E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 111 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 155 WASHINGTON, FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 2009 No. 30 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was Senator from the Commonwealth of Vir- TIMING OF VOTE ginia, to perform the duties of the Chair. called to order by the Honorable MARK C ROBERT C. BYRD, Mr. M CONNELL. Let me second the R. WARNER, a Senator from the Com- remarks of the majority leader. We monwealth of Virginia. President pro tempore. Mr. WARNER thereupon assumed the have a number of Members, not sur- prisingly on an issue of this magnitude, PRAYER chair as Acting President pro tempore. who would like to speak—Senator The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- f MCCAIN is already here—and we will be fered the following prayer: RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY doing that during the day. I will get a Let us pray. LEADER sense of how many speakers we have, God of power and might, wisdom and and after that I think we should be The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- justice, through You authority is able to come to an agreement for a pore. The majority leader is recog- rightly administered, laws are enacted, time certain on the vote. nized. and judgment is decreed. Today, assist The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- our Senators with Your spirit of coun- f pore. The majority leader is recog- sel and fortitude. May they always SCHEDULE nized. seek the ways of righteousness, justice, Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest Mr. REID. Mr. President, following and truth as You empower them to the absence of a quorum. the remarks of the leaders, if there be lead with honesty and integrity. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- any, there will be a period of morning Lord, make them so faithful to their pore. The clerk will call the roll. business with Senators allowed to calling of public service that Ameri- The legislative clerk proceeded to speak for up to 10 minutes each. That cans may lead tranquil and quiet lives call the roll. time will be controlled equally until 5 in all godliness and reverence. Give Mr. MCCAIN. Mr. President, I ask p.m. The two leaders can fix who their them wisdom to make decisions that unanimous consent the order for the designees will be. will strengthen and prosper our land. quorum call be rescinded. We expect to be in a position some- We pray in the Redeemer’s Name. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- time today to vote on adoption of the Amen. pore. Without objection, it is so or- conference report to H.R. 1. Our cloak- dered. f room has issued an alert to all Sen- Mr. MCCAIN. Mr. President, while ators. Any Senators who want to come PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE the leaders are on the floor, I would and speak, they should at least alert like to mention, I hope we will con- The Honorable MARK R. WARNER led the cloakroom they need some time to tinue to observe the one side speaking the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: do that. We have an order in effect of 10 and then the other side that we have I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the minutes each. If someone wants to talk been going through in the last few United States of America, and to the Repub- longer, fine; we have no problem with lic for which it stands, one nation under God, days. I think a lot of people have been that at all. But we do need some idea indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. able to voice their views on this very as to how many people wish to speak important issue before the Senate. I re- f on this legislation. There have been a iterate, if my colleagues who would number of speeches given during the APPOINTMENT OF ACTING like to speak on this issue would call last few days about it, but if some want PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE the cloakroom and also indicate how to amplify or add to those remarks, long they plan to speak, it would help The PRESIDING OFFICER. The that would be fine. us arrive at a time for a vote today. clerk will please read a communication I have been in close touch with the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- to the Senate from the President pro Republican leader during the last 24 pore. Will the Senator suspend? tempore (Mr. BYRD). hours, and we are going to do our best Mr. MCCAIN. Certainly. The legislative clerk read the fol- to try to come up with a time today. lowing letter: f U.S. SENATE, f PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, RECOGNITION OF THE Washington, DC, February 13, 2009. REPUBLICAN LEADER RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME To the Senate: Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby pore. The minority leader is recog- pore. Under the previous order the appoint the Honorable MARK R. WARNER, a nized. leadership time is reserved. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S2257 . VerDate Nov 24 2008 06:00 Feb 14, 2009 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A13FE6.000 S13FEPT1 wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with SENATE S2258 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE February 13, 2009 MORNING BUSINESS Working on this measure together was I understand the other side of the The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- that opportunity. Republicans offered a aisle—and many in the media—will pore. Under the previous order, the good-faith alternative to the measure say: Well, Republicans are recalcitrant. Senate will proceed to a period for the that is before us. Our alternative pro- Republicans are trying to block it. Re- transaction of morning business until 5 vided the American taxpayers with a publicans don’t want anything. stimulus bill devoid of porkbarrel p.m., with Senators permitted to speak We had a provision, we had a pro- projects and excessive spending pro- therein for up to 10 minutes each and posal of over $420 billion. We had a pro- grams that fail to create jobs. posal that got 44 votes for a trigger the time to be equally divided between Our bill was not simply to advocate the leaders or their designees. that, once our economy begins to re- policies we could not otherwise pass; cover and is in recovery, the spending f our bill, in fact, was a real stimulus stops. One thing that Milton Friedman proposal. Instead, partisan legislation STIMULUS PACKAGE said, among many others I have always was pushed through. appreciated, was: Nothing is so perma- Mr. MCCAIN. Mr. President, I object Sadly, when we could be uniting to nent as a temporary Government pro- to the 10-minute time restraint. This is assist hurting Americans, we have ex- gram. There is nothing more perma- a very difficult issue. We are talking acerbated our differences and burdened nent than a temporary Government about hundreds of billions of dollars of our children and grandchildren with a spending program. So I think we had debt the proportions of which have stimulus. I hope my colleagues on the an opportunity and, hopefully, there other side of the aisle would under- never been seen before. Mr. President, before I go too much will be opportunities in the future, to stand that more than 10 minutes may sit down, Republican and Democrat to- be required for some statements. further, the bill is 1,071 pages. We got it last night, I believe, at 10:20 p.m. That gether—and at the beginning, not the Mr. DURBIN. If the Senator will end. If you are not in on the takeoff, yield, this is a very important matter, was the first moment a copy was made available. It was not numbered cor- then you are certainly not going to be and complex, and we are not going to in on the landing. limit the Senator from Arizona. We rectly. At 11 p.m. we received notifica- tion it had just become available on This bill took off with the Speaker of would like to have rough parity in the House saying: We won, we write the terms of the time given to both sides of the House Web site. Compare the process that we have bill. That was repeated on several occa- the aisle to explain this matter, but we sions by the President of the United are not going to limit or even try to been through with the Web site that is from the Obama campaign. The Web States. limit, under the standing rules, any Now, I want to say again, my side of speech by the other side. site of the Obama campaign stated, and I will quote in a second—this is a quote the aisle, for 8 years, did not include Mr. MCCAIN. I thank my friend. I ask from the Obama Web site: the other side of the aisle. We were we keep track of the timing on both guilty. We were guilty of not observing sides as both sides talk so we can try to End the practice of writing legislation be- hind closed doors. As President, Barack the rights and privileges of the minor- make sure there is parity on timing Obama will restore the American people’s ity party.