Floor Statements

I understand H.R. 5618 is due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings at this time.

Mr. President, as I have said before, this legislation is bipartisan. Most of the bill has been crafted in the past when Senator Snowe was chairman of the Small Business Committee. I am glad to hear my friend Senator Snowe has had a conversation with the Republican leader. That is good news. We will see what we can do to move on. I hope everyone realizes that jobs in America are not created in large numbers by big companies; it is small businesses.

In the past few months, we passed a relatively small piece of legislation, but it has been extremely helpful to

small business. We extended the highway bill for a year. That saved 1 million jobs in America, hundreds of jobs in Nevada. We also had a provision that was unique and has created some jobs that has been extremely helpful. If somebody is out of work for 60 days, they can be hired for 30 hours. We don't set what price they can be hired, the minimum wage or whatever. At the end of their report period for withholding, they don't have to pay the withholding tax. At the end of a year, we give them a $1,000 tax credit for every employee. We also did something that was totally bipartisan, a bill developed by Senators Schumer and Hatch. That is what I just talked about. That was totally bipartisan. We had another provision in that bill that said that a small business, if they wanted to buy a piece of equipment, whether it was an automobile, furniture, whatever it might be, no longer had to depreciate that. Up to $250,000, they could simply write it off. We also added to that bill some money for Build America Bonds which local governments loved. That has created some jobs, but it is relatively small compared to the other things we have in this bill before the Senate now. I am glad to hear what the distinguished Republican leader had to say about that.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business. Senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. That will be until 12:30 today.

Order of Procedure

I ask unanimous consent that the Republicans control the first 30 minutes and the majority control the next 30 minutes.

Madam President, today I hope we can return to the small business jobs bill. I am confident amendments should already have been exchanged. We are in a difficult situation. It is a tax bill. We can go back and look through many Congresses in the past. Whenever we get close to an election, there is a tax bill on the floor, so we have to be very careful how the amendment process works. I hope we can move forward in good faith, have amendments offered by each side. I have had calls from two Republican Senators wanting to move forward on this bill. I hope we can do that. The fact that the so-called tree is filled should not bar any constructive consideration of this legislation. There is no effort being made to stop amendments, other than amendments that will get us into areas we need not get into. This is a bill to promote jobs through small business, where most jobs are created. I hope we can do that. I also expect to consider the Wall Street reform conference report sometime later in the day.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the prayer delivered by our Senate Chaplain on Thursday, July 1, when the Senate gathered to remember Senator Robert C. Byrd, be printed in the Record and as a part of the memorial book of Senate tributes.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that morning business be closed.

I now move to proceed to consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 4173.

I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum be waived.

Mr. President, I hope the distinguished Senator from Connecticut and I have an opportunity, which we will, to sit down and talk about what we have been through the last 2 years. We had a difficult situation with the banks, financial institutions going bankrupt, going to close, and we worked our way through that. We had credit card legislation that was so very difficult. We had the housing legislation that was so extremely difficult. And, of course, we have had this.

This piece of legislation is really a masterpiece. To think that we have been able to get as for as we have--for example, in today's newspaper, it did not go unnoticed by me that Secretary Paulson said some extremely nice things about this piece of legislation. He did not have to do that. He did it because he thought it was the right thing to do. Here is a man who came to Washington inexperienced in government in any way and was given this plate of a really bad situation that developed. So we have the present Secretary of Treasury and the past Secretary of Treasury saying this is an extremely fine piece of legislation, which it is.

I have been around not as long as my friend from Connecticut in the Congress of the United States, but I have been around a long time and this really, I repeat, is a masterpiece. I think it is appropriate to acknowledge the work he has done in this legislation. He was saying nice things about me--I appreciate that--but that is really not very meaningful for someone who was watching him work his way through this legislation.

The vote is not complete yet, and we hope it will all turn out well. But there are a number of people who have been very courageous in allowing us to move forward. We will talk more about them later. They are three or four in number and we will talk about them later. But my friend and I have developed a forever friendship based on the crisis we have gone through together, and I so admire him. There will be another time for talking about his more complete service, but I can say this without any hesitation or reservation, I will so miss this man who has done such a remarkably good job for the State of Connecticut and our country in his long service. He has been an exemplary Senator to me, and I am so fortunate I have gotten to know him as well as I have.

Small Business Lending Fund Act

Mr. President, we have been on the small business jobs bill trying to work our way through, and there are a lot of issues we could work our way through, but my friends on the other side of the aisle made a decision today--maybe not tomorrow but today--to not let us move forward. I had a conversation with the Republican leader an hour or so ago and he said he wants to do some legislating on the bill tomorrow. I hope that, in fact, is the case because we are ready to do that.

This small business jobs bill is extremely important. It is a bipartisan bill and I hope we can get it completed. Having said that, I sadly report there will be no votes tonight.

Mr. President, I welcome back my colleagues and hope they are as eager to get to work as I am.

During the week I spent in Nevada, I saw again how desperate our unemployment situation has become. As I talked to Nevadans, I heard over and over how they need us to help create conditions to help businesses create jobs. For example, I met one man in Reno who is 51 years old. He said he

had never missed a payment on his home since he had bought it many years ago. He was going to this month because he was unemployed and couldn't find a job, and he had worked very hard to try to find a job. But now, like 14 percent of Nevadans, he is out of work and can't find a new job. There are just too many people looking for too few jobs. Now he cannot make his mortgage payment, as I have indicated.

He is the kind of person we need to keep in mind when we talk about creating jobs. His family is the kind of family we need to keep in mind when we talk about helping the unemployed with emergency aid. This man knows he will not get rich off his unemployment check, but it might help him keep a roof over his head.

Those unemployment benefits we are working to extend--for every job that becomes available, five people line up for that job. And for every $1 we spend in unemployment benefits, $1.61 is returned to the economy because that money is spiraled into doing a lot of good things because they can pay their rent, make their house payment, buy some clothes.

I repeat what I have said here before: Mark Zandi, who was, during the Presidential run, John McCain's chief economic adviser, said the most important money we could spend right now is for unemployment benefits.

As to my friend in Reno, NV, his struggle, his fears--what keeps this man up at night--is what we should remember when the other side pretends this is more about politics than it is about people.

This work period, like every work period, will be about jobs--the work period here in the Senate--how to create them, how to save them, and how to prevent another crisis such as the one that killed them in the first place.

We are going to build on momentum we have already seen from the economic recovery plan, also known as the stimulus. This jobs crisis was not created in a day, and it will not be solved overnight. But in a short time, we have come a long way.

Three million Americans who are going to work today have the Recovery Act to thank for their jobs. In Nevada, the Recovery Act created or saved more than 4,000 jobs this spring, and as more projects get underway, it will create even more jobs this summer. And don't forget that the stimulus also cut taxes for families, small businesses, students, home buyers, and the unemployed.

But it is just a step, a first step. Over the next month, we are going to do everything we can to make a few more big steps. One of these steps will be to pass the small business jobs bill. It is now on the floor. We know the best way to create jobs, innovate, and help our economy recover is through the private sector. We know the engine that runs the private sector is made up of small businesses. These businesses are the ones that have felt the most pain in this recession. Two out of every three jobs we have lost were from small business. Our bill, which is fully paid for, will put people back to work through a number of initiatives.

First, it gives small business tax incentives to help them hire and grow more people. Two, it increases Small Business Administration loan limits. Three, it makes it easier for small businesses to export goods. And four, it creates a small business lending fund that will give small banks more capital.

Another step we will take this month is the long overdue--it is long overdue; and I have talked about it a little bit this morning-- extention of emergency unemployment insurance for so many who have been out of work for so long. It is more than 2 million people.

When millions of Americans lost their jobs, they lost their incomes, their homes, their savings, their gas money, their tuition payments, and on and on and on--all through no fault of their own. Democrats are not about to turn our backs on out-of-work Americans, which is why we are trying to help them keep their heads above water in this crisis.

The third step is Wall Street reform. It is just as much a jobs bill as the first two I mentioned. We all know greed on Wall Street is what triggered the recession, suffocated the job market, and robbed millions of their incomes. By cleaning up Wall Street, we are going to make sure big bankers can never again gamble away our economy. We are going to make sure there is not a next time.

Helping small businesses, helping the unemployed, and cracking down on Wall Street are three equally important approaches to the same problem--and to our No. 1 priority--jobs. But these three also have something else in common: A minority of Senators is standing in the way.

We have tried for months to help people. Nearly every Democrat has said yes, and nearly every Republican has said no. That opposition is stopping recovery in its tracks.

Every day we keep small businesses from creating jobs, or deny the unemployed the assistance they need, or let Wall Street get away with the same tricks that nearly sank our economy, we are making a difficult situation even worse. We are keeping people off payrolls, keeping businesses from hiring, and keeping our country from coming back stronger than ever.

Simply put, obstruction of these good bills is costing Americans jobs. The other side thinks saying ``no'' helps them. But it sure does not help the people we are supposed to represent.

I hope we will get our priorities straight this work period. It will be a productive one if we do. The next time we go back home to talk to our constituents, we will be able to deliver better news, and they will be able to tell us the same in return.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will turn to a period of morning business. Senators will speak for up to 10 minutes each. This week, the Senate will likely resume consideration of the small business jobs bill, the emergency supplemental appropriations bill, the conference report on Wall Street reform or any other items on the legislative or executive calendar cleared for this particular work period.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, H.R. 5552 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

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

Mr. President, following leader remarks, if any, the Senate will turn to a period of morning business for 2 hours, with Senators during that period of time allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes. Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to executive session and will debate the nomination of GEN David Petraeus. There will be up to 20 minutes for debate prior to a vote on confirmation of the nomination. Senators should expect that vote to occur around noon today.

As a reminder to all Senators, last evening I filed cloture on unemployment insurance and the home buyer tax credit extension. That vote would occur tomorrow unless we arrange, by unanimous consent, sometime today to do this. I will work with the Republican leader on an agreement that would let us vote on that issue today if the minority is so determined.

We will also be able to resume consideration of the small business jobs bill this afternoon. We will consider amendments. Rollcall votes are expected to occur throughout the afternoon and into the evening.

I say to Democratic Senators, we were looking yesterday for an amendment, but none was available. So I agreed to have something happen in the interim and let the Republicans offer amendments if we have none ready or offered. I hope we will also be able to resume consideration of this matter and make headway. It is extremely important that we do that.

On unemployment compensation, we really need to do this. I have had a number of conversations with Senators from individual States about how difficult it is for them to have these long-term unemployed no longer having anyplace to go for help, and there are newspaper articles about people who are desperate throughout America. So I hope we can do something on that.

We have here, and I will call for it in a little bit, the reading of the bill we got from the House of Representatives dealing with extending the first-time home buyer tax credit. That will allow the paperwork to be completed. There is significant support on the other side for this, and I would hope we could do this by consent. If not, it will be part of the vote we have on unemployment compensation. There is no effort to do anything other than to get these two matters passed. So I would hope my friends on the other side of the aisle would consider just letting us do the home buyers assistance, the thing that passed the House. It is paid for. It has been agreed to by Democrats and Republicans. It passed the House last night with 400 votes--400 votes. So I would hope we could get that done by consent. It is the end of the month today, and we should get this done. I hope we can do that.

As many people are aware, Senator Byrd will lay in repose in the Senate Chamber from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. tomorrow. The family will be in the Chamber from 10 a.m. until 12 noon. Members are encouraged to pay their respects to the family from 10:15 a.m. until 12 noon.

Senate staff with floor privileges and a congressional ID are invited to pay respects from the Senate floor and should enter the Chamber through the north door of the Capitol. Members of the public and Senate staff without floor privileges are invited to pay tribute to Senator Byrd from the Senate

galleries from 10:15 a.m. until 3:45 p.m. The public and staff without floor privileges should enter via the Capitol Visitor Center.

Mr. President, as I indicated, H.R. 5623, the Homebuyer Assistance and Improvement Act, is at the desk. I believe it is due for a second reading.

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