[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 18 (Tuesday, February 5, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S623-S624]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
ECONOMIC STIMULUS
Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday and again this morning we heard
some remarkable statements from our Republican colleagues that matters
within the stimulus package are pet projects. Later, after that
statement was made, we had another Senator come and say that they were
Christmas tree ornaments. Then we had another Republican come this
morning and say the stimulus package is certainly not needed. One of
the Senators said unemployment benefits are totally unnecessary and
that all it will do is increase unemployment. I am not making this up.
This is what they said.
Now, we heard the distinguished minority leader, Senator McConnell,
come to the floor with a statement that is simply untrue. He said:
If Americans are wondering why their checks aren't in the
mail, they can find it in last week's news clips.
Everyone knows--if they don't, they should know--that no matter how
the debate turns out, no one's check is going to be held up. Any
stimulus plan--whether it is the House version standing alone as it now
exists or the Senate Finance Committee version, which I favor strongly,
or a combination of the two--would calculate rebate checks on the 2007
income tax returns. That is basically the only way you can do it. Taxes
are not due until April 15. That is the way it always is. That is more
than 2 months from today. So everyone should know that the checks
aren't in the mail tomorrow. The only way it can be done is based upon
the 2007 return, except for some people, and that is a very small
minority. So let's not confuse or concern the American people with
claims that aren't based on facts. Perhaps the Republicans don't
understand the timeframe of the stimulus package. If they do, it should
be clarified.
Now, what are some of the other things we have heard from our
Republican colleagues? One suggested that we ought not to do anything
to stimulate the economy. I talked about that. He said we shouldn't
provide any help at all to the millions of Americans struggling to pay
their bills and feed their families. Republican Senators have suggested
that sending stimulus checks to 21.5 million seniors on fixed incomes
is a pet project, a Christmas tree ornament; that providing assistance
to help struggling Americans pay their heating bills through the Low
Income Home Energy Assistance Program is a pet project or a Christmas
tree ornament. I believe many Republicans--Republicans--could not
disagree more strongly with those statements.
The stimulus package sent to us by the House of Representatives last
week, as we have said from the very beginning, is a good start. I was
part of a program to suggest the House should go first. There was some
talk that we should try to get the two bodies together and do that. The
way the Senate works, it would have taken too much time. Their rules
are different from ours. So I said to go ahead and do it, and when they
completed it, I gave them all the applause I could. I thought it was an
important thing that they did that. But our job is to take the bill
from the House and make it stronger.
The Republican leader and others have said this morning that working
on bipartisan improvements is ``playing politics.'' I believe it is our
constitutional obligation. It is how the Founding Fathers envisioned
this country working. It is how they envisioned the legislative branch
working.
But soon, Senators will have a chance to vote on the Senate Finance
Committee's bipartisan plan. It will either be tomorrow, or it will be
Thursday. Based on the House plan, it makes several improvements, the
Baucus-Grassley package.
The Finance Committee package sends stimulus checks to roughly 21.5
million senior citizens who would get nothing at all from the House
bill. Give them the money, and they will spend it.
The Finance Committee package sends checks to 250,000 disabled
veterans who were left out of the House plan. Give them the money, and
they will spend it.
The Finance Committee package extends unemployment benefits for those
who have lost their jobs in the economy. To suggest, as has been done
here on the floor, that extending unemployment benefits will make
unemployment worse? We have people who are no longer counted as being
unemployed because they have been off the rolls so long. The House bill
doesn't take care of unemployment benefits. Economists tell us that it
is the single most effective way to stimulate the economy.
The Finance Committee package is business-friendly. It gives small
businesses greater ability to immediately write off purchases of
machinery or equipment. It helps larger businesses with ``bonus''
depreciation or an extended carryback period for past losses to recoup
cash for future investments. It gives them a tax break, and they will
spend it.
Realtors are in town. They come every year. Homebuilders don't come
usually this time of year, but they are here now because this provision
is so special to them.
Without exaggeration, the States of California, Florida, Nevada, and
Michigan are in big trouble. Other States are in trouble also because
of their housing crisis. The Finance Committee package addresses the
housing crisis in a number of ways, but one is including mortgage
revenue bonds to be used by the States to refinance subprime mortgages.
That is very important. That is why the homebuilders are here en masse
today.
The Finance Committee package includes an extension of energy
efficiency and renewable energy incentives to create jobs, expand the
clean energy industry, save consumers money on their energy bills, and
help begin to stem the tide of global warming.
I will also offer an amendment that we can and should all support.
First, the House-passed bill's language on housing will be included in
this package that we will vote on. I don't know who could object to
that.
This amendment will increase the conforming loan limits for Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, as well as the loan limits for FHA-backed
mortgages, which will allow more homeowners to refinance and will
reduce mortgage interest rates in virtually every part of the country.
Second, there is money to help low-income Americans heat their homes,
through the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP.
This is important because it allows people to not have to choose
between food, medicine or heat. So let's--while we are talking about
heat--leave the overheated rhetoric aside and work on passing this
legislation. This is important. We should do this.
Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to
invoke cloture on the amendment to H.R. 5140, which I have described,
which contains the Finance Committee language on LIHEAP funding, occur
on Wednesday, February 6 at 3 p.m., with the hour prior to that time
equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their
designees.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Casey). Is there objection?
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, it has
never been our desire to delay consideration
[[Page S624]]
of the House-passed stimulus package. The other side has made it clear
they will have some package of changes. Those changes were discussed
last week and, evidently, there was a decision to put a different
package together. As I mentioned earlier this morning, we got that
package last night. It was, apparently, a work in progress.
What I am going to do is ask the leader to modify his request. I know
the senior Senator from Illinois said earlier today--or suggested that
maybe people on this side don't support seniors or disabled veterans.
So I will offer a request of the majority leader to modify his request
so we do not have further delay.
Therefore, I ask unanimous consent that the majority leader's
unanimous consent request be modified so that we proceed to the bill
today--not tomorrow or Thursday but today--and that we have a cloture
vote today on the amendment we received last night--the one to which
the leader's request refers; further, if cloture is not invoked, that
we proceed immediately to a vote on the Republican amendment that we
will file at the desk; finally, that the Senate then proceed to a vote
on passage of the House bill, as amended, if amended.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object. I hope
everyone within the sound of my voice understands how unfair and
senseless the request is by my friend. We had discussions on the floor
yesterday. The minority whip recognized that Senator McCain, Senator
Obama, and Senator Clinton are not going to be here today. It has been
very clear that I told them I needed an evening to get them here. If I
tell them they have to be here tomorrow, they will be here tomorrow.
Everybody knows this request by my friend is without foundation.
The Republicans--all 49 of them--are going to have to vote on the
Senate stimulus package. They have to vote on that. Therefore, I
object.
Quorum Call
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll, and the following Senators
entered the Chamber and answered to their names.
[Quorum No. 1 Leg.]
Carper
Casey
Durbin
Isakson
Kyl
McConnell
Reid, Nevada
Tester
The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is not present.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move that the Sergeant-at-Arms be
instructed to request the attendance of absent Senators, and I ask for
the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on agreeing to the motion of
the majority leader. The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the clerk
will call the roll.
The legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from Indiana (Mr. Bayh), the
Senator from Delaware (Mr. Biden), the Senator from New York (Mrs.
Clinton), the Senator from Hawaii (Mr. Inouye), the Senator from
Massachusetts (Mr. Kennedy), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr.
Kerry), the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Lieberman), the Senator from
Illinois (Mr. Obama), and the Senator from New York (Mr. Schumer) are
necessarily absent.
Mr. KYL. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator
from Kansas (Mr. Brownback), the Senator from North Carolina (Mr.
Burr), the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), the Senator from
South Carolina (Mr. Graham), the Senator from Arizona (Mr. McCain), and
the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Wicker).
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber
desiring to vote?
The result was announced--yeas 73, nays 12, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 6 Leg.]
YEAS--73
Akaka
Barrasso
Baucus
Bingaman
Boxer
Brown
Bunning
Byrd
Cantwell
Cardin
Carper
Casey
Chambliss
Cochran
Coleman
Collins
Conrad
Corker
Crapo
DeMint
Dodd
Dole
Dorgan
Durbin
Enzi
Feingold
Feinstein
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Hutchison
Isakson
Johnson
Klobuchar
Kohl
Landrieu
Lautenberg
Leahy
Levin
Lincoln
Lugar
Martinez
McCaskill
McConnell
Menendez
Mikulski
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Pryor
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Salazar
Sanders
Sessions
Shelby
Smith
Snowe
Stabenow
Stevens
Sununu
Tester
Thune
Vitter
Voinovich
Warner
Webb
Whitehouse
Wyden
NAYS--12
Alexander
Allard
Bennett
Bond
Coburn
Cornyn
Craig
Ensign
Grassley
Inhofe
Kyl
Specter
NOT VOTING--15
Bayh
Biden
Brownback
Burr
Clinton
Domenici
Graham
Inouye
Kennedy
Kerry
Lieberman
McCain
Obama
Schumer
Wicker
The motion was agreed to.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. A quorum is present.
The majority leader is recognized.
____________________