Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 112 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 No. 120 Senate The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was Connecticut, to perform the duties of the It doesn’t work with anything he has called to order by the Honorable RICH- Chair. suggested and opined. It is no more ARD BLUMENTHAL, a Senator from the DANIEL K. INOUYE, than his little assertion that I guess he State of Connecticut. President pro tempore. thought no one would check. When peo- Mr. BLUMENTHAL thereupon as- ple run these races, they keep records. PRAYER sumed the chair as Acting President For all of my marathons, they have The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- pro tempore. kept records. So as much as I would fered the following prayer: f like to have the Ryan math apply to Let us pray. my marathons, it doesn’t work. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY The Senate is going to resume its Eternal God, Your presence fills us LEADER with reverential awe for we find a light work in a few minutes on the heels of in Your commands. Even in darkness, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- the two conventions. One was in Flor- your light dawns for those who love pore. The majority leader is recog- ida and one in North Carolina. The Re- You. And so, Lord, as we begin the next nized. publicans used their virtually fact-free phase of the work of the Senate, give f convention to showcase the richest us greater confidence in the power of style economic policies. WELCOME BACK The Democrats took a different ap- Your providential purposes. Remind proach. I am sure we all had our favor- our lawmakers that the hearts of gov- Mr. REID. Mr. President, I welcome ites. I thought Congressman CLEAVER’s ernmental leaders are in Your hands, everyone back, the staff and Presiding speech was so terrific. I don’t know yielding to the wisdom of Your sov- Officer. I hope everyone had a restful how many were able to see it, but it ereign will. Help us, Lord, to get to and productive month. I look forward to this work period, which will be very was great. He was up there marching. know You and love You so we can serve He was just outstanding. You as we should. short and exact, and I hope we can ac- complish a few things. Gov. Jennifer Granholm from Michi- We pray in Your mighty Name. gan was so good as she explained to ev- Amen. f eryone about jobs and why Detroit f CLEAR PICTURES should not have gone bankrupt. I thought JOE BIDEN’s speech was Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish to PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE typical for JOE BIDEN. It was wonder- take a minute to talk about Congress- The Honorable RICHARD BLUMENTHAL ful. I admire him so much. I served man PAUL RYAN’s arithmetic. It is very with him for a quarter of a century. led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: interesting. He said he ran a marathon. I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the What a good man. He has contributed A marathon is 26.2 miles long. While such valuable service to his country. United States of America, and to the Repub- being questioned by the press, he said lic for which it stands, one nation under God, While talking about his life story, we indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. he ran it in about 2 hours and 50 min- saw when his son introduced him. utes. Now, that is pretty fast. I would f Tears were coming from his eyes. like to take a minute and apply the The President’s and Mrs. Obama’s APPOINTMENT OF ACTING Ryan math to my marathon times. I messages were very clear. They did so PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE will pick just one marathon time. well. I ran the Boston Marathon, and using In Charlotte Democrats presented The PRESIDING OFFICER. The the Ryan math my time would not Americans with a clear and honest as- clerk will please read a communication have been a world record but within sessment of the challenges we face as a to the Senate from the President pro minutes of a world record. I could have nation and a concrete plan to overcome tempore (Mr. INOUYE). made the Olympic team. By using the problems we have together. That is The legislative clerk read the fol- Ryan math, I would have been superb. why President Obama has seen a sig- lowing letter. Well, the Ryan math doesn’t work in nificant rise in the polls since that con- U.S. SENATE, marathons. As we all know, we can al- vention and all of those speeches—not PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, ways check someone’s math, and his just his speech but all of them. Even Washington, DC, September 10, 2012. math doesn’t work for running a mara- To the Senate: the Republican-skewed Rasmussen poll Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, thon or anything else. had him ahead by 5 points. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby The Ryan math doesn’t work with his In fact, we presented Americans with appoint the Honorable RICHARD budgets, it doesn’t work with Medicare, clear choices. It was not a choice be- BLUMENTHAL, a Senator from the State of and it doesn’t work with his tax plan. tween two candidates or two parties; it ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6023 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 02:09 Sep 11, 2012 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A10SE6.000 S10SEPT1 jbell on DSK7SPTVN1PROD with SENATE S6024 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 10, 2012 was a choice between two visions: the President Obama has a plan to put No. 1 goal is to get our economy back Romney vision and the vision we cer- more than 1 million people back to on track. I repeat, the Republicans’ No. tainly think was pronounced at that work next year. His plan will create 1 goal is to defeat President Obama. convention, the Obama vision and a vi- jobs for the middle class and not just What a shame. sion about America’s future. profits for the CEOs. We all want prof- We are resolute in our commitment The Republican vision would return its for these companies—and that is to restore the economy. That is why we us to the failed economic policies that good—but we also want to make sure proposed the Veterans Job Corps Act, a brought us to the great recession. It there is a fair program out there and measure that fulfills our promise to would return us to 8 years of wars, ru- that we do something to stop the mid- the brave men and women who dedi- mors of wars, and massive debt, every- dle class from being squeezed so hard. cated their lives to making our lives thing unpaid for. A lot of the CEOs are doing extremely safer. We don’t want to go back to that. We well, and I am happy. President Obama kept his promise to can’t go back to that. It would further The Dow is up more than 6,000 points end the war in Iraq and wind down the tilt the playing field in favor of those since President Obama took office. war in Afghanistan. The war in Iraq is who have every advantage, million- Meanwhile, Mitt Romney has failed to over, and each year about 200,000 serv- aires and billionaires. They already offer a single concrete idea to get good- icemembers reenter the civilian work- have an advantage. We don’t need to paying jobs for American workers. place. That is the way it is right now. give them any more. I watched part of an interview of As this new generation of veterans re- President Obama showed a vision of Congressman RYAN today. It was a re- turns home ready to work, it is our job America where every person has a shot play from yesterday. I think he was on to make sure they have the oppor- at success, where fairness replaces fa- ABC with George Stephanopoulos. All I tunity to work and succeed. The bill that is now before the Sen- voritism. His policies led to 30 straight could see was the back of ate, the Veterans Job Corps Act, will months of private sector job growth. Stephanopoulos’s head, but I think reinvest in our returning servicemem- Would we like more? Of course we that is who it was. He was saying they bers, easing the sometimes difficult would. want to close these tax loopholes. So I met with Harold Schaitberger this transition back to civilian life. Romney has been asked and RYAN has The measure will also offer priority morning, general president of the fire- been asked: What loopholes do you hiring for veterans who want to be- fighters. He has been working in the want to close? They will not say. It is come first responders. As we have field with firefighters. He started out part of their fictitious math because talked about already, these include as a firefighter. As a boy, his father when they start talking about how fast firefighters, police officers, and EMTs.