and i think we should find you,r stabenow. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island.. reed: mr. president, we are here to attempt to extend unemployment benefits for a brief period of time so that americans don't get caught up in the expiration on april 5th of these benefits. this is a repeated struggle. we have had many, many incidents over the last several months where we've had to come down here and at the last moment attempt to project these benefits further. i hope we do not fail again today. in 2009, when president obama walked into office, we were losing 700,000 jobs per month. this is a crisis of epic proportions, rivalling in some respects and some regions of the country the great depression. my home state of rhode island, 12.7% unemployment rate. it has been persistent now two years. we are seeing a long-term record of unemployment the we have to help our colleagues, neighbors and friends, and we have to do in a way that does not deny them the basic necessities to just hang on in a difficult economy. but this is not just a -- a result of the last several mon

stabenow: reserving the right to object.would just indicate to my colleague that from our perspective this is an emergency, an economic disaster he for families right now. we need to do as we've done three other times here in the congress and extend this emergency spending to help families that are out of work. given that, i will object. the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. coburn: well, mr. president, i'm sorry that we have an objection. the fact is we agreed to it. and the fact is, as the senator from michigan is having to protect the house of representatives. she knows we're not going to go forward to this unless we pay for it until we get back. the only way for us to do that is through unanimous consent. the only way we're going to accomplish that is what -- is to agree to what we greed to yesterday and send it -- agreed to yesterday and send it to the house and let them do it by unanimous consent even though they said they won't do it. the fact is we agreed to it in the senate. we came to an agreement. and bec

stabenow: thank you. first, i would ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you. before my friend from california leaves the floor, i first want to thank the senator from california for her leadership in bringing together a bipartisan effort to create jobs and for coming to the floor to speak about what are the important elements that are being held up right now. by senator bunning and other republicans that have come to the floor in support of his efforts. so i want to thank senator boxer for her leadership and her ability to bring people together to get things done and to speak to the fact that this is about jobs and we have a sense of urgency about what needs to happen going forward. i want to speak to that sense of urgency, madam president, and speak first about what is happening for real people. then i want to talk a little bit about the process as well.

stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i'm pleased to speak on behalf of this amendment which is cosponsored by schumer, snowe, enzi and collins. this focuses on companies that continue to face significant challenges in raising capital for new investments. it would allow companies who don't benefit from other incentives to utilize existing a.m.t. credits based on new investments that they make in this year for equipment and so on to create jobs. it encourages companies to invest and to -- would allow companies to be able to receive badly needed source of capital. this is very, very important, i think, for companies that will be in a position where they're not making a profit but are continuing to invest to maintain their workforce or grow their workforce and need to be able to have a source of capital. this is dollars that they would be receiving at some point anyway. because they are -- when they become profitable, they're able to use the credits. we're going to allow them to use a portion, just 10% of those cr

we tonight -- michigan's debbie stabenow went on the record. you voted for the bill right? you liked it? >> yeah >> greta: what is your insent to vote for the reconciliation bill which is the house version if you liked your own? >> this is going to make a good bill better. provisions in there are going save for middle class families, seniors and on the national debt because it brings down the deficit more than the original bill. >> greta: why didn't you do that to yours? >> there were different priorities worked on. i was pushing affordability for middle class families who didn't get it all the wait this final bill does that >> greta: any ruffled feathers? any democratic colleagues who think i'm not going to vote for that house bill i liked the senate bill fine? >> i think we have a couple of folks that may not support in particular bill. the majority of people understand this is making a good bill better. i'm proud author of the tax cut for business takes effect right now up to 35% for small businesses to help them pay for health care this is really important. >> greta: wh

president, i yield ten minutes to the senator from michigan, senator stabenow. ms. stabenow: mr. president, thank you very much. the presiding officer: if the senator from michigan would suspend. off of what block of time? mr. baucus: i apologize. time off the bill. the presiding officer: thank you. the senator from michigan. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president, and thank you to the chairman of the finance committee. i am honored to serve with him and with colleagues who have been working very, very hard on this initiative, as all of our colleagues have. mr. president, i want to talk first about what is in front of us because it is true that today was a historic day and the president of the united states signed a very important bill that's been passed by the house and the senate that lays the groundwork for what we all believe should happen in terms of making sure that every family has a family doctor. and that we tackle the costs that are crippling our businesses and our country of health care. so what we have in front of us now, mr. president, is a bill to make a good bill b

dictionary, madam president, this was handed to me by the distinguished senator from michigan, senator stabenow. if you look at the oxford english dictionary, a filibuster is a freebooter, one of a class of pirate adventures who pill and the spanish colonies in the west indies during the 17th century. a freebother is one who engages in unauthorized and irregular warfare against foreign states, pirate craft. and in the united states to obstruct progress in a legislative assembly, the practice of obstruction. that's what this is all about, practice of obstruction. we are not preventing a vote. we are not preventing a vote. we want a vote to take place. my friend from kentucky thinks it should be paid for. i believe it's an emergency, as it always has been when people are out of work for long periods of time. it's an emergency. we should be able to vote on what the senator feels is appropriate. that is, that this be paid for, that it's not an emergency. these long lines of people that are out of work is not an emergency is what he believes. i believe they are. i think it's terribly inappropriate t

senator coburn's amendment on transparency, senator webb's amendment on executive bonuses, senator stabenow's amendment on a.m.t. credits, a feingold-coburn amendment to rescind unused transportation earmarks, an amendment by senator brown of massachusetts on a payroll tax holiday, and senator burr's amendment on a sales tax holiday. before senators offer additional amendments, we need to start processing the pending amendments. i have been advised that there will be objection to setting aside the pending amendments for senators to offer additional amendments until we have addressed some of the pending amendments. now some of the amendments appear to me to be the sort of thing that we could adopt by voice vote, and we are exploring that possibility in connection with at least two of them. on amendments that require roll call vote, i'm hopeful that we can schedule a number of votes at 2:00 p.m. this afternoon to dispose of several amendments, and then we'll continue to process the pending amendments throughout the day. and i thank all senators for their cooperation. madam president, i ask unan

stabenow: thank you, madam speaker. i want to thank, first of all, the senator from oregon for those very passionate comments. we've had the opportunity to join together in a number of forums to speak out about the importance of creating jobs in america and of helping those through no fault of their own who have lost their jobs. i want to thank you for your eloquence and passion again this evening. i come to the floor to also add my voice to what i believe to be an outrageous situation. i say this with all due respect to my friend from kentucky. we work together on a number of issues. and i look forward to continuing to do that. but on this, i believe that what is being done is absolutely wrong. it is outrageous, and we are in a situation right now where nearly 135,000 michigan residents will lose the unemployment assistance that they need by the end of this month if we don't take action immediately. that's just in one month, madam president. people who have been hit by nothing less than an economic tsunami. we have a s

stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the pending amendments be set aside, and i call up amendment 3382. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report the amendment. the clerk: the senator from michigan, ms. stabenow, for herself and others proposes amendment 3382 to -- ms. stabenow: i ask unanimous consent that the amendment be considered as read. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: if there is no further business at the moment, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment for the purposes of calling up and modifying one of my own amendments. the presiding officer: the senate's in a quorum call. ms. landrieu: let me ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presidin