Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 112 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 112 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 157 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011 No. 157 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Friday, October 21, 2011, at 10 a.m. Senate WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 19, 2011 The Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was to the Senate from the President pro ington cannot pay its own bills right called to order by the Honorable tempore (Mr. INOUYE). now. Think about it. The Federal Gov- KIRSTEN E. GILLIBRAND, a Senator from The assistant legislative clerk read ernment spent $3.6 trillion last fiscal the State of New York. the following letter: year, a new all-time record. And in the U.S. SENATE, wake of the single largest spending PRAYER PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, year in history, Democrats want to put The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- Washington, DC, October 19, 2011. together another bailout. fered the following prayer: To the Senate: Add up the projected deficits of all 50 Let us pray. Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, States this year and you get $103 bil- Immortal, invisible, God only wise, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby lion. That is all 50 States’ deficits appoint the Honorable KIRSTEN E. GILLI- You are surrounded by inaccessible added up. Well, what about us? What light. Today, help our lawmakers make BRAND, a Senator from the State of New York, to perform the duties of the Chair. about us here in Washington? We are substantive progress in their efforts to DANIEL K. INOUYE, expected to run a deficit of $1.3 trillion. keep America strong. Remind them to President pro tempore. Washington needs to prove it can get trust You for today’s challenges and Mrs. GILLIBRAND thereupon as- its own house in order before it starts difficulties, knowing that You hold all sumed the chair as Acting President demanding more money from job cre- our tomorrows in Your hands. May this pro tempore. ators and throwing together another perspective of trusting the future to f bailout. Your powerful and loving providence This is the third time in 3 years the infuse them with a spirit of optimism RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY President has asked us to bail out the to believe that they will reap a bounti- LEADER States. How many more times? And ful harvest if they persevere in doing The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- how many more billions before some- what is right. Lord, give them the se- pore. The minority leader is recog- one realizes this is a very bad idea? renity to accept what they cannot nized. More bailouts. More bailouts are not change, to change what they should, f going to solve the problem. They will and the wisdom to know the difference. just enable it. We pray in Your righteous Name. RAISING TAXES But the bottom line is this: Everyone Amen. Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, knows the last thing you want to do in f I want to make a couple of observa- a jobs crisis is raise taxes. It is com- PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE tions this morning about what is going mon sense. The President himself has on in Washington at the moment and said as much. But for some reason he is The Honorable KIRSTEN E. GILLI- what is not. What is going on is that determined to keep trying anyway. BRAND led the Pledge of Allegiance, as Democrats are obsessed for some rea- And Republicans are not about to go follows: son with raising taxes. That is the only along with it. So Democratic leaders in I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the Congress have decided to do nothing in- United States of America, and to the Repub- possible way to explain their latest lic for which it stands, one nation under God, idea to impose a permanent tax hike on stead. If they do not get their tax hike, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. about 300,000 U.S. business owners and then they do not want to do anything at all. That is why rather than working f then use the money to bail out cities and States that cannot pay their bills. with us on legislation that would get APPOINTMENT OF ACTING That is the proposal we will be voting the government out of the way so the PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE on apparently tomorrow. private sector can create jobs, includ- The PRESIDING OFFICER. The I do not know if our friends on the ing legislation that is in the Presi- clerk will please read a communication other side have noticed, but Wash- dent’s own bill, they have ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6701 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:28 Oct 20, 2011 Jkt 019060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A19OC6.000 S19OCPT1 tjames on DSK6SPTVN1PROD with SENATE S6702 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE October 19, 2011 choreographed a political sideshow this The House voted on three bills this clean water. These safeguards are im- very week. year, one as recently as last week, to portant to have a healthier America. Here is how it works: The President roll back excessive regulations by bu- But the Republican response has been proposes a stimulus bill and calls it a reaucrats in Washington who are de- cutting back environmental and health jobs bill. Congress rejects it in a bipar- stroying jobs and threatening to put safeguards, I guess hoping that a sick- tisan way for very sensible and even more Americans out of work. All er, more polluted country is a better straightforward reasons. The President three of those House bills got solid bi- place to create jobs. It is not. then goes on a bus tour to criticize Re- partisan support. Why do we not have I am going to talk a little bit today publicans for voting against the so- those votes in the Senate and show about the legislation that I moved to called jobs bill. Democratic leaders that we can work together to help busi- on Monday dealing with, as I have indi- consult with the White House on nesses create jobs? Let’s park the cam- cated, maintaining jobs for teachers, breaking the same bill into smaller paign bus, put away the talking points, firefighters, and police officers. Sev- pieces. And how do they break it up? and do something to address the jobs enty-five percent of Americans support By identifying parts they know Repub- crisis. this legislation. This is not a poll that licans will oppose, then add the tax The American people want action. some Democratic pollster did, it is a hike just to make sure. Then another The election is 13 months away. Why CNN-Gallup poll. bus tour or a press conference with the do we not do what we were elected to This week, my Republican colleagues President complaining about Repub- do? have rallied against teachers and first licans again. Repeat for 13 months in f responders. That is our latest proposal, the hopes that Americans will forget to create hundreds of thousands of they are all now living under the eco- RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY American jobs and save other jobs. Re- nomic policies that were enacted dur- LEADER publicans point to a similar program ing the first 2 years of the Obama ad- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- with a proven track record keeping ministration, and hope for success. pore. The majority leader is recog- 422,000 teachers in the classroom. That That is the game plan. In other words, nized. is important. They are using this as they are actually designing legislation f evidence that our programs are a fail- on the other side to fail so they will ure. have someone else to blame for the SCHEDULE I know the American Recovery Act economy 13 months from now. That is Mr. REID. Following leader remarks, saved Nevada from going into bank- what is going on in the Senate this the Senate will be in a period of morn- ruptcy. The money we got there, hun- week. ing business for 1 hour, with the Repub- dreds of millions of dollars, allowed the So what is not going on? What is not licans controlling the first half and the Governor, a Republican Governor, to going on is the kind of bipartisan co- majority controlling the final half. save Medicaid. Money is fungible. It operation Americans want. My friend Following morning business, the Sen- saved teachers. It saved a lot of pro- the majority leader is out there telling ate will resume consideration of H.R. grams in Nevada. people the Republicans are rooting for 2112, which is the Agriculture, Com- So I say again, they call Democratic the economy to fail. Nothing could be merce, State, Justice, and Transpor- legislation—my Republican colleagues, further from the truth. Look, if Repub- tation appropriations bill. my friend the Republican leader—legis- licans wanted the economy to fail, we At noon there will be a rollcall vote lation that created hundreds of thou- would all line up behind the President’s in relation to the McCain amendment sands of jobs a failure. That is because economic policies rather than opposing regarding surface transportation. Addi- they are using a different benchmark them, because they have not solved tional rollcall votes are expected dur- for success than we are.