[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 145 (Monday, September 26, 2016)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6074-S6075]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
CONTINUING RESOLUTION
Mr. REID. Madam President, I want to make a few comments on the CR.
Senator McConnell has given a great statement, but about whom? It is a
straw man argument. We don't oppose the Zika legislation. We don't
oppose helping flood victims. But we want more. We think it should be
taken care of, but it hasn't been in this bill, that is for sure.
On opioids, we think it should be really funded, not this pitter path
that doesn't do anything. What it does is allow you to spend money that
is not here. We think we should do the Shaheen legislation and pay for
it. We do believe we should not leave Flint behind, though.
The CR proposed by the Republicans is short on a number of issues,
and I will talk only about two of them this afternoon.
I was especially disappointed to see the Republicans' proposal
regarding another disaster--a disaster that has been ongoing for well
over a year. This CR, this funding measure, does not put a single penny
toward Flint, MI--not a penny. The people of Flint, MI, have been
waiting for emergency assistance to clean up poison water for more than
a year. There are 100,000 people--children--lead-poisoned already.
Senate Republicans claim they will address the needs of Flint when we
return after the election. Well, we have heard that before, haven't we?
That has been the Republicans go-to move in stalling funding for
Flint--they always claim they will do it at a later time. Flint has
heard this and heard this and heard this. In the meantime, the people
of Flint, if they are fortunate, can take a drink of water out of a
bottle and bathe in bottled water.
We ran out of time months ago. We ran out of time when the
Republicans decided to take a 7-week vacation, which is something that
was remarkable in history, in more than 60 years. With the time we are
going to have off before December 9 with the funding resolution, it
will be the longest break the Senate has had going back, we believe, to
before the Depression--the Great Depression, not the Bush depression.
The crisis has been going on for a long time. Two and a half years
ago, Flint learned that its water was not safe. Nine months ago,
Republican Governor Snyder and President Obama declared the Flint, MI,
water crisis an emergency. Five months ago, the Senate Environment and
Public Works Committee passed water infrastructure legislation with a
bipartisan aid package for Flint. I commend the chairman of that
committee, Senator Inhofe, over and over for agreeing to do the fair
thing. That package was voted out of the Senate less than 2 weeks ago
on a vote of 95 to 3 as part of the so-called WRDA Act, but the House
Republicans made it clear they have no intention of putting funding for
Flint in that bill. Still the people of Flint wait for assistance.
I have heard all the happy talk: Well, the Republicans are going to
take care of this. Call and tell me you are going to take care of it.
Give me some assurances that you are going to take care of it because
100,000 Flint residents continue to struggle with having safe water to
drink. In fact, 40 percent of the people of Flint live below the
poverty line.
Flint, MI, is a community of color--African Americans. The junior
Senator from Louisiana was especially callous in dismissing the people
of Flint. It is hard to acknowledge what he said, but I am going to do
it. He called the residents of Flint ``other people's grief.'' Well,
using his analogy, the things we have done over the years with all the
problems that Louisiana has had--hurricanes, floods, wind storms, and
this latest ravaging rain they got--in Nevada, I guess that is somebody
else's problem--the people of Louisiana. The many problems we have had
in Texas over the last decade--they are everybody's problem, but not by
the definition of the Senator from Louisiana. They are not other
people's grief.
I would suggest the relatively new Senator from Louisiana needs to
figure out what the name of his job is. It is United States Senator--
not State senator from Louisiana, United States Senator. He can look
out for the people of Louisiana and yet turn a cold shoulder to fellow
Americans in Michigan. Congress must act to address emergencies
whenever and wherever they occur, especially to help vulnerable
Americans, because every one of these emergencies is creating lots of
vulnerable Americans.
The people of Flint deserve justice, and 90,000 children who have
been lead-poisoned deserve justice. But instead of helping the people
of Flint, they promise to use this government funding measure to feed
their addiction to undisclosed and unaccountable dark money. What the
Republican leader stuck in this funding resolution is a provision to
prevent the Securities and Exchange Commission from telling
corporations that they must disclose campaign contributions. If ever
there were legislation contained in a resolution that didn't deserve to
be there, it would be that. Shadowy interest groups are spending
hundreds of millions of dollars on trying to elect handpicked political
candidates.
What is this dark money? It is all these advertisements with all
these phony front groups, most of which are funded by the Koch
brothers. You won't see their name on anything other than something to
divert your attention--a public service announcement about how good
Koch Industries is for creating jobs. Well, Koch Industries is great
for trying to get richer and richer and trying to enrich these two
wealthy, Republican, rightwing men who are doing everything they can to
buy America. They are doing pretty well, I have to give them credit for
that. If they continue the way they are, they are going to be first in
line. They are going to be the No. 1 oligarch in America, and they can
match to see if they are entitled to be even a notch higher than the
No. 1 oligarch in Russia. Russia is an oligarchy, and because
[[Page S6075]]
of the Koch brothers, America is turning into one. And what does the
Republican leader do? He sticks a provision in this legislation to
protect them even further.
Current Federal law requires publicly traded corporations to disclose
financial details on their annual report to shareholders, such as how
much they are paying their executive officers and others, but
shareholders--the true owners of corporations--have no idea how much
money is being spent on politics, being directed by a few in the
corporations. The Securities and Exchange Commission does not require
this to be reported.
Last August, 44 Democratic Senators sent a letter to the Securities
and Exchange Commission in support of adding political disclosures in
their annual shareholder reports. The Republican leader wants to stop
this. He wants to do everything he can to protect the Koch brothers.
But the Securities and Exchange Commission received 1 million public
comments in support of disclosure because it protects the interests of
investors--1 million comments. That is unheard of.
The Republicans in the Senate are opposed to disclosure. That is why
the Republican leader has attached this so-called rider to the
government funding bill to prevent shareholders from knowing how their
money is spent and being used in the political process. Republicans are
holding the government hostage because they want to keep the political
system awash in dark money. They want to give contributions to the
Chamber of Commerce, the National Rifle Association, and on and on--
millions and millions of dollars.
The Senate Republicans need to rethink their priorities. Republicans
need to spend less time worrying about the balance in their campaign
accounts and more time protecting their fellow Americans, especially
those in Flint, MI.
Madam President, I see my friend the senior Senator from Iowa on the
floor. Before he speaks, will the Chair announce the business of the
day.
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