Floor Statements

I certainly want to offer my congratulations to the city of Chicago. Being from Massachusetts, having the World Champion Red Sox, Celtics, New England Patriots, Bruins, New England Revolution, I can certainly appreciate the victory that was brought to the city of Chicago. Certainly when the President has them to the White House, I am hoping he will offer the same courtesy to the NCAA Champion Boston College mens' hockey team as well.

Mr. President, I would like to recognize Dr. Joseph W. Bascuas for serving as interim president of Becker College and for his dedication to high academic standards and expectations.

The Becker College board of trustees named Dr. Bascuas as interim president on September 26, 2008. Dr. Bascuas gave his leadership and support to the Becker College community in various ways during his tenure and succeeded in bringing a united vision to the college during a challenging time. Throughout his tenure as Becker College's interim president, Dr. Bascuas advocated strong steps to bolster transparency and the fiscal responsibility of the college, such as maintaining a budget surplus at a time of economic uncertainty. As president, Dr. Bascuas championed cost containment for working families by urging the trustees to freeze tuition and room and board for 2009-2010. He promoted high academic standards and expectations, thus increasing pride in the institution.

I have been proud to hear of the record of Becker College under his leadership. Becker College serves more than 1,700 students from 18 States and 12 countries and offers over 25 diverse,

top-quality bachelor degree programs in unique, high-demand career niches. Dr. Bascuas brought more than 25 years of experience in higher education to Becker College. In addition to his teaching and leading experiences, he has written and coauthored numerous papers on psychological topics and has presented at symposia and conferences. Dr. Bascuas utilized his great volume of experience and passion for quality higher education in his role as Becker College interim president.

I stand here today to congratulate Dr. Joseph W. Bascuas on the completion of his honorable work as Becker College's interim president. I ask my colleagues to join me in wishing Dr. Joseph W. Bascuas continued success.

Mr. President, I thank Senator Reed from Rhode Island for his idea and his thoughtfulness in trying to protect our troops.

I want to discuss this amendment, as well. Senator Reed has a distinguished career in both the Army and as a Senator. He has always done his duty looking after the men and women not only of his State but also those in uniform. I thank him for the opportunity to work on this particular amendment with him.

As a 30-year member of the Army National Guard, I share Senator Reed's interest and commitment to our Nation's soldiers and their loved ones. As we all know, they make extreme sacrifices to keep us safe and keep our Nation safe.

This amendment would dedicate resources within the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to serve as a watchdog for military personnel and their families.

As you know, our military culture of honor, courage, and commitment demands prompt repayment of debts. As a result, payday lenders often congregate outside military facilities. Unfortunately, the financial terms offered by these lenders are not always clear, not always offered up in free form, and typically lead to very expensive and bad loans. Other financial predators have sold military personnel bogus life insurance policies.

These practices take advantage of our soldiers. Our young enlisted soldiers are particularly vulnerable. They don't have the necessary tools, resources, guidance, and financial assistance to make their decisions. They often spend time deployed far from their support networks at home, have steady paychecks, and promised pension benefits. As a result, those financial predators see them as a way to make money.

As they risk their lives defending our Nation in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan, at home they also wear a big target on their back. If a soldier gets into financial trouble with an unscrupulous lender, how is that soldier going to dispute those charges while

they are deployed or getting ready to be deployed? Debts can pile up quickly. This dedicated office would be able to help sort out the truth and get them back to financial stability.

This issue, as you know--and I am about to conclude--has received a lot of attention. Today, there was an article in the Washington Post talking about how extra consumer protections are needed for our fighting men and women, citing the specific example of car dealerships employing high-pressure tactics to trap military families into expensive loans.

I urge colleagues to support this amendment, to put a cop on the beat to make sure our men and women in uniform have a chance to fight back against financial predators.

I yield the floor.

Thank you, Madam President. Thank you to my colleague from Montana. I have enjoyed working with him very much over the last couple days and the Senator from Texas as well. I know we have been working very hard on this amendment. I wished to commend the Senator who just finished speaking as well--I have privately and publicly--for taking this effort and trying to work through it in a bipartisan manner because, as I have said many times, this is an issue that affects the American people in very serious ways. I don't want to rush in. I want to do it right so we don't have to come back next year or next month and try to fix problems we may have inadvertently created. So I appreciate the Senator from Connecticut allowing me to come and speak to him privately in his office and his staff and work through this and I am hoping we can continue with that bipartisan effort.

As a reflection of that, I have signed on to many amendments, some by my Democratic colleagues and some by my Republican colleagues, and I am thankful the majority leader has said publicly that we are going to get a full and fair discourse on these issues. The one I am referring to today is the Tester-Hutchison amendment, of which I am also a cosponsor, amendment No. 3749.

For more than 75 years, the presence of FDIC deposit insurance has meant that Americans who deposit savings in insured banks sleep soundly at night. That is kind of the basic small community bank. You know when you are giving your money to a bank it is not going to be treated as a casino; it is going to be protected. But as our banking sector has consolidated and large national banks have emerged, our smaller community banks have been getting squeezed. These small banks pay approximately 30 percent of the total of the FDIC assessments but hold only 20 percent of the Nation's banking assets.

I feel it is time for the larger institutions to pay their fair share. This amendment will improve competition in the marketplace and help small businesses. Everyone knows small businesses across the country are having a hard time getting loans. Lowering the assessments on these community banks, I believe and others who are sponsoring this amendment believe, will help increase loans to small businesses. On a relative basis, our small community banks are far more active in the market compared to larger banks. As someone who was, in a prior life before I got here, involved in representing some of those banks, I can tell my colleagues they are the ones that are continuing to keep the economic engine going in these small towns.

I am pleased the amendment we will vote on today also makes sure the institutional custodial banks and bankers' banks are protected from unfair assessment levels that are not in line with the true role in the financial system. This matters a great deal to my State of Massachusetts--the global hub of institutional asset management--and will allow us to restore fairness to the FDIC assessment system without imposing large, unjustified assessment increases on custodial banks.

So I urge my colleagues to support the amendment. Thank you, Madam President, and the Senators from Montana and Texas.

Mr. President, I rise today to say a few words about a hero: Massachusetts Army National Guard SGT Robert J. Barrett who was killed in Afghanistan on April 19. I had the sad honor of attending his funeral this past weekend.

So everyone knows, Robert was on foot patrol south of Kabul when an IED exploded, killing him and injuring eight of his fellow soldiers of 1st Battalion, 101st Field Artillery Regiment. He was 21 years old.

Robert was from Fall River, a city of 90,000 in the southeastern part of Massachusetts. He was a long-time member of the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Regiment. He geared his life toward helping others, especially veterans.

He was selected for the regiment's honor guard in early 2008 and took part in more than 350 events honoring our fallen soldiers, including marching in the President's inaugural parade a little more than a year ago.

His primary mission in Afghanistan was of the utmost importance. He was training Afghan soldiers so they would be able to stand up and provide security for their own country. Rather than spend his free time relaxing, he gave of his time and knowledge by volunteering at local orphanages and

schools. Robert was a shining example of ``selfless service,'' one of the seven Army values.

Before his deployment, Robert wrote several lines that summarized his thoughts about his service and our mission overseas. I wish to take one final moment to read one of his thoughts:

I volunteered to put my life on the line for freedom and

country. For my fellow soldiers, for my little girl, for my

weeping mother and father. I am going to a land where

American freedom is just a dream, a hope, a slow reality. I

am an American Soldier.

That was by Robert J. Barrett before he mobilized.

Mr. President, I yield the floor.

I thank the Senator from Maryland.

First of all, I wish to begin by thanking our leader on the trip, the Senator from Delaware, Mr. Carper. It was a joy to be on a trip with people who had different experiences, different military experiences, and take that experience and work it together in such a short period of time to form such a powerful team. If this is how every CODEL is going to be, I am excited to be a part of that experience.

This trip enabled me--now that the campaign is over--to learn and make sure that everything we were talking about then was accurate. If that is so, how do we take that and use it in a productive way to give the troops the tools they need to be, No. 1, safe; and No. 2, to finish the job. My analysis is, General McChrystal's effort to do just that-- the new combined effort working with the Afghan police and national army, as well as local tribal leaders and our coalition forces in the military--has enabled us, I think, in all sincerity, to have the best chance to do just that; to keep our troops safe and ultimately to finish the job.

What is finishing the job? Finishing the job, to me, and to General

McChrystal and others, is to provide that safety, that security net around the citizenry in Afghanistan, to protect them and to allow them to flourish and start to grow and weed out the corruption and not rely so much on the poppy fields and ensure that they can bring their produce to market or keep their government safe and secure so they can start to be more self-sufficient. Working with our coalition partners, President Karzai, and others, I think gives us the best chance of success.

I wish to thank the team members for their patience. It was a long haul, long flights--12- to 15-hour flights. We weren't partying there, I can assure you. We were there, up at the crack of dawn and going to bed late at night, working with the Ambassadors, the Presidents, the Foreign Ministers of every country we visited. It made me feel, first of all, proud to be an American and thankful that I am an American. In recognizing the true challenges other parts of the world face--and I know the leader of our team will talk briefly about the refugee camp we saw in Pakistan with 150,000 people and kids from 3 years old up to 18 years old in school, with the smiles on their faces, and seeing the hope and the excitement that they were learning for the first time in their lives--it made all of us look at each other and say: Geez, can we come back in August and help out? Because it was so intellectually rewarding, and it made me, and I know other Members, so excited to be there and to see the hope.

What does education do in countries such as Afghanistan and Pakistan? It gives them the tools to make sure they know how to deal with the Taliban and other entities coming in to try to influence their lives. It gives them the knowledge to be able to say no. It is almost like the DARE program, the drug program we have in Massachusetts, where it is the resistance education program where they give you the tools to not succumb to peer pressure and take drugs and make bad choices. When I left that refugee camp, I felt there was hope there.

I will defer to our leader to continue with this conversation.

Mr. President, in conclusion, I concur with all the comments made by the Senators before me. One of the things I found most interesting--and I have a hearing in about an hour on the Afghan police and the contracting associated with our supporting the police force in Afghanistan--is that I was able to ask very direct questions to our Ambassadors and to the military and civilian leaders who helped me better understand where the $6 billion we have spent to uplift the Afghan police force has gone.

Another reason I went there was self-serving in that it gave me the tools to make sure I can better inquire to find out on behalf of the American people where their money is going, how it is

being spent, and whether we can find a way to spend it better.

In addition to that, one of the things that was glaring to me is that even in Pakistan there is an illiteracy problem that needs to be addressed. I think that illiteracy problem, if not addressed, will be fertile ground for the Taliban to come in and try to influence the youth of that country. They have a lot of hope, yet they have some very serious problems.

Once again, I thank our leader. I have great respect for him, someone I didn't know before we went. I encourage others to do that and have that bipartisan feel, as I tried to do often. We saw Senator Baucus over there with his team kind of shadowing us, making sure we were actually working. It was a lot of fun to see them over there as well, even with their travel problems. But I am looking forward to doing it again.

I thank the Presiding Officer for allowing me to speak.

Mr. President, I thank Senator Roberts for bringing this very important issue to the forefront. Many of you know I live in Massachusetts. We have over 225 medical device companies there. Before I got here, I visited many of them and the message was very clear, that if in fact that 3-percent medical device tax goes into effect, it is virtually all of their profit for many of these young companies and established companies.

Placing a tax on medical devices, in my opinion and their opinion, will dramatically affect jobs, not only in Massachusetts but throughout the country.

Unemployment in my State is hovering near 10 percent and we should be doing everything we can at this point to create jobs and stimulate the economy. I am hopeful that in the effort I made in the beginning for a bipartisan effort to start jobs with the first jobs bill that we can look at the areas we are trying to focus on to make this bill better. I am hopeful once again, through the Senator's leadership and that of Senator Roberts and others who sponsored it, we will look twice at what we are trying to do here in order to pay for the so-called health care bill.

As we are in the middle of a 2-year recession, taxing companies, especially vibrant companies throughout my State and throughout the country, I am fearful they will leave and go to other countries to do their business.

I yield the remainder of my time.

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

Mr. President, we have a vote coming on cloture on a matter that has been moving through the Senate, the tax extenders bill. I wish to make clear that I will be voting for cloture. That does not mean I will support the actual legislation when it comes to a vote. That being said, I have serious concerns about the overall cost of the bill, but my vote for cloture signals my belief that we need to keep the process moving and allow the measure to be considered by the full Senate. I promised my constituents I would try to change the tone of politics as usual in Washington. There has been a week of debate. Allowing this bill to receive an up-or-down vote would be a step in the right direction.

However, I am opposed to the bill at this point because it adds more than $100 billion to our national debt and provides no way to actually pay for it. Our national debt is at a record high, and we cannot continue to burden future generations with a mountain of debt and bills they cannot pay.

I believe in process. I believe we should have an opportunity, after full and fair debate, to move bills forward so the House and others can get a crack at it and hopefully send back a product with which we can all live.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Madam President, I was hoping I could address an amendment I have on the Senate floor today.

Madam President, I come to the floor of the Senate today to give my first speech as one of the Senators from Massachusetts.

First, let me say I am deeply honored to have been elected and to serve in this great and historic Chamber. In addition, I am pleased to have the opportunity to address my colleagues and the American people and other folks here watching us for the first time about legislation that I am offering. It is called the immediate tax relief for America's workers amendment.

Families in Massachusetts and across this great Nation are suffering through these tough economic times. One year after Congress passed the stimulus package, Americans are still struggling to pay their bills, to save money for college, and to buy groceries to put on their kitchen tables. But in Washington, the Federal Government is driving up our debt and creating government waste on projects that, in my opinion, do not create enough private sector jobs or provide immediate relief for the American workers.

The hundreds of billions of dollars that we have spent and continue to spend on the stimulus package have not created one new net job. Most

Americans believe Washington is not using the money effectively enough, especially while many Americans are suffering and needing immediate and real relief.

In fact, the Federal Government right now is sitting on approximately $80 billion of so-called stimulus funds that are either unused or unobligated to specific projects as of this date. That $80 billion in taxpayer money is stuck in what I consider a virtual Washington slush fund potentially used for special interest projects or so-called pork projects to which many of us personally object.

I believe and others believe it is time to put this money back to work immediately and put it into the pockets of hard-working Americans and American families so they can get what they need, so they can provide for their families, they can save for their future, and put real money back into the struggling economy.

Providing an immediate across-the-board tax relief for working families is not complicated economic policy. I think it is simple and common economic sense. Leaders on both sides of the aisle, from Presidents John F. Kennedy to Ronald Reagan, have often called for across-the-board tax cuts to put money immediately into people's pockets to help stimulate the economy. I also believe this is a perfect opportunity to do the very same thing. I believe individual citizens know better. People up here watching, they know better how to spend their own money than we do.

The immediate tax relief for America's workers amendment I am proposing would cut payroll taxes and have across-the-board tax relief for almost 130 million American workers. That number again, 130 million people in the American workforce, including more than 3 million people in Massachusetts, would have immediate relief.

Madam President, 130 million workers will receive that immediate and direct tax relief. By turning the estimated $80 billion in unobligated stimulus moneys, accounts, over to the American people, our workers would see their payroll taxes reduced by almost $100 per month, up to $500 per person, $1,000 per couple within a 6-month period. It could be implemented within 60 days.

Some people in Washington may not think $100 or $500 or $1,000 is a lot of money, but I can tell you; I know the value of a dollar. The people in my State know that is real money, that is money that can be put into their pockets immediately and spent to pay for oil, food, medical bills, everyday basic needs. The American people need this relief and they deserve it. Families would immediately get the help they need to pay their bills, and we would put real money back into the economy, helping start a true recovery.

Unlike tax cuts of years past, this one is paid for entirely. It will not increase the deficit and could be implemented, as I said, within 60 days. It would be paid for by using the roughly $80 billion in unused and unobligated stimulus funds that are currently sitting in a slush fund in Washington, DC. In my opinion, it does nothing--nothing--right now to stimulate the economy that is struggling, as we know it.

Not to do this, I believe, would be a mistake and a disservice to the people who pay the bills, and those are the American taxpayers.

Let me be clear: My amendment would not add one penny to our Federal deficit. Also, let me remind my colleagues in this Chamber that bipartisanship is a two-way street. It is not just a one-way street. The Senator has commented to me, as others have, that she appreciated my effort to reach across the aisle last week and help pass a jobs bill the majority leader was pushing to put people back to work not only in Massachusetts but in your State--in your State and every State in this country. I took some heat for it, but I held firm and looked at the bill with open eyes, as I told the majority leader and the minority leader and all my colleagues I would do. It wasn't perfect, but I felt it was a good first step.

So that effort of bipartisanship was evident with me last week. Many of my colleagues came up to me and said: What a nice new tone you set, Senator. We are proud you are here. We are happy to see that bipartisanship. Well, let me say that when I see a good idea, I plan on supporting it, whether it be a good Republican idea or a good Democratic idea. As long as it puts people back to work, as long as there is a way to get it paid for and it makes good sense for my State and the people of this country, I plan on voting for it, regardless of what special interest groups say, regardless of my party, and regardless of what anyone else says.

Here is our chance to show the American people the partisan bickering is now over. We can help them right now. We can actually have a bipartisan effort on this very important bill that will put money immediately into people's pockets in 60 days--up to $1,000 per couple. I know many people who could use that money right now. With so many people struggling, I personally don't feel it is time anymore for political gamesmanship. The time is now to do the people's business. I have always felt we can do better. The fact that I am here has sent a very strong message across this country. The people in my State and throughout the country who supported me in record numbers are saying: You know what, Scott, we can do better. When you get to Washington, work across party lines, get the engine going a little bit, and let's get the people's business done. So this is my first amendment--this amendment to the jobs bill--and it makes fiscal sense and it is something that has been done in the past. JFK and Ronald Reagan called for across-the-board tax cuts and it worked.

We have tried a whole host of other things--targeted tax breaks, a little here, a little there--so why don't we give it back to the American people and see what they can do with $1,000, see what they can do to stimulate the economy. Let's give them a chance. When the immediate tax relief for America's workers amendment comes to a vote, my colleagues will have a very clear choice: They can support a measure that will immediately put money back into their constituents' pockets and into the economy or they can go along with the business-as-usual approach in Washington and leave the $80 billion in unused stimulus money in that slush fund to be used years from now.

The money we are talking about is not allocated. It is hanging out there. It is unlikely we are going to put it back to reduce the deficit, so let's put it to work within 60 days so people can use it when the summertime comes, and they can go out and do whatever they want with it. We can go and create more of a bureaucracy, if we want, or more government jobs, but I have confidence in the American people that they will do what they have always done. They have always reached down and tightened their belts. They have made a difference. They are the folks who will help us get out of this struggling economy.

I am not going to point any fingers. I am not going to say it is their fault or their fault. I don't care whose fault it is. The bottom line is, I was sent for a reason--to deliver a message from the people of Massachusetts and the hundreds of thousands of people who supported me. The message is: We can do better. Let's get the economy going.

This is a simple amendment, and I am hopeful we are going to get bipartisan support. I can tell you it would be very easy to use procedural points of order to try to delay this particular amendment and allow it to get lost in the shuffle. That is very easy to do. We can do a procedural point of order to delay action on the economic emergency facing American workers. But, by golly, I am not going to do it. I am going to do everything I can do every single day to make sure I put as much money back into the American people's pockets to do what they do best--to save and to take care of their families. They can do what they have done for years; that is, to help stimulate this economy. After all, that is what the Chair was sent here to do and the rest of my colleagues were sent here to do. The people watching in the galleries and the people on TV expect us to do that, to get back to work and solve the problems.

Let's move on. This is a great opportunity to do that. I am hopeful I am going to get some support. I believe there may be others speaking, so I respectfully yield the floor.

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

Mr. President, providing immediate across-the-board tax relief to working families is not complicated economic policy. It is simple and makes economic sense. Under my plan, almost 130 million workers will receive immediate and direct tax relief. If we took the estimated $80 billion in unobligated stimulus accounts today, money that is sitting there unused, in what I consider a stimulus slush fund, and gave it back to the American people, our workers could see their payroll taxes lowered by nearly $100 per month, saving them more than $500 over a 6-month period, and working couples could receive a tax cut worth more than $1,000.

This has been done before. JFK and Ronald Reagan called for across- the-board tax cuts to stimulate the economy and we can do that now. I moved last week for a bipartisan effort to get Washington working again. I reached out across party lines and made a sincere effort to stop business as usual to get the jobs done that the American people are demanding.

I move to waive the applicable section of the Budget Act with respect to my amendment and ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to temporarily set aside the pending amendment so that I may call up my amendment which is at the desk.

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