[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 43 (Thursday, March 15, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1687-S1688]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           JOBS ACT STRATEGY

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I would like to start out this morning 
by saying I am glad we are turning to the bipartisan jobs bill that 
passed the House last week by such a lopsided margin. Here is a chance 
not only to help entrepreneurs build their businesses and create jobs 
but to show we can work together around here to get things done on a 
bipartisan basis.
  Unfortunately, some of our friends on the other side do not seem to 
like that idea very much. Apparently, they would rather spend the time 
manufacturing fights and 30-second television ads than helping to 
create jobs.
  First, they tried to even keep us from bringing up this jobs bill for 
debate in the Senate. Now we read they are trying to figure out ways to 
make this overwhelmingly bipartisan bill controversial. They want to 
pick a fight rather than get this bill to the President's desk, and 
then they are going to use the same strategy on a number of other 
bills.
  Their plan is not to work together to make it easier to create jobs 
but to look for ways to make it easier to keep their own; then use it 
for campaign ads in the runup to the November elections.
  If we are looking for the reason this Congress has a 9-percent 
approval rating, this is it. One day after we read a headline in the 
Congressional Quarterly about Democrats moving to slow a jobs bill that 
got 390 votes, we see a story today about how the No. 3 Democrat in the 
Senate is scheming to spend the rest of the year hitting the other 
side. It goes on to list all the ways he plans to do it, and then it 
says this:

       None of these campaign-style attacks allow for the policy 
     nuances or reasoning behind the GOP's opposition, and some of 
     the

[[Page S1688]]

     bills stand no chance of becoming law. But that's not really 
     the point.

  So at a moment of economic crisis, the No. 3 Democrat in the Senate--
the Democrat in charge of strategy over there--is sitting up at night 
trying to figure out a way to create an issue where there is not one, 
not to solve our Nation's problems but to help Democrats get reelected.
  I would like to have printed in the Record the Politico story I just 
referred to entitled ``Schumer schemes to hit GOP'' and ask unanimous 
consent to do so.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                     [From Politico, Mar. 14, 2012]

                       Schumer Schemes To Hit GOP

                             (By Manu Raju)

       New York.--Sen. Chuck Schumer believes he has found a 
     political weapon in the unlikeliest of places: the Violence 
     Against Women Act.
       Republicans have several objections to the legislation, but 
     instead of making changes, Schumer wants to fast track the 
     bill to the floor, let the GOP block it, then allow Democrats 
     to accuse Republicans of waging a ``war against women.''
       It's fodder for a campaign ad, and it's not the only 
     potential 30-second spot ready to spring from Senate 
     leadership these days.
       From his perch as the Democrats' chief policy and messaging 
     guru, Schumer wants to raise taxes on people who earn more 
     than $1 million, and many Democrats want to push the vote for 
     April 15, a move designed to amp up the ``income inequality'' 
     rhetoric just in time for Tax Day.
       Schumer has a plan for painting Republicans as anti-
     immigrant as well. He's called the author of the Arizona 
     immigration law to testify before his Judiciary subcommittee, 
     bringing Capitol Hill attention to an issue that's still 
     front and center for Hispanic voters.
       None of these campaign-style attacks allow for the policy 
     nuances or reasoning behind the GOP's opposition, and some of 
     the bills stand no chance of becoming law.
       But that's not really the point.
       The real push behind this effort is to give Democrats 
     reasons to portray Republicans as anti-women, anti-Latino and 
     anti-middle class. In the aftermath of a fight over a payroll 
     tax cut for American workers and an Obama contraception 
     policy, Democrats are ready for this next set of wedge 
     issues.
       ``If a party chooses to alienate the fastest-growing group 
     of people in the country [Latinos] and the majority of people 
     in the country, women, they do so at their peril,'' Schumer 
     said Wednesday. ``This is an important issue.''
       The move carries some risk. The economy is still 
     struggling, with the jobless rate above 8 percent and 
     millions seeking work. Gas prices are skyrocketing. And 
     Schumer himself said last Sunday that Democrats would focus 
     like a ``laser'' on the economy, a comment Republicans 
     giddily pointed out as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-
     Nev.) pushed for judicial confirmations this week.
       Schumer and Reid have also shown little interest in 
     bringing forward a budget resolution this spring, saying that 
     overall spending levels have already been agreed upon. That 
     has opened them up to Republican charges they are steadfastly 
     avoiding tough votes on the budget in favor of election-year 
     point scoring.
       Republicans see the latest chatter in the Senate as a 
     political ploy by Democratic leaders to steady the ship in 
     the face of a shaky political landscape.
       ``Sounds like all politics all the time,'' said Sen. John 
     Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of his party's leadership who also 
     serves on the Judiciary Committee. He added that Republicans 
     would point out the ``cynical nature of what they're trying 
     to do that it's not based on substance.''
       Cornyn added: ``We'll be prepared to address their false 
     narrative.''
       The political strategy also risks inflaming partisan 
     tensions. Arizona Republican Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain 
     criticized Schumer for calling for a hearing on their state's 
     tough law that gives law enforcement new powers to target 
     prospective illegal immigrants, a subject of a Supreme Court 
     challenge.
       Both men said they had no idea Schumer was inviting former 
     state Sen. Russell Pearce--the author of the law--to testify 
     at a hearing next month.
       ``Generally, senatorial courtesy indicates you talk to the 
     member states,'' McCain said Wednesday. ``I have never seen 
     Sen. Schumer do anything unless it had a political agenda.''
       Schumer's office rejects the contention, saying that the 
     New York Democrat notified Cornyn, the ranking Republican on 
     the subcommittee, weeks before the offer was made public.
       ``This is a sunlight hearing,'' Schumer said Wednesday. 
     ``The more the public hears some of these views from the 
     people in Arizona, the more they'll ask for a more moderate 
     position.''
       Still, Schumer said there are moments of bipartisanship in 
     which the two sides can come together, and he rejects the 
     notion that Democrats are skirting efforts to prop up the 
     economy, pointing to the passage of a highway bill Wednesday 
     and expected approval of a House-passed small-business bill. 
     Schumer said on the floor Wednesday that he hoped it was a 
     ``moment of greater comity.''
       But it may not last longer than a few days.
       As soon as next week, the Senate may begin debating a bill 
     to update expired provisions in the 1994 Violence Against 
     Women Act, which provides assistance to victims of domestic 
     abuse and other crimes. The bill, offered by Senate Judiciary 
     Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), was approved last month in 
     his panel on a party-line vote, a sharp shift from seven 
     years ago when the bill sailed through his committee.
       ``Not to reauthorize this is a tragedy,'' Sen. Dianne 
     Feinstein (D-Calif.) said Wednesday. ``This is one more step 
     in the removal of rights for women.''
       Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley, the top Republican on the panel, 
     said while he supports a reauthorization of the law, he has 
     concerns with the Democratic bill because it would lead to 
     the issuance of thousands of additional visas under the U-
     Visa program, which gives illegal immigrants who are victims 
     of crimes a chance to gain legal status if they cooperate 
     with law enforcement.
       On top of that, Grassley said it would fail to resolve 
     immigration fraud and said grant money given to victims has 
     not been adequately tracked. At the committee meeting last 
     month, Grassley also raised concerns about language in 
     Leahy's bill to broaden some of the law's provisions to those 
     in same-sex relationships.
       In response, Grassley introduced his own bill that included 
     stricter criteria for U-Visa eligibility. But Democrats 
     rejected that bill saying it would gut a key Justice 
     Department enforcement office and undermine the protections 
     in the law.
       Republicans said Wednesday they might move their own bill 
     once the issue heads to the floor. And they pushed back on 
     Democratic criticisms that they were being insensitive to 
     women.
       ``It's a politically popular bill, and if you try to 
     improve it, or change it, and make it more efficient, then 
     the complaint is you don't care about the issue,'' said Sen. 
     Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), a member of the committee. ``Nothing 
     can be further from the truth.''
       But Schumer added, that if the Republicans take positions 
     that turn off voters, it'll be their own fault.
       ``When the Democrats let the extreme left run the show, we 
     lose out. We've learned that lesson the hard way on many 
     occasions,'' he said. ``When Republicans let the hard right 
     run the show, they lose out.''

  Mr. McCONNELL. It lays out the Democratic strategy. The American 
people need to know what is going on in the Democratic-controlled 
Senate and, frankly, so should posterity. Fifty years from now, I would 
like an American doing a research project to look back at what is 
outlined in this Politico article so they can understand what this 
Democratic-controlled Senate is like, so they can understand what their 
priorities are. What did this country's leaders do to make America 
stronger for the next generation? Read this Politico piece. It provides 
a unique insight for future generations of Americans to understand what 
this Senate has done for the country. They can decide for themselves 
what they think of it and what its legacy should be.
  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. WARNER. Mr. 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.

                          ____________________