[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 10079-10080]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, last Thursday, Democrats sat down with the 
chief executives of three successful corporations. Their companies are 
responsible for the jobs and livelihoods of about 100,000 workers. One 
company makes medications that help Americans live longer, healthier 
lives. Another invests in entrepreneurship, giving inventors the 
capital they will need to bring their ideas to the production line. 
Another employs scientists and engineers to make more efficient the 
things we use every day, from jet engines to home thermostats.
  These three CEOs understand what it takes to create jobs, so we asked 
them what Washington can do to help. This is what they told us. All 
Democratic Senators were there.
  First, we must improve and reform our education system, from 
kindergarten through 12th grade, so we produce the skilled workers of 
tomorrow. Plus we need to train more scientists, engineers, and 
mathematicians so we do not risk falling behind China, India, and other 
global competitors.
  All three of these executives--all of them--believe we must reform 
our immigration system to stay competitive. The brightest students from 
around the globe come to the United States to take advantage of our 
world-class universities. Unfortunately, our broken immigration system 
forces most of those students to go back to their home countries, where 
they compete with American companies. We should be keeping the best 
here, where they were educated, so they can build companies that employ 
U.S. workers.
  Of course, we must simplify and streamline our broken tax system, 
lowering rates but eliminating loopholes so everyone pays his or her 
fair share, including corporations.
  This is what three successful CEOs told us we should do to create 
jobs for American workers. I know these are big issues. They are 
complicated and politically divisive. We cannot tackle them all at 
once. But they are not the only solution. These three CEOs we met with 
last week said there are smaller, more manageable issues we can tackle 
right now. There are things we can do to help create jobs right now.
  Mother Teresa urged us to ``be faithful in small things because it is 
in them that your strength lies.'' Putting Americans back to work can 
and should start with the small things.
  This is what these three successful CEOs told us we should do to spur 
hiring:
  First, reauthorize a program that gives grants to the technology 
companies that are inventing new products, such as the electric 
toothbrush or body armor for soldiers, so these innovators can continue 
to grow and hire. That is what we tried to do with the small business 
innovation research legislation. The Republicans stopped it.
  Second, they said we should modernize America's air travel system to 
make it safer and more efficient to fly American skies. That is what we 
tried to do when we reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration, 
which is lost in the Republican-dominated House.
  Third, we must reform our patent system and clear a 3-year backlog of 
applications. The next laptop computer or iPod could be in that pile, 
just waiting to be taken from the basement to the boardroom. That is 
what we tried to do with the America Invents Act. The House passed a 
version of our bill, but the person--for example, Senator Coburn--said 
he is going to stop this bill because it doesn't have the payment 
system that was a good idea. We all thought that here. We voted for 
this 95 to 5. But, again, it has been stopped by the Republicans; that 
is, our patent system.

[[Page 10080]]

  That is 580,000 jobs just for patents and FAA, and there are tens of 
thousands of jobs with small business innovation. These are commonsense 
steps we can take today. Each would help put people to work across the 
country. That is not just what the Senate says, that is what business 
leaders say. Here is the catch. Congress has already taken up, as I 
indicated, all three of these measures. Not one has become law. Why? 
Republicans have killed or stalled all three of these important pieces 
of legislation--legislation business owners say they need to put more 
than \1/2\ million Americans back to work.
  Putting Americans back to work must be our most important debt-
reduction strategy. Democrats know it is critical that we reduce the 
deficit and pay down the national debt, but we will never balance the 
budget with 14 million people out of work.
  Democrats know how to balance budgets. Remember, when Democrats in 
Congress helped President Clinton balance the budget in 1998, 
unemployment was 4.5 percent. Now, unfortunately, it is twice that. 
That is why we must do two things at once: reduce the deficit and do 
whatever it takes to get American workers back doing what they need to 
do to bring in a paycheck. The business leaders we spoke with support 
this two-pronged approach. Democrats and Republicans do not have to 
look hard to find common ground; we only have to be willing to admit it 
when we see it.
  I met with the President earlier today. We had a productive meeting. 
My Republican counterpart will meet with the President this afternoon. 
I hope my Republican colleagues will put the economy ahead of politics 
and join us to create jobs and set aside their desire to please the tea 
party and defeat President Obama. This is the way forward. Neither 
party should confront this crisis alone, and no one will be successful 
unless we confront it together.
  We owe the country our commitment to do at least the small things. 
Again I repeat Mother Teresa when she said it is in them; that is, the 
small things, that our strength lies. And they, in turn, will inspire 
faith that the big things will follow.

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