[Congressional Record Volume 156, Number 96 (Thursday, June 24, 2010)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5391-S5394]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




          AMERICAN JOBS AND CLOSING TAX LOOPHOLES ACT OF 2010

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the 
Senate will resume consideration of the House message with respect to 
H.R. 4213, which the clerk will report.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to concur in the House amendment to the Senate 
     amendment with an amendment to H.R. 4213, an act to amend the 
     Internal Revenue Code of 1986, to extend certain expiring 
     provisions, and for other purposes.

  Pending:

       Reid (for Baucus) motion to concur in the amendment of the 
     House to the amendment of the Senate to the bill, with Baucus 
     Amendment No. 4386 (to the amendment of the House to the 
     amendment of the Senate to the bill), in the nature of a 
     substitute.
       Reid (for Baucus) amendment No. 4387 (to amendment No. 
     4386), to change the enactment date.
       Reid motion to refer in the amendment of the House to the 
     amendment of the Senate to the bill to the Committee on 
     Finance, with instructions, Reid amendment No. 4388, to 
     provide for a study.
       Reid amendment No. 4389 (to the instructions (amendment No. 
     4388) of the motion to refer), of a perfecting nature.
       Reid amendment No. 4390 (to amendment No. 4389), of a 
     perfecting nature.

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Montana.
  Mr. BAUCUS. Madam President, we are on the message now.
  First, I commend my colleague from Rhode Island for his efforts to 
enact legislation which will level the playing field. It is only proper 
that foreign companies that operate in the United States have the same 
ability of service of process that American companies have. I commend 
him and tell my friend from Rhode Island that at the first opportunity, 
I will work hard to include his provision in an appropriate bill so it 
can pass and be enacted into law.
  I remind my colleagues that for several weeks now the Senate has been 
working to pass this important bill that is before us, the so-called 
extenders bill. This week marks at least the eighth week the Senate has 
spent most of the week on this bill to extend current tax law and 
safety net provisions.
  This is a bill that would remedy serious challenges that American 
families face as a result of this great recession. This is a bill that 
works to build a stronger economy. Americans want that. It is a bill to 
put Americans back to work. Clearly, with national unemployment 
hovering around 10 percent, Americans want that, too.
  With this bill, we have fought to pass policies to create jobs. We 
have fought for tax cuts for businesses. We have fought for small 
business loans. We have fought for career training programs, and we 
have fought for infrastructure investment.
  We have fought to pass tax cuts for families paying for college. We 
have fought to pass tax cuts for Americans paying property taxes and 
sales taxes.
  We have fought to extend eligibility for unemployment insurance, 
health care tax credits, and housing assistance for people who have 
lost their jobs.
  As of this week, 900,000 out-of-work Americans have stopped receiving 
unemployment insurance benefits. Why? Because of the Senate's failure 
to enact this bill.
  We have fought to help States cover the cost of low-income health 
care programs so that families in need can continue to get quality 
health care.
  Unfortunately, this has been a difficult fight. I don't know why, but 
it has been difficult. Those provisions I mentioned are clearly 
provisions the American public would like.
  For months now, we have been trying to address Senators' concerns. 
Senators expressed concern about the size

[[Page S5392]]

of the bill. So we cut the total size of the bill. We cut it from $200 
billion to $140 billion. Then we cut further to $118 billion, then to 
$112 billion, then to less than $110 billion today.
  We cut spending on health care benefits to unemployed workers under 
the COBRA program. We cut spending on the $25 bonus payments to 
recipients of unemployment insurance. We cut spending on the relief to 
doctors in Medicare and TRICARE. We have now cut spending on the help 
to States for Medicaid by one-third. We have provided additional 
offsets for the package. Senators requested that.
  Since the first time the Senate passed this bill, we have sought and 
found more than $75 billion in new offsets, and the bill is now more 
than two-thirds paid for.
  We have revised the carried interest provisions in at least eight 
different ways to address concerns raised by Senators.
  We have modified the S corporation loophole closer to limit its 
effect on firms with fewer than four partners.
  We heard Senators express an interest in more spending cuts. The 
substitute before us today comes forward with additional spending cuts.
  We have fought mightily to adjust the bill to address Senators' 
concerns. But in the fight for this legislation, let's not lose sight 
of what the real fight is about. For many families, this is a fight for 
the roof over their heads. This is a fight for the food on their 
tables. This is a fight for the jobs they desperately need. And this is 
a fight for the opportunity they hope will come through.
  I urge my colleagues to support this amendment to create jobs this 
economy needs. I encourage my colleagues to support this amendment for 
the families who are counting on us to come through. I urge my 
colleagues, at long last, to pass this bill.
  Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.


                  Unanimous Consent Request--H.R. 2194

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that today at 
12:30 p.m., the Senate proceed to the consideration of the conference 
report to accompany H.R. 2194, the Iran Refined Petroleum Sanctions 
Act, notwithstanding receipt of the official papers from the House; 
that debate on the conference report be limited to 2\1/2\ hours, with 
the time equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their 
designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the conference 
report be set aside and that the vote on adoption of the conference 
report occur at a time to be determined by the majority leader, 
following consultation with the Republican leader, the Senate having 
received the official papers from the House, and without further 
intervening action or debate.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs. Hagan). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to speak as in 
morning business for about 15 minutes. It might go to 20 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                             gulf disaster

  Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, I come to the floor today to add some 
comments to the Record about this horrendous environmental and economic 
disaster unfolding in the gulf and to try to provide some additional 
perspective on behalf of the people I represent, the people of 
Louisiana. I have been proud to represent them over the last 14 years 
in the Senate, and in that capacity I have had the opportunity, on a 
variety of occasions, to speak up strongly for our neighboring States, 
the gulf coast, America's working coast--a coast that does the work of 
this country in many ways. We produce most of the oil and gas off the 
shores of our Nation. We provide a great percentage of petrochemicals 
that are relied on by men and women in every part of the world, 
including those in our own country.
  I could go on and on, from agriculture, to seafood, to navigation of 
the Mississippi River. We work hard down South, and we are proud of the 
work we do.
  We are extremely troubled, as you can imagine, by what is happening 
today. I would like to share just a few thoughts and potential 
suggestions for a way forward.
  It has been 66 days now since the tragic explosion of the Deepwater 
Horizon that unleashed one of the worst manmade disasters this Nation 
has ever witnessed. Every day you can simply turn on the television or 
many sites on the Internet and find pictures, disturbing pictures of 
that well still gushing uncontrollably into the Gulf of Mexico.
  Millions of Americans, including 105 million who call the Louisiana 
coast home, watch, in some ways helplessly, as this brown sludge washes 
up onto our beaches and into our marshes. It is not only staining our 
lands but threatening our way of life. We must move decisively.
  This is an emotional issue for me, for many people I represent, from 
the broad political spectrum of liberals to conservatives, Democrats to 
Republicans to Independents, from individuals to families, people of 
all ages. We try to debate the appropriate way forward.
  It is important for us not to lose focus that 66 days ago our Nation 
lost 11 men. More importantly, more directly, 21 children lost their 
fathers, and hundreds of families lost members, friends, and coworkers. 
They lost these men, and we will keep them forever in our memory.
  We must also remember these 11 men were just like literally thousands 
of other men and women who put on their blue jeans and overalls and 
work outside for a living on the land and on the water in Louisiana, 
Mississippi, Texas, and all over the United States, who engage in 
difficult work, and at times dangerous work, to produce what our 
country needs to operate--many of us can work in the comfort of air-
conditioning in buildings like this.
  In fact, in my State, there are more than 300,000 men and women 
working in the oil and gas industry alone. Every day, they go to work 
with the risk associated with offshore and onshore development, but 
they understand what I understand, that this country needs to produce 
more, not less, oil and gas domestically for our economy and, I would 
contend, for our environment--and I will get to that point in a 
minute--and for our national security.
  As I said on the floor of the Senate last week, I fully supported a 
thorough review of offshore drilling safety standards. Obviously, we 
need them. Not only do we need new standards, we need to enforce the 
ones we have. I have welcomed the efforts of Department of Interior 
Secretary Salazar to rewrite, reorganize, and retool an agency that has 
fallen down on the job, and in some ways been part of the disaster--in 
many ways. We now have a new agency emerging, and we most desperately 
need it.
  However, if we are going to ensure that an incident of this magnitude 
never happens again, this new agency--whatever it ends up being 
called--must train, recruit, and pay the most qualified people to carry 
out this new urgent mission. Robust oversight, greater transparency, 
strong safety standards, and high ethical standards must be maintained.
  This administration did not inherit, obviously, a perfectly well run, 
well-tuned agency. It inherited a mess. I share their desire to see it 
cleaned up, retooled, and refocused. I commend the Secretary and the 
new appointee, Michael Bromwich, whom I had the opportunity to meet for 
the first time this morning, in their efforts to do so. That is an 
important step forward and one this Congress seems to be willing to 
take, both from the Republican and

[[Page S5393]]

Democratic sides of the aisle. I am looking forward to working in a 
nonpartisan way as we strive to find the right way forward.
  But the President and his administration have imposed a very 
arbitrary and, in my view, ill-conceived 6-month moratoria on new 
deepwater drilling in the Gulf of Mexico--the only place in the country 
now where we drill in depths, and one of the few places that allows 
drilling off the coast at any depth of water. The first well was 
drilled off our coast 12 feet off the shore many decades ago in just a 
few feet of water. Now, as we know, we are drilling in thousands of 
feet and have successfully done that, safely done that, for now 20 
years--until this undescribable blowout that has occurred.
  In Louisiana, unfortunately, we are coming to terms with what a 
prolonged moratoria will mean for our families and our businesses, 
large and small, and it is not a pretty picture. It is painful, it is 
frightening, it is upsetting, and it needs to be told.
  A 6-month moratoria on all of these 33 rigs that operate in the Gulf 
of Mexico will wreak economic havoc on this region. Right now, there 
are thousands of people out of work--fishermen, oystermen, boat 
captains, recreational. They cannot fish. It is not safe. No one is 
coming down to Louisiana. They are going to Florida. They are going to 
Mississippi because there are actually beaches that are still clean and 
available for people.
  But in Louisiana, we do not have that many beaches actually. We have 
America's great wetlands. These boat captains have--I have met with 
them on many occasions. As to these people, their clients contract with 
them months in advance. They do not come down to sunbathe and take 
their kids on a few little rides here and there and then occasionally 
rent a boat. They come down to rent the boats to fish in some of the 
greatest, most wonderful fishing places in the world. They are closed 
down.

  In addition to them being closed down and not being able to work at 
all in many instances--these are small businesses that can generate 
anywhere from a few thousand dollars a month to millions of dollars a 
month, and companies worth millions of dollars--the President and the 
administration have slapped down an ill-conceived 6-month moratoria 
without any real timeframes.
  I am encouraged that just this morning--I came to the floor right 
after the energy hearing--Ken Salazar, who continues to have my great 
respect and support despite my differences of opinion with him on some 
of these issues, spoke before our committee and said that based on the 
judge's decision, with which I agree, and comments made by the 
Secretary's own experts that ``a blanket moratorium is not the answer. 
It will not measurably reduce risk further and it will have a lasting 
impact on the nation's economy which may be greater than that of the 
oil spill. . . . We do not believe punishing the innocent is the right 
thing to do''--these are not Mary Landrieu's words. These are not words 
from the congressional delegations that represent the gulf coast. These 
are words from the Secretary's own experts.
  We urge--I urge--the Secretary and the President to listen to these 
men who submitted the first report and try to find a better way 
forward.
  Marty Feldman--a judge I know well--I hold in the highest esteem. He 
is more conservative than some Members here but, nonetheless, has 
served with distinction. He said the moratorium was arbitrary and 
capricious. He said:

       [A] blanket, generic, indeed punitive, moratorium on 
     deepwater oil and gas drilling is not the way to go.

  He said:

       The blanket moratorium, with no parameters, seems to assume 
     that because one rig failed and although no one yet fully 
     knows why, all companies and rigs drilling new wells over 500 
     feet also universally present an imminent danger.

  He goes on to a well-reasoned argument that has been well published 
and well debated.
  I hope, as the Secretary said this morning, he and the President are 
trying to find the way forward that would involve reaching very high 
safety, more certification of the engineers and managers on these rigs. 
That is obvious since this looks like, in many instances, it might be 
more human error than equipment error that caused this. So I think we 
should focus on the humans in charge and try to make sure they are up 
to the task on all of these 33 rigs. That could be done well within 6 
months.
  There needs to be, in other words, some more urgency to find the 
safety level that is now being demanded by the American people, and 
rightly so. No one wants it more than the women who lost their 
husbands. They sat with me at my kitchen table just 2 weeks ago and 
said those words to me: Senator, no one in America could want this to 
be more safe than we do. But they also said: We believe the moratorium 
is wrong. We cannot stand by and not say this because our neighbors, 
the husbands of our best friends, are being laid off. People we know in 
our community are being irreparably harmed. They said: We told this to 
the President. Do you think, Senator, he will listen?
  I have assured them that the President is listening, that the 
President is a man with a great mind and a great heart. I have assured 
them that Secretary Salazar could not be a more honest broker. He has 
been beat up on both sides. The environmentalists do not think he is 
tough enough. The oil and gas industry beats him up all the time. So 
that convinces me he is probably the right person for this job.
  But this moratorium that idles these 33 rigs is dangerous, and I will 
tell you why. These rigs can move, and they will move. There is more 
oil to be found in this world. There are reserves off many coasts, and 
there is more oil than there are rigs able to drill. Since the world is 
a thirsty sponge, it just continues to need billions and billions of 
barrels of oil to operate.
  In the United States, we use 20 million barrels a day. We used 20 
million barrels yesterday. We will use 20 million barrels today. None 
of that is changing. So the world is needing this oil. There are fewer 
rigs than there is oil. They cannot and will not sit idly in the Gulf 
of Mexico while we try to decide what to do. They will leave, and they 
will not then be coming back any time soon.

  I will submit for the Record--because it really got me upset this 
morning, and it should get everyone upset who reads it--a very moving 
article in the New York Times about what is happening in the Niger 
Delta, a delta we don't pay a lot of attention to here. Why would we? 
There are just a lot of poor people who live there, and we don't 
represent them here. But in the Niger Delta, I read this morning, they 
have to put up with a spill equal to the Valdez. They put up with it, 
the size of it, every year. The mangroves that I read about--the 
mangroves I can imagine in my mind because we have them in Louisiana 
and in Florida and in places I have been--are destroyed. The swamp is 
lifeless.
  Madam President, I tell my Democratic colleagues: If you drive this 
oil drilling off our shore, you will simply drive it to places with 
greater environmental degradation than either you or anyone you know 
could probably imagine.
  I ask unanimous consent for 5 more minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Ms. LANDRIEU. That is what is going to happen. This is not Mary 
Landrieu's opinion; this is just the nature of this business. They 
don't have to stay in the gulf. They can break these contracts. They 
are doing that as I speak. There are lawsuits being filed from Houston 
to Mobile to New Orleans. This is a great boon for lawyers, a bad day 
for people, and a terrible day for our environment.
  I am begging this administration to look worldwide. We are a world 
leader. We are up to the task of finding out what happened quickly, 
getting these rigs back drilling, and setting an example for the world 
and showing some sympathy for people who are much less powerful than we 
are. I would like to hear a leader stand up and say: I am concerned 
about Niger. I am concerned about Africa. I am concerned about Brazil 
and South America and what happens off the coast, even in places we are 
not very happy with right now such

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as Venezuela or Cuba. Cuba is only 90 miles from Florida. Do you think 
we can control what Cuba does in offshore drilling? No, ma'am. All we 
can do is try to do the best we can in America, as we have done for 
decades and decades and generations and generations, and lead by 
example and show the world the technology that can work. We can make 
rational and reasonable decisions in a public arena such as this--very 
transparent, as corruption-free as possible, as rational and as 
educated as possible. That is what the world expects of us.
  I am not going to stand here and let this Congress run with its tail 
between its legs and overreact to a situation, as horrible as this one 
is. We most certainly know; we are swimming in the oil.
  I will come down several times in the next week to try to make as 
clear an argument as I can that there must be a better way forward than 
shutting down this industry so that they move to places that have less 
protection and less ability, while we guzzle most of the oil. What a 
hypocritical situation this puts us in. I don't know what to tell the 
people of Niger. I don't even know what to tell the people of 
Louisiana. I am going to think about it and come back.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.

                          ____________________