[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 156 (2010), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 14960-14961]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I know we are all eager to return to our 
States next week to talk to our constituents. We have 1 more week to 
go. We hope to complete everything this week. I just outlined to the 
Chair and the Members listening about the heavy workload we have that 
we need to finish. We should be able to finish this week. That is what 
we all want, and we are going to do our utmost to do that. There are 
some matters we have to complete this week. We have an extremely 
important list of unfinished business.
  Democrats have dedicated this work period, as in every work period, 
to jobs, putting the unemployed back to work, helping small businesses 
grow and saving jobs hanging in the balance. I am disappointed in my 
friend, the Republican leader, who has denigrated the work we have done 
and tried to do. Remember, because of the policies of the prior 
administration, 8 million jobs were lost. There is no dispute about 
that. In the last 6 months George Bush was President, we lost 3 million 
jobs. The economic recovery package--or the stimulus bill, as it is 
known--has created or saved at least 3 million jobs. That doesn't make 
up for the 8 million that were lost, but it is a step in the right 
direction.
  Talk to anyone in the State of Nevada or any other State about the 
money in this recovery act that helped teachers. The reason there 
weren't huge layoffs last year is because of that bill. FMAP is the 
reason why there weren't more layoffs than there were--as a result of 
that money that went to States.
  We have taken historic steps to clean up Wall Street.
  We have made progress on an energy plan that will create hundreds of 
thousands of green jobs, lower consumers' utility bills, make sure BP 
pays the price for its disaster, and end our dangerous addiction to 
oil. It is not everything we wanted to do. It wasn't our first choice, 
but it is our first step, because we could not get any Republican 
support for an energy bill.
  After a shamefully long fight, we finally extended unemployment 
insurance to the hardest hit victims of the recession. I have said it 
before, and I will say it again. Mark Zandi, John McCain's chief 
economic adviser, has said that for every $1 of unemployment money we 
send to the States, it creates $1.61.
  We passed other good bills too--for example, the HIRE Act. That was 
very good for business. I saw the fruits of that legislation in Nevada 
a week ago last Saturday. I went to a restaurant. All 24 people working 
there took advantage of the HIRE Act. What part of that bill did they 
take advantage of? They hired everyone who had been out of work for at 
least 60 days. They hired them for at least 30 hours a week, and they 
didn't have to pay the money for withholding. At the end of the year, 
they will get a $1,000 tax credit for every one of those employees. 
They will get $24,000 in tax credits for that small business.
  The HIRE Act did other things. It extended the highway bill for a 
year, saving 1 million jobs. It also allowed those small businesses to 
write off purchases up to $250,000 that they previously had to 
depreciate. It added money to the Build America Bonds, which has worked 
so well across the country.
  I wish we could have done more. I wish our small business jobs bill, 
which we are working on now, could have passed when we brought it up 
the first time. It would create a lot of jobs. The Presiding Officer is 
one of those who have worked hard on that legislation. I think we see 
the light at the end of the tunnel. We should be able to get that done 
this year.
  Having said all that, we have a lot more to do, and we acknowledge 
that. Unfortunately, most of what we have accomplished has taken longer 
than it should have. The minority has made it clear it will say no, no 
matter the question, no matter who suffers, and no matter how much of 
the American people's time they waste. These procedural votes we have 
gone through have been unnecessary. They have been only to kill time. 
At every turn, we have met more unprecedented and unnecessary delays 
from our friends on the other side.
  Nowhere was that more painfully plain than the refusal to work with 
us last month on a bill that would have put half a million more hard-
working Americans to work in small businesses. It would have helped 
those businesses get capital and get tax cuts and would have allowed 
them to hire and to grow. Karen Mills, the head of the Small

[[Page 14961]]

Business Administration, has been traveling the country the last 2 
weeks, alerting small businesses that we need to pass this bill so she 
can do some things to help small businesses. Right now, there is no 
money to do that.
  I am very sad to report that this has not been the most bipartisan 
work period in Senate history. Quite the contrary. But it is still our 
responsibility to do right by our constituents. We still need to do 
that, and we still have time to do that, and I hope we can start today.
  I hope we can come together and show the country that all Senators 
have at least one basic belief: we have to do all we can to make sure 
our children have teachers in the classrooms and police officers and 
firefighters on the streets. That is what the vote tonight at quarter 
to 6 is all about. We will vote in a few hours on that amendment that 
will keep teachers, firefighters, and policemen from being laid off, 
and it does that in a fiscally responsible way. It protects jobs while 
cutting spending elsewhere. Every penny spent with the vote at 5:45 
will be paid for.
  First, let's talk about teachers. The stimulus we passed last year 
kept hundreds of thousands of educators from losing their jobs. But as 
States continue to sacrifice education funding, school districts in 
Nevada and all across the country face the very real prospect of having 
to lay off thousands of teachers just weeks before the school year 
begins. Twelve hundred jobs are at risk in Nevada. Nearly twice as many 
teachers are at risk in Kentucky. In Kentucky, as many as 3,000 could 
lose their jobs as teachers. In California and Texas, those highly 
populated States, the number of jobs reaches over 10,000 for sure. All 
told, as many as 140,000 teachers could lose their jobs across our 
country. That would be tragic, especially considering we have the 
ability to prevent it.
  Today's amendment would essentially extend the Recovery Act support 
that has worked so well--for teachers and for FMAP. States such as 
Nevada would get more than $80 million to help keep teachers in the 
classroom, and every penny would be offset by cutting spending 
elsewhere. It is fully paid for and doesn't interfere at all with the 
Department of Education programs--for example, Race to the Top--or 
funding for charter schools or ongoing education reform.
  But what is at stake today is not just teachers. They are not the 
only ones who lose out when they lose their jobs. We also need to think 
about the scores of students they teach, mentor, help, and inspire. 
When we vote to save teachers' jobs, we are also voting to save our 
students' future.
  Second, let's talk about public safety. The Medicaid Program ensures 
that the poorest of the poor in our communities can afford to see a 
doctor when they are sick. We know how States have been hammered with 
people moving into the need for Medicaid--people losing their jobs. It 
has been so necessary that these Medicaid Programs include more people. 
But the program does a lot more than just that. It benefits everyone by 
stimulating the economy. It is a source of money that is spent all over 
a community--in doctors' offices, hospitals, and other places. When the 
States get this money, it is fungible and they can use it for other 
things.
  But just as we see in education, cash-strapped States are looking for 
places to save money. If they don't get the help they are counting on, 
if States don't get the money for which they budgeted, they are going 
to cut critical services such as police officers and teachers and 
firefighters. Nevada stands to lose as much as $80 million. Again, 
Kentucky stands to lose twice as much, and California and New York 
stand to lose $2 billion each. Across the country, $16 billion is at 
stake.
  That is what is in this simple legislation before us--simple but 
extremely important. But let's be clear. This vote, like the principle 
behind it, is simple. It is about saving jobs--not just to keep 
unemployment from growing but because of how important those jobs are 
in our society. When our children go back to school at the end of this 
summer, there should be a teacher standing in front of the classroom. 
Without this bill, there might not be. Our teachers strengthen our 
future, and the least we can do is secure theirs.
  Another thing: This money is not going to go to a State unless the 
Governor asks for the money. That is what the legislation says.
  When a crime is committed in our communities or a fire breaks out in 
a family's home, we all expect enough police officers and firefighters 
to be on call. Without this bill, they might not even be on the job. 
They always look out for us. The least we can do is look out for them.

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