On the recordMarch 2, 2010
Madam President, I come to the floor of the Senate to say to my colleague from Kentucky: Let the unemployment bill go. Let's free the unemployment compensation bill, the bill that will fund COBRA health insurance benefits and put people back to work building highways, and let's pay doctors the fees they deserve for saving lives and improving lives. Of all of the bills in the United States of America, why are we holding up this one? I think it is outrageous, and I think it is egregious. My Lord, look at this. Right now in the United States of America, 400,000 American citizens are not receiving their unemployment benefits. They have been laid off. They have been pushed around. They have been pushed out. And now the Senate will not act to extend their benefits. Then there are the health insurance benefits called COBRA, and 500,000 Americans are not getting that. Who gets COBRA benefits? No, it is not a snake--although there are a lot of snakes around. It means that if you were laid off from a company, you have the opportunity to, with your own money out of your own pocket, be able to buy insurance and get a modest subsidy to help you through this. My gosh, why can't we do this? Then there are the thousands of doctors who are not being paid. There are the highway people who are not being paid. I gave you national statistics, but I am a Senator from Maryland.…