[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 13]
[Senate]
[Pages 17661-17662]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      MIDWESTERN FLOOD TAX RELIEF

  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I rise for the purpose of a unanimous 
consent request for the Midwestern flood tax relief bill sponsored by 
the Senators of several Midwestern States, including Senator Harkin of 
my State, Senator Durbin, Senator Obama of Illinois, and other 
midwestern Senators.
  I rise to seek fairness and equity for people in the Midwest who have 
been hurt by floods, and I would say fairness and equity as measured by 
how Congress responded to the natural disaster of Katrina, New Orleans, 
et cetera.
  I remember back in September of 2005, after that terrible catastrophe 
of August 29, what happened in New Orleans. Within the week after we 
were in session, after Labor Day, we had appropriated $60 billion. 
Within 3 weeks after that--I was chairman of the Finance Committee--we 
voted out of committee a tax equity bill that changed provisions of the 
Tax Code to encourage employers and businesses and people to stay there 
and weather it out.
  What we did, we did without asking any questions. And now we seek the 
same tax relief for the States of the Midwest that have had the same 
type of catastrophe happen to them. I would measure catastrophe by a 
500-year flood in the city of Cedar Rapids, IA, which won't be the same 
as it was prior to the flood.
  So we have entered this legislation for consideration. We have worked 
it out with a lot of people who were involved in it. We worked closely 
with Senator Baucus's staff, with the staff of Ways and Means, trying 
to satisfy everybody. We think we have a consensus.
  Here it is, 6 weeks after the floods hit, and Congress has not acted. 
Congress should act. In other words, shouldn't the people hurt by the 
natural disaster of the Midwest have the same consideration as the 
people of New Orleans and those with other catastrophes? We are not 
getting it. It is very clear that when our disaster is not on 
television for 2 months in a row, like the disaster of New Orleans was 
on television for 2 months in a row, somehow Congress is absentminded 
about what happened in the Midwest.
  So we face things like arguments from staff of some of the people in 
the other body that, well, this disaster wasn't anything like what 
happened in Katrina or you hear things like, well, we need to offset 
this bill. When I was chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and the 
people in New Orleans were hurting, we did not ask for offsets. We did 
not play political games with the legislation we eventually passed, 
like some efforts this Midwest Tax Flood Relief Act ought to be 
connected with extenders or with AMT or something like that. We got the 
job done. We didn't worry about it.
  I come before this body tonight to ask for consideration of this 
legislation.

[[Page 17662]]




                   Unanimous Consent Request--S. 3322

  At this point, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance 
be discharged from further consideration of S. 3322 and the Senate 
proceed to its immediate consideration. I ask unanimous consent that 
the Grassley amendment at the desk be agreed to; that the bill, as 
amended, be read the third time and passed; that the motion to 
reconsider be laid upon the table; and that the bill be held at the 
desk pending House action on the companion measure.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, I am 
speaking on behalf of Senator Baucus. I note that the Senator from Iowa 
realizes the bill that was before us yesterday, S. 3335, would not only 
have taken care of his State of Iowa, which truly deserves disaster 
assistance, but also my State of Illinois and all of the States that 
faced that disaster problem this year. Unfortunately, it did not pass; 
otherwise, it would have been on its way to the House yesterday. Had we 
received more than five Republican votes, it might have passed the 
House and be on its way to the President. But the decision was made on 
the Republican side of the aisle not to vote for that measure that 
would have helped Iowa, Illinois, and all of the States.
  The measure Senator Grassley brings before us leaves behind victims 
of disasters in States of Nevada, Colorado, Kentucky, Missouri, 
Mississippi, Tennessee, and Texas--to name a few--who would receive no 
relief under Senator Grassley's bill but would have under the bill he 
opposed. So it is sad. I wish this could have been resolved yesterday 
with the vote if the Republicans would have joined us. Unfortunately, 
they did not. We will have to take this matter up when we return. I 
hope we can find a way to help all of the victims, not just in the 
Midwest but all across the country, which is the tradition of the 
Senate and the House. Regretfully, I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 1 minute.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. GRASSLEY. Mr. President, I point out that what the Senator from 
Illinois described is an amendment that would not have responded to the 
Midwest in exactly the same way as we responded to Katrina. It would 
not have been as beneficial. It also did not contain the same 25 
provisions we did for New Orleans, which were in that tax bill to help 
them.
  I think we have a situation where we ought to respond the same way we 
did for Katrina. We are not doing it because the disaster in the 
Midwest is as bad. When we thought about Katrina, we didn't argue with 
other people about going back and taking care of disasters that 
previously happened. We took care of what was before us.
  Right now, the flood of the Midwest is before us, and we ought to 
have the same equity and fairness that, when we had a Republican 
Congress, we gave to New Orleans. Whether we have a Democratic Congress 
or a Republican Congress, that should not make any difference. We are 
being treated differently when the Democrats control the Congress.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma is recognized.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I may speak 
for about 7 minutes. I will try to do it in less time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, I thank the majority whip for being on the 
floor tonight. I am one of the reasons why he is here, so I beg his 
indulgence at this time.
  The Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act was first introduced 
in the 109th Congress. The Republican sponsor at that time on our side 
of the aisle agreed to the offsets in that bill. That wasn't agreed to 
by the other side, so that bill wasn't passed. Although the offsets 
were accepted, it was still opposed.
  Over the past 5 months, two press conferences have highlighted my 
``obstruction'' of this bill and questioned my motives for holding it. 
I sent two letters to the prime sponsors of the bill and to the 
majority leader offering to negotiate a compromise on the bill. None of 
those were ever responded to. No sponsor ever contacted my office in 
the 110th Congress to try to work on this. Instead, I chose to work, 
because I couldn't get a response, with Alvin Sykes, a wonderfully 
incredible man, who is behind this bill. He has my utmost respect and 
admiration.
  I will submit for the Record an article dealing with his incredible 
life story and his commitment and arduous work for this legislation.
  Mr. President, I reached a compromise with Mr. Sykes and the Emmett 
Till Campaign for Justice, whose board of directors has endorsed our 
compromise language.
  I ask unanimous consent that an e-mail we got from Mr. Sykes be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

     From: Alvin Sykes.
     To: Bacak, Brooke.
     Sent: Thu July 31, 2008.

       Dear Senator Coburn:, First allow me to extend our 
     appreciation and admiration for you and your staff's 
     assistance and communication with us concerning S. 535 the 
     Emmett Till Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act. While we still 
     believe that the hold that you placed on our bill was not the 
     good way to effect the institutional change in the manner 
     that the United States Senate does business we do appreciate 
     the open lines of communications and respect that your staff, 
     in particular Brooke Basak and Tim Tardibono, have shown us 
     in negotiating with us on proposed language and conditions 
     that would address your concern and minimize the loss we have 
     suffered from going this route. Therefore our Board of 
     Directors has voted to endorse a unanimous consent agreement 
     that would include the latest draft language that rectifies 
     the concerns with the controversy over the Attorney having 
     authority to reprogram funds from one congressionally 
     directed fund to another by elleviating all reference to 
     reprogramming and replaced with prioritizing spending request 
     if Congress does not fully fund the Till Bill. Furthermore we 
     support you having the right to submit this language as 
     amendment in the cloture vote process as long as the floor 
     debate time is limited and that you would not replace your 
     hold on our bill if your amendment fails. Nothing in this 
     request is meant to criticize the Senate Leadership on the 
     enormous work that they have done to craft and advocate for 
     the passage of this bill especially the good work of Patrick 
     Grant in Senator Dodd's office and Darrell Thompson in Senate 
     Majority leader Harry Reid who has kept hope alive on this 
     historic bill. However we firmly believe that truth and 
     justice can be best achieved by opening and maintaining 
     effective lines of communication and searching for a win-win 
     justice seeking solution. We further believe that since you 
     started this by placing your hold on our bill you should be 
     the one to finish it.
       Therefore the Emmett Till Justice Campaign, Inc. request 
     that you make an overture to the Democratic Leadership and 
     the sponsors of the Till Bill by introducing the Emmett Till 
     Unsolved Civil Rights Crime Act, as proposed amended, under 
     the unanimous consent agreement outlined above tonight in the 
     interest of time, truth and justice.
       Sincerely, in the pursuit of justice,
           I am,

                                                  Alvin Sykes,

                                                        President,
     Emmett Till Justice Campaign, Inc.

                          ____________________