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, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 2011 No. 165 Senate The Senate met at 10 a.m. and was Mrs. SHAHEEN thereupon assumed caucuses today that are extremely im- called to order by the Honorable the chair as Acting President pro tem- portant. We need to have the full time. JEANNE SHAHEEN, a Senator from the pore. It is the only time we have all week to State of New Hampshire. f visit with our Senators about what is going on in the Senate. PRAYER RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY f The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- LEADER fered the following prayer: The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- MEASURES PLACED ON Let us pray. pore. The majority leader is recog- CALENDAR—H.R. 674 AND S. 1769 Eternal God, who undergirds our nized. Mr. REID. Madam President, there weakness with Your strength, look f are two bills at the desk for a second with favor upon us today. With Your reading, I am told. favor, we can face any future with the SCHEDULE The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- confident assurance that You control Mr. REID. Madam President, fol- pore. The clerk will state the bills by our destinies. lowing leader remarks, the Senate will title. As our lawmakers wrestle with great resume consideration of H.R. 2112. The legislative clerk read as follows: issues, let Your presence provide them There could be as many as seven roll- A bill (H.R. 674) to amend the Internal Rev- with the empowering experience of call votes. Likely, there will only be enue Code of 1986 to repeal the imposition of inner quiet and certainty. Guide them six. 3 percent withholding on certain payments by Your enabling might that they may The Senate will recess from 12:30 made to vendors by government entities, to maintain their integrity. until 2:15 p.m. for the weekly caucus modify the calculation of modified adjusted gross income for purpose of determining eli- Lord, give us all an inheritance, in- meetings. corruptible and undefiled, that does gibility for certain healthcare-related pro- There will be a Senators-only na- grams, and for other purposes. not fade away. tional security briefing at 3:30 p.m. in A bill (S. 1769) to put workers back on the We pray in Your sacred Name. Amen. SVC–217. I haven’t had an opportunity job while rebuilding and modernizing Amer- f to speak to the Republican leader, but ica. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE we will discuss whether we should be Mr. REID. Madam President, I object out of session during that hour. It is a to any further proceedings regarding The Honorable JEANNE SHAHEEN led very important briefing. I will talk to these two bills, en bloc. the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: my counterpart to determine whether The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the we should be out of session during that pore. Objection is heard. The bills will United States of America, and to the Repub- important briefing. lic for which it stands, one nation under God, be placed on the calendar. indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Also, I want to put all Senators on f notice that we are going to stick to our f timelines on these votes. The first vote REBUILD AMERICA JOBS ACT APPOINTMENT OF ACTING will be 15 minutes, with a 5-minute Mr. REID. This week, Democrats in- PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE grace period. The rest of the votes will troduced legislation that will put The PRESIDING OFFICER. The be 10 minutes, with a 5-minute grace Americans back to work rebuilding clerk will please read a communication period. If people are not here, we are this Nation’s crumbling infrastructure. to the Senate from the President pro turning in the vote. We have two very It will allow us to hire thousands of tempore (Mr. INOUYE). important caucuses today and we need people to upgrade 150,000 miles of road- The legislative clerk read as follows: to start them. We cannot have the ways, thousands of miles of train U.S. SENATE, votes dragging on forever. If you have tracks, and modernize our Nation’s PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, committee meetings, walk out of them. runways and air traffic control sys- Washington, DC, November 1, 2011. If you have business meetings in your tems. The Rebuild America Jobs Act To the Senate: office with constituents, leave and will invest $50 billion to ensure that Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, come here and vote. I say to both our world-class economy has world- of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby Democrats and Republicans, we are class infrastructure and get this econ- appoint the Honorable JEANNE SHAHEEN, a Senator from the State of New Hampshire, going to turn in the votes at the end of omy working again. to perform the duties of the Chair. the expired time. It is not fair to Sen- This is not a new issue. It is some- DANIEL K. INOUYE, ators who are here on time to wait for thing that is long overdue. A number of President pro tempore. others. Senator MCCONNELL and I have years ago, I conducted a hearing in the ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S6931 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 00:19 Jul 20, 2012 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD11\RECFILES\S01NO1.REC S01NO1 bjneal on DSK2TWX8P1PROD with CONG-REC-ONLINE S6932 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 1, 2011 Public Works Committee, where we into the Great Depression. Their share AGRICULTURE, RURAL DEVELOP- brought in mayors from around the of the national income has doubled MENT, FOOD AND DRUG ADMIN- country, from Atlanta, Washington, since 1979. Listen to this. And now they ISTRATION, AND RELATED DC, and other places around the coun- take home more than half of all the AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT try. They lamented the sorry state of money earned each year in this great OF 2012 the infrastructure. Sadly, in those ap- country, even after taxes. They take The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- proximately 10 years, nothing has been home more than half the money earned pore. Under the previous order, the done—nothing. each year in this country. That means Senate will resume consideration of This commonsense plan we have pro- this 1 percent now makes more than H.R. 2112, which the clerk will report. posed has enjoyed broad bipartisan sup- the other 99 percent combined. And The legislative clerk read as follows: port in the past. Many of my Repub- they are not going to allow us to pro- A bill (H.R. 2112) making appropriations lican colleagues in the Senate have ceed to create hundreds of thousands of for Agriculture, Rural Development, Food spoken glowingly about what infra- jobs for a tax increase of seven-tenths and Drug Administration, and Related Agen- structure investments could do to put of 1 percent on the richest of the rich? cies programs for the fiscal year ending Sep- people back to work and improve the tember 30, 2012, and for other purposes. No one deprives them of their pros- economy in their States. Yet this week Pending: Republicans have raised a hue and cry perity. They have worked hard, and it hasn’t all been inherited money. We Crapo amendment No. 814 (to amendment against our plan because it has million- No. 738), to provide for the orderly imple- aires and billionaires—those whose in- understand that. But their tremendous mentation of the provisions of title VII of come is more than $1 million—to con- fortunes mean they can afford to con- the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and tribute their fair share to right our tribute a tiny fraction more to shore Consumer Protection Act. listing economy. up the economic future of our Nation. Lee motion to recommit Appropriations. We don’t cast a net over millionaires Blunt (for DeMint) amendment No. 763 (to John D. Rockefeller, Jr., the grand- amendment No. 738), to prohibit the use of and billionaires, only those who make father of JAY ROCKEFELLER from West funds to implement regulations regarding more than $1 million a year. The plan Virginia, who serves in this body the removal of essential-use designation for would require the richest of the rich in today, said: epinephrine used in oral pressurized me- America to contribute a tiny fraction tered-dose inhalers. of income to that effort. They would Every right implies a responsibility; every Blunt (for DeMint) amendment No. 764 (to pay a seven-tenths of 1 percent surtax opportunity, an obligation; every possession, amendment No. 738), to eliminate a certain on income in excess of $1 million a a duty. increase in funding. year. If someone made $1.1 million a Coburn amendment No. 794 (to amendment Seventy-two percent of Americans, No. 738), to provide taxpayers with an annual year income, they would have to pay including 54 percent of Republicans, report disclosing the cost of, performance by, an additional $700 to put America back support the Democrats’ plan to pull and areas for improvements for Government to work. this Nation out of the worse recession programs. Yet my Republican colleagues ada- we have seen since the Great Depres- Coburn amendment No. 795 (to amendment mantly oppose this fair and balanced sion by investing in new roadways, run- No.