[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 49 (Monday, March 31, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S2209-S2211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               SOLVING PROBLEMS OR POLITICAL POSITIONING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, the Senate certainly has a lot of work 
to do, and we have a good stretch of time in front of us in which to do 
it. First and foremost, Americans are waiting on Congress to address 
the housing crisis and the broader economy as well. They are waiting 
for us to give intelligence officials the tools they need in the hunt 
for terrorists. They are waiting on us to confirm qualified judges. 
Farmers are waiting for a farm bill that has been in limbo for 
literally months. All of us are eager to hear next week's report from 
General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker on political and military 
progress over in Iraq.
  In all of these areas, the Democratic leadership has an option: It 
can work with Republicans to deliver help to the American people or it 
can follow the partisan path that views every piece of legislation as 
an opportunity not to solve problems but to position itself for the 
next election.
  Some on the other side are talking openly about a grand strategy for 
picking up more seats in November, but their vision seems to end right 
there. They seem to forget that once these seats are filled, people 
expect us to accomplish something. The political route, as we have seen 
time and time again, doesn't accomplish much.
  America faces urgent problems, and most people care more about 
addressing them than about anybody's elective prospects. We came 
together earlier this year on an economic growth package and had an 
accomplishment. It was a good start, but it didn't last. As the Senate 
began to address the housing slump, our friends on the other side shut 
Republicans out of the debate and offered a proposal of their own that 
was guaranteed to fail. They proposed an ill-conceived plan that will 
substantially increase monthly mortgage payments on everyone who buys a 
new home or refinances. But why would Congress want to raise mortgages 
at a time like this? There is simply no way that proposal is going to 
fly. If our friends on the other side want to help homeowners, they 
need to work with Republicans on proposals that will draw substantial 
bipartisan support.
  Republicans have put a number of sensible ideas on the table, 
including $10 billion to refinance distressed subprime mortgages and 
$15,000 tax credits for people who buy foreclosed homes as their 
primary residence--a proposal that will raise the value of homes and 
increase the stability and security of neighborhoods that have been hit 
hard by foreclosures. We have proposed new tax benefits for struggling 
businesses, new truth-in-lending requirements, expanded protections 
against foreclosure for returning veterans, and FHA reform to assist 
struggling homeowners who are trying to stay in their homes.
  Our proposals to address the current housing crisis have broad 
bipartisan support. Unlike the Democratic bill which skipped the 
committee process, the FHA reform piece we proposed passed in committee 
by a vote of 20 to 1.
  For the good of the economy, we asked our friends on the other side 
to allow a vote on these sensibly, targeted provisions. The partisan 
housing bill Democrats put forward failed. Why not give our bipartisan 
alternative, which will help homeowners without raising their 
mortgages, a chance to succeed?
  Another thing Congress can do to help the economy is to expand 
markets for U.S. goods abroad, and that is what the Colombian Free 
Trade Agreement would do. The Colombian Free Trade Agreement is more 
than an act of friendship between allies; it would also strengthen our 
economy, and it would send a strong signal to Colombia and our other 
Latin American allies that the United States stands with those who 
support strong markets and free societies in the face of intimidation 
and threats.
  Our friends on the other side can help American farmers by finishing 
the

[[Page S2210]]

farm bill. More than 3 months has passed since the Senate completed 
action on this legislation. Yet House Democrats still have yet to 
appoint conferees to put together a final product. With the short-term 
extension of current law expiring in just a few weeks, American farmers 
are about to enter the planting season without any certainty about 
legislation that significantly affects their lives.
  Turning to national security, it has been nearly a year since the 
Director of National Intelligence asked Congress to modernize our 
Nation's electronic surveillance laws. The House had a chance to make 
the necessary changes before the recess, but it chose an irresponsible 
path instead, passing an amendment to the bipartisan Senate bill that 
included none of the things the National Director of Intelligence had 
called for. Ignoring the carefully crafted Senate bill, the House 
decided it was more important to let people sue phone companies that 
stepped up when the country needed them. The clock is ticking on the 
legal authorities contained in the current temporary fix, and a burden 
has been placed on House leadership to show that it can be trusted in 
matters of national security.
  General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker will be here next week, and 
Americans are eager to hear what they have to say.
  Under the leadership of these two men, our prospects for protecting 
America's national security interests in the Persian Gulf have vastly 
improved. Last year's bold decision to launch a counterinsurgency plan 
under the direction of General Petraeus has renewed our hopes for a 
unified Iraq that can govern, defend, and sustain itself as an ally in 
the war on terror. Our men and women in uniform have protected the 
Iraqi people, scattered al-Qaida, deterred militias, and helped create 
an environment that has led to progress not only at the tactical level 
but in governing and reconciliation as well.
  Six months ago, General Petraeus proposed a plan for bringing 
counterinsurgency forces back home and transitioning their mission from 
combat to partnership and oversight. A reduction in forces is underway, 
and the Iraqi people are now preparing for provincial elections, 
hopefully this October. Thanks to the efforts of the counterinsurgency 
forces, Sunni allies now serving as sons of Iraq will have a real stake 
in these elections.
  Last week's decision by the Maliki government to go on offense 
against Shiite militias in Basra and Baghdad showed us that we have 
come a long way from the days when the Iraqi security forces wouldn't 
even show up for a fight. Now they are taking the lead in major combat 
operations, with recent offensives against the Iranian-trained Special 
Groups, al-Qaida in Iraq, and the militias.
  Next week, we will learn more about the pace of transitioning the 
mission. But with U.S. forces still in harm's way, the Senate needs to 
quickly approve the supplemental spending bill without any unrelated 
nondefense spending. It would be pointless to repeat the partisan 
battles over the supplemental that consumed so much of our time and our 
energy last year. We should set aside policy prescriptions and 
withdrawal timelines based on political calculations in Washington and 
deliver the funds our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan need.
  As we seek to help the Iraqi people stand up a stable government, we 
should not neglect our own by allowing vacancies on Federal courts to 
go unfilled. Three months into the new year, the Senate has not 
confirmed a single judicial nominee of any kind. Let me say that again. 
Three months into the new year, the Senate has not confirmed a single 
judicial nominee of any kind, and it has held only one hearing on a 
circuit nominee since September of last year. The process, it appears, 
has ground to a complete halt. This is unacceptable, it is unfair, and 
the excuses we have heard are not convincing.
  Some nominees have waited hundreds of days for a simple hearing, 
including those who satisfy the specific criteria of the chairman of 
the Judiciary Committee for quick action, such as strong support of 
home State senators. These vacancies need to be filled, especially in 
places that have been declared judicial emergencies such as the Fourth 
Circuit, where one of every three seats is currently vacant. Nominees 
for seats on the Fourth Circuit--which covers North Carolina, Virginia, 
Maryland, West Virginia, and South Carolina--are ready, well qualified, 
and they have been waiting and waiting.
  Since the committee has nearly stopped holding even simple hearings 
for circuit court nominees for the last several months, it should make 
up for lost time by holding hearings on more than one circuit court 
nominee at a time, as both Democratic and Republican chairmen have done 
in the past. That way, we can get these nominees confirmed.
  It is time our friends on the other side stop blaming others for 
their failures to act on judicial nominations. If they don't, 
regretfully, Republicans will be forced to consider other options.
  The Senate faces difficult challenges domestically and 
internationally. Conventional wisdom says we want to address them 
because it is an election year. Experience suggests some of our friends 
on the other side will prefer political efforts to bipartisan 
accomplishments. We saw signs of hope for a more responsible and 
productive path in a rush of bipartisan accomplishments at the end of 
last year and in a bipartisan economic growth bill this year, and we 
have an immediate opportunity in the work period that starts today to 
choose the better path on an issue that is vexing millions of 
homeowners.
  Knowing that public patience with partisan political games is wearing 
thin, I am confident we will seize the opportunity and deliver 
something soon for the American people. Then, hopefully, we can follow 
it up with other accomplishments. We have the potential for a very 
productive work period. Why don't we get to work and see what we can 
accomplish over the next 8 weeks.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the first indication we have to move forward 
and have a productive work period is to see if we can do something to 
help the beleaguered people who are losing their homes as we speak. We 
have the opportunity to do that tomorrow.
  For those within the sound of my voice, before we can move to a piece 
of legislation, the Republicans have to sign off on that. They can do 
it by approving what we call a motion to proceed. That motion to 
proceed failed before because the Republicans voted no on our ability 
to proceed. We need 60 votes to do that. I hope they will join with us 
to move to this housing package and work to help us come up with a good 
piece of legislation to show there must be some merit to our 
legislation.
  I have seen Senator Bond's legislation. It has most of our stuff in 
it. It is a pretty good piece of legislation. It also has some other 
things in it. It seems to me we are at a good starting point if we have 
one of the main Republican proponents of housing legislation who 
includes in his legislation much of what we want to go forward on. So I 
think that is a good start. So I hope we can do that tomorrow. If we 
move forward on the piece of legislation we have, we will finish this. 
We can do it this week and send it to the House and I think they can 
work much more quickly than we do. That would be a good indication we 
are going to work together.
  Let me say this about a couple of other things. As to the 
confirmation of judges, Josh Bolten, the President's Chief of Staff, 
and I spent a lot of time the week before we went on the Easter recess. 
We were able to accomplish a lot of good things. I don't know the exact 
number, but we were able to work through scores of Republican 
nominations the President sent forward. I think the Democrats got 5 or 
6 and the Republicans got 50 or 60. We don't have the opportunity to 
send as many names to the President as he sends to us. The President's 
Chief of Staff wrote a nice letter, which I received last week, saying 
we have established a working facility. He is assigning one of his 
people at the White House, and I have assigned my Chief of Staff. If 
there are things we cannot work out, Mr. Bolten and I will work on it 
face to face. Part of that is judges. We are going to do our best to 
work out something on judges. That is part of the entire package.

[[Page S2211]]

  Now, even Mr. Bolten would recognize the number of judges being sent 
to us has been pretty slow. But that is no excuse. We will be happy to 
move forward on nominations, generally. The White House needs a lot of 
these people, and we understand that. There has to be a give and take 
on this, as the White House showed the week before the recess, which 
Mr. Bolten and I worked on.
  So I am convinced there are a lot of things we can do. The farm bill 
is something where we also need the cooperation of the White House. The 
managers of this bill have worked very hard--the Senator from Georgia 
and the Senator from Iowa--along with the two managers of the bill, as 
it relates to finance, who have worked with their counterparts in the 
House. We need to get a little better work from the White House. We 
have basically worked out the numbers. We cut back the President's 
numbers. We are working on the offsets now. That should be something we 
can do. We need to have the White House engaged in this, but more so 
than they have been.
  The farm bill is important. I tell my distinguished counterpart that 
I heard about this farm bill during the break. I had calls from many of 
my Senators asking what can be done about this. We are trying. As 
Senator McConnell notes, Senator Chambliss, the ranking member on the 
Agriculture Committee, has worked with Senator Harkin. We are doing our 
best to work through this. I hope we can get something done so we don't 
have to extend it again. The bill expires again on April 18. We cannot 
go on without renewing this bill and/or passing a new bill. If we do 
not renew this legislation, the price of milk will basically go back to 
1949 levels. Based on that, a half gallon of milk would be about $5. So 
we have a lot of work to do.
  I appreciate the constructive attitude of the Senator from Kentucky. 
I don't agree with a lot of his illustrations, but I think it was a 
positive statement. I hope we can work something out on these and other 
issues.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kentucky is 
recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I appreciate the spirit in which the 
majority leader addressed my remarks on the housing issue. I think it 
is safe to say there is interest on both sides in moving forward. 
Whatever reservations we have on this side relate to how the minority 
will be treated once we have made the decision to move forward. This is 
something the majority leader and I will continue to discuss, as we 
have in the last few weeks.
  With regard to judges, with the best of intentions, the majority 
leader and I both came up with what we thought was a reasonable goal 
for the number of circuit judges that ought to be approved in this 
Congress based on the pattern of each of the last three Presidents, 
which had, from their point of view, the misfortune of ending their 
terms with the opposition in control of the Senate. The lowest number 
achieved in circuit judges was under President Clinton. It was 15. We 
currently have six. If we are going to have any chance of getting to 
what the majority leader and I agreed was at least a modest, achievable 
goal in this Congress, we have a ways to go. I am not blaming him for 
that. It strikes me that the Judiciary Committee simply isn't 
functioning. But it remains the goal of mine--and I hope it is still 
his goal--to meet a sort of minimal threshold of an acceptable level of 
circuit judge confirmations.
  I appreciate the attitude in which the majority leader has pursued 
that issue from the beginning of this Congress. I hope we can continue 
to work to try to get to some level that would be widely considered by 
any objective standard as a fair number in this situation.
  I yield the floor.

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