[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 194 (Friday, December 16, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8693-S8694]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           UNRESOLVED ISSUES

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I hope we are drawing to a close. We are 
not certain; there are still some unresolved issues. But the Omnibus 
appropriations bill is moving forward, and it will fund our government 
for the remainder of this fiscal year. It has been a long and arduous 
process.
  We started by passing three appropriations bills in the Senate, then 
when we tried to call the next three we ran

[[Page S8694]]

into opposition. So the Appropriations Committee, on which I serve, had 
to sit down and try to craft nine separate spending bills and put them 
together into one. It was a long and involved and difficult process 
with the Financial Services Subcommittee which I chair.
  Included in that committee jurisdiction are the Securities and 
Exchange Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. These 
are the two government agencies responsible for watching Wall Street 
and the major financial institutions markets across America. We are 
doing our best to not only restore America's confidence in some of 
these institutions that have been shaken by the recession but also to 
make certain it never happens again. There is resistance, primarily 
from the banking community and some financial institutions that don't 
want regulation even after the embarrassing failures of the last 
recession and the need for a Federal Government bailout.
  We need to make certain that at the Securities and Exchange 
Commission and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission there are 
adequate funds for them to do the job. I will tell my colleagues 
honestly that the underfunding of the Commodity Futures Trading 
Commission is a serious mistake--serious. MFA Global has been the 
subject of repeated hearings on Capitol Hill as to what went wrong that 
led to the eighth largest bankruptcy in the history of the United 
States. Innocent people across America and the world have lost money. 
Some of them have lost their savings because of wrongdoing by someone--
we still don't know who. But the agency responsible for monitoring this 
activity, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, is facing a 
modest--almost immodest--increase in appropriations this year when they 
desperately need more.

  This is an agency which had a budget of about $200 million in the 
last year. The administration had asked for $300 million for this year. 
We will be lucky to come up with anything in the range of $215 million. 
That is a 7- or 8-percent increase in an agency which desperately needs 
more not just for personnel--and they need the best professionals--but 
also for computer technology to keep up with the volume of trades 
taking place and to monitor activity so as to avoid embarrassment and 
exploitation.
  This notion by many on the other side of the aisle that we can starve 
these agencies and somehow end up with a stronger economy is completely 
upside down. The strength of the American economy, whether we are 
talking about Wall Street or the Chicago Mercantile Exchange or the 
Chicago Board of Options Exchange, is in the fact that we are guided by 
the rule of law. We encourage and put into law standards of 
transparency, and we have oversight that is adequate to the job. This 
year's appropriations bill falls short of that mark.
  I am also troubled by other provisions in this bill again this year 
considered by my subcommittee. Too many Members of Congress, especially 
in the House of Representatives, clearly have missed their real calling 
in life. What they wanted to be was not a Member of Congress but a 
mayor. So in their frustration they decided they will be a Congressman 
from their district back home and a surrogate mayor for the District of 
Columbia.
  Over 800,000 American citizens and taxpayers live in this great city. 
They have nominally had home rule for decades. Yet time and again, year 
after year, they are subjected to those would-be mayors from all around 
America who impose standards on this city that they would never suggest 
in their own hometowns. It becomes a social experiment, primarily for 
the rightwing.
  One of the programs each year that becomes a source of controversy is 
the needle exchange program. This program of exchanging needles and 
syringes is the bridge to those who are addicted to bring them out of 
their addiction into a healthy situation. Why would we do this in the 
District of Columbia? Because the incidence of HIV/AIDS infection in 
this city is the highest in the United States of America. That is the 
reality of life on the streets of Washington--a reality which those who 
have opposed this program refuse to acknowledge.
  The medical professionals step forward and say: Do this. We can help 
make this a cleaner, healthier, safer city if you do it. Time and time 
again, some folks stand in the House and say: Oh, we are just going to 
get rid of this and show that we are opposed to intravenous drug use.
  Well, I am opposed to it too, but I know that in addition to strong 
laws we need thoughtful, commonsense solutions such as the needle 
exchange program that is supported by medical organizations. The fact 
that this is not taking place in the way it should is an embarrassment, 
and I am sorry this will be included in one part of this appropriations 
bill.
  Before we leave, we need to do two things in addition to funding our 
government. We need to make certain the payroll tax cut which benefits 
160 million Americans continues after December 31. This is a lifeline 
to many struggling families, and it is a way to insert into our economy 
the spending power of 160 million families buying goods and services 
that plays out into even more economic activity--more jobs and 
profitability. That is a must. The President insists on it. He has 
crossed America making that case. We cannot leave town without doing 
it. We are working on the final details today, and we should close that 
as quickly as possible to make certain there is no gap in this coverage 
of this payroll tax cut.
  Secondly, the maintaining of unemployment insurance benefits is 
absolutely essential for millions of Americans who are out of work.
  The amount of money they receive in UI benefits will allow them to 
keep their families together not just during this holiday season but 
for the months to come, so that while they are searching for a job they 
are able to make basic payments so they do not lose their homes--at 
least have a roof over their heads--and provide for the basic 
necessities of life for their struggling families.
  I cannot believe this has become a political football. I can still 
recall a time--not that long ago--when Republican and Democratic 
Presidents would renew unemployment benefits without question, without 
demand that it be paid for, because they knew it was essential. It was 
as caring and needy as disaster aid is, and now it has become a 
political football.
  We need to extend these unemployment benefits before we leave town. 
We have to get that done. The President has insisted on it, and he is 
right. We know now, with our high unemployment rate coming down slowly, 
that we still need to provide this assistance to families. Were we to 
cut off these unemployment benefits, in my home State of Illinois, 
148,000 people would lose their benefits--148,000 people. What a happy 
holiday they would have, knowing that on January 1, the benefits would 
no longer continue.
  Let's get this job done. Let's go home at least with the clear mind 
that we have met our obligation to this economy and to the unemployed 
people across America, that we have funded our government, and that we 
will return next year and, I hope, find a more congenial and bipartisan 
environment to work in.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Tester). The Senator from Virginia.
  Mr. WARNER. Mr. President, first of all, I thank the Presiding 
Officer for taking a few moments so I can make my statement. I also 
thank my friend, the Senator from Illinois, for his comments.

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