Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 437, S. 3250.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Commerce Committee be discharged from further

consideration and the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 584.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 588.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table) with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to this matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, July 21; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and that following any leader remarks the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority controlling the final 30 minutes; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the House message on H.R. 4213; finally, I ask that the time during any recess, adjournment, and morning business count postcloture.

Before the Chair rules, I want everyone who is watching these proceedings tonight to understand again what the Republicans are doing. We just passed badly needed legislation to help 2.5 million unemployed people. To show the lack of understanding and feeling and compassion of the Republicans, they are making us waste 30 hours. There are people who are desperate for this money--desperate--and they are making us wait because that is what the rule of the Senate is.

I hope the American people understand how callous this is. People are desperate. They can't make house payments or car payments. They can't pay for their kids' food, and they are having us wait for 30 hours. Cloture has been invoked. We only need a simple majority to pass this bill now, but they are making us wait. I can't articulate in strong enough feelings how unfair this is to 2.5 million people.

So would the Chair rule on my unanimous consent request.

Mr. President, earlier today the Senate invoked cloture on the legislation to extend unemployment insurance benefits. As a result, debate on the measure is limited to 30 hours. We can finish this 30 hours after this passes, sometime around 9 o'clock tomorrow night. If that gives these people over here some feeling that 2.5 million people deserve this, then let them do it. I hope we come in, in the morning, and get this thing done so this bill can go on to the House--the House has to pass it--and then to the President. Every hour that is delayed is more misery for 2.5 million people.

The debate over whether it is paid for is over. It is clear; all experts say this money that is spent will return to us--CBO says twofold. John McCain's chief economic adviser says $1.61 will come back for every $1 we spend. So if they think they are getting even--with whom, 2.5 million people--because it passed?

So I hope we reach an agreement to yield back some of the postcloture time so we can complete action on this bill at a reasonable time tomorrow.

Upon disposition of unemployment insurance legislation, the Senate will resume consideration of the small business jobs bill, which is also a job-creating bill we would like to get to.

I want everyone to understand. The Republicans better be ready tomorrow to defend their position because we are going to have people come during this 30 hours and show how ridiculous it is that we are having to wait for 30 hours. No amendments can be offered. Nothing can be done during that 30 hours except speeches. So I alert my friends: Come and explain to the American people how this 30 hours has helped the American people.

There will be rollcall votes possibly throughout the day tomorrow.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, following any leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business until 3 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the small business jobs bill. There will be no rollcall votes during today's session of the Senate.

At 2:30 p.m. tomorrow, there will be a cloture vote with respect to H.R. 4213, which is legislation extending unemployment insurance benefits.

As a reminder, at 2:15 p.m. tomorrow, Carte Goodwin will be sworn in as Senator from West Virginia. I had an opportunity to meet with him an hour ago, and a wonderful young man he is. He has a beautiful wife with the unusual name of Rocky, but she is 8 months pregnant--a beautiful woman. They have a child, and they are looking forward to the new baby coming in the middle of August.

This week I wish to complete action on several legislative items that I have spoken to the Republican leader about, including unemployment insurance extension, small business jobs, and the emergency supplemental appropriations bill.

Mr. President, I am of the belief that H.R. 5712 is due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings on this legislation at this time.

Mr. President, when millions of Americans lost their jobs, they did not just lose a place to go to work in the morning; they lost their incomes, their savings, and their retirement security. They lost their tuition payments. Many lost their homes. They lost their gas money, their grocery money, and many other things--all of this through no fault of their own.

I am not talking about a handful of people in isolated corners of this country. I am talking about millions of Americans from every one of our States. To so many of them, unemployment is not just a temporary inconvenience. For far too many, it is an unending emergency.

As the front page of today's New York Times reports--and it is the same in newspapers all over the nation--40 percent of the unemployed in this country have been out of work for 6 months or longer. They are trying to understand why at this pressing moment--when jobs are harder to come by

than at any other time in recent history--Congress cannot get its act together to extend emergency insurance, as we have always done with bipartisan backing for decades.

Well, part of the reason is that many on the other side do not see this as an emergency. They look at a crisis for families' budgets and see an opportunity for their political fortunes. They think when unemployment goes up, so do their poll numbers.

Some even think that the unemployed enjoy being out of work. That is why one of the top Republicans in the Senate called unemployment assistance a ``disincentive for them to seek new work'' and voted three times in recent weeks against extending it.

Another senior Republican Senator said these Americans--people who want nothing more than to find a new job--``don't want to go look for work.'' And then he, too, voted ``no'' three times.

A third senior Republican Senator, who, like his colleagues, has time and again stood in the way of addressing this emergency, justified it by saying--listen to this quote--``We should not be giving cash to people who basically are just going to blow it on drugs.'' That is a direct quote.

My constituents take offense at these absurd allegations, and they have let me know about it time and time again. They have written or called, sent me e-mails. They have pulled me aside when I have been home to talk to me about this.

One of these e-mails came to me last week from Las Vegas, where unemployment is now 14.5 percent. Statewide it is 14.2 percent. This man's name is Scott Headrick. He wrote me, and you can hear in the e- mail his anger. It is sad. He is one of 2.5 million Americans who, because of Republicans' objections, is no longer getting the unemployment help he needs. This is what Scott Headrick wrote to me:

I've been unemployed since July 2008 and have not been able

to obtain a position at a supermarket packing groceries. I've

been religiously seeking, searching and applying for work

without any luck. I have since left my family in Las Vegas, a

wife and five children, to look for work in other states and

again, without any luck.

Scott mentioned the Senators making these outrageous claims and demanded that they, in his words:

apologize to those Americans truthfully looking for work to

support their families. . . . I and my family have already

lost everything but each other.

Scott is right. The twisted logic we have seen in the unemployment debate is not just appalling or heartless, though it is certainly both of those things. It is also factually wrong.

First, there is only one open job in America for every five Americans desperate to fill it. So no one should be so crass as to accuse anyone of being unemployed by choice--especially not those same lawmakers whose irresponsible policies over the past decade created the very crisis that collapsed the job market in the first place.

Second, unemployment insurance works. It helps our economy recover. Mark Zandi, who was John McCain's economic adviser when he ran for President, calculated that every time $1 goes out in unemployment benefits, $1.61 comes back into the economy. The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that number could actually be as high as $2, meaning we double our investment in helping the unemployed.

If you think about it, it makes sense. Nobody is getting rich off the $300 unemployment check they get each week. And nobody keeps those checks under his mattress. These Americans turn around and spend the money. They immediately pay their bills, go to the store, keep up with their mortgage payments, which stimulates the economy. They spend it on the basics and bare necessities while they look for work. The money goes right back into the economy, which strengthens it, fuels growth, and ultimately lets businesses create the very jobs the unemployed have been looking for, for so long.

The people we are trying to help want to find work. They are trying to find work, and they would much rather get a paycheck than an unemployment check.

Nevadans such as Scott Headrick, who lost his job 2 years ago this month, and who has tried tirelessly to find a new one, is just one of millions who needs our help. Democrats are not going to turn our backs on him. He sends out resumes and goes to job interviews, but for months and months he has heard nothing but ``no.'' What a shame it is that he is hearing the same from the Republicans in the Senate on this issue.

Mr. President, will the Chair announce the business for the day.

Madam President, every Thursday Senator Ensign and I greet people from Nevada. We had a lot of them today. I was late getting here. I am sorry to have missed the prayer. But I will read the prayer and recognize what Senator Kyl said about the guest Chaplain. She is welcome to the Senate.

Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4173, which is the Wall Street reform legislation. At about 11 a.m. this morning, the Senate will proceed to a rollcall vote on the motion to invoke cloture on that conference report. If cloture is invoked, we would like to yield back some of the

postcloture debate time so we may complete action on the Wall Street reform legislation today. There could be additional rollcall votes this afternoon.

For the benefit of Senators, I have spoken to the two Republican leaders. We still have some hope of being able to set up votes on the small business jobs bill. I hope we can do that; otherwise, we will have to proceed to a cloture vote on that sometime next week.

Madam President, S. 3588 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, the Wall Street earthquake that sent shock waves around the world has not hit anywhere as hard as it hit Nevada. You can draw a straight line from unchecked greed on Wall Street to the collapse of the housing market on Main Streets throughout my State and around the country. As soon as the big banks went down, foreclosure signs went up.

How did this happen? Let's put it this way: When you go to any of the great casinos across Nevada and put your chips on the table, you are gambling with your own money. If you win, you win, and if you lose, you lose. But Wall Street rigged the game. They put our money on the table. When they won, they won big. The jackpots they took home were in the billions. And when they lost--and, boy, did they lose--they came crying to the taxpayers for help. The winnings were theirs to enjoy but the losses were all of ours, to share and to shoulder.

That is the way the market worked. It worked for a few fortunate ones in the big firms and worked against everyone else. So when I say that is how the market worked, what I mean is that it didn't work at all. It was badly broken and it nearly bankrupted us. It cost 8 million workers their jobs, millions of retirees their savings, and millions of families their homes. It shattered our faith in our financial system.

But there is another problem. We have been talking about this rigged system, this raw deal, in the past tense, but it is not a thing of the past. It is very much in the present. The rules that allowed Nevada's economy to collapse are still the same rules of the road today. That means every new day we do not act we run the risk of it happening all over again. That is a gamble I am not willing to take.

The bill before us makes sure we do not have to take that gamble. The first question was, How did this happen? The next question is, What are we going to do about it?

No. 1, we are saying to those who gamed the system that the game is over. We are cracking down on those who gambled away what so many have worked so hard to put away.

No. 2, we are saying to the families and taxpayers, never again will you be asked to bail out a big bank when the bank loses its risky bets.

Let me say that again because it is one of the most important parts of this bill: No more bailouts because no bank is too big to fail. We are going to give consumers and investors the strongest protections they have ever had against abusive banks, mortgage companies, credit card companies, and credit rating agencies. We are going to bring derivative markets that operate in the darkness out into the light. We are going to hold Wall Street accountable because we know we are accountable to the American people. This is about our ability to trust our financial system, it is about giving families the peace of

mind they deserve, the peace of mind that comes with the knowledge they will be able to keep their homes and their savings will be safe.

We need a free market to thrive and grow and succeed. We acknowledge that. But there also have to be some rules, not to stifle but to safeguard us; rules so that when these firms fail they don't bring us down with them.

When this earthquake hit there was not nearly enough oversight, transparency, or accountability to shield us from the fallout. This law will change that. It will strengthen all three.

We are at the finish line this morning but getting here has not been easy. Wall Street doesn't like this bill. Of course it doesn't. Why would they want us to change the system they rigged, the system that made them all rich? Their cronies in Washington don't like it either. The top Republican in the House very publicly said the plight of millions was as small and insignificant as an ant, an insect; foreclosures, homes underwater, jobs lost--like an ant. The head of the Republican party asked us to simply trust Wall Street to look after itself.

We all know this crisis is enormous and we all know Wall Street is not going to reform itself. Rather than standing up for the taxpayers, those who are about to vote no are standing with the same bankers who gambled away our jobs and homes and our economic security in the first place. Just like their Wall Street friends, it seems our opponents care more about making short-term gains than they do about what is right for the economy in the long run. I think that is a mistake and I think it is a shame.

This is not about dollars and cents only, it is about fairness. It is about justice. It is about making sure there is not a next time. It is about jobs. It is about rescuing our economy.

I know Wall Street reform is complicated. There are not many people who know all the ins and outs of derivative trading and credit default swaps or mortgage-backed securities. But the principle before us is quite simple. It is not complicated at all. You either believe that we need to strengthen the oversight of Wall Street or you don't. You either believe we need to strengthen protections for consumers or you don't.

Our choice today is between learning from the mistakes of the past or dangerously letting them happen all over again.

Cloture Motion

Mr. President, I have been conferring off and on throughout the day with the Republican leader. There will be no more votes today following final passage. That will be the last vote today.

We are going to swear in the new Senator from West Virginia at 2:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Immediately after that, as soon as that is over, at 2:30, we will vote on extending unemployment benefits.

The Republican leader and I are working on a way to move forward on small business. I think we have a pretty good path figured out on that.

After that, it is my intention to move to the supplemental appropriations bill. It appears that we are going to have to have a cloture vote. I think we can work out the time on that and not spend too much time.

I have conferred with the Republican leader at the beginning of the work period, on Monday. We have a list of things we need to accomplish before we leave here. As everybody knows, we are going to be here either 4 or 5 weeks. The leaders--Democrat and Republican--are betting on 4 rather than 5 weeks. But we need cooperation to get that done.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business until noon. Senators will be allowed to speak for 10 minutes each during that period. The majority will control the first 30 minutes and Republicans will control the next 30 minutes.

We are working hard to come to agreement on amendments dealing with the small business jobs bill. I had a conversation with the Republican leader last night. We are hopeful we can reach agreement to move forward on that legislation today. We have to have consent to move off Wall Street reform, but I think that will not be a problem.

As a reminder, yesterday I filed cloture on the conference report to accompany H.R. 4173. That cloture vote will occur sometime tomorrow morning. I will work with the Republican leader to come up with a time that is convenient to both sides.