[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 300-301]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 SUPPORTING THE ECONOMIC RECOVERY BILL

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want to follow on the comments of my 
friend from New Hampshire, Senator Gregg. Although he and I may 
disagree on some political issues, and we do, the fact is, many of the 
things he just said I agree with completely. I think there is a sense 
among Members of Congress that we are facing an extraordinary set of 
circumstances in America today. The Presiding Officer, from the State 
of Michigan, probably has endured more economic bad news than almost 
any of us. If I am not mistaken, one out of every eight people in his 
State is currently on food stamps, and it is an indication of how his 
economy is struggling.
  With regard to the economies of some of the other States, when you 
look across the United States, the headlines are sobering. We have been 
told repeatedly about the loss of jobs. Look at some of the most recent 
headlines: DHL cuts 9,500 U.S. jobs; Chrysler to lay off 2,400 in 
Fenton, MO; AT&T announcing job cuts; Sprint losing jobs; Stanley 
Works, GM, Office Depot--the list goes on and on.
  The fact is, yesterday 22,000 Americans lost their jobs. If the 
latest projections are true, 22,000 more Americans will lose their jobs 
today, and 22,000 more Americans will lose their jobs tomorrow. That is 
the state of the economy. Instead of creating employment, we are losing 
jobs at a pace which sobers all of us.
  As a student of history, I understand the Great Depression that 
Franklin Roosevelt inherited as he became President in March of 1933 
was much deeper and dangerous and wider in scope. But when you look at 
what we face today, that is the only historical analogy we can point to 
in recent memory that even is close to what we are facing.
  Over 9,000 American families lost their homes to foreclosure 
yesterday, more than 9,000 families will lose their homes today, and 
another 9,000 the day after and every day that succeeds. The reason, of 
course, is that we have so many bad mortgages--the subprime mortgages. 
Many people were misled into signing up for mortgages they couldn't 
afford, and now, as the terms reset and come due, families can't keep 
up with them and are losing homes.
  It is not just a problem for that person who lives down the street, 
the family who had to move out; it is your problem too. In my hometown 
of Springfield, IL, a small Midwestern town, with relatively stable 
real estate values, my home is diminished in value because of the 
foreclosures that are occurring in our community and the general state 
of the economy so even families dutifully making their mortgage 
payments are falling behind because their core assets, such as the 
value of their home, are diminishing.
  Every day this economic crisis deepens and claims more victims. 
Families who have worked so hard for so many years are finding it 
difficult to maintain even the most basic standards of the middle 
class. This is the worst economic time our Nation has seen since the 
Great Depression 75 years ago. We can observe it, lament it, give our 
speeches about it or we can do something. This morning, President-elect 
Barack Obama, my former Illinois Senate colleague, gave a speech at 
George Mason University, right outside Washington, DC, in Fairfax, VA. 
He talked about what we are facing and what we need to do about it. He 
said:

       . . . equally certain are the consequences of doing little 
     or nothing at all, for that will lead to an even greater 
     deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in the economy.

  President-elect Obama said:

       That is why we need to act boldly and act now to reverse 
     these cycles. That's why we need to put money in the pockets 
     of the American people, create new jobs, and invest in our 
     future. That's why we need to restart the flow of credit and 
     restore the rules of the road that will ensure a crisis like 
     this never happens again.

  That work begins with a plan, a plan that he says he is confident 
``will save or create at least 3 million jobs over the next few 
years.'' He talks about the priorities we need to invest in, such as 
energy and education, health care and new infrastructure, that are 
necessary to keep us strong and competitive in the 21st century.
  Yesterday, the designate for the new Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven 
Chu, came to my office. He is a man who is widely respected for his 
academic expertise and knowledge of energy issues. He finds it a little 
challenging and daunting, as he thinks about facing Members of Congress 
and the massive level of employment of personnel at his Department, but 
he talked in terms of energy, and he said it is ironic we have reached 
a point in history that the United States is not on the cutting edge of 
developing new forms of energy technology. The windmills we are 
constructing across America are, by and large, built or designed in 
Europe. Nuclear energy we have not touched for some 20 years in this 
country and have ceded the research to other countries.
  There are areas where we need to invest in America. As President-
elect Obama said this morning at George Mason University, this energy 
investment is important for our future to move toward energy 
independence.
  President-elect Obama in a few days will take the oath of office not 
far from here and then will count on Congress to move quickly to pass 
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. He is urging we do it 
boldly and swiftly and that we bring transparency and openness to the 
process so the American people see their money is being well spent on 
investments in America's future--investments when it comes to education 
and energy and health care; investments that will bring down the cost 
of health care for many American families who are struggling today, not 
to mention those who have no health protection whatsoever.
  He also calls on us to stabilize and repair our financial system on 
which we all depend. I think we know what we are talking about. When a 
man named Bernard Madoff can, over the span of 10 or 20 years, lure 
investors into what has turned out to be a Ponzi scheme, causing many 
of them to lose millions of dollars, and his wrongdoing goes unnoticed 
by major regulatory agencies such as the Securities and Exchange 
Commission, it is clear more has to be done.
  When the ratings agencies, major ratings agencies that set the 
standards for whether a company is doing well basically ignore their 
responsibility and fail to make accurate reports, everyone loses as a 
result of it.
  President-elect Obama said in closing today:

       It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that 
     change must begin now. We should have an open and honest 
     discussion about this recovery plan in the days ahead, but I 
     urge Congress to move as quickly as possible on behalf of the 
     American people. For every day we wait or point fingers or 
     drag our feet, more Americans will lose their jobs. More 
     families will lose their savings. More dreams will be 
     deferred and denied. And our Nation will sink deeper into a 
     crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse.

  I hope what I am about to say is a reminder to all of us of the 
responsibility we face in this new session. We are all concerned about 
the size of the economic stimulus plan. Eight years ago, the Federal 
Government was actually

[[Page 301]]

running a budget surplus. Today we estimate a budget deficit, by the 
end of the year, of $1 trillion. That deficit is a reflection of poor 
choices that have been made at many levels of Government, but we cannot 
let the bad choices in the past prevent us from making the wise choices 
we have to make now to end this economic crisis.
  It is interesting that economists from all across the political 
spectrum have come to the same conclusion about what America needs. 
Nobel Prize-winning economist Paul Krugman, who is put in the category 
of liberal or Democrat, said recently:

       It is much better, in a depressed economy, to err on the 
     side of too much stimulus than on the side of too little.

  He publicly wondered whether three-quarters of a trillion dollars is 
enough. Martin Feldstein, President Reagan's chief economic adviser, 
said:

       Without action, the economy will continue to decline 
     rapidly.

  Mark Zandi, who advised Senator McCain during his campaign, said:

       My advice is, err on the side of too big a package rather 
     than too little.

  All the great minds, economic thinkers, are coming to the same 
conclusion: We need to act, act decisively, and act boldly. But we need 
to act responsibly too. We do not have a day to waste, but we do not 
have a taxpayer dollar to waste either. We have to make sure the 
dollars are well spent, not in the creation of Government agencies but 
in the creation of good-paying jobs right here in America; not in 
investments in bureaucracy but investments in our economy that will 
help our Nation grow in the years to come.
  We need to include smart spending and targeted tax cuts for the 
middle class so they can cope with the challenges, the economic 
challenges they face. We have to make sure the money that is spent by 
Congress is spent responsibly so we do not end up with embarrassing 
earmark projects that have not been subjected to public scrutiny and 
review in advance. We need to make sure programs are authorized and 
funds are pumped quickly into the economy but in an efficient way.
  We need to invest in jobs for American workers. States have 
identified almost $18 billion in road and bridge projects ready to 
launch within 90 days. Every $1 billion of Federal funds can create up 
to 35,000 private sector, good-paying American jobs and generate $6.2 
billion in economic activity.
  There is a lot of work to do. Our States are struggling. They don't 
have the money to keep the safety net Americans will need as the 
economy weakens. They cannot help colleges and universities that need a 
helping hand. Nineteen States are considering cutbacks in basic health 
care; 18 States are cutting services for the elderly; 20 States are 
cutting or proposing to cut K through 12 and early childhood education. 
The list goes on and on.
  I see my colleague from Montana, and I will be happy to take the 
chair so he can continue his remarks, if necessary, but the last point 
I will make is that the mortgage foreclosure crisis is at the core of 
our problems in America. We cannot come to grips with a rebirth of the 
American economy without dealing with the mortgage foreclosure crisis. 
It is a crisis that, as I mentioned earlier, hurts the families losing 
their homes and those living in the neighborhoods and towns around 
them. We are all in this together. What we need to do is work with 
major financial institutions to renegotiate these mortgages so people 
who still have a job and can make a reasonable mortgage payment can 
stay in their homes.
  I got off the phone with one of the major bankers in the city of 
Chicago, a friend of mine. He said: We get it. We are going to have to 
do things much more boldly to deal with mortgage foreclosure. The 
programs we put together, the voluntary programs, have not worked, they 
have not touched enough people. More and more homes are facing 
foreclosure, more people are heading to bankruptcy, and that has to 
come to an end. The housing industry, much like the automobile 
industry, is one of the staples of our economy and we have to deal with 
putting it back on track.
  Last month, Credit Suisse estimated 8.1 million homes were likely to 
be lost to foreclosure by 2012. If the economy continues to worsen, 
they believe foreclosures will exceed 10 million homes.
  We are going to have to come up with the money to turn this economy 
around. It will mean more debt in the short term but, if the economy 
starts moving forward again, it, frankly, is the only thing that we can 
look to in the long term for America's future. I urge my colleagues in 
the Senate, Democrats and Republicans, to try to find a common ground 
where we can work together.
  Just a day or two ago, President-elect Obama came up to meet with 
Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate leaders, just a few steps 
from this Senate floor. There was a conversation about ideas. I know 
him pretty well, having served with him, and I have been his friend for 
a number of years. I know he was genuine and sincere when he turned to 
one of the Republican leaders and said: If you have a better idea, I 
want to hear it. I want an opportunity to bring in all ideas, 
Democratic and Republican, so we can come up with the best package to 
serve the American people. It is not about one political party taking 
credit. Let's take credit as a Congress and as an administration in 
turning this economy around.
  We are going to have that chance, to stabilize our economy and to 
rebuild it in the future. I look forward to working on a bipartisan 
basis to achieve that.
  Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I join the Democratic whip in his 
comments. I think it is critically important that we work together in 
these economic times to solve the problems this country faces. We don't 
have problems as Democrats or Republicans with the economy, we all have 
problems with the economy, and I think the American people are looking 
forward to us working together for solutions to our economic mess.

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