[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 13 (Thursday, January 22, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S737-S739]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
THE ECONOMY
Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, this is truly a historic week in
Washington. Those of us who were among the millions who were on the
Mall a few days ago witnessed a moment in history which I am sure we
will talk about, and future generations will refer to, for a long time.
Someone during the course of this lead-up, the few days of preinaugural
activities, said it was the third chapter in America's social history.
The first chapter was when Thomas Jefferson announced, then wrote,
that all men were created equal, endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights, but living in a time when even in his own household
there was slavery. That was the first chapter. In the second chapter,
they referred to, of course, Abraham Lincoln, who said it is worth
blood and war to fight for this right of equality and to preserve this
union dedicated to that principle. And, of course, what happened this
Tuesday was the third chapter, a graphic validation of the fact that
America has made dramatic progress toward equality.
There is so much more to do, and I am particularly honored that the
man who now leads our Nation is one whom I served with as a colleague
in the Senate, a person I encouraged to run, and a person who I think
has grown immeasurably to the position he has reached today.
America has so much faith in Barack Obama and what he can bring, but
he is the first to caution us that we face unparalleled challenges. You
have to go back 75 years to Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who came to the
Presidency in the midst of the Great Depression, when the economic
plight of the United States was even worse than today. People had lost
hope, they had lost their savings, and they had lost their jobs. There
was gloom across America. That man, with braces on his legs, staggering
to the podium, brought a new confidence to the American people. He
began a turnaround that literally took years but eventually succeeded
in restoring the faith and the economy of America.
When Barack Obama took to the podium just last Tuesday to give his
inaugural address, his message was reminiscent, telling America that we
are facing difficulties that will require our best efforts on a
bipartisan basis. We have to work together. All of the division in this
Chamber and across Capitol Hill notwithstanding, the American people
are tired of it. They expect us to come here and achieve something.
They understand the momentous challenge we face.
President Obama spoke 2 days ago of gathering clouds and raging
storms. He said we are in the midst of a crisis, and he spoke about our
Nation at war on two fronts and our economy in disrepair.
Yesterday, I think we took an important step forward in addressing
one of those challenges. It was the right, under the Senate rules, of
the minority side to ask for a rollcall on the appointment of Senator
Clinton as our new Secretary of State. I understand that and I respect
it. I believe the fact that they allowed that rollcall to be brought to
the floor in a timely basis is consistent with this new attitude that
we will not give up the traditions of Congress, the traditions of our
Government, but will understand that we face a special urgency in
dealing with issues. The vote last night on the Senate floor was 94 to
2 in favor of the confirmation of Hillary Clinton as our next Secretary
of State. I am so happy she is going to have that responsibility, and I
know she will do an excellent job.
Today, President Obama has asked us to take up a measure of similar
urgency. It is a measure known as the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. You
may have heard some of the debate on the floor, and the debate has been
an important one. I do not question those who oppose this. I understand
that they do not favor discrimination. But I have to say that I
disagree with them.
We, those of us who I believe will show a majority vote for this
measure, believe that when there is discrimination in the workplace,
whether it is in pay or age or gender discrimination, that is not
American, that is not consistent with our values, and that the person
who is wronged, the person who is the victim should have an opportunity
to come to court for justice.
The Lilly Ledbetter case is a classic illustration. This woman,
working in a Goodyear tire plant in Gadsden, AL, after 15 years,
nearing retirement, in the management ranks, came to learn she had been
underpaid for the same job the males at her establishment were being
paid more. Naturally, when she learned this, after years of doing the
same work for less pay, she believed it was unfair. I did too. Anyone
would. She took her case to court asking for compensation, asking that
the company pay for their discrimination.
The case went through the courts and eventually ended up across the
street at the U.S. Supreme Court, and they came up with a decision
which was nothing short of incredible. They said that from the first
moment when the first discriminatory paycheck was given to Lilly
Ledbetter, she had 180 days to file a claim. That overlooks the
obvious: People who work in private sector jobs don't know the pay of
the person at the next desk in a position similar to their own. It is
not published. There is no way they would know it. In this case, to
hold Lilly Ledbetter to an unreasonable standard to filing this case so
quickly after the first discrimination is to overlook the obvious. The
discriminatory activity continued beyond that first paycheck, and Lilly
Ledbetter, when she brought this case, brought it within 180 days of
the discovery of this discrimination. What we are doing through the
leadership of Senator Mikulski is to finally right this wrong, and
President Obama has asked us to send this to his desk. I hope we do it
and do it quickly.
Then we are going to shift to an even larger undertaking as we work
to address the troubles of our economy. We have to do this boldly and
quickly--no excuses. It is a grim beginning for that administration in
the fields of jobs, health care, and housing. Rarely has a new
President been immediately confronted with an economic situation so
grim.
This is just a sampling of the headlines, the job cut headlines,
across the United States of America from Washington; St. Louis;
Portland, OR; Hartford, CT; Detroit--all across the United States. We
know these stories. Americans continue to wake up to headlines like
these every day--another company decides to lay off or close.
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Then, of course, we know what this toll means to us in terms of daily
statistics. This is another one of these statistics which are hard for
us to absorb; to think that 17,000 Americans will learn today that they
have lost their job, and 17,000 tomorrow, and 17,000 the day after.
That is what happened in December--over 500,000 Americans lost their
jobs, and sadly, they think in this month of January the number may be
600,000. At the same time, 11,000 Americans lost their health care
coverage. They were told the company is in trouble, sales are not good,
the people who run the company are going to have to cut back on
benefits. Health care, one of the more expensive benefits, is one of
the first to go. Mr. President, 17,000 out of work, 11,000 lost their
health care. But then another 9,000 will go home and open the mail and
be told they are facing foreclosure, they are about to lose their home.
Think about that--17,000 losing their jobs, 11,000 losing their health
insurance, and 9,000 losing their homes. You can understand the gravity
of the economic crisis that faces us.
We are in the midst of one of the greatest economic crises since the
Great Depression. For the middle class, working Americans, the current
situation is hard to bear because they have gained so little over the
past 8 years. It is not as if you are losing a job that was giving you
a paycheck that allowed you to keep up with the pace of the cost of
living. For the last 8 years, the average American family smack dab in
the middle of the middle class has been falling further and further
behind. We know why. For a time, the cost of gasoline was up over $4 a
gallon. We know the cost of utilities has gone up, the cost of daycare,
the cost of health care, and wages have not kept pace. While some have
pronounced prosperity over the last 8 years, the reality is that for
real families facing the real world, prosperity has not been there
despite their best efforts, and they have fallen further and further
behind.
Eight years ago, we celebrated the turn of a new millennium with hope
and optimism. Most people believed they and their children would be
better off in the future. Those hopes have been shaken.
Unemployment has risen from 5.6 million people--that was 3.9 percent
in December of 2000--to over 11 million people today, 7.2 percent. That
is a doubling of the number of unemployed people over the course of the
last administration. Mr. President, 5.5 million more Americans are
unemployed today at the dawn of the 21st century.
Median or middle household income for working-age households--those
headed by someone under the age of 65--has actually decreased over the
last 8 years by $2,000 adjusted for inflation. For those in the middle
class who still have a job, workers are earning less for every hour
they contribute.
The number of Americans not covered by health insurance has increased
from over 38 million people--13.7 percent of our population--in 2000 to
over 45 million people--15.3 percent of our population--in 2007, and
the number obviously will grow when the statistics are reported for
2008. At least 7 million more Americans are uninsured than at the
beginning of the decade.
In the year 2000, we first heard the phrase ``subprime mortgage''
spoken on the floor of the Senate and around our Nation. The boom and
bust of irresponsible lending since that time has left us with a record
number of foreclosures across America. In just the last 2 years,
individual foreclosure filings have risen 226 percent.
I have looked at maps of the great city of Chicago which I am honored
to represent. Many people who travel know Midway Airport. Midway
Airport is surrounded by bungalows--which is kind of a traditional
house for the city of Chicago--neat little brick bungalows, one after
the other, that people are so proud to have. You see the backyards with
the little swimming pools, the above-ground pools, as you fly into
Midway, and the well-kept lawns. Many of these families are second or
third generation, from Ireland and Poland and all over the United
States. They come into this area because middle-class families see this
as a great place to live and work in the city of Chicago.
Then somebody showed me a map. They took the ZIP code around this
Midway Airport and they put in little red dots for every home under
foreclosure in each block. There were maybe four or five blocks that
did not have a home in foreclosure in that solid, middle-class
neighborhood in the middle of the city of Chicago. It clearly is a
situation almost out of control.
Some of the experts, such as Credit Suisse, predict that between 8.1
million and 10 million American families will lose their homes in the
next 4 years.
I will just tell you point blank, I do not think we can come to grips
with this recession, that we can really turn this economy around, until
we do something bold, dramatic, and comprehensive about mortgage
foreclosures. We have waited patiently for too long. We kept saying to
the banks: We know you are going to lose a fortune when a home goes
into foreclosure. Do the bankers want to start cutting the grass? Do
they want to start making sure the place looks good for a real estate
showing? Of course not. They are in the financial business. We say: Why
doesn't the banking business step up and start to renegotiate the
mortgages so people have a fighting chance?
I got on a plane flying back to Chicago just 2 weeks ago, and a
flight attendant said: Senator, I need to talk to you. She came over
and knelt down in the aisle next to me once the flight was underway and
said: I want to tell you my story. I am a single mom. I have three
kids, two in high school. I live in a suburb of Chicago. This is my
job. It has been tough. Airlines have struggled, wages have not
increased. But I keep coming to work because this is how we keep our
family together. I am underwater with my mortgage.
Do you know what that means? That the value of her home currently is
less than the principal balance of her mortgage. She is underwater.
She said: I am paying over 6 percent on my mortgage, and if I do not
get this mortgage interest rate lower, I don't know what to do.
Senator, what should I do?
You know, I can give her advice but not very good advice. I can tell
her: If you go into foreclosure, maybe the bank will come in and talk
to you, maybe you can renegotiate the mortgage. If you go any further
along, though, who knows. You may end up losing the house and your kids
will be out in the street.
That is the literal truth of life for many people in America. We have
to do something about that. We have waited so long for the banks to get
it together, to renegotiate these mortgages, and it has not happened.
I like Henry Paulson, our former Secretary of the Treasury. I really
do. He has been a good friend, and I know he has tried through a
crisis. But every time I bring this up to him, he says: We are going to
try to do it on a voluntary basis. But it has not worked. He set up a
plan called HOPE, and the plan was supposed to encourage banks to
renegotiate mortgages. They said: Our goal is 400,000 mortgages are
going to be renegotiated. At the end of the day, fewer than 400 were
renegotiated.
We have to do more and, sadly, we are not. I hope we address this and
address it soon.
I see the minority leader, the Republican leader is on the floor, and
I know he wanted to speak at 10, so I am going to bring these remarks
to a close by just saying this. We have to act and act quickly. We have
to act together, Democrats and Republicans. We cannot do this alone.
All Democratic votes cannot reach the magic number of 60 in the Senate
Chamber. We need to hope that some of the Republicans who understand
the gravity of this economic crisis in their own States and in our
Nation, who understand the need to move quickly--which we hear from,
basically, economists of all political stripes and backgrounds--who
stood and listened to our new President challenge us to step up and act
and act quickly--we need to hope they will join with us.
Then, in return, we have a responsibility in the majority, as
President Obama has said, to listen to constructive suggestions and
ideas, to try to put together a package that represents the best of
Democratic thinking, the best of Republican thinking. That is what I
heard then-President-elect Obama say to Senator McConnell at a meeting
we had just a few weeks ago.
It is in that spirit, with that approach, that I think we can start
to
[[Page S739]]
solve these problems. But we have to get moving on it. We have to do it
now. We have to do it with a sense of urgency.
Senator Reid, the Democratic majority leader, has said that before we
leave in the middle of February--I think the date is February 14--we
need to pass this economic recovery and reinvestment plan. That means
rolling up our sleeves and getting down to business. I know we can do
it. I know the American people expect nothing less from this Senate.
I yield the floor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). The Republican
leader is recognized.
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