[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Pages 3313-3314]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE

  Mr. REID. Madam President, following leader remarks, the Senate will 
resume consideration of H.R. 1. The time until 5:30 will be equally 
divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. At 
5:30, the Senate will vote in an attempt to end the filibuster. That 
will be on the Collins-Nelson substitute amendment. Cloture will be 
voted on at that time.
  The Presiding Officer and I came to Congress together many years ago. 
We have been now serving in the Senate together for many years. Last 
week reminded me of when we first came to the Senate. There was open 
debate, amendments offered--that is what happened last week. Faced with 
the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, Senators from 
both parties engaged in serious debate over the best way forward.
  Realizing the critical need for action, we moved President Obama's 
economic recovery plan as quickly and as responsibly as we could. But 
even though we wanted to move it as quickly and as responsibly as we 
could, we did not do anything to cut off debate or limit the 
opportunity of every Senator to have their say. Both Republicans and 
Democrats were given the opportunity to offer amendments and each 
received votes on their amendments. Many Democratic and Republican 
amendments were adopted and, on the whole, the amendment process 
strengthened the legislation.
  A bipartisan group of Senators, led by Senators Nelson, Lieberman, 
Snowe, Collins, and Specter, worked tirelessly during last week to 
forge a compromise amendment, to focus the bill on job creation and tax 
relief. All this work has resulted in the legislation that is now 
before the Senate. This evening we will vote on cloture, setting up a 
vote on final passage for tomorrow. After final passage, the House and 
Senate will move to conference between the House and the Senate and 
then send the enrolled bill to the President's desk.
  We are going to do our utmost to do this as quickly as possible. The 
Republican leader and I have agreed on a general position as to how we 
are going to move forward with the conference, and I will visit with 
him some more later today. But we have to complete this work this week. 
There is every opportunity for us to complete it by Friday. Even though 
it is a complex bill, the bill now has been on the desk since Saturday 
and people have had an opportunity to read and review this in detail.
  We will hopefully pass this tomorrow. We will put this side-by-side 
with the bill that has passed the House, and come back with a proposal 
that is bold, is robust, is job creating.
  I was with the Governor of Maryland last night, and he was so happy 
about the work we had done in the Senate. He indicated to me he had 
spoken to other Governors. In fact, he called me again this morning 
indicating he had spoken to other Governors around the country, and 
they were quite happy with this legislation. It is my understanding the 
President is in a place called Elkhart, IN, today to talk about the 
travails we face as a country. Elkhart, IN, has an announced 
unemployment rate of more than 15 percent. But in the commentary I 
heard this morning, it is believed the unemployment is actually well 
over 20 percent in Elkhart, IN.
  The President is going to do a live press conference tonight, 8 
o'clock eastern time. Tomorrow he is going to be in Florida with the 
Republican Governor of Florida and others to talk about the situation 
he finds in Florida.
  We need to complete this legislation as quickly as possible. We are 
going to continue to be cooperative, as have been my Republican 
friends--cooperative. I think this has been a very good debate. It has 
been a stimulating debate. I was so satisfied with the debate that took 
place Saturday. Republicans and Democrats engaged in a serious debate 
Saturday. Those who supported the legislation, I thought did a good 
job. Those who opposed it, I thought they did a good job explaining 
their problems with this legislation.
  The message I leave as the majority leader of the Senate is we are 
going to continue to move forward on this legislation. We are not going 
to leave for our Presidents Day recess until we complete this.
  I have said, on a number of other occasions, that if people out there 
are thinking we are going to take a vacation for a week when we leave 
Washington, that is not the case. We have things to do in our home 
States. It is good for me--and I think I speak for all Senators--to be 
back in our States on a weekday. We plan and hope all next week to be 
home so we can be doing things we cannot do on weekends. But if we 
cannot complete this legislation, we will have to cut into that. Our 
responsibilities at home will have to be set for some other date.
  I am confident we can get it done by Friday. There is no reason we 
cannot. With a little bit of cooperation on both sides, we can move 
forward. I have been in touch with the House leaders. They

[[Page 3314]]

understand the difficulties we have over here, and I understand their 
situation.
  I repeat, I am very confident this legislation is in keeping with 
what President Obama wants; that is, to have a program out there that 
creates lots of jobs and gives middle-class America tax relief. That is 
what this legislation is all about.

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