Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar Nos. 6, 7, 8, 10, and all nominations on the Secretary's Desk in the Air Force, Army, Marine Corps, and Navy; that the nominations be confirmed, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, en bloc; that no further motions be in order, and any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record; and that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged of PN65-15 and 65-9; the Budget and Homeland Security Committee be discharged of PN65-12; and the Banking Committee be discharged of PN64-15; and the Senate then proceed, en bloc, to the nominations; that the Senate then proceed to vote on confirmation of the nominations, en bloc.

I move to reconsider and table; and I ask unanimous consent that no further motions be in order; that any statements relating to the nominations be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's actions and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 26, the House adjournment resolution, which is at the desk.

I ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 25, submitted earlier today by Senator Dorgan.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand in adjournment until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, January 29; 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 resume consideration of H.R. 2, the Children's Health Insurance Program Reauthorization Act.

Mr. President, tomorrow Senators should expect rollcall votes throughout the day as we continue to work through the remaining amendments to the children's health care bill.

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.

Mr. President, I rise today to urge the Senate and the Congress to act now to put people back to work and begin taking the steps necessary to restore economic growth in the near term and opportunity over the long haul.

The House passed a jobs bill yesterday, and the Senate Appropriations Committee passed its jobs bill out of committee on Tuesday. As a new member of that committee, I look forward to working with my colleagues from both sides of the aisle to pass a good jobs bill and get it to the President so we can start to get people back to work now and lay the foundation for broad-based economic growth and opportunity.

The need for this jobs bill is as plain as day. Each day, news brings fresh evidence that America's economy is on the wrong track. According to the experts, unemployment last month rose by 632,000 workers to 7.2 percent. Those are the highest levels in nearly 16 years, and the trendline is downright scary. Even so-called growth companies, such as Microsoft, are announcing layoffs, while retail companies such as Circuit City go belly-up in the wake of the meltdown of the financial markets. Just this week, Home Depot, Caterpillar, General Motors, United Airlines, Pfizer, and Sprint Nextel have announced massive job cuts, some 75,000 in 1 day, and the numbers continue to go higher and higher.

In Montana, we unfortunately are not immune to the economic gloom. Mining companies are experiencing significant layoffs. Car dealers are struggling. And the timber industry in our State is on the verge of collapse. The Montana Contractors Association said last month that the construction sector in our State has fallen more than 7.5 percent in the last year and a half. And the wild volatility of the worldwide energy markets has left both consumers and producers in the Treasure State feeling the effects of the boom-and-bust roller coaster ride.

Let me tell you, when you take away a worker's job, you take away the family's hope for the future. Montanans do not want an unemployment check. What they want is a job and a paycheck.

A recent picture in the Whitefish Pilot explained it well. A lone man stood on a street corner with a cardboard sign that said, ``Work needed.'' In the caption, he is quoted as saying:

It's humbling, but I'm a workaholic. I do whatever it takes

to pay my bills.

A woman from Kalispell wrote me about herself and her husband, both of whom are out of work. She said:

I would be happy to clean your office, answer phones or do

office work for you . . . or I will sweep streets with a

broom if you can recommend me to the right person.

The unemployment rate hit 8.7 percent in Flathead County last month. These are proud working folks, and they are not looking for a handout. They are looking for a job, an opportunity to make a living, to provide for their families.

I come to my job in the Senate from our family farm in Montana. Although we might not register much more than a blip on the radar screen of national statistics, let me tell you, folks in rural America and our frontier communities feel the effects when the big picture is out of whack. We feel the effects of a national turndown in a big way.

Virtually every economic recession in American history started in farm country. This one is no different. Input costs are high and commodity prices are low. This is a recipe for financial failure.

So what do we do? The first thing we need to do is pass a good jobs bill, and we need to do it now. Rather than continuing to lurch from bailout to bailout, we need a good jobs bill that will put people to work right now and begin to rebuild our economy from the ground up by investing in infrastructure.

Yesterday, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave efforts to repair our Nation's infrastructure a grade of D. They said the repair costs have grown more than $500 billion in the last 4 years. Specifically, more than 26 percent--that is more than one in four--of our Nation's bridges are either structurally deficient or functionally obsolete. One-third of America's major roads are either poor or in mediocre condition.

In Montana, water is a huge infrastructure. I will give a few examples. The town of Stevensville's water supply dates to 1909, and there have been no significant or substantial improvements to that water system in 30 years. That town alone needs 150,000 bucks to upgrade the system to bring it into compliance with Federal drinking water standards and to ensure good public health. The town of Dutton, MT, needs half a million dollars to rehabilitate wastewater lagoons built back in 1946 to avert possible catastrophic dike failure and to serve the citizens of the town in compliance with current standards. These are just two examples of the need for infrastructure funding that will get people working now, enhance quality of life, and set the

groundwork for vigorous economic growth.

Some may criticize the need to upgrade infrastructure as nothing more than filling potholes. But I can tell you that after many years of failure at the national level to fund infrastructure, our national ``front end'' is a little more than a little out of alignment.

If we do it right, investing in infrastructure will be a win-win. Smart long-term infrastructure projects will put people to work right now and will also build for the future, for future generations, for our kids and our grandkids.

We know that every billion dollars in infrastructure investment produces 30,000 good jobs in our communities. When these infrastructure dollars are spent correctly, they will result in good-paying jobs and improvements that will allow our communities and businesses to grow and prosper.

We have sound local projects in process right now. All they need is an infusion of capital. These local projects will put people to work building roads, bridges, water systems, modernizing schools, bringing new sources of energy online, and the list goes on and on.

These Federal dollars will produce results that will benefit our communities for generations to come. We need an effective partnership on the Federal, State, and local levels to identify these priority projects with rock-solid merit, and we will work as public servants to get worthy projects the money they need to make them happen.

The jobs bill must have first-rate accountability. We have seen enough bridges to nowhere to know a boondoggle when we see one. We need full transparency so the American people can judge for themselves the worthiness of individual projects through a process that is more open than ever.

We need to pass this jobs bill in the Senate for one reason: We need to get America working again. Beyond the bricks and mortar and asphalt and concrete, we need to invest in our people. That is human infrastructure. A good first step would be to pass the children's health insurance bill that is on the floor right now to ensure the youngest and most vulnerable Americans have access to quality, affordable health care. I hope the Senate can get that goal done tomorrow. We need to focus on education and training to equip middle- class families to succeed over the long haul. We need to modernize our schools with new technology and build new ones where necessary.

Unfortunately, we have seen some folks playing politics with our country's future. They even criticize a proposal to increase Pell grants for working families to send their kids to college. Anyone who does not get how important college financial aid is to Middle America is out of touch with the tough decisions that are made around kitchen tables every day in this country.

It is also important to consider how we got here. Years of trickle- down economics, massive tax breaks for the well-to-do and the well connected, and a complete lack of regulation in the marketplace--that is the legacy of greed and abuse we need to correct. Just like the referees on the football field for Super Bowl Sunday, we need to put the referees back on the field on Wall Street. We need to make sure the crooks never again swindle honest people.

Our Founding Fathers said:

If men were angels, no government would be necessary.

Thomas Jefferson noted in his first inaugural address that among the elements of good government is the need to ``restrain men from injuring one another.''

We have our marching orders. We need to get to work. I serve on the Senate Banking Committee, and I want to make sure the Treasury Department, the Justice Department, and the Securities and Exchange Commission all have the tools they need in their toolbox. If they need more tools, we need to go out there and get them for them.

Over the long haul, we need balanced priorities to rebuild this economy from the ground up. We need jobs. We need to put people first.

I am proud to give a voice to family farmers and ranchers. I want Washington, DC, to start seeing the world through the eyes of rural America. The wealthy special interests have had the run of this place for all too long and have run this economy into the ditch.

I was pleased to hear the Senate minority leader state last week that he intends to cooperate to pass a jobs bill and other vital legislation. Working together always results in a better work product.

I am disappointed, though, that others have decided to play politics at a time when so many American workers are struggling and families are worried about how to make ends meet. We have financial markets melting down, an economy that is cratered, and a future that is bleaker than any we have faced in generations. We need a new plan. We need a new direction. We need change.

I applaud President Obama for his leadership in proposing this new jobs bill, and I stand ready to work with him and all my colleagues to rebuild this economy from the ground up. We don't need bailouts. We need jobs.

Mr. President, I yield the floor and 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 a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each.

Thank you, Mr. President.

I thank the Senator from Maryland for her leadership on this issue. This is a critically important issue in this country today.

I would also like to welcome the Senator from New Mexico in the Chair. It is good to see you there.

Mr. President, I rise today in support of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. It is a fair, commonsense piece of legislation that honors the hard work and dedication of a great Montanan, that Montanan being Jeannette Rankin, who was America's first Congresswoman, an outspoken peace activist and a champion of equal rights.

Congresswoman Rankin would have voted yes today because she fought so hard for equality and fairness.

Every employee deserves to earn the same pay for doing the same work, regardless of artificial timelines. Lilly Ledbetter worked at Goodyear Tire Company for 19 years, and she discovered she was being paid significantly less than her male colleagues for doing the exact same amount of work. A jury agreed. The jury awarded Ms. Ledbetter significant--significant--damages. The U.S. Supreme Court said

too much time had passed since her first paycheck, and the Court ruled that Ms. Ledbetter's claim was invalid and even took away that jury award. Thankfully, this legislation undoes that wrongheaded decision. It clarifies the law to make it fair to America's workers.

When he signed the original Equal Pay Act in 1963, President Kennedy said protecting America's workers against pay discrimination is ``basic to democracy.'' Forty-six years after President Kennedy signed that historic piece of bipartisan legislation, American women still make only 77 cents for every dollar a man makes for doing the same work. African-American workers make 18 percent less, while Latinos make 28 percent less for doing the same work. American Indians make even less.

Nearly 100 years after Jeannette Rankin came to Congress, we cannot ignore this kind of discrimination. We have a duty to speak out against pay discrimination and to make sure the law is clear. Hard-working Americans deserve nothing less than equal pay for equal work.

Mr. President, I urge all my colleagues to pass the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act.

With that, I yield the floor.

(After his name was called) Mr. President, on this vote, I have a pair with the Senator from Ohio, Mr. Brown. If he were present and voting, he would vote nay. If I were permitted to vote, I would vote yea. I, therefore, withhold my vote.

Mr. President, I rise today with my colleague Senator Baucus to introduce legislation honoring a Montana veteran named Merrill Lundman.

Merrill was not a general officer. He did not become famous in battle, or wealthy in his civilian life. After serving in the Army, he came home to north-central Montana to work on the family farm and, later, for 20 years for the BNSF railroad. Some people might say he was just an ordinary man who served his country in the Army for three years, and then came home to work to live most of his days on the Hi- Line, a strip of U.S. Highway 2 in Montana that cuts across the prairie near the northern border.

But because of Merrill Lundman, thousands of veterans in and around Havre, Montana, can expect to get their VA medical care a little bit closer to home. You see, for the last several years of his life, Merrill devoted his time and his energy to pushing the VA to open a new community based outpatient clinic in Havre. And today, his dream has become a reality.

I am sorry that Merrill Lundman is not with us today to celebrate this day. He died just over one year ago, on December 22, 2007. Less than a month later, the VA announced its intention to establish a clinic in Havre.

The data says that veterans who live in rural areas don't live as long--or as well--as their urban peers. That's because it's harder to get to the VA facility that may be hundreds of miles away--especially this time of year when snow and ice can make travel in Montana treacherous. I don't know if Merrill knew this, but he sensed that his fellow veterans were getting a raw deal, and he didn't hesitate to tell the VA and his congressional delegation.

The story of this clinic is a grassroots effort led by one man who stood up for his fellow band of brothers to make sure that they can get the care that they have earned. And to honor that effort, Senator Baucus and I are proud to introduce this legislation, and I look forward to working with Chairman Akaka to move this bill quickly through the Veterans' Affairs Committee.

Mr. President, I join the Democratic whip in his comments. I think it is critically important that we work together in these economic times to solve the problems this country faces. We don't have problems as Democrats or Republicans with the economy, we all have problems with the economy, and I think the American people are looking forward to us working together for solutions to our economic mess.

Mr. President, as we begin this new year and this new Congress, I would like to ask the Senate to stop and reflect on the service of the men and women of our military. Every day, hundreds of thousands of men and women in all branches of our military are performing jobs that place them in harm's way and at the tip of the spear.

In particular, I would like to thank the 229 men and women of the Montana National Guard who have deployed or will be deploying this month.

Just in the past week, 46 airmen from the Montana Air National Guard security forces left the sub-zero temperatures in Montana for training at Fort Bliss, TX. From there, they will head to Kyrgyzstan.

Another 120 soldiers of the Montana National Guard's 639th Quartermaster Battalion left Helena for Fort Lewis, WA before they leave for Iraq.

And later this month, 63 soldiers from our 189th Aviation Battalion will go to Fort Sill to prepare for a tour in Iraq.

We feel a great deal of pride when sending our strongest and most dedicated Montanans overseas. We feel a great deal of hope too.

Leaving Montana to answer the call of duty isn't just another assignment. It is a symbol of commitment and courage. We will always appreciate their service, their hard work, and their willingness to protect Montana and America.

They say Montana is just a small town with a lot of long streets, and that means that when 229 guardsmen deploy overseas, it impacts a great deal of the State.

Businesses lose talented members of their workforce. Cities and towns lose cops, firefighters, doctors and other professionals in the community.

And most important of all, families have an empty seat at the dinner table. Family schedules get changed. Mothers and fathers become single parents for a little while.

Americans will never forget the sacrifices National Guard families make at home.

Sharla and I join all Montanans in sending our thoughts and prayers to these men and women as they complete their mission.

As Montana's only member of the Veterans Affairs Committee, I look forward to working to serve them as honored veterans when they all come home.

I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.