[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 115 (Tuesday, July 22, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4667-S4668]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
BRING JOBS HOME ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 453, S.
2569.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
The legislative clerk read as follows:
Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 453, S. 2569, a bill to
provide an incentive for businesses to bring jobs back to
America.
Schedule
Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the
Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business,
with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each,
which will run until 10:45. The time will be divided in the usual form
between the two leaders or their designees. At 10:45 the Senate will
proceed to a series of three rollcall votes: cloture on Andre Birotte
to be a judge in California; Robin Rosenberg to be a judge in Florida;
and John deGravelles to be a judge in Louisiana. Following the cloture
vote on deGravelles, the time until 12:30 will be equally divided and
controlled in the usual form. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15
to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. If cloture is invoked on any
of the previous nominations, at 2:15 the Senate will begin a series of
votes on those nominations.
Fair Shot Agenda
Over the past several months, Americans have heard Democrats speak at
length about giving working families a fair shot. What do we mean by a
``fair shot''? A fair shot is about making sure Americans have jobs and
good jobs. It is about ensuring that workers receive fair, livable
wages so they can put a roof over their heads and take care of their
kids and actually put food on the table, make the rent payments, car
payments. A fair shot is the idea that each hard-working American
deserves an opportunity to achieve a measure of prosperity. But it all
begins with a job.
As Senators, it is imperative that we not only promote job growth but
also protect the jobs constituents already have. That is why the
legislation before the Senate, the Bring Jobs Home Act, is so vitally
important. It protects American jobs and encourages future job creation
within our borders.
Over the last decade, the last 10 years, our country has been
hemorrhaging jobs. American companies have outsourced 2\1/2\ million
jobs. Outsource--that means ship them overseas. Two and a half million
jobs that were here are now overseas, but these losses could
potentially skyrocket if we do not address the disturbing trend of
outsourcing. Twenty-one million Americans, including 7 million
manufacturing workers, are at risk of having their jobs shipped
overseas at any time--the risk of losing their fair shot. Almost
150,000 at-risk workers live in Nevada. The home State of my friend
from Kentucky could also be on the chopping block to the tune of
235,000 jobs. For the Presiding Officer's State of New Jersey,
outsourcing means the loss of 588,000 jobs in New Jersey.
When millions of Americans are looking for work in a recovering
economy, few things could be more important than protecting good-paying
middle-class jobs.
Every time an American company closes a factory or a plant in America
and moves operations to another country, taxpayers pick up part of that
moving bill. It is hard to comprehend that, but that is the way our law
now exists. We want to change that. That is what the legislation before
this body is all about. The Bring Jobs Home Act would end senseless tax
breaks for outsourcers. It would end the absurd practice of American
taxpayers bankrolling the outsourcing of their very own jobs.
The Bring Jobs Home Act also seeks to bring jobs back to America.
This bill
[[Page S4668]]
would offer a 20-percent tax credit to help with the costs of moving
production back to the United States.
In the last few years major manufacturers, such as Ford and
Caterpillar, have brought jobs back to the United States from Japan,
Mexico, and China. Why? Because we have such productive workers. There
are a lot of other reasons, but that is the main reason. Smaller
manufacturers, such as Master Lock, have moved facilities home as well.
This is a trend we here in Congress should enthusiastically encourage--
American companies returning home to employ American workers. They
should get a tax break to do that. That is what this legislation does.
The Bring Jobs Home Act is a commonsense strategy to bring back
American jobs. To 21 million Americans whose jobs could be the next
ones to move to China or Japan, the Bring Jobs Home Act is as serious
as it gets. To the 2\1/2\ million Americans whose jobs have already
been offshored, the bill stands to right a terrible wrong: Bring them
back and get a tax benefit for doing that.
I hope Republicans in Congress will finally see the light and join us
in giving workers a fair shot at a good, stable job. On this
legislation, the Bring Jobs Home Act, I know Senators on the Republican
side always say they want amendments; unless they get a guarantee of
amendments, they will kill the bill. On that, let me just say what I
always say: We want to do something; that is, get something done. We
should do what we have done on highway bills in the past, what we did
recently on terrorism insurance, what we did on the Workforce
Investment Act, and what we have done here for decades. We should work
on a list of amendments and a path on getting the bill done. If there
is going to be no list, I have no alternative but to procedurally move
forward and get this matter off the floor. That would not be good for
American workers. So everyone should know my answer: We need to get a
list of amendments and a path for getting the bill done.
Recognition of the Minority Leader
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.
Working For The Middle Class
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, later today the President will sign a
bipartisan workforce training bill into law. It is commonsense
legislation that will help my constituents gain new skills to become
more competitive. I was proud to support it. I am glad to see that the
President is going to sign it.
Unfortunately, though, bipartisan accomplishments such as this one
have become increasingly rare in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Last week President Obama took to the campaign trail to urge Congress
to pass a new highway bill. He really did not need to, though; the
Republican-controlled House of Representatives had already passed the
highway bill earlier in the week. In fact, it sailed through on an
overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 367 to 55. The President said he would
sign it if Congress sent it to his desk. I expect the Senate will do
just that in fairly short order but only if the Democrats who run the
Senate can put their never-ending political campaign on hold for just a
minute because rather than focus on passing bipartisan legislation, not
to mention the dozens of job-creation bills the House has already sent
over to us, the Democratic majority seems to spend all of its time on
bills designed primarily to create jobs for campaign consultants.
We got an especially vivid glimpse of this earlier this year when
Senate Democrats admitted they were working with their campaign
committee to craft a so-called agenda that was more about saving their
own seats than anything else. Ever since, they have pretty much
abandoned governing to use the Senate floor as a campaign studio. We
saw the latest example last night when the majority brought up another
recycled, designed-to-fail bill that has already been rejected by the
Senate. It is a bill that is designed for campaign rhetoric and
failure, not to create jobs here in the United States. That is not what
it is about. But that is not stopping our friends on the other side
from bringing it up yet again, just as they did right before the last
election.
So, look. We have seen this movie before. Everyone knows the
Democrats are simply not serious here. They specifically want the bill
to fail.
What I am saying is let's just skip the campaigning and get something
done for the middle class instead. Let's focus on bipartisan bills that
can help families and create jobs here at home. Let's focus on things
such as repealing the job-killing medical device tax and helping create
energy jobs and reducing the tax burden on small businesses and
restoring the 40-hour workweek and providing relief to Kentucky's coal
families.
If we are going to have a debate about creating jobs here at home,
then let's really have a debate about creating jobs here at home. This
is not it. Senate Democrats, of course, know that. They also know all
of their campaigning is getting in the way of focusing on passing
bipartisan legislation--bipartisan legislation such as the highway
bill.
Of course, we know the current highway bill is not perfect. Over the
long term, Republicans have a lot of good ideas for reforming the
highway trust fund in a more permanent way so it can be made
sustainable for years to come, but for now we have to at least keep
road and bridge projects moving forward in the meantime. The extension
of the highway trust fund could be used to fund projects such as the
resurfacing of several parkways that many Kentuckians use to commute to
work, and it could be used to fund the widening of I-656 between
Bowling Green and Elizabethtown. The judge executive of Hart County
Terry Martin knows this transportation safety project is important for
the Commonwealth, and he notes that the expansion to six lanes would
allow for a smoother and safer flow of traffic for Kentuckians.
So let's focus on scoring bipartisan wins and jobs for our
constituents instead of scoring political points. If Democrats can do
that, then I am confident we will get this done because the American
people didn't send us to Congress to campaign 24/7. When Senate
Democrats do choose to work with us, there is a lot we can get done for
the people of our country.
Remembering Jeremiah Denton
I wish to say a brief word about our former colleague Jeremiah
Denton, who will be laid to rest today at Arlington National Cemetery.
Admiral Denton is best known for the extraordinary bravery he showed
in 1966, when instead of playing along in a propaganda film for his
captors in Vietnam, he blinked the word ``torture'' in Morse code to
U.S. military leaders.
All told, Admiral Denton would spend 7\1/2\ years in the infamous
Hanoi Hilton and other camps, enduring terrible torture and barbaric
conditions throughout. Later, after earning the deep admiration of
Ronald Reagan, he would enlist the future President's help as a first-
time political candidate, becoming the first-elected Republican Senator
from Alabama since Reconstruction.
A staunch conservative throughout his time in the Senate, Admiral
Denton was a man of deep and abiding faith who had an equally deep and
abiding love for his country. This was never more clear than on the day
he stepped off a plane to freedom at Clark Air Base in the Philippines.
Walking up to the microphone, the newly released POW said simply:
We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our
country under difficult circumstances. We are proudly
grateful to our commander-in-chief and to our nation for this
day. God bless America.
Admiral Denton was predeceased by his beloved wife of 61 years
Kathryn Jane, and survived by their seven children: Madeleine, and Mary
Beth, Jeremiah, William, Donald, James, Michael; and by his second wife
Mary Belle. We send Mary Belle and the entire Denton family our sincere
condolences today as Jeremiah Denton is laid to rest, and we honor the
memory of this great man and distinguished former Member of this body.
Reservation of Leader Time
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the leadership time
is reserved.
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