[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 183 (Monday, December 3, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14671-S14674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             SENATE RECORD

  Mr. REID. President Bush spoke from the Rose Garden this morning. It 
is hard to comprehend his words, the President of the United States 
going to the Rose Garden today, saying he wanted us to use the time 
left in this congressional year to ``support our troops, and to protect 
our citizens, prevent harmful tax increases. . . .'' He also indicated, 
in that same brief statement, that we as a Congress had little to show 
for our having been in a year.
  We passed a budget, the first one in 3 years. It was a balanced 
budget we passed. We implemented--even though they were years and years 
overdue--the 9/11 Commission recommendations. We passed Homeland 
Security funding. We passed a pay raise for our troops--we

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have consistently equipped our troops with programs and materials that 
the President did not ask for but we believe the troops needed, and 
time has proven they were needed. We provided health care for wounded 
soldiers and veterans. We set benchmarks for Iraq. We focused on the 
neglected National Guard, and I am glad we did that. We passed ethics 
and lobbying reform. We passed a CR that has funded the Government and 
will to the end of this year. We shortly will be doing an energy bill. 
We passed one here, but we hope to have one that will be a bipartisan 
bill that we will pass here by the end of the year. We completed a 
minimum wage bill that was 10 years past due. We passed the American 
Competitiveness Act. We passed a higher education bill, the most 
significant piece of legislation since the GI bill of rights, dealing 
with higher education. We also passed the Elementary and Secondary 
Education Funding Act, which was long past due. We funded Head Start, 
stem cell research--the President vetoed that but we passed it; very 
important legislation. We passed SCHIP, the children's health insurance 
program. The President vetoed that. We passed FDA reauthorization, 
Coast Guard revitalization, the Corps of Engineers reform, which was 
long overdue, disaster assistance for small businesses. We have 
certainly done good work regarding disaster assistance for farmers, 
which was also long overdue--3 years past due. With the scandal that 
occurred in the Attorney General's Office, we were able to focus on the 
U.S. attorneys and change the law in that regard.

  These are just a few of the things we have done, but we feel good 
that we have done them. The President should not demean what we have 
done here. These are pieces of legislation, some of which he signed. We 
want to work with the President and we have tried to work with the 
President, but the end of this administration, the Bush administration, 
is fast approaching. Frankly, if he wants to talk about 
accomplishments, for 1 year of the Democratic-led Congress compared to 
his 7 years of the Republican-led Presidency, the comparison is quite 
stark. He has, to show for what he has done, an endless war that we 
have been involved in, which soon will be in its sixth year, an ever 
shrinking middle class, and a budget gone from record surpluses to 
record deficits.
  President Bush calls on Congress to ``support our troops,'' and we 
have done that. But it is the President who has stretched our military 
nearly to its breaking point. Editorials in today's newspapers 
certainly indicate how we are failing in supplying our military with 
materials they need, the equipment they need to maintain their 
readiness. It is this President who has kept our troops abroad for two, 
three, and four tours of duty. Some have served five tours of duty. A 
war, I repeat, soon to be in its sixth year, a war that General 
Petraeus has said cannot be won militarily, and we are getting no help 
from the Iraqis to get their house in order politically.
  It is the President who has sent our troops into battle without 
proper protection and neglected our veterans' care when they returned 
home. I repeat, it was this Democratic Congress that provided funds for 
body armor, voted for a troop pay increase, provided funds to fix the 
neglect at Walter Reed and other military health facilities so our 
troops can get the care they need when they return from combat.
  President Bush calls on Congress to ``protect our citizens,'' but it 
is President Bush who has failed to capture bin Laden, who taunts us 
with new videos and new threats often. It is this President who allowed 
al-Qaida to regroup and become stronger than ever. It is this President 
who has consistently underfunded the homeland security priorities that 
keep us safer in our cities and towns. And it was this Congress that 
finally implemented the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission, so long 
ignored by the President and his Republican enablers, which helped 
secure our most at-risk cities, gives our first responders the 
communications tools they need in an emergency, and improves oversight 
of our intelligence and homeland security systems.
  President Bush calls on Congress to ``prevent harmful tax increases 
and responsibly to fund our Government,'' but it is President Bush's 
reckless fiscal irresponsibility which is growing the national debt at 
an astounding rate of $1 million per minute, for a total increase of 
more than $3 trillion on his watch.
  President Clinton was actually paying down the debt by a half 
trillion dollars. In the last 3 years he was in office, we were 
spending less money than we were taking in. But it is this President 
who has increased our debt to foreign governments by more than all 
former Presidents combined. In the 230 years we have been a country, 
all the Presidents combined did not increase the debt like this 
President has done. He has increased our debt to foreign governments by 
more than all former Presidents combined, but it is this President who 
has stuck this bill for his failed policies squarely on the shoulders 
of our children and grandchildren. Every person in this country--a baby 
of 1 day, a person of 100 years old--owes $30,000 to make up this 
almost $10 trillion debt that is fast approaching.
  It is this Democratic Congress that has put working families first, 
with the first increase in minimum wage in a decade to give hard-
working but least paid Americans a little more to help ends meet. 
Remember, the minimum wage affects a lot of people. It is not kids 
flipping hamburgers at McDonald's. For 60 percent of the people who 
draw minimum wage, that is the only money they get for their families. 
The vast majority of people on minimum wage are women who work.
  It is this Democratic Congress which provided health insurance to 
millions of more low-income children with the Children's Health 
Insurance Program. The President vetoed this. President Bush's veto 
will cut 5.5 million children off the ability to go to the doctor when 
they are sick--5.5 million. We wound up with 10. Even if we extend the 
present bill, we will lose 5.5 million children and wind up with 4.5 
instead of 10.
  It is this Democratic Congress that made investments in Head Start 
and student financial aid so that all children, regardless of the 
wealth of their parents, can get started on the right track and have an 
opportunity to go to college.
  Unlike Bush, we paid for our priorities in a responsible way. We have 
a pay-go system. If we increase a program, change a program in a way 
that costs money, we pay for it.
  This President and his allies in Congress have led the American 
people down a very dark path. This Democratic Congress, in its first 
year, has made America stronger, safer, and more prosperous. But with 
President Bush and the Republicans fighting us, a record number of 
filibusters--57--with empty rhetoric, obstruction and vetoes, we still 
have a lot of work to do--and that is an understatement. In this final 
work period of the year, our plate is full. We have to return our focus 
to finally ending the war in Iraq that has cost our troops and country 
so dearly.
  Here I wish to cite a statement from a Republican running for 
President. Here is what he said: Everything is much worse if we stay in 
Iraq. Right now they are very content to bleed us in Iraq, bleed us 
financially and by killing Americans. We lose lives. If we spend money 
we don't have, it furthers our financial crisis. The longer we are 
there, the stronger al-Qaida gets. Our being there is the greatest 
incentive conceivable to help Osama bin Laden. The evidence is very 
clear that there is more al-Qaida than before, which means we are in 
greater danger of being hit by terrorists than before. Besides, who are 
all these people telling us there will be a problem if we leave? The 
same ones who said it would be a cakewalk. What kind of credibility do 
they have?
  I repeat, this is a Republican, not a Democrat.
  We want to take up the House-passed bill that provides $50 billion in 
emergency funds to our troops and requires the President to transition 
the mission from combat operations to security, training, and 
antiterrorism.
  Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we began to hear the rumblings of what 
is sure to be an outrageous line of attack from the Bush White House. 
The week we left here, Secretary Gates told us that the Army had enough 
money--with the $460 billion bill we just

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passed--had enough money to fund them until the 1st of March; the 
Marines until the middle of March. That is what Secretary Gates told 
us. But the spin machine of the White House is trying to overrule what 
the Secretary of Defense told us, saying we are going to have to lay 
people off, there is not enough money for mine detection equipment and 
things of that nature.
  That is totally contrary to what the Secretary of Defense said. This 
Secretary of Defense has credibility compared to his predecessor
  Secretary Gates has credibility. That is what he told us: The Army is 
OK until the first of March; the Marines are OK until the middle of 
March.
  But over Thanksgiving, we get rumblings from the spin machine at the 
White House. The President is saying: We are not sending money to the 
troops. This is not true. It is cynical politics at its worst. The 
American people are too smart to fall for this. Facts are clear. We 
just passed nearly a half-trillion-dollar Defense appropriations bill. 
The Department of Defense is fully funded.
  Before the holiday we offered another $50 billion funding package on 
top of the $460 billion to support our troops in combat, provided he 
heed the call of the American people and change course. The President 
and his supporters in Congress, which are all Republicans with rare 
exception, rejected that package.
  The President said no to funding his own war unless he is given a 
blank check to continue his failed policies. Nevadans and the American 
people know the current course has not brought the political 
reconciliation the President promised.
  They realize it makes no sense for President Bush to blame Democrats 
because he rejected the funding package that we offered. This week we 
will try again to give the President the opportunity to accept troop 
funding. We will try to return to the House-passed bill. We will give 
our Republican colleagues another opportunity to stand on the side of 
our troops in battle by passing legislation that contains additional 
funding and provides a strategy to bring the war to a responsible end.
  Iraq is just one of the many funding priorities we must pass in the 
weeks ahead. We have to deal with the appropriations bills, in large 
part because the President has been stubborn and unreasonable. Rather 
than work with us to resolve the differences that amount to less than 1 
percent of our budget, the President threatened to veto every 
appropriations bill before it was even written.
  We have offered to compromise with President Bush to split the 
difference. No. So far it does not appear the President is ready to do 
the right thing for the American people by accepting compromise.
  But I hope Senate Republicans will act more responsibly. We have to 
do something about the AMT. According to the Joint Committee on 
Taxation, 19 million American families and 150,000 Nevadans will be 
forced to pay the AMT next spring if we do not take action before the 
year is out.
  Before Thanksgiving, the House passed AMT relief. After their vote, I 
offered a consent agreement to hold three votes: one on the House AMT 
relief bill, one on Senator Lott's amendment to repeal the AMT, and one 
on an amendment by Senator Baucus to fund it. Unfortunately, our 
Republican colleagues blocked these three votes. Despite the 
President's warning to them that we must move quickly on AMT, they 
chose to follow obstructionism. I cannot emphasize enough how important 
it is to move forward on this legislation. I hope the Republicans will 
end their obstruction on this vital tax relief so we can move to a 
vote. If they do not, I will have no choice but to file cloture so we 
can move to vote on the House bill. That is exactly what I will do.
  In the coming days, we will have to turn to FISA, the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act. Earlier this year, the President signed 
a flawed temporary law on this subject that will expire in early 
February. Both the Intelligence and Judiciary Committees have reported 
a bill that improves current law. The House has passed its own version. 
The full Senate must debate this matter in December to allow sufficient 
time for negotiations with the House before the February deadline.
  We need to give our intelligence professionals all the necessary 
tools, while at the same time protecting the privacy of law-abiding 
Americans and following our Constitution. Vigorous intelligence 
gathering should be accompanied by meaningful judicial review and 
strong congressional oversight. FISA struck a balance well for 30 
years, and now we can make it even more effective. Both of these Senate 
committees have worked together in a bipartisan manner. Chairman 
Rockefeller and Ranking Member Bond, along with Chairman Leahy and 
Ranking Member Specter, are sorting through differences in the work of 
their two committees. I hope under the leadership of those four 
Senators we will pass a bill that strikes the right balance and makes 
our country safer.
  Later this work period, we will move to finish work on the Energy 
bill. In June, this Senate overwhelmingly passed a landmark Energy bill 
to improve fuel efficiency and invest in renewable fuel technology. 
This bill would save Americans lots and lots of money at the gas pump 
and on their heating bills.
  Unfortunately, Republicans would not allow us to go to conference on 
this bill. We continue to work toward a bipartisan resolution so we can 
send a strong Energy bill to the President's desk before the year is 
up.
  We will also attempt to turn again to the farm bill. Prior to the 
holiday, we were unable to complete action on the farm bill because of 
the overwhelming number of amendments filed, many of which had nothing 
to do with farming. Senator McConnell and I are working through these 
amendments to come up with a reasonable list.
  While we have been on the Thanksgiving Day break, staff has been 
working, and I think we are at a point where we should be able to do a 
farm bill by unanimous consent.
  I have outlined seven major legislative initiatives that we must 
address before the 2007 legislative calendar draws to a close. We need 
to do this for the American people. It is reasonable and necessary. We 
began this year with great success. We have restored integrity to 
Congress. We put working families first. We put teeth behind homeland 
security and veterans care. But a funny and unfortunate thing happened 
next. The President and his Republican supporters in the Senate 
determined that while bipartisanship made good policy, obstruction made 
better politics.
  For the past many months, we have seen an unprecedented level of 
obstructionism. That is not rhetoric, it is fact. We have sought more 
than 40 votes to change the course in Iraq. More often than not, a 
bipartisan majority of the House and Senate supported these votes. 
Nevertheless, again and again, the Republican leadership blocked these 
votes from taking place.
  Most recently, Republicans blocked the Transportation/HUD 
appropriations bill, which invests in our crumbling roads, bridges, 
dams, tunnels, and our infrastructure. They blocked progress on the 
Energy bill which would reduce the ever-increasing costs the American 
people pay to heat their homes and fill their gas tanks.

  They blocked the farm bill, which would stabilize the Nation's food 
supply and improve the nutrition of our children. They blocked the FHA 
Modernization Act, which would have helped families heat their homes in 
the face of the ongoing mortgage crisis.
  In all, Republicans have now blocked the priorities of Americans by 
forcing 56 cloture votes, fast approaching the all-time record of 61, 
that took a full 2-year session. That was too many. But 56, not even 
halfway through, is significantly headed in the wrong direction. They 
have already neared an all-time, 2-year obstruction record in less than 
a year. That would be like a ball player hitting 73 home runs by the 
All-Star break. That is not good. This is not normal obstruction. This 
is obstruction on steroids.
  It is not too late for the Republicans to change course and work with 
us. I find it hard to believe that Republicans truly oppose the AMT 
fix, FHA reform, infrastructure investments, and childhood nutrition. I 
hope my friends on the other side of the aisle believe they stand to 
gain politically by getting the most done for our country, not the 
least done for our country.
  But I hope in what little time we have left this year, with so much 
left

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to accomplish, the march toward the obstructionism record can be cast 
aside. And when we recess for the year in a few weeks, I hope we can 
add meaningfully to the bipartisan change that we have begun to deliver 
this year. This can only happen if the Republicans decide to work with 
us for the American people.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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