[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 38 (Monday, March 14, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1573-S1574]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      DOING THE COUNTRY'S BUSINESS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, my thoughts and those of the entire Nation, 
and certainly every Member of the Senate, are with the people of Japan. 
The earthquake that shook that nation has made the entire world 
tremble, and the tsunami that swept over its shores has engulfed us all 
with grief.
  We are heartbroken at the images we have seen and the stories we have 
heard. We share the agony of the families who have lost loved ones and 
the anguish of those still searching for the missing.
  The earthquake, tsunami, and subsequent catastrophes have created a 
humanitarian crisis of the first order, and the United States will do 
everything we can to ease Japan's pain and help it heal. As the 
devastation and rescue efforts continue, we know Japan and the world 
will meet this tragedy with tenacity and will respond to the immense 
loss with immeasurable hope.
  This dreadful disaster is not stronger than the people of Japan's 
resolve to recover and rebuild, and it is no match for America's 
determination to help a friend in need.
  Mr. President, it is difficult to think of the Senate's business at 
such a time as this, but we must. It is difficult to think of the 
Senate's business after hundreds of thousands of lives have been 
forever changed in an instant. Every matter seems immaterial in 
comparison, and our use of the adjective ``emergency'' when discussing 
budget concerns seems so misplaced.
  But we must also focus on the business of our great country, and that 
is what the Senate will do this week. I hope both parties and both 
Houses will find the courage to come together before the weekend on a 
plan to fund the country.
  I remind my Republican colleagues that this Friday's deadline is one 
they set; we didn't. We asked for 4 weeks to work, and they demanded 2 
weeks. They asked for March 18. March 18 awaits us at the other end of 
this week, so it is time to get serious.

[[Page S1574]]

  Last week's budget votes proved what we have been saying throughout 
this negotiation: We must meet in the middle. The distance between 
Democrats and Republicans is not measured in money only. I regret to 
report that so far we remain far more divided on the willingness to 
compromise.
  Democrats have made it crystal clear that we are determined to pass a 
budget. We recognize the reality that one party alone will not reach a 
resolution without the other party's cooperation and consent. We have 
accepted and acknowledged that we need to share the sacrifice. 
Democrats are willing to find reasonable ways to do that, and we have 
offered necessary cuts that will strengthen our future rather than 
weaken it. But we are still waiting for the Republicans to do the same. 
They are pretending that last week's votes didn't happen. They are 
covering their eyes and ears to the reality that their proposal--a 
shortsighted bill the tea party and the Republicans in the House of 
Representatives continue to support--was roundly rejected in the 
Senate.
  We are still waiting for them to bring something--anything--new to 
the table. They have not done that yet. Listen to the Republican 
speeches and sound bites and you will hear no reasonable cuts, no 
serious offer, no willingness to compromise, and no sense of shared 
responsibility. You will hear no new ideas.
  We can't afford another week of these games. We cannot negotiate 
through the media, and we cannot negotiate if one side is unwilling to 
give any ground.
  We cannot keep funding the country a couple weeks at a time. How many 
times have we heard our Republican friends decry uncertainty, claiming 
it hurts job creation and worries the markets. How quickly they have 
forgotten their own advice.
  Mr. President, it is time to lead. On this point, Democrats have been 
very clear. I hope the solution is at hand. But if no budget passes--if 
we cannot keep the country running--it will be clear which side will 
bear that burden.
  This week, we will also start debating another jobs bill. We did the 
FAA bill, the patent bill, and we are told by the experts that is 
almost 600,000 jobs. The bill we are going to take up now will help 
small businesses do what American businesses do best: imagine, 
innovate, and invent.
  Our bill that we will soon discuss will support a research and 
development program that has helped tens of thousands of small 
businesses create jobs and shape the future since President Reagan 
started the program three decades ago.
  These investments work. They have helped get new ideas off the 
ground--everything from the electric toothbrush to a satellite antenna 
that helped our first responders in Haiti, to technologies that keep 
our food safe and our military's tanks from overheating in the desert.
  One company in Carson City, NV, has used this small business 
innovation program's support to create technology that helps 
firefighters reach people on the highest floors of burning buildings. 
Another Nevada company from Henderson has developed an advanced 
rechargeable battery that our troops are using in the field. There are 
success stories such as this in every State because of this legislation 
that was enacted initially almost 30 years ago.
  Small businesses are the laboratories of visionaries who create jobs 
and cultivate ideas. We, in turn, must help these businesses grow and 
succeed. That is what this bill will do.
  Finally, let me say something briefly about gas prices. This budget 
debate has shown a stark contrast between our Nation's serious 
challenges and the lack of bipartisan agreement on serious solutions. 
The same is true when it comes to energy.
  Drivers across the country are watching gas prices go up and up. They 
are worried about how expensive it is to drive to work in the morning 
or to pick up their kids from school or just to get to the grocery 
store and back. It is a serious challenge. But I am disappointed that 
the Republicans refuse to join us in offering a serious solution.
  We know why gas prices are going up. First, the Middle East nations 
from which we import the vast majority of oil are in turmoil. That 
hurts production and exports. Second, OPEC and greedy investors control 
a widely speculative market. Third, big oil cannot quench its thirst 
for record profits, and it will pursue them at any cost to the 
consumer.
  The Republican reflex is a replay of the same script we have seen 
time and time again. The Republican reflex is to demand more drilling, 
as if that will instantly ease the price at the pump. It is an easy 
argument to make. It will nicely line the pockets of their friends in 
big oil. It sounds simple, but as a solution to high gas prices, it is 
plain fiction.
  Here is a little-known fact: The United States produced more oil in 
2009 than in any year since 2003. So for all of the rightwing's finger-
pointing at President Obama, it is worth noting that we have drilled 
more oil since President Obama has been in office.
  In fact, when President Bush was in the White House, field production 
of crude oil dropped every single year. In his last year in office, 
prices and oil company profits rose to record highs. So let's retire 
the tired talking point that President Obama is sitting on the 
solution.
  In fact, it is those same big oil companies that are quite literally 
sitting on that oil that Republicans demand. Big oil is sitting on more 
than 60 million acres of Federal land and water that they have leased 
and have a right to drill on. That means nearly 20 percent of our 
Nation's oil refining capacity sits idle. They have shown more interest 
in making profits than in making oil.
  Let's pretend for a minute they did do the drilling. Even if big oil 
drilled on all of its offshore leases, it would have no impact on the 
price of gasoline during the whole next decade. By 2030, it might lower 
those prices by 3 cents a gallon. That is not my calculation; that 
comes from the Energy Information Agency.
  Let's not forget the big picture: The U.S. consumes nearly 25 percent 
of the world's oil, but we have less than 3 percent of the world's oil 
reserves, and they are rapidly declining. We are addicted to oil and 
are at the mercy of big oil and OPEC for its price.
  Instead of shortsighted straw men, let's use the alternatives we have 
at home, such as solar, wind, and geothermal energy, which are abundant 
in places such as Nevada. Let's encourage these investments, not cut 
them as the Republicans' budget plan proposes. Their budget plan would 
drastically affect the ability to do more with renewable energy.
  These renewable energy sources are cleaner for the environment, wiser 
for our national security, and more stable for our economy. Best of 
all, they are made in the U.S.A. and will create jobs in our country.

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