Floor Statements

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will turn to a period of morning business. Senators will be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. As announced earlier, there will be no rollcall votes today. The next vote will occur at about 2:15, Tuesday, October 27. That vote will be on the confirmation of the nomination of Irene Berger to be U.S. district judge for the Southern District of West Virginia. Upon disposition of the nomination, the Senate will immediately proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3548, the unemployment compensation extension. In addition to considering the unemployment bill this week, we hope to consider the Commerce-Justice-Science appropriations bill and the Military Construction appropriations bill. We also need to pass a continuing resolution before the end of the week because the current CR expires Saturday night. We also expect to pass the 6-month highway extension bill.

Mr. President, I am told that S. 1858 is at the desk and is due for a second reading.

Mr. President, I object to any further proceedings with regard to this bill.

Mr. President, the global economic crisis is very complicated. It was born of both brazen, unabashed abuses and elaborate schemes alike. It brought complex concepts such as ``mortgage-backed securities'' and ``credit default swaps'' and ``derivatives trading'' into our everyday vocabulary. Prior to this financial meltdown, rarely did we hear the words ``mortgage-backed security,'' ``credit default swaps'' or ``derivative trading,'' but now they are in every newspaper we read. They are all over the television, all over radio. But when we peel back all the layers of this crisis, its foundation is nothing more than a simple concept: greed. When we cut through to the root causes of why so many families are hurting and why so many businesses are suffering, the core elements are evident: excess, irresponsibility, and reckless risks.

Wall Street ran wild, then it ran out of steam. Last year's emergency required an urgent dose of medicine, and we supplied it. Our entire national economy was on the brink. Our entire world economy was on the brink. Our swift action prevented a terrible situation from getting even worse. For the past year, we have continued to act in strong, sensible, and prudent ways. We taxpayers did what we needed to do to help keep the economy afloat and didn't ask much from Wall Street in return. We would have gladly accepted a simple ``thank you.''

So one can understand America's disgust upon realizing in recent days that Wall Street has ignored the lessons of last year. Reckless Wall Street traders continue to write themselves checks for billions of dollars--much of it our dollars. The Wall Street Journal found that major banks and securities firms are going to pay their employees $140 billion this year. That is a record high, and 20 percent more than last year. But the greed is evident not only in salaries; it is in bonuses and other benefits also. The Washington Post reported that the Nation's biggest financial firms, including the firms that took nearly half the emergency TARP money, are actually increasing the perks they are handing out to their employees this year.

Here is what is happening on Wall Street today: CEOs are giving their traders huge incentives--usually cash bonuses--to swing for the fences and make deals that put their entire firms and the larger system at risk. That is the height of irresponsibility. It is the height of arrogance. Risky bets on exotic securities are precisely what sparked the financial crisis and fueled the housing crisis. These events devastated Nevada and many other States. But that same carelessness continues, I am sad to say, on Wall Street today. A gluttonous glorification of the bottom line led to the credit crisis that has led so many hard-working families into bankruptcy and worse. But that same narrow-mindedness continues to guide financial firms today. Short selling and shortsightedness--rewarded with stratospheric salaries and bloated bonuses--contributed to a shameful culture of excess. Yet that same greed continues today.

A bonus that dwarfs an average American worker's entire annual salary is excessive. Doing so in a way that threatens our economy is dangerous, wrong, and a slap in the face to the American people. Main Street jobless rates and Wall Street bonuses should not rise at the same time. Seniors who rely on Social Security should not be shortchanged while the traders who threaten our economic security are rewarded. Taxpayer money that was supposed to keep our economic pillars from collapsing should not go directly from your savings to a brash broker's pocket.

If the executives who designed these windfalls came out of their corner offices, they would see how badly Americans are suffering. They would see how offensive these paydays are. They would see how desperately hard-working families are struggling to hold on to their jobs, to their homes, and to health care. And they would be ashamed.

We must put an end to the recklessness that got us into this mess. We cannot accept more of the same.

Last week, the Treasury Department announced that it would reasonably limit the excessive paychecks of the top executives at companies in which you and I and every American now own an equity stake. I support that plan. Then the Federal Reserve announced it will rein in banks that reward the riskiest practices--gambles that endanger all of us. They should be reined in. I support that too.

In the near future, we will reform our financial industry through legislation commonly referred to as regulatory reform. We will make sure banks are compensating their employees in a prudent way. That means firms won't be able to throw cash at a trader who closes a big, risky deal--one that puts the whole bank at risk and that threatens taxpayers and the greater financial system as well.

The Treasury, the Fed, and the Congress will play their parts. Regulation has its role, but I have never believed government is the answer to everything. That is why Wall Street has to take responsibility for its own actions also.

This industry, more than any other, knows the importance of sending signals. The stock market hinges on hints, the trading floors run on rumors, and these public companies live and die by the confidence they instill, the impressions they inspire, and the messages they send. So these firms--whether or not they owe the government for their survival--should be careful about what their actions say about them because the American people are listening closely. Greed got us into this mess; it will not get us out. If we are going to continue to recover and ultimately prosper, this perverse culture and destructive behavior cannot continue. How many more times must we learn the same lesson?

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 174, H.R. 3548, and that the following amendments be the only first-degree amendments in order, except in the case where the second-degree or side-by-side amendment is indicated, with the majority amendment to be voted first in any sequence of a second-degree or side-by-side amendment; that general debate time on the bill be limited to 1 hour equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees; that debate time on any first-degree amendment be limited to 60 minutes equally divided and controlled in the usual form; and that debate on any second-degree or side-by-side amendment be limited to 30 minutes equally divided and controlled in the usual form:

Reid-Baucus substitute amendment No. 2668, to be modified, and that any debate time on this amendment be within the parameters of time available on the bill; Baucus side-by-side amendment regarding home buyer tax credit/net operating loss/tax relief; Isakson-Dodd amendment regarding home buyer tax credit--Mr. President, for everybody here, I note that the Baucus side-by-side relates to the Isakson-Dodd amendment and another amendment that was given to us earlier by Senator Bunning; this covers both of those--McConnell amendment regarding tax relief; Johanns amendment regarding alternative substitute; Corker-Warner amendment regarding TARP; that upon disposition of the listed amendments, the use or yielding back of all time, the substitute amendment, as amended, if amended, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read the third time, and the Senate then proceed to vote on passage of the bill.

Mr. President, I say to the senior Senator from Kentucky that I think the amendments we have suggested are in keeping with what we are trying to do. We deal with a first-time home buyer tax credit. We deal with the loss carryback, which people talk about being very important. We talk about another bipartisan amendment offered by the Senator from Virginia and the Senator from Tennessee, setting up a program where there would be trustees to oversee the ownership we have in various TARP properties. I think we have been so reasonable.

I understand my friend, the Senator from Kentucky, not being able to agree

at this time. I hope we can get this done. I do not want to have just a vote on cloture. I think probably on this we could do it, but I think it is the wrong message that we cannot work out some amendments.

I see no reason that we have to do immigration on this bill; that is what E-Verify is about. I don't know how many more times we have to pound on ACORN. We have voted on that many times already. I think we are being reasonable.

I think Senator Bunning, if he would look at the amendment we have suggested, which is out of the Finance Committee--and it is my understanding it is bipartisan--which would cover net operating losses, then Senator Bunning would get everything he asked for under his amendment. It is just where the money would come from. It is all paid for.

Reserving the right to object, frankly, I think it is unfortunate that we could not just vote on extending the unemployment benefits for the masses in our country who are out of work and are desperate. There are thousands and thousands of people who are waiting for us to get something done.

The issues that are brought up are issues we can deal with, but it should not be at the expense of wasting all this time. We have been trying to get this done--the unemployment extension--for weeks. With each day that goes by more people in America have less money. If we want to talk about stimulating the economy, try giving a check to somebody who is out of work. They spend that money.

I will continue to try to be fair and reasonable with the Republicans, who are so bound and determined to slow us up on everything, including checks for people who are desperate for work. I hope we don't come to a point where we have to just vote on extending unemployment benefits. That would be unfortunate. The proposals they have made are unnecessary, but I am trying to go above and beyond what is fair. We are willing to step way in the other direction just to move things along. But to vote on immigration matters and on ACORN, which we have done so many times, is only dilatory.

I object.

Mr. President, these are not competing consent agreements. This is an effort to try to get something the American people should have--the most unfortunate people who have been out of work for an extended period of time--which is unemployment compensation checks.

I ask unanimous consent that we pass H.R. 3548 with no amendments; that is, benefits that will go to people who have been out of work for an extended period of time. This is an act to amend the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008 to provide for the temporary availability of certain additional emergency unemployment compensation. I hope we can move forward with that.

Mr. President, it is not a question of having no amendments. We agreed to have six. I think that is unnecessary. My friends in the minority are continuing to slow-walk unemployment compensation, while people are desperate for these small checks that they get to keep the rent paid and pay for groceries for their kids. I think we should do this today, get it done now.

I understand there is an objection. I think it is unfortunate.

Madam President, I rise today to honor Rozita Villanueva Lee for her many years of advocacy on behalf of the Nevada Asian American/Pacific Islander community. Asians and Pacific Islanders refer to her as the mother of their communities in southern Nevada. Lee started as a former special assistant to former Governors George Arioshi of Hawaii and Robert Miller of Nevada. She then began advocating for Nevada's Asian and Pacific Islanders. Her Hawaii Polynesian connection led to her being the producer of

``Drums of the Island,'' the longest running Polynesian show on the Las Vegas strip.

As cofounder of the Asian Pacific's Forum in 1993 in response to the growing Asian Pacific Islander population and their need for a voice and representation, she championed many causes to address the challenges faced by her community including social justice advocacy and political representation. She was often the first person called regarding issues of the APIA community in Las Vegas. Lee helped facilitate the reorganization of a dormant Pacific Asian Chamber to what is now the Las Vegas Asian Chamber of Commerce serving as its founding chairperson. She also served as chairperson for the Philippine American Youth Organization, PAYO, helping the younger generation of Filipino ancestry establish a voice and an avenue to learn more about their culture and heritage. She fulfilled all these roles while serving as the conduit for many organizations including the Hawaiian Civic Club, Japanese American Citizens League, Organization of Chinese Americans and National Federation of Filipino American Association. In addition, she empowered cultural organization and their leaders within the Korean, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian, Pakistani and other APIA ethnic communities.

Rozita has been politically active also. She was the president of the Women's Democratic Club of Clark County and was leading her fellow Democrats to help bring about change. As a result, President Obama turned Nevada blue by winning Clark County with 380,765 votes. Mrs. Lee championed the Asian American Studies Bill in the Nevada State Legislature which was instituted by the Clark County Commission and became law. She has been actively serving as the chairperson for the Asian Pacific American Labor Alliance--APALA--in southern Nevada and has been the prime mover of political activism with the APIA for more than a decade. She initiated the first outreach to establish an APIA voting block through education and voter registration and was the liaison between the Philippine Ambassador and the Senate on behalf of the Filipino World War II Veterans. It is clear that Rozita is a dedicated community activist.

Rozita Villanueva Lee was named on the most influential women in Las Vegas by the Women of Diversity, and one of 100 most influential Filipina women in the U.S. by Filipina Women's Network. The OCA Asian Pacific American organization awarded Rozita the Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007. I congratulate Rozita Lee on her success as a businesswoman, a Democratic activist, and as an advocate for Asian and Pacific Islanders.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, there will be a period of morning business for 1 hour. Senators will be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first 30 minutes, and the Republicans will control the final 30 minutes.

Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 2647, the Department of Defense authorization bill. There will then be an hour for debate equally divided and controlled between Senators Levin and McCain, the chairman and ranking member of that committee. Around 11:45 a.m., give or take a few minutes, the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report.

Last night, I filed cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 3548, the Unemployment Compensation Extension Act. That is so important to millions of people in America today. We have a lot of people out of work, and their unemployment benefits have run out. I hope we do not have to have a cloture vote in the morning. I would think it would be to everyone's interest to move forward on this legislation. I would like to do it, just get rid of the bill, finish that.

I have had conversations with my Republican colleagues, and they want some amendments. We have been pretty good this year being very open in the amendment process. There have been a couple snags once in a while that we ran into but not often. I see no reason why we cannot have a reasonable number of amendments on each side and complete the legislation today. If we do not, we are going to have to have that cloture vote tomorrow. If we have a cloture vote tomorrow, we likely will have a vote on other matters which I have the right to bring forward without notice--at least another matter. I hope that is not necessary. I know staff has been working to come up with a finite list of amendments. I hope that can be done very quickly.

People have the right to know what the schedule is, and I have done my best to outline what the schedule is going to be in the next 24 hours. I hope we can move toward some finality in that regard.

Mr. President, I also remind everyone that we are in the process of coming up with a bill we will send from the Senate to the Congressional Budget Office. It is so important that we move forward on this legislation. Health care is vitally important to this country.

Every Thursday when we are in session, Senator Ensign and I have a Welcome to Washington Breakfast, and it is very good. We have been doing this for 9 years. Today we had the Principal of the Year, from Frank Lamping Elementary School, grades 1 through 5. Principal of the Year--that is really significant. We have well more than

400,000 students in Nevada, and to think they selected that man as the Principal of the Year is quite an honor. The principal is Michael O'Dowd. We had a longtime retired judge with whom I practiced law in the same community for a number of years, Gerry Hardcastle.

But the reason I mention this, there was a man there who introduced me to his son--a good-looking young man. His father was there to tell me about a new treatment they have developed for congenital clubfoot. In years past, the only way to handle that situation was with surgery. Now they have a new method. He had his boy there. His boy plays basketball. His boy can do anything he wants. And they have done this with no surgery. They now have new treatment for this. It is not surgical. In other countries, people spend the rest of their lives with their feet upside down unless there is surgery, and it is so difficult to do. So that is why health care is important.

This is one minor example of how we are advancing in health care, and we have to make sure health care is affordable to the American people. Our health care costs are more than 2\1/2\ times that of Japan. Yet the health care is not as good here as in Japan.

I look forward to sending that bill on to the Congressional Budget Office. I had spoken to the Republican leader yesterday. We are going to make sure Senators have plenty of opportunity to look at this bill once we get it back. We are concerned about quality, not quantity-- well, we are interested in quality, not how fast we can move this. We want to move it as quickly as we can, as expeditiously as we can, but we want to do it as well as we can. So I look forward to working with the Republican leader to have a good debate on this matter and have health care for all Americans.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask unanimous consent that our time for morning business not start until the quorum is called off.

Mr. President, our colleague, Senator Dan Inouye, has earned, on the field of battle, the Bronze Star, the Purple Heart, and the Congressional Medal of Honor. The man we work with on a daily basis is an American hero. He has earned the admiration, respect, and trust of the people of Hawaii and the entire Nation.

Today he has reached another milestone. He becomes the third longest serving Senator in American history.

(Applause.)

Every day since January 3, 1963--46 years, 9 months, and 20 days-- Hawaii has been proud to call Dan Inouye their Senator. There has certainly never been a Senator such as Dan Inouye. He holds many distinctions no one else can claim or will claim: He has represented the people of Hawaii since Hawaii became a State. He was Hawaii's first Congressman and is its longest serving Senator. He was the first Japanese American to serve in the House and the first Japanese American to serve in the Senate and first chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Just as he today becomes the third longest serving Senator, he also ranks third all-time in the number of votes cast in the Senate, behind only Senators Byrd and Thurmond. That means the senior senator from Hawaii has cast more votes than any Senator west of the Mississippi.

Today's vote by Senator Inouye, which was the last vote cast--one of America's most accomplished veterans, and that is an understatement-- was on the Department of Defense authorization bill. It was his 15,507th vote.

The good people of the great State of Hawaii thank Senator Inouye for his continued service. The American people thank him for his courage and his leadership. I thank him--from the day I entered this body, there is no one who has been more cordial, more of a gentleman than the man we know who has a Congressional Medal of Honor, Dan Inouye.

Madam President, reserving the right to object, I ask the distinguished assistant leader if he would agree to allow the vote to start immediately and that we make sure that 5 minutes is counted toward the end.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Banking Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1209.

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

I now ask we proceed to H.J. Res. 26, after the Judiciary Committee is so discharged.

I ask unanimous consent the joint resolution be read a third time and passed, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

It is my understanding that S. 1858 is at the desk and due for its first reading.

Mr. President, I ask for a second reading but object to my own request.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m. on Monday, October 26; that following the prayer and 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 the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.