[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 22]
[Senate]
[Pages 30462-30463]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       FOCUSING ON IMPORTANT WORK

  Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, the clock is ticking on calendar year 2007. 
There is not a lot of time left. We have a pileup of legislation that 
has yet to be enacted. If you look at the accomplishments so far in 
this first year of the Democratic majority, there has been very little 
accomplishment and very little in terms of milestones. In fact, if you 
look at the milestones, they are not milestones you would be very proud 
of. It seems to me much of the agenda in the Congress in this last year 
has been about embarrassing the President or creating showdowns with 
the President or satisfying some liberal special interest group, rather 
than doing the work of the people. That is the cause of the low 
approval ratings the American people have of the Congress.
  Part of the agenda has been, we have a President whose approval 
ratings are not that good. Let's see if we can create showdowns with 
him and try to embarrass the President. The reality is, the President's 
approval ratings are about three times that of the Congress. One of the 
reasons the American people have a low opinion of the Congress is 
because of all the partisan fights and a lack of a record of 
accomplishment and not focusing on the problems they want to see 
solved. Those are the challenges and the problems that face this 
country going forward.
  When Congress has an 11-percent approval rating, our colleague, 
Senator John McCain, says: When you get to that low a level of approval 
rating, you are talking about paid staff and blood relatives. 
Regrettably, that is probably the case. But nevertheless, we can

[[Page 30463]]

change that by focusing on the important work of the American people 
and actually moving the agenda forward.
  By way of example, because I do think numbers are important, I am a 
big believer in facts and numbers. President Reagan used to quote John 
Adams who said: Facts are stubborn things. If you look at fiscal year 
2008, we have zero spending bills signed into law. In fact, it has been 
20 years since we reached this time on the calendar without a single 
spending bill having been sent to the President for signature. It has 
been 20 years since it took this long to confirm an Attorney General. 
SCHIP is a good example. They knew that was going to be vetoed. It was 
vetoed. They had the veto override vote and it was sustained. So they 
came up with a new SCHIP bill which actually spent more money but 
covered fewer children than the original bill sent to the President.
  My point is, many of these initiatives that are being undertaken by 
our colleagues on the Democratic side are designed to prove a political 
point, not to solve problems. The American people want us to solve 
problems, which is precisely why the approval ratings of the Congress 
are so low.
  The Labor-HHS appropriations bill which was passed by this body 
yesterday is $9 billion over budget. There are 33 States with operating 
budgets that are lower than the $9 billion in overspending contained in 
the Labor, HHS, and Education appropriations bill that passed the 
Senate yesterday.
  These are some pretty staggering numbers when we think about it. We 
have $3 gasoline, oil at $93 a barrel, and no Energy bill. Again, it is 
bogged down in the Congress, languishing because of the political 
bickering going on back and forth.
  We have the alternative minimum tax that is going to kick in this 
year. Only 54 days until 2008, and we still don't have a solution to 
that. On the other hand, in terms of numbers, we have had 57 votes in 
the Congress, the House and the Senate, on Iraq. I have to say, because 
I serve on the Armed Services Committee, what is going on in Iraq and 
our national security, there is nothing more important when it comes to 
the role of Government than to protect the American people. But there 
has been a lot of political debate about Iraq over the course of the 
past 10 months, much of which was designed to promote showdowns with 
the President, to create political opportunity for Members on the other 
side to earn points with liberal interest groups. That is 57 votes on 
Iraq in the last 10 months at the same time that we don't have an 
Energy bill, at the same time that we haven't passed a single 
appropriations bill, that we haven't confirmed an Attorney General, 
that we have FISA legislation, the lack of passage of which is 
inhibiting our ability to catch bad people and terrorists trying to do 
harm to the American people.
  These are all numbers and facts that I believe the American people 
want to see this Congress address, rather than engaging in political 
arguments that are designed for no other reason than to prove a 
political point or to embarrass the administration or to satisfy a 
liberal special interest group.
  I submit we still have time. We don't have a lot of time, but it 
would behoove the Congress and the Democratic leadership in the Senate 
and House to work together to try to solve the problems the American 
people care about, rather than engaging in more political arguments, 
rather than sending the President bills the Congress knows he is going 
to veto.
  Let's get after some of these more important issues, such as the high 
cost of energy, passing appropriations bills that control Federal 
spending and I think adhere to the American people's sense of fiscal 
responsibility and a belief that the American Congress ought to be 
responsive to the American people by being responsible in the use of 
their tax dollars.
  So I see our time is winding up in terms of morning business, and I 
know the WRDA bill is pending before the Senate. We are going to take 
that up. But I simply hope in the remaining days of this calendar year, 
2007, we can actually do something that will create a record of 
accomplishment for the American people rather than continuing to have 
the Democrat majority in the Senate trying to make political statements 
and score political points.
  With that, Mr. President, I yield my time.
  Mr. LOTT. Mr. President, parliamentary inquiry: What is the time 
situation now for the body?

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