[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2830-2831]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           ISSUES OF THE DAY

  Mr. REID. Madam President, we have before us today an extremely 
important piece of legislation. It is called the America Invents Act of 
2011. The reason I emphasize 2011 is because it has been almost 60 
years since we had the last meaningful reforms of the Nation's patent 
system. We have tried on many occasions in recent years to get this 
bill on the Senate floor. The Judiciary Committee has reported out a 
number of bills over the years, and we have taken no action here on the 
Senate floor for a number of reasons. But it is now on the floor. There 
are a couple of issues to which our attention will be directed.
  I have received calls from a number of Senators who have amendments 
they want to offer that are in relation to this bill, only two of which 
I think are really meaningful, but I am sure there are others. I hope 
we can move through this. One of the first amendments filed is one that 
has nothing to do with patent reform, and we will dispose of that.
  I think it is important to understand that this bill, if we do it 
right, will create millions of jobs. Some estimates suggest literally 
millions of new jobs could be created through this reform. Not every 
patent creates a job or generates economic value. Some are worth 
thousands of jobs. Jack Kilby's 1959 patent for the semiconductor is an 
example of that, as well as Steve Wozniak's patent for a personal 
computer in 1979. So it is impossible to predict how many new jobs or 
even industries may lie buried within the Patent Office backlog, but 
there are thousands of backlogged patent applications there that we 
have to dispose of. I hope we can work toward getting this done.
  We have issues the Republican leader and I have worked on to move 
forward, and the first issue at hand that deals with funding the 
government is the CR. We are looking to try to figure out a way to do 
the short-term CR. The President has said--and we will hear this from 
him rather than from us--that we can't continue to have these short-
term CRs, so we are working to see if we can find a way of funding the 
government in the foreseeable future. The way that is going to be done 
is on a bipartisan basis. We hope that will be the case. No one 
benefits from a shutdown of the government, partial or otherwise.
  I look forward to our work on this bill. Until we have something to 
work on--the House is going to pass a short-term CR today. Until we 
actually have something to work on, we need to focus our attention on 
this patent bill which is so very important. I have introduced a 
revenue measure that we could work off of. We also have--and I just 
rule XIV'd--a second reading on a matter for the continuing resolution. 
It is H.R. 1, the one that comes from the House. I think it is pretty 
clear that won't pass, but it shows we are trying to move forward. The 
House is going to act on something today. I have placed my revenue 
measure on the floor, indicating to the Republican leader my intentions 
of moving forward on that. So it is important that we work together to 
get this done. The current funding

[[Page 2831]]

for the government runs out this Friday.
  I look forward to everyone working hard on the patent bill. When we 
are in a position to move forward on funding the government past March 
4, we will move forward on that just as rapidly as we can, and we know 
we have to do it this week.

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