[Congressional Record Volume 148, Number 137 (Thursday, October 17, 2002)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10631-S10635]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[[Page S10631]]
Senate
THE ECONOMY
Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I understand both leaders are now talking
about doing some important nominations, and some of us are here to make
sure that those happen. I will cease and desist from speaking as soon
as the leaders return and wish to conduct the business of the Senate.
In the meantime, I thought it would be interesting to sum up where we
are and try to focus some attention on this economy.
Today, the Senate did take a first step in addressing the economy,
and that is by trying to restore some discipline to our budgetary
process. Sadly, we had a holdup from the Republican side which delayed
us. As a matter of fact, the way we resolved it, as I understand it, is
we did not extend these very important budget rules for a year. We just
did it until April. They have been extended until April, but at least
we have some fiscal discipline until April 15.
It amazes me that our friends on the other side of the aisle talk
about how conservative they are. They are certainly not very
conservative when it comes to balancing our budget and having some
fiscal discipline. What we were able to do today was to at least reach
an agreement until April 15 that we will have a 60-vote requirement in
order to waive the points of order in the Senate if somebody wants to
dip into the Social Security trust fund, tries to increase spending or
increase tax cuts, and completely abandon the kind of fiscal discipline
we need. So we have kept that 60-vote requirement so we cannot
completely destroy the budget, which is what has been happening.
As everyone in America knows, we went from a period of fiscal health
under President Clinton to a position now where we are deep in debt. If
we do not put some discipline back into our budget, it is only going to
get worse.
We also have retained, at least until April, a pay-as-you-go point of
order so that if, in fact, spending is increased in any way or the
deficit goes up in any way, it can be offset, and that is very
important.
Pay-as-you-go is something I have been working on since my days in
the House of Representatives, and it makes a lot of sense. Most of our
families have to do that. If they decide, for example, that they want
to send their son or daughter to an expensive college, they have to
find extra money, they have to figure out how they are going to pay for
it. All of America does it. We ought to do it here. At least we were
able to get that done through April 15.
I want to read what Alan Greenspan, the Federal Reserve Chairman, has
said about the importance of putting this discipline back into our
budget process. First, I have to compliment Senator Conrad, who is the
chairman of our Budget Committee, for leading us so well, for fighting
this battle and for not giving up. It would have been very easy for him
to say, ``forget about it,'' and relent. People want to go home, they
want to campaign, they want to see their constituents in California, as
I want to, or the Dakotas, where Senator Conrad's people are.
The bottom line is, we said we would stay until we got this done, and
at least we got the Republicans to agree to do this through April.
This is what Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan said about the
important rules we passed today:
The budget enforcement rules are set to expire on September
30. Failing to preserve them would be a grave mistake . . .
if we do not preserve the budget rules and reaffirm our
commitment to fiscal responsibility, years of hard effort
could be squandered.
It is incredible to me that with that kind of endorsement by Alan
Greenspan--and all of us know how hard it was to bring the budget into
balance, to bring the deficit down, to start to reduce the national
debt. It is incredible to me that our Republicans friends, who claim to
be fiscal conservatives, were objecting to this. In fairness, we did
have some of our friends helping us get this through. There was an
objection on that side of the aisle that caused us not to be able to
put the budget rules in place until April.
We did take the first step to restore some kind of discipline to our
budgeting which is necessary to see an economic recovery. When we are
out of control and we are losing control over our budget, it carries
over into the private sector. Eventually higher interest rates will
come about because there will be a squeeze on lending.N O T I C E
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[[Page S10632]]
I will share some situations we are facing with the current economic
situation. We have many problems. This is just one of our problems. We
are in a recession. We hope it will not be long term. We pray it will
not be long term. We know there are a lot of problems. Superimposed
over all the economic problems is the fact that our workers are having
to pay so much more for their health insurance. By the way, this goes
for the small business people as well.
From my family experience, we have seen in small businesses the cost
of health insurance rising enormously, and good employers who want to
pay the premiums are looking at disastrous increases in the cost of
health care for their employees. Family coverage has risen 16 percent
and single coverage has risen 27 percent in the year 2002. If you have
a good economy and jobs are plentiful, you can absorb this hit, but if
you are seeing a recession, maybe your job is not secure, maybe you are
working fewer hours, you surely have a problem when you look at your
nest egg, which is another problem we are facing in terms of
investments for retirement. These increases are hurting our people and
hurting them badly.
Now a look at the bigger picture and what has happened under this
President's watch. We have two arrows on this chart, an ``up'' arrow
and a ``down'' arrow. It is miserable to look at. Everything you want
down is up and everything you want up is down. What is up on the
economic indicators? Job losses, way up; health care costs, way up;
foreclosures, way up. People are losing their homes. In America today,
the average American is just a few months away from not being able to
make that mortgage payment if they were to lose their job. The national
debt, way up. We are seeing the debt grow again after we thought we
really had a plan to reverse it. Federal interest costs are going up.
Social Security trust fund has been raided. The fact is our interest
costs each year are going up, and that means we do not have funds to
spend on other things.
What is down in the Bush economic record? Economic growth is down. As
a matter of fact, we took a look at the GDP and it looks to us to be
the worst in 50 years when compared to other administrations. Business
investment is down. We know the stock market is down. It is volatile. I
used to be a stockbroker many years ago. I have never seen these
gyrations. Where is the bottom? We hope we have seen the bottom.
Certainly we have a problem when we have an administration that is
talking about privatizing Social Security, when we see what has
happened to the stock market. If we had turned away from Social
Security and we had invested as a government in the stock market
instead of safe government bonds, where would we be with our seniors
today? Believe me, it would be a disaster. I hope the American people
will think about that as they look at these economic indicators.
Retirement accounts are down, 401(k) plans. Everyone--I have spoken
to so many people--is afraid to open up their mail to see what has
happened to their 401(k)'s. They believe in this country. We all know
we will come back. But right now it is a problem.
If you are at retirement age right now and you do not have the luxury
to say, as a lot of people tell me, ``Senator, I will just work another
5 years,'' that is all well and good if you are healthy and can work
another 5 years. But what is the ramification of that? Not only are you
delaying this time of your life you wanted to enjoy your family,
perhaps take a trip, you are staying in the job market. That means
younger people do not have the opportunity to move in. There are a lot
of ramifications when we see the stock market down and the retirement
accounts down. That may not hit you at first glance.
Consumer confidence is down. The minimum wage, when you take
inflation into account, is way down. On the other side of the aisle, my
Republican friends do not want to raise the minimum wage. I ask how
they can live on $10,600 a year? They know it would be very difficult.
The minimum wage has not been raised in years. I don't understand their
opposition. It is not only the right thing to do for our people, but we
know people at that scale of the economic ladder will spend. That will
help restore this economy. They will go down to the local store. They
will spend that increase in the minimum wage.
This administration believes you give tax cuts to the wealthiest and
you will solve all the problems of the world. The fact is the wealthy
people do not spend it. If they earn over a million a year, they do not
need it; they will not necessarily spend it. Therefore, the economy
does not get a benefit; whereas, if you direct those tax cuts to the
middle class, say the people even earning $40,000, $50,000 or $60,000 a
year or lower, you will have an immediate impact. That is why I never
understood the ``economic plan'' of this administration with all its
tax breaks for the richest of the richest of the rich. It does not help
our economy. We know it does not. Look at our economy. This
administration has been in for a couple of years now, and we have never
had a worse economy. Their plan for everything is cut taxes for the
wealthiest people. It doesn't work. Every indicator you want to see
down is up, and the opposite is true.
John Adams said: Facts are stubborn things. They are stubborn, but
they are facts. And the American people have to look at the facts and
look them in the eye and think about them.
The Bush economic record: Record job losses; weak economic growth;
declining business investment; falling stock market; shrinking
retirement accounts; eroding consumer confidence; rising health care
costs; escalating foreclosures; vanishing surpluses and higher interest
costs for the government. We have to borrow now to pay for the daily
operations of the government. We pay interest for that--billions of
dollars of interest that we cannot spend investing in education,
investing in our people, investing to clean up our environment. Raiding
Social Security.
We see record executive pay. That is not healthy for our country to
have that great disparity. I am all for success. But I saw this runaway
corporate irresponsibility in my State perhaps before others, a little
company called Enron. Finally we are getting justice. Today we have the
first news of a guilty plea of a fellow very high up in the chain. What
did he admit to? Creating these scams to defraud the people, making
phony electricity shortages. He admitted to conspiracy, wire fraud. The
bottom line is, names will be named. These people receive record
executive pay.
A stagnating minimum wage. I see my friend from Massachusetts, who
has been a lion on this point. Every day he is here, calling for our
friends on the other side to let us pass a minimum wage increase. I
thank him for that because we need his voice. We need it all the time.
The fact is, people are suffering out there and our economy is
suffering because the people at the minimum wage have nothing to spend.
If they got a little increase, it would go right into those local
stores. So we are very hopeful that maybe there will be a change around
here and maybe my friend from Massachusetts will hear the echoes from
the other side of the aisle, and maybe there will be more on this side.
We don't know what is going to happen.
Mr. KENNEDY. Will the Senator yield?
Mrs. BOXER. I will be happy to yield to my friend.
Mr. KENNEDY. When we think of the minimum wage, we too infrequently
think of the people who are earning that minimum wage. It has always
been interesting to me that we are willing to have those who are
earning the minimum wage take care of some of those individuals who are
the most precious to us and the most fragile.
Many of the minimum-wage workers work in child care settings and are
taking care of the children while workers are out there working, trying
to provide for their families. Many of them are working in schools with
teachers. We know how important education is, and these minimum-wage
workers are working to assist teachers. Many of them are working in
nursing homes, to try to help take care of parents and grandparents who
have made such a difference to this country. They have fought in the
wars and brought the country out of the Great Depression.
These are men and women of great dignity. Even though these jobs are
difficult and they are tough, they are prepared to do them because they
take pride in their work. They are trying to
[[Page S10633]]
provide for their families. All they are looking for is to be treated
fairly.
I thank the good Senator from California for being such a strong
supporter of the increase in the minimum wage. This is an issue I think
all Americans can understand. People who work hard, 40 hours a week, 52
weeks a year, should not continue to live in poverty for themselves and
their children in this country of ours. Americans understand that. Why
are we constantly denied the opportunity to bring that measure up here
on the floor of the Senate, to permit the Senate of the United States
to at least vote on it?
We are facing Republican opposition here, we were facing Republican
opposition in the House of Representatives, and in the White House.
This is something I find extraordinary. For years the increase in the
minimum wage, as the good Senator understands, was never a partisan
issue. It really only became a partisan issue after the 1980 election.
Prior to that time, we had bipartisan support for it.
I thank the Senator for including that in the Senator's evaluation of
the economic record of this administration. The failure to provide that
not only denies us the economic stimulus that would be provided but
also is a denial of fairness for a group of men and women who work
hard, play by the rules, try to raise their children, and ought to be
treated fairly. I thank the Senator.
Mrs. BOXER. Before the Senator leaves, I have a question for him.
We have not seen an increase in the minimum wage since 1996. This is
going on 7 years. Does it not amaze my friend to see the passionate
debate that happens here when our friends on the other side of the
aisle talk about giving tax breaks worth 10 times more than what
someone working at minimum wage for 1 year would earn? In other words,
for people earning a million dollars a year, the Bush tax cut is going
to be more than $50,000 a year in their pocket. That is more than--
well, how many times more than $11,000? Maybe four times. And our
friends, we see them get tears in their eyes worrying about the people
at the top of the economic ladder.
Yet they will not even give us a vote. I just cannot believe it, in
this day and age, that we would have to wait so long to do this little
piece of economic justice.
I wonder if my friend thinks about that. He and I talk about this as
we watch our friends when there is a tax cut to the wealthy few--the
passion, the excitement, the dedication to this. Yet we cannot get a
vote for the people at the bottom of the ladder.
Mr. KENNEDY. The Senator makes an excellent point. I think she would
agree with me that, as our President said, ``We are one nation with one
history and one destiny. We are all really basically together.''
Yet when we see this callous disregard for working men and women who
are trying to provide for themselves and for their children, on the one
hand, and complete callous disregard--and the preference and special
privileges granted to another group--this really flies in the face of
what I think this society and this country is really all about.
I am sure the Senator understands that the $1.50 increase in the
minimum wage would affect nearly 9 million people in this country. It
would represent one-fifth of 1 percent of the nation's payroll. That is
what we are talking about.
People say it is highly inflationary. Of course, the economic studies
show it is not because these are funds that are spent by these minimum-
wage workers. It helps the economy. It helps stimulate the economy.
These are Americans who will invest in the community.
Wouldn't you think we could say we want to make sure people who are
working, providing for their families, will not be left out and left
behind in the richest nation of the world?
We have Americans who are in the service fighting overseas. We have
heard the debates of war and peace. We have to ask, why are they the
best? The reason they are the best is not only that they have the best
training, are the best equipped, and the best led, but because they
have values. Those values also include fairness and decency to their
fellow human beings and to their fellow workers. Fairness and decency
to those workers includes the raise in the minimum wage.
I thank the Senator.
Mrs. BOXER. I thank my friend. He has made, of course, a great moral
argument for increasing this minimum wage.
I point out that in 1996 when we passed this--my friend from Nevada
may well remember--my friends on the other side finally went along.
Remember, we had a Democratic President. They predicted we would have a
terrible economy because we were raising the minimum wage. Oh, this was
going to be a damper. This was going to be awful. What happened? We had
the greatest economic recovery we have ever seen, the greatest economic
boom we have ever seen.
Now, when we are making a plea to our colleagues that those who have
carried this country through these good times have fallen behind, they
are too busy thinking of ways to cut the taxes for the people at the
top.
I believe it is important to note, as we look at this economic record
and how terrible it is, that there are a few actions we could take.
Yes, we did something today. We got some budgetary discipline back
into this body today. I am proud we did that. But I say to my friends,
there is lots we could do to change this pattern. One is to change this
stagnating minimum wage. Give a little boost to a few people. They will
turn around, spend it at the corner store, have more dignity, and spark
this economy in a way that all the tax cuts to the top people just
don't. It just doesn't happen that way.
Mr. REID. Will the Senator yield for a question?
Mrs. BOXER. I am happy to do that.
Mr. REID. The Senator mentioned the creation of jobs during the 8
years President Clinton was in office. The Senator is aware, I am
certain, that he, during his administration, created over 20 million
new jobs.
What has happened during the first 2 years of the Bush administration
is there have been over 2 million jobs lost. A net gain of over 20
million jobs under Clinton; already a net loss of 2 million jobs under
Bush.
Would the Senator comment on that?
Mrs. BOXER. Yes. I have pointed out here, as has the Senator, my
friend, and Senator Daschle, record job losses that we are seeing, the
weakest economic growth. We all know stories. We read the headlines:
10,000 jobs lost here, 5,000 there, 2,000 there.
I say to my friend from Nevada, behind every one of these record job
losses is a personal story. It is not as if this administration is
willing to give folks the tools to retrain. We on this side of the
aisle have to fight every inch of the way to save programs that give
people the tools to retrain. We have had to fight the Bush
administration on the H-1B program--it is a wonderful program that my
friend has supported along with me--to retrain people. We have personal
stories of those people, where they have done so well with worker
retraining. We have to fight every step of the way. Even with the free
trade bill, there was a big struggle to see if we could make part of
that, at least, some worker retraining.
My friend is right. This is not only a terrible record, it is a
reversal from policies that were brought to us by a Democratic
President, Bill Clinton, that brought us a wonderful economy and hope
in our future.
I think it is important that our friends ask, What do you Democrats
want to do? I think Senator Daschle laid that out.
I want to spend a couple of minutes in closing by laying out what our
solution is here.
We took a step today--budget enforcement. Here it is. We took a step.
We couldn't get it for another year. We took it for as long as we could
get it.
It is going to take 60 votes--at least through April--to raid the
Social Security trust fund again. It is going to take 60 votes to bleed
this budget without paying for it.
So we did that. That is something Alan Greenspan said we should do.
What else can we do?
Unemployment insurance. We have people who are suffering because they
cannot find a new job in this terrible recessionary period. They need
an extension of unemployment. Day after day Democrats have been down
here asking, begging, cajoling, Can we not pass another extension?
We can't get it through. They do not want to raise the minimum wage.
People can't live on a minimum wage.
[[Page S10634]]
They won't expand unemployment insurance to help people get through
until they find a job.
What is their answer? More tax cuts for the rich. It doesn't work. We
tried that. I didn't vote for it, I am happy to say. But it passed here
because most Presidents get 90 percent of what they ask for. That is
true of Democrat Presidents and Republican Presidents. The President
got it.
What have we seen as a result? Terrible times.
That is not the answer. Why doesn't this President spend some time on
the economy? Call Senator Daschle and say, Senator Daschle, you came
over here to the White House to talk about the war in Iraq. Congressman
Gephardt, the Democratic leader, you came over here and talked about
the war on terror. We speak as one voice on foreign policy. Even if we
have a few disagreements along the way, we set them aside. Why don't we
have time to talk about this economy, Mr. President?
I have been saying we have to do foreign policy and economic policy.
We have to do more than one thing at a time.
Now the President is doing two things at one time--foreign policy and
campaigning.
Call off those campaign trips, Mr. President. Let us have a little
summit and talk about the need for unemployment insurance and have that
to stimulate our economy so people get their money.
Minimum wage. This man is a compassionate man. I have seen compassion
in his face. I know he has compassion in his heart. Where is his
compassion for the people who are working at the bottom of the ladder?
Let us talk about it, Mr. President.
Fiscal relief to States. This administration is asking States to do a
lot after we were attacked on 9/11, and the States are trying their
best. We have been hit with recession. Where is the money for port
security? Where is the money for airport security? Where is the money
for chemical plant security? Where is the money for nuclear plant
security? We gave it to this President--and he refused to spend it--
$5.1 billion for all those things. He is complaining that we will not
pass this reshuffling and this new Department, which I have a lot of
doubts about. You could do more good by spending the $5.1 billion that
we Democrats and Republicans voted to spend under the emergency powers
we have.
Instead of walking away from that, that would have helped our people
in local and State government. That would have helped our people by
giving them protection.
We are offering people who live within 10 miles of a nuclear power
plant an iodine pill in case they are exposed. Wouldn't you rather
prevent something from happening by making sure that the plants are
secure?
All of these things are on point with the economy because we must
protect the homeland, and if we do it right, we will provide jobs and
we will stimulate this economy. It all fits in with fiscal relief to
States, and that will help this economy.
We have even offered rebates and better targeted business incentives.
Why do we give businesses incentives to run away off shore to avoid
taxes? Let us give them real incentives to invest, real incentives to
hire, and real incentives if they retrain workers.
I already talked about investments in homeland security. But I didn't
mention schools.
We have schools that are falling apart, Mr. President. I know how
dedicated you are to education. You and I know there is a message sent
to our children when they go to school and there are tiles falling off
the ceiling, the place is dirty, and you are breathing in mold. Some of
these schools haven't been really touched in tens of years. That is
where our teachers are supposed to teach our children.
We Democrats believe you are sending a message when a child goes to a
department store and sees how beautiful it is. There is a message
there. It is a subtle message--or maybe it is not so subtle. Gee, this
is important. But when the child goes to school, the place where they
are going to get the American dream--I am the product of public
schools. I never went to a private school in my life, from kindergarten
through college. It is the way I got the skills I needed.
We need to invest in those schools. In that investment, we will give
a boost to this economy.
Investment in health research. How many people do we meet whose
relatives are suffering from Alzheimer's, or cancer, or heart disease,
or diabetes? We know we have a host of diseases--spinal cord injuries.
We should invest in that science. That will help our people. It will
lift our economy.
Pension reform. God knows we need pension reform. We can't have a
circumstance where people are relying on a pension, and when they are
ready to retire it is not there. That is devastating. It is devastating
to our whole country. The bottom line is we haven't done anything about
pension reform. We haven't attacked the problem. Our friends on the
other side of the aisle are not interested in it. That is a fact.
We now have to enforce the Corporate Accountability Act. Harvey Pitt
was supposed to appoint someone under the new board created in the
Sarbanes bill. It got a little too hot at the top there for this man.
It was too good, and they backed off.
How can we get anywhere against these people who are in these high
positions in corporate America if we don't enforce our own laws?
This President needs a new economic team.
I listen to the people who come here, and they talk about how great
the economy is. It is a rosy scenario. They do not even admit we have a
problem. I could name every single one of them, and I could give you
their quotes. Maybe someone will do that later in the day. But every
single member of the economic team is in denial: Oh, everything is
wonderful. The stock market is turning around. Recession, we don't have
a recession. We have turned the corner.
Maybe this is the reason they do not want to act on any of these
issues. They don't want to raise the minimum wage. They don't care.
They don't want to give people unemployment insurance. They do not
care. They don't care about our States. It is unbelievable to me.
Here is the bottom line. We are getting ready to leave here for a few
weeks. The people of America are going to make their decisions. I just
hope whatever side of the aisle they are from, or whatever ideology
they are from, whatever they are thinking, they will assert their
responsibility and vote in this election. This election is crucial.
I meet people all the time who say, Oh, all the candidates are alike.
No; not true. If you broach any of these issues to people who may have
touched your heart, you will find people with differing views.
You are never going to find anyone with whom you agree 100 percent of
the time. But what happens in this Chamber is dependent on the views of
the American people. And this is an important time. Whether you agree
with everything I said, whether you agree with 50 percent of what I
said, or if you disagree with me on everything I said, that is not
important.
It is important to understand what is at stake right now. Are we
going to move forward with an economic plan that addresses this economy
while we engage in the challenge we were given on September 11 and all
the other foreign policy challenges we face? I think we have no choice.
We need to do more than one thing at a time. We need to do a lot of
things.
(Ms. CANTWELL assumed the Chair.)
Mrs. BOXER. I see my friend from Washington is now presiding. She and
I have worked very hard to preserve and protect the environment of this
country. Not a day goes by that this administration isn't doing
something to weaken our environmental laws, whether it is clean air or
it is clean water. We all know what happened with arsenic in the water.
We stopped that. But every day, in every way, they are doing something
to weaken laws.
Just the other day, in California, this administration sided with the
big auto companies. They are suing my State because my State wants
clean air and they want to see cars that emit less pollution.
Here is an administration that claims they love States rights, they
love local control. Well, they love States rights, and they love local
control, unless they disagree with your State at the moment or your
locality
[[Page S10635]]
at the moment. Then, suddenly, oh, the Federal Government: We are the
ones who have to make the rules.
So there is so much at stake. I just took to the floor because I
thought before we recessed, I might put it in the Record. I want to
say, in relation to all these issues that are so very difficult--the
issue of war and peace, the issue of this economy, the issue of the
environment, the issue of a woman's right to choose, that is under
tremendous attack every day by this administration--and I should
mention the horrible time people in the Washington, DC, area are going
through because of a sniper out there--these are hard times, but a
little light peeks through every once in a while.
I thought I would end on an up note: Two of my teams in California
are going to the World Series. So even in these hard times, a little
brightness shines through. For this Senator from California, I could
not be more proud of these two teams from San Francisco and Anaheim.
It is going to be very hard for me. What am I going to do? I have to
root for everybody. But whatever happens, California will win. And if I
have my way, once that is over, I want California to win on this
economy, on the environment. I want the kids in my State to have the
best education, the best health care, the best life, the best shot at
the American dream.
So after the World Series is over, and after the elections are over,
I will be back here and I will be fighting for those very things.
I thank you very much, Madam President. I yield the floor and suggest
the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. DORGAN. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order
for the quorum call be rescinded.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
____________________