[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 143 (Wednesday, September 10, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8226-S8227]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--H.R. 6532

  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Finance 
Committee be discharged and the Senate proceed to the immediate 
consideration of H.R. 6532, the highway trust fund bill, under the 
following agreement: that the Baucus amendment at the desk changing the 
enactment date be agreed to and the only other amendments in order be 
the Gregg amendment on budget discipline and the Coburn on nonessential 
projects, the text of which is at the desk, with 30 minutes of debate 
on each amendment and 1 hour on the bill equally divided in the usual 
form. I further ask unanimous consent that upon disposition of the 
amendments and following the use or yielding back of the time, the 
bill, as amended, be read a third time and the Senate proceed to a vote 
on passage without any intervening action. I further ask unanimous 
consent that no points of order be waived by virtue of this agreement.
  So the maximum amount of time that would be involved here would be 2 
hours, and then there would be a vote on final passage.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, the one thing 
I am not going to do is get into a debate on the Senate floor with the 
Senator from New Hampshire on the rules relating to the budget. He 
knows them inside out and upside down. The only person I know who is 
qualified to debate him on these issues is Senator Conrad. So his 
amendment is something I am not going to discuss at all because, 
without in any way demeaning myself, I am not capable of doing that.
  But I can say a few things about the Coburn nonessential projects 
amendment. My friend, the junior Senator from Oklahoma, has held up 
scores of bills. His definition of nonessential is unique to him. For 
example, we all know--we have been through it before--that he has held 
up the Lou Gehrig bill, which would allow a registry to be set up so we 
could start doing research on this dread disease that is killing people 
as we speak. The Senator from Oklahoma has held up the Christopher and 
Dana Reeve Paralysis Act, which is so important to people who are 
paralyzed. Postpartum depression--I don't know if anyone has had this 
in their family, situations where this disease has reared its ugly 
head. It is very severe. A woman has a baby, and following the woman 
having a baby, she becomes emotionally unstable and needs help. We need 
to do research on this to try to find out what we can do to alleviate 
this very serious problem. The Senator from Oklahoma has held that up. 
Conquering childhood cancer--held up. Breast cancer research was 
stopped by Senator Coburn. The Emmett Till Unsolved Crimes Act--
stopped. Child pornography prosecution--stopped. Enhancing child 
pornography prosecution--stopped. Funding victims for torture--stopped.
  So, Mr. President, I have great respect for my friend from New 
Hampshire, but the President of the United States and his Cabinet 
officer, the Secretary of Transportation, called me personally to say 
they needed this legislation done Monday. They have said they want it 
done Monday. They want it done now. All 50 States are facing a highway 
funding crisis if we don't get this bill to the President's desk 
immediately. His Transportation Secretary, Mary Peters, after opposing 
our efforts for months to do this, has stated that the crisis has 
become so severe that the bill needs to be on the President's desk no 
later than Friday of this week. The Department of Transportation has 
told us that by this Thursday, States will be reimbursed to the tune of 
62 cents on the dollar. That will mean immediate layoffs, immediate 
terminations of existing contracts.
  We don't have time for debating frivolous amendments. The amendment 
my friend talks about is one the President wants and can be completed 
just like that. We need to get this done. We need to pass the bill now 
with an immediate implementation date so that our Governors and our 
highway workers will know they will have the Federal funds they are 
owed. Anything short of that is playing Russian roulette with our 
economy.
  Mr. President, it speaks volumes that we are here, as we should be, 
talking about how much money $8 billion is. Keep in mind that we want 
to take that money and put it in the highway trust fund to keep jobs, 
to keep people from being laid off, when yesterday it was announced by 
the administration that we are going to have the highest deficit in the 
history of our country this year. Where is President Bush when we have 
been talking about these deficits for such a long time?
  So, Mr. President, with all due respect to my friend, the senior 
Senator from New Hampshire, I object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, might I inquire of the majority leader----
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The time of the Senator from New 
Hampshire has expired. The Chair is informing him of that. This is the 
Republican time.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to proceed for 2 
minutes to enter into a dialog with the majority leader and that it not 
affect the 15 minutes that has been reserved for the Senator from 
Texas.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. GREGG. Might I inquire of the majority leader, 2 days ago, the 
majority leader--yesterday--proposed a unanimous-consent request, and I 
didn't note in that request that he had a recorded vote involved. Also, 
if I heard his statement correctly, if the Senator from North Dakota 
were to agree to my amendment, would he be willing to place it into 
this amendment?
  Mr. REID. No. Mr. President, what I said is that I am not going to 
debate these very complicated issues relating to budgetary matters with 
the Senator from New Hampshire. I said the only person who I think is 
as knowledgeable of the budgetary provisions of the law and precedents 
here in the Senate is the Senator from North Dakota. So I have every 
belief that the Senator from North Dakota is not going to come and do 
this, and I have an even stronger belief that the Senator from North 
Dakota would not agree to what the Senator suggests.
  Mr. GREGG. Well, I suspect the Senator knows the position of the 
Senator from North Dakota well.
  Mr. REID. I would also say this, Mr. President: I would be happy to 
propound a unanimous-consent request. My request, which I have done on 
two separate occasions--Monday and Tuesday, and now it is Wednesday--
called for passage by unanimous consent with no rollcall vote. I would 
be happy to change that so that we have a rollcall vote on this. That 
rollcall vote would be scheduled forthwith.
  Mr. GREGG. Mr. President, I would like to talk to the majority leader 
about that.

[[Page S8227]]

  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas is 
recognized under a previous order.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I would request I be notified when I have 
used 12 minutes.
  Mr. President, I wish to join my colleague from New Hampshire in 
raising some alarm--not intemperate, not hysterical alarm, but alarm 
nonetheless--about the recent reports that the Federal deficit has now 
risen in excess of $400 billion. Of course, what that means is that the 
Federal Government continues to spend money it does not have, and I 
think the American people are rightfully concerned that we are on a 
course of significant fiscal irresponsibility for which a tremendous 
price is going to be paid by our children and grandchildren.
  The Senator from New Hampshire mentioned the fact that here we are in 
September, and this Congress, under the Democratic control conferred 
upon them in the last election, has yet to pass a single appropriations 
bill. I know that in the blame game--which in Washington, DC, is a 
world-class sport--our colleagues on the other side of the aisle like 
to point to the President of the United States as the person 
responsible for the high budget deficit. But the fact is that the 
President can't appropriate a penny of money. The President does not 
have that authority under the Constitution of the United States. Only 
Congress can appropriate money, and Congress is the one that should 
bear the responsibility for this tremendous state of fiscal neglect and 
irresponsibility that brings us here today.
  We also know that in this election season, Senator Obama, our 
colleague from Illinois, has already proposed $350 billion in new 
Federal spending. The $400 billion deficit apparently is not enough to 
satisfy Senator Obama. He wants to spend $350 billion more in new 
spending. And these are not on existing spending programs, this is new 
spending. Over 5 years, his proposals would cost almost $1.7 trillion. 
Well, I have to tell you that in the 5 weeks I was back in Texas 
traveling the State and listening to my constituents, the last thing 
that was on their to-do list for us here in Congress was to come up 
with new ways to spend their money. What they wanted was for Congress 
to accept the responsibility that goes along with the privilege of 
holding the offices we hold and to actually do something about the 
problems that confront our Nation when it comes to fiscal 
irresponsibility.
  It is a troubling sign that our deficit has ballooned from $161 
billion to more than $400 billion. Yet what do we find out yesterday or 
the day before but that the Federal Government is now going to have to 
take over, in essence, Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. This move could 
potentially cost taxpayers as much as $200 billion more on top of the 
$400 billion deficit.
  Since the 2006 election, Democrats have been in control. And this 
year alone, spending has increased by 8.3 percent. Now, I don't know 
any business, I don't know any family who increased their spending 8.3 
percent from last year to this year. Only the Federal Government--
which, of course, prints money, which is then added to the deficit and 
the bill passed on to our children and grandchildren--only the Federal 
Government could get away with that.
  Regarding the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac debacle, no one actually 
knows how much this bailout is going to cost the American taxpayer. I 
have very serious concerns whether the poor investment decisions of the 
CEOs and the shareholders should be guaranteed by the paychecks of 
taxpayers.
  As a matter of fact, I think they should not be. While they were 
granted a backstop against catastrophic losses, certainly the taxpayers 
were not there to share in the profit during the heyday of those 
Government-sponsored enterprises. And the most disturbing to me is that 
the collapse of Fannie and Freddie was, in all likelihood, contributed 
to by corrupt actions of its corporate officers.
  As a matter of fact, in May of 2006, a report by Fannie Mae's 
oversight authority, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise 
Oversight, noted that:

       By deliberately and intentionally manipulating accounting 
     to hit earnings targets, senior management maximized bonuses 
     and the executive compensation they received at the expense 
     of shareholders.

  Now, there was an investigation into these corrupt practices. But, 
amazingly enough, there were no criminal charges pursued, only civil 
fines against the top three corporate officers. So while three 
corporate officers overstated Fannie Mae's earnings by approximately 
$10.6 billion, they have been given a slap on the wrist and no real 
sense of accountability, no accountability in any sense of the word.

       We know they contributed to what ultimately happened by the 
     Treasury Secretary using the power Congress conferred in him 
     to essentially take over and bail out these two enterprises.

  I have written a letter to the Attorney General of the United States 
asking him to conduct a criminal investigation into the activities of 
the corporate officers and anyone else who may have contributed to the 
overstatement of assets on the books of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and 
to make sure a thorough criminal investigation is undertaken and that 
those responsible for violating any of the criminal laws of the United 
States be held accountable.
  Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that this letter to the 
Attorney General be printed in the Record after my remarks.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Nelson of Nebraska.) Without objection, it 
is so ordered.
  (See exhibit 1.)
  Mr. CORNYN. What the American people want in Washington is 
accountability. And what they see is dysfunction and no accountability. 
If there is one thing I heard from my constituents in Texas as I was 
there during the month of August is that no one is happy with what is 
happening in Washington, in Congress in particular, not Democrats, not 
Republicans, and certainly not me.
  I think to see, for example, a $400-billion-plus deficit, a bailout 
of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that is going to cost probably somewhere 
on the order of $200 billion, and then to hear Speaker Pelosi in the 
other body talk about a second stimulus bill which is going to, of 
course, increase Government spending, spending money we do not have and 
pass that debt along to our children and grandchildren, I wonder 
whether Congress has lost leave of its senses entirely, because there 
seems to be absolutely no recognition of our fiscal responsibility 
here. I point to the fact that there has actually been an effort to try 
to figure out how to eliminate wasteful spending projects. The Office 
of Management and Budget has done a review of about 1,000 Government 
programs and actually concluded that about 22 percent of them were 
either ineffective or else they could not tell whether they were 
effective.
  In other words, out of 1,000 Government programs chosen by the Office 
of Management and Budget, 22 percent were either found ineffective or 
else it was impossible to say whether they were effective. I do not 
know which is worse, whether they are ineffective or whether you do not 
have the information to tell one way or the other.
  What Congress needs to do as it sets about spending more money is not 
grow the size of Government and raise taxes or else pass the bills down 
to our children and grandchildren, Congress needs to start cutting 
ineffective programs. That is why I have introduced a bill that would 
create a sunset commission like the sunset commission in many States, 
including mine, which would actually periodically review Federal 
Government agencies and programs and cut wasteful or ineffective 
programs.
  That is the kind of commonsense, practical, bipartisan solution the 
American people are crying out for, but apparently in vain, because 
Congress persists down this road of fiscal irresponsibility, and there 
is no apparent end in sight.

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