[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 142 (Tuesday, September 6, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S4419-S4421]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                              The Economy

  Mr. DURBIN. Good news to report to my colleague from the Commonwealth 
of Kentucky: a gallon of gasoline on the way to the airport this 
morning--$3.46 a gallon. I wish it were lower, but we have made 
progress from the days when it was over $5. We are moving in the right 
direction.
  And, incidentally, this President has created more jobs than any 
President in a similar period in the history of the United States.
  Do we have challenges? You bet we do. But to write this 
administration off as unproductive is to ignore the obvious.
  We came out of this pandemic, and when we did, we faced the problems 
that nations around the world were facing. Literally, could we deal 
with inflation? Demand was pent up, and it overwhelmed the services and 
goods that were available and inflation started to rise.
  It took its toll--it still does--on American families, but to ignore 
what we have been able to do is to really turn our backs on reality.
  What about that rescue plan, the American Rescue Plan? I remember it, 
and I remember there wasn't a single Republican voting for it.
  Almost 20 percent of the American Rescue Plan went to State and local 
governments to deal with issues like crime to make safer streets and 
safer neighborhoods for Americans across the board. That is the kind of 
money well-spent, and yet the Republicans wouldn't give us a single 
vote.
  You heard the Senator from Kentucky deriding it at this moment as a 
waste of billions of dollars. It is money well-spent, and I found out 
personally, firsthand, when I went back in my State over the August 
recess.
  I didn't just confine myself to the blue areas of the State, and 
there are big ones and a big part of our State, and I am happy to visit 
there. I went to some of the redder sections of our State, the areas 
that voted for Donald Trump in the last election over Joe Biden. I 
don't do particularly well there either, but I wanted to visit with 
them, and I felt that there were things I needed to learn about what 
families and communities were facing.
  I went to Herrin, IL, in the southern part of our State, where my 
family has its roots, and I went to Southern Illinois Healthcare, which 
is a major healthcare consortium serving most of downstate Illinois--
rural, smalltown America, struggling with providing professional 
medical care but doing a fine job.
  We have something called congressionally directed spending now. It 
used to be known as earmarks. I am unapologetic about it. I believe 
that if you make a public disclosure of these earmarks to justify them, 
taxpayers understand this is Federal money being brought home from 
Washington to their States and communities, where it is needed.
  So I went to Herrin, IL, where we were able to announce an earmark of 
$1 million, which is going to provide for about half the cost of a new 
physical rehab facility--critically important.
  I met some interesting people there. I met a little fellow, 4 years 
old, the victim of cerebral palsy. His name is Maverick. Maverick had a 
big smile on his face. He was there at the rehab center to introduce me 
to the nurse that has been working with him, strong, courageous little 
fellow--the pride of his family, the kind of courage he is showing.
  Now, he has a rehab facility that is world-class in his region, in 
his neighborhood--the alternative, drive to St. Louis. You hear that 
over and over again in that part of the State: We just don't have any. 
We have to drive to St. Louis.
  When it comes to rehab services for Maverick, kids like him, and 
adults as well, they now have a fighting chance to get something local.

[[Page S4420]]

  And let me add, another fellow was there by the name of Riley Baird. 
Riley is a high school student, and he is an amazing kid himself. He is 
a Boy Scout, and I used to be a Boy Scout a long, long time ago. He had 
that sash with all the merit badges on it. I think I had five of them 
when I finally quit. He must have had 50, maybe 100. He had them all on 
his way and past as an Eagle Scout.
  He decided to make that rehab clinic his project. He and his family 
built some toys that the kids are using there, and he was there to 
accept the recognition and praise he deserved.
  He has a brother named Corbin--twin brother named Corbin, also an 
Eagle Scout, who picked a different charity to provide help to.
  I just want to say for anybody who is despondent about the future of 
this country, you ought to meet Corbin and Riley Baird. Those two young 
men are going to be leaders, I am sure, in their community and beyond.
  And it reminded me, too, that we ought to take a look at the positive 
things that are coming about. This notion of the reconciliation bill 
not serving America is ignoring the obvious.
  How many of us in the Senate--Republicans and Democrats--have had 
press conferences put on campaign ads talking about the cost of 
prescription drugs? Guess what. We finally did something about it. 
After all these years and all these headlines and all these brochures 
and all these ads, we finally did something.
  The reconciliation bill, which passed the U.S. Senate without a 
single Republican vote--without one--will finally address the cost of 
prescription drugs for people on Medicare. And it starts reaching 
beyond that to say the pharmaceutical industry has to be responsible. 
They have never been able to defend or explain why the same drugs--
exactly the same drugs--made in America are charged in Canada for a 
fraction of what people have to pay in this country; why Americans have 
to go without, while in other countries there are discounts that allow 
families to afford the drugs they need to be healthy and to live.
  Well, we have done something about it. We passed a bill that will 
make a difference.
  And when we talk about issues like electricity--I am going to brag a 
little bit here--my wife and I decided 2 or 3 weeks ago to start 
producing electricity. We bought solar panels for our roof in 
Springfield, IL. We are not the first family to have them, but we are 
one of the few. I predict that is going to change in a hurry. Why? 
Because in that reconciliation bill, we started taking an honest look 
at what it takes to reduce climate change and to give our kids a planet 
they can live on. It means that each of us has to change our lifestyle 
some.
  Well, I left this morning a little bit of sunshine in Springfield, 
IL, and it means that I am producing electricity with the local 
utility. I am going to try to do even more. My wife and I are devoted 
to showing--at least setting an example in this region, in this area.
  The bill we passed in reconciliation is going to create incentives 
for people to put solar panels on their homes, to buy heat pumps, 
electric water heaters--things that will reduce the use of fossil fuels 
and, instead, move us toward a more electric economy.
  And, yes, automobiles are headed in that direction too, and it didn't 
take a Federal mandate. The major car producers are headed that way, 
whether we like it or not. They understand where we need to go as a 
country and where the consumers are headed, and I think that is a good 
indication as well.
  So when I hear the Republican leader come to the floor and say that 
things are so awful, I don't doubt that many families are struggling, 
and we should be sensitive and mindful of that every single day, but a 
lot of good things are happening too. The employment figures are 
encouraging. Our move toward dealing with climate change is 
encouraging, as well. The fact the pharmaceutical companies are going 
to be held responsible and the fact that corporations that have had a 
net profit of $1 billion or more--listen to that closely--net profit of 
$1 billion or more in the last 3 years are finally going to have to pay 
some Federal income taxes. Americans are used to paying their fair 
share of taxes. Why are these corporations making over $1 billion in 
net profits each year not paying a penny? That is going to change, and 
it is in the bill too. And I know it is a bone in the throat of my 
Republican colleagues, but it is only fair.
  This week we return after a 4-week recess. I was traveling around my 
State, listening to ideas and concerns. And you know what I heard over 
and over again? And this is overwhelming, particularly in the area of 
healthcare, but not exclusively: We just don't have enough people to 
fill the vacancies and jobs in America. We have roughly 11 million 
vacancies and 5 million people unemployed. That is the reality.
  And when it comes to healthcare workers, it is a reality that means 
the cost of medical care is going up. If you can't find a local nurse 
to go on staff, on payroll, and be with you for a while and you have to 
rely on contract nurses, those who come and go, they have all the skill 
and training, but they are looking for a pretty big paycheck, sometimes 
three times what the regular nurses are receiving. That drives up the 
cost of healthcare. And hospitals and clinics are desperate for these 
nurses to be there.
  I found all across my State--from the city of Chicago to the smallest 
town downstate--this is a challenge that we face and need to do 
something about.
  But people, over and over again, despite what we saw in many of the 
reports on television, really do still love this country. They are 
concerned about the divisions we see every single day.
  America has always been a can-do nation. Faith in the future and in 
our ability to solve our problems, create a better future, has always 
been part of American DNA.
  It is hard to find common ground on scorched earth. As President 
Lincoln warned us long ago, ``a house divided against itself cannot 
stand.''
  A few years later, as the Civil War ended and victory was in sight, 
President Lincoln pleaded, just outside this room, on his inauguration, 
with the people of the North and the South, and he said:

       We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies.

  He said that after the deadliest war that America ever experienced. 
He knew that the work of rebuilding this battered Nation and creating a 
better future would only be achieved if we were united--the United 
States of America.
  This week marks the 21st anniversary of the September 11 terrorist 
attack on America. I will never forget that day as long as I live.
  I know, Mr. President, that you won't forget it either because it 
affected your State and many people who live there.
  Those who are old enough to remember not just the shocking grief of 
that day will also remember the intense sense of national unity that 
sustained us through the terrible days and weeks that followed. We lost 
so much, but we found a common purpose. We understood that we are one 
Nation, one people, with one destiny. We rise or we fall together.
  As the Senate returns to the work of legislating, I hope that we will 
remember President Lincoln's plea that ``we must not be enemies.'' 
Politics is not war. It is where we resolve our differences without 
war, in a democracy.
  People in Illinois are concerned about our state of the economy. They 
are worried about inflation. I understand that. They are also feeling 
something that many haven't felt for a while, and that is hope. Why? 
Because of results. Inflation is, in fact, slowing. Gas prices are 
falling. At $3.46 a gallon, I would have grabbed that a few weeks ago, 
and I hope it can go lower. Gas is down by more than $1.20 a gallon on 
the average since the start of the summer.
  Wages are up. People are back at work. We now have more than 
recovered all the jobs that our economy lost during the pandemic. Our 
economy has added more than 10 million new jobs, including 600,000 
manufacturing jobs, under President Biden.
  We are investing in infrastructure. I remind myself over and over 
again: Don't complain if construction on highways just slowed you down. 
You voted for it, Senator.
  And I would vote for it again.
  President Biden said yesterday, on Labor Day, in one of his speeches, 
that when we make this investment in infrastructure--a recordbreaking, 
historic amount--we will have the most

[[Page S4421]]

modern infrastructure in the world. Now, that is what a nation that is 
prepared to compete does.
  We passed the CHIPS Act to preserve America's leadership in research 
and innovation and to produce semiconductors and jobs and the 
industries of the future in America, not in China. As the President 
also said yesterday, why wouldn't it be in America? We invented the 
chip. Shouldn't we be leading the world still?
  Well, with the passage of the CHIPS legislation in a strong 
bipartisan vote on the floor, we are going to reclaim that lead.
  We passed the Inflation Reduction Act, which includes the biggest 
ever investment in climate change and climate resilience. It will 
reduce inflationary pressure by cutting energy costs now and in the 
future, and it also reduces the cost of prescription drugs.
  We are investing in the American people on the basis of a shared, 
sustainable economic prosperity.
  Oh, one footnote that is well worth mentioning: The Federal deficit 
will shrink by $1.7 trillion this year. All of the things that I have 
mentioned and all of the criticism we have heard from the other side of 
the aisle, and the deficit is going down.
  Nearly all of these economic prosperity proposals were passed with 
Democratic votes only. Chips is an exception. Infrastructure is an 
exception. But the American Rescue Plan and the inflation reduction 
plan were strictly Democratic votes. It is our hope that our Republican 
colleagues will now join us and help us get back to work in fighting 
the common challenges facing the Nation.