mr. paul: request the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears

ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: mr. president, let me just reinforce, this is not giving collective bargaining rights to post masters or to postal supervisors. i support senator akaka's amendment. all it is trying to do is to strengthen a provision that is in current law that asks for the postmaster general to consult with the post masters and the other supervisory organizations when there are changes made in work schedules or benefits. they should have the right to have their views heard, but it does not give them a veto, it does not authorize collective bargaining or contract negotiations in any way. and i want to emphasize that because there's been misinformationings about what this amendment in fact entails. so, i support this amendment and i urge its adoption. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. akaka: i ask for a voice vote. a senator: mr. president, i object. i would like a roll call vote. mr. demint: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? the

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i just want to echo the thanks to everyone who was involved in formulating this very extensive unanimous consent agreement. we have been working extremely hard the last couple of days to make sure that we were being fair to all members on a bill on which there are diverse opinions on an issue that is so important and that is how do we save an essential american institution, the united states postal service. i, too, want to thank our two leaders, senator reid and senator mcconnell, and my dear friend and chairman of the homeland security and governmental affairs committee, senator lieberman, as well as our staffs and our floor staff, who have put in so many hours. i want to reiterate that senator lieberman and i will be available to negotiate, our staffs will as well, and to debate these issues. we'll be available over the weekend and tomorrow and then on monday to begin the debate on the amendments. but again, i want to thank everyone involved. i think this i

ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, let me start by responding to the ranking member of the budget committee by saying that i could not agree with him more that it is absolutely unacceptable that we have not had a budget pass in the senate for more than 1,000 days. that is totally unacceptable. it's one of the reasons that we are in such a financial crisis in this country. so, i completely agree with senator sessions that we should be doing a budget resolution on the senate floor. and i wholeheartedly agree with his comments that it is absolutely irresponsible for us to be proceeding without a budget resolution. and as a member of the appropriations committee, i would say to my colleagues that it makes it very difficult for us to carry out our work due to the cooperation of the chairman and ranking member of that committee. we are operating under allocations for each subcommittee. but it would be far, far preferable if there were a budget resolution that passed, and it should have passed last year, the year b

ms. collins: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i, too, want to comment on this issue of the prefunding for the health care benefits of future retirees. i think it's important to note that when the 2006 law was written that the postal service supported this provision because it recognized that it had a huge unfunded liability for future health benefits, and it knew that it was important to start putting money aside to ensure that at that time that those retirees needed to claim those benefits the money would be there and the promises would be therkept. it was also important because we wanted to avoid the possibility of a system going into default and taxpayers having to step in to keep the promises that the postal service has made. the fact is that the current liability is about $46 billion for those retirees' health benefits -- the future retiree health benefits, and that liability is a very real one. it is not going away. but, nevertheless, we have taken steps in our bill, as senator lieberman h' has jus

ms. collins: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: quorum call: mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: and consent to speak in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i've come to the floor a number of times to talk about a new business in america that has become a major source of income and a major source of federal subsidy. and most people are not aware of that. the business i'm talking about are the for-profit colleges. these are schools which are popping up everywhere across my state and across the nation. you can hardly go to the internet and put in the word college or university when you will not be bombarded by all of these for-profit schools that try to entice young people to sign up. and some of them, i'm sure, offer valuable courses, but too often these schools offer wor