[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 13531-13532]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




MAKING EMERGENCY SUPPLEMENTAL APPROPRIATIONS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR ENDING 
                 SEPTEMBER 30, 2014--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 488, S. 
2648, the emergency appropriations supplemental act.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 488, S. 2648, a bill 
     making emergency supplemental appropriations for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2014, and for other purposes.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, 
there will be 1 hour for debate equally divided prior to a cloture vote 
on S. 2569, the Bring Jobs Home Act. If cloture is not invoked, there 
will be an immediate cloture vote on the motion to proceed on S. 2648, 
the emergency supplemental appropriations act.
  Following those votes, there will be voice votes on confirmation of 
the Akuetteh, Moritsugu, and Kennedy nominations.


                           Order of Procedure

  I ask unanimous consent that the time from 3 p.m. to 4 p.m. be under 
the control of the Republicans and the time from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. be 
controlled by the majority.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.


                Measure Placed on the Calendar--S. 2685

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, S. 2685 is due for a second reading.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will read the bill by title for 
the second time.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 2685) to reform the authorities of the Federal 
     Government to require the production of certain business 
     records, conduct electronic surveillance, use pen registers 
     and trap and trace devices, and use other forms of 
     information gathering for foreign intelligence, 
     counterterrorism, and criminal purposes, and for other 
     purposes.

  Mr. REID. I would object to any further proceedings with respect to 
the bill.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard. The bill will be 
placed on the calendar.


                          Bring Jobs Home Act

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wisely noted: 
``It takes less time to do a thing right than it does to explain why 
you did it wrong.''
  In about 1 hour, Senators will be on the floor and have an 
opportunity to follow what Longfellow said; that is, to do the right 
thing. We have a bill that protects American jobs. The Bring Jobs Home 
Act tackles the growing problem of American jobs being shipped 
overseas. It is called outsourcing, shipping jobs overseas.
  We Democrats are lined up against outsourcing. The Bring Jobs Home 
Act would protect about 21 million jobs in our country.
  Today in the United States, anytime an American company closes a 
factory or a plant in America and moves operations to another country, 
American taxpayers pick up part of that moving bill. It is hard to 
believe, but it is true. A company moves from America, and American 
taxpayers help them with the move. If they want to move, American 
taxpayers shouldn't help them at all.
  The Bring Jobs Home Act ends senseless tax breaks for these 
outsourcers. It ends the ridiculous practice of American funding 
outsourcing of their own jobs.
  The Bring Jobs Home Act doesn't just fight to keep jobs here in 
America, it also brings jobs back.
  This bill provides a 20-percent tax credit to help American companies 
with the costs of moving operations back to the United States. The 
Bring Jobs Home Act will protect 150,000 jobs in Nevada. It could 
potentially save as many as 325,000 at-risk jobs in Kentucky and jobs 
all over the country.
  Economically speaking, what else could be more important than 
ensuring our working Americans' jobs are protected. Regardless of what 
Republican leaders said and what the Republican leader has opined, 
helping our constituents stay employed is our duty as a Senator.
  Frankly, a vote against this bill is a vote against American jobs. 
There is absolutely no excuse, no justification, for any Member of this 
body to vote against this legislation. But as of late, Senate 
Republicans have repeatedly blocked legislation, such as the Bring Jobs 
Home Act, which is good for the American people.
  Remember, the Longfellow quote that I mentioned at the beginning of 
my remarks: ``It takes less time to do

[[Page 13532]]

a thing right than it does to explain why you did it wrong.''
  The wisdom of Longfellow's quote is there, and each time another good 
bill is blocked by the Senate Republicans we must think of Longfellow 
and what he said: ``It takes less time to do a thing right than it does 
to explain why you did it wrong.''
  Each time after Republicans have voted against legislation that is 
good for working families, an odd scene has developed on the Senate 
floor. A procession of Republicans makes it way to the floor and 
individually Senators begin to explain why they voted against a good 
bill, trying to explain why Americans don't deserve a fair shot. For 
example, after voting against an increase in the minimum wage, after 
voting against equal pay for women, after voting against cost-cutting 
energy efficiency, and after voting against student loan refinancing, 
after all of these votes, the same spectacle unfolds immediately after. 
The Republicans come through that door and try to make their case.
  All the American public wants is a fair shot at a good life. Instead 
of voting for a good piece of legislation that would benefit folks back 
home, they spend time explaining why they did the opposite.
  Maybe our vote today will be different. Maybe Senate Republicans will 
finally focus on the many families depending on the jobs we are trying 
to protect. If they do, they will vote to bring jobs home. This 
legislation is important and necessary. If they do, they will vote to 
keep American jobs from going overseas.
  Those of us who do the right thing and vote for this will not need to 
explain because we have done the right thing; and that is because our 
constituents know we work to give them a fair shot at good, secure 
jobs.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Markey). The minority leader is 
recognized.


                            epa regulations

  Mr. McCONNELL. The Obama White House likes to pretend that its war on 
coal is about protecting the planet. Yet his newest regulations would 
hardly do a thing to impact global carbon emissions.
  The President's own EPA Administrator basically admitted it when she 
said a few years back that U.S. action alone won't meaningfully impact 
global CO2 levels.
  They don't seem to care that their regulations would devastate the 
lives of whole families in my State, working-class Kentuckians who just 
want to put food on the table and give their children a better life.
  They don't seem to care that their regulations threaten to undermine 
Kentucky's traditionally low utility rates, splinter our manufacturing 
base, and shift well-paying jobs overseas. They don't seem to care that 
the people who stand to be hurt most by their regressive policies are 
those who can afford it the least.
  As a candidate President Obama wasn't just open about his plan to 
make American energy bills skyrocket, he was pretty cavalier about it 
too. For him it was a necessary sacrifice to achieve an ideological 
aim.
  But for a working mom in Ashland, KY, a skyrocketing utility bill can 
mean the difference between an annual trip to Lake Cumberland and a 
tearful apology to her kids. It can mean choosing which bills to pay 
this month and which to put off just a little longer. It can mean 
birthday disappointments and missed credit card payments.
  These types of consequences may not be a big deal to the President, 
but for many people in the country and many in Kentucky, they are a 
very big deal. Families have had to put up with enough in nearly 6 
years that this administration has been in power: higher medical costs, 
stubborn unemployment, and the feeling of less opportunity.
  What I am saying is middle-class families deserve a break. They 
deserve to have Washington battling in their corner instead of against 
them. That is why I keep fighting this war on coal.
  Later this morning I will take my message to one of the 
administration's so-called listening sessions on these extreme energy 
regulations. The Obama administration may have been too afraid to hold 
a hearing anywhere near coal country, but that doesn't mean they will 
be able to ignore the voice of my constituents. I will be joined by 
Kentuckians who have had to travel hundreds of miles just to get here.
  One of them is Jimmy Rose, the former coal miner from Pineville who 
rose to national attention with his song: ``Coal Keeps the Lights On.'' 
As Jimmy puts it: ``Coal keeps the bills paid, clothes on the backs, 
and shoes on the feet.'' And that is true for so many in our State.
  I will note the irony that the administration's so-called listening 
session in Atlanta had to switch locations due to a significant power 
outage.
  As one person put it, the power outage is either cruel irony or a 
glimpse of coming cruel reality; that is, of course, if the Obama 
administration and the EPA are successful in their quest to end the use 
of affordable, reliable coal. It is hard to disagree.
  The point is the President's extreme energy regulations are little 
more than a political turnout strategy masquerading as a serious 
environmental policy. Not only could they end up making the environment 
worse rather than better but they threaten to hurt countless middle-
class families in the process while shipping American jobs overseas.
  So they need to be stopped. The administration needs to be stopped. 
Kentuckians aren't going to take this lying down. We are going to keep 
fighting back.


                       Reservation of Leader Time

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the leadership time 
is reserved.

                          ____________________