[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 5, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S14758]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 3074

  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate 
proceed to the consideration of the conference report to accompany H.R. 
3074, the Transportation-HUD, related agencies appropriations, 2008; 
that there be 20 minutes of debate with respect to the conference 
report, with the time equally divided and controlled between Senators 
Murray and Bond or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back 
of time, the Senate proceed to vote on adoption of the conference 
report, without further intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, on behalf of the Republican leadership, I 
object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  The Senator from Washington.
  Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I have come to the floor today to make 
sure the record is clear on the difference between what is being said 
in Washington, DC, today and what is actually taking place.
  Yesterday, President Bush took to the microphones to complain for the 
second day in a row that Congress was not getting its work done. For a 
second day in a row, he complained that Congress is not sending him 
appropriations bills that fund the most basic functions of Government. 
And for a second day in a row, our minority leader, Senator McConnell, 
followed suit. He came out on the Senate floor and complained that 
Congress has not sent the appropriations bills to the President.
  Let's be clear, I made a request to pass the final conference bill 
for the transportation-housing appropriations bill so it could be sent 
to President Bush. What was the result? The Republican Senators blocked 
it from going to the White House, and that was not the first time that 
happened. They blocked the transportation-housing appropriations bill 
from going to the White House twice before. Mr. President, 2\1/2\ weeks 
ago on November 15, they blocked it; 2\1/2\ weeks ago on November 16, 
they blocked it; and then they blocked it again today.
  Let me tell you what is going on here. President Bush and the Senate 
Republican leadership are trying to quietly block our progress on 
funding the needs of the American people while loudly complaining about 
our failure to make progress.
  I would understand the actions of the Senate Republican leadership if 
our transportation-housing bill was partisan or divisive, but the 
conference agreement we are trying to move again today has the support 
of every single Republican who sat on the conference committee in the 
House and in the Senate. That bill originally passed the Senate with 88 
votes. That conference agreement has already passed the House with 270 
votes.

  This is not a controversial bill. It makes critical investments in 
some of the most urgent needs of the American people and their local 
communities. That bill provides $195 million to replace the I-35W 
bridge that collapsed in Minnesota, an issue all of us came out on the 
floor and said we would move rapidly to take care of. It is sitting 
right here in the Senate, one step away from getting it to the 
President to be signed into law, and the Republican leadership said no. 
So they are loudly complaining about our failure to make progress.
  I would understand the actions of the Senate Republican leadership if 
they had not taken a look at this bill and realized the critical 
funding in it. Besides the $195 million for the I-35W bridge, we have 
$1 billion in enhanced highway formula funding so all our States--all 
50 States--can inspect and make repairs to their most deficient 
bridges, an issue we all agreed was important.
  We have $75 million in new housing vouchers that will shelter 
homeless veterans, including our struggling veterans who have returned 
from Iraq and Afghanistan. This is critical funding for which our 
communities and our veterans are waiting.
  It rejects hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that were 
originally proposed by the White House, cuts that would have thrown 
Amtrak into bankruptcy and made the congestion at our airports worse, 
not better.
  Our bill also includes $200 million which is urgently needed to 
provide housing counseling services to keep struggling mortgage holders 
in their homes.
  I wish to take a moment to talk about that last item, the $200 
million for housing counseling. This Nation is in the middle of a 
housing crisis. Millions of homeowners are at risk of losing their 
homes in the next few quarters as interest rates on billions and 
billions of dollars in mortgages are being adjusted upward.
  On Monday, a few days ago, the President's own Treasury Secretary, 
Hank Paulson, and his Housing Secretary, Alphonso Jackson, made 
speeches on the need for Congress to address the many steps necessary 
to minimize this crisis. Secretary Paulson complained at a national 
housing forum about the number of borrowers who were entering 
foreclosure without contacting either their lender or their mortgage 
counselor. He said:

       For this public outreach campaign to be successful, there 
     must be enough trained mortgage counselors to answer the 
     phone when homeowners call. The administration requested 
     funding for NeighborWorks America and other nonprofit 
     mortgage counseling operations in its budget.

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