[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 10, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S10858-S10859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            ECONOMIC CRISIS

  Mr. LAUTENBERG. Mr. President, if anyone sees the quietude that is 
enveloping our Chamber, they can reasonably ask a question about 
whether we are doing anything, is any work being done, what is taking 
place. I must tell you that I have to ask the same question.
  The American people are at a point of great stress. They expect us to 
be hard at work solving a major problem facing us. I don't see the kind 
of visible stirring that ought to accompany our decisions over whether 
to get this job done. I hope that as we proceed further, we can get 
some kind of an agreement to at least let the American people know 
whether we support this idea that we provide some support for ailing 
companies that provide a lot of jobs in our society and how we can 
present economic opportunity that is so important for us.
  As we work to provide a better future for our country, it is obvious 
that we face a particularly difficult choice at this moment. An 
essential segment of the American industrial base, the U.S. auto 
industry, is at a critical juncture. These companies have been 
mismanaged, they have lacked foresight, and they have been out of touch 
with what consumers wanted. They failed to understand the demand for 
fuel-efficient automobiles with higher gas mileage and lower costs. 
They failed to provide innovative designs to encourage consumers around 
the world to buy American. Instead, they stood by like spectators at a 
sporting event while the first-place trophy was snatched away from the 
American people.
  I came to the Senate from the business community. I was chairman of a 
major company in this country, a company that now employs over 40,000 
people. One thing I learned is that you must constantly update your 
product line if you want to succeed because otherwise someone else will 
and you will lose the opportunity, you will lose the sales, and you 
will lose your credibility. I find it shocking that the leaders of 
these giant companies failed to understand this basic rule of business. 
Instead of modernizing, they chose another path. They chose to spend 
millions of dollars on high-priced lobbyists to visit with us in our 
offices, asking Congress not to push them on fuel efficiency, not to 
urge that they move ahead with more efficient cars. Now they are here 
begging for our help.
  Unfortunately, the disaster facing the big three is not an isolated 
problem. It has implications for every American. If the big three go 
under, millions of jobs could go with them. In my State alone, New 
Jersey, the auto industry employs more than 43,000 people. Thousands of 
manufacturers, suppliers, dealers, insurance companies, and small 
businesses would likely be imperiled if the automakers fall. Our 
economy could go into further shock absorbing that kind of collapse, 
especially now with the unemployment rate the highest it has been in 15 
years.
  So now we are being asked to decide whether we help General Motors, 
Chrysler, and Ford. If we agree to help them, this legislation has to 
have guarantees to protect the American taxpayers and for us to get 
this money back if we put it up at this time. For one thing, this 
cannot be free money. So it is essential that we only provide the big 
three with loans and lines of credit, not gifts, and that they have a 
clear plan to pay the money back. This relief package must also put 
strict caps on executive compensation and include an outright ban on 
big bonuses and golden parachutes for the highest paid managers. What 
is more, companies that receive funding must suspend paying any 
dividends to the shareholders. That is where these companies are. If we 
don't do something, their equity will be worthless. We have to make 
sure no dividends are paid until the taxpayers are paid back the money 
we are going to put in. In addition, they have to make a promise to 
finally work toward greater fuel efficiency.
  To make sure automakers live up to these obligations--because we 
found out we cannot rely on their promises--the President should go 
ahead and appoint a car czar, someone who is devoting full time and 
attention to the resolution of this great problem. This administrator 
must work to get the Government repaid while monitoring the companies' 
efforts to make sure they stay on a path to long-term success. That 
means the big three must be restructured to assure competitiveness, 
higher quality, profitability, improved fuel efficiency, and renewed 
market leadership.
  Doing nothing to help the big three could have catastrophic 
consequences for the job market and for American business leadership. 
However, a relief package for the big three automakers is no substitute 
for other stimulus provisions that our country desperately needs. We 
are in a severe recession, and for every month that this recession 
continues, more families fall behind, more small businesses fail, more 
life savings are lost, and more houses go into foreclosure. We have to 
find ways to change direction. We need bold strokes to get us out of 
this crisis. We need to stimulate our economy with infrastructure 
investments that will create jobs, increase energy independence, and 
get people to work quickly and efficiently. Transportation investments 
can give huge returns for the dollar. If we repair our schools and 
rebuild our crumbling infrastructure, we can create 2.5 million new 
jobs while reversing the declines we are witnessing. I mention these 
things because by doing them, we employ more people and we can be more 
optimistic as a country about our future.
  It is my hope that we can work together, all of us, Republicans and 
Democrats, energetically to meet these grave challenges. I put out a 
plea to ask our colleagues across the aisle to join with us to show the 
American people that we are hard at work, that we do care about what is 
happening, that we are worried about families being dispossessed from 
their homes, that we are worried about children who cannot afford an 
education, that we are worried about investments that will improve the 
quality of life in our society. I hope they will come around.
  I saw several of our colleagues on C-SPAN today at a press conference 
talking about why they didn't see this as something of value. Something 
of value is evident when work is being done, when the public is hearing 
a debate about this crisis, when the other side of the aisle isn't just 
being stubborn because they don't want to give the Democrats or 
whomever an advantage. We need to debate whether we can pull these 
companies out of the holes they are in, save jobs, and restore 
America's leadership in industry.
  Many in our country have lost faith as they worry about their ability 
to support themselves and their families. They look to us here in 
Washington to

[[Page S10859]]

put aside partisanship and lead the way toward recovery. I hope we can 
get on with that. I hope we can get here to the floor, work as long and 
as hard as we have to, and with urgency, to show once again that we are 
supporting the interests of the American people.

  It happens that these companies are in an obvious place where 
something terrible can happen. But what matters is that we work to do 
something that brings value to our country, value to our people. We 
have to at least consider it. I am not saying we have to pass any 
particular bill. We want to make sure the things we are concerned about 
are in there. But we have to have activity instead of stubbornness and 
an unwillingness to actively consider solutions to the problems facing 
us.
  We are a great country, America, with its abundant resources and 
strong people, willing and eager to do their share. And as their 
representatives, we can do no less. So I hope we will see some activity 
fairly soon that tells the world out there that the Senate and the 
Congress are at work trying to help solve the problems instead of 
searching for ways to obstruct solutions.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nebraska.

                          ____________________