[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 18]
[Senate]
[Page 24183]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   UNANIMOUS-CONSENT REQUEST--S. 3689

  Mr. REID. Madam President, with the daunting challenges we face on 
our road to economic recovery--and that will come; it is a question of 
when--there is no reason to wait for a new year, a new Congress and a 
new President. We could vote now. We could take action now. We can't 
solve our economic challenges with one vote, but we could get started. 
So I say, why wait. Every day that goes by, thousands of Americans lose 
their jobs. Thousands of homes are lost. Scores of companies file for 
bankruptcy. So why don't we staunch the bleeding, stop some of the 
pain, and begin to turn things around? We have before the Senate a 
comprehensive economic stimulus plan worked out with the Appropriations 
Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Agriculture Committee, that 
we could pass and we should pass. I wish to express my appreciation to 
the members of the Appropriations, Finance, and Agriculture Committees. 
They have worked very hard to put this package together under the 
leadership of Senators Byrd, Baucus, and Harkin.
  What do I mean by ``comprehensive''? Instead of addressing just one 
part of our economic crisis, this legislation takes many steps that 
economists agree we need.
  I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration 
of Calendar No. 1122, S. 3689; that the bill be read a third time, 
passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, and there be 
no intervening action or debate.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  The Senator from Arizona.
  Mr. KYL. I object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, we have a matter on which the objection 
was made. I did not cover it all, of course, in that matter. We have 
significant things in that piece of legislation that were objected to 
dealing with infrastructure; unemployment benefits; FMAP, which is the 
matter to give some fiscal relief to our States; and it would give help 
to the auto industry. So this is the type of issue on which I wish we 
could move forward. I understand my colleagues. They are not going to 
accept this.
  I think the provision we have dealing with taking the money out of 
the financial bailout that we have, that the White House has, the 
Treasury Department has--I have talked on the floor over the last 2 
days about that. There is no need to belabor that point. But it is too 
bad we could not move forward on that basis.
  It is my understanding Senators Levin and Bond are going to try to 
come up with some alternative proposal. When they come up with that, I 
would be happy to see if there is any way we can move procedurally. 
That is not going to be easy with what is going on in the House and, 
actually, what is going on here. But I will confer with my counterpart, 
Senator McConnell, and we will do what we can to move forward.

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