don't they deserve that doesn't this country owes that to them so i urge my republican colleagues to break away from this foolishness and join us in providing a pension for the brave filipino troops who stood with his fault with his and helped us win world war two i hope that republicans will support all components of this legislation is good legislation but it should be known that i've reached out to the republicans on this on many occasions but no takers as i said t senator byrd here on the floor yesterday if he doesn't like this provision why hold up the whole bill but we should have been on the bill thursday night friday monday it's tuesday now offer an amendment they i don't believe these people who are not frontline soldiers i don't think they deserve anything their old average age is eighty four they don't deserve anything might strike them an amendment let's have a debate on it and vote on not hold up the whole bill but that's what's being done you have a majority the senators vote for them and the bill we altered that's how the legislative process is supposed to work we shouldn't have to invoke cloture on a motion proceed simply to begin to legislate so i would hope that cloture will be invoked and if it is we don't have to use the post closure thirty hours to sit around and do nothing that we should be able to start legislating on this bill i'm not even asking republicans to support the bill this point just support allowing us to move to the bill so we can start legislating as president this in the example almost seventy times in a little over a year the republicans stopped us from moving the legislation any wonder that today it's reported bush's disapproval rating worst of any president in seventy years you know holding up pieces of legislation even pieces they agree with they hold us up just to stall to maintain the status quo what is the status quo giving the american people nothing that's how they feel about president bush that's why you see the headline in today's paper misread the republican leader misread of course the bill is not being held up and of course the majority could doesn't need permission from us to take up a bill today we will in fact vote on a cloture motion to proceed to the veterans benefit act of two thousand and seven to my belief that cloture should be invoked and will be invoked there is actually much to command in this bill that will improve the lives of our veterans by supplementing the level of assistance for disabled veterans for the purchase of automobiles and increasing assistance for those veterans who need to modify their homes to accommodate their disabilities i'd like to recognize with admiration my colleague from north carolina the ranking member of the committee on veterans affairs and thank him for his hard work on this bill yesterday he made it clear that he will offer a substitute that seeks to correct the one glaring flaw contained within s thirteen fifteen a provision that would divert two hundred twenty one million dollars over the next ten years to create a special pension for filipino veterans of the second world war living in the philippines who have no service connected disability that money of course would be diverted at the expense of the american veterans living here in america the senator from north carolina spoke eloquently about the fact that the sorting these resources for our  returning from iraq and afghanistan represents misplaced priorities and i agree with them mr president my expectation is that the senate will have a healthy debate concerning this provision that senators on my side of the aisle have an ample opportunity  then the committee bill so that we can have a bill that can pass with bipartisan support and be signed into law my hope that we can work together on this bill and produce another strong by part bipartisan achievement for our veterans  expect that to happen certainly in the very near future we'll have an opportunity of not conference set to discuss going forward but we anticipate moving forward with the the bar amendment early in the process and i think we're going to be able to get a strong bipartisan accomplishment here in the very near future here in the senate i just present the majority leader i want the world to hear what the republican leader we're not holding up the bill mr president that simply is without any basis in fact that's why we're going to vote at noon on being able to move to the bill in years move to this legislation as far back as november two thousand and seven so mr president i would ask now unanimous consent that we're moved following morning business we move to the bill we going to discuss the measure written and many of my conference are not on the veterans committee have not had an opportunity to hear from senator byrd about this yesterday it was a no vote day members were not around we're going to discuss the matter and then i've already indicated to my good friend the majority leader that we're going to be able to move forward i think with dispatch on this issue and we're going to get a bipartisan accomplishment that no amount of trying to stamer all the minority into giving up its rights is going to work and maybe that's one of the reasons why this congress has got a lower approval than the president of the united states my good friend a majority leader always likes to never misses an opportunity to talk about the president not being very popular well amona every time in the future the majority leader wants to bring up the president's popularity out i'll bring up the popularity of this new majority which makes the president popularity look pretty good now what i really think the american people would like for us to do to quit this silly sparring back and forth and finger pointing and legislate have a very good chance here i can begin this week with a strong bipartisan accomplishment and i think we ought to get about it anderson is launches out of the way and senator byrd's had an opportunity to brief our members on this measure with which many of them are not yet we'll sit down as we always do the majority leader and i was smiles on our faces and figure out how to go forward and i think we'll be able to get there in the relatively near future is there in objection direction is heard it's very clear it's a statement the republican leader was untrue he can talk all he wants about finger point all we want to do is lie legislation that's what we want to do and it would seem this legislation been pending for nine months reported out of the committee nine months it would seem when we're dealing with the veterans the people that we want to do the very best we can for it because they deserve it if you would think in nine months the republican congress would have been able to focus on veterans and health care and not wait until today april twenty second or whatever today is nine months after the legislation was reported out of the committee did determine what's in the legislation that is that the senators need to be briefed on how to take care of our soldiers medically i think that is without any foundation and also say this mr president i feel very good about what my job is as a united states center i am very grateful to the people nevada for allowing me to serve in the senate but i am never going to come to the floor and denigrate this body as my republican wants to do the rating of the senate as overly history the country the rating congress is is tied to the president if the president's unpopular the congress is unpopular city council's unpopular if you have a popular president everybody feels better about government self so i will never come to the senate or any place else and denigrate my job and those of my ninety nine colleagues i think we have important responsibilities here and i think  should live up to those manners it's best and keeping with the senate tradition i have keim i came here this morning to state a fact i want to legislate on behalf of the senate on legislation dealing with the medical care of our veterans and it's being held up by the republicans that's clear that's what i said i stand on that important amendment offer which will be offered later today the senate will have an opportunity to consider it look the way you get things done in the senate on a bipartisan basis and the rules around here give them an opportunity to be involved this is not the house of representatives i wish we'd been able to get more done last year but one of the reasons that we didn't we had thirty four rock was some of my friends on the other conference told me last year that any any week they weren't vote on iraq was a bad week we spent an awful lot of time on sense of the senate resolution on iraq last year floor time is at a premium in the senate as the majority leader used to say repeatedly when he was the leader of the democratic party and in the minority the senate is not the house things don't move as speedily most observers of the senate understand the senate standards this bill is going to move forward in relatively rapid order after the rights of the minority to offer amendments have been protected so i don't know what this little back and forth this morning is really all about because i do think we're going to have an opportunity to get a bipartisan accomplishment here in the very near future how you present what this is all about is the truth that's what it's about senator durbin assistant majority leader on november eighth two thousand and seven said here mr president presiding officers objection republican objection that's present the objections of this go back months and for what is this about here today the republican leader says it's about the truth it's about the republicans stalling everything that comes up here everything and then to have the audacity to have come to the floor and say we're not stalling anything we should have been on this bill a long time ago during the period of time that the republican leader complains that we are having numerous arac votes we were trying to change course in iraq mr president because it needed changing and it still does we've been here i don't know how many seconds this morning but every second that we've been here we have been spending five thousand dollars every second in iraq five thousand dollars a second twelve billion dollars a month during the period of time he complains about our offering amendments relating to the war in iraq our troops are getting killed at the rate of more than one a day tens of thousands have been wounded a third of them are missing eyes their minds aren't good one fifth of them have brain problems injuries to their brains we have more than three thousand double amputees thousands and thousands of single amputees we have an obligation to the american people to talk about the war in iraq and we're go continue to do that and we don't apologize to anyone for the votes we took in iraq the first many years of this war in the six year the war now the war went with the republican leadership in the house the senate doing nothing about the war except adding the prison on the back we have not done that we have been critical of the operation of the war in iraq we've done everything we can to support our troops we were the first to call for more armor for the troops money armor we were the first to call for up armoring the vehicles so they wouldn't be killed as easily with those vehicles we have done everything we can to support the troops we've done everything we can to change the course of the war in iraq the president has not allowed us to change the course of war in iraq and we're here today for the truth the truth is we are proceeding to try to legislate for the american people and change the status quo the republicans want to maintain the status quo of the republican leader with all due respect to my good friend the majority leader in there and people are giving congress such low approval ratings principally because of the the rhetoric and the tone and the feeling that we can't accomplish anything i don't know why on this particular tuesday morning at about the time we're going to go to a bill that we could achieve an important bipartisan accomplishment we want to engage in this kind of rancorous debate we'll have plenty of halley contentious issues to come before us that's the nature of the legislative process and certainly we have a spirited debate in the senate but on the measure that we're about to go to later today i think there will be very little difference of opinion and at the end of the process we're likely to have a bath artisan accomplishment that we can all feel good about so i would hope we could improve our moods and attitudes here this week as we go forward and see if we can accomplish something important for the veterans of our country under the previous order the leadership time is reserved and under the previous order the senate will proceed to a period of morning business for up to one hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half as president the senator from texas this president to i'm confident we will pass important legislation on a bipartisan basis this week to provide the benefits to veterans that they have earned and that they deserve but we can't forget the unfinished business of this congress last december when we wrapped up the fiscal year two thousand and eight appropriation bill we left a balance of more than one hundred billion dollars at the department of defense said it needed to fight the global war on terror in other words it's important support our veterans but i would submit it's equally important to make sure we're supporting our troops that are currently in the fight and in harm's way and this congress has an unfortunate record of delaying that playing political games with that money and it's time that that should end and the army alone this shortfall amounts to sixty six billion dollars as a result the army will run out of pay for active duty and national guard soldiers in news unless congress acts promptly at the same time funding for extra vehicle armor hospital construction and run of the nation and new service vehicles will dry out our troops will not have the resources sources they need to carry out their mission unless we act soon to pass this emergency supplemental appropriation provincial reconstruction teams will also run out of funding these integral part of our strategy in iraq and go a long way to fostering the growth freedom and good ties to the iraqi communities and ensuring that we win the battle for hearts and minds as well we've also appropriated less than half of what of all the military leaders in iraq tell us they need for commanders emergency response or service programs which are essential to continued bottom up reconciliation efforts we should not hold this funding hostage to political gains and should not become a vessel for pork barrel projects and bloated spending we should pass a clean emergency supplemental funding bill for our troops as soon as we possibly can and i hope admiration of all those who have heard about his story staff sergeant justin young was born in mosquito x s just outside of dallas the son of john young and kathy sutton's justin was a swimmer for the bernie high school greyhounds after graduating he told his dad he needed to find his priorities in his focus in life that level of maturity and insight is rare for someone so young and they're already tell you something about the character of justin young justin decided what was best for him was to join the united states army i doubt anyone in this body would deny that the united states army has a long and storied history of taking young men and women with strong character and transforming them into proven soldiers and also into courageous leaders as well justin is no exception just over a year ago on march the twenty fourth just in  location where known enemy fighters were entrenched once to inside the compound just in as troops quickly encountered armed insurgents just in disarmed and detained a guard before pressing on in the confusion of the sergeant young was ambushed by hidden fighter about ten feet away the enemy fire out fired is a k forty seven assault rifle hitting justin's rifle three times and striking just and once in the chest the force of the shot sprayed shrapnel up into justin's neck and knocked him off of his feet and injured with a broken weapon just and killed his attacker and got to his feet now it's difficult for us here and other the comfort of of our nation's capital to imagine what such a fight for one's life must be like we can only try to imagine the chaos and the confusion the adrenaline the pain and the fear you wouldn't blame anyone for pulling back after something like that but frankly that's one thing that makes these young men and women so exceptional and that's what makes them united states army just got up took a confiscated a forty seven and three magazines he refused medical attention and then continued to lead his troops for more than five days more of fighting that is to president's kind of courage strength and selflessness that ought to leave all of us in all just unfinished out as fifteen month assignment in iraq in august and came home a hero to many perhaps not the least of which it being his father tries you might his dad john simply could not put into words how proud he was and is of his son after having dinner with justin's unit at fort bragg john said simply he's unbelievable and so orange prince both justin and his father would be quick to remind us that even though justin received this medal it's all the men and women of our military that deserve our admiration and respect john told me that while justin was there for his buddies they were there for him to soldiers like justin and his squad mates for a prime example of the great commitment of all of our troops that they share to one another not and not only to each other but also to our country as well as such days serve to the no most noble principles the world will ever know so what is just doing now having found his focus in oriented his priorities it's his with an example of true courage and dedication justin in fact realistic in the army just before finishing his first tour and despite his harrowing experience just an stood in the sands of iraq and he raised his right hand and swore to continue service to the defense of our great nation recognizing his great courage and leadership justin is now training with the hopes of joining the special forces that's why i wanted to come to the floor and today in honor justin's exemplary service to our country is just one example of the bravery courage and strength of thousands of texans both past and present who have served in the united states military as president you the floor the senator from arizona thank you this prison i appreciate my colleague from texas putting a personal face on this war our young men and women are making tremendous sacrifices and we here in the congress should be willing to do our part to ensure that they succeed in their mission and hearing a story i like that of justin simply confirms that we should redouble our efforts to fund the things that they need to carry out their mission the majority leader talked a little bit earlier about delays with the legislation that's currently pending before the senate it's going to take us two or three days presumably to complete this legislation that's currently pending two or three days that's not a big delay in the united states senate but fourteen months is a big delay and that's the time that the president first asked for the supplemental appropriations to help fund our troops fighting in iraq and afghanistan fourteen months ago that's a real delay and it's because i believe that the majority party felt that they could delay and delay and delay and thereby put pressure to accomplish one of two objectives either put pressure on the administration to back off of the war effort or knowing that we are now really up against a funding crunch to put pressure on the president to accept a lot of unrelated spending spending that has to do with our pet projects here at home on the theory that the president would have to sign a bill because our troops are so desperate for the funding that they need even if that bill includes a lot of unrelated spending that members of congress want to for their folks back home we should not submit to what i would would refer to as legislative blackmail to hold our troops hostage in effect for this domestic spending nothing else explains this fourteen month  delay we've already been told by the secretary of defense that it is critical that this supplemental funding be provided to the troops to prevent a slowdown and daily efforts in training and equipping the halting of military operations the not to be able to replace lost or damaged equipment for ongoing operations all of these are implicated by this delay general petraeus when he was back here added another reason he stressed the important  importance of this supplemental appropriations to further progress and here's what he said and i'm quoting the commanders emergency response program the state department's quick response fund and the u s i d programs enable us to help iraq deal with  challenges to that end i respectfully ask that you provide us by june the additional c r c earpiece funds requested in the supplemental these funds have an enormous impact in other words it's not just the funds to buy the equipment and support our troops for their mission there but also to enable our military to provide the kind of things that are necessary to enable the iraqi people and the iraqi government there to succeed all of these are reasons for acting with with speed here and yet for fourteen months now the congress has delayed the supplemental funding the director of the office of management and budget jim nussle has stated during his testimony to the senate appropriations committee that the army and marine corps will be forced to take funding from other areas of their operations budget and even have to start laying off personnel civilian and contractor personnel will certainly force the pentagon to use short term expedients which are very costly in other words instead of having the ability to spread out their contracts over time which is a much more economical way of of acquiring services and equipment and the pentagon is forced to pay a premium for short term contracting and is forced to move funds from general accounts to support priority expenditures specifically related to the conflict in iraq and afghanistan this is already adversely impacting the department of defen e clearly military planners are are are leery of engaging in a new operation when they don't even know that the material assets that they're going to need for that operation are going to be available or that what they have available today is not going to be replaced in the future because this supplemental funding has not been provided we have no more important obligation as members of the united states senate then in funding our troops when they're in the middle of a battle and that's precisely the situation right now in fact let me just quote  president something that was said just a couple of days ago by imanol as our what here is he is currently the leader of al qaeda and here's here's what he said in a long audio message among other things and i'm quoting iraq today is now the most important arena in which our muslim nation is waging the battle against the forces of the crusaders zionist campaign there for backing the mujahideen in iraq led by the islamic state of iraq is the most important task of the islamic nation today we're in a war and zawahiri in one sense is right this is the most important arena in which this conflict is currently playing itself out and we have a choice to leave in defeat or to continue to assure victory we've sent our troops in harm's way to achieve their mission they're accomplishing it the surge that general petraeus has implemented is working and it is up to us to do our part in this effort all we have to do is have a brief debate and a vote and the vote is to send the money that the troops need to sustain their operation we've known this now for fourteen months and yet congress continues to dither now we've run out of  time there's been a suggestion that in this in this effort to to fund our troops that we should combine all of the spending into one massive appropriation bill would be well over one hundred billion dollars well if all it does is to fund the troops then that's fine but if it's used as i said before as way for the majority to sneak through unrequested either unrequested defense spending or our favorite other domestic pet projects that  would be a grave injustice to our troops i note that the distinguished chairman of the one of the subcommittees in the house of representatives on appropriations committee has revealed that he's ready to move the particular here because he's going to use it as a way to add other items to the pentagon including additional navy warships the procurement of new c seventeen's and f twenty two fighter planes beyond what the defense department has budgeted now maybe those are good defense spending chairs maybe not but the reality is that they should stand on their own two feet as part of the general authorization and appropriation process and not be put on the backs of this supplemental appropriation bill which is what is needed to fund our efforts in iraq and afghanistan and others have been looking at the supplemental as an opportunity to increase funding for their favorite non defense programs it's been suggested by members of the senate appropriations committee last week that some twenty four million dollars in non defense spending might be added for that purpose as i said congress should not be extorted into supplying non war spending on this supplemental appropriation bill the emergency build a fund our war effort any effort to to do that i suggest should be rejected among other things because we know that the president has said that he will veto a war supplemental funding bill that contains non war related items or strings attached such as some kind of a timetable for troop withdrawal from iraq knowing that that's going to be vetoed it would be irresponsible for the senate to go ahead and send him or the congress to send him a bill  and take additional time to get the bill back and then have to redo it in a way that will not be to the in line here is that we've got to take care of our troops it's the one thing that we can do to support them in the mission that we have sent them to achieve and it's time that we get about that and i urge my colleagues when the war supplemental comes to this body hopefully next week that we will act with alacrity we will pass that we will not hold it hostage to other spending priorities that don't relate to our effort in iraq and mr president the senator from oklahoma i want to dispense a minute just in talking about what a supplemental is because oftentimes the words we use up here don't have the clarity for the american public what it really means a supplemental appropriation is an appropriation that is outside the budget what does that mean and what does that mean to the average taxpayer that means that all the money that is used to pay for the supplemental will be borrow it's not coming from taxes today doesn't fit inside the pay go rules quote unquote it's purely and simply borrowed from our children i have significant problems with that if you look back at our history president roosevelt cut twenty nine percent out of his favorite programs the mastic programs during world war two president truman cut twenty six percent out of domestic programs to pay for the korean war and we routinely year after year after year after year charge the war our children and i raise the for two points one is that's the way the president has chosen to do it and i fault him as well as the congress but number two is this great propensity of quote legislative wars who add everything including the kitchen sink to it because it's a free pass and that's outside of the budget the last appropriation bill that we did that was a supplemental had seventeen billion dollars seventeen billion dollars added to it that didn't have anything to do with the war didn't have anything to do with priorities in this country didn't have anything to do with other than adding things on because it's outside of the budget so they could spend more inside the budget i'm in my fourth year in the senate and one of the things that we have done ever since i've been here is try to root out waste fraud and abuse and there's no question right now in the federal budget it's almost three trillion dollars that over three hundred billion dollars right now that in the appropriated programs and in the mandatory programs as last of fraud waste and abuse so we're going to be bringing a bill to the floor one hundred twenty one hundred seven billion dollars plus the other probably another ten or fifteen that the porkers will add to it and oink all the way and nobody's going to offer anything to offset it out of the fraud waste a the ways that we have because we're not paying attention to the running of the government we hear this big debate about earmarks the ferocity of this make sure we were pointing things but the fact is is that what you point things is to do oversight on the waste fraud and abuse and if you think this is inaccurate let me give you some a list of where the waste is there's ninety billion dollars worth of fraud in medicare right now there's ten billion dollars that we pay that we an errantly pay wrong so it comes over one hundred billion dollars ours in medicare alone that shouldn't be going out the door that is we're not doing a thing about nobody's going to offer an amendment it won't even be judges i order with the rules to get rid of the fraud in medicare medicaid same thing thirty billion dollars in fraud fifteen billion dollars in over payments for people that we just made a mistake in paying no there's not going to be anything offered during the supplemental to fix that so right there you have one hundred twenty five hundred thirty billion dollars that would pay for the just in fixing medicare medicaid fraud there won't be a rule out that will allow us to vote on that there won't be a way for us to do it because that's hard work and we don't want to do the hard work so security disability fraud two point five billion government wide over payments improper payments over payments for other things fifteen billion these are my numbers these are documented numbers by either the g a o the congressional budget office or the high g s eight billion dollars that the defense department pays out for bonuses for companies that didn't earn the bonus or performance awards there's not going to be anything in this to fix that it's not even going to be made no water four billion dollars that we're being defrauded on a crop insurance modernization program where we allow the return for crop insurance a higher rate return than any other casualty your insurance company could earn no bid contracts five billion dollars contributions that are purely waste they get the fraud and wasted two billion dollars we buy sixty four billion dollars worth of i t projects a year and at least twenty percent of it's wasted that's another twelve point eight billion dollars nobody's going to fix that on this now we're just going to borrow the money from our children so i raised the issue is that we're going to pass a supplemental and the games are going to be played on it like they are every year people are going to add things that are priority and they're going to add i'm knowing that they're not going to be in the budget knowing that they're going to go straight to the debt so it's interesting for us to consider as we do the supplemental what we spend right now per american family on different things and let me spend a minute out every american family is paying eight thousand six hundred sixty eight dollars for medicare and social security every year every american families pay and over five thousand dollars a year to defend this country we're spending thirty seven hundred  fifty two dollars for and i poverty programs every year were spent in two thousand dollars a family for interest on the national debt which is going to be higher next year because we're going to borrow all the supplemental and add that to our do it federal employee retirement benefits cost every family in this country a thousand dollars a year a thousand dollars a year for every family veterans benefits seven hundred fifty dollars per family health research and regulation six hundred ninety two dollars education five hundred seventy eight dollars highway mass transit four hundred fifty five unemployment benefits three hundred twenty international faiers three hundred dollars we have a deficit is going to be eight hundred billion dollars this year and while the congress sits on its heels and has debates about legislating or not legislating we're going to continue the same bad habits of not holding agencies accountable not being transparent about what we're doing and we're going to say we funded the war but we're not going to make any of the hard choices about it and when this bill comes to the floor it's going to have seventeen to twenty billion dollars it doesn't have anything to do with the war but has everything to do with political directives outside of the budget so we can spend more money washington doesn't need to raise it need to cut and it's time for us to pay for the war by getting rid of the waste fraud and abuse in this federal government and unfortunately there's not the character or the courage in either the house or the congress to take on that fight because it might impact political careers so if you listen to the debate when we come up with a supplemental we need to fund our troops there's no question about it but we shouldn't be funding our troops on the back of our children we should be fun and our troops on the back of us and we ought to be doing that every time and so i'm going to do all in my power to try to offer amendments to offset the funding of this war supplemental and i know the rules will prevent me from doing many i'm but i'm not going to stop speaking i'm not going to stop talking about the three hundred billion dollars every year that goes down the drain that steals future instils opportunity from our children and that's exactly what we're going to be doing and we're going to be smiling all the way through and patting ourselves on the back that we funded the war but we did on the backs of those that don't have the same opportunities that we were given and we're going to steal those opportunities from the next two generations it's time for congress to start doing this job and that means tough rigorous overside and staying within the budget guidelines and spending the money like it was ours not like we had it on the ending mr president the senator from maryland thank you very much and mr president i too wish to speak as if in morning business mr president all over america today people are celebrating earth day but when the the women of the senate have another day that we're commemorating it's called pay equity day that means women should get paid in full pay for  or comparable work you're going to see the women of the senate dressed in red today we're going to be on the senate floor we're going to be in our committees and we're going to be doing to our job but when where the cover read in solidarity with women all over america who say we're red in the face because of the way women have been treated in terms of our pay right now in the year two thousand  women still make less money per hour than men for the same or comparable job and if that wasn't hard enough about the business practices we actually have a supreme court that are great with discrimination so today we come to the fore with the legislation that's been developed in a bipartisan basis to reverse a supreme court decision called the get better got to hear this last may the supreme court made an outrageous decision that said women can't get a full pay for it will work if they don't do it within the first one hundred and eighty days that a discrimination occurs the decision was sexist it was biased and it did not understand the reality of women's lives or the reality of the work price there's this vision was a step backward for women and it hit the right in the pocketbook and it violates the american concept of fairness and justice and is poor treatment under the me tell you about billing the debtor who brought the case to the supreme court i've met her in the health committee the health education labor committee when we were listening to the testimony about it i've listened to her story this is a woman now who's beyond middle wage who's worked for nineteen years for the goodyear corporation and systematically she was underpaid from the day she walked into that door not only did she get the pay for the work that she did but she didn't get comparable raises when the men got there and what does that mean not only did she have less earnings and her work though she worked hard received excellent ratings and was promoted but it also now will show up in her pension she'll get the social security and she'll get that remember when discrimination begins is compounded over a lifetime now letty that better is a real american she fought this system on her own time and with great respect she fought the discrimination and took it to the east whopper kennedy commission took it to the courts and then it took it all the way up to the supreme court of all the way she had to raise her own money to do this while the big corporate interest a good year had started cat the hubbell hours or years against her she faced sexual harassment and the work was because she d speak up and speak out well that he better just bel living that better just wouldn't give up but if she were the only case in america it would be wrong but this is a pers pattern in the workplace and also it has now been approved by the supreme court the supreme court say that cell one cannot through their employer over  pay if that person doesn't file suit within the one hundred ninety days after the pay was established once again they're simply in court just doesn't get it how many women know the salary of their coworkers especially in the first six months when the job the reality of the workplace is that often people are forbidden to talk about their salary what if you're hired at an equal rate with your male counterparts but he gets a raise every few months and you don't you don't know that the supreme court decision was outrageous it was so bad that justice ruth  into the history books but justice stands by her wanted to put the world and this congress will notice that we better act justice ginsburg ginsburg said in her dissenting opinion in our view the court does not comprehend or is been different to the insidious way in which women can be victims of pay discrimination she encouraged the congress to fix it and we will fix that we will unfortunately discrimination exists when women now earn seventy seven percent for every dollar our male counterpart makes women of color even get paid less an african american woman gets paid just sixty eight cents for every dollar a white man makes and so most of the forty percent difference the supreme court decision w make it almost impossible for women workers to close this wage gap and to get the remedy they do sir and what they should do under the under our doctrine of fairness if you will pay for  our comparable work from the bench justice ginsburg did call in the congress for action she said corrective mixtape well when justice ruth speech and by the way you know we missed our justice sandra day o'connor grito voted the primary dissenting opinion they told us that the court made a mistake and the congress to fix it will fix it we will we will bring soon voting on our great galahad in the senate senator kennedy did it within consultation and we the women of the senate senator clinton senator or myself senator snowe women all both sides of the aisle he reached out four so that the statue of limitations for an employer see to fire away discrimination since run from the day of the actual payment of the discriminatory wage not just from the hiring so every time you get a paycheck it will be enacted discrimination which will reset the clock so that you can file your case that means that employees consider employers based on each discriminating paycheck and it doesn't limit the time a worker can get the remedy that she deserves this bill is about fairness justice and respect isn't it time isn't it time when we think about the way god better and all of those wonderful woman like her a woman who worked for nineteen years she wasn't exactly sure when the disparity develop she couldn't quite get to all of that a jury found which they had discriminated against or they awarded her four hundred thousand dollars in back pay and the supreme court took it away from  today we're going to give it back to her and we're going to make sure we're going to she in her got an in her grave and standing up for herself has stood up for all women we your women of the senate stand up as well and i believe also with the very good men who work with us men of quality never fear women who see equality and we're doing that here today where we believe in this country all people are created equal what we need to make sure it's in the federal law and then your personal checkbook for all people are created equal in the federal law block and your personal checkbook people should be judged by their skills their competence and by the job they do and once you get the job because of your skills and talent you should get equal pay for equal or comparable work though if i better was an honest and hardworking person for nineteen years she's entitled to every cent she worked for when nobody got better stood up we stand up with her we're going to correct the supreme court decision we're going to have to reform legislation this very important legislation that's called the fair pay restoration act so mr president we ask you to i serve on the health education labor committee with the senator from maryland and we saw lilly lead better come before our committee to speak about her experience in a factory where she was not given fair pay and  overtime when all the way to the supreme court where she lost her right in her own lifetime to ever be compensated for the pair pay that she lost because she wasn't treated fairly she came before our committee and she was such a woman of dignity and courage not speaking for herself anything we do on the floor won't help her personally but speaking for all the women that will come behind her for decades to make sure they have the right to get equal pay when they're performing an equal job so i come on to the floor today to thank senator macos ok for her leadership on this issue and urge our colleagues tomorrow to vote with us to vote with us so that we can go to the lilly  ledbetter fit fair pay act and once and for all assure that our daughters and future generations and your daughters will have access to equal pay mr president this senate has a very proud history of working across the aisle to pass civil rights laws and those historic laws ensure that all people in our nation have equal rights regardless of race or religion gender or national origin i'm proud that the that they ensure that my daughter now has the right to work in the same job and achieve the same success as my son but mr president even though women are doing the same jobs as men and working just as hard every day they still are not equal on one important day and that's pay day on pay day women will take home just seventy seven cents for every dollar paid to their male coworkers and that pay gap is even wider for african american and latino women african american women earned sixty seven cents on the dollar and latino woman earn just fifty six cents on the dollar that white man makes and i know that some people out there say well that can't be true  president it is true so i rise today on equal pay day to recognize that we still have a lot of work to do to ensure fairness in our society and tomorrow is a day that the senate can go on record saying we are going to stand behind the women in this country and the men and their children that rely on them to bring home a paycheck now mr president the pay gap that exists in this country is true regardless of skill or education and it is so deeply ingrained in our society that many jobs dominated by women paid less than jobs dominated by men even when the work they do is almost exactly the same now in my home state of washington a woman with a college degree earns about twenty thousand dollars less than a man with the same education and according to a study by the american association of university women the difference in pay starts as soon as that woman enters the workforce that study found that within a year after graduating from college a woman will already earn less than her male classmates in nearly every major so that's a problem when you start out but it is a lifelong problem because by the end of her career a woman a female worker will have lost an average of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars in earnings now mr president i think it's just as important important to make it clear that the pay gap is a problem for everyone in our country this disparity hurts millions of families in almost ten million households mothers are the only breadwinners and in many cases those women are also supporting their parents and extended family members and in far too many of those households women have to struggle to pay for rent or heat or food or gas especially today as we see those prices rising think of how much better off families would be if a woman were paid a wage equal to men especially if this economic temp downturn grossed worse and those expenses rise mr president if women and men made an equal wage single working women would have seventeen percent more income each and every year just ensuring that they earn a fair paycheck could cut the poverty rate in half now mr president that wage disparity that we talking about that women are earning less today follows those women into retirement women in this country today are twice as likely to live in poverty over the age of sixty five and women as we on the whole are more dependent faucheux security for a greater percentage of their retirement income now all of us are staring down the looming social security crisis think of how much better off we would be if women could save a little more for retirement and contribute more to social security mr president my colleagues and i shouldn't have to be here talking about this today i should have to come to the floor in the year two thousand and eight to make a case for equal pay not only is it a no brainer but fairness and equality are fundamental american values we are not asking for special treatment we are here because despite all the work that has been done to ensure equal rights in this country women haven't achieved equality and we here because we run the risk that pay discrimination laws are growing weaker not stronger if we don't act as senator mikulski talked about the supreme court last may took a big step backward with its decision on lead better versus goodyear that decision went against congress's intent and forty years of e e o c practice and it made that decision made it almost impossible for workers who suffer pay discrimination now to seek justice so today on equal pay day we're here to urge our colleagues to support legislation that would reverse that decision and ensure workers have a fair shot at fighting discrimination the lead better decision requires many workers to file a claim with within a hundred and eighty days after their employer discriminates against them but mr president it does not recognize that in many cases workers don't even know that they've been discriminated for years and it may take them much longer than and one hundred eighty days to gather the proof and frankly mister president for women in the workplace to be aggressive about finding out about how many other people get paid and what they're getting paid in order to even file a case is very difficult now mr president i think that this sounds an awful lot like the supreme court is asking our workers to be mind readers that's unfair and it is not what congress intended when we created that law in the first place the lead better paper act will allow our workers to file a claim within one hundred eighty days of any any discriminatory paycheck and it gives workers the ability to discover the facts and to challenge ongoing discrimination and i want to add that although the alleged better case involves gender discrimination the decision applies to all kinds of  religion race age disability and national origin mr president our nation was founded on the principle that all of its citizens are created equal we think they ought to be equal on payday as well i have to tell you as a mother and a grandmother i want my children to live in a country where my daughter can earn just as much as my son now is the time to ensure that that can be true by still strengthening our pay discrimination laws and now is the time to ensure the senate's history of protecting civil rights that cannot be eroded tomorrow is an important day for women and men in this country and i urge our colleagues to vote vote with us to and to talk to you know some practical realities about this issue i had the honor of representing a number of people on discrimination cases during the time i practice law in kansas city i represented people on age discrimination on race discrimination and on gender discrimination so i'm familiar with the law before lead better and i think the thing about this decision that is hardest for me is how unpractical it is you know when i was a single mom with three small kids and a job with a lot of responsibility and long hours i had to be very practical in the way i lived my life and working women across this country are very practical people they have to prioritize they make multitasking a way of life and so i look at this decision from a practical standpoint and here is what sticks in my craw they are acting as if when you get a paycheck and mediately some of which is turned in your head that says my paycheck is discriminatory there is no way women in the workplace can look at their paycheck and immediately determine that they've been discriminated against you know why they don't know whatever is making now if you're going to say that someone only has a hundred and eighty days to file a complaint on discrimination from the date the decision is made to make that payment what you're saying is that everybody in the workplace whether they are an elderly person whether there are a minority whether they're a woman they're going to have to turn into a detective every time they get a paycheck they're going to have to run around and interview their colleagues as to how much money they're making to make sure that their paycheck is their him that he still has dom first of all you're not even those who talk about your paycheck in the workplace  many places of employment the boss says it's against policy to discuss other people with other people what your salary is or what your pay is so what we're saying to the women and to the to the older workforce in this country and t members of minorities is now you got to figure out what's in the head of your employer and by the way you've got six months now if i were an employer in america i'd say hey talk about hurting productivity  instead does it make sense that we should be able to show a pattern of discrimination that is reflected is the reason paycheck of course it does of course it does who has the best knowledge as to whether or not someone is being discriminated against a guarantee it's not the person receiving the check i think about the cases i represented and what kind of incredibly high bar it would have been for each one of those individuals to figure out in a hundred eighty days whether or not their paycheck was fair you know it's funny how people talk about activist judges around this place and i have a feeling that when we debate this issue today and tomorrow and as this vote occurs we will hear words from the other side about activist judges this was in fact a supreme court decision that radically changed the law as we knew it in this country as has been practiced in this country as has in fact been embraced by this country and this court by the narrowest of margins said five to four that they were going to upset all that law and make it very very difficult for people in the workplace to have their day in the bright sunshine of justice well i i am tempted to call it an activist judiciary they're out of control we've got to do something about the judiciary instead what we need to do what we've always done in the history of this nation we've got to correct it we have to and by the way that decision spoke to us in terms of actually getting us in in the descent to take the steps necessary to put the law back where it was before that fateful day last summer when the supreme court said to the people in this country they've been discriminated against we're going to go really really hard for you to hold your employer accountable you know this is not a twilight zone of liability for companies in this is a this is a situation where all the damages that someone can receive are just two years regardless how long the discrimination has gone on one hundred eighty days is a very short period of time in terms of defense to file a complaint much shorter than any other statute of limitations that's out there for any wrong that anyone suffers in our in our country and i think people need to remember how lily found out about this the jury found in her favor the c found in her favor the law was in her favor in till the supreme court overturned it how did she find out that she was being discriminated against she'd been there all these years started out on an even keel with with with her colleagues that were men somebody slipped her anonymous note there is not a toe board somewhere that she could have checked someone slipped her nonis note in the workplace and said hey do you realize what's happening to you you need to start asking some questions about what's happening to your pay this isn't just about women this is also about the older workforce and by the way with the economy the way it is right now under this administration people are having to work longer people used to think they could retire at sixty two forget about that they're working into their late sixt seventy's that we have many members in this body that are working hard every day that are well beyond their early seventy's that are contributing on a daily basis to this place to do those people should they be discriminated against because they're older should they have to figure it out one hundred eighty days that a younger colleague is making a bigger paycheck what about the minorities in this country this is not just about women this is about discrimination and we need to send a very clear signal to the rest of the country that we understand that we've got to fix this and we've got to fix it quickly the last thing i'd say is this is not a bunch of whining over something that's not important that twenty two cents in missouri that a woman makes less than a man is important it's important to pay for the gas it's important to pay for the daycare it's important in order to make the bills come out even in missouri the figure is women earn seventy eight cents for every dollar earned by men the median annual income for a man with a college degree degree of misery from the years of two thousand and four to two thousand and six was fifty nine thousand dollars for a woman with the same amount of education it was forty six thousand dollars and that was the american association of university women that did that study in the state of missouri we need to unite behind this legislation this is not going to be onerous for employers out there and it's fair it's just fair it's what we pledge allegiance to every day in this room equal justice for all let's make sure we fix this mr president let's make sure that we move and pass this bill and send it to the president and i'll tell you what if this president has the nerve to veto this bill i know a lot of women in america they're going to wake up and get busy before november thank you mr president floor of the senate is bill and titled the veterans benefits enhanced men act of two thousand and seven nine months ago this bill came out of committee and this bill is now on the floor and to be considered back in november last year i asked for permission to bring this bill up for consideration in senate and have amendments it's the orderly process of the senate a deliberative process a debate  and one might expect that that's what we do around here but sadly at that point the republican minority objected to bringing up the veterans benefits and handsome act even though it passed out of the committee with an overwhelmingly positive vote what's included in this a long list of important changes in the law changes which world give to our veterans especially those returning now disabled from combat benefits that they absolutely need housing education in addition there is provision in here which i support i was happy to join as a co sponsor r related to filipino world war two veterans you know i think it's long overdue that the united states senate recognize the contribution made by so many filipinos in world war two to the success of our war effort they felt they fought so gallantly and courageously and stood by our troops at a moment when we desperately needed help those who are not students of history may have forgotten or never read that our fight in the philippines was a bitter long and tragic battle that ended well but only after great sacrifice by the filipino people by filipino soldiers and by our american soldiers this provision in the bill related to veterans would deem service before july first one nine hundred forty six in the organized military forces the philippines and the philippines scouts as active military service for purposes of eligibility for veteran benefits it would provide to children of deceased or totally disabled service connected filipino veterans who qualify for educational benefits would be paid at the same rate under the same conditions as children of other veterans  is long overdue time for morning businesses explain i ask him to consent to speak ten minutes on the bill without objection so where does it with the clerk report the bill at this point or should i proce as their teen fifteen which the clerk will report listen to proceed to consideration of calendar number three thirty six s thirteen fifteen at bill to amend title thirty eight united states can't enhance life insurance benefits for disabled veterans and for other are on the floor and i think she was coming to speak as if it morning business and i had may have used the minute or two that was remaining for for her i want to give since she's on the floor i want to address the bill that's pending and i but i would like to give her a chance at this moment before i do so could i ask if it meets with the approval of the senate of north carolina for unanimous consent that the senator from minnesota be object but if the five minutes were to come out of the majority so time for the debate on we've got time split between now and twelve o'clock between majority and minority if it's time came out of the majority and i'm fine me it's my understanding senator akaka wants to speak up to ten minutes so it correct and so i'm trying to figure out we have thirty eight minutes remaining before the vote so that would allow one thousand minutes from illinois i appreciate that if i go less than five minutes i will give you back the rest of the time thank you mr president i'm proud to join with my colleagues today who were here earlier senator mikulski and senator murray and senator boxer and senator mccaskill in support of equal pay day in one hundred sixty one president john f kennedy appointed eleanor roosevelt as chairwoman of the president's status on women commission in one nine hundred sixty three the commission finding a numerated rampa discrimination against women in the workplace in hiring in accommodations and in pay this was part of the larger catalyst to finally have that same year the equal pay act it is a sad reality  still eighty eight years after the one hundred seven men gave women equal voting power and forty five years after the passage of the equal pay act and it takes women sixteen months to earn what men can earn in twelve months in other words today equal pay day marks a day it takes women to finally catch up to where men were back in january but eleanor roosevelt was a strong wise woman and she brought that first commission her personal philosophy that it's better to light a candle than to curse the darkness that is why it is so important that the senate take up the lilly ledbetter fair pay act on the floor this week we must light a candle to the pay discrimination that women continue to experience across the country this important legislation will reverse a two thousand and seven supreme court ruling led better be good year that significantly limited the rights of individuals to sue for gender based pay discrimination the fact that gave rise to lilly led bettors case are all too common today lilly ledbetter was a hard worker working at goodyear tire as a manager for twenty years when she started at goodyear all the employees at the manager level started at the same pay she knew she was getting the same pay as the men did but early in her tenure as manager the system the company went to another system payment records were kept confidential and lily didn't think to ask  colleagues were making she didn't think to look at a pay raise and ask if the men in the department were getting the thing and as the years passed by the pay differential between what she made and what the male managers were making just kept getting bigger she only found out about it from an anonymous note from a coworker at trial she was able to prove discrimination but the company appealed the jury's finding and the supreme court in a five to four decision decided that lilly filed her charge too late essentially they read the law does say that she would have to file it within one hundred eighty days of goodyear making its first discriminatory decision although this decision completely ignores the realities of the workplace that employees records are kept confidential and that there is no way to know that it starts unless we require women to start the embarrassing practice of asking what men make we can do what eleanor roosevelt that we can bring the reality to light we cannot expect women to challenge practices they do not know are happening and by passing this law we can start to give women for months back those extra months it takes to allow them to catch up to their male colleagues thank you mr president and i yield the floor mr president the veterans benefits unhandsome an act passed out of the committee nine months ago and six months ago i came to the floor and asked that we consider it i couldn't imagine there would be any delay in warning to bring critical help to our veterans this legislation expands eligibility for traumatic injury insurance under the service members group life insurance program extends housing benefits to individuals veterans with severe burdens increases benefits for veterans and printed ship and job training programs and restores veteran status to filipino veterans the bill had a positive vote coming out of committee and the republican minority objected six months ago to bringing it up then last week when we tried to bring up this building help the veterans against the republicans initiated a filibuster trying to stop us from bringing this bill forward this morning the republican leader explained it was because the republicans need to sit down at noon and talk about the bill so they understand it the bill has been out of committee for nine months it's very clear what's in this bill there was no need for a filibuster except for the fact that that is the strategy of the republican minority so far the republicans have filed during this legislative session sixty six filibusters and continue to file than sixty six filibusters including a filibuster against this veterans benefits enhanced but bill now they continued to file these filibusters in an effort to slow down or stop the senate from considering legislation last week they wanted to stop a technical corrections bill that made corrections in spelling and grammar and a few references in a bill passed years ago it took us a full week to pass a bill which should have taken no time at all because the republicans have slowed down on that bill and this week is even worse that they would force of filibuster on a bill to help veterans why why in the world with they do that from the beginning we said that if they had an objection to any provision of this bill they could offer an amendment i know the senator from north carolina objects to giving filipino war veterans who served next to american soldiers risked their lives and died on behalf of americans they object to the idea of giving them three hundred dollars a month to the eighteen thousand surviving filipino world war two veterans who would be eligible they object to it but won't come to the floor and just offer a motion to strike no they file a filibuster to drag this out for days at a time this isn't fair it isn't fair to the veterans who wait on important legislation like this it certainly isn't fair to the filipino veterans you have to understand that during world war two president franklin delano roosevelt issued a military order calling to service the commonwealth army of the philippines to stand next to american soldiers to fight and die this entitle them many believe those who served beside the u s troops to some recognition from the united states of america my goodness how many more years of we late wait four hundred seventy thousand filipino veterans who risked their lives to save american lives to save their homeland and to fight for the same values that we treasure we have put them off that long and a filibuster was filed forcing a vote today at noon well i can just tell you that this continued effort by the republican minority to stop install any efforts for change in progress is being noted by the american people we only have fifty one democrats it takes sixty votes to overcome a republican f which means we need nine of them to join us and maybe they will at noon today but the obvious question is why did we have to go through this why did we have to wait when there was an objection last november why did we have to face a filibuster next time it is important for us to pass this critical veterans administration to break this republican filibuster and do what's right for our veterans and the philippian philos who stood beside our troops and fought world war two this present senator kerry last present and i intend to let chairman make his remarks first but let me just say this it's disingenuous to come to the floor and suggest that i or any member of the minority have stood in the stood in the way when the conditions to move forward were such that diluted the minorities ability to represent its members but more importantly the american people to limit us in the time of debate to limit us in the amount of amendments yes sir that was what was offered it was not offered to have a full and open debate where in the process now and i as i said to senator reid yesterday i'm voting for cloture did i encourage my members to vote for cloture i'm sorry we have to have the vote but that's the only thing that assures us the ability to have the time to debate these issues and i think that what you will find is that your education of how much we're all in  agreement which is ninety eight percent and the two percent that we have a difference on and and i respect the chairman and i respect the other members that believe a special pension should be set up for filipino veterans that live in the philippines that have no service connected injury but i disagree with that's a priority over our guys so i plan to offer an amendment that i've never had an opportunity to offer that embraces ninety eight percent of what the chairman has in his bill but aleck's to pro rata our soldiers in enhanced benefits over the two hundred twenty one million dollars that is now devoted to filipino veterans who live in the philippines who have no service connected injury i believe it's time for us to stand up for our guys versus that select group that there was never a promise made  senate from hawaii earn my colleagues to vote for cloture and express their support for consideration of s thirteen fifteen the proposed veterans benefits and