Hire More Heroes Act of 2015

Floor Speech

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Mr. REID. Madam President, I am just trying to focus. Did I just hear the legislative tree being filled? I can answer that question.

TRAGEDY IN LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA

Madam President, this morning, Americans are waking to another news account of a tragic and senseless shooting. This one occurred in Lafayette, LA. The details are emerging, but at least two were murdered and about a dozen others were wounded.

We focus, as we should, on the innocent people watching the movie who were murdered, but we also need to focus on the other dozen. How many of those people will be paraplegics, quadriplegics or have injuries that will follow them for the rest of their lives? Time will only tell.

I know I speak for every Member of the Senate when I say our thoughts are with the victims, their families, and the many brave first responders who were at the scene.

AFFORDABLE CARE ACT

Madam President, once again the majority leader has cynically filed another repeal of the Obama health care legislation--it was legislation; it is now the law. I hope the Senate doesn't try to catch up with the House as to how many times they are going to try to repeal it.

It is a fact that the critics are stubbornly ignoring reality. That reality is that the bill passed many years ago. It has been reviewed in detail by various courts in the land and the highest courts in the land have upheld this law, including the Supreme Court, on two separate occasions.

We passed the Affordable Care Act. It has been signed into law. The Supreme Court has upheld it on two separate occasions. It is time for the Republicans to move on and join us in trying to improve the health care delivery system we have in America today. It is time to move on to something else because now we are approaching 20 million people who benefit from the law that is now in existence.

Madam President, 85 percent of these 10.2 million consumers who have coverage in these exchanges have tax credits to help them afford that coverage. These credits effectively cap premiums at a percent of income for those individuals, defraying the impact of any premium increases.

Without going into more numbers, with rare exceptions, the fact is every time I go home I have people come to me and say that we are so grateful for this law because my daughter can now get health insurance. We are not talking about a bunch of teenagers; we are talking about people who were unable for all of their childhood and their adult life to get insurance until now.

We need to move on. This is not productive. I hope everyone will recognize that the health care delivery system is not perfect, but we are willing to work with the Republicans in trying to improve it, but let's do it constructively.

SEQUESTRATION

Madam President, finally, unless we act, in 3 months the Federal Government shuts down. I appreciate that this is not just me speaking out that something has to be done. The senior Senator from Arizona has said over the last week or so how important it is for the defense of this country to get rid of sequestration. If sequestration kicks in, the funding for defense and nondefense will be exactly the same. The only way that can be changed is if we pass a law in the Senate. Frankly, I would think that is going to be hard to do.

We believe we want to do everything we can to help the defense of this country, our fighting men and women, but we are also concerned about nondefense programs which are in need of repair.

It would be untoward to think we are going to do sequestration at the National Institutes of Health, as an example. Lifesaving, scientific research is being done there every day. The last sequestration knocked their pins out. I have talked to the head of the National Institutes of Health, Dr. Francis Collins. For example, they were so close to coming up with a universal flu vaccine. They had to drop it. They lost almost $2 billion as a result of the first sequestration. I am sorry to say another one that is staring them in the face will only be more hurtful to that great institution.

APPROPRIATIONS

Madam President, I was terribly disappointed yesterday to hear that my friend the Speaker of the House intends to give up on doing his job. He intends to abandon the appropriations process. He told a press conference yesterday: ``It's pretty clear given the number of days we're going to be here in September that we're going to have to do a (continuing resolution) of some sort.''

By relying on a continuing resolution that underfunds critical priorities for working men and women in America--especially our families--Republicans are neglecting their responsibilities and giving up on the middle class. Instead of working together with Democrats to negotiate a long-term funding package, Republicans are calling it quits.

A continuing resolution should be a last-ditch, eleventh-hour option, not an excuse 3 months before the deadline approaches to just say we give up.

I hope the Speaker of the House will change course and recommit his party to working with us. Three months, surely my Republican friends must realize, is more than enough time for us to do our jobs.

Madam President, finally, there are a lot of complaints people can have about the legislation before the body, but I do want to commend the Republican leader for having this amendment before us dealing with the Ex-Im Bank. It is very important that this legislation move on, and I hope the House will pass it as soon as they get it.

Right now, we have--let me just count them. I will not take the time here, but there are about 45 different countries that have working export-import banks that help their businesses and workers compete globally. They are really hurting our exports because our exporters are going to these other companies trying to get some help so they can continue exporting. So I truly do appreciate this being part of this legislation. It is an important piece of legislation. I am so glad the majority leader put that in as something we are going to work on over the next few days.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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