SENATE—Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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19098 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 154, Pt. 14 September 16, 2008 SENATE—Tuesday, September 16, 2008 The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was THE ECONOMY a gallon of gasoline. It is not strong for called to order by the Honorable JON Mr. REID. Mr. President, on the the cities and towns that have been TESTER, a Senator from the State of morning of October 30, 1929, President forced to cut back on police, schools, Montana. Herbert Hoover awoke the day after and firefighters because their tax base the biggest one-day stock market crash is shrinking. Certainly it is not strong PRAYER in American history, surveyed the for the millions of families who have or The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- state of the U.S. economy and declared: may soon lose their homes, or the tens fered the following prayer: The fundamental business of the country, of millions who are seeing their home Let us pray. that is production and distribution of com- equity plummet. Almighty God, who inhabits eternity, modities, is on a sound and prosperous basis. No matter what George Bush, JOHN whose throne is in Heaven, whose foot- In the coming weeks and months MCCAIN, or the ghost of Herbert Hoover stool is Earth, You are worthy to re- after that, President Hoover remained may think, this economy is not strong, ceive our gratitude, worship, and in an economic bubble, unaware of the and the American people deserve bet- praise. We thank You for Your gracious extreme suffering of ordinary Ameri- ter. mercy and forgiveness when we fail and cans—even declaring that anyone who This is not a time for panic, but it is sin. We praise You for Your grace, questioned the state of the economy a time to look back on the past 8 years which is lavished upon us despite our was a ‘‘fool.’’ of the Bush-Hoover-McCain economics indifference, our pride, and our selfish- For Herbert Hoover, I guess igno- and figure out what brought us to this ness. Lord, we worship You, we adore rance was bliss. It wasn’t until the point so we don’t repeat the same mis- You, we glorify You. We humble our- American people replaced this out-of- takes. selves before You. Let Your presence be touch Republican President with a The tragic truth is this disaster was felt today on Capitol Hill. Inspire our Democrat, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, avoidable. In its palpable disdain for lawmakers to be examples in their that our Nation’s economic recovery all things relating to government, the words, faith, and purity. May this be a began. Yesterday, nearly 80 years after Bush-Cheney administration willfully day in which Your love is expressed in the Hoover administration took Amer- neglected the Government’s most im- their attitudes and actions. You are ica with blissful ignorance into a de- portant function, which is to safeguard worthy, Lord God of the universe, pression, the Dow Jones industrial av- the American people from harm—not world without end. Amen. erage dropped 504 points—the biggest only physical harm but economic one-day decline since trading opened harm. f after the attacks of 9/11. In their simplistic philosophy of ‘‘big With one major investment bank business equals good, government PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE headed for bankruptcy, and another equals bad,’’ the administration and The Honorable JON TESTER led the sold at a bargain-basement price, and the Republican Congress failed to con- Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: one of the world’s largest insurance duct oversight, and let the financial I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the companies teetering, investors rushed sector go wild. United States of America, and to the Repub- to sell their shares, and not only in Without anyone regulating their ac- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, America but all over the world. tions, market excess destroyed the fi- indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. With our financial markets reeling, nancial prudence that allowed a firm f the American people are wondering such as Lehman Brothers to prosper for whether they will lose their jobs, 158 years. APPOINTMENT OF ACTING whether they will be able to pay their Vast fortunes were made virtually PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE child’s next tuition bill, and whether overnight, and now vast fortunes have The PRESIDING OFFICER. The their pension and retirement savings been literally lost overnight. Yester- clerk will please read a communication will be safe, or even whether their bank day, we heard that Hewlett-Packard to the Senate from the President pro will survive. laid off 25,000 people. There is some tempore (Mr. BYRD). There is no reason to think we are talk that Lehman Brothers—somebody The legislative clerk read the fol- headed into an economic depression. I may buy them, so instead of losing lowing letter: believe there is no reason to panic. Yet 25,000 jobs, they will only lose 15,000 one Senator—JOHN MCCAIN—woke up U.S. SENATE, jobs. I hope that is the case for those PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, yesterday morning, surveyed the state 10,000. Washington, DC, September 16, 2008. of the U.S. economy, summoned the The unfortunate irony is that the To the Senate: ghost of his fellow Republican Herbert Bush administration’s zeal to favor big Under the provisions of rule I, section 3, of Hoover, and declared: business has crippled it and left the the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby The fundamentals of our economy are American people to pay the price. appoint the Honorable JON TESTER, a Sen- strong. President Bush did nothing to stop this ator from the State of Nevada, to perform For whom are the fundamentals of disaster, and now he will leave the the duties of the Chair. our economy strong? Certainly not the ROBERT C. BYRD, mess to the next President. President pro tempore. 606,000 American people who have lost Now our Nation must decide who is their jobs this year. Certainly it is not Mr. TESTER thereupon assumed the better suited to end the Bush-Hoover strong for the commuters and truckers chair as Acting President pro tempore. economics and return sanity and secu- who are sending more and more of rity to our economy. f their hard-earned dollars overseas to Senator MCCAIN says the economy is pay for fuel. Certainly our economy is not his strong suit. That is an under- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY not strong for those struggling to statement. That is what he said about LEADER make one paycheck last until the next, himself. So JOHN MCCAIN went search- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- with record home heating prices loom- ing for an economic adviser who could pore. The majority leader is recog- ing in the coming winter months, and bolster his weakness. Who did he nized. the price of oil teetering around $4 for choose? Phil Gramm. I served with Phil ● This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. VerDate Mar 15 2010 15:17 Mar 21, 2011 Jkt 069102 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR08\S16SE8.000 S16SE8 WReier-Aviles on DSKJ8SOYB1PROD with BOUND RECORD September 16, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 154, Pt. 14 19099 Gramm in the Senate—the same Phil In November, we can elect a Presi- licans and will ask for consent prior to Gramm who was responsible for de- dent who will break from the past and the caucus recess. If we are unable to regulation in the financial services in- invest in the future, a person of reach agreement, at 3 p.m. the Senate dustry that paved the way for much of change. But until then, the Senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the this crisis to occur. I like Phil Gramm, should pass our tax extenders. We need bill, with the final 30 minutes equally but I don’t like his economics. to do that. If we want to jump-start the divided and controlled by the two lead- A respected economist at the Univer- economy, let’s pass the tax extenders ers, with the majority leader control- sity of Texas, James K. Galver, said for renewable energy. In the State of ling the final 15 minutes. Senators that Gramm was: ‘‘the most aggressive Montana, the State of the Presiding Of- have until 12 noon to file second-degree advocate of every predatory and rapa- ficer, renewable energy is a job creator. amendments to the Defense bill. cious element that the financial sector On August 18 and 19, I had an energy I will finally say that under the reg- has’’ and that ‘‘he’s sorcerer’s appren- summit in Las Vegas. We had Demo- ular procedure, we would have a clo- tice of instability and disaster in the crats, Republicans, academics, and peo- ture vote an hour after we come into financial system.’’ ple from the industry. I talked to the session. But I had a conversation with It was Phil Gramm who pushed legis- Governor from Colorado and asked him the Republican leader last evening, and lation through a Republican Senate how his State is doing. He said they are we felt it would be best to wait until that allowed firms such as Enron to not being hit as hard as others because after our caucus so people understood avoid regulation and destroy the life they are creating thousands of jobs how important this Defense authoriza- savings of its employees, and it was with renewable energy projects.