Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 111 CONGRESS, FIRST 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 111 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 155 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 2009 No. 158 Senate The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was ator from the State of Colorado, to perform this body now. We also have the loss called to order by the Honorable MARK the duties of the Chair. carryback, which is extremely impor- UDALL, a Senator from the State of ROBERT C. BYRD, tant for businesses at this time, also Colorado. President pro tempore. widely agreed upon. It was originally Mr. UDALL of Colorado thereupon sponsored by Senator BUNNING, and PRAYER assumed the chair as Acting President now Senator BAUCUS and others have The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- pro tempore. agreed to this—not two or three Sen- fered the following prayer: f ators but significant numbers on both Let us pray. sides. We could get those done. We have RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY given the Republicans a request to do Father of all, we praise and glorify LEADER Your Holy Name. You are the fountain it in 2 hours, and Senators said they of life, the source of all goodness, and The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- don’t even need that much time to get the center of our joy. pore. The majority leader is recog- this done. Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, Today, fill our lawmakers with Your nized. would the majority leader yield? blessings. Bless them with the courage f Mr. REID. I would be happy to yield. to follow You as they maintain con- SCHEDULE Mr. MCCONNELL. I would just say to fidence in the power of Your provi- my friend, we have a lot of fights Mr. REID. Mr. President, following dence. Bless their labors that they will around here over things we disagree on, leader remarks, there will be a period live to see a harvest of justice and but on this particular measure, this is of morning business for up to 2 hours, peace in our Nation and world. Bless an unnecessary impasse that we have. with Senators permitted to speak for their family members with health and We have come very close to a very up to 10 minutes each. The majority safety, for You are our refuge and modest number of amendments. My will control the first hour, the Repub- strength. Bless us all, that one day we side would be more than happy to ac- licans will control the second hour. may dwell in Your house forever. cept time agreements on all of the Following morning business, the Sen- We pray in Your great Name. Amen. amendments. I want to second what ate will proceed to the motion to pro- the majority leader says, that I hope f ceed to H.R. 3548. we can indeed work out an agreement I would direct a question to the PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE for a modest number of amendments Chair. What time does the 30 hours with time agreements and wrap up this The Honorable MARK UDALL led the postcloture run out? bill because I certainly share his view Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- that most Members support the under- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the pore. The time expires at 12:26 a.m. lying measure and the additions to United States of America, and to the Repub- Thursday. which the majority leader has referred. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, Mr. REID. Mr. President, I hope we Mr. REID. Mr. President, first of all, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. can work something out with the Re- the other amendments are vexatious. publicans. We are going to have that f They are argumentative. They are not vote as soon as we can. I am sorry that germane. They are not relevant to this APPOINTMENT OF ACTING we might have to do it in the morning. legislation. But it seems that this year, PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE I think we should be able to avoid that. every time we get where we try to get The vote was held later than I wanted The PRESIDING OFFICER. The something done, we have had stalling. it because a Senator was quite ill. I We had a Senator out here yesterday clerk will please read a communication hope we can work something out. We to the Senate from the President pro who had done the work to find out how have bipartisan support, and that is many times we have been stopped from tempore (Mr. BYRD). just not words. doing things. Almost 60 times on abso- The assistant legislative clerk read We have significant numbers of Re- the following letter: lute filibusters we have had to invoke publicans and Democrats who want to cloture and 30-some-odd times on just U.S. SENATE, do two things—one, to do something objecting to legislation going forward. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, about the first-time home buyers tax Washington, DC, October 28, 2009. The other amendments the Repub- To the Senate: credit. There has been general agree- lican leader has suggested are amend- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, ment by a significant number of Sen- ments that are not related to this leg- of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby ators, Democrats and Republicans, to islation, and there is wide disagree- appoint the Honorable MARK UDALL, a Sen- get this done. The legislation is before ment from Republicans and Democrats. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S10793 . VerDate Nov 24 2008 23:39 Oct 28, 2009 Jkt 089060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A28OC6.000 S28OCPT1 jbell on DSKDVH8Z91PROD with SENATE S10794 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 28, 2009 Why do we need to do that? We don’t cans don’t want government-run health have been taken for a ride in this de- need to. It is only an effort to slow care, Democratic leaders in Wash- bate, and it is also why a lot of our things down. We are not going to agree ington have made their decision: They friends on the other side are concerned to that. It is not necessary. are going to include it in their health about the bill that is headed to the Let’s get these things done. We will care bill whether Americans want it or Senate floor. Americans have issued move to something as quickly as we not. their verdict. They have been clear. get rid of this, and they can move the Supporters of the government-run They have said that enough is nongermane, nonrelevant amendments plan say they are only advocating one enough—no government plan, no more on those, but let’s get this done. I don’t more option among many. What they debt, no more government takeovers. know when we can do this legislation don’t say is that the option they are Democratic leaders may continue to for the first-time home buyers. It has advocating would soon be the only op- insist on a bill that most Americans been a tremendous boon to real estate tion. The others would simply fade oppose, but it is the wrong approach. A all over America today. Has it been a away. government-owned, government-oper- perfect program? Of course not. But It is not that hard to understand. ated insurance plan was a bad idea be- the good part of the amendments—two Private health plans would fade away fore, and it is a bad idea now. amendments we are talking about—is because a government-run plan would Mr. President, I yield the floor. they are fully paid for. It doesn’t run use the deep pockets of the Federal f up the national debt by 10 cents—by Government to set artificially low RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME nothing. Let’s get this done and then prices or absorb a loss, making it im- move on and start arguing about other possible for private plans to compete. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- things. There is nothing to argue about Private plans would either become so pore. Under the previous order, the here. We are not going to go to those expensive that only the very wealthy leadership time is reserved. amendments. could afford them or they would go out f of business altogether. I had a caucus yesterday in which the MORNING BUSINESS Presiding Officer and a number of other If you want to know what happens Senators throughout the Chamber were after that, just ask somebody who lives The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- there. We have done this time after in a country that has already gone pore. Under the previous order, there time, and quite frankly we are tired of down the road of government-run will now be a period of morning busi- it. It is not necessary. There is no rea- health care for all. What we have seen ness for 2 hours, with Senators per- son to have these amendments that are in those countries is what we would see mitted to speak therein for up to 10 just rifleshots at trying to embarrass here: rationing, denials, and delay. In minutes each, with the time equally di- people, and these two amendments the United Kingdom, for example, a vided and controlled between the two don’t embarrass anyone.