national federation of independent business, the realtors, the service employees international union, families u.s.a., from both sides of the political spectrum standing behind the shop bill. the shop bill, with some changes, but the shop bill is now part of health care reform. it's an idea that has been endorsed and it's one that i think is going to make a big difference for individuals. it also, this bill, contains help for small businesses to pay for the premiums. critics on the other side of the aisle say, oh, the taxes go up but the benefits don't start for years. they're -- they've missed it. because initially, we are going to be offering tax assistance to small businesses with 50 employees or fewer. those who have average payroll of $50,000 a worker are going to get a helping hand to buy health insurance not just for the workers but for the owners of the company. i've seen this in my own life. my friends who run small businesses, who've lost their health insurance because one employee's wife had a very sick baby. that's exactly what happened to my friend. and they went out sho

people like the realtors in your hometown. did you know one out of four realtors in america have no health insurance? i didn't know it until they came to see me. well, this gives them a hand, gives them a tax break as a small business to provide health insurance for their people. so, madam president, i'm going to reserve the balance of my time but i will tell you, we're here today, we're burning the hours off the clock to vote at 1:00 a.m. in the morning. it would be more humane to the people who work here, to the members of the senate and their families for us to reach a gently and gentlewomanly agreement that we will -- gentlemenly and gentlewomanly agreement that we will have this vote at a more reasonable time. if we have the 60 votes -- which i think we have the commitments for -- then we can decide how to move forward. we've had a long, arduous, sometimes taxing debate leading to this moment. i think it's time for a vote, and the sooner we can reach that vote, the sooner the american people will know whether we succeed o

director i will say the realtors were one of my beings of existence. but the fact is the customers are now telling the developers it doesn't matter whether you think it is a good idea or not. we are not going to lease and we are also saying history, and this is in europe as well as the u.s. and actually in china as well that when you have a vacancy buildings that are green and lease back up again much more rapidly than buildings that are not. >> this is an interesting idea that we are seeing with green buildings perhaps even local pollution reasons that this they often tend to use paint that don't have compounds that children tend to like buildings that don't have these nasty chemicals. you may find reasons to do a win-win on climate. in that vein what may turn to duane. you spent time thinking about development issues. one of the relatively ignored aspects of climate in mauney view is between climate and poverty. there are 1.6 billion or so people on earth who have no access to the modern energy, no electricity clean tools, nothing of the sort familia

and the realtor says, well, fine, you can start paying for the house right now and in four years, you'll be able to move in. the house might be stricken by lightning, it might fall apart, it might blow up, it might have a fire, and that's exactly what could happen in this bill. this bill may not make it for four years when people see what's in it. there will be elections. and i just cannot imagine that we would establish a policy of taxing people for four years, raising costs, leading down this path that will eventually go to a public plan, that will end up doing what was originally introduced in this bill and that is to end up with one public plan. it will take a little longer the way the bill is being reconfigured, but it is going to end up in the same place unless we can stop it by showing people that the mandates and the taxes are not good for our economy and they're not good for the health care system that we know in this country. because we have choices in this country. we have the ability to decide who our doctor is and what insurance coverage we want, when we want a high deductib

the national association of realtors said it was due to low mortgage interest rates and a federal tax credit. the housing data helped wall street rally. the dow jones industrial average gained more than 50 points to close near 10,465. the nasdaq rose 15 points to close at 2,252. negotiations intensified today for a prisoner swap between israel and hamas. the islamic militant group that rules gaza has offered to release israeli army sergeant gilad shalit. he was captured more than three years ago. in turn, israel would free 1,000 palestinian prisoners. but hamas complained the israelis were dragging their feet. >> this deal has various aspects and the resistance is working on them but i can tell you that the ball is in the israelis' court because of their stubbornness and not accepting the conditions of our brothers in the resistance. >> sreenivasan: offers and counter-offers went back and forth through german mediators. and israeli defense minister ehud barak said getting shalit back was a "top priority". >> the israeli government and certainly we who sent the chief of staff and i vie

tom has a background in housing and local government and has worked for the national association of realtors, an insurance firm, the government of the district of columbia, holds a master's degree in public policy from georgetown. it is a small, local institution here in washington. the next person has been a colleague and compatriot on the consumer side of housing and community development work for many years. we have worked together for many years on a variety of many issues and i have found her to be one of the most informed advocates in this area. she is currently director of the hurricane relief project which was launched in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. she does plenty of extra duties on issues broadly of mortgage foreclosures and making homes affordable mitigation programs. throughout most of debbie's career, she has worked for local, community-based organizations to increase access to high-quality, low-cost financial-services and to eliminate discriminatory practices. she had a long tenure at the center for community change, a great ally and friend of ours, where i first began

tom has a background in housing and local government and has worked for the national association of realtors, and mortgage insurance firm, the government of the district of columbia, and holds a master's degree from georgetown which is a small, local institution here in washington. debbie is familiar to many of you and is a colleague in the compatriot in the consumer side of housing and community development work for many years. she and i have worked together on a variety of issues and i have found her to be one of the most informed and passionate advocates in this area. she is currently director of the hurricane relief project which was launched in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. she is plenty of extra duties on issues broadly on a mortgage foreclosures and making homes affordable mitigation programs. throughout most of her career, she has worked for local, community-based organizations to increase access to high-quality, low-cost financial-services and to eliminate discriminatory practices. she had a long tenure at the center -- at the center for community change, a great ally and frie

merchants, retailers, doctors, realtors and others, some suggested, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, they're exempt from cfpa as was intended and as they should be. we address concerns we heard from banks and credit unions. small and mid-sized banks and credit unions under $10 billion in assets will not be subject to direct cfpa examination. instead there's a requirement now for coordination with the cfpa and the prudential regulator for those who are subject to direct cfpa examination. and after the manager's agreement reached this week, the ability of national banks and associations to operate under a uniform national standard of rules where appropriate is preserved. but functional regulators failed to prioritize consumer protection and protect our constituents. the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. frank: i yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds. ms. bean: thank you. the cfpa will create a framework reducing inefficiencies and bureaucracy across multiple agencies. they'll have the pex err -- expertise, resources and mission to update consumer financial

out of their garage, that realtor who doesn't have a group pool, pool us all together and give us the same clout as the big business. well, that's what we're doing in this bill? versions of this bill have been, in fact, proposed by the distinguished senator from wyoming. i know that back during the clinton years in the debate that senator bob dole proposed something similar. this has been a democratic idea and a republican idea for years. we are calling this an insurance exchange, where basically if somebody right now can't find affordable insurance by going out by themselves in the individual market, they're going to be able to go to a place where companies will bid on the large pool of everybody who doesn't have affordable insurance now. and just like what we do for the federal government, just like our insurance plan, our federal employee insurance plan, which is an insurance exchange, someone will be able to go to a web site or be able to get information and be able to find out about the private insurance companies that want to offer insurance to them through this insurance pool.

merchants, retailers, doctors, realtors and others, some suggested, the butcher, the baker, the candlestick maker, they're exempt from cfpa as was intended and as they should be. we address concerns we heard from banks and credit unions. small and mid-sized banks and credit unions under $10 billion in assets will not be subject to direct cfpa examination. instead there's a requirement now for coordination with the cfpa and the prudential regulator for those who are subject to direct cfpa examination. and after the manager's agreement reached this week, the ability of national banks and associations to operate under a uniform national standard of rules where appropriate is preserved. but functional regulators failed to prioritize consumer protection and protect our constituents. the chair: the gentlewoman's time has expired. mr. frank: i yield the gentlewoman an additional 30 seconds. ms. bean: thank you. the cfpa will create a framework reducing inefficiencies and bureaucracy across multiple agencies. they'll have the pex err -- expertise, resources and mission to update consumer financial

maybe a farmer, maybe a realtor, maybe the next bill gates in their garage coming up with the next great invention. and they don't have access to the same big insurance pool that a big business has to be able to bring down costs. and so what we're talking about is for those folks who are working or have recently been laid off, can't find insurance, giving them a way -- a competitive way to be able to buy insurance from an insurance pool. and in my mind that's -- i can't imagine a more important christmas present, mr. president, to give to american families than the ability to know going forward that when they lose their job, they're not going to lose their health insurance. that they have an opportunity, a way to get affordable insurance and that we have come together, as a senate, to focus on saving lives, saving money. and saving medicare. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: thank you. i would love to interject a question to the distinguished senator from michigan at this point. we are in a situation in whic

, if there were five undercover videos of a realtor in five of their different offices around the country telling people how to engage in mortgage fraud by covering up what you actually do in the applications you're sending in, there would be a federal investigation going on and it would have been announced with great fanfare at the justice department. >> well, you say. that but it could depend on whether that group had made loans to people in a particular party in congress perhaps. and maybe they wouldn't have announced it with fanfare. if i could just ask ms. moncrief with your indulgence. you. you mentioned previously about the communication that was more important to get

the very distinguished majority whip commented that he had talked to some realtors and that one -- three in four realtors were uninsured and this bill was going to help they will. the the reason is they're not able to form risk groups together associated and affiliated as a like practice. because of the i.r.s. code, the company's employer, who has independent contractors working for them, cannot, by law, provide them with medical insurance. in 2006, on the floor of the united states senate, 57 republicans and democrats offered and voted for the associated health care bill, or the small business access to health reform. 57 out of 100. we needed 60, just like this bill needed to get to cloture. that bill would have allowed associated professions to join together, compete for insurance nationwide, form risk pools that are large enough to mediate and ameliorate high rates. and so he was correct in his statement. the reason they don't is that they have to buy in the spot market because they can't have a group plan. when they buy in the spot market, they're talking abou about $1,800, $2,000 a

, if there were five undercover videos of a realtor in five of their different offices around the country telling people how to engage in mortgage fraud by covering up what you actually do in the applications you're sending in, there would be a federal investigation going on and it would have been announced with great fanfare at the justice department. >> well, you say. that but it could depend on whether that group had made loans to people in a particular party in congress perhaps. and maybe they wouldn't have announced it with fanfare. if i could just ask ms. moncrief with your indulgence. you. you mentioned previously about the communication that it was really more important to get 1.4 million voters registered than it was to worry about some of them being improper or false. who specifically would have communicated that? >> the political directors of senior management. we would have meetings of acorn political operations. and they would go over the types of things that were needed for this drive. and one of them was that they said they didn't mind if a few bad cards slipped through in

and others, the ability to have access to greater choice, greater competition in that marketplace and, therefore, a better product. graifort, morgreater, more meanl coverage at a more reasonable cost. that's what we want to see. and more upon thely, that's what our small businesses want -- and more importantly, that's who our small businesses want to see. thank you, madam president. i certainly yield the floor to my colleague from oregon and my colleague from indiana and the senator from maine as well, who i know will have a great addition to this conversation. thank you. mr. bayh: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. wyoming: madam president, i would like to begin by complimenting my friend and colleague from arkansas. we entered this body together and she has consistently advocated on behalf of small businesses, not only across arkansas but across the country. we both want to reform the health care system. we know that this has a major impact on small businesses. they create most of the new jobs in our society, so if we care about job creation, we ne

, if there were five undercover videos of a realtor in five of their different offices around the country telling people how to engage in mortgage fraud by covering up what you actually do in the applications you're sending in, there would be a federal investigation going on and it would have been announced with great fanfare at the justice department. >> well, you say. that but it could depend on whether that group had made loans to people in a particular party in congress perhaps. and maybe they wouldn't have announced it with fanfare. if i could just ask ms. moncrief with your indulgence. you. you mentioned previously about the communication that it was really more important to get 1.4 million voters registered than it was to worry about some of them being improper or false. who specifically would have communicated that? >> the political directors of senior management. we would have meetings of acorn political operations. and they would go over the types of things that were needed for this drive. and one of them was that they said they didn't mind if a few bad cards slipped through in

. >> yes, sir i'm very familiar with this one from about 525 in the morning and all i was very aware of this. what happened was a realtor in a large network system was being replaced out in los angeles, and that router had been mapped and properly and when it was put on line it had a second problem and this probably shouldn't supplies any of us, there was a human error involved. the installation team had suppressed a warning system, so had they been put on with a warning system on it would have tripped itself off and 15 seconds we but have none instantly, but that didn't happen. it was allowed to go on line and put back the data into the by think it's important for everyone to understand safety was never compromised. what we lost was the ability to have our system automated, the ability to process flight information on an automated basis is what we lost. so the system worked. it identified it had a problem. it identified the data coming was erroneous and essentially it warned us to shut the system down. but it gave that warning much later than it should have done to the human error.

so that is the reality of health insurance for small businesses. i also want to tell my friend from vermont that about one-third of all realtors in america are uninsured, have no health insurance. they are independent contractors and they have no health insurance. one out of three. mr. sanders: and while we're talking about the economics of health care in this country, i wonder if my friend from illinois has had the same experience that i've had in vermont where people tell me they're staying on their job not because they want to stay on their job but because the job is providing decent health insurance and they can't go where they want go because the new job may not or they're afraid about the interval when they may not have any health insurance at all. and i wonder if my friend from illinois happened to see the piece in the paip - paper -- unbelievable -- where a guy drawing -- a middle-aged fellow joined the united states military. do you know why he joined the united states military? his wife was suffering from cancer and he couldn't find a way

but if we can find it in the bill, if the mark allows us to find $12 billion, that would be a good place to spend it, mr. president, because these individual, whether they're realtors or attorneys or accountants or sole contractors, carpenters that are working out there creating a job for themselves and creating economic opportunity in their communities could as a tax cut and a tax credit to help them. there are a series of amendments that i've introduced that don't have any cost associated, just common sense, create more efficiency in the system. i trust the leadership will consider including those. in addition, senator lincoln, under her leadership, has an amendment to expand both the bridge credit and the tax cred credit. it's a $9 billion provision but we're hoping that the mark will allow for that addition as well. i want to just mention a few other things in my closing. i want to thank the small business owners and organizations and advocates, mr. president, that have remained at the negotiating table. they didn't pack up their bags and run away but they stayed here in washington,