Floor Statements

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Madam President, since the attacks on 9/11 and the very beginning of the war on terror in 2001, most Americans have understood that we could no longer kind of passively wait for the next enemy attack. In order to defeat, dismantle, and disrupt al-Qaida, our intelligence, military, and law enforcement officials would have to work together to defeat terrorist cells, whether they are in the tribal areas of Pakistan or, frankly, here in our own backyard. Yet, if some had begun to think, after the killing of Osama bin Laden, that we could now sit back and relax a little, the recent arrest in my State, in the hometown of my colleague, Senator Paul, of two foreign fighters who have openly admitted to conducting attacks against U.S. soldiers and marines in Iraq shows how mistaken a notion that is.

Let's look at that again. Here are two Iraqi terrorists arrested in Bowling Green, KY, within the last couple of weeks. And the Director of Central Intelligence stated in an open hearing on Capitol Hill last week that about 1,000 members of al-Qaida in Iraq continue to fight us over in Iraq. Now we know that at least two of them--at least two of them--have left the battlefield over there to live right here in the United States.

The case of Waad Ramadan Alwan and Mohanad Shareef Hammadi shows us that terrorists continue to pose an imminent threat. We owe a debt of gratitude to the men and women who made sure they couldn't inflict more harm on Americans here or abroad once they arrived here. Anyone who has read about the investigation into their activities can only be impressed with the courage, the skill, and the professionalism of those who were involved in this effort.

Specifically, I wish to thank the men and women from the FBI's Louisville Division, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Kentucky, the Louisville Joint Terrorism Task Force, and the Justice Department's National Security Division. Every one of those folks involved clearly did their job, and they did it very well.

That having been said, I think it is safe to say that a lot of Kentuckians, including me, would like to know why two men who either killed or plotted to kill U.S. soldiers and marines over in Iraq aren't sitting in a jail cell in Guantanamo right now. When it comes to enemy combatants, our top priority, as I have said repeatedly, should be to capture, detain, and interrogate. That wasn't done here. These men are foreign fighters--unlawful enemy combatants--who should be treated as such.

Alwan is on tape admitting to having procured explosives and missiles in Iraq and to using them daily--daily--to conduct strikes.

He said he had personally used improvised explosive devices, or IEDs, hundreds of times over a period of several years. He has talked about using them against U.S. troops and the damage he has done to U.S. military vehicles such as Humvees. He told undercover agents he was ``very good with a sniper rifle end.'' In a reference to attacks on U.S. troops, he said his lunch and dinner would be ``an American.'' He admitted that he ``collected everything,'' TNT, electronic detonators, tank explosive detonators, IED detonators, mortar shells, and rocket- propelled grenades. He also said that he often placed IEDs after the curfew, and it was this activity that led to his being asked to join the mujahedin.

He even tried to demonstrate his expertise as a foreign fighter by drawing diagrams of four types of IEDs, explaining how to build them and discussing various occasions in which he used these devices against U.S. troops in Iraq. In describing one particular type of IED, Alwan said, ``Anything lethal could be stuffed into it, such as ball bearings, nails, gravel, and whatever item that kills.'' Alwan's fingerprints have also allegedly been found on IEDs over in Iraq in an area in which he is known to have lived.

Once Alwan made his way to the United States, he is alleged to have recruited Hammadi to continue his fight against Americans over in Iraq by burrowing himself into a community where he thought he would go undetected. Like Alwan, Hammadi was an experienced insurgent fighter in Iraq. He too had participated in IED attacks and was part of an insurgent group that had 11 surface-to-air missiles.

Together, these two men organized shipments of money and weapons, including rocket grenade launchers, Stinger missiles, and C4 explosives that they thought they were sending back to the war zone in Iraq.

Anyone who has taken up arms against U.S. forces in the field of battle is an enemy combatant, pure and simple, and should be treated like one. They should be hunted and captured, detained and interrogated, and tried away from civilian populations according to the laws of war.

Unfortunately, since the earliest days of this administration when the President signed a series of Executive orders which directed the closing of the military detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, and limited the ability of the military and intelligence community to detain and interrogate prisoners, a higher priority has been placed upon prosecution than on executing the war on terror.

But I can say with certainty that Kentuckians don't want foreign fighters who have bragged about killing and maiming U.S. soldiers in a combat theater treated like common criminals in their own backyards. They don't want foreign fighters to be afforded all of the legal rights and privileges of U.S. citizens. They don't want foreign fighters to have their interrogations curtailed. And they don't want their fellow citizens in Kentucky subjected to the risk of reprisal that is associated with these kinds of cases, reprisals against civilian judges, reprisals against civilian jurors, and the broader community in which civilian trials are held. That was one of the many reasons that residents and lawmakers in New York City rebelled against the administration's equally foolhardy plan to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in a courtroom in New York. That is to say nothing of the security costs and the disruption that civilian trials for terrorists create for any American community. We have firsthand experience of this from the 2006 murder trial of Zacarias Moussaoui in Alexandria, VA.

Despite all of this, however, the administration seems fixated on the idea that once we have caught terrorists, the goal isn't to get as much intelligence out of them as quickly as possible to prevent further attacks on soldiers and citizens but to prove that we can treat them the same way we treat everybody else.

My response to that is, maybe we could. Maybe we can do that. And you can put them in a U.S. court, but why in the world would you want to? You could, but should you?

The administration likes to tout its confidence in the U.S. legal system. Well, I don't believe the American people need to try any enemy combatants in our own hometowns and cities to prove that our court system works. We know it works. We are American citizens.

Prosecution is certainly important. But let's be clear, prosecution is not our ultimate goal in this war. Our goal is to capture or kill those who want to kill us, here and abroad, and who are plotting even now, as this case clearly proves, to wreak havoc on our troops overseas.

This is quite simple: Those whom we capture should be interrogated and, if necessary, indefinitely detained and tried in a military setting. Through these interrogations additional intelligence can be derived that leads to additional targets, thereby weakening al Qaeda and other associated terror groups at a moment when they are vulnerable.

The good news is we already have the perfect solution for a case such as the one I have been discussing in Kentucky. These men don't belong in a courtroom in Kentucky. They belong in a secured detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, far away from U.S. civilians. Sending them to Gitmo is the only way to ensure they will not enjoy all the rights and privileges of U.S. citizens. Sending them to Gitmo is the only way we can be certain there won't be retaliatory attacks in Kentucky. How would you like to be the judge in this case? How would you like to be the jurors in this case? Do they run the risk of being targets for the rest of their lives? Are they in sort of witness protection programs indefinitely? Why should we subject U.S. citizens to this kind of risk?

Sending them to Gitmo is the only way we can prevent Kentuckians from having to cover the cost and having to deal with the disturbance and disruptions that would come with a civilian trial, and sending them to Gitmo is the best way to ensure they get what they deserve.

Today I am calling on the administration to change course. Get these men out of Kentucky. Send them to Guantanamo where they belong. Get these terrorists out of the civilian system, get them out of our backyards, and give them the justice they deserve.

Madam President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, on behalf of all of our colleagues, I commend our new Senator from Florida for his remarkable speech. No one is a better example of the American dream than he is, and no one expresses American exceptionalism better than Senator Rubio. I congratulate him on behalf of all of our colleagues.

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

Mr. President, I was discussing with the majority leader privately the comments he made publicly about getting votes. I have talked to my Members, and I understand he indicated that most of our Members who have amendments are willing to take short time agreements. We ought to be able to move forward and have votes, and the Senate can function the way it should.

Mr. President, with each passing day, the American people grow more concerned about our Nation's future. The Washington Post-ABC news poll this week said that by a ratio of 2 to 1, Americans believe we are on the wrong track, and 9 out of 10 rate the economy negatively. Yesterday's CNN poll found that many Americans expect another Great Depression.

It is in this context that President Obama has started talking about how concerned he is about jobs. This week, the President said he wakes up every morning and asks himself what he can do to spur job creation. Every morning this week, I have come to the floor with some suggestions for him.

The fact is that many Americans have a hard time believing the President is focused on jobs when so many of his policies seem to be designed to destroy them. In some key areas, such as trade, energy, and debt, the President himself has acknowledged that a reversal of his policies would create jobs and spur recovery.

Let's start with trade. Hoping to sound as though he had a plan for job creation, the President used the giant platform provided by his annual State of the Union Message in January to declare that he had finalized a trade agreement with South Korea that would support at least 70,000 American jobs. Yet, nearly 5 months later, he sent his aides out to say that he won't sign them into law unless Congress approves billions more in government spending first.

On energy, the President has acknowledged the pressure that regulations put on job creators. That is why he ordered a review of them in January. Yet, by one estimate, the national energy tax his administration tried to pass through the EPA could cost, by some estimates, millions of jobs--millions. While the President has acknowledged that in order to sustain economic growth and create jobs, as he put it last year, we would need to harness traditional sources of energy, his continued refusal to issue drilling permits in the gulf has had a devastating economic effect.

On the debt, the President himself has said, ``If we don't have a serious plan to tackle the debt and the deficit, that could actually end up being a bigger drag on the economy than anything else.'' Yet, under his leadership, the Nation's national debt has skyrocketed 35 percent, from $10.6 trillion to $14.2 trillion, our deficit is three times bigger than the biggest annual deficit during the Bush administration, and the President refuses to put forward a serious plan to do anything to bring the debt or the deficit down.

So there is a pattern here. The President likes to say he is concerned about the economy and jobs, but his policies tell an entirely different story. He can talk all he wants, but he cannot walk away from what he has done, and the things he is failing to do right now to create private sector jobs and to get our economy moving again. Chief among them is his refusal to do anything to lower the debt and deficits he has done so much to create.

Right now, U.S. businesses are sitting on nearly $2 trillion in cash. Most of them would love to invest this cash in new products, ventures, and employees. Yet they are holding back. Why? It is not just the regulations and the mixed signals they are getting about taxes or the expectation that all the spending today will necessarily lead to higher taxes tomorrow; it is also the uncertainty surrounding our future. How can businesses be confident about the future and hire new workers to build that future if the Democrats who run the White House aren't willing to do anything--anything at all--about our deficits and our debt?

Investment follows certainty. That is one thing this White House refuses to provide. This ongoing uncertainty is paralyzing our economic recovery and seriously hindering job creation.

One recent study suggests that any nation which carries a public debt load at or above 90 percent of its economy loses one point of economic growth, which the administration's own economists have said is equivalent to 1 million jobs. So why won't they propose a serious plan to lower it? When will the administration follow through on what it knows it has to do to spur job growth? The solutions are right in front of us.

The administration acknowledges that free trade agreements, expanding domestic energy exploration, cutting regulations, providing tax certainty, and reducing the debt will lead to a dramatic increase in jobs. So why won't it follow through?

Too often, unfortunately, the answer is political. They don't want to cross some special interest group--whether it is those who don't like trade agreements or those who don't like the way private companies such as Boeing run their businesses or those who don't want to give up a single solitary penny of Federal spending.

But the good of the country is more important than the goals of some political interest group. We have to rein in our debt, cut spending, reduce taxes, reform entitlements, and grow this economy. This administration knows this as well as I do. It is time to act.

So, looking ahead, the key to success, in my view--and in the judgment of others, including Moody's--is for everyone involved to view the upcoming debt limit vote as an opportunity--an opportunity--to reduce Washington spending now and to save the taxpayers trillions of dollars over the long term. It is an opportunity to put our fiscal house in order and to prevent the fiscal crisis we all know is coming. We know what we need to do. The time to do it is now.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

Mr. President, as cosponsor of the Freedom Act, I would like to add my voice to those who have spoken in its support.

But first I would like to thank Senator Snowe for her dedication and hard work in support of the many small business owners across her state and across the country who would benefit from this legislation.

As we all know, America's job creators are suffocating under regulations and redtape.

The administration doesn't seem to realize that all its interference has a human cost.

Businesses want to create jobs and help communities recover, but they can't.

Whether it is new financial requirements, health care mandates, energy mandates, onerous new fees, burdensome tax filing requirements, or threats of higher taxes, businesses today are faced with so many new rules and requirements from Washington that they can hardly see straight.

The Freedom Act says enough is enough.

This regulatory reform amendment would help give small businesses much-needed relief from the Federal government and its one-size-fits- all approach.

Specifically, it would modernize the Regulatory Flexibility Act to require that from now on, Federal agencies conduct a comprehensive and careful analysis of the potential impacts--both direct and indirect--of regulations on small businesses. It would make sure that the voices of small business owners are heard in government agencies that frankly don't seem to be listening to them.

This amendment has broad support from the small business community.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the National Federation of Independent Businesses have issued strong letters of support.

At a time when nearly 14 million Americans are looking for work, this is exactly the kind of legislation that would help America's job creators.

When I ask business owners what they want us to do to help them create jobs, they usually have a simple five-word response: get out of the way. That is what we are doing with this legislation.

And the only people who could possibly oppose it are those who think the needs of bureaucrats in Washington are more important than the needs of job creators everywhere else.

I thank Senator Snowe and Senator Coburn for their strong advocacy on behalf of small businesses.

I intend to vote for this important amendment. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

Amendment No. 390

I am going to proceed on my leader time.

Madam President, yesterday and the day before, I came to the floor and noted the many troubling signs of a persistently weak economy and how I believe the actions of Democrats here in Washington are seriously undermining the recovery Americans desperately want. I proposed some things that could be done about it right now.

The President says he wakes up every morning asking himself what he can do to create jobs and help businesses succeed. Let me offer a few suggestions. It is not that difficult, really. I am sure the job creators and the workers the President meets with are telling him the same thing they tell all of us every day. Most people think Washington is too intrusive, that it imposes too many job-stifling regulations and sends too many mixed signals today for anybody to plan for tomorrow. We know that many who would hire right now are actually holding back because they do not know what else to expect in terms of regulations, in terms of taxes, in terms of mandates, and in terms of fees. In fact, we just learned that a significant percentage of businesses plan to drop their employee health coverage--something the administration assured us repeatedly people did not have to fear. Unexpected jolts such as these are causing confusion and anxiety, and they are freezing job creators and entrepreneurs in place.

Beyond that, many Americans are also seriously concerned about a government in Washington that spends trillions more than it takes in and a national debt that this year will exceed our entire national economy. Many people are also understandably outraged by the fact that the party that occupies the White House and runs the Senate has not even taken the time to put together a budget or any other kind of plan to get our Nation's fiscal house in order. After all, if the government does not plan ahead, how can job creators? If the White House does not have a plan to pay down the debt or preserve entitlements, why should people have any confidence that something will be done?

None of this is news to the President or to the Democrats in Congress. The fact is, the President and Democrats in Congress know as well as I do what employers and workers need to prosper and to create prosperity and jobs. They just don't seem to want to do it, and that is the problem. To be blunt, people wonder whether the President is really focused on jobs when so many of his policies seem to be aimed at destroying them and where there is so much he can do right now to create tens of thousands of good American jobs.

Yesterday, I spoke about trade and how, even though the President admits that pending trade agreements with South Korea, Panama, and Colombia have the potential to create tens of thousands of new jobs and boost American businesses, he refuses to move on them in an apparent favor to his union allies.

This morning, I would like to focus on the two sides of the President's energy policy in which he publicly claims to support greater domestic production and the jobs that come with it even as he seems to do everything he can behind the scenes to block production and to kill energy-related jobs right here at home.

The President says he is a proponent of domestic energy production, but, let's be honest, he has not shown it. This should not surprise anyone. This is an administration, after all, that appointed an Energy Secretary who, a month after the President's election, said, ``Somehow we need to figure out how to boost the price of gasoline to the levels in Europe.'' Since then, the administration's policies have helped us get there. Not only have gas prices skyrocketed, but the administration's policies are also hindering the creation of thousands of good private sector jobs that so many Americans desperately need. Let's look at just a couple.

Everyone knows that in the aftermath of the oilspill in the gulf last year, the President imposed a 6-month moratorium on new deepwater drilling. We can dispute the wisdom of a temporary ban for purposes of a safety and

environmental review. What we cannot dispute is that the impact on jobs and the Nation's economy has been quite severe, nor can we deny that the White House has effectively continued the ban even after its time was up and the review was complete. It was only after the courts got involved and months of political pressure from both Democrats and Republicans that the administration reluctantly began issuing new permits months after the ban was supposedly lifted. And even as gas prices hover around $4 a gallon, permitting is still well below prespill levels and energy production in the gulf is expected to slow.

Senator Vitter tells us that the administration's anemic permitting in the gulf for domestic energy production threatens nearly 100,000 jobs every year in addition to the many thousands of jobs that could be lost every year in industries that are related to or are dependent on energy. Senator Vitter has also told us about one estimate suggesting that 23 wells per month are needed just to maintain current production levels in the shallow waters of the gulf and that even after the moratorium was supposedly lifted, the administration has averaged fewer than 2 per month.

As for deepwater drilling, the administration has issued a grand total of two new deepwater permits--just two. The other 13 have been for work that was already permitted prior to the moratorium.

The administration's lack of support for energy production in deep water has led to five rigs simply pulling up stakes over the past year and moving their tax dollars and their workers elsewhere in the world. This is just one of the ways the administration is holding back job creation in the energy industry. This is to say nothing of the administration's actions with respect to Alaska's Outer Continental Shelf, which, according to one estimate, could create an average of 54,700 new jobs annually for decades, adding billions in pay and tax revenue.

Let's not forget that the administration's impact would be even worse if it had its way and raised taxes on energy producers, which would have only served to strengthen foreign competitors, raise gas prices even more, put energy independence further out of reach, and kill more American jobs. By one estimate, the energy tax Democrats still want to impose on energy producers could cost 154,000 jobs and $68 billion in lost wages.

For 2\1/2\ years, Democrats in Washington have paid lipservice to the idea of job creation even as they have pursued an agenda that is radically opposed to it. We can see this when it comes to trade, as I indicated yesterday, and we can see it when it comes to energy, as I have discussed this morning. Unless Democrats change their priorities and their policies, the threats of a downgrade will not go away. The debt will not get any smaller and businesses will not create the kinds of jobs Americans need. The President can talk all he wants about the economy, but it is time he starts looking at the impact of his own policies on the economy.

We need to change course, and a good place to start is with trade and with energy. American businesses want to expand and want to hire. Here are two areas where we can help them do it right now.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, on behalf of Senators Snowe and Coburn, I ask unanimous consent to temporarily set aside the pending amendment so I may call up my amendment No. 390, which is at the desk.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to recognize a distinguished Kentuckian who has worked tirelessly on behalf of our Nation's soldiers, sailors and marines for more than 40 years. Louis E. Givan, a lifelong resident of my hometown of Louisville, has played a vital role in protecting the men and women of our Armed Forces and our country's defense.

Formerly a sailor himself in the U.S. Navy, he has served for the last 11 years as the general manager of Raytheon Missile Systems operations in Louisville. I was saddened to hear of his retirement from that position this coming July 5. He will certainly be missed.

Mr. Givan--or, to those who know him, Ed--was a 1966 graduate of St. Xavier High School in Louisville and in 1970 earned his bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the J.B. Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville. In 1968, he began working at the Naval Ordnance Station in Louisville, and he stayed at that post until 1996, in various engineering and supervisory positions.

In 1996 the Naval Ordnance Station transitioned to private ownership, and Ed's leadership was crucial in making that transition a successful one. The facility eventually became part of Raytheon Missile Systems, and Ed was appointed general manager in 2000. As general manager, Ed has led Raytheon Missile Systems in Louisville to great success, success for both the company and for the local community. They design, develop, and produce vital weapons systems for our armed forces, enabling America to have the most formidable military force in the world. Weapons produced at the Louisville facility are used by our forces in all parts of the globe, including in Iraq.

Kentucky is lucky to have benefitted from Ed's dedication, commitment to excellence, and leadership for so many years. I am sure his wife Velma; his sons Eddie, Tony, and Chris; and his grandchildren Benjamin, Nathan, Isaac, Macy and Natalie are all very proud of what Ed has accomplished. I wish him the very best in retirement, and I am sure my colleagues join me in saying that this U.S. Senate thanks Mr. Louis E. ``Ed'' Givan for his faithful service.

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

Madam President, yesterday, I came to the floor to call on Democrats in Washington to wake up, to open their eyes to the signs we see all around us that the policies of the past 2 years are making our economy worse.

Home values are still falling. Manufacturers are showing the weakest growth in nearly 2 years. Nearly 14 million Americans are looking for jobs and can't find them. For many, there is a nagging feeling that things will actually get worse before they get better. And who can blame them?

Over the past 2 months, two ratings agencies have come out with dire warnings over the status of America's stellar credit ratings out of fear that we don't get our fiscal house in order.

One has already put our rating under review and the other has threatened to do so if we don't do something in a matter of weeks-- weeks. Yet Democrats here in Washington are doing nothing.

The President is patting himself on the back for an auto bailout that is expected to cost the taxpayers billions. And Democrats in Congress would rather talk about an election that is a year and a half away.

For 2\1/2\ years, Democrats in Washington have paid lip service to the idea of job creation--even as they have relentlessly pursued an agenda that is radically opposed to it. And the results speak for themselves: an annual deficit three times bigger than the biggest deficit we ever ran during the last administration, a national debt that we now know will this year be greater than our Nation's entire economy, and chronic unemployment.

But here is the other problem: Democrats don't want to admit that the government-driven policies of the past 2\1/2\ years are part of the problem. And until they do, nothing will change. Unless Democrats change their priorities and their policies, the threats of a downgrade will not go away. The debt will not get any smaller. Businesses will not create the kinds of jobs we need to build prosperity.

We need to change course. And a good place to start is with trade.

The President himself has explicitly acknowledged in front of the cameras that free trade agreements will create tens of thousands of jobs for American families who need them. Yet now, the President's advisers say that the White House plans to hold off on this bipartisan job-creating initiative unless it can spend more money on a government benefits program first.

At a time when 14 million Americans are looking for work, they actually want to hold off on these known job-creating agreements in exchange for a green light to spend more money.

It is astonishing. I mean, how do you explain to an American manufacturer or farmer that they have to lose business to France because some Members of Congress want a better benefits package for their allies in organized labor?

You cannot. The White House is free to advocate on behalf of unions. That is its prerogative. But this time it has gone too far. When the White House is

actively depriving others of jobs because some union boss isn't getting his way, it has lost touch.

So this morning I am calling on the administration once again to send us the three pending trade agreements that the President himself has said would create tens of thousands of American jobs--and to leave trade adjustment assistance out of it.

There are 47 duplicative Federal retraining programs out there for unemployed workers. No one is denying or minimizing the hardships they face. But we will not allow the White House to deny one group of people the chance to get a job in order to have a bargaining chip in negotiating benefits for others.

It is not fair, and it is not right. We need to separate these issues, deal with them independently, and move ahead with these trade deals. And we should also be doing even more to create jobs by moving forward with something that has been a cornerstone of good trade policy in this country since 1974. I am talking about trade promotion authority.

If the President is really serious about doubling U.S. exports and creating the jobs that would go along with it, he should call on Congress to approve trade promotion authority and Congress should do it.

I would also suggest that any discussion of trade adjustment assistance be done only as part of the debate over extending trade promotion authority, the way it's been done for decades.

Trade promotion authority would give the President the ability to negotiate job-creating trade deals--and allow them an expedited procedure to get an up-or-down vote in Congress so that opponents couldn't block the deals or amend them on behalf of parochial interests or as a shortsighted favor to their union allies.

Without the protections afforded by trade promotion authority, Congress may never consider another trade deal again, and there will be no more trade agenda.

American businesses want to expand and hire. Here is one way to help them do it that's right in front of us. There is no excuse for inaction.

Madam 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, as Senators return to Washington this week, we do so amidst a crush of troubling news about the economy. In the past week alone, we have learned that home values across the country are still falling at a time when about one out of five homeowners already owes more on their home than that home is worth. Auto sales are down. Manufacturers are showing the weakest growth in nearly 2 years. And there is deep pessimism about the prospects of a recovery anytime soon. So while some in Washington have sought to kind of paper over the economic problems or offer weak assurances that a recovery is right around the corner, millions of Americans continue to suffer with no end in sight, and very few people are confident things will turn around anytime soon. It is no secret why.

For 2\1/2\ years, Democrats in Washington have paid lipservice to the idea of job creation while pursuing an agenda that is radically opposed to it, and the results speak for themselves. They told us that if we borrowed $1 trillion and spent it, unemployment would rise above 8 percent. Mr. President, 2\1/2\ years later, unemployment is hovering above 9 percent--higher than when the stimulus was signed. They told us that if we spent trillions on a new health care entitlement, we would see health care costs go down. A year later, health care costs are expected to go up. They told us that if we spent money on things we didn't have, such as cash for clunkers, turtle tunnels, solar panels, and windmills--in other words, on more government--the recovery would take care of itself. And where has it gotten us? Well, last week a second rating agency threatened that if we do not get our fiscal house in order in a matter of weeks, America's stellar rating runs a serious risk of being downgraded. This is uncharted territory.

The warning signs are clear and urgent. Something must be done. The first step is to recognize how we got here. That is the easy part. The government-driven policies of the last 2\1/2\ years have clearly been a failure. The next step is getting Democrats in Washington to admit it, and that is the hard part. If the last few weeks have shown us anything, it is that Democrats in Washington are in a deep state of denial. We have seen their approach to all the warnings.

As signs of an economic catastrophe have gathered, Republicans have offered concrete proposals for creating jobs and growing the economy. We have offered multiple concrete budget proposals. We have offered specific plans for reining in the crushing cost of entitlements and for preserving them. Democrats have offered a 30-second campaign ad of someone pushing a grandmother off a cliff. As ratings agencies have sent up smoke signals about the catastrophic consequences of a potential default, Republicans have proposed plans that will rein in our deficit and debt and send a clear signal to taxpayers and the world that lawmakers in Washington have the will to live within our means. Democrats rushed to the White House and demanded that the President raise taxes. These past weeks should have been a wake-up call for Democrats. They sent it through to voicemail. More concerned about an election that is nearly 2\1/2\ years away, Democrats have ignored every single warning.

Americans look at all this, and they ask themselves a simple question: When will these guys get serious? Every light on the control panel is flashing red. Yet, amidst all the bad news this past Friday, the President heads out to Toledo to pat himself on

the back for an auto bailout that is expected to cost taxpayers tens of billions of dollars. Nearly 14 million Americans are looking for jobs and can not find them. Yet the President, who acknowledges that free- trade agreements will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, is now suddenly holding them hostage in exchange for even more government spending. American businesses want to expand and hire. Yet the White House has weighed them down with mountains of new regulations and costs, health care mandates, taxes, and conflicting signals about the future. American energy producers want to tap into our own resources. Yet the administration is blocking them at every turn. One of our Nation's biggest and proudest manufacturers wants to build a new factory that would employ thousands and solidify its reputation as an industry leader in the world. Yet the administration is standing in the way in order to help their union allies. Since when do businesses have to ask the President's permission to create jobs?

Most people know that when it comes to politicians, you should pay more attention to what they do than what they say. Never was this truer when it comes to Democrats in Washington today.

Just consider this. Three years ago, my good friend the majority leader issued a press release blasting the Bush administration on its approach to unemployment and debt. He called these figures a casualty of the administration's failed economic policies and a shameful legacy of the policies of the previous 8 years. At the time my friend the majority leader made that statement, unemployment was 5 percent and the national debt stood at $9.2 trillion. Today, with unemployment above 9 percent and the debt at more than $14 trillion, Democrats are silent. They have no plan, no proposals, no sense of urgency. They run the White House and they run the Senate, and yet their entire approach is to sit back and wait--no budget, no plans, just wait for the next election; let Republicans offer solutions, and then we will attack them and pretend we care about jobs.

That is the game plan. Here is the problem. Unless one is a political consultant or just standing around waiting for a bailout, their plan won't do anything to create a single new job--not one--and it won't do anything to address the crisis we know is coming.

There is no excuse for inaction. That is why Republicans refuse to sit back and wait. Until these crises are met, until we see more jobs being created, until the American people begin to regain their confidence in this economy, then we will have to be out there proposing solutions, coming up with answers, and making our case. And we will keep at it until our Democratic friends finally start to focus on the battle for America's future instead of the battle over next year's election.

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

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to the astounding achievements of a dedicated Kentuckian. Worthy of recognition for her contributions to the advancement of rural health care, Dr. Susan Stone has devoted much of her life to the practice of nursing and bettering the lives of women, children, and families around the country.

Dr. Stone received her first degree in nursing in 1974 and her bachelor's of science from the State University of New York. She obtained her doctor of nursing from the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, as well as her postmasters in nurse midwifery at the very school she is currently president and dean of, the Frontier School of Midwifery and Family Nursing in Hyden, KY.

Educated in many facets of medicine, Dr. Stone has worked as a nurse and a childbirth educator as well as a certified nurse midwife. Then in 2001 she found a way to make an even greater contribution to Kentuckians' health, as she was named president and dean of the Frontier School. Following in the footsteps of the Frontier School's founder, Mary Breckinridge, Dr. Susan Stone continues to seek to improve health care in Kentucky's rural and underserved areas. Expanding the school over the past 5 years to over 1,000 students from across the world, Dr. Stone has made a major impact on its growth. Expected to become the No. 1 education provider of advanced practice nurses in the future, the Frontier School now provides master's as well as doctoral degrees.

About 75 percent of students enrolled in the Frontier School are from rural counties, furthering Dr. Stone's vision of improving health education and the availability of health assistance around the State. And since her involvement with the school, it has recently received three prestigious rankings in U.S. News and World Report.

For her incredible hard work and devotion to medicine, Dr. Susan Stone was named the National Rural Health Association's Distinguished Educator of the Year 2011. Kentucky is fortunate to have driven, focused women like Dr. Susan Stone, as she continues to educate and aid more students who will take their practice of medicine around the world.

Mr. President, the Leslie County News recently published an article highlighting the life and achievements of Dr. Susan Stone. I ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I rise today to pay tribute to a distinguished Kentuckian, a self-described ``jack of all trades'' who has come through for his family, friends and neighbors time and again. Whether it is as a teacher, a law-enforcement officer, a fireman, a father, a grandfather or a great-grandfather, people know they can always rely on Mr. Ernest Ray Rudder.

Mr. Rudder--or, to those who know him, E.R.--has worn many hats throughout his life. Born in Laurel County, KY, in 1947, E.R. attended Bush School and Berea College, then transferred to Cumberland College where he earned his bachelor of science degree in biology and chemistry. During his college years he also married his childhood sweetheart Judy Hacker, and they have been married now for 44 years.

E.R. began work as a teacher, teaching all subjects, including chemistry and biology, in Clay, Jackson and Laurel Counties. He also worked for many years as a school assistant principal and principal. In 2000, E.R. retired from

teaching after more than three decades of service.

But an easy retirement spent in a rocking chair was not for E.R. He was one of the charter members of the Bush Volunteer Fire Department, organized in 1975. While still serving as a school principal, he had worked occasionally as a sworn-in deputy for the Laurel County Sheriff's Office, transporting inmates. Now in retirement, he renewed his commitment to law enforcement. Recently promoted to administrative sergeant, he has worked for the Laurel County Sheriff's Office for the last 2\1/2\ years under two sheriffs.

``No matter how small the complaint, it is a legitimate concern for them,'' E.R. says of the people he works to serve and protect. And luckily for E.R., he has not gotten into any, as he likes to call them, ``bugtussles'' of the dangerous variety.

E.R. has also worked as a school bus driver, an assistant manager at a restaurant and as a chemist for the London Utility Commission. He is a member of Providence Baptist Church and a deacon there since 1985. When his wife Judy is asked what E.R. does in his spare time, she answers, ``He has no spare time.''

Kentucky is lucky to have men like Ernest Ray Rudder, who works hard to protect and provide for his family and his community. I am sure his wife Judy, his children, his grandchildren and his great-grandson are very proud.

Mr. President, the Sentinel Echo recently published an article illuminating Mr. Ernest Ray Rudder's life and his career. I ask unanimous consent that the full article be printed in the Record.