[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3570-3571]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                             BUDGET DEBATE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, in an hour we are starting the budget. Under 
the law that governs what we do, there is 50 hours of debate on this 
matter. It is one of the few items in the Senate that has a time 
certain. The good news is that we have Senators Conrad and Gregg who 
will be managing this. They are two experts on money within this body. 
They work extremely well together. They disagree on a number of issues 
in the budget, but they approach it in a gentlemanly fashion. They are, 
in my estimation, two of the finest Senators this body has ever had. As 
far as matters relating to money, they are, in my years of service here 
in the Senate, really outstanding. They are friends. They are 
adversaries. They do it in a way that should make the Senate and the 
country proud. That is the good news.
  The bad news is that other than the time limit on this budget, there 
are a lot of changes we talk about needing to make, and we have for 
years, but we haven't made them, which means we come to a point where 
we have what is called the vote-athon, which means Senators have an 
unlimited number of opportunities to offer amendments. Until the Chair 
rules that it is a dilatory tactic, that can go on for a long period of 
time.
  I have explained to the Republican leader--we talked at some length 
on one occasion on the telephone--that we are going to finish this bill 
this week. The question is, we would like to do it on Thursday. It is 
my understanding that all the Presidentials will be here on Thursday. 
They will be here on Friday if we don't finish this bill on Thursday. 
They will be here on Saturday if we don't finish the bill on Friday. I 
hope we can work toward finishing this bill sometime Thursday. It is my 
recollection that we did it last year on Thursday. That is what we are 
facing. As a result, we will work to see if we can have a process that 
is fair and gives people the opportunity to offer the amendments they 
believe are important.
  There are a number of issues we know. I think Senators Gregg and 
Conrad will agree there are probably four main issues that are going to 
be extremely controversial in the budget this year. We will work toward 
having a time that we can complete that.
  This week marks the 75th anniversary of President Franklin 
Roosevelt's first fireside chat. In his first fireside chat on March 
12, 1933, President Roosevelt reassured the American people that 
despite the fear and uncertainty of a banking crisis and a deeply 
troubled economy, working people--or, in his words, ``average 
citizens''--would be just fine.
  He said:

       You . . . must have faith; you must not be stampeded by 
     rumors or guesses.
       Let us unite in banishing fear. We have provided the 
     machinery to restore our financial system, and it is up to 
     you to support and make it work. It is your problem, my 
     friends, your problem no less than mine. Together we cannot 
     fail.

  President Roosevelt was right. With President Roosevelt's leadership 
and the grit and determination of the American people, our country not 
only survived the Great Depression but embraced a new era of 
prosperity. That success was due in no small part to President 
Roosevelt's understanding that working Americans built our country and 
working Americans were critical to our continued prosperity.
  Seven years ago, President George Bush inherited a budget surplus for 
the year of more than $200 billion, the result of a responsible Clinton 
administration economic policy. These surpluses were projected to 
continue for the foreseeable future.
  Now 7 years into the Bush administration, we find that tax breaks for 
big

[[Page 3571]]

business and the superwealthy have combined with $12 billion per month 
war in Iraq and cuts to investments in our workforce and infrastructure 
to create a budget deficit of more than $400 billion and a national 
debt that has grown by $3 trillion. The result: an economy that is 
failing millions of American families.
  President Bush said last week that he doesn't believe America is 
headed toward a recession. You have to hunt hard to find an economist 
who would agree with him. The question is no longer are we headed for a 
recession but how long and how deep it will be.
  For the second month in a row, the American economy lost jobs--22,000 
in January, 63,000 in February. Who bore the worst of this job loss? 
People who work in the manufacturing industry, people who work in 
construction, people who build homes. It is not manufacturing that lost 
jobs; it is not construction that lost jobs; it is the people who work 
in those industries that cause those industries to be deemed as losing 
jobs.
  In 7 years of Bush economics, oil is up to an alltime high. Today, 
the last I looked, it was over $107 a barrel. Gas prices are double 
what they were when the President took office, and they are climbing. 
The average gallon of gasoline in America now is about $3.20 a gallon. 
The highest gasoline is in San Francisco; the lowest is in Casper, WY. 
The cost of college is up by some 60 percent since President Bush took 
office. Health care costs are up 80 percent since President Bush took 
office. Has anything gone down? Yes. Annual household income is down by 
$1,000.
  Who has prospered from 7 years of Bush economics? At parties and 
private meetings, President Bush's CEO friends and oil buddies must be 
telling him the economy is doing great, because they are doing really 
well. Exxon, for example, made the highest net profit of any company in 
the history of the country. It is no wonder the President doesn't see a 
recession coming, because the people he deals with are doing just fine. 
Look at the enormous compensation packages earned by CEOs of companies 
that have been failures: Contrywide, Citigroup, Merrill Lynch. These 
compensation packages were in the hundreds of millions of dollars for 
companies that were failing, even as their industry has spiraled 
downward and the consumers they serve have suffered. The middle class 
has not done so well. They have been forgotten. They have been left 
behind.
  After 7 years of fiscal irresponsibility, consider what President 
Bush wants to do next. His budget calls for spending $51 billion to 
hand out more tax breaks for Americans with incomes of greater than $1 
million. That works out that each of these millionaires will get 
$125,000--all to a fortunate few who need help the least. With such 
generosity for those doing the best, one would think the President 
would take care of those struggling the most. But that is not the case.
  On the housing crisis, for example, the proposal we have put forward 
calls for five simple things. Transparency--if you are going to buy a 
home, have it so that people understand the terms of the deal. It is 
very simple. Jack Reed pushed that. CDBG money to go to local 
governments to buy foreclosed properties. Local governments are crying 
for these moneys. Revenue bonds would allow the law to be changed. 
Instead of revenue bonds to buy new homes, you could buy foreclosed or 
used homes. And then the loss carryforward that is so important for the 
homebuilding industry--the money you have made in the past could be 
offset with the money that has been lost in recent years. Finally, the 
bankruptcy provision--we have talked a lot about it here--to allow 
people to have the bankruptcy court take a look at their loans and see 
if they can readjust the loans.
  The President pays for his tax giveaways to the wealthy in part by 
proposing deep cuts to Medicare and Medicaid--that is a fact--while 
underfunding everything from terrorism prevention to veterans 
education. That is not just irresponsible fiscal policy. Many believe, 
as I met with a group of religious leaders last week, that it is 
immoral fiscal policy.
  This week, we are proposing a budget that abandons Bush economics, 
lowers taxes for the middle class, creates new jobs, and turns our 
struggling economy around. This requires both immediate help and long-
term solutions. In short, our budget calls for further steps to 
stimulate growth and address the housing crisis. It sets aside $35 
billion for measures such as extending unemployment insurance, 
providing home heating and nutrition assistance, and rebuilding our 
crumbling roads and bridges. Everyone should know that for every 
billion dollars we spend in developing roads, bridges, dams, highways, 
water systems, sewer systems, we create 47,500 high-paying jobs. We 
help families avoid losing their homes in our budget to foreclosure, a 
measure that has been blocked by Republican filibuster.
  For the long-term, our budget calls for meaningful investments in 
energy, education, and infrastructure. These investments will create 
jobs, provide Americans with new tools to succeed, increase 
productivity, improve our environment, and help ensure a strong and 
growing economy. These are not just wishes or dreams. We were able to 
accomplish that. The last years of the Clinton administration, we were 
spending less money than we were taking in. We were actually paying 
down the debt.
  The budget we are working on this week also rejects the Bush 
administration's deep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and will expand 
health care coverage for children. It would make America safer by 
embracing our troops and veterans and rejecting the administration's 
plan to underfund antiterrorism and anticrime initiatives.
  In stark contrast to the President's continued fiscal 
irresponsibility, our budget would restore fiscal discipline. It would 
maintain strong pay-as-you-go rules, which were in effect in the 
Clinton years, which really worked. The budget would be fully balanced 
in 3 years.
  Our bipartisan budget sets a path toward a stronger economic future. 
We can make it even stronger by passing an amendment that will be 
offered by the distinguished chairman of the Finance Committee, Senator 
Baucus of Montana. Several colleagues will join in that. The Baucus 
amendment would use projected surpluses to cut taxes on the middle 
class--extending marriage penalty relief, the child tax credit, and the 
10-percent tax bracket. The amendment also reforms the estate tax to 
protect small businesses and family farms and includes other tax cuts 
as well.
  Democrats believe in cutting taxes--not for chief executive officers 
of these big companies, not for oil men, but for middle-class families 
who need help the most.
  Mr. President, I have already talked about the two men who are going 
to manage this bill: Chairman Conrad and ranking member Judd Gregg. 
They really do good work. Now it is up to the full Senate to follow 
Senator Conrad's lead, and that of Senator Judd Gregg, to move forward 
and get a budget that can be the blueprint for what we do the rest of 
this Congress.
  I look forward to an open, productive budget debate this week. I hope 
that with the kind of steely resolve President Roosevelt showed, we can 
put the failed Bush economic policies behind us and pass a fair, 
responsible budget that makes America stronger, safer, and more 
prosperous.

                          ____________________