Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar Nos. 6, 7, and 8, the Patent Law Treaty; the Geneva Act concerning the international registration of industrial designs; and the Singapore Treaty on the Law of Trademarks; that the treaties be advanced through their various parliamentary stages, up to and including the presentation of the resolutions of ratification, and that the reservations, declarations, and conditions be agreed to, and there now be a division vote on the resolutions en bloc.

I ask unanimous consent the motions to reconsider be laid on the table, that the President of the United States be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

I ask unanimous consent the Senate now return to legislative session.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 397.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent we move to H.R. 4252.

I ask unanimous consent the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 3 p.m., Monday, December 10; that on Monday, 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 reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume consideration of the farm bill,

As I announced earlier, there will be no rollcall votes Monday. However, the farm bill will be up for consideration, and I expect that amendments will be offered during Monday's session as they were today.

Earlier today, we whittled down the farm bill amendments by approximately 25 percent. I also anticipate we will have a vote prior to the caucus luncheon recess period.

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

Mr. President, this morning, following any time used by the leaders, the Senate will conduct an hour of debate prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the AMT legislation, H.R. 3996. The debate time is equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees. Under an order entered last night, each leader will control 10 minutes immediately prior to the rollcall vote, with the majority leader controlling the final 10 minutes. The rollcall vote will occur probably around 11:40 this morning or thereabouts.

As a reminder to Members, I filed cloture on the Harkin substitute to the farm bill. If Members who are listed on the finite list of amendments to the bill have not filed their germane first-degree amendments, they will need to do so by 1 p.m. today. Of course, amendments already filed don't need to be refiled.

Mr. President, I always try and be aware of what happens in the morning news. The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is listen to what is on the radio as to what has developed over the night. Everyone knows I have criticized the President on occasion, but I think it is also appropriate, when we hear some good news, to throw an accolade toward the President on occasions when there are good things to talk about.

I am confident of the reports we get this morning that the President sent a personal letter to North Korea's leader, Kim Jong-Il. He sent a letter. That is important. I have not read the letter, but all the news accounts indicate it is meant as a message to the leader of North Korea, to send a message that we want to work with North Korea. That is a positive step to breathe new energy into our diplomatic efforts with North Korea.

I have long advocated that we must reach out to people, even though we don't like how they are conducting their government. Diplomacy must be grounded in communication and the personal touch. In taking this step with North Korea, I believe President Bush is taking a page out of Ronald Reagan's book of diplomacy.

There was no elected official, at the time President Reagan was elected President, who more disliked the Soviet Union and the Communist way of government and life. But the President, President Reagan, reached out to them. In his first day in office, he sent diplomats to the Soviet Union to try to work things out. As a result of that, he held meetings with people he didn't admire and maybe even respect, but he did that because he believed, as did Jim Baker, as Secretary of State, that it was the right thing to do. And it proved to be the right thing to do.

Too many throughout the world have come to view America's approach this past 7 years as ``shoot first, talk later.'' I take this letter as a sign that President Bush has learned that communication is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength.

As I have been saying since the national intelligence report on Iran was published earlier this week, we should be taking a diplomatic surge approach to Iran. The President should make Secretary Rice and Secretary Gates available to meet with their Iranian counterparts to begin those long overdue diplomatic efforts.

On another subject, Secretary Paulson this morning, with the President, will unveil the administration's strategy to address the crisis in subprime lending. We know the effort will not cover everything, but it is a step in the right direction. We don't know the details of this plan yet, but I am glad to see the White House beginning to address this awful situation that now threatens the homes, security, and the way of life of millions of Americans, including about 150,000 Nevadans.

In Nevada, we continue to work hard locally with constituent services and in education to make at-risk homeowners aware of the options available to them. This crisis calls for national leadership and we look forward to Secretary Paulson's proposal. We believe our proposal, FHA Modernization Act, goes even further than the administration's.

Earlier this week, Secretary Paulson called upon Congress to pass the FHA bill. Mr. President, we have been trying to do that. We have been prevented from passing it because of the Republicans. Secretary Paulson is part of a Republican administration. He should lean on the minority here in the Senate to allow us to get this passed. I call once again upon Senate Republicans to heed the call of millions of at-risk homeowners and to heed the call of Secretary Paulson, to pass the FHA Modernization Act. The only thing standing in the way of passing this bill, so we do not pass it, is the Republicans.

On November 15, we tried at the same time to pass the FHA Act to assist at-risk homeowners and the Transportation-HUD appropriations conference report. That bill was so important because, in that, Senator Murray provided $200 million for foreclosure counseling and mitigation. We have learned over the months this foreclosure crisis has been before us that people simply need to know how to get out of the problem they have. People in the home will lose, the lender will lose, the community where the home is located will lose. We need to try to keep people in these homes. That is why the FHA Modernization Act is so important.

The Banking Committee sent the FHA Modernization Act to the floor with a 20-to-1 vote. As I said, Secretary Paulson, whom I respect, called for Congress to pass it. We can't do it unless he gets his Republican Senators to support this.

Much of the burden for this crisis that exists in America today has to be met by the Finance Committee. The chairman of the Finance Committee is on the floor today. With him being present, I am going to ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 481, S. 2338, the FHA Modernization Act; and that the Dodd-Shelby amendment at the desk be considered and agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read a third time, passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and any statement relating to this matter be printed at an appropriate place as if given.

Mr. President, before I hear from my Republican colleagues as to whether there is going to be objection, let me repeat: The Secretary of the Treasury, appointed by President Bush, has called for passage of this legislation. We want it passed. We hope it could be passed. It would do a great deal to alleviate some of the problems facing our country.

I met yesterday with realtors from Nevada. They said if this passed, it would be a tremendous boost to their ability to work out some of the problems we are having in Nevada, as we are having around the country.

I came to the floor to say positive things about the President's actions to help as many as 200,000 people. That is, their efforts today, his and Secretary Paulson's efforts today, will help about 200,000 people. That is about 10 percent of the people in real trouble.

Is that enough? Of course it is not enough. But it is a step in the right direction. This FHA unanimous consent request I have made is also a tremendously big step in the right direction. I hope my Republican colleagues will not object and we can go forward with this legislation.

Mr. President, during the Clinton years we did some good things for this country, and when the history books are written, one of the things that will be paramount in those accounts will be what President Clinton did, with his allies in Congress, to turn the country around economically. During the Clinton years, we were paying down the debt by half a trillion dollars. We were spending less money than we were taking in. We can all look back to those days when Alan Greenspan told us in committees assembled that we should cut back. We were paying down the debt too quickly.

When President Bush took office, there was a $7 trillion surplus over 10 years. With all of the things that he has done to bankrupt this country, we are now in debt of some $10 trillion.

The bill we have before us is a bill that says this tax needs to be patched, but it should be paid for.

That is what we did in the Clinton years. That is what we did in our budget that we passed here. Mr. President, we passed the first budget in this Senate in 3 years--our modest majority--by one vote, because Tim Johnson was

sick. We passed again, following the Clinton example, a balanced budget where we said we believed if we are going to have new programs, they should be paid for. It is called pay-go. We said if there are going to be cuts in taxes, they should be paid for.

The Speaker followed this, and we now have a bill from the House that takes care of the patch, but it pays for it. Isn't that what the American people want? Isn't that the example we should set for them-- that if we spend some money, we have to make provisions to pay for it? If you have a home and you suddenly decide you need something, such as a new refrigerator, and your credit card is at its maximum, then you cannot buy that refrigerator. There has to be some ability in this Congress to treat this body just as a family treats its own budget.

The wailing and crying we are hearing here is that they ``find it offensive''--those were the words of my distinguished Republican colleague, Senator McConnell, yesterday--to have to pay for these tax cuts. Well, I hope everyone understands that we are trying to do what is right, that we are trying to have the Government of the United States not be one that is buried in red ink all of the time.

This is a $50 billion patch. Should it not be paid for? The answer is, obviously, yes. I hope everybody votes for cloture on this most important piece of legislation.

cloture motion

Mr. President, I enter a motion to reconsider the cloture vote.

Mr. President, I have a unanimous consent request I am going to enter in just a minute, but I would like to say that I extend my congratulations to Lamar Alexander in his recent victory to be part of the Republican leadership. I respect and admire him. He will do a wonderful job.

I also extend my appreciation to Mr. Jon Kyl, a Senator from Arizona, a neighboring State of Nevada's, who is going to replace Trent Lott. I have expressed to Senator Kyl personally--I haven't had that opportunity with Senator Alexander because we didn't know how that vote would turn out, but I expressed to Senator Kyl my admiration and respect for him. I know he will do a good job for the State of Arizona, the country, and the Senate, and I look forward to working with both of them.

As we often do on the Senate floor, as Senator Kyl knows--before coming here he was a distinguished lawyer, and I spent a lot of time in the courtroom myself--it is totally appropriate that we on the Senate floor advocate for our constituency, for our party, and for individual Senators in the best way we know how. But it is also very important that we maintain cordial relationships.

As we learned in our court experiences, no matter how difficult the case might be, no matter how tense it might be arguing to a jury or to a judge, when that courtroom is adjourned, the attorneys walk out, shake hands, go have a sandwich, have a drink, and go on and prepare for the next case. And that is what I say to my friends, Lamar Alexander and Jon Kyl. We are going to have some debates on the Senate floor. That is what the Senate is all about. Some say it is the greatest debating organization in the history of the world. I don't know whether that is the case, but I have been involved in a few debates and a few tense times on the floor, but I always try--and I haven't always been totally successful at this--to put my emotions aside and walk off the Senate floor and try to be friends with those I was advocating against.

So I say to these two fine Senators from the States of Tennessee and Arizona, I wish them the very best in their new duties.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to consideration of the House AMT bill, H.R. 3996; that all after the enacting clause be stricken, and the text of Senator Baucus's amendment, No. 3804, providing for a 1-year unpaid patch for AMT extension be substituted in lieu thereof; the bill be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

So for everyone here, Mr. President, in nonlegal words, what I have asked for is that we proceed in spite of how I would rather we do this, that we proceed to vote for AMT, a 1-year patch that is not paid for. I have already given a speech prior to the vote on the motion to invoke cloture how wrong I think this is, but I also understand how important it is we have the patch. This patch would affect people who make from $75,000 to $500,000 a year, the average tax of some $2,000. This tax was not meant to cover those people and, therefore, we should do the patch. I would rather it were paid for.

So I am asking unanimous consent that we be allowed to vote on this by simply accepting this. There wouldn't need to be a vote; no debate. If we get no objections to this, then the AMT would be patched for 1 year, and we would send it on to the House for their concurrence.

Mr. President, I would simply say to my friend, I hope that is the case. I hope we can move to this. I am a little suspect because we have been trying to work something out for quite a long time now. I will renew this request sometime later today, and I hope we can accomplish what we need to get accomplished.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that we now proceed to a period of morning business for debate only; that Senators be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I would hope that everyone understands we have a lot of balls in the air, and we are trying to grab a few of them to see if in the next few days we can work through some of them.

We have AMT, which hasn't been completed. The farm bill and spending bills have to be completed. We have many different bills we are trying to complete. If everyone will be patient and speak to their heart's content, we will try to have something legislatively that we can work on.