[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 25 (Friday, March 8, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1689-S1692]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
JOB CREATION AND WORKER ASSISTANCE ACT OF 2002
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the
Senate will now resume consideration of the House message on H.R. 3090.
The clerk will report the bill by title.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 3090) to provide tax incentives for economic
recovery.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
Mr. DASCHLE. Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment
and ask unanimous consent that the time until 9:30 this morning be for
debate with respect to the motion to concur, with the time equally
divided and controlled between the two leaders; that the Democratic
time be equally divided between the distinguished Senator from West
Virginia, Mr. Rockefeller, and the Senator from North Dakota, Mr.
Conrad; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed
to a vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate
amendment to the House bill without further intervening action or
debate.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. DASCHLE. I thank my colleagues.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Who yields time?
The Senator from West Virginia.
Mr. ROCKEFELLER. Mr. President, I was on the conference committee on
the stimulus package prior to Christmas, which failed. That was
predicated on unemployment insurance, health benefits, and money to
help States with Medicaid. Two of the three are left out in this
stimulus package. I urge my colleagues to vote against this stimulus
package, which I consider to be hurtful to the States but will no doubt
get virtually everybody's vote for the wrong reasons.
I have been fighting for the stimulus package for a long time,
obviously since September 11. I cannot, in any sense of conscience,
support this bill. This has about $9 million to expand unemployment
insurance. That is good. That is fine. That is one of the three.
[[Page S1690]]
Two of the three we had to have we did not do; one, we did do. It also
has $86 billion in corporate tax breaks and eliminates the tax cuts for
those lower income Americans who missed out on last summer's rebates.
In other words, the people who did not get a rebate will continue not
to get a rebate.
It provides no help for States at this critical time and, in fact,
hurts them. On every Senator's desk Members will find the 46 of 50
States that are hurt. Members will see how much each State is hurt.
I am outraged this $100 billion-plus bill was pushed to a vote,
frankly, in the way that it was with, at best, totally inadequate
notice to Senators, with no debate and discussion about the need for
stimulus on a day after Alan Greenspan said that everything is going
just fine.
Why are we ignoring the clear consensus among economists and our
Federal Reserve chief? I cannot answer that. Maybe I can. We all say we
want to defend the Nation, and we do. We want to fund a prescription
drug benefit, and we do. We want to support better education for our
children, and we do. But now, we are in deficit. Our surplus is gone.
Critical needs remain. Are we addressing them? No. Can we afford nearly
$100 billion more in corporate tax breaks right now? No. Are we even
going to discuss it? No, we are not.
This bill causes 46 States to lose $14 billion in tax revenues at a
time when they are already facing between $40 and $50 billion of debt.
I spoke to my Governor last night. It will cost him $86 million. He
will have to cut Medicaid. He does not know where he will get the
money. It is another nail in the coffin of the State which is not famed
for being rich.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I acknowledge this stimulus package is a
dramatic improvement over what the other body sent previously. That
misses the larger point.
This morning's New York Times headline is interesting: ``The Federal
Reserve Chief Sees the Decline Over, House passes recovery bill.''
It is the irony of ironies that, once again, Congress, in trying to
provide fiscal stimulus, has acted too late. That is the history of
Congress trying to use fiscal policy for stimulus. In fact, when the
Budget Committee did an analysis, we found every single time we tried
to act, we moved too late.
In the Washington Post this morning: ``Greenspan Declares An
Expansion,'' it reports that economists are now largely agreed that in
this quarter the economy will be growing at 4 percent. Congress comes
with its recovery package too late.
I have supported a recovery package. I did when we attempted to do
one last year when it would have been timely. Unfortunately, that did
not occur. I would still support one if it were properly crafted. But I
don't believe this legislation meets the test. CBO has stated over the
next 10 years we are in deficit each and every year for the entire
decade, and by big amounts. They have just told us we can expect $2.3
trillion of non-trust-fund deficits over the next decade. Every dime
will be coming out of the Social Security trust fund. That means every
dime of this stimulus package is coming out of the Social Security
trust fund. We are headed for this future: The trust fund turns cash
negative in 2016. That changes everything.
When we examine the details of this package, its centerpiece is 3
years of bonus depreciation. I strongly supported bonus depreciation
for a 1-year period because every economist said if we stretch it out,
we are encouraging companies to wait--not to act now, but to wait. In
fact, that is exactly what one sees in the economics of this package--
$39 billion of stimulus this year, but $82 billion in the future.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.
Mr. GRASSLEY. I yield myself such time as I might consume.
Mr. President, I rise today to address the House bill that we will be
passing on economic stimulus and aid to dislocated workers.
On a preliminary note, in normal circumstances, I would note that we
should not make a practice of passing House bills as is. These are not,
however, normal times and this is not a normal process.
The House bill is really the latest bipartisan product on economic
stimulus and aid to dislocated workers. It is a thinner version of last
December's agreement between the White House and the Senate centrists.
The bottom line is this bill now enjoys Senate Democratic leadership
support because it has been thinned down.
There is some good news and some bad news. Let's turn first to the
good news. This bill is a bipartisan, bicameral product, that the
President will sign. That's the good news. Help is on the way for
unemployed workers and recovering businesses.
Mr. President, the unemployed and struggling businesses have had to
wait too long for the good news we deliver today. It has been over five
months of long meetings, committee action, floor debates. Finally, we,
the United States Senate, will do our duty and act on economic
stimulus.
Now, with the President's signature a certainty, several good things
will finally happen. First off, the unemployed will get extended
benefits. Businesses, large and small, will get a kick start with 30
percent bonus depreciation. That kick start will mean more jobs, so
those unemployed workers will be able to go back to work. Businesses
that have hit hard times will be able to carry back net operating
losses for an additional three years. New York City will receive much
needed tax relief for the purpose of rebuilding Lower Manhattan. In
addition, tax provisions that expired this year will be extended for
two years. Finally, our States will receive some relief in the form of
an extension and reauthorization of portions of the TANF program. These
measures are all good news for folks across America.
I said there is some bad news too. That news is derived from all of
the proposals dropped from the White House-centrist agreement. As I
said above, this bipartisan agreement was before us in December, but we
were blocked from considering it by the Democratic leadership. Let's
take a lock at the things that were dropped.
First off, there was a proposal to accelerate tax relief from last
year's bipartisan tax cut legislation. I'm talking about dropping the
27 percent tax rate to 25 percent.
I do not also discount the ideologically based opposition to
accelerating the reduction in the 27 percent bracket. It is amazing to
me that many on the other side see taxpayers in the 27 percent bracket
as rich folks. A 2-percent rate cut for single folks earning between
$27,051 and $65,550 is seen as a tax cut for the wealthy by the
Democratic leadership. Likewise, a married couple with incomes between
$45,201 and $109,250 is considered rich. But I recognize that this tax
cut proposal was difficult for the Democratic leadership to accept.
In this skinnier version, the other element of individual tax relief,
this one for payroll taxpayers, was dropped. I am talking about the
rebate checks for payroll taxpayers. The rebate checks are gone. Some
on my side will view this omission positively.
So, in terms of tax relief for individuals, forget about it. We were
not able to strike the balance of the White House-centrist agreement.
There is little in the nature of corporate AMT relief in the thin
package. In some ways this is a good result. As I said at the time, the
original House bill was too heavy on corporate AMT relief. On the other
hand, there were noncontroversial reforms in the corporate AMT that we
could have included.
The most disappointing omission related to health care subsidies. We
had before us revolutionary social policy in the White House-centrist
agreement. For the first time, the Congress had sign able legislation
that guaranteed health care benefits for laid off workers. The form of
the benefit, a refundable tax credit, ran into ideological opposition
by some on the other side. Because two-thirds of the Senate Democratic
Caucus did not agree with the form of the benefit, unemployed workers
will not receive the benefit. That's too bad. We had a chance to move
the ball forward on an important bipartisan objective, improving access
and affordability of health care. Instead of moving the ball, because
of ideology, we had to punt.
All of these were good provisions which enjoy broad bipartisan
support. They were the foundation of the White
[[Page S1691]]
House-centrist agreement. Yet because of an ideological fixation, all
of these good things went by the wayside. I believe today, as I did
almost 3 months ago, that, if we had been accorded a straight up or
down vote on the White House-centrist agreement, we would have
prevailed. If we had prevailed, the people would be better served.
Mr. President unfortunately, it was not to be. So, here we are with a
mixed bag. There is good news in terms of extended unemployment
benefits, bonus depreciation, and other measures. But there is bad news
in terms of missed opportunities.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Record be held open
until 5 p.m. today for a statement by Senators, and that they be
included at this point in the Record.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, I will vote for the economic stimulus
package in the interest of providing temporary assistance for
unemployed Americans and their families. We cannot ignore the plight of
millions of Americans, who were laid off and want to get back to work.
My vote for this legislation should not be interpreted as a total
endorsement of all of its provisions. Indeed, I have some serious
reservations about extending tax benefits given to the oil and gas
industry and the industry in the business of converting poultry waste
into electricity. Again, my concern is that the special interests
continue to benefit at the expense of hard-working Americans
everywhere. However, overall, this bill will give unemployment relief
for those families who need it the most and will help stimulate our
economy to help America get moving again.
Mr. DOMENICI. Mr. President, I rise in strong support of the
bipartisan Job Creation and Workers Assistance Act of 2002, H.R. 3090.
This economic stimulus bill has been long in coming.
I am happy this day has finally arrived, but I know those unemployed
workers and their families, who became unemployed after the events of
September 11, and who will soon see their 26 weeks of unemployment
benefits expire, will be even more pleased that we have not forgotten
them. We will provide those whose benefits will soon expire an
additional 13 weeks of assistance, and I truly believe that within this
additional time period, they will return to full employment.
There are clear signs that the economy is recovering, but for those
nearly 1.4 million long-term unemployed workers, there is no solace to
be found until they are working again and earning incomes in the
private sector.
I believe the provisions of this bill that will also provide
assistance to small and large businesses in the form of 30 percent
special depreciation allowances, combined with conforming AMT
depreciation rules and a 5-year carryback of net operation loss
provisions will help to increase those employment opportunities for the
unemployed so they do not have to depend on further extensions of
unemployment insurance.
I am also pleased that this bill follows through--as the
Administration promised it would--to help fulfill the promise of
providing over $21 billion in assistance to New York City. The
expansion of Worker Opportunity Tax Credits to certain employees in New
York City, and special credits to property placed in the Liberty Zone
along with other provisions of this bill will continue to assist that
city on the road to recovery.
I am pleased that the bill also extends $12 billion in various tax
provisions that expired or will soon expire including the Worker
Opportunity Tax Credits, Welfare to Work Credits, a 100 percent
limitation on percentage depletion for oil and gas from marginal wells,
and a provision I have championed that would penalize in the form of a
tax those groups health plans that fail to comply with mental health
parity requirements.
There are other provisions in this bill that will allow teachers to
deduct classroom expenditures and exclusions for foster care payments
to qualified placement agencies. The reauthorization of the Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families supplemental grants and contingency funds
for states such as mine that have seen an increase in population is
needed help to some hard pressed state budgets.
This bill will become law. President Bush who has pressed for
congressional action will sign this needed legislation. It is not
everything he wanted, and I remain convinced that the proposal I
advanced last winter to provide for a payroll tax holiday would have
provided additional needed stimulus. But nonetheless this bill will
still inject over $50 billion into the economy immediately and over $40
billion next year.
I congratulate the chairman and ranking member of the Finance
Committee, the majority and minority leader in bringing this issue
finally to a conclusion. It is the right thing to do, it is the right
thing for those displaced and out of work today.
Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, I have worked closely with Senator Collins
for sometime now on legislation to provide much needed tax relief for
our educators. Today, I am pleased to report that the Senate should
soon pass H.R. 3090, the Job Creation and Worker Assistance Act of
2002, as previously passed by the House of Representatives. With
passage of this legislation, Senator Collins and I will have finally
achieved our shared goal of providing much needed tax relief for our
Nation's teachers.
The Collins-Warner provisions that are in this legislation, were
crafted by Senator Collins and myself after months of consultations
with Senator Grassley, Senator Baucus, Senator Allen and House Ways and
Means Chairman Thomas. Congressman Scott from Virginia was also a very
good working partner on this legislation, having introduced similar
legislation on the House side.
The National Education Association played a key role and its many
members should look with pride and satisfaction on their constructive
advice to the Congress. The president of the Virginia Education
Association, Jean Bankos, also helped lead this superb effort.
Simply put, the Collins-Warner provisions provide a $250 above the
line deduction for educators who incur out of pocket expenses for
supplies they bring into the classroom to better the education of their
students. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this provision
will provide almost half a billion dollars worth of tax relief to
teachers all across America over the next 2 years.
Our teachers in this country are overworked, underpaid, and all too
often, under-appreciated.
In addition to these factors, our teachers expend significant money
out of their own pocket to better the education of our children. Most
typically, our teachers are spending significant amounts of money out
of their own pocket on classroom expenses, such as books, supplies,
pens, paper, and computer equipment.
These out of pocket costs place lasting financial burdens on our
teachers. This is one reason our teachers are leaving the profession.
Little wonder that our country is in the midst of a teacher shortage.
Estimates are that 2.4 million new teachers will be needed by 2009
because of teacher attrition, teacher retirement and increased student
enrollment.
While the primary responsibility rests with the States, I believe the
Federal Government can and should play a role in helping to alleviate
the Nation's teaching shortage.
On a Federal level, we can encourage individuals to enter the
teaching profession and remain in the profession by providing tax
relief to teachers for the costs that they incur as part of the
profession.
Our teachers have made a personal commitment to educate the next
generation and to strengthen America. While many people spend their
lives building careers, our teachers spend their careers building
lives.
The Teacher Tax Relief provisions in this bill go a long way toward
providing our teachers with the recognition they deserve by providing
teachers with important and much needed tax relief.
I am proud to have had the opportunity to work with Senator Collins,
Senator Allen, and so many others to make this goal a reality.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, on behalf of Leader Daschle, I yield Senator
Baucus 5 minutes of leader time, and following that, 2 minutes of
leader time to Senator Conrad.
[[Page S1692]]
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.
The Senator from Montana.
Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, this bill that has come over from the
House has come over quite quickly and Senators have not had a lot of
time to examine it and to work through the provisions of the bill.
Personally, I think it is a bit rushed.
Having said that, I will support it at this point because--the phrase
I often find myself using these days--we cannot let perfection be the
enemy of good.
There are some good provisions in this bill. We did not have the
opportunity to amend it. But the fact is, if we do try to amend it, we
will probably get wrapped around the axle, and nothing will be passed.
And there are several provisions that should definitely pass. One is
the extension of unemployment insurance. To my mind, the provisions in
the House bill relating to unemployment insurance do not do enough.
Given the state of the economy in the last year and the number of
people who are out of jobs and need help, it is unfortunate that we
cannot do more. But a 13 week extension will help many people and
provide an economic stimulus.
In addition, the bill includes the extension of several important tax
provisions, some of which expired last year. It is an outrage, frankly,
that this Senate and the House of Representatives let those provisions
lapse and we did not pass them at the end of last year.
I tell my colleagues right now that I regret I did not push strongly
enough last year when we passed the tax bill to make sure the extenders
were included. I had an assurance that they would come up soon. But
that is no way to run a railroad. It is no way for the country to run
its business, to say it is OK to have an on-again/off-again policy with
respect to tax law.
I tell my colleagues the next time this comes up, we are going to
pass extenders so that the provisions remain continuous. It will be a
seamless web. There will never be another time when extenders are not
passed, if I have anything to do with it.
Unfortunately, there are not any health provisions in this bill.
There should be. A lot of people lost their health insurance benefits
as a consequence of lost jobs and as a consequence of the declining
economy.
As you well know, more and more people are without health insurance.
It is because companies are not providing health insurance, and people
are laid off and can't keep their health insurance. It is a huge cost
individually to the people involved, and it is a huge cost to the
country. It is regrettable that this provision we are passing today
does not include health insurance benefits for those people who lost
their health insurance on account of lost jobs. That is too bad. I wish
it were in the bill, but it is not.
The bonus depreciation provision is good. It is going to help create
jobs, and it will help stimulate the economy a bit.
I note, as we all note, that Chairman Greenspan said we are turning
the corner. I think he is probably right. But the bonus depreciation
provision is going to help. It also is insurance, and that is going to
help as well.
The long and short of it is we have a choice. It is either vote for
this, or try to amend it. If we try to amend it, we will be back where
we have been for the last 5 months; that is, doing a lot of talk and
not much action. I regret that.
But that is the situation with which we are faced. In light of this
situation, I urge my colleagues to pass this. It is going to help--
particularly the provisions that I mentioned--and we will get on with
health insurance and get on with the other provisions that need to be
taken up later on this year.
When they come up, I urge my colleagues to work with us to be sure
that they are enacted because there are a lot of people hurting and who
need a lot of help.
I thank my good friend from Nevada.
I yield the remainder of my time.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, Senator Baucus is absolutely right. There
are some good provisions in this bill. They are necessary provisions.
That is what makes this vote so difficult.
I have struggled with the question of how to vote. But, again, the
press reports this morning said the Chairman of the Federal Reserve
said an economic expansion is now underway. It goes on to report that
many economists have concluded that the economy this quarter is growing
at an annual rate of 4 percent. Now the House passes a recovery
package. They are too late.
This is the history of recovery packages. Every time in our history
that we have tried to use fiscal stimulus, we have been too late.
The centerpiece of this package is 3 years of bonus depreciation.
Look, I am a strong supporter of bonus depreciation, but not for 3
years. That encourages people to wait. That makes no sense. This is
digging the hole deeper because every penny of it is coming out of the
Social Security trust fund--every penny. We are already in a deep hole
for the entire next decade.
I yield whatever time remains to Senator Carper.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Stabenow). The Senator from Delaware.
There are 45 seconds remaining.
Mr. CARPER. Madam President, I thank the Senator from North Dakota
for yielding.
Imagine that we are in a car driving down the road. We have an
accelerator, and we have a brake.
The Federal Reserve, having launched the most aggressive monetary
policy in our lives to help us get out of the recession--which will
probably occur later this year--is beginning to tap down on the breaks
to slow down inflationary expectations. Meanwhile, we are preparing to
put our foot on the accelerator.
This plan made a whole of lot sense in October, November, and even in
December. But in March, on March 8, with GDP having grown 1.4 percent
in the last quarter, and is probably going to grow by 4 percent this
month, this plan makes a whole lot less sense.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays on the pending
matter before the Senate.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The question is on agreeing to the motion, and the clerk will call
the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Louisiana (Mr. Breaux),
the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the Senator from Massachusetts
(Mr. Kennedy), the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Mikulski), and the
Senator from Georgia (Mr. Miller) are necessarily absent.
Mr. NICKLES. I announce that the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. Enzi) is
necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 85, nays 9, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 44 Leg.]
YEAS--85
Akaka
Allard
Allen
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Campbell
Cantwell
Carnahan
Cleland
Clinton
Cochran
Collins
Corzine
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
DeWine
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Ensign
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Frist
Graham
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Jeffords
Johnson
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Landrieu
Leahy
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Nickles
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NAYS--9
Byrd
Carper
Chafee
Conrad
Dayton
Dodd
Feingold
Levin
Rockefeller
NOT VOTING--6
Breaux
Enzi
Inouye
Kennedy
Mikulski
Miller
The motion was agreed to.
Mr. REID. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.
Mrs. BOXER. I move to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.
____________________