[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 8 (Wednesday, February 6, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Page S388]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      PULLING THE STIMULUS PACKAGE

  Mr. NICKLES. Mr. President, I am disappointed today that the majority 
leader has decided to pull down the stimulus package. We are going to 
have a cloture vote on the majority leader's package. He calls it a 
stimulus package, but there is no stimulus in it. There is a lot of 
spending. He says if he does not get 60 votes, basically preventing any 
other amendments, he is going to pull down the stimulus bill. In other 
words, he wants a spending package, not a stimulus bill, and if we are 
going to put stimulus amendments in it, no bill.
  I am looking at an amendment Senator Kyl has pending to make the 
death tax repeal permanent. That would make a real positive change to a 
lot of businesses, a lot of agriculture. That is a positive amendment. 
It is added as an amendment to one Senator Baucus had dealing with 
agricultural spending.
  I looked at almost all the Democratic amendments, and they are almost 
all spending: More money for agriculture, more money for Medicaid, more 
money to increase the Federal payments share, more money for temporary 
employees to the Federal program--we have never done that in the past--
new entitlement programs; no stimulus.
  I am looking at the amendment Senator Bond offered on expensing. That 
passed overwhelmingly. That would help stimulate the economy. The 
accelerated depreciation that Senator Gordon Smith offered would help 
encourage people to make investments. The R&D tax credit Senator Allard 
was offering would help encourage people to make investments, 
particularly in research and development. Senator Domenici had a 
payroll tax holiday. We are not going to be able to vote on that. Most 
importantly, we are not going to get to vote on the substitute Senator 
Grassley, Senator Collins, Senator Breaux, and others worked on. The 
bipartisan package that I believe we have a majority vote for in the 
Senate, we are not going to even have an up-or-down vote on. We get a 
cloture vote on it. If we enact cloture on the Daschle bill, we do not 
even get a vote. That bill is nongermane. It falls.

  We did not get to have votes yesterday. This side was ready to have 
votes. I made the commitment I would help finish the bill yesterday, 
certainly by today, trying to limit amendments, trying to have votes on 
the amendments. Let us pass the bill. Let us pass the bill and see how 
the votes come out, but no, we cannot do that. We do not want to vote 
on the Kyl amendment. We do not want to have a vote on making a 
permanent death tax repeal. We do not want an up-or-down vote on the 
Grassley-Breaux-Collins amendment. We do not get to have that. So I say 
to my colleagues, if they really believe in the Senate tradition of 
allowing Senators to offer germane amendments, in this case stimulative 
amendments, to vote no on the cloture vote we will have in the next 15 
or 20 minutes. I think it is an important vote. I hate to see us give 
up and not pass a stimulus bill. We have a chance now to make a bill 
that is not stimulative into a bill that really could create jobs.
  The economy is soft. It does need a little shot in the arm. The 
underlying bill, the Daschle bill, does not do it. There are several 
proposals, several good amendments on which Senator Gramm, Senator 
Grassley, and others have worked. I mentioned about a half dozen. If we 
could pass some or all of those, I think we would make the bill 
worthwhile, make it worth passing. Not only would it do no harm, it 
would do some good. It would help create jobs.
  More importantly, for the process of the Senate, I urge my colleagues 
to vote no on the Daschle cloture petition in a few moments because 
individual Senators should be entitled to offer those amendments. They 
should have their day. They should have a chance. Then they will send a 
bill that truly is stimulative to conference and hopefully we can get a 
bill on the President's desk that would create jobs.
  Let me make it crystal clear; some people said the Republicans are 
filibustering, but there is no way. No one can say Republicans 
filibustered this bill. We have legitimate amendments that would 
stimulate the economy. I urge my colleagues to give us a chance to 
offer those amendments, to pass a good stimulus bill today, and to vote 
no on the Daschle cloture petition in a few moments.
  I yield the floor.

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