Senate Proceeding on Nov 5th, 2009 :: 2:13:40 to 2:22:20
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2:13:31 to 2:13:54( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: morning business. ms. mikulski: and the minority's the pr minority's time has expired. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i, too, would like to speak on health care. and i note with interest the remarks from the gentleman from tennessee, and i think that

2:13:40 to 2:22:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Barbara Mikulski

2:13:55 to 2:14:17( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: there is a former bipartisan agreement. but everybody says let's do this step by step. mr. president, the congress has had extensive health care debate, and we in the health-education committee have had extensive hearings. we had a markup of our bil that lasted more than three weeks and

2:14:18 to 2:14:38( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: had over 350 amendments, of which 75% were offered by the other side. we often took many of those amendments. when all was said and done, they voted no, so we don't know when good would be good enough. and it's one thing to disagree

2:14:39 to 2:15:01( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: thing to, one, do a filibuster by proxy, which is what we encountered in the committees with long-standing amendments -- i mean, with the increased volume in amendments. now, mr. president, we need health care reform, and we need it now, and we need it in a way that accomplishes the goal of

2:15:02 to 2:15:24( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: saving lives, improving lives, and at the same time controlling costs. number one, i think we all agree we need to save and stalize medicare. the other thing we need to do is end the punitive practices of insurance companies. mr. president, i'm going to tell you a bone-chilling story.

2:15:25 to 2:15:47( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: i held a hearing in the "help" committee on how health insurance private sector treats first of all, we pay more and get less benefits, happened and what emerged was that a woman who applied for health care who had had c-section was denied by mi

2:15:48 to 2:16:10( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: a sterilization. mr. president, did you hear what i just said? an insurance company told an american woman to get alth insurance, she had to have a sterilization? is this fascist china -- fascist germany? is this this is the united states of america. well, we were outraged. i've been in touch with this

2:16:11 to 2:16:33( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: insurance company, got lip services promises, blowoff letters from their lawyers and stuf i'm writing an amendment on the floor. so we've got to get rid of these punitive practices of denying health care on the basis of a previous condition, and then not only doing that because of the c-section but then to engage in

2:16:34 to 2:16:56( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: a coercive way to get -- enforce a sterilization. so you think i want reform? you better believe i do, and i think i speak for the majority of the women in this country who feel the same way and the good men like the presiding officer who will support us on it. i will have an amendment to deal with this if the insurance company continues to blow me off.

2:16:57 to 2:17:18( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: floor. the presiding officer: morning business under the?? previous order, the motion to proceed to the motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the committee-reported substitute to h.r. 2847 is agreed to moti is agreed to. under the previous order, there

2:17:19 to 2:17:41( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: will be 40 minutes of debate equally divided and controlled as follows: 20 minutes under the control of the senator from louisiana and 20 minutes total under the control of the senator from maryland, senator mikulski, and the senator from alabama,

2:17:42 to 2:18:02( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: senator shelby. ms. mikulski: mr. president, it's about 12:25 -- well, excuse me. mr. president, very shortly we'll vote on cloture on the c.j.s. bill. as the chairperson of the bill, d like to say we want to

2:18:03 to 2:18:21( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: finish this today. so that we can move f funding. mr. president, i have to yield the floor a moment and i note the absence of a quorum.

2:18:47 to 2:19:07( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: quorum call: ms. mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikuls call of the quorum be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: mr. president, reclaiming my time as the manager of the bill, i want to bring to colleagues' attention that at 12:25 today, we're going

2:19:08 to 2:19:30( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: to vote on the cloture of the commerce-justice-science appropriations bill. we would like to finish this bill today, and when i say "i" i mean senator shelby, my ranking member, and myself. this bill is the result of a rigorous bipartisan effort to fund the department of justice, including the f.b.i. and d.e.a.,

2:19:31 to 2:19:52( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: the commerce department, major science agencies that propel o country in the area of innovation and technology development, like the national science foundation and the national space agency. so we want the sete to be able to deal with this and then move on to other business. after the cloture vote, it is our intention to dispose of any

2:19:53 to 2:20:16( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: pending amendments that are germane to the bill. this bill has been public since june. it's been on the floor already for four days and over 20 hours. senators have had ample time to draft and call up their amendments. so senator shelby and i would hope to be able to move through the amendments in a well-paced

2:20:17 to 2:20:37( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: but brisk fashion. mr. president, we would hope our colleagues would cooperate and have the funding of these important agencies be decided on robust debate and the merits of the argument rather than delay and dither, delay and dither, delay

2:20:38 to 2:20:59( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: and dither tactics of the other side. so we don't want to delay. we don't we want to proceed, debate germane amendments and bring our bill to a prompt closure. mr. president, i reserve the

2:21:04 to 2:21:24( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: balance of my the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, i have two consent requests. i ask unanimous consent that richard burkhart, a detailee from financial services, be granted floor privileges during the consideration of the c.j.s. ther the presiding officer: without

2:21:25 to 2:21:45( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: objection. ms. mikulski: also have ten unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i therefore ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that they be printed in the record.

2:21:46 to 2:22:06( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: the presiding officer: without objection. ms. mikulski: reserve the balance of my time. mr. chambliss: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senato from georgia. mr. chambliss: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate does resume consideration of h.r. 2847, that it be in order for notice offer amendment -- amendment 2676, which is filed

2:22:07 to 2:22:21( Edit History Discussion )

Barbara Mikulski: at the desk. ms. mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? ms. mikulski: i object. the intention is to vote on low dispiewr dispose of pending ger -- cloture and dispose of pending germane amendments. the senator's amendment is not