[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 25 (Thursday, February 25, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Page S816]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             OFFSETTING THE UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT EXTENSION

  Mr. BUNNING. Mr. President, it has been a long night. It is called an 
ambush. That is what happened. The consent that I was assured of was 
going to be that the Senator from Illinois offer the same--I am going 
to get it right--30-day extension without an offset. He was going to 
offer it, and I was going to have a chance to object. We weren't going 
to stand around for 3\1/2\ hours debating the issue. That is the 
understanding I had with the leader of the Democrats.
  Now, I don't know what I have for tomorrow. I have been assured that 
the Senator from Illinois will offer the same amendment tomorrow 
morning, and I will have a chance to object, if I so choose. But I want 
to assure the people who have watched this thing until a quarter of 12, 
I have missed the Kentucky-South Carolina game that started at 9 
o'clock. It is the only redeeming chance we had to beat South Carolina, 
since they are the only team that has beat Kentucky this year. All of 
these things that we have talked about and all the provisions that have 
been discussed, the unemployment benefits, all these things, if we had 
taken a longer version of the jobs bill that was mutually agreed on, a 
bipartisan bill that Senator Baucus and Senator Grassley agreed on, 
that the Senator from Nevada, the leader withdrew his support from and 
brought his own narrowly scoped bill to the floor, $10 billion was not 
paid for, $5 billion was--so we have $10 billion immediately after we 
passed pay-go last week, so we have a $10 billion bill we talked about 
early on that just passed and now we have an extension--by the way, the 
Baucus-Grassley bill was totally and completely--it is debatable, 
according to the Senator from Illinois, but it was paid for--CBO said 
it was paid for, but at least that is what Joint Tax said, too, because 
I happen to be on the same committee with those two gentlemen--we would 
not have spent 3 hours-plus--almost 3\1/2\--telling everybody in the 
United States of America that Senator Bunning does not give a damn 
about the people who are on unemployment; the doctors whom I represent 
that I did not want to extend SGR; all of the other things--COBRA, 
flood insurance, small business loans, and small business provisions.

  I feel sorry for the people in Kentucky who live in east Kentucky who 
may lose their Satellite Home Viewer Act for a day or two because they 
will miss all those Senate commercials that are going on. I know how 
they desperately want to watch those, but if they do not have cable, 
they will not be able to do it.
  But this debate could have been completely changed had not the other 
side rammed through a bill, a partisan bill, over a bipartisan bill. 
You cannot preach bipartisanism and practice partisanship. I do not 
give a darn how good you are at conning people, people see through it. 
If you think I am kidding, go into your State and ask. The American 
people understand what is going on up here. That is why the Congress 
and the Senate have a 30-percent approval rating. Even the President of 
the United States is higher than that, and his is not good because it 
is below 50 percent.
  But I have served in this body and over in the House--I have not had 
as long; I have had 2 years shorter than the House service of the 
Senator from Illinois and 2 years shorter than the Senator's Senate 
service; so I have spent 12 and 12, 12 years here and 12 in the House--
and we are not conning the people in the United States about anything. 
They know what is going on. That is why they are madder than heck. They 
are tired of Senators who talk out of both sides of their mouths. They 
are tired of people who have been appointed to positions who come 
before the Congressional committees and do not speak the truth. If you 
think the Tea Party people are crazy, get them involved in your Senate 
race or get them against you when you are running.
  Remember now, this all could have been changed had not the leader of 
the Senate decided that a bipartisan compromise jobs bill was not as 
important as his partisan jobs bill that just passed right before all 
this debate.
  I just want to tell the people who have watched--and I doubt if there 
are many right now--that I am as interested in all those things I have 
objected to because of no offsets as the people who have spoken on the 
other side of the aisle or my good friend from Tennessee or my good 
friend from Alabama.
  This body should be and can be better than it has been. In my 24 
years of service, I have never seen the Congress of the United States 
perform as badly as we are performing presently. And it shows up. 
Bipartisanship means input from both sides--not talking about it, doing 
it. That is the whole difference in what we have had here tonight. We 
did not even have to have this debate. Thank you.

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