[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 7]
[Senate]
[Pages 9844-9845]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                THE DEBT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, for the last month or 6 weeks the Vice 
President of the United States, Joe Biden, who served in this body for 
36 years, has been assigned by the President of the United States to 
work with people who have been assigned by me, Senator McConnell, the 
minority leader in the House, and the Speaker to meet with Senator 
Biden to work out problems that we have facing our country with this 
huge debt. Senator Biden has been working very hard. There have been 
numerous meetings with this group of people that we assigned. Progress 
is being made. Whether it is enough progress remains to be seen.
  The President of the United States gets up early every morning, gets 
an intelligence report about what is going on around the world--there 
are a lot of things going on around the world that he has to keep his 
eye on, and that is an understatement. We have had many issues come 
about this last month on which he has had to focus. No one can suggest 
in any way the President is not engaged in what is going on in the 
country. He is briefed at least once a day by the Vice President as to 
these negotiations. Following that, almost every day he meets with his 
advisers as to what should be the next step.
  I think it is unfair to say things such as, ``Where is the 
President?'' I think it is fair to take a little look at history. When 
George Bush became President, following that time of 8 years of 
President Clinton, he was given reports at his desk in the White House 
that showed there was about a $7 trillion surplus over the next 10 
years. We had developed, during the years of President Clinton, a 
number of procedures. One was the pay-go rules. We made sure if there 
was a new program that we couldn't pay for, we would take some money 
from another program, take the money we used for that and use it to 
take care of the new program. It was a time of economic vibrancy in 
this country that we have never seen before.
  President Bush got rid of the pay-go rules and decided to do 
something unique. He decided to do everything on credit--two unfunded 
wars that are now approaching $2 trillion in cost, none of which is 
paid for, money we borrowed from Saudi Arabia and China and other 
countries--and then we gave President Bush's huge tax cuts that have 
been deemed by most all writers around America and around the country 
to be unfair.
  Warren Buffett, who some believe is the richest man in the world, 
said it is unfair that he pays less taxes percentage-wise than his 
secretary. So this $7 trillion surplus we had over 10 years, the Bush 
administration wiped that out with all these wars unpaid for and all 
these tax and other actions that were taken.
  When President Obama became President, there had been 8 million jobs 
lost, and he found himself in a big hole. I think one of the things we 
should do is stop denigrating the economy of our country. Is it vibrant 
and strong? Of course not, but it is improving. It is getting better--
not fast enough, not good enough, but it is improving.
  So I say to my friend, my counterpart, the Republican leader, who 
says the only place we can solve the problems of this country is just 
to basically cut domestic programs significantly, we know we are going 
to have to do a better job of balancing the budget because of the cards 
that were given to President Obama. We are going to be doing our very 
best to do that. But the one interesting point my friend failed to 
mention as he talked about the Bowles-Simpson debt reduction program is 
they said, among other things:

[[Page 9845]]

Of course, we have to make significant cuts in domestic discretionary 
spending, in defense, in mandatory programs. They looked at some of the 
work we needed to do with entitlements. But they also said there had to 
be something done with revenue. My friend ignores what they said about 
that.
  They also said; that is, Bowles-Simpson, together with the people who 
were on that Commission--and I made a number of appointments to that 
Commission--they said: Yes, we need to do some cutting, but these next 
few years we have to spend some money to create jobs. We hear not a 
word from my Republican colleagues about creating jobs.
  The House of Representatives, all they do is flex their muscles on 
things they want to eliminate. But the one thing they do not talk about 
is creating jobs--not a word.
  This week my Republican colleagues killed their fourth jobs bill this 
year. The Economic Development Administration reauthorization was 
commonsense legislation with a proven track record of spurring 
innovation and hiring by private companies because for every dollar we 
spent as a government, $7 came back in return from the private sector. 
They killed our fourth jobs bill this year. It seems Republicans don't 
care about putting Americans back to work. They don't even pay lip 
service to the issue.
  Americans have said they care more about creating jobs than anything 
else. In fact, yesterday the junior Senator from Tennessee, a 
Republican, said right here on the Senate floor that this effort to 
create and protect, as we did the last few years, 314,000 jobs was 
``nothing of importance.'' That is a direct quote. I am confident the 
14 million Americans out of work today, including many from Tennessee 
and every other State in our country, would disagree with the Senator 
from Tennessee.
  He also went on to say, this junior Senator from Tennessee--I repeat, 
who is a Republican--he went on to say that this worthy legislation, 
our fourth jobs bill of this Congress, was nothing more than an attempt 
to ``kill time.'' He said it is an attempt to kill time. He went on 
also, I repeat, to say it was unimportant.
  Republicans may consider job creation a waste of time, but Democrats 
disagree and Americans disagree--Democrats, Republicans, and 
Independents alike. We are not going to stop fighting to get Americans 
back to work until we get our economy back on track. We cannot solve 
our problems without jobs creation. Congress has no more important task 
than creating jobs. There is no better way for us to spend our time, 
there is no issue more important than job development. This 
legislation, which, again, would have supported 314,000 jobs, as it did 
in the last 5 years, is an important part of that effort.
  But don't take my word for it. The junior Senator from Tennessee said 
this about the Economic Development Administration 2 years ago. This is 
what he said prior to his saying that it was a waste of time, prior to 
his saying that it was not of importance. Here is what he said. This is 
a direct quote, less than 2 years ago:

       In the midst of an economic crisis, projects like these are 
     just the kinds of things that will renew confidence and 
     reinvigorate private investment in the area.

  That is what he said. He said ``EDA funds protect jobs and support 
economic growth.'' Why, then, didn't he vote that way? No wonder the 
junior Republican Senator from Tennessee had such high praise for the 
program. EDA investments over the last 5 years will support an 
estimated 7,000 jobs in Tennessee. But in spite of his previous 
support, he voted to kill this worthy legislation anyway. And he is not 
the only Republican whose words don't match their actions.
  His counterpart, the senior Senator from Tennessee, also a 
Republican, also supported EDA and those 7,000 jobs once. He did it 
before. He said an EDA grant would ``bring a much needed boost to the 
local economy.'' Just a few days ago he voted to kill the program.
  Last month, the junior Senator from Texas, also a Republican, said an 
EDA grant in his State would ``pave the way for the creation of new 
jobs.'' He said it would ``strengthen the region's economy.'' EDA 
investments from the last 5 years are expected to support more than 
18,000 jobs in Texas. Yet he voted to kill the program.
  The senior Republican Senator from Oklahoma said he has ``long been a 
supporter of EDA programs.'' That is a direct quote. EDA investments 
from the last 5 years are expected to support more than 5,000 jobs in 
Oklahoma. He is such a big supporter he was an original cosponsor of 
the legislation, but he voted to kill it.
  These are only 3 of 23 Republican Senators who lauded the importance 
of this legislation and then voted against it.
  Nevada has been hit harder by this terrible recession than any other 
State. EDA investments from the last 5 years are responsible for 
creating almost 5,000 jobs in Nevada. The legislation Republicans 
killed this week could have created hundreds of thousands more jobs all 
across America. I take it very seriously when a Republican Senator says 
putting thousands of people to work is a waste of time. The real waste 
of time is this endless obstructionism by Republican Senators. They 
waste the Senate's time when they put partisan politics ahead of our 
economic recovery.
  Americans have told us time and time again, putting 14 million people 
back to work is their No. 1 priority. Democrats share that priority. 
Obviously, the Republicans do not. Their goal is to change Medicare as 
we know it, to end it. Believe me, thousands of Nevadans who are 
working today because of EDA don't think our efforts to create jobs are 
nothing of importance, as the junior Senator from Tennessee said. In 
fact, we have heard from out-of-work people in Nevada and every other 
State in this great country that there is absolutely nothing more 
important than job creation.
  Would the Chair now announce morning business, please.

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