Floor Statements

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

Madam President, following leader remarks, there will be an hour of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The majority will control the first 30 minutes; Republicans will control the final 30 minutes. Following morning business, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 146, the legislative vehicle for the lands package. The Senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus lunches.

Madam President, as a result of a number of conversations with various people last night, I think we are at a point where we should shortly be able to enter into an agreement to complete H.R. 146. Senator Coburn is going to offer six amendments. We are going to agree on a time for those amendments. We have the subject matter, and staff is going to work out the--I am told the legislative language has been drafted on the bills, so it seems to me we should be in a position to move forward. With the six amendments, we should be able to finish the legislation without a lot of heavy lifting tomorrow--maybe early tomorrow--which would allow us to do some nominations and get some of those done before we leave here. So I hope that will work out. We are not there yet, but I think we are very close.

I had a meeting this morning with Senator Bingaman. He understands the subject matter of the amendments--he being the chair of the Energy Committee, which has the jurisdiction of everything in this bill--so that should take care of that matter.

I note the absence of a quorum.

Madam President, I certainly agree with the Republican leader about AIG. If I were in the AIG administration, I would recommend they give back those bonuses. Remember, we as a Congress are not defenseless. We can also do things. Senator Baucus, chairman of the Finance Committee, is going to make a proposal that will certainly send a message to the people at AIG and others who try to benefit from the hardships the American people face. So in the next 24 hours, you will hear from the chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator Baucus, that AIG's recipients of these bonuses will not be able to keep all their money. That is an understatement.

Also, regarding Guantanamo, I think we should not make this a political issue. John McCain has come out in favor of this. ``I think that it's a wise move,'' McCain said about closing Guantanamo Bay. So this is something President Obama is not out there alone on.

Madam President, 8 years of greed and negligence have left our country with the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression. President Obama took office in an economic climate that no President would relish: staggering job loss, the largest national debt in history, a frozen credit market, major banks teetering on the edge of insolvency, a record foreclosure rate forcing millions of families to lose their jobs and their homes, a stock market in freefall, leaving senior citizens to put retirement on hold and putting the economic security of millions more at risk.

The first job of any doctor is to stabilize a patient. In the first 2 months of

his administration, President Obama has started to stop the bleeding and begun to heal our economy. The cornerstone of the President's near- term plan to end the freefall he inherited is the Economic Recovery Act, which will save and create 3.5 million jobs, while making critically needed investments in roads, bridges, tunnels, education, health care, and energy.

President Obama, along with Democrats in Congress, understands that as deep as our immediate problems may be, the worst mistake we could make is to stop investing for the future.

That is why the President's budget proposal lays the groundwork for an economy that just doesn't recover in the short term but also prospers in the long term. That starts with ending the previous administration's era of passing the buck, refusing to make tough choices, to plan for the future, or to hold anyone accountable for greed and corruption.

There will be no accounting tricks in the Obama budget. There will be honesty, accountability, lower taxes for working families, smart investments for a long-term prosperity that reaches beyond the privileged to lift up the middle class.

One of the most critical investments we can make today is in a new national energy policy that finally begins to end our addiction to oil. Since the first Model-T Ford left the assembly line more than 80 years ago, the risks associated with oil consumption have been known. Today, we face a three-pronged oil crisis threatening our economy, our national security, and our environment.

After years of writing bigger and bigger checks to foreign nations for more and more barrels of oil, this budget finally takes the logical approach that all Americans understand: We need to reduce our consumption, and we need to find new renewable sources of clean energy that we can grow, creating hundreds of thousands of good jobs right here at home.

We must make these investments now and, if we do, we will not only accomplish those goals but also lower future energy bills for every single American consumer, and we will save money for all middle-class families.

Remember, last year, we spent, buying oil from foreign nations, about a half trillion dollars, which is money that should have stayed at home. That is why President Obama is proposing a market-based cap on carbon pollution to drive production of renewable fuels and energy- efficient technology and reward companies that lead the way.

This budget will also invest $15 billion a year to develop the renewable sources of energy that lie literally all around us--in the Sun, the wind, and just beneath the Earth in geothermal. All across America, the work of tapping these plentiful energy sources is underway.

In Pennsylvania, renewable energy has sparked more than $1 billion in private investment. In Iowa, shuttered factories have reopened to build parts for wind turbines. In Nevada, a State called the ``Saudi Arabia of renewable energy,'' we already have enough renewable energy projects in operation to heat and cool hundreds of thousands of homes--without a drop of oil.

If we make renewable energy a priority in this budget, these projects will just be the beginning. The solar power in Nevada and the desert Southwest alone could meet our entire energy needs 7 times over--the needs of this country.

The wind energy in the Great Plains, the Midwest, and off both of our coasts is similarly abundant. The potential for geothermal energy-- still largely untapped--is staggering.

Until recently, all of these outstanding projects have been moving forward with little, if any, Federal support. Our landscape is dotted with renewable energy projects, but right now we are not connecting the dots. The renewable energy is where people don't live; we need to bring that energy to where people live.

The fact that we are not connecting the dots has to end, and it will end when we begin to invest in a smarter and greener transmission grid that brings renewable energy from the places that produce it to the places that will use it.

We should be catalyzing the work of private sector innovators who are carrying the green revolution on their shoulders. Every job created by a new renewable energy project in California, Utah, Illinois, Nevada, or Iowa is a job that could never be shipped overseas.

Some on the other side may try to protect our country's biggest corporate polluters from cleaning up their act. Some may say that in this time of economic crisis, we should not be investing in our future. Some may criticize the President's budget, yet refuse to offer ideas of their own.

Over the next several weeks, we have the opportunity to engage in a serious and vigorous debate over this budget and the priorities it reflects.

I urge all my colleagues to choose sound policy over sound bites. We may not agree on everything, but I know we can agree that after 8 long years of irresponsibility, we must pass a budget that puts the American people first.

Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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, following my presentation, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Brown be recognized for up to 5 minutes. Following Senator Brown, I ask unanimous consent that Senator Coburn be recognized. I see

Senator Thune on the floor. Does he wish to be recognized after Senator Coburn?

I understand he wants to speak for about 40 minutes. I am sure, knowing Dr. Coburn, if you have a short statement, he would not care. How long do you wish to speak?

I ask that Senator Thune be recognized. Senator Coburn wants to lay down his amendments. I will renew this consent request in a minute. I withdraw the consent at this time.

The recently passed Omnibus appropriations bill completed unfinished business from the Bush administration, which funded the Government to provide critically needed services for the American people. The omnibus that was signed into law last week also eliminated the congressional cost-of-living adjustment for 2010.

During debate on that bill, I sought unanimous consent of this body to take up and pass freestanding legislation to permanently end the automatic cost-of-living adjustment and instead require Members of Congress to vote for or against all future adjustments.

Especially in this hour of economic crisis, the overwhelming majority of Democrats and Republicans would agree that we should end this practice of automatic adjustments. Senator Feingold has championed this cause for a long time, 17 years to be exact. I applaud him for his leadership. Others have tried to take this issue from Senator Feingold, but it is his issue and has been, I repeat, for 17 years. This should have passed last Tuesday when I asked unanimous consent for the bill to pass. One week later, let's see who objects to passing this bill. It should have been done last week.

An overwhelming bipartisan majority of Senators is undeterred by the obstruction that took place last week. Passing this legislation to permanently end the automatic cost-of-living adjustment for Members is the right thing to do.

Absent any further objections, we should do so right now and pass it.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 620, introduced earlier today.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read three times and passed; the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to this bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that Senator Brown be recognized for 5 minutes--

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senator from Ohio, Mr. Brown, be recognized for up to 5 minutes; that Senator Coburn be recognized to lay down whatever amendments he chooses, and speak up to one-half hour; that following that time Senator Thune then be recognized.

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, following leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 146, which is the legislative vehicle for the lands bill. At 5:30 p.m. today, we will have a cloture vote on the motion to proceed.

On the lands bill issue, Dr. Coburn is supposed to give me some amendments today that we will take a look at and see whether we are going to be able to work something out to have some amendments offered. As my colleagues know, we are back again with this issue. This represents a number of bills that have been held up--a number of these bills have been held up for some time over the past year. In the House, an issue came up, and they amended it and put it on the consent calendar, and it failed by two votes. They didn't get the two-thirds, so it comes back here. I hope we can work something out; otherwise, we will just proceed as we have in the past. Sometime tomorrow, we will be on the bill, probably at about 4 o'clock. We will offer an amendment at that time and proceed to do what we need to do. Dr. Coburn has indicated to me that he won't require reading of the amendment, which could take a lot of time, but we will see what we can work out with him and move forward as quickly as we can.

Mr. President, this weekend, we learned that AIG doled out $165 million in bonuses to their senior executives--bonuses paid for with taxpayer-funded bailout dollars. With millions of Americans out of work, staying up nights trying to figure out how to make this week's paycheck last until the next paycheck, wondering how they will make the next mortgage payment or pay the overdue bill--maybe even a tuition bill--these executive bonuses are beyond even outrageous. I don't know what a term is that is more definitive than ``outrageous,'' but ``outrageous'' does the trick. These bonuses being paid are outrageous.

President Obama has instructed Secretary Geithner to pursue every legal avenue to address this grievous abuse of taxpayer money. I applaud that effort. Our financial sector will never heal unless the financial companies that helped create this economic crisis begin to regain the public trust. The actions of AIG do just the opposite, and every American is justified in their outrage at this breach of public trust.

President Obama was asked recently about the role of bipartisanship in addressing America's priorities. He said that it is the job of the majority to be inclusive and of the minority to be constructive.

In the early days of the 111th Congress, Democrats have worked to be inclusive. We have achieved considerable legislative success: passing a major lands bill which we will return to later this week, as I have indicated; the children's health insurance bill to provide health coverage to millions of children of low-income families; the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to ensure the principle of equal pay for equal work; the President's Economic Recovery Act to begin stabilizing our economy and addressing the fiscal crisis this President inherited; and, of course, we passed the Omnibus appropriations bill,

which was unfinished business from the Bush Presidency. This important legislation funds Government for the rest of the fiscal year and provides funds to help meet the needs of the American people. This success has come when Democrats and Republicans have put politics aside to find common ground.

This week, we will return to consideration of a package of more than 160 public land bills, as I mentioned earlier, that will protect our environment and natural resources for generations to come. This lands package has been called, by editorial writers all over the country, the most significant environmental legislation in more than a quarter of a century.

Chairman Bingaman and Senator Murkowski did an outstanding job of working together in the committee. The Senate followed their example by approving the bill earlier this year by a strong bipartisan majority of 73 votes. As we near the finish line on this legislation, I hope Senators from both parties will continue to follow the bipartisan example set by Senators Bingaman and Murkowski by once again voting to pass this legislation.

We will also vote on several nominees to President Obama's administration. We hope to do it in the next few days. As our new President attempts to overcome the enormous burdens he inherited from the previous administration, it is critical that we help him succeed by providing him with all the tools, staff, and expertise he needs.

Starting this week, Members will begin to discuss President Obama's budget for the 2010 fiscal year.

Less than 2 months into his term, President Obama has already taken bold and necessary steps to begin the long climb out of the deep ditch that was left to him by the previous administration's fiscal policies. We have begun to take the necessary steps to get our economy back on track, save and create jobs, restore confidence in the markets, and help families keep their homes. President Obama's budget will build on those near-term investments by laying the groundwork for a longer term path back to broad prosperity for all Americans.

The President's budget is built on the promise that no matter how difficult our immediate challenge, we have to keep focused on the future. We will do that by investing in health care, education, and a cleaner more affordable energy policy, while providing tax relief and helping middle-class Americans afford to purchase and stay in their homes.

These are some of the most serious issues we have ever faced, and we face them together. We must all realize that. As we move forward, we have a choice to make. Those who are opposed can try to block us or they can work with us to accomplish the critical needs of the American people. I am confident it will be the latter.

Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will proceed to a period of morning business until 12 o'clock noon, with Senators allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each during that period of time. Following morning business, the Senate will proceed to executive session to debate the nomination of David Ogden to be Deputy Attorney General. There will be 2 hours for debate equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. At 2 p.m., the Senate will vote on the confirmation of Mr. Ogden.

Following the vote, the Senate will consider the nomination of Thomas Perrelli to be Associate Attorney General. Under an agreement that was reached yesterday, the debate will be limited to 90 minutes, with the time equally divided and controlled. Upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate will vote on confirmation of the Perrelli nomination.

We will continue to work on agreements to consider additional nominations this week. I expect to file cloture on a matter to move the lands bill forward again, for the information of all Senators. A widely popular bill we sent to the House was put on the consent calendar yesterday and failed by two votes. So we will have to start that process over here again. One of the things they are talking about doing is adding another Idaho wilderness provision to that bill and to send it back over here. But I would hope perhaps we can work something out with people who want us to have to go through all the procedural processes. I hope we do not have to do that. If we do, that is what we will do. We will have a vote Monday morning on cloture unless we can get something worked out with those who are opposing this.

Then, next week, that being the case, we will spend some time on the lands bill. I have indicated to the Republican leader we are going to do national service this work period. The House is going to pass that probably next Tuesday, allowing us to get to it toward the end of the week or the following week. And then, of course, the final week we are here we have to do the budget.

Madam President, we have had a very productive time in the Senate so far this year. We have done things that have led to the President signing the bills. One of the things we talked about--the first thing we did was the lands bill. We are going to do that again. We passed the Lilly Ledbetter legislation. That has been signed into law. That puts women on a more equal footing with men as regarding pay. We passed the children's health insurance initiative, giving more than 4 million poor children the ability to go to a doctor when they are sick or hurt. We passed the economic recovery package which is now beginning to filter money into the States. It should start happening quite rapidly in the next few weeks. And then, Tuesday evening, we passed the makeup work

from the Bush administration, passing that appropriations bill that was a makeup of all the bills we could not get done during the last few months of the Bush administration.

Now we are going to, as I indicated, do these nominations. So we have had a very productive time. We have a lot more to do. But we should look satisfactorily on what we have already done.