[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17085-17087]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ISSUES FACING AMERICA

  Mr. THOMAS. Mr. President, it is nice to be back after having nearly 
a month break. It is a good opportunity to come back and see what the 
rest of the world is like. I think we have a lot of great challenges 
before us, and I hope we can accomplish a great deal. To do that, we 
are going to have to have some agreement among the folks here.
  I am compelled to come to the Chamber because there has been a great 
deal of criticism on the floor today of the Congress and the lack of 
activity in the Congress over time, and certainly all of us agree we 
could do more and we need to do more. In order to do that, we have to 
come to some sort of an agreement.
  One of the problems with getting things done with 55 votes is that 
anyone can object, and it takes 60 votes to override that, and we have 
had a lot of that experience from our friends on the other side of the 
aisle. So we need to do a great deal more than we have been able to do.
  I am hopeful we can begin to talk more about issues. There is a 
difference of view about issues. That is what the Senate is all about. 
There are differences of views everywhere. We ought to talk about the 
issues and not just talk about politics. So I hope we can address those 
issues in a more direct way and not just simply be critical in order to 
talk about the future in terms of the Congress. I am here to say we 
haven't done all we would like to do. No one would argue with that. On 
the other hand, we have accomplished quite a number of things over a 
period of time. We have a great deal to do and a great many challenges.
  Securing the homeland has been one of the top issues, of course, 
because of the threats we have going back to 11 September and the 
continuing threats we hear about, whether it be in London or whether it 
be in the Middle East. There is a terror problem in this world. We have 
a PATRIOT Act that gives us much more strength to be able to deal with 
the kinds of things that are going on. We have secured the borders much 
more than we have in the past. Is there more to do? Absolutely. We have 
14,000 agents and 25,000 beds to deal with the problem at the border.

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  I am one who believes we ought to be doing something on immigration. 
I believe we ought to continue to tighten the border. We ought to 
initiate efforts to define who is illegal and who isn't. We should be 
able to get employers to report whom they have as illegal and so on, 
and we need to do some of those things. I am not for giving amnesty, 
but we can deal with the problems we have, and I hope we can come 
together and do some things. We have funded the war on terror, and 
there is a war on terror.
  Securing America's prosperity. We have heard a great deal about the 
economy in the last few days with the latest reports. We have created 
5.3 million jobs over the last couple of years. That is a lot of work. 
That is a lot of jobs. We have had a reduction in unemployment. We have 
had a good deal more activity in the economic sector, and there is no 
question about that.
  Now, some places are different from others. In my State, we have had 
a great deal of economic opportunity. We have lower unemployment than 
we have had for a very long time.
  We have managed to reduce taxes. I think that is a good thing. That 
is what has encouraged the economy. That is what has created these new 
job opportunities.
  We cut taxes by $70 billion. Most of us agree that we ought to be 
able to keep the taxes as low as we can and continue to provide the 
services.
  We have cut entitlement growth in terms of trying to deal with the 
deficit. We need to do much more with the deficit, but we have cut 
entitlement growth--$100 billion in the 10 years to come.
  There are things that we are doing. We have accomplished a good deal, 
although there is much more to do. There is no question about that. But 
we ought to do it by planning together, by deciding together. The idea 
of just making this criticism doesn't get much done.
  We have worked on energy. We have done a great deal on energy. 
Certainly we wish prices were still lower, but the fact is, we have had 
the energy, and that is an interesting thing. With all the dislocation 
there has been in the Middle East, with all the dependency we have had 
on energy in the Middle East, we have still been able to keep our 
energy supply going.
  Now, interestingly enough, gas prices are going down. There are new 
discoveries in the gulf coast which we in the Congress opened recently. 
That is a very important thing to help us with energy. It could create 
a real opportunity for us to have lower energy prices. But the fact is, 
over time we have to find some new sources of energy.
  We have an energy bill that is in place, an energy policy passed in 
this Congress for the first time in years. Now, of course, we are 
working on alternative sources.
  Those do not happen overnight, so it will be 15 or 20 years before 
some of these new sources become important, but they will be, and that 
is the kind of looking forward that I believe we have to have.
  As a result of this Congress, we have an energy policy that is 
working out for alternative sources, working out for more efficiency 
and more conservation in our use. We have to do that over time. There 
is no question about that.
  These are very important things that have been done. If you just 
listen to the media and listen to what sometimes is said here, as it 
was this morning, you would think nothing has been done, and it has. As 
much as we want? Of course not. Everything we want? Of course not. 
Nevertheless, a good deal has been done.
  We have done some things in education. We increased the Pell grants 
for math and science competitiveness. We continue to strengthen our 
schools. More funding has gone to education. We have done that here. 
Those are positive things that are changing our country.
  We have had a good deal of trouble with lawsuits over a period of 
time. We had some class action reform this past year, and bankruptcy 
reform, so people are treated better under the law.
  We have had gun liability reform, which means a lot to many people.
  I guess I continue to repeat myself, but I think it is so unfair to 
say that things haven't been done, that we haven't done anything, the 
do-nothing Congress. It is not true. Could we do more? Of course.
  As I said, one of the reasons we have not done more is because, under 
the system, the minority can object and can stop things from happening, 
and has a great deal.
  We have done a good deal more with our infrastructure, with highways. 
We have had great changes in that.
  On health care--one of the things that is most important to us and 
which has great challenges--we have done a great deal with drugs, the 
Part D drug benefit. That gives more opportunities--83 percent of the 
people in Wyoming who are eligible have signed up for the Part D health 
care. I happen to work as cochairman of the group on rural health care. 
Rural health care is a little different, and we have to take a look at 
some of the problems that are different from metropolitan areas. We 
have accomplished a great deal, having more providers be there. We have 
made the cost payments equal in rural areas. So we have done a good 
deal there. We have worked on adult stem cell therapy with cord blood. 
We have done those things. There has been work on technology, work that 
needed to be done.
  On the Supreme Court, of course, two judges have been put on the 
Supreme Court, 14 circuit judges, and 34 district court judges. Does 
that mean we have done nothing in the Congress? I don't believe that is 
true.
  We have more to do. There is always that thought. I am disappointed 
we have not moved faster on the appropriations bills. Traditionally, we 
should be further along than we are. Part of the problem, of course, is 
there are real problems with spending. We have to do something about 
spending. We can't continue to spend at the rate that we had to spend 
because we had emergencies, such as Katrina and such as the war on 
terror and Iraq. When you do that in your business or your family, you 
have to change; go back and make the changes to pick up what you had to 
do in the emergency. That is where we are now, seeking to make those 
differences.
  Within Government we have done some lobbying reform. It needed to be 
done. We have done some of that. We have worked on the Voting Rights 
Act.
  I guess I am a little impatient, coming back from having worked in my 
State where people are reasonably happy with what is happening, and 
then listening to the total negative reaction we have on the floor this 
morning about having done nothing when that is not the case. Could we 
do more? Of course, we should do more.
  I will not take much more time, although it looks as if I could take 
as much time as I choose this morning. I am sure we will get on into 
it.
  We have a lot of challenges. There is no question about that. 
Homeland security is one of those challenges. We have other things we 
need to deal with. I wish we could deal with immigration. That is one 
of the things I would like to do.
  I am very much involved in energy, in the Energy Committee. My State 
is an energy State. We have a lot to do there to move forward.
  In any event, I guess I am really saying we need an attitude that is 
a do-something attitude. We absolutely disagree about some of the 
issues. That is part of the system. We are going to have that as we are 
getting into an election. That is part of the system. But we need to be 
honest about the fact that we have done some things. We have things to 
do, and we need to work together to get them done. It seems to me that 
is our challenge.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be dispensed with.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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