[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 101 (Wednesday, June 18, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5708-S5710]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REPUBLICAN FILIBUSTERS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this month the Senate Democrats have tried 
to confront many problems which face families across our Nation. From 
lowering taxes and addressing high gasoline taxes to ensuring quality 
health care for America's seniors and providing a helping hand to 
American workers who have been unemployed for more than 6 months, time 
and time again, the Senate Republicans have refused to give us an 
opportunity to address these issues. Republican obstruction has gone so 
far in the Senate that they will not even allow the Senate to debate 
legislation anymore, refusing to admit that these important concerns 
are worthy of Senate debate.
  Yesterday, a new record was established in the Senate, one of dubious 
worth in the history of our Nation. But the Republicans have engaged 
now in 77 filibusters. The record previously for any 2-year session was 
57. We still have another 6 months to go. The Republicans have now 
broken the record for the number of filibusters.
  What is a filibuster? It is an effort to stop a bill, to stop a 
nomination, to stop debate, to make certain that the Senate will not 
engage in even debating the issues which the American people consider 
to be most important in their lives. And the Republicans have now 
broken the Senate record again with 77 filibusters.
  It may not be news that they have broken the record. We knew this was 
coming, and I am sure their goal is probably 100 or more filibusters. 
So they will go down in history as being the most obstruction-oriented 
minority in the history of the Senate.
  But this was a remarkable week. We will have had four filibusters in 
8 days. What an amazing record. Republicans must point to that with 
pride--four filibusters in 8 days, one every 48 hours. They no longer 
seem content to stop legislation dealing with gasoline prices and 
Medicare for our seniors and trying to make sure we give unemployed 
workers across America enough money to feed their families. That is not 
enough. Now they refuse to even allow us to proceed to the legislation 
to debate it. They are so frightened by the prospect of an open debate 
with deliberation and amendments, they consistently vote against even 
engaging in debate.

  In a little more than a week, the Republicans have blocked motions to 
proceed and debate the Consumer-First Energy Act, the Medicare 
Improvement Act, and the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act, not 
once but twice.
  Upon the conclusion of my remarks and the pending remarks of Senator 
McConnell from Kentucky, the pending business before the Senate will be 
the motion to proceed to the Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act. We 
tried for the second time yesterday to bring this legislation to the 
floor so we can have a debate.
  What is so controversial about this bill that the Republicans would 
filibuster it not once but twice to stop the Senate from even 
considering this bill? This bill passed the House of Representatives 
last month by a vote of 263 to 160. Thirty-five House Republicans voted 
for the measure using the Tax Code to help reduce record energy prices 
across America.
  What will this bill do? It extends expiring tax provisions that we 
need to encourage the development of sustainable, environmentally 
sensible renewable energy sources--solar, biomass, geothermal, 
hydropower, and wind.
  In my home State of Illinois and many States across the Nation, these 
tax incentives have led to the development of wind farms, generating 
electricity without pollution, providing the energy we need for our 
economy to grow without endangering the planet on which we live.
  When we said it is time to renew these tax incentives, let's make 
this part of our national effort, let's extend these tax provisions, 
create more incentives for the development of this energy, the 
development of new businesses, much needed American jobs, the 
Republicans said no. Let me be fair about that. Not all of them said 
no. Five Republicans yesterday voted to move forward on this bill, 
enough for them to say back home they are on the right side of history, 
but calculated in a way so there were never enough Republican votes to 
actually go to the measure. Five--Senators Coleman, Collins, Corker, 
Smith, and Snowe joined all the Democrats present. We had 53 votes at 
the end of the day. We needed 60.
  This is not an accident that enough Republicans crossed over to be 
able to say back home that they are doing the right thing for energy 
development, but not enough to actually move to the bill and debate. It 
has been a calculated strategy, and it has worked.
  The Republicans time and again in the Senate have stopped us from 
considering measure after measure. They are determined that at the end 
of the day, this Senate, if they have their way, will accomplish 
little. They know they were branded in the last Congress as a do-
nothing Congress. They are determined to stop us. In a closely divided 
Senate, 51 to 49, it is easy for them to hold back enough Members to 
stop us from taking up important measures for America.
  Let me tell you what this bill would have done, the bill the 
Republicans opposed and used their filibuster and their votes to stop. 
It would have extended incentives for biodiesel fuel usage. Of course, 
that uses vegetable oil to supplement diesel fuel to reduce our 
dependence on Middle Eastern oil. They voted no.
  E85 gas pumps so that ethanol would be available in more cities 
across America so we can use this homegrown fuel and have less 
dependence on foreign oil. And the Republicans voted no.
  Hybrid car purchases, a tax credit to families who buy hybrid cars, 
plug-in hybrids, for example. We know that is the wave of the future. 
We want to incentivize that market. The Republicans voted no.
  The bill would have provided $3 billion in tax credit bonds to State 
and local governments so they can take energy conservation measures 
with their infrastructure.
  It supports the creation of hundreds of thousands of good-paying 
American jobs right here at home, and the Republicans voted no.
  In addition, the bill extended the R&D tax credit which provides 
critical incentives to over 27,000 companies in America.
  And finally, this bill would have helped a lot of American families 
by lowering taxes, property tax relief. I can tell you that in my State 
of Illinois, I hear about it wherever I travel--property taxes are too 
high. People need a helping hand. But the Republicans voted no.

  We wanted to expand child tax credits for parents with young 
children, college tuition deductions for parents with older children, a 
deduction for classroom expenses for teachers, tax relief for our 
troops in combat under the earned-income tax credit, and State and 
local sales tax deductions for families who live in States that have no 
income tax--all of that tax relief for working families across America. 
The Republicans voted no. And to top it off, we did something that, 
frankly, may be new to the Republican leadership: We paid for it. We 
didn't put these tax cuts in at the expense of the American deficit. We 
didn't add to the American debt, not like this war President Bush has 
now waged for 5\1/2\ years, which he has failed to pay for, just adding 
it to the debt of our children. We paid for these tax measures by 
requiring hedge fund managers to pay taxes on compensation that is 
sitting overseas and delaying a new business tax benefit that hasn't 
gone into effect. But to protect businesses overseas and their workers, 
the Republicans voted no. They voted no when given a chance for tax 
breaks for working families and said, instead, they wanted to protect 
these businesses overseas.
  Why do they refuse to even debate this bill? Let's be honest about 
it, we are going to need their support to pass it. They are going to 
have their day in court, if the bill comes to the floor. They are going 
to be able to offer amendments and deliberate.
  Senator Baucus has proposed a substitute that would do the things the 
House would do in their bill and provide even more relief for 
businesses and families, including taking care of the

[[Page S5709]]

alternative minimum tax for another year. Why do they refuse to even 
allow these amendments to be offered?
  I have heard from some of the largest businesses in my State--Boeing, 
Caterpillar, John Deere--and they want this bill, not to mention 
smaller businesses that rely on these energy tax credits to expand 
their reach of new jobs and opportunities in my State. I know families 
in my State want to see this passed, particularly those who are 
battling with the price of gasoline, the price of utilities, and those 
with younger college-age children who would benefit from child or 
tuition credits. But the Senate Republicans have chosen obstruction 
instead--77 Republican filibusters so far, and counting.
  This isn't the only debate Senate Republicans have denied us and 
denied the American people. Last week, they filibustered our efforts to 
debate the Consumer-First Energy Act, which begins addressing the root 
causes of increasing gasoline prices. Gas and diesel prices are 2\1/2\ 
times what they were when President Bush took office, and at the same 
time the profits of the five largest integrated oil companies have more 
than quadrupled over the past 5 years, to $116 billion in 2007. Total 
oil industry profits were $155 billion. Many of us believe these oil 
companies must be held accountable. And if we don't hold them 
accountable, the prices will continue to increase. The bill that the 
Republicans stopped last week would have rolled back a $17 billion 
Federal subsidy to these oil companies. How can we possibly explain or 
rationalize taking $17 billion out of our Treasury at a time when we 
are facing recordbreaking deficits, a war that costs us $15 billion a 
month--not paid for--and giving it as a subsidy to the most profitable 
businesses in the history of America, the oil companies? I don't 
understand it. I would have loved to have heard that debate on that 
amendment. We didn't get a chance because the Republicans filibustered 
and refused to produce the votes we needed to bring this measure to the 
floor.
  We also wanted to create a windfall profits tax so that some of the 
excessive profits of these oil companies would be reinvested in America 
in clean, renewable fuels and expanded refinery capacity. The 
Republicans voted no.
  We wanted to protect consumers from price gouging. The bill would 
give the President the authority to declare an energy emergency and set 
an ``unconscionably excessive price'' limit that would be enforced so 
that consumers would be protected. Of course, the Republicans voted no.
  We wanted to set limits on oil market price speculation, preventing 
the traders of U.S. crude oil from avoiding the law and routing their 
transactions to offshore markets. Speculation is part of the reason the 
price of a barrel of crude oil is so high. Most people understand that 
if we can stop excessive speculation and manipulation, it will bring 
down the price of oil and the price of gasoline. The Republicans voted 
no.
  We want to send a clear message to OPEC that we will allow 
enforcement actions against any company that is colluding to set the 
price of oil, natural gas, or petroleum products. That is a bipartisan 
measure. Senator Kohl of Wisconsin is the one who offered it, but 
Senator Specter joined him. Senator McConnell came to the floor and 
called that provision ludicrous, in his words, and then the Republicans 
followed his lead and voted no.
  The Consumer-First Energy Act would have prevented price gouging, 
profit taking, and redirected money away from industry and into 
renewable energy and expanded refinery capacity. But once again the 
Senate Republicans preferred a filibuster to a real debate. Their 
answer to all of these issues--drill, drill, drill. We will find enough 
oil to take care of America. They ignore the obvious: The United States 
has within its grasp or reach maybe 4 or 5 percent of the entire known 
oil reserves in the world. Every day, every week, every month, every 
year, we consume 25 percent of the world's oil. We cannot drill our way 
out of this. How many times will the Republicans and the President and 
Senator John--well, sorry, I shouldn't refer to Senator McCain in this 
context--how many times will the Republicans and the President say that 
the answer to all our prayers when it comes to the price of gasoline is 
a little patch of real estate in the Alaskan Arctic National Wildlife 
Refuge--1.5 million acres--yet failing to say that it will be years 
before anything can be produced there and will have a limited impact on 
the price of gasoline?
  Last week, Senate Republicans also filibustered consideration of an 
effort to improve the quality of health care for our seniors--the 
Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act, supported by the 
AARP, the American Medical Association, and many others.
  What we are trying to do is stop an effort by the Bush administration 
to cut the reimbursement to doctors who treat Medicare patients. That 
reimbursement is to go into effect July 1. We want to make sure doctors 
continue to provide quality care to our seniors and disabled. The bill 
would have moved us also toward mental health parity by phasing out 
high copayments for mental health services, ensuring that seniors and 
those with disabilities receive Medicare. Finally, it would have made 
it easier to add preventive services to Medicare and address disturbing 
reports of abusive and fraudulent sales and marketing practices by the 
Medicare Advantage plans. These are private insurance companies, 
charging more than Medicare and making a handsome profit, which are 
being protected by many in the Senate. They should be held accountable, 
too, particularly when they engage in abusive and fraudulent practices. 
We have that looming deadline in less than 2 weeks, with many doctors 
facing a drastic cut in Medicare reimbursement, but the Senate 
Republicans used the filibuster again and said no, they would not even 
allow the Senate to debate.
  Finally, yesterday the Senate Republicans objected to the passage of 
the Emergency Extended Unemployment Compensation Act of 2008. That 
measure passed in the House 274 to 137, with 49 House Republicans--a 
bipartisan measure. When economic conditions have deteriorated in the 
past five decades, Congress has routinely provided extended 
unemployment benefits--1958, 1961, 1972, 1975, 1982, 1991, and 2002. It 
was routine and bipartisan.
  Over the first 3 months of this year, the U.S. economy has lost a 
total of 232,000 jobs, and the total number of unemployed in our 
country has grown by 1.1 million workers over the last year. The 
unemployment problem is especially severe for the long-term unemployed, 
who have been looking for work for more than 6 months. In the 1990 
recession, the long-term unemployed comprised 9.8 percent of all 
workers. In the 2001 recession, 696,000 workers were 
unemployed, representing about 11 percent. In May of 2008, there were 
1.6 million American workers unemployed for more than 6 months. That 
represents nearly 18 percent of all unemployed workers. Their 
unemployment insurance benefits are not only the right thing to do for 
these workers, they are the best thing we can do for the economy. 
Putting this money in the hands of an unemployed family means they will 
be able to pay their rent, pay their utility bills, buy clothes for the 
kids, and the necessities of life. It is money that will create 
economic growth in America.

  Sadly, the Senate Republicans said no. They believe giving 
unemployment benefits to people who have been out of work will 
discourage them from looking for work. They want to starve them into 
their next job. That doesn't make sense. It has never made sense. On a 
bipartisan basis, we have said we are going to stand by these families, 
that we are going to make sure they have food on the table and that 
they can take care of themselves until they do find that job. But the 
Republicans used their filibuster to vote no.
  I understand this morning that the minority leader may come here and 
make an attempt at a political ``get well'' card. He knows many of his 
Republican Members have come to him and said they do not like to 
continue to vote no. I think they are starting to feel the pain of 
being the filibuster party. They know they may be filibustering 
themselves right out of their Senate seats. So a unanimous consent 
request will be made. Unfortunately, it has no hope because it doesn't 
go to the substance. We had an opportunity yesterday to bring these 
measures up, and the day before. If they would have just sent over a 
half dozen or maybe

[[Page S5710]]

nine more Republican Senators, we would be debating the very bills they 
are now going to ask us to turn to.
  So I urge my colleagues on the Republican side of the aisle, don't 
become the filibuster party. Become a party that is willing to work on 
a bipartisan basis to solve our Nation's problems.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________