[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 552-553]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                                SCHEDULE


                          Elizabeth MacDonough

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as the Presiding Officer and all Senators 
should understand, we have a new sheriff in the Senate now. And we wish 
Elizabeth MacDonough well. She is certainly well qualified for this 
job. She has proven that in the decade she has been here, her fairness 
and astuteness of Senate rules. Let everyone understand that a new boss 
is in the Senate now.
  This morning, following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a 
period of morning business for 1 hour. The Republicans will control the 
first half and the majority will control the final half. Following 
morning business, we will resume consideration of the STOCK Act.


                             The STOCK Act

  Mr. President, it is my understanding that the Republicans are going 
to have a luncheon today. I hope they discuss what they want to do here 
on the Senate floor. Last night we had a situation where two of our 
fine Senators, Mr. Lieberman and Ms. Collins, who have a reputation of 
being fair and bipartisan, did their best to work through some 
amendments, to set up votes on them, and they couldn't do it because we 
had Senators who offered amendments that had nothing to do with this 
bill--nothing. But Republican Senators said they would not allow a vote 
on germane and relevant amendments until they were guaranteed a vote on 
their nongermane amendments. So that is not a good situation, and we 
cannot legislate in that fashion. It is one thing to offer an amendment 
that is not germane, but to demand a vote on it out of order before any 
other amendments? So the minority has to make a decision whether they 
want to legislate or have people give speeches all day that have 
nothing to do with the legislation.
  I hope the leadership and the Senators generally on the other side of 
the aisle will work together to help us move this piece of legislation 
out of here. It is an important piece of legislation. We were told it 
is bipartisan. Only two Senators voted against breaking the filibusters 
so we could start debating this bill.


                                Spending

  The Republicans in Congress often claim they are the only thing 
standing against a wave of deficit spending. But where were these 
Republicans when President Bush pushed for trillions in unpaid tax cuts 
for the rich? Where were they? They were right here in Congress, that 
is where. So instead of pointing the finger at us, Republicans should 
examine their own track record of extravagant spending: a prescription 
drug plan, unpaid for; two unpaid wars; tax breaks for the rich, unpaid 
for. And they were paid for--borrowed money, money borrowed from 
American taxpayers. Trillions of dollars. In fact, President Bush's tax 
cuts were the single largest contributor to the ballooning budget 
deficits during his administration. There were plenty of others, but 
that was No. 1. And no one benefited from these tax breaks more than 
billionaires and millionaires. Tax breaks for the richest Americans 
piled nearly $1 trillion on our debt over the last decade. The tax bill 
was far more than that, but that is just people making more than $1 
million a year.
  Yesterday the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office released a 
report showing that these tax cuts will continue to push deficits to 
unsafe levels. We know that, but in addition to doing that, what it 
does is it makes the poor poorer, the rich richer, and squeezes the 
middle class every day. Extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest 
Americans--people making more than $1 million a year--would add another 
$1 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. We can no longer 
afford to bankrupt our Nation to give more tax breaks to people who do 
not need them. People are putting up accounts in the Cayman Islands, 
stashing money in Switzerland.
  Republicans are right about one thing: We do have a deficit problem 
in this country. And there are two ways to ease this crisis. We could 
cut more jobs for teachers, firefighters, police, and Federal 
employees. We could cut Social Security and Medicare benefits for 
seniors after a lifetime of hard work. We could put off repairing our 
crumbling roads, bridges, and schools. We could continue to let our 
schools fall into disrepair and our students fall further behind. We 
could continue talking about what really does not matter.
  The House keeps talking about bills they have passed that create 
jobs. Everyone, every pundit who has looked at those knows it is just a 
subterfuge. They want to cut regulations, and that would make people 
sicker, that would make our air dirtier and our water less pure and our 
food less safe. That is what they are doing to create jobs.
  The other way to cut spending would be to take care of those 
unnecessary tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires.
  So this is the choice we face: cutting the heart out of America or 
having the richest of the rich contribute just a little bit to the 
problems we have in America today as it relates to spending. The choice 
we face should not be a very difficult choice.

[[Page 553]]

  This country has limited resources, and we must use those resources 
wisely. Investing in the middle class is a wise use of those resources. 
When you put money back in the pockets of the middle class, they spend 
it. They spend it on groceries and gas and buying new cars, paying 
their mortgages, paying their rent, maybe repairing their family car, 
or spending it to fix the roof on their house that has become 
dilapidated. That spending boosts business, spurs hiring, and helps the 
economy. Rigging the tax system to favor the richest of the rich does 
not do that. Rigging the system does not create jobs. It does not spur 
growth. It is not a wise use of our resources.

                          ____________________