[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2960-2961]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. This weekend, the American people spent another $80-plus 
million in Iraq. That is $400 million on Saturday, $400 million on 
Sunday, and $400 million-plus today. The month of February came to a 
close. Another $12 billion was spent in Iraq, all $12 billion of it 
borrowed. Yet for the hundreds of billions we have borrowed and spent 
in Iraq already, the violence continues. This morning brought news of 
two car bombs in Baghdad killing dozens. A grave was discovered where 
14 council volunteers were found dead.
  Dealing with housing, Nobel laureate Joseph Stiglitz said this 
weekend that these billions upon billions spent in Iraq are largely 
responsible for the economic troubles here at home. Last week, 
Democrats in Congress attempted to help families impacted by the eye of 
the economic storm, the housing crisis.
  Yet as we watched the Dow tumble--and tumble it did Friday by almost 
4 percent, and oil closed above $100; one time it went above $103 a 
barrel for the first time in history--Republicans blocked our ability 
to try to move forward on the housing crisis. They could have chosen 
the side of families at risk to lose their homes to foreclosure and all 
Americans adversely affected by the housing crisis.
  Over the weekend, I ran into a man of great respect. He told me a 
couple of years ago that he could see a housing crisis looming. He 
lives in the distinguished Presiding Officer's State; he lives, in 
fact, in northern Virginia. He mentioned to me that in Fairfax County, 
there are 5,000 homes in foreclosures now. A year ago there were 200. 
He said there would be more than that but the clerk of the court is so 
overwhelmed with work that there are hundreds and hundreds of others 
waiting to be listed as being foreclosed upon.
  My friends on the other side of the aisle could have chosen the side 
of families at risk. Instead they chose the side of President Bush, the 
side of big business. As the Republicans block and stall, people 
continue to suffer. We need to help them, and we in the majority remain 
ready to do so.
  I urge my Republican colleagues to join Democrats in a bipartisan 
effort to get people the help they need and get our economy working 
again.
  Before I brought this bill up, I extended the olive branch to my 
distinguished friend, the Republican leader: five amendments on each 
side. We simply were thwarted every time from moving to the bill. I had 
minority members come up to me and say: Well, why did you fill the 
tree?
  Those words never came out of my mouth ever as it dealt with the 
housing matter. I would hope, as I conversed with Senator Dodd late 
Friday evening, that he and my friend, Richard Shelby, the Senator from 
Alabama, the ranking member on the Housing Committee, can maybe come up 
with amendments that the Republicans want to offer on this bill.
  We believe, in fairness to the American people, it should be related 
to housing. As we know, the Republicans came out with their own 
stimulus package: lower taxes, tort reform, things of that nature, that 
have nothing much to do with housing reform. But we are willing to work 
with members of the minority to come up with a housing package. We are 
going to have to do it quite soon, because we are now trying to move to 
consumer product safety.
  If we have some kind of a deal, I am sure we could work out something 
to move to this bill and spend a few days on it, because next week we 
have to go to the budget. That is statutory. We

[[Page 2961]]

need to do that. That bill will be reported out of the committee on 
Thursday and then we need to move to that probably by Tuesday of next 
week, complete it.
  As I recall, there is 50 hours of statutory time under the Budget 
Act, and then at the end we will run into the overwhelmingly unpopular 
vote-athon where people can offer amendments to their heart's content. 
It takes a lot of time to work our way through that.
  We have two of our more experienced Senators, Senators Judd Gregg and 
Kent Conrad, the chairman and ranking member of their committee, and 
they are going to try to come up with a more condensed version of this 
to cut down the time significantly and maybe even limit the number of 
amendments. We have heard that before. But with two men who have so 
much experience with this legislation, I hope so.
  Less than 2 weeks ago, Congress sent the intelligence authorization 
bill to the President's desk with overwhelming bipartisan support. Our 
country has been without an intelligence authorization bill for 3 
years. That certainly is long enough.
  Our bipartisan bill will strengthen intelligence capabilities to 
fight terrorists more effectively and keep our cities and towns safer. 
Our bill includes provisions to restore proper congressional oversight 
to the work of our intelligence community, and it includes another 
simple yet crucial provision that all intelligence professionals across 
all agencies of the U.S. Government must adhere to one standard of 
interrogation. Torture techniques, including sexual humiliation, 
electric shocks, electric burns, burns generally, with cigarettes, for 
example, mock execution, deprivation of food and medical care, and, of 
course, waterboarding are un-American, no ifs, ands, or buts about 
this.
  There is little more precious to America than our moral authority. 
With moral authority, we have negotiated peace treaties, ended wars, 
and kept the American people out of harm's way. Our loss of moral 
authority may be remembered as the most damaging aspect of the Bush 
years.
  Outrage at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo led the world to question 
America's commitment to human rights and our moral authority. President 
Bush has made it clear that America does not torture. Instead, he says 
we cannot be telling our enemies our interrogation techniques.
  I strongly disagree. We should be telling those who seek to harm us 
that no matter what they do, they will never make us sacrifice the 
values that lie at our core. There is no gray area when it comes to 
torture. It is a moral absolute, and our answer must be absolutely not.
  When Republicans and Democrats joined together to overwhelmingly pass 
the torture ban in the intelligence bill, our message was very clear: 
The damage this President has done to our moral standing in the world 
is not irreversible. It can be restored. We cannot wait for a new 
President to begin.
  The bill now rests on the President's desk. The decision is in his 
hands. Will he continue to assert our country's right to do wrong or 
will he join the overwhelming bipartisan majority of Congress and the 
American people by signing the torture ban?
  Reports indicate we should expect a veto. But as the President makes 
his decision, perhaps he should listen to what is written in the 
military interrogation guideline handbook:

       Use of torture by U.S. personnel would bring discredit upon 
     the U.S. and its armed forces while undermining domestic and 
     international support for the war effort. It could also place 
     U.S. and allied personnel in enemy hands at greater risk of 
     abuse.

  Every time President Bush has sought to continue his failed strategy 
in Iraq, he has said that generals on the ground, not politicians, 
should be making war decisions. He has called upon us often to heed the 
words of General Petraeus. What has General Petraeus said on the 
question of torture?

       Some may argue that we would be more effective if we 
     sanctioned torture or other expedient methods to obtain 
     information from the enemy. They would be wrong. Beyond the 
     basic fact that such acts are illegal, history shows that 
     they are also frequently neither useful nor necessary.

  We now call upon President Bush to heed the words of General 
Petraeus, along with dozens and dozens of retired generals, bipartisan 
military experts, and the will of the American people by signing the 
torture ban.
  As I indicated, we are on the consumer product safety legislation 
this afternoon. This is an important part of America's agenda, 
especially based on what happened right before Christmas last year--
reforming the Consumer Product Safety Commission to make sure that the 
toys and other products our families use are safe--not only toys but 
other products.
  Last year, more than 20 million dangerous toys were recalled. We all 
heard the terrible news of toys tainted with lead paint from overseas 
reaching our children, or of children having their intestines literally 
torn apart due to unsafe magnets in toys.
  Every parent has a right to know that the toys they give their 
children will not cause them harm. Yet the Government agency 
responsible for ensuring toy safety, the Consumer Product Safety 
Commission, was employing one person, working in a dilapidated 
facility, to test toys before they were sold across the country.
  The $400-plus million a day we are spending in Iraq speaks volumes. 
The Consumer Product Safety Commission was employing only one person, 
working in a dilapidated facility to test toys before they were sold to 
parents all across the country. That is outrageous and the tragic 
consequences are plain to see. Children died from ingesting toxins 
found in imported toys.
  The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that 27,000 deaths 
and 33 million injuries per year stem from the consumer products under 
its use and regulation; 27,000 deaths, 33 million injuries each year. 
We cannot prevent every injury. We can do far better than what we have 
done.
  The Consumer Product Safety Commission Reform Act is bipartisan. It 
provides comprehensive reforms to restore confidence that the 
Government is doing its most basic task, helping to ensure that the 
American people are shielded from avoidable harm.
  The bill requires third-party safety testing and a comprehensive ban 
of lead in children's products. The legislation helps prevent deadly 
imports from entering our Nation's borders and increases the 
Commission's resources, staff, and facility.
  The legislation helps ensure that information on unsafe products is 
made available more widely and quickly and that when an unsafe product 
is recalled it is actually pulled from the shelves and not sold to 
unsuspecting families.
  These provisions will help give parents the confidence to know that 
children are safe and reduce the risk of injury and death for all 
Americans. That is why every major consumer advocacy organization in 
the Nation supports this bill.
  I hope my colleagues, my Republican colleagues, will follow suit by 
quickly agreeing to allow us to move to this bill. It is a shame we 
haven't been able to do it now and work today on amendments relating to 
it. We should debate it, do amendments, and move forward as quickly as 
possible and send it to the President.

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