Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 110 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 110 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION Vol. 154 WASHINGTON, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2008 No. 177 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was appoint the Honorable MARK L. PRYOR, a if, in fact, we have any to be made. So called to order by the Honorable MARK Senator from the State of Arkansas, to per- it may be necessary that we come back L. PRYOR, a Senator from the State of form the duties of the Chair. after Thanksgiving. I have not had an Arkansas. ROBERT C. BYRD, opportunity to converse with my Re- President pro tempore. publican counterpart, but I will do PRAYER Mr. PRYOR thereupon assumed the that. I have a meeting scheduled later chair as Acting President pro tempore. The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- today with the Speaker. fered the following prayer: f Everyone stay tuned, and we will do Let us pray. RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY the very best we can to let Senators Lord of creation, You establish day LEADER know where we are at any given time. and night and the orderly movements f of the seasons. That same Providence The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME orders the lives of our Senators, our pore. The majority leader is recog- Nation, and our world. As our law- nized. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- makers seek to do what is right, give f pore. Under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. them the wisdom to discern what is SCHEDULE best. Show them the pitfalls to avoid f Mr. REID. Mr. President, following and the opportunities to seize. Keep MORNING BUSINESS them from becoming weary in their leader remarks the Senate will proceed pursuit of Your purposes as they re- to a period of morning business. Sen- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- member Your promise to bring a boun- ators will be allowed to speak for up to pore. Under the previous order, the tiful harvest. May they cling to the en- 10 minutes each. Senate will proceed to a period of during principles of Your truth that Following morning business, the Sen- morning business for up to 1 hour, with will lead them to their desired destina- ate will resume the motion to proceed Senators permitted to speak therein tion. to H.R. 6867, which is the emergency for up to 10 minutes each. We pray in Your wonderful Name. unemployment compensation legisla- The Senator from Oklahoma is recog- Amen. tion. Yesterday, cloture was filed on nized. that motion to proceed to the measure. Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, I ask f Senators will be notified when a vote is unanimous consent to be recognized in PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE scheduled. Senators should be prepared morning business for whatever time I for a rollcall vote today—or maybe shall consume. The Honorable MARK L. PRYOR led votes. the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- We are in a situation where we do not pore. Without objection, it is so or- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the know, procedurally, what we are going dered. United States of America, and to the Repub- lic for which it stands, one nation under God, to be able to accomplish today. This f indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. doesn’t ripen until tomorrow. So we could pass unemployment compensa- BAILOUT DEMANDS f tion legislation today, to give relief to Mr. INHOFE. Mr. President, Ameri- APPOINTMENT OF ACTING people who are desperately in need of cans are once again being asked to foot PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE these checks. But we may not be able the bill for yet another very urgent to do that until tomorrow. We hope The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bailout, as it is termed. In October, that at least on this measure we would clerk will please read a communication Congress voted for an unprecedented be able to get consent to pass this. to the Senate from the President pro $750 billion bailout of Wall Street. Now After that, we have some procedural much of the same alarmist rhetoric is tempore (Mr. BYRD). roadblocks. I have spoken to a number The legislative clerk read the fol- being employed to pressure Members to of Senators today. Of course, the desire lowing letter: act quickly. is we complete all of our actions until The latest bailout demand making U.S. SENATE, we come back on January 6, but that the rounds of Washington is for the Big PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, Washington, DC, November 20, 2008. may not be possible. We have the Three in the auto industry. The Demo- To the Senate: Thanksgiving recess. I have had calls crats would have you believe the pro- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, from staff and Senators. They are hav- posed bailout is all about saving jobs. of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby ing trouble making new arrangements, But having been in Washington long ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S10681 . VerDate Aug 31 2005 03:19 Nov 21, 2008 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 4624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A20NO6.000 S20NOPT1 jbell on PROD1PC69 with SENATE S10682 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 20, 2008 enough, my instincts led me to dig Let’s keep in mind this is the second erous fleet-mileage standards (CAFE rules) deeper, where I unearthed the green $25 billion we are talking about, not that force the companies to make cars do- roots hiding behind the ‘‘bailing out’’ the first. ‘‘The Bush administration’s mestically that are unprofitable. A mere rhetoric. It now appears that much of proposal is unacceptable,’’ declared my tweak would help a lot—for example, simply what you have heard in the media allowing Congress to meet CAFE standards colleague, Senate majority leader by counting the cars it makes at home and about the auto bailout being about jobs HARRY REID. abroad. has been misleading. In fact, there are The Wall Street Journal asks, and I If you include them all, they would be able the usual suspects working behind the am quoting again now: to meet these standards. scene to subvert the auto bailout and If the problem is so urgent, why keep the This alone might save Chrysler from bank- ultimately betray autoworkers. green chains on that first $25 billion? Gen- ruptcy. But Congress won’t budge on that These are the facts. The proposed $25 eral Motors in particular is saying that it simple change. billion bailout of Detroit now appears may have to declare bankruptcy by the end This latest bout of environmental to have been hijacked by the powerful of the year without a taxpayer capital injec- thuggery is not an isolated incident. tion. Aren’t jobs at stake? environmental lobby. When I say ‘‘pow- The legislative goals of Democrats and erful,’’ it is by far the most powerful Again, this is the choice being given. their environmental allies reveal that lobby and best financed lobby—those But the jobs do not appear to be the saving jobs is not their highest pri- out in Hollywood I have referred to overriding concern when it comes to ority. President-elect Obama has many times, moveon.org, George the proposed bailout. A November 13 pledged to grant California a global- Soros, the Michael Moores—they talk commentary in the Chicago Sun-Times warming-motivated waiver to allow the millions and millions of dollars. They bluntly declared that Congress should State to demand its own standards of are indeed the powerful lobby. ‘‘attach environmental strings to the emission reductions from new auto- Big Three bailout.’’ I suggest there is an idea that came mobiles. This would essentially allow a to fruition from the November 19 Wall The auto industry occupies a critical posi- State-by-State approach, thus creating tion, not just in the U.S. economy, but also Street Journal. They ask, in this Wall a patchwork of regulatory compliance Street Journal editorial: in the struggle to cope with climate change and the energy crisis. The government has regimes in addition to the Federal When is $25 billion in taxpayer cash insuffi- immense leverage right now to force the Big standard that would be even more cost- cient to bail out Detroit’s auto makers? Three to make progress on multiple fronts ly for automobile manufacturers. The answer: and should and should not be afraid to use it. We have gone through this before. We When the money is a tool of the Congres- This is what Andrew Leonard wrote have had this same suggestion being sional industrial policy to turn GM, Ford in the Sun-Times. made. If there is any single thing that and Chrysler into agents of the Sierra Club would increase the price of cars and and other green lobbies. Barack Obama has spoken many times of his ambitious plans to steer the U.S. toward drive them out of the market, it would According to the Wall Street Jour- a future where Americans are driving fuel-ef- be to let each State determine what its nal, the auto bailout has degenerated ficient cars that run on renewable energy. If own standards are going to be. It can- into a tool to ‘‘make Detroit a sub- the government is going to bail out the auto not work. sidiary of the Sierra Club.’’ industry, it should do so only with the ex- The Wall Street Journal summed up We hear proponents of the auto bail- plicit requirement that the Big Three accel- this attempted hostile green takeover out endlessly saying this is all about erate down that road as fast as they can.