Floor Statements

Mr. President, I send an amendment to the desk on behalf of Senator Murray and others. This is No. 3356.

I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

This amendment I offer on behalf of Mrs. Murray, Mr. Harkin, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Begich, and Mr. Burris. This, of course, is to the amendment proposed by Senator Baucus.

Amendment No. 3353 to Amendment No. 3336

(Purpose: To provide an emergency benefit of $250 to seniors, veterans,

and persons with disabilities in 2010 to compensate for the lack of

cost-of-living adjustment for such year, and for other purposes)

I ask unanimous consent that amendment No. 3353 be called up now.

This is on behalf of Senator Sanders, Mr. Dodd, Mr. Whitehouse, Mr. Leahy, and Mrs. Gillibrand.

I ask unanimous consent that reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, I have a few things to say, but it is my understanding that the distinguished Senator from Maine wishes to make a unanimous-consent request, so I will yield to her for that purpose.

Reserving the right to object, Madam President, I appreciate the efforts of my friend, the Senator from Maine, and I would hope my

friend, the Senator from Kentucky, would reconsider. His point has been made. It has been adequately made. I would hope he would let us proceed on this because it is more than meets the eye. We have people lined up all over the country in unemployment lines who would not be there but for this.

I would also say it is broader than even that. As my friend mentioned, we have problems with doctors who are now refusing to take Medicare patients.

We have a bill that is on the floor now in which we are going to try to make a long-term decision soon on this. I have offered my friend from Kentucky a right to vote on this--I would be happy to have a vote on this--that it be paid for. But it is really not appropriate to object without even allowing the Senate to work. We talk about voting. That is why we need to vote.

I say to my friend from Kentucky, you have made your point. You have made it well. I understand how you feel that this should be paid for. The majority of the Senate disagrees with you. Let us either vote on that or withdraw your objection.

Madam President, following any leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The Republicans will control the first half and the majority will control the second half. Following morning business, the Senate will turn to executive session to consider the nomination of Barbara Keenan to be a U.S. circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit, with the time until 12:15 p.m. equally divided and controlled between Senators Leahy and Sessions or their designees. At 12:15 p.m., the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the nomination. That will be the first vote of the day, unless something comes up in the interim that necessitates a vote.

Madam President, just a few words on what has been happening here recently. Certainly, there is an emergency. Our economy is suffering. There is not a State that is not hurting. Some States are hurting worse than others. This is a filibuster, and we are in the middle of a very important piece of legislation. I do not think it would be appropriate to take 10 days--is what it would take, a week or 10 days--to try to get a 30-day extension when we have all these other things that are waiting to be done that relate directly to this. It just is not appropriate.

What is a filibuster? If you look in the dictionary, Madam President--this was handed to me by the distinguished Senator from Michigan, Ms. Stabenow--if you look in the Oxford English Dictionary, a filibuster is a ``freebooter. One of a class of piratical adventurers who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies during the 17th century.'' A freebooter is ``one who engages in unauthorized and irregular warfare against foreign states. A pirate craft.'' In the United States: ``To obstruct progress in a legislative assembly; to practice obstruction.'' That is what this is all about--to practice obstruction. We are not preventing a vote. We are not preventing a vote. We want a vote to take place.

My friend from Kentucky has raised an issue. He thinks it should be paid for. I believe it is an emergency, as it always has been when people are out of work for long periods of time. It is an emergency. We should be able to vote on what the Senator feels is appropriate; that is, that this be paid for, that it is not an emergency. These long lines of people who are out of work is not an emergency is what he believes. I believe they are.

I think it is terribly inappropriate that this filibuster is being conducted. And to even make it worse, Madam President, we have people coming defending my friend from Kentucky. I will defend him on a lot of things but not on this. I think it is very out of line.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, I am sorry my friend from Kentucky has made this so personal because it shouldn't be the case, but let me review history a little bit.

The Senator from Kentucky talks about the bill we voted on and passed last week as being very partisan. That bill received 70 votes. It was a very nonpartisan bill. I should say it was a bipartisan bill. It received 70 votes. Why did it receive 70 votes? Because it did some great things for America. It extended the highway bill for 1 year, saving 1 million jobs. It gave small businesses the right to write off $250,000 in purchases, stimulating small businesses all over America. It gave employers the ability to hire people who have been out of work for 60 days, and if they hired them, they wouldn't have to pay their FICA tax if they gave them 30 hours a week. Not only that, they get a $1,000 tax credit at the end of the year. This is a good proposal. We also extended Build America Bonds, which are so important to the American Recovery Act, and Democrats and Republicans all over the country--Governors, mayors, county commissioners--loved that proposal. So it was certainly not a partisan bill. He is right. The other bill he talked about wasn't brought to the floor. I would also say this. It was paid for. Not a cent of deficit spending--not a cent.

It is interesting my friend would talk about pay-go. He voted against pay-go. He is talking about pay-go now. He voted against it. He voted against it right here on the Senate floor. If he so likes pay-go, why didn't he vote for it? He voted against it. The Senator from Kentucky voted against pay-go. It has no applicability to the jobs bill that passed because it was paid for.

The doc fix, he talks about having voted for it in committee. He voted against it on the floor.

So my friend is throwing around words such as ``hypocrite.'' People can make their own decision as to who is a hypocrite. I am not calling anyone a hypocrite, although I am just stating the facts: Someone who boasts about the good of pay-go but votes against it

and talks about the doc fix but votes against it.

So I would think my friend from Kentucky should get a different historian to help him with facts because they are simply wrong, and I object.

Madam President, I know my friends from Tennessee and Texas wish to speak, but I have to respond because I was mentioned again. I can't match, now or in the past, my friend's fast ball, his curve ball, or his 40 grandchildren. But I do have 16 grandchildren. I do think it is important to understand that the reasoning is a little unusual. He said I wouldn't vote for a bill that I thought would not be upheld at a later time, or procedures in the bill not followed. I don't know why anyone is entitled to be the judge and jury when you pass legislation. And if it is the law, there are ways of upholding that.

With pay-go, we have some experience. We know it works. It worked during the Clinton years. We paid down the national debt as a result of what happened during the Clinton years. Pay-go was dismissed during the Bush years.

My friend talks about the debt. He wants to make sure the debt doesn't go up. Where was he during the Bush years, with two unpaid-for wars, taxes unpaid for, running up trillions of dollars of red ink on the American people? We tried to address that. We asked for a debt commission to be established. We did that by legislation on the floor. My friend didn't vote for that. He didn't vote for pay-go. So we are trying on the floor--we have legislation that will resolve this issue.

What my friend said is a little unusual. He said why doesn't the leader file for cloture, use up a week or 10 days, waste that time, and then hold off getting to all of the other things. That doesn't make sense. It is without any sense, when, in fact, with the Senator withdrawing his objection, we could get it done just like that. We wouldn't have to wait a week or 10 days. He made his stand. I think he is wrong, as do the American people, and as do the people of Kentucky, in spite of the letter from Robert.

Madam President, so that I don't take advantage of my position as being leader, I ask unanimous consent that the time I consumed in my back and forth with Senator Bunning, which was under Republican control, be charged to leader time.

I wonder if the staff has heard whether Senators Sessions and Leahy wish to take the full hour of time. How much time does my friend from Texas wish?

And the Senator from Tennessee is here. If we run into a shortage of time, we will be happy to try to work it out in some way with the minority.

My friend from Texas has been so very patient.

Madam President, I rise to acknowledge a respected voice and longstanding figure in the Las Vegas community; I rise to commend a leader of souls and a social advocate for civil rights and children for over 50 years; I rise to wish a happy 90th birthday to a man whom I and many in Las Vegas call their friend. I rise to honor Rev. Jesse Scott.

On March 3, 1920, Jesse Scott came into a world that is far different than what we see today. When I think of the challenges he and so many others have endured over the years, I am humbled by his strength, perseverance, and faith in God.

As a graduate of Southern University in Baton Rouge, LA, Reverend Scott has devoted his life to social justice. He was an organizer and president of the NAACP's Westside Branch in Los Angeles and later supervised the work of some thirty NAACP branches in southern California.

Eventually he came to Nevada, where he served as the executive director of the Las Vegas NAACP. Reverend Scott was on the front lines in efforts to move the city of Las Vegas through very challenging times. In fact he was

part of a major effort to integrate the hospitality and entertainment industry. Later, Reverend Scott was selected to serve as executive director of the Nevada Equal Rights Commission and authored an autobiography, ``Pioneer for Social Justice.''

Today, Reverend Scott is the assistant pastor at Second Baptist Church of Las Vegas and is the former pastor of Second Christian Church in Las Vegas. He is still carrying out his life's mission of social advocacy by working with Nevada's nonviolent ex-offenders to provide job training and employment. He also promotes education for children and is aligned with initiatives that help students graduate from high school and provide scholarships to college-bound young men and women.

Madam President, I ask the Senate to join me in paying tribute to Reverend Jesse Scott for his lifetime of service to Nevada and our Nation.

Mr. President, every night too many out-of-work Nevadans and Americans, people who want to work, who need to support their families but can't find a job, go to bed with at least the comfort of having unemployment insurance and health benefits. Last night, more than a million people throughout America who went to sleep relying on those benefits woke up without the confidence they will be there now. Early this morning, when they would rather be spending their mornings working, mothers and fathers in every State woke up to line up at the unemployment office in a long line. News reports today are that these lines

are very long today, all over the country, from Virginia to Nevada to Kentucky. They are long because these people are worried about how they are going to put food on the table and pay the bills. For far too many Americans, those benefits were set to expire last night. So six times last week, Democrats asked to extend their unemployment benefits for a short time while we work on a longer extension. Six times, Republicans said no. They didn't say no to us; that is, Members of the Senate, they said no to the families in their own States and all States who count on us to act when we need action, who count on us to respond in the event of an emergency. This is an emergency.

Republicans in the Senate are standing between these families and the help they need while these benefits expire. It might work because under the Senate rules they can do that, but it certainly doesn't work for working families whose need to buy groceries does not expire. The need to heat your homes, put gas in the car, make payments for furniture you buy, the car you bought, your house payment, the need to take medicine or support an aging parent or to take care of your kids, they don't expire.

Those opposed to helping our fellow citizens at their time of greatest need want to talk about process. My Republican colleagues came to the floor and talked about process. They had a right to do that. Under the rules, I guess that is true. But if you can't afford to feed your kids, process doesn't mean anything to you.

We often talk about the cost of inaction. It is the reason we insist on creating jobs and making health care more affordable and on strengthening national security. When we talk about the cost of inaction, it is more than just rhetoric; it comes with dire consequences. Americans who woke up this morning without the benefits they need now know that better than anyone else.

The Associated Press runs all over the country--a newswire. Among other things, this article says this morning:

Two thousand federal transportation workers will be

furloughed without pay [today].

The reason we are talking about 2,000, this doesn't count the thousands and thousands, up to 1 million people who are not going to have jobs as a result of not extending the highway bill. That is what we want to do--let these people work--because what has happened is that even the inspectors can't go out and do their jobs, so people are just walking away from these jobs. Secretary LaHood, the Secretary of Transportation--a Republican Congressman until he was appointed--said construction workers will be sent home from jobsites because Federal inspectors must be furloughed. They named a long list of construction sites that will be halted: George Washington Parkway in Virginia, the Humpback Bridge--I don't know where that is in Virginia--bridge construction in Coeur d'Alene, ID. All over the country, this is happening. The safety inspectors have no pay, so they have to leave. Nothing is happening. This is going to lead to untold numbers of people--I said up to 1 million people--who will not be able to work.

It is really wrong what has taken place here. It is not too late to right that wrong. I hope Republicans will reconsider, think about their constituents standing in the unemployment lines as we speak. I hope they reconsider.

Mr. President, following 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. At 3 p.m., we will turn to consideration of H.R. 4213, the tax extenders legislation. Senator Baucus will be recognized to call up a substitute amendment. As previously announced, there will be no rollcall votes today. The first vote of the week will occur at 12:15 p.m. tomorrow. That vote will be on the motion to invoke cloture on the nomination of Barbara Keenan to be U.S. circuit judge for the Fourth Circuit.

Mr. President, there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading.

I object to any further proceedings with respect to these two bills.

Based on that, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to H.R. 4691, which is a 30-day extension of provisions which expired yesterday--unemployment insurance; COBRA, which is the health insurance for people out of work; flood insurance; Satellite Home Viewer Act--1\1/2\ million people today are unable to watch TV who could last night at midnight--highway funding--I talked about that--SBA business loans; small business provisions of the American Recovery Act; the doctors fix, the SGR, and poverty guidelines, received from the House and at the desk; that the bill be read three times, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

I thank the Chair.

Reserving the right to object, history is something I think you have to be involved in to understand what really transpired.

First of all, there was no bill on the floor for me to take off the floor. There was discussion between Democrats and Republicans. On the Thursday before we left for the last weeklong break we took, I was in the back hall with Senators Grassley, Baucus, and McConnell. Senator McConnell, my friend, said they weren't ready to agree to anything yet.

Well, it is very clear if we are going to extend benefits for a lot of tax provisions that are very important to business, then we should at least consider extending benefits for people who are down and out in the same period of time.

So understand, the bill that came before the Senate included a jobs package that extends the highway benefits for 1 year, saving a million jobs, creating jobs by allowing small businesses--or any businesses--to hire somebody who has been out of work for 60 days. They do not have to pay their withholding tax and they get a $1,000 tax credit at the end of the year.

In addition to that, to help small businesses, we had a provision to allow small businesses to write off and not depreciate up to $250,000 of purchases in a year--very important to create and

stimulate business--and we also had in that bill a provision to stimulate the economy by extending the Build America Bonds that were so successful in our Recovery Act and those funds expired.

One can have all the excuses one wants. The fact is, my friends on the other side of the aisle are opposing extending unemployment benefits for people who are out of work.

I would also say this: Pay-go is very interesting. I am glad my friend brought that up. I am glad he brought up the big deficit because it is very big. But where was my friend from Kentucky when we had two wars that were unpaid for during the Bush administration, tax cuts that cost more than $1 trillion unpaid for? Where were my friend and the Republicans objecting to that?

Pay-go is important, and we passed pay-go here--we, the Democrats, passed it. My friend did not vote for it. It passed because Democrats voted for it. Not a single Republican voted for it. We had these in effect during the Clinton years, and it worked. We paid down the debt in the last Clinton years.

We also understand how important the debt of this country is. It started to build up so strong during the 8 years of the Bush administration. We brought to this floor--no one worked harder than the Acting President pro tempore to come up with something to address the debt with the chairman of our Budget Committee and others.

We wanted a debt commission, and we brought to this floor a debt commission, a good one. It was based upon what we did with military base closings. We tried for decades to close bases that were unnecessary in the country anymore, after World War II was over, the Korean war was over, Vietnam. We did not need all those bases. But because of what happens when trying to close a base because of local politics, we could not do it. So we passed a bill that said we are going to have a base closing commission. They will come back with recommendations, and the House and the Senate have a choice: either vote no or yes on their recommendations. And they voted yes, both the House and the Senate, and we closed numerous bases all over the country.

The debt commission we established was based upon that--the same thing--and we voted, we Democrats voted. It would have passed. Why did it not pass? Because seven Republicans who cosponsored the legislation voted against it.

So we do not need lectures here on debt. What we need is to recognize there are poor people all over America who are desperate today, and people who are working, making good money on these road projects all over America today who are being told to go home because we do not have inspectors to take care of their work.

Therefore, Mr. President, I object.

Mr. President, unless my friend has more to say, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, this morning the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business. Senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. There will be no rollcall votes during today's session.

However, there will be a vote Tuesday morning before the caucus, probably an hour after we come in, but we will make that decision a little later today. We will see if we can get agreement. If not, that is what we will try to do.

We will continue to try to reach an agreement to consider an act to extend for 30 days certain expiring provisions, including unemployment insurance, COBRA, flood insurance, highway funding, small business loans, and small business provisions of the American Recovery Act, the Satellite Home View Act, the SGR, and poverty provisions.

All these are extremely important, especially to those people who are unemployed, and those people who on midnight Sunday night will lose the ability--1.5 million people in rural America--to watch local television.

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