[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 163 (Wednesday, November 4, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S11063-S11064]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              WASTING TIME

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, what I just read is a short way of saying we 
wasted another day. With all the work we have to do, we stood and 
looked at each other yesterday--30 hours of doing nothing and the 
ability to move legislation forward. Anybody who has been watching what 
has taken place in the last 3 years knows the Republicans have become 
experts in wasting time, the American taxpayers' time, the American 
people's time.
  Yesterday was no different. Yesterday, Republicans used every trick 
in the book to slow and stall so we couldn't do important work. And 
7,000 additional people lost their ability to have a check. It is 
starting to get cold. It is getting cold in Washington; it was 40 
degrees. Maybe people can buy a coat for one of their kids, maybe they 
can make that payment on the car before it is repossessed, or maybe 
they can pay their rent before they are evicted. These people have been 
out of work for a long time, and we are trying to extend unemployment 
benefits. And it is paid for. We are not borrowing the money to do 
that. But, no, the Republicans have stalled and stalled. Now more than 
200,000 people have lost their ability to get that extra dollar they 
need. These 200,000 people need help, but Republicans can't be bothered 
with that. They are stalling, showing everybody they can stall things 
here. They are doing that.
  But I am grateful that the American people watching--two 
congressional seats were open; there were two special elections 
yesterday. They were both won by Democrats. Democrats, Independents, 
and Republicans around the country know what has happened in this body 
in recent years. Republicans are the party of no. That is why, in New 
York, a congressional district that for 150 years had been Republican 
went Democratic. The American people see what is going on in this 
Congress.
  In addition to the unemployment compensation extension being held up, 
which is paid for--not a penny of taxpayer money is being borrowed--
Republicans are standing in the way of giving businesses a tax break. 
This legislation, when we pass it, will allow businesses--big and 
little businesses--to take into consideration a tax break. If they have 
lost money in the last few years, they can get a tax break; that is, to 
carry forward a loss. They get a benefit from the loss. If they make 
money, they can set it off against the money

[[Page S11064]]

they made as a result of losses they have been going through. We are 
trying to help businesses--especially small businesses--compensate for 
the losses they have endured in recent years. Again, Republicans are in 
no rush to help them. Each day that goes by is a real hurt to small 
businesses.
  The good news is that we are making progress on health care reform. 
We look forward to receiving, in a matter of days, the CBO analysis of 
the proposals for fixing our health system that is so broken. We only 
have 1 week before Veterans Day, November 11, and 1 week before the 
Thanksgiving recess after that, then we will have only 3\1/2\ weeks 
until Christmas, and we have unemployment insurance stalled by the 
Republicans; military construction, which we are trying to get done to 
allow for construction of military bases around America and the world 
where we have installations; Commerce-Justice-Science, which is an 
important piece of legislation, stalled for weeks.
  It is interesting, we hear the Republicans come to the floor--I heard 
one of the most unbelievable statements yesterday. Senator Stabenow was 
over there, and she had a chart that showed that 85 times this year the 
Republicans have stopped either efforts to move forward on a bill or 
almost 60 times we have had to invoke cloture to stop filibusters. A 
Republican Senator came and said: Every one of those 85 was the result 
of our not being allowed amendments.
  That doesn't pass the test of a kindergartner. A number of the things 
they have held up are nominations. We have scores of President Obama's 
nominations being held up. And with Commerce-Justice-Science, they say 
they have no amendments. Interesting. They have amendments that have 
been filed, and as soon as we get cloture, they will be able to debate 
those amendments and vote on them. But, no, that wasn't enough 
amendments. Maybe on that one they needed another ACORN amendment 
because they only had one. I think that would have added up to five or 
six. Maybe that would please them, another ACORN amendment.
  Mr. DURBIN. Will the majority leader yield for a question?
  Mr. REID. Yes.
  Mr. DURBIN. I think the leader is onto something because it has been 
a full 2 weeks since we had an ACORN amendment on the floor. So it is 
clear we should move to one, which is of the highest priority of 
Republicans. I wonder if we need more ACORN amendments.
  Mr. REID. Yes, maybe we should have agreed to a couple more ACORN 
amendments.
  For those not following this, that is an organization that has done 
some tremendously good work around the country. I acknowledge they have 
some problems. That is why I agreed with my friend from Illinois, who 
called for a complete investigation of ACORN. We agree that if they 
have done things that aren't right, they should be brought before the 
necessary tribunals or administrative agencies to look at that. But 
enough is enough. We recognize ACORN is not a perfect organization, but 
how much time do we need to spend on that? I also say that with 
nominations.

  Here are things we are going to do before we have our Veterans Day 
break: unemployment, which is tied to first-time home buyers, and net 
operating loss. We are going to do military construction. We are going 
to finish Commerce-Justice-Science.
  We are going to do nominations. We are going to do Judge David 
Hamilton, Seventh Circuit, who has been waiting since April. We have 
agreed to time agreements. Do you want an hour, 2 hours, 5 hours, 10 
hours of debate? No, we don't want anything. Up-or-down vote. The 
Department of Justice--one of the key officials there has been held up 
for months, and that is Chris Schroeder. We are going to also complete 
Tara O'Toole. Here is a woman who is one of the most eminently 
qualified people in America to serve as science adviser to Secretary 
Napolitano. Her expertise is in a number of areas, including 
bioterrorism. She has written scores of articles, and she is also an 
expert in pandemics. Janet Napolitano, the Secretary, called me and 
said, ``I am desperate for this woman to come and work with me.'' The 
country is not capable of doing all the things that need to be done as 
a result of not having this job filled. Again, they won't let us vote 
on her. They won't take a time agreement. This is so important that we 
will spend 2 days debating it if we can have a vote. But that is not 
good enough. No time is sufficient.
  A 6-month highway extension--we would love to get that done so we can 
meet the demands of the winter in America and so construction can go 
forward.
  Mr. President, the American people see what is taking place. It is so 
obvious, and it is not constructive.

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