Senator Boxer: (6:38 PM)

• Spoke on the Water Resources Development Act.
  • "We're talk about making navigation better. We're talking about flood control. We're talking about coastal storm damage reduction, environmental restoration, relief for Flint, Michigan, improved notification when high levels of lead are found in drinking water anywhere in the country. It restores critical ecosystems, invests in innovative water technologies like desalination, water recycling. We're talking about drought assistance. We're talking about improving ports, repairing dams, and allowing states to issue permits for coal ash. This is a critical bill."

 

Senator Rubio: (6:39 PM)

• Spoke on the MilCon-VA/Zika appropriations bill.
  • "I continue to support supplemental legislation to fund the fight against Zika, but we cannot afford to wait any longer. And that's why I have requested that any legislation to fund the federal government beyond the 30th of September include additional resources to combat and, hopefully through a vaccine, eradicate the Zika virus. This is for Congress our moment of truth on this incredibly dangerous issue. We are going to continue to see more explosive growth in infections if people keep conspiring for political reasons in election year to do nothing. My colleagues on both sides of the aisle and in both chambers, in the House and Senate, now face a choice. Are the political points you hope to gain from posturing on this funding really more valuable than saving the lives and protecting pregnant women and preventing unborn children from being afflicted by this disease?"

 

Senator Brown: (6:45 PM)

• Spoke on the death of Dr. Donald Henderson.
  • "This country lost one of the heroes in the fight to eradicate smallpox: Lakewood, Ohio native, Oberlin College graduate, Dr. Donald Henderson. He passed away at age 87 on August 19. He left behind perhaps the most important public health legacy of anyone in the 20th century, along with Dr. William Foege, who is still alive and very active. Dr. Henderson helped lead the war on humankind's most feared disease, achieved one of the greatest public health victories ever, perhaps a very, very arguably, maybe the most important public health victory ever and that's the eradication of smallpox. Most Americans are maybe too young to remember the fear that smallpox struck in the hearts of people across the globe."

 

Senator McCain: (6:53 PM)

• Spoke on Obamacare.
  • "Our state of Arizona has the unique category of having a county without a single health care provider. Not one. And now our largest county, Maricopa County, is now down to one, from six. If there's ever an object lesson in the failure of Obamacare, it's right there in our home state of Arizona, where we have a very large aging population, we have a very large young population. And we're asking the young people to pay for the health care of seniors when the fact is that it was a flawed idea from the beginning. And the fact is that I stood on this floor until Christmas Eve morning fighting against Obamacare when it was rammed on a strictly partisan basis -- 60 votes they had, 60 votes they used. For the first time in history we had a major entitlement reform that was done on a totally partisan basis. And we said at the time that it would fail. It's unraveling as we speak."

 

Senator Flake: (6:58 PM)

• Spoke on Obamacare.
  • "You have no exchange to purchase. If you buy on another exchange, there's no federal subsidy attached to it so it's completely unaffordable for many of our constituents. Yet, if they can't buy the insurance and don't buy the insurance, the penalty still comes. The penalty still comes. And so I'm pleased that my colleague is introducing legislation. I'm glad to join him on this to make sure that in counties where there is no competition, that those penalties simply shouldn't apply. That's the first thing we ought to do. I have legislation as well that will say that the hardship exemptions that currently exist should be expanded, particularly for those who have no option at all. It's not getting better. It's getting worse. We have to sit down and say let's do some of these reforms now because people are hurting."