[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3225-3226]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




       AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009--Continued

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, we have worked very hard this week. It is 
not often the Senate is in session this time of night on a Saturday or 
this time of night most any time, but we have had a long hard week and 
spent many hours trying to come up with an answer to America's 
financial troubles.
  Yesterday at 5 or 6 o'clock, we reached an agreement with a few of 
the Republicans to come up with a nice piece of legislation that will 
meet President Obama's request for resources in different areas that 
will help our economy. The main direction is tax cuts. People are 
needful of money. That money will be spent. And about 58 percent of it 
is job creating.
  Why are we here tonight if the agreement was basically reached 
yesterday? It is because we have a bill that is about 800 pages long. 
This product we have produced is about $800 billion. We put it together 
yesterday starting about 4:30 p.m. Everything has to be right. We don't 
want a problem, anyone raising an issue that one of the numbers is 
wrong or one of the lines is not where it should be. So for the last 
35, 40 hours, people have been working nonstop to get a product so we 
could lay down the amendment, and that should be done in the next half 
hour or so. But people have literally worked all night.
  Mr. President, you and I are out here. We are two of the one hundred. 
They can recognize us. They have little pictures. They can see us. The 
people who are making this product we can lay down are people you do 
not see very much. The enrolling clerks, you don't see them very much. 
They are in the bowels of the Senate someplace putting this together 
hours and hours at a time, being aided and assisted by other members of 
this wonderful staff we have.
  The line down the middle of this aisle is what divides Democrats and 
Republicans, and tradition has it that the Republican staff is with the 
Republican Senators. But the problems we face with this deep recession 
we are in have nothing to do with Democrats and Republicans. It has 
everything to do with economic travails of the American people.
  So those few people who are watching this proceeding on television or 
are in the galleries tonight are seeing a situation where there is not 
a lot of floor activity. But today, as every day when we are in 
session, so much of the work is done that is not in the camera lights. 
An extraordinary group of public servants is here to assigned 
positions. They do it with a smile. They treat the public and us so 
well. It is difficult to describe what a wonderful job they do.
  Anyone out there listening to these proceedings or watching these 
proceedings should know we have police officers who are guarding the 
Capitol. That is something that has not always been. As a young man, I 
was here. I worked this shift 6 days a week as a police officer and 
went to school in the daytime. In those days, as a police officer, we 
didn't have much to worry about. We had to make sure traffic on 
Constitution Avenue and Independence Avenue moved OK, but that was 
about it. But now the police officers are the best trained police 
officers in the world, a force of almost 2,000 watching and protecting 
this Capitol, not only all the people who work within these buildings 
but also the millions of tourists who come here every year. We have 
evil people around the world who every day are trying to figure out 
ways to violate the Capitol, and we have these brave men and women 
protecting us.
  We have doorkeepers who make sure people who come into this Chamber 
are

[[Page 3226]]

qualified and have the right credentials to do that. We have all the 
people in here--Chamber attendants, Parliamentarians. We have Journal 
clerks, legislative clerks, enrolling clerks, bill clerks, and floor 
staff on whom we depend. If the Presiding Officer is not presiding but 
is out here and has a question about something, most of them don't come 
to me, they come to the staff, each one of whom is so qualified and 
competent to answer questions about Senate procedure that Senators 
depend on them a great deal.
  All the people I mentioned, and certainly a lot of others, are public 
servants in the true nature of that word. They serve all Members of the 
Senate. They get little, if any, recognition for what they do.
  One of the groups I didn't mention at all is the valuable staff we 
have in the cloakrooms. There is a cloakroom to my right consisting of 
the Republican staff and to the back of me is the Democratic cloakroom. 
They are never seen. They are back in the cloakrooms. Every day we are 
in session, they come in about an hour before we start. They are here 
long after we leave, as are the people I mentioned. We depend on them, 
when there is a phone call, to look for us. Of course, they do that. 
They run through there, walk through there, find a page, bring a 
message to us. They do so many things that are invaluable to our being 
able to work here.
  I extend to everyone I mentioned the appreciation of all Senators. We 
recognize that without any one of the groups I mentioned, any one of 
the attendants I have mentioned, if they are not here on a given day, 
we don't do very well. It is a team effort, and the example they set 
should be recognized.
  Democratic and Republican staffs don't argue and fight. They get 
along very well. They have a product to produce and they do it. I think 
many times we can learn a lot from them how we can get along and 
produce more than perhaps what we have.
  I thank everybody for their service, a job well done, and hopefully 
within the next little bit, we will have an 800-page bill in perfect 
form.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The senior assistant Parliamentarian proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                           Amendment No. 570

                (Purpose: In the nature of a substitute)

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, pursuant to the order before the Senate 
today, on behalf of Senators Collins and Nelson of Nebraska, I call up 
the amendment, which is now at the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       The Senator from Nevada [Mr. Reid], for Ms. Collins and Mr. 
     Nelson of Nebraska, proposes an amendment numbered 570.

  (The text of the amendment is printed in today's Record under ``Text 
of Amendments.'')


                             Cloture Motion

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I send a cloture motion to the desk.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The cloture motion having been presented under 
rule XXII, the clerk will report.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

                             Cloture Motion

       We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the 
     provisions of rule XXII of the Standing Rules of the Senate, 
     hereby move to bring to a close debate on the Collins-Nelson 
     of Nebraska amendment No. 570 to H.R. 1, the American 
     Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.
         Ben Nelson of Nebraska, Max Baucus, Kent Conrad, Jon 
           Tester, Debbie Stabenow, Charles E. Schumer, Richard 
           Durbin, Dianne Feinstein, Jeff Bingaman, Patty Murray, 
           Christopher J. Dodd, Benjamin L. Cardin, John D. 
           Rockefeller IV, Claire McCaskill, Patrick J. Leahy, 
           Blanche L. Lincoln, Harry Reid.

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the amendment 
No. 570 be printed.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

                          ____________________