[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 5, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S14757]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           INFLAMED RHETORIC

  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have sought recognition to comment 
about a statement made by the majority leader, Senator Harry Reid, 
yesterday that:

        . . . President Bush, he is the man who is pulling the 
     strings on the 49 puppets he has here in the Senate.

  I have had my staff advise his staff that I intended to make some 
comments about that so he would be notified and could come to the floor 
if he chose to do so. His office is right adjacent to the floor. He is 
a minute or 2 away. I believe that is a very inappropriate statement.
  I refer to rule XIX of the Senate rules, which provides:

        . . . No Senator in debate shall, directly or indirectly, 
     by any form of words impute to another Senator or to other 
     Senators any conduct or motive unworthy or unbecoming a 
     Senator.

  It is my view that being called a puppet is in direct violation of 
that rule. I don't think there is much doubt about it. That is a term 
of derision, of ridicule, of censure, and it is an opprobrious term to 
make that statement.
  I am especially concerned about it because in the immediate past 
there have been many Senators who have directly disagreed with the 
President--hardly puppets of President Bush or hardly puppets of 
anyone. Under our Constitution, the separation of powers makes the 
Congress separate from the executive branch and from the courts. That 
separation and that independence is something that Senators prize so 
very highly. So I don't take it lightly, and I don't think the other 48 
of my colleagues take it lightly to be called puppets.
  Let's look at the record. Within the past month, on November 8, 35 
Republicans voted to override President Bush's veto of the Water 
Resources and Development Act. The veto was overridden; 35 disagreed 
with the President. It hardly sounds like there are 35 puppets there to 
vote to override the President's veto.
  On April 11, 18 Republicans joined in support of the Stem Cell 
Enhancement Act of 2007. That is an issue that this Senator has worked 
on extensively since 1998, when stem cells first came upon the scene, 
and I was chairing the Appropriations Subcommittee on Health and Human 
Services. We have had some 20 hearings. Twice we enacted legislation to 
authorize the use of Federal funds for embryonic stem cell research. It 
doesn't sound like the 18 Senators who bucked the President's position 
are puppets.
  On November 13, less than a month ago, 17 Republican Senators voted 
to support the SCHIP program, which the President was on record as 
opposing. He didn't like the amount of money that was involved with 
children's health. On November 7, 10 Republican Senators voted in 
support of passage of the Labor, Health, Human Services and Education 
Appropriations bill, despite the President's promised veto. He did veto 
it.
  So here you have 4 situations readily at hand, where 35, 18, 17, and 
10 Republican Senators disagreed with the President. It doesn't sound 
like the Senators are puppets in that context.
  Yesterday Senator Reid also complained about the necessity to file 
cloture some 56 times. Well, each time cloture was filed, there is a 
complex story behind the cloture. On a good many of those occasions, 
cloture was filed and the so-called tree was filled, which precluded 
Senators from offering amendments. There was a time when Senators 
proudly said that any Senator could offer any amendment on any bill at 
any time. There might be some limitations postcloture on germaneness or 
on some rules, but a practice has developed in this body to foreclose 
that. The jargon is the ``filling the tree,'' and when the tree is 
filled, nobody can offer an amendment.
  Regrettably, that has been done by Republicans as well as Democrats. 
When it is hard to affix blame around here for the logjam, for our 
inability to get much done, you can usually divide it 50/50 between the 
parties. So to say Senator Reid has had to file cloture on 56 occasions 
doesn't tell you very much.
  Then the issue he took up yesterday in filing for cloture on the AMT, 
alternative minimum tax, Senator Reid filed for cloture on the House 
bill, which stands very little chance of passing the Senate because it 
is fully offset with controversial revenue raisers. Now it is true that 
Senate Democrats offered to remove the offsets but to keep them in 
place for the tax extenders. The Republican position has been that it 
is illogical to use permanent tax increases to offset a temporary 
extension of current tax policy. So there is a good reason for what is 
being done here.
  There is no doubt the AMT has to have a fix. If it is not done, there 
will be some 23 million Americans who will be taxed instead of the 3 
million now. So we are all dedicated to that proposition. If you take a 
look at the Record on August 2 of this year, I offered an amendment to 
the small business tax relief bill to repeal the 1993 AMT rate 
increase.
  On July 20, 2007, I voted in support of a Kyl amendment to the 
educational reconciliation bill, which fully repealed the AMT.
  On March 23 of this year, I voted in support of a Lott amendment to 
the budget resolution that would have allowed for repeal of the 1993 
AMT rate increase.
  Again, on the same day, March 23, I voted in support of a Grassley 
amendment to the budget resolution that would have allowed the full 
repeal of the AMT.
  The same day, I voted in support of the Sessions amendment to the 
budget resolution that would have allowed families to deduct personal 
exemptions when calculating their AMT liability.

  The Record is full of good-faith efforts to solve this problem. But 
as indicated, as stated, the course which the majority leader has taken 
is unsatisfactory to people on this side of the aisle. Whether it is 
satisfactory or unsatisfactory, it is not appropriate to call 49 
Republican Senators puppets. We are trying to move through the business 
of the year--the people's business. We have 2\1/2\ weeks. Not a whole 
lot has been done. We were in on Monday; no votes. In yesterday; one 
noncontroversial vote. We didn't come in until noon today.
  I have been around here a substantial period of time and I wonder how 
we are going to get through all of the unfinished appropriations bills 
and the many other matters that are pending on the calendar. When the 
majority leader makes a proposal and asks for Republican assistance, 
many of us have been willing to listen to what he has to say. But he 
doesn't improve his case when he starts calling us puppets. I wonder if 
he is up to the job when he resorts to that kind of a statement, which 
only furthers the level of rancor and insults and animosity with that 
kind of an insulting comment.
  I would be interested in the majority leader's reply, if he cares to 
make one. I will be near by the Senate floor.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CONRAD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________