[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 14105-14108]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         A DO-NOTHING CONGRESS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, yesterday was a day where we did not 
accomplish much on the Senate floor. But we haven't accomplished much 
the entire congressional session. We have 22 days left to do business 
until the adjournment date announced by the distinguished majority 
leader--22 days. We have so much to do and we have done so little.
  It is not me, the Democratic leader, who is saying this is a do-
nothing Congress. This is what all the pundits have written about. We 
have wasted time on a political agenda.
  What is a political agenda? We have spent days and days on an estate 
tax repeal that has no bearing on 99.8 percent of all the American 
people. It affects less than two-tenths of 1 percent of all the people 
in America, but we have spent days of our time here on the Senate floor 
dealing with this issue.
  Flag burning--it doesn't matter how you feel about flag burning. Is 
it the right thing to do, to take up precious days of the Senate time 
on flag burning? In the little town where I was born and I still have 
my home they are patriotic people. On the Fourth of July, I was there. 
The flags were flying in that little town. But flag burning doesn't 
have direct bearing to their lives.
  The marriage amendment--I believe in the sanctity of marriage, but is 
it something we should spend time on with a constitutional amendment? 
During the time we have been a country, there have been more than 
11,000 attempts to amend the Constitution. In the last 12 years, we had 
1,000 amendments to the Constitution filed. One we have spent a lot of 
time on, unnecessarily, is the marriage amendment. We have spent days 
of our time here in the Senate on this issue. The people in 
Searchlight, NV, would rather that we dealt with things that are 
important, not flag burning, not gay marriage, not the estate tax. With 
the limited amount of time we have left, we, the minority, the 
Democrats, believe we have to do some things and do them before the 
August recess--things that affect people in my little town, 
Searchlight, NV.
  Stem cell legislation--it is difficult to watch, before your eyes, 
someone who deteriorates with Parkinson's disease. You can see it 
happen. No matter how often they go to the physician, the ravages of 
that disease go forward. How many times does a little child have to be 
pricked with a needle before the majority over here understands that we 
have to do something about Parkinson's disease, juvenile diabetes, 
adult-onset diabetes? We have to do something about Lou Gehrig's 
disease, Alzheimer's, multiple sclerosis. These diseases have some 
bearing on what people are hoping for--that we will do here in the 
Senate.
  I had the opportunity when I was home this past recess to visit 
Danielle DeLee, from Searchlight, NV. She is graduating from high 
school this year. The reason I wanted to see this young lady is she is 
going to go to Yale next year--a girl from Searchlight. It is the first 
time in the history of that little town that someone can go to Yale. 
That is because she is a brilliant young lady. They saw when she was a 
little girl that she had academic talent which that little town 
couldn't handle. This young lady, because she is so smart--do you know 
what she is going to study at Yale? Math. Math. From Searchlight, NV, 
she is going to go to Yale and study math.

[[Page 14106]]

  Because of her brilliance, she will be fine. There are scholarships 
that will take care of her. But that is not the way it is with most 
people. Most people are not as smart as Danielle DeLee, and they need 
help. But not with this Republican-dominated Congress. They have taken 
away, not added to, the ability to go to school. Tuition deductibility 
from parents' income tax is not available. A child's ability to go to 
college should not be dependent on the fact that they are a brilliant 
person like Danielle or on how rich his or her parents are. The rest of 
us, people like me, who are average, should be able to go to college if 
we get some student loans and work a little bit. But that is not the 
way it is. This Republican-dominated Congress, this do-nothing 
Congress, is preventing people from going to college.
  In Searchlight, because Las Vegas is 60 miles away and Boulder City 
is 43 miles away, the one thing everybody in that town is concerned 
about is gas prices. Frankly, if you listed in Searchlight what was 
important to them, where would flag burning be? Where would gay 
marriage be? Where would estate tax repeal be? It is not in their 
vocabulary. But how much they pay for a gallon of gas--which, by the 
way, in Nevada is over $3 now. Gas prices in the last week have gone up 
11 cents a gallon. In Reno, they are even higher than in Las Vegas. 
People there care about gas prices.
  They care about what is going on in Iraq. Today on the morning news I 
heard that the Comptroller General of the United States now says the 
war is costing $3 billion a week. People care about that war. On the 
way back to Searchlight one night last week, I stopped in a 
restaurant--Evans Grille in Boulder City--and a young man came up to me 
and said: It is nice to see you. I went to his son's funeral. He was a 
Navy SEAL. He was killed--21 years old, killed. He cares about the war 
and how long it is taking and what we are accomplishing there.
  Maybe the fifth thing we want to deal with here before the August 
recess is the Voting Rights Act renewal. Maybe people in Searchlight 
don't care about that as much as they do about stem cell research, 
college affordability, gas prices, the war in Iraq, but if they really 
thought about it, the Voting Act's renewal would be important.
  What people went through to have that law passed.
  I just finished reading a wonderful book when I was home entitled 
``Water's Edge.'' To have the Voting Rights Act passed, of course, you 
had the leadership of Dr. Martin Luther King, which was as strong a 
leadership as you will ever see. But we see his leadership. But what we 
tend to forget are the deaths--plural--such as Ms. Liuzzio from 
Detroit, a white woman who came down. She was so concerned that she 
told her husband she wanted to come and her children. She came and 
participated in the Selma march. When it was all over, she was giving 
some people a ride back to Selma from Montgomery. A Klu Klux person 
shoots her in the head and kills her. Pastor Reeb, who came from 
California to participate, walked away from the crowd and they bashed 
him in the head. Another Klansman killed him.
  These are just two examples of death and destruction--not hundreds of 
people being beaten, dogs sicced on them, but thousands had been 
beaten.
  We want to renew this. We are having it held up here and held up in 
the other body. The Democrats want these issues to go forward, and we 
want it done before the August recess.
  The distinguished assistant minority leader, Senator Durbin, and I, 
along with Senator Schumer and Senator Stabenow, signed a letter to 
Senator Frist, saying after we finish homeland appropriations, let us 
do the stem cell research. That is the least we can do.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, would the minority leader yield for a 
question?
  Mr. REID. I would be happy to.
  Mr. DURBIN. This is the Senate calendar which is published every day 
that we are in session. This one is from Wednesday, July 12. Turn to 
page 22, H.R. 810, an act to amend the Public Health Service Act to 
provide for human embryonic stem cell research. If I am not mistaken, I 
would like to ask the minority leader--the stem cell research bill has 
been sitting on the Senate calendar, as passed by the House in a 
bipartisan way, for more than 1 year, as we meet today.
  Mr. REID. For 13\1/2\ months.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask the minority leader: Have the Democrats come 
forward and asked that this bill be scheduled for floor consideration 
and debate repeatedly during that 13-month period?
  Mr. REID. I am sorry to reflect on what we have done. We have begged. 
I don't beg people for much of anything, but we have begged. I have 
been part of the begging in this body for the majority leader to move 
this matter forward because people at home are crying for hope. That is 
all they have left when they are sick.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask the minority leader: Does this stem cell research 
bill, H.R. 810, which passed the House in a bipartisan fashion, enjoy 
bipartisan support in the Senate? Does it have cosponsorship on both 
sides of the aisle? Is this strictly a Democratic issue?
  Mr. REID. It is not a Democratic issue. We have had people of good 
will work together on this. We have had Democrats with a lot of 
seniority, Republicans with a lot of seniority, and clear down to those 
with little seniority, Democrats and Republicans, wanting to get this 
done.
  Mr. DURBIN. I ask the minority leader, in the month of June, when we 
wasted 2 weeks on the floor of the Senate on a Constitutional amendment 
relative to flag burning, gay marriage, and an effort to provide tax 
relief for the wealthiest people in America relative to the estate tax, 
could we have called up this bill, H.R. 810, if the Republican 
leadership of the Senate had wanted it? Could it have been brought to 
the floor, debated, passed, and sent to the President in that period of 
time?
  Mr. REID. Absolutely. We have done everything we could, as I have 
mentioned, including begging to get this matter before the Senate.
  I mentioned this yesterday, and I will repeat.
  I went to church last Sunday. A man tapped me on the shoulder. I 
looked behind me. He was in a wheelchair. I couldn't understand him at 
first because he doesn't speak well. He has advanced Parkinson's 
disease. As we listened closely--H.R. 810, could we do something to get 
it passed?
  Mr. DURBIN. When the minority leader was in Searchlight, NV, during 
the Fourth of July recess, I was in the State of Illinois and traveled 
thousands of miles--from the city of Chicago, Rockford, southern 
Illinois, my roots down State, and town after town, not at one place 
nor at any one time did any single person come up to me and say: Let me 
tell you what I think about the flag burning amendment; or let me tell 
you what I think about the gay marriage amendment; or can you do 
something to reduce the estate tax for wealthiest people in America?
  Did the Senator from Nevada have a similar experience? Did he go to a 
town meeting, as I have, and mention stem cell research without someone 
coming up to him--if they didn't volunteer during a meeting, maybe 
there is a little shyness--after the meeting and say: My daughter has 
juvenile diabetes? One lady told me she wakes her up twice during the 
night to test her blood. Another person comes to me and says: My mother 
is in a nursing home with Alzheimer's. It has been going on for years. 
It is a burden on our family. Or into the congressional district now 
represented by Congressman Lane Evans, my closest friend in our 
delegation and a personal hero to me, a man suffering from Parkinson's 
disease who now has to withdraw from public life to fight this battle--
aren't these the real-life stories of real-life people who are not 
reflected in the agenda nor in the priorities of the Republican-led 
Senate?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, the people whom we visit in Nevada and 
Illinois and other places who have these problems are not Democrats 
only. They are Republicans. They are Independents. They want this 
Senate to do something to help us.

[[Page 14107]]

  That is why I am so disappointed that we have been literally wasting 
our time on issues that have no relevance.
  Remember the months and months we spent on that fictitious issue that 
we should not have dealt with about uprooting the foundation of our 
country, to change the quality of the Senate, to make it a unicameral 
legislature--so-called nuclear option--because they didn't get all the 
judges they wanted. They were willing to throw this Senate into 
something it had never been before. We spent all of that time, when we 
could have been doing stem cell research legislation; we could have 
been doing something about gas prices and the other things we have 
spoken about.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, let me ask the minority leader one last 
question about stem cell research. Before we adjourned, Senator Frist, 
the Republican leader, came to the floor and propounded a unanimous 
consent request to bring up this bill, H.R. 810, and two other bills 
related to the issues. We agreed on a bipartisan basis.
  I ask my friend and colleague from the State of Nevada, has the 
Republican leader set this matter--this unanimous consent request for 
the stem cell research--to come before the Senate? Has he set it for 
the Senate calendar? Do we know if or when this is going to be called?
  Mr. REID. Let me recount, briefly, the ups and downs--mostly downs--
of this legislation. I can remember months ago when my friend, Dr. Bill 
Frist, majority header of the Senate, stood right there and stunned me 
and most of America by saying: I support H.R. 810, stem cell research. 
That made me feel so good. I thought that we were going to see the end, 
we are going to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But I am sorry 
to say nothing has happened since then.
  We finally got a unanimous consent request before we had the Fourth 
of July recess. As the leader said, he would bring it up. And I 
understand he told the press on Monday he would be willing to do it 
sometime this work period. I hope that is the case.
  But no, the answer is we do not have a time yet to debate this 
legislation. It is not going to take a lot of time. It isn't a bill 
that is going to take days and days. We have 12 hours of debate. We 
could do it all in 1 day. I am willing to do it all in 1 day.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask another question of the minority 
leader. I would like to do something that is maybe unprecedented in the 
modern history of the Senate. We might even meet on Monday. How about a 
Friday? How about giving 12 hours of our life on a Friday for the 
millions of Americans who are desperate for this medical research to 
bring hope to their families and their children. It would be 
unprecedented, would it not--I ask the minority leader from Nevada--for 
us to actually say: All right. This is so important that we will take 
12 hours on a Friday or 12 hours on a Saturday. How about that? The 
Senate would actually meet for 12 hours straight on Saturday and send 
this bill to the President, if we could muster the 60 votes on a 
bipartisan basis. I can't speak for our caucus, but I am prepared to 
stay. Pick the day. Let us take the 12 hours, let us meet at 9 o'clock 
in the morning and stay until 9 o'clock at night and get it finished.
  Would the leader from Nevada believe that to be a radical suggestion?
  Mr. REID. The Senator from Illinois and I came to Washington 
together. We were so proud. In 1982, we finally made it to Washington, 
DC.
  The Senator mentioned Lane Evans. He was with us. It was a big class. 
In the House of Representatives in those days, with Tip O'Neill and Jim 
Wright, we worked nights, Fridays, Mondays, Saturdays in the House of 
Representatives. Now basically they have a 2-day workweek. In the 
Senate, we work 3 days. I realize we have just a few days left before 
the August recess. The House, in fact, is adjourning about a week 
before we do. They have 2 more weeks. We have 3 more weeks after this 
week. But it so good for the country if we could do something about 
stem cell research and finish that. If we could get the Voting Rights 
Act before us and have a real debate on what is going on in Iraq, we 
might be able to get that done with the Defense appropriations bill. We 
know the law of the land now. The law, as we speak, is that the year of 
2006 will be a year of significant transition in Iraq. Everyone in 
America knows about that, except the President. He is staying the 
course. We are spending $3 billion a week now.
  I hope we can take a look at gas prices.
  The Senator is absolutely right. We need to roll up our sleeves and 
get this work done. I don't want to be a part of a do-nothing Congress. 
But I have to say to my friend that at this stage this is a do-nothing 
Congress. Harry Truman, who invented the term, as far as I know, is 
looking down from someplace and saying: Look, you got me beat.
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the purpose of the two of us coming to the 
floor today is to make it clear that we want this month of August to be 
a month of significant transition in the Senate; to move us from a do-
nothing Senate to actually take up issues that people across America 
care about.
  We wrote a letter to Senator Frist which said schedule stem cell 
research and give us a date certain to let us move forward. As the 
Senator said, let us move forward on this debate on Iraq. Let us move 
forward on help paying college tuition costs, particularly for working 
families. Let's do something about energy costs and gasoline prices. 
All of these things I think fit into an agenda that is timely and 
important for the American people.
  I ask the Senator from Nevada the following question: Did he notice 
this morning on the front page of the Washington Post that the chief of 
police in the District of Columbia noted that since July 1 there have 
been 13 murders in our capital city? And in that period of time, 12 
days, 13 murders have created such a stir and concern that he has 
declared it is a time of criminal emergency in the Nation's capital 
because of the murder rate.
  I ask the Senator from Nevada if he is aware of the fact that in the 
last 3 days in the capital of Iraq, in Baghdad, 100 people have been 
murdered in 3 days? Is he aware of the fact that just a few months ago, 
former Iraq Prime Minister Ayad Allawi said: If this is not civil war, 
then God knows what is.
  I ask the Senator from Nevada, are we going to see the end of the 
Senate debate on Iraq come down to cut-and-run versus stay-the-course? 
Is that as good as it gets in the Senate, the most deliberative body in 
our Government? Is that the end of the conversation on Iraq for this 
year as far as our agenda is concerned?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I certainly hope not. This is an intractable 
war. We have seen the valor of our fighting forces. We have the finest 
military in the history of the world. They have shown that in Iraq, 
fighting in situations that have never been fought in before, not in 
the deserts of Iraq but in the cities, the slums, where snipers exist, 
where bombs are.
  We need to have the President do what we tried to do when we offered 
an amendment on the Defense authorization bill to say that the year 
2006 is a year of significant transition, that is the law of the land. 
Let's start redeploying our troops by the end of the year. We need to 
do that.
  I say to my friend, changing the subject a little bit because we all 
need good news, here is some good news: I indicated that Dr. Bill Frist 
stepped forward when he said he would support stem cell research. It 
was a big day for our country, to have a prominent transplant surgeon, 
someone who is imminently qualified in the medical field. Now his 
legislative valor on this issue, even though it is not as quick as I 
would like, has come to the forefront.
  I just received a press release from the leader's office, majority 
leader Bill Frist's office. This is something we need to celebrate. 
This is from Senator Bill Frist:

       The Senate will take up the three stem cell bills on 
     Monday, July 17, and will complete all action by Tuesday, 
     July 18. There's tremendous promise in stem cell research . . 
     .

  That is really good news. I compliment and applaud the majority 
leader for allowing next week to go to stem

[[Page 14108]]

cell research. To those people watching in America, it is good news. 
These people who have been hopeful--like the man who tapped me on the 
shoulder in church--we are going to do everything we can to get the 60 
votes necessary to get this sent to the President's desk.
  Mr. DURBIN. If the Senator from Nevada will yield, I address the 
comment and question to him.
  Despite the fact we have been pushing for a year, even speaking to 
this issue in the Senate today, sending a letter to Senator Frist 
tomorrow, I thank him and congratulate Senator Frist. This is a 
bipartisan bill. It is critically important to our Nation to move 
forward on stem cell medical research.
  When President Bush closed down this promising area of medical 
research almost 5 years ago, we left a void in terms of opportunity for 
finding cures for critical diseases.
  It has never been a partisan issue. Former First Lady Nancy Reagan 
has pushed for stem cell research. Senator Orrin Hatch, Senator Arlen 
Specter--there have been so many who have stepped forward asking for 
stem cell research. In the spirit of this announcement from Senator 
Frist, I hope we can move forward in a bipartisan fashion, pass the key 
bill, H.R. 810, by July 18, and send it to President Bush. I hope he 
will reconsider his promised veto of this bill.
  I ask, if I might, of the Senator from Nevada, when it comes to the 
Voting Rights Act, another issue which the Senator raised, the Senator 
and I are from a common generation that recalls the civil rights 
struggle we lived through as we went through school and watched it 
unfold in America. The Voting Rights Act was passed to protect the 
rights of minorities to vote across the United States.
  I ask the Senator from Nevada whether he is aware of a comment made 
by Jack Kemp, the former Republican Vice Presidential nominee, a former 
Republican Member of Congress, when speaking of the House Republicans' 
efforts to stop reauthorization of the Voting Rights Act--this has been 
occurring over the last few weeks--that former Vice Presidential 
nominee Jack Kemp said that his Republican Party had better get this 
thing passed; we need to get back on the right side of history.
  I ask the Senator from Nevada, has this not been a bipartisan issue, 
the Voting Rights Act, where both parties tried to be on the right side 
of history in moving toward more opportunity and striking down 
discrimination when it came to voting in elections in America?
  Mr. REID. The Senator from Illinois and I served in the House with 
Jack Kemp. Jack Kemp was an all-star: a great quarterback in college, a 
great quarterback in the professional ranks, and a very good Member of 
Congress. He speaks the truth.
  The Republicans need to get on the right side of history. Holding 
this up is not good for them. It is not good for our country.
  Mr. DURBIN. I say to the Senator from Nevada in closing, there are 
Members in the Senate, and we are moving to the Homeland Security bill. 
That is a timely bill. I am glad we are considering it.
  At another time, we will address the issue of increased cost of 
college education for working families and the failure of the 
Republican leadership to schedule opportunities for tax deductions and 
reductions in student loan costs for these students.
  Of course, the energy issue is the issue I ran into all across 
Illinois. We have seen a doubling of gasoline prices under the Bush 
administration, there is a severe hardship on families and businesses, 
and still we have no energy policy to address this issue from this 
Republican-dominated Congress.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.

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