[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12571-12572]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 BRING JOBS HOME ACT--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 453, S. 
2569.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the motion.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 453, S. 2569, a bill to 
     provide an incentive for businesses to bring jobs back to 
     America.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the 
Republican leader, the Senate will be in a period of morning business, 
with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, 
which will run until 10:45. The time will be divided in the usual form 
between the two leaders or their designees. At 10:45 the Senate will 
proceed to a series of three rollcall votes: cloture on Andre Birotte 
to be a judge in California; Robin Rosenberg to be a judge in Florida; 
and John deGravelles to be a judge in Louisiana. Following the cloture 
vote on deGravelles, the time until 12:30 will be equally divided and 
controlled in the usual form. The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 
to allow for our weekly caucus meetings. If cloture is invoked on any 
of the previous nominations, at 2:15 the Senate will begin a series of 
votes on those nominations.


                            Fair Shot Agenda

  Over the past several months, Americans have heard Democrats speak at 
length about giving working families a fair shot. What do we mean by a 
``fair shot''? A fair shot is about making sure Americans have jobs and 
good jobs. It is about ensuring that workers receive fair, livable 
wages so they can put a roof over their heads and take care of their 
kids and actually put food on the table, make the rent payments, car 
payments. A fair shot is the idea that each hard-working American 
deserves an opportunity to achieve a measure of prosperity. But it all 
begins with a job.
  As Senators, it is imperative that we not only promote job growth but 
also protect the jobs constituents already have. That is why the 
legislation before the Senate, the Bring Jobs Home Act, is so vitally 
important. It protects American jobs and encourages future job creation 
within our borders.
  Over the last decade, the last 10 years, our country has been 
hemorrhaging jobs. American companies have outsourced 2\1/2\ million 
jobs. Outsource--that means ship them overseas. Two and a half million 
jobs that were here are now overseas, but these losses could 
potentially skyrocket if we do not address the disturbing trend of 
outsourcing. Twenty-one million Americans, including 7 million 
manufacturing workers, are at risk of having their jobs shipped 
overseas at any time--the risk of losing their fair shot. Almost 
150,000 at-risk workers live in Nevada. The home State of my friend 
from Kentucky could also be on the chopping block to the tune of 
235,000 jobs. For the Presiding Officer's State of New Jersey, 
outsourcing means the loss of 588,000 jobs in New Jersey.
  When millions of Americans are looking for work in a recovering 
economy, few things could be more important than protecting good-paying 
middle-class jobs.
  Every time an American company closes a factory or a plant in America 
and moves operations to another country, taxpayers pick up part of that 
moving bill. It is hard to comprehend that, but that is the way our law 
now exists. We want to change that. That is what the legislation before 
this body is all about. The Bring Jobs Home Act would end senseless tax 
breaks for outsourcers. It would end the absurd practice of American 
taxpayers bankrolling the outsourcing of their very own jobs.
  The Bring Jobs Home Act also seeks to bring jobs back to America. 
This bill would offer a 20-percent tax credit to help with the costs of 
moving production back to the United States.
  In the last few years major manufacturers, such as Ford and 
Caterpillar, have brought jobs back to the United States from Japan, 
Mexico, and China. Why? Because we have such productive workers. There 
are a lot of other reasons, but that is the main reason. Smaller 
manufacturers, such as Master Lock, have moved facilities home as well. 
This is a trend we here in Congress should enthusiastically encourage--
American companies returning home to employ American workers. They 
should get a tax break to do that. That is what this legislation does.
  The Bring Jobs Home Act is a commonsense strategy to bring back 
American jobs. To 21 million Americans whose jobs could be the next 
ones to move to China or Japan, the Bring Jobs Home Act is as serious 
as it gets. To the 2\1/2\ million Americans whose jobs have already 
been offshored, the bill stands to right a terrible wrong: Bring them 
back and get a tax benefit for doing that.
  I hope Republicans in Congress will finally see the light and join us 
in giving workers a fair shot at a good, stable job. On this 
legislation, the Bring Jobs Home Act, I know Senators on the Republican 
side always say they want amendments; unless they get a guarantee of 
amendments, they will kill the bill. On that, let me just say what I 
always say: We want to do something; that is, get something done. We 
should do what we have done on highway bills in the past, what we did 
recently on terrorism insurance, what we did on the Workforce 
Investment Act, and what we have done here for decades. We should work 
on a list of amendments and a path on getting the bill done. If there 
is going to be no list, I have no alternative but to procedurally move

[[Page 12572]]

forward and get this matter off the floor. That would not be good for 
American workers. So everyone should know my answer: We need to get a 
list of amendments and a path for getting the bill done.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Republican leader is recognized.


                      Working For The Middle Class

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, later today the President will sign a 
bipartisan workforce training bill into law. It is commonsense 
legislation that will help my constituents gain new skills to become 
more competitive. I was proud to support it. I am glad to see that the 
President is going to sign it.
  Unfortunately, though, bipartisan accomplishments such as this one 
have become increasingly rare in the Democratic-controlled Senate.
  Last week President Obama took to the campaign trail to urge Congress 
to pass a new highway bill. He really did not need to, though; the 
Republican-controlled House of Representatives had already passed the 
highway bill earlier in the week. In fact, it sailed through on an 
overwhelmingly bipartisan vote, 367 to 55. The President said he would 
sign it if Congress sent it to his desk. I expect the Senate will do 
just that in fairly short order but only if the Democrats who run the 
Senate can put their never-ending political campaign on hold for just a 
minute because rather than focus on passing bipartisan legislation, not 
to mention the dozens of job-creation bills the House has already sent 
over to us, the Democratic majority seems to spend all of its time on 
bills designed primarily to create jobs for campaign consultants.
  We got an especially vivid glimpse of this earlier this year when 
Senate Democrats admitted they were working with their campaign 
committee to craft a so-called agenda that was more about saving their 
own seats than anything else. Ever since, they have pretty much 
abandoned governing to use the Senate floor as a campaign studio. We 
saw the latest example last night when the majority brought up another 
recycled, designed-to-fail bill that has already been rejected by the 
Senate. It is a bill that is designed for campaign rhetoric and 
failure, not to create jobs here in the United States. That is not what 
it is about. But that is not stopping our friends on the other side 
from bringing it up yet again, just as they did right before the last 
election.
  So, look. We have seen this movie before. Everyone knows the 
Democrats are simply not serious here. They specifically want the bill 
to fail.
  What I am saying is let's just skip the campaigning and get something 
done for the middle class instead. Let's focus on bipartisan bills that 
can help families and create jobs here at home. Let's focus on things 
such as repealing the job-killing medical device tax and helping create 
energy jobs and reducing the tax burden on small businesses and 
restoring the 40-hour workweek and providing relief to Kentucky's coal 
families.
  If we are going to have a debate about creating jobs here at home, 
then let's really have a debate about creating jobs here at home. This 
is not it. Senate Democrats, of course, know that. They also know all 
of their campaigning is getting in the way of focusing on passing 
bipartisan legislation--bipartisan legislation such as the highway 
bill.
  Of course, we know the current highway bill is not perfect. Over the 
long term, Republicans have a lot of good ideas for reforming the 
highway trust fund in a more permanent way so it can be made 
sustainable for years to come, but for now we have to at least keep 
road and bridge projects moving forward in the meantime. The extension 
of the highway trust fund could be used to fund projects such as the 
resurfacing of several parkways that many Kentuckians use to commute to 
work, and it could be used to fund the widening of I-656 between 
Bowling Green and Elizabethtown. The judge executive of Hart County 
Terry Martin knows this transportation safety project is important for 
the Commonwealth, and he notes that the expansion to six lanes would 
allow for a smoother and safer flow of traffic for Kentuckians.
  So let's focus on scoring bipartisan wins and jobs for our 
constituents instead of scoring political points. If Democrats can do 
that, then I am confident we will get this done because the American 
people didn't send us to Congress to campaign 24/7. When Senate 
Democrats do choose to work with us, there is a lot we can get done for 
the people of our country.


                      Remembering Jeremiah Denton

  I wish to say a brief word about our former colleague Jeremiah 
Denton, who will be laid to rest today at Arlington National Cemetery.
  Admiral Denton is best known for the extraordinary bravery he showed 
in 1966, when instead of playing along in a propaganda film for his 
captors in Vietnam, he blinked the word ``torture'' in Morse code to 
U.S. military leaders.
  All told, Admiral Denton would spend 7\1/2\ years in the infamous 
Hanoi Hilton and other camps, enduring terrible torture and barbaric 
conditions throughout. Later, after earning the deep admiration of 
Ronald Reagan, he would enlist the future President's help as a first-
time political candidate, becoming the first-elected Republican Senator 
from Alabama since Reconstruction.
  A staunch conservative throughout his time in the Senate, Admiral 
Denton was a man of deep and abiding faith who had an equally deep and 
abiding love for his country. This was never more clear than on the day 
he stepped off a plane to freedom at Clark Air Base in the Philippines. 
Walking up to the microphone, the newly released POW said simply:

       We are honored to have had the opportunity to serve our 
     country under difficult circumstances. We are proudly 
     grateful to our commander-in-chief and to our nation for this 
     day. God bless America.

  Admiral Denton was predeceased by his beloved wife of 61 years 
Kathryn Jane, and survived by their seven children: Madeleine, and Mary 
Beth, Jeremiah, William, Donald, James, Michael; and by his second wife 
Mary Belle. We send Mary Belle and the entire Denton family our sincere 
condolences today as Jeremiah Denton is laid to rest, and we honor the 
memory of this great man and distinguished former Member of this body.


                       Reservation of Leader Time

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

                          ____________________