challenges overwhelm lift burdens and fill our life with your joy strengthen our lawmakers use their talents and abilities to make a positive difference in our world empower them with your  to find prieta pads that will bring this nation to a desired destination inspire their minds with insight and wisdom their hearts with resiliency and courage and their bodies with vigor and vitality may your peace flow into them coming their spirits directing their disposition and controlling all they say and do to communication to the senate washington d c april fifteenth two thousand and eight to the senate on the provisions of roll one paragraph three and the standing rules of the senate i here by point the honorable john tester a senator from the state of montana to perform the duties of the chair president pro tempore as president majority leader following my remarks and those of center mcconnell the senate will be in a period morning business for one hour center is allowed to speak there and for a period of ten minutes each times equally divided and control between the two leaders of the designees mispresent i would ask consent that a full thirty minutes be given to the republicans and to the majority without objection stories present as i've indicated the republicans will control the first three minutes joining will history that a part of his visit to the white house it will offer a mass at a newly opened nationals park and deliver an address at catholic university pope benedict will then travel to new york where he will address united nations visit ground zero site of those devastating attacks on nine eleven and say masses yankee stadium during his visit the pope will also champion a brotherhood of faith between the religions  meeting with leaders of the buddhist muslim hindu jewish and other faiths the pope's visit observe some important anniversaries wednesday april sixteenth will be his eighty first birthday and saturday the nineteenth will mark the third anniversary of his election as pope his visit also coincides with the two hundredth anniversary of four of the oldest diocese in the united states one of which was established in mt state of kentucky two hundred years ago this month po tennessee ohio indiana illinois michigan i'll wisconsin missouri and have of arkansas the march down this was established alongside the diocese of boston philadelphia and new york its seat was eventually moved to lowell and made arch dodgers but its place in the history of american catholicism continues to be a point of pride across kentucky kentucky and celebrate this mass untenable throughout the year at this s thomas church considered the cradle of catholicism in the bluegrass state and still located in barge down a two story log house that stands on the st thomas property is the lower the oldest structure related to the catholic faith in our region of the united states built in seventeen ninety five by thomas and i and howard the property was willed to the church by mr howard in eighteen ten and it became the first home of the st thomas seminary  first seminary west of the allegation it later served as the residence of bishop benedict joseph first bishop of the barge down diocese bishop and others who work to establish the barge town  presence felt throughout the diocese and the st thomas church still cite his influence today two centuries later the resolve and faith displayed by the founders of that barge found us at the same resolve in faith that have been able so  many other catholic missionaries to attract more than one billion adherents to the catholic phase as the bishop of rome the pope's leadership inspires millions of confidence that mankind can find god's will and it's the chaos of this world yet for all the obvious affection people show him pope benedict would be the first to recognize that he is merely a simple humble laborer in the vineyard of the lord we are honored b visit and in bardstown in washington or elsewhere we welcome pope benedict the twenty sixth to bring his labors to america mr president majority leader tomorrow make sure there are no votes between ten and eleven on thursday for the mass those members of the catholic faith and others who wish to attend the mass at the new baseball stadium we're going not come in  captain of his team the brooklyn dodgers but i was even more proud of the fact that it was pee wee who walked over to jackie one day when the taunts were especially tough put his arm on jack is back and sent a message to the fans that jackie robinson was no different than anyone else that came to root for that day reflecting on jackie's courage one baseball commentator said this week that it's remarkable to note that all the photographs from those ears jackie always seems to be smiling despite the most americans have you april fifteenth as a sort of national anthem holiday when they're forced to take a hard look at how much of their money goes into a washington spending machine instead of their their children's education or their gas tank it's worth noting that most people don't dread tax day as much as they use as much as they did before republican policies significantly reduce the share of the family budget that goes from taxpayer wallets to the treasury department according to a recent gallup poll forty three percent of middle income earners say they're paying too much in taxes forty three percent but still far fewer than the fifty nine percent who thought they were being overtaxed just seven years ago the reason for the drop of isn't too hard to figure out the reason a lot fewer people think that their tax burden is too high is the tax burden is a lot lower than it was six years ago married couples and families with children have benefited from tax credits tens of millions of americans have benefited from tax cuts on dividends and capital gains including more than a quarter of a million people in kentucky and that's why it's critical that middle class americans understand the path that democrats are headed down at a time when the economy is slowing and americans are paying record prices for food gas and health care our democratic friends are preparing the largest tax hike and u s history nearly three times larger than the previous record we saw the plan last month in a budget that only one democrat in the senate voted against a blueprint that raises taxes on middle class families by twenty three hundred dollars a year now our friends want a minute this is a tax hike they won't say they're raising taxes they plan to do it quietly by letting all originally enacted tax cuts and credits that americans have benefited from over the past seven years to expire we ask about it they'll tell you these tax cuts were only for the rich anyway i would listen to that unless of course you think forty three million american families with children who pay thousands more in taxes under the democratic budget are rich and should be taxed more or that eighteen million strangers who will pay thousands more in taxes under the democratic budget are rich and should be taxed more or that every owner of the twenty seven million small businesses in the us who will have to pay forty one hundred dollars more in taxes under the democratic budget are rich and should be taxed more under the budget that every democrat in the senate but one voted for last month taxes will go up on anyone who makes more than thirty four thousand dollars a year are these people rich or should they pay more in taxes the first year teacher in lowell who makes thirty five thousand nine hundred eighty two dollars is he or she rich as he or she need to be taxed more but they don't think so about the veteran teacher with a ph d who maxes out at seventy three thousand four hundred eighteen dollars a year is he or she rich is he or she need to be taxed more i'll bet they don't think so our democratic friends have their own answer to these questions they voted for an amendment last month that extends tax breaks on married couples and children the problem of course is that they voted for a similar amendment last year and then they didn't do a thing about it they had no intention of making it into law so if past experience is any indication of future events our friends won't act on the  they cast a vote that's intended to appeal to working families but their record shows they won't follow through by actually doing anything about it as americans struggle to pay the bills and millions worry about falling home values and whether they will even be able to keep their homes they should be able to expect more from congress than political cover votes and class warfare rhetoric although recently enacted tax cuts will soon expire is cuts of help tens of millions of american families and seigneurs these folks should know what's coming and democrats in washington should roll out on their plans to return to the bad old days when sixty percent of them thought their tax bills were too high that's the road our friends on the other side are taking us down  will of the previous order leadership time reserved in the previous order the sentiment presented to a period of morning business prefer to one hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided in control between two leaders of the designees with republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the final half mr president senator from missouri especially i thank the chair today millions of americans are reminded about ben franklin's poignant observation nothing is certain but death and taxes and a families across the nation are being forced to tighten their belts as the federal government takes more and more their hard earned money for working families the tax bill that comes due every april fifteenth is often a tremendous burden in fact the average american pays more in taxes than expands on food shelter clothing and transportation combined for american families tax day is a real eye opener this year families will work the first one hundred thirteen days of the year just to pay their federal state and local taxes unfortunately this year tax day is come around when families are facing spiking energy housing health care costs runaway college tuition and higher rising prices for consumer goods father said it has acted to help these families in the short term the stimulus and housing relief bills a long term fix is long off and badly needed we should support long term economic growth polish that lower taxes create more jobs and grow our american economy our distinguished the minority leader senator from mcconnell i just outlined the dangers of going back to high tax area and we all know that the tax reductions that adopted by congress in two thousand and three which gave relief form capital gains taxes encourage more small businesses to invest gave them the resources to grow and small businesses are the dynamic engine of this country and that's actually provided some eight point four million new jobs but senator mcconnell said my friends on the other side of the island proposed a budget that includes the largest tax increase in american history and would raise taxes on every american taxpayer by doing nothing intentionally doing nothing a plan of the democrats raises taxes on the average american family by twenty three hundred dollars a year a twenty three hundred dollar increase in taxes will be a devastating hit the american families for families in missouri and across the nation this is twenty three hundred dollars they will no longer be able to use that money to buy groceries put gas in their car pay tuition or purchase prescription drugs and as senator mcconnell pointed out it will be an even larger tax increase on small businesses small businesses that we expect to create the new jobs that we will continue to need is our economy and technology evolves unfortunately not only are taxes getting higher they're getting more complicated too according to the president's panel on tax reform there have been more than fourteen thousand changes to the tax code since nineteen eighty six with all of these changes it no wonder that the average time burden for all taxpayers piling up ten forty is thirty hours and now more than six in ten americans hire someone to help prepare their returns every year so in addition to taking on one hundred thirteen days of your wages the federal government requires you to spend i know they tional day and even more money to hire a professional just to make sense of what you it's a daunting task for anyone particularly if they have a family business activities to make sense of what they know well in january i introduced a radical solution  they will get rid of the a m t and the double calculations that middle class middle income taxpayers must make it will emanate higher tax rates get rid of the myriad of targeted reductions and other special interest provisions the fair and simple tax act will provide a simpler low or flat income tax option as well as offer historic tax relief for families and businesses to create jobs for american workers this bill will reduce the tax rate on families and the employers who create jobs make permanent existing tax relief keep current  for home mortgage interest and charitable donations but give americans more control over their health care repub by providing tax relief to individuals and families who do not now have access to the employer provided health care also my bill will death tax which is a significant burden for farmers and small businesses the best fiscal policy is economic growth job creation and keeping taxes low for middle class families and the best economic or fiscal policy is also the best social policy there's no better policy then assuring a good paying job for hardworking americans the last thing our economy needs right now is a tax increase which is what americans will receive when the two thousand and one and two thousand and three tax cuts expire and you know what will happen it won't only be a tax increase on individual families by increasing significantly taxes on small business it's going to curb job growth it's going to cut the ability of people to find a job let me be clear unless we stop this looming tax hike which would be the largest in history more than two million missouri families will face higher tax my bill will prevent the family budget killing tax hikes by bill a simplified tax day for millions of americans by bill will mean tax relief and real money back into the pockets of american families let's get real about taxes and bring back some common sense to a tax code it's too complex too confusing in too costly this plan will give american taxpayers what they need a fairer system that puts more of their own money back in their pocketbooks and takes off of their back the hassle of april april fifteenth as president i ask for the support of my colleagues and bring a radical but simple common sense reform to our tax code  president center from wyoming mr president twenty years ago today senator malcolm wallace of wyoming came to the senate floor to speak about the tax burden that a americans face he came to the floor because it was april fifteenth tax day he came to expand his sympathies to the many as he called it frustrated taxpayers who are probably at this minute he said sweating bullets over a form ten forty while knowing through yet another pencil mr president he spoke just two years after congress enacted the law on the law the landmark eight one thousand nine hundred eighty six tax reform bill legislation intended to reform and simplify the code and make the chaos of past april fifteenth mere memories that legislation did not reform the tax code and it fell far short of tax simplification sen wallah voted against final passage and he knew that history would be on his side the same day he introduced into the congressional record a nine hundred eighty eight guest editorial from the casper star tribune a newspaper in wyoming the editorial reflected the sentiments similar to those expressed by sen less than two years after nachman of that nine hundred eighty six law tax reform and simplification spawned two thousand seven hundred four changes in the internal revenue code forty two new regulations sixty five announcements thirty two revenue rulings and forty eight new tax forms the changes were so complicated that in a nationwide study of fifty tax preparers who were given hypothetical identical pieces of information about what a family would do in trying to figure out their taxes none of the fifty tax preparers came out with the same result in terms of how much that family would owe the system was that complicated senator wallop said that that guest editorial summed up the feelings of taxpayers across the nation well the author of that guest  submitted twenty years ago today into the congressional record was a wyoming physician named john barrasso that's right the current occupant of sen wallops wyoming senate seat the reform in vision by congress failed miserably to achieve its desired result today americans continue the painful experience of frantically attempting to complete their tax returns and write their checks to the government before the clock strikes midnight the tax code is even longer today six thousand pages and over two million eight hundred thousand words and its growing provisions within the code regularly expire and then they are extended on an irregular basis the i r s estimates that the average amount of time an american taxpayers going to take to fill out their tax returns and this year over thirty hours more than six in ten americans hire someone to help prepare their returns for them hundreds of billions of dollars are spent annually just trying to comply just trying to comply with our complicated tax laws many post offices across america will be staying open until midnight tonight why well to give taxpayers one last shot to meet the deadline it's no wonder that more than ten million americans will request an extension this year the future doesn't look much better for american tag spares both in terms of tax simplification and in terms of tax relief americans work day in and day out to pay for washington programs that they would not wish on their worst enemy in too many families one parent works to put food on the table and the other parent works to pay for the washington bureaucracy the government is too big it spends too much americans get it americans have to balance their own budgets they have to balance their own checkbooks the government should do the same and the government should do it the same way that american families do it by controlling spending mr president the current tax system is a mess it is too complicated it is anti growth and it discourages additional investment in america the american taxpayer rightfully deserves a system that is simple the american taxpayer deserves a system that provides certainty the american taxpayer deserves a system that encourages success and innovation and the american taxpayer deserves a system that is based on what is in their best interests and not the best interests of government have you ever wondered why tax day is april fifteenth and not say six months later october fifteenth well imagine if you will if tax day was right before election day then the voices of the taxpayers would register loud and clear maybe this is the solution necessary to ensure that people not the government come first because after all the money belongs to the peep all the  hardworking people of wyoming and every other state in this country not to the government it's the people's money it's not the government's money the american taxpayer deserves better the american taxpayer deserves tax simplification the american taxpayer deserves tax relief and the american taxpayer deserves action change the system well it's not an easy undertaking but a necessary one for criteria are necessary to make the effective change in must be fair so people pay their fair share it must be simple so people can quickly file their own returns it must be uniform no matter who you are the system must be applied equally to every taxpayer and number four it must be consistent changing the system every year is not good for the economy and is not good for taxpayers during his floor speech on april fifteenth one thousand nine hundred eighty eight twenty years ago today wyoming senator malcolm wallop said that his vote against the tax reform conference report as he says was one of the best things i have done since i've been in the senate he was right on target his words have survived the test of time let us hope that twenty more years twenty more years don't pass before we get it right thank you mr president i yield the floor just preceding the primary date of march the fourth in texas said it also was the same day the primary was being held in ohio and not to pick on our friends in ohio by any means but i was interested to see the story discuss why is it that jobs and people were leaving ohio and why was it that people were moving to texas we've had three million people move to texas since two thousand and basically the journal said it was boiled down to three things said number one texas is a state that believes in free trade we believe that nafta the north american free trade agreement  actually increased jobs in our state and in the united states by creating jobs for those goods that are manufactured and then sold in canada and mexico secondly the article pointed out that texas is a right to work state and other words you don't have to join a labor union in order to get a job you can if you want to but you're not required to do so as a condition of employment the third thing this article pointed out is that that texas did not have a state income tax and i assure you mr president that we never will the people in my state like government small as possible they like to keep taxes low and they realize that the things that the decisions that we have made in our state have made it a conducive in vironment for job creators to move to our state to create opportunity for people to move there to get a job to raise their family and to seek to achieve their dreams but here today we're talking about tax day for the federal taxpayer and i think we ought to learn something from the lessons that we found demonstrated in places like texas where  we were we have kept taxes low having lower tax rates is perhaps the best stimulus package that you could ever pass we passed a couple of stimulus packages so far this year  first the bipartisan package which will result in a check being written to many taxpayers that they will receive here in the next few weeks and then we passed a housing bill last week but i submit that the best stimulus that we could pass is by keeping taxes low this first chart i have demonstrates uncomfortable fact and that is for american taxpayers you have to work until april the twenty third of this year just in order to pay your taxes and other words here we are april the fifteen you still got another few days another week or so to work for uncle sam before you begin to work for yourself and for your family and for your small business we also this is another revealing chart i think because it's points out that how much how many days of the year you work for the average taxpayer works to pay for other essentials things like housing which is much in our agenda did recently because of the housing crunch health care health care costs or a significant portion of every family's budget and the average taxpayer works fifty days a year to pay for their health care  ts food thirty five days transportation twenty nine days but as you can see here the just in order to pay your state they pay your federal taxes you've got to work seventy four days to pay your state local and federal taxes another thirty nine days each year the problem is particularly at a time when the economy is not doing as well as we would like that congress seems to be acting inconsistently first of all in passing the stimulus package which is sending checks to taxpayers because we're worried that taxpayers don't have enough money to spend to help stimulate the economy but at the same time the fiscal year two thousand and nine budget that was passed by the house of representatives and that passed out of this body would impose two thousand three hundred eighty one dollars more in taxes each year  on my constituents in texas now may not seem like a lot of money almost well almost twenty four hundred dollars a year but i can assure you that to many of my constituents this is real money and money that they would prefer to have to  vest in their business and spend according to their own desires rather than to have local sam tap them for an additional twenty four hundred dollars i would note that this this is an anti stimulus effect by raising taxes in effect inconsistent with what we were doing with regard to trying to get more money in the hands of the american people to help disabused and stimulate the economy to then at the same time turn around and impose an additional almost twenty four hundred dollars per person in taxes is inconsistent to say the least and is an anti stim analysts the heritage foundation has estimated that if in fact this tax increase goes into effect that that is concluded or contemplated by by the federal budget of two thousand and nine that more than seventy thousand texans will likely lose their jobs because the budget assumes higher taxes which in turn harm job creation and reduce economic output i know that there is a lot of revisionist history here in washington about what's the last five or six years has been like in terms of the economy the fact of the matter is the economy has been very good by and large us at least eight million constituents of mine in texas benefited from the tax relief that we passed in two thousand and one i would note that roughly that same number of new jobs as created across the country were roughly nine million new jobs since the tax relief that we passed in two thousand and one and two thousand and three at least six point nine million texans benefited from the new low ten percent tax bracket created back in two thousand and one and more than two million texas families have used the one thousand dollars tax credit all of which are time to expire in two thousand and eleven unless congress acts to make that tax relief permanent if there's one thing that i think we could do that would have the surest impact of bolstering the economy giving people more money to spend as they see fit it would be to make that tax relief that was made temporary back in two thousand and one and two thousand and three to make that tax relief permanent the of course the dividends and capital gains  reductions that we passed in two thousand and three will also expire as well these of course are most often impacting people when they they buy and sell things that they own when they buy stock in their retirement plans of the dividends tax relief in particular and we're going to see that increase dramatically unless congress acts with the anti stimulative effect that i've mentioned a moment ago today of course as i said is is an important day for every american but it's certainly not a day for celebrating this is not a holiday for most americans today is one day whose observance is mandated by the federal government and an observance which is universally dreaded by the american people tax day one of the biggest reasons people hate tax day is because it reminds them of the complex and comprehensible  system through which is a far away agency known as the internal revenue service and sends them a pile of forms that they have to navigate to figure out how much they owe the federal government they may ask you how to get a w two or a w four can i fill out the ten forty easy or should i get the schedule d form did i fill out the ten ninety nine miscellaneous and the ten ninety nine dividend form what form what form  fifty four ninety eight four or ten sixty five or forty five sixty two well you you get my point hopefully our tax laws continue to proliferate and become increasingly complex and increasingly in comprehensible to most americans that's why so much money is spent by average americans getting somebody else to help them figure out how to comply with the law the only thing going down is our comprehension and our understanding of the tax system all other costs associated with this unnecessarily complex and impenetrable system are going up family as an entrepreneur is a like as i said spend a lot of money billions of dollars and thousands of hours each year just trying to figure out how to do the right thing and how to comply with the internal revenue code and fact they'll spend more than six billion hours complying with the federal income tax code with an estimated compliance cost of more than two hundred sixty five billion dollars this is more than doubled in just over the past ten years and estimates are that it will continue to increase at even a faster rate every year the nach national taxpayer advocate highlights this complexity in one way or another as one of the top ten problems that taxpayers face we know that the tax code is full of special interest loopholes and that with each year to american taxpayers spend more and more time and more and more money to try to figure out how to comply with its burdensome provisions taxpayers as i indicated are working longer each year to pay for pay for government a total of  hundred thirteen days this year and i think most american taxpayers if you ask them a question would do you like the system as it exists now or would you like a tax reform something simple flatter or fair they would say that whatever our tax code whether it be a flat tax a sales tax or an income tax it should be based on three fundamental ideas simplicity fairness and transparency and i have to tell you that our tax code does not occur as currently written does not meet any of those three requirements of simplicity fairness or transparency i think these simple simple standards ought to guide us in reforming and simplifying the income tax code i've heard several proposals made here in the last couple days senator wyden i know from oregon to talked about a flat tax that he's proposed senator alexander from tennessee likewise a a tax return that you could fill out and one page would that be great just to have a single page something so easy to understand that you could send in a single sheet of paper and know that you've complied with your obligations to pay and report your income tax receipts and some taxes do the comprehensive tax reform may not be right around the corner the last thing we should do is to raise taxes on families an entrepreneurs by letting the tax relief passed by congress in two thousand and one and two thousand and three expire i've already talked about the budget and its impact on people in my state but the budget passed last month  would now require twenty seven million small businesses all across the country to owe a an additional forty one hundred dollars that is if in fact the revenue projections in that budget  forty three million families will owe an extra twenty three hundred dollars each and eighteen a million eighteen million seniors will each own additional twenty two hundred dollars amazingly these attacks heights and increased federal spending and come just weeks as i pointed out after congress actually sent money back to taxpayers in order to get them to spend it so that it would stimulate the economy at the same time we're raising taxes and basically  taking that same money away and more if we seem to agree that putting more money in the pockets of the american people is the best way to stimulate the economy why are we still looking to take more money from them during tax season one of the most effective tools for combating combating the this and for wasteful spending in general is more information and i think proposals that i made yesterday which i'd like to talk just briefly about will actually help us hold the federal government more accountable for the money it spends and give the american taxpayers more information so they can make sure that they are their voices heard when it comes to tax policy and how much money we take out of their pockets in order to fund the federal government yesterday i introduced a bill called the federal spending and tax payer accessibility act of two thousand and eight this bill creates an online earmark tracking system that taxpayers can use free of charge to search for earmarks by recipient appropriation bill state and member in real time during the appropriations process this legislation also directs the i r s to provide each taxpayer with  concise an easy to use personal record of the amount of taxes they've already paid as well as a projection of the taxes that they will go into the future and up until the time they retire if this sounds familiar it's it's so security system sends a similar statement a social security taxes paid and how much you can expect upon retirement to get from your social security taxes i think it can play an important role  tax payers are planning the future and provide them with a better idea how much they will owe in the future so that they can take that into account these statements would provide taxpayers with a reminder of just how much our government is spending and give them even more reason to keep track of how their money is spent along with the political accountability that would flow from that this legislation would also build on the federal funding accountability and transparency act of two thousand  which created a one stop searchable website for all federal contracts and grants this legislation would expand the website by including the expenditures of all federal age he's including salaries rent supplies and transportation and i know that not every american is going to be interested in that level of detail but i think it's important to be made available to everyone who's interested and particularly for the press who who can report on it and let the american people know what the facts are so mr president on this tax day i urge our colleagues here in the senate to take a new stand against growing government growing spending and growing taxes and i yield the floor president going to yield to the majority leader when he comes to the floor which could be momentarily but i would like to if i can in morning business address an issue which i think goes to the heart and soul of what the senate is all about one hundred men and women come together in this united states senate to from each state to be part of a rich tradition in the history of this country part of the national debate about the issues that are timely important it's an opportunity for the american people through us to have a voice to actually speak to these issues but unfortunately time and again this voice has been silence delayed by tactics from the minority side of the aisle i see that the majority leader is here and i'm going to yield to him at this point i know he wanted to make the opening statement here in the morning business and i yield to the majority leader is present i then my presentation can my good friend today is april fifteenth it's a big red letter day for people because it's the last need to foul your income tax returns this president's we send in our taxes and some as will happen tonight wait in line the file their tax returns to a good time to give thought to the economic state of our families and our economy generally since president bush took office the cost of gasoline has gone up more than a hundred percent more than double the cost home heating a skyrocketing price we pay for groceries has never been higher ahead of the world bank  said three days ago that thirty one countries will be in desperate need of food within a matter of months and there could be riots in those countries now mr president are very fortunate in america we don't have a shortage of food but people are having trouble paying for the food they would like to eat the same is true for health care prescription drugs college tuition at the university  that are we have a new law school and i was happy to see in the latest rankings that came out is ranked seventy eight the new law school ranks seventieth in the nation that's really remarkable events which are good jobs but they also announced in the last few weeks that they're going to double the tuitions at that new small loss called double the tuitions state institutions the cost of going to state institutions going up why because economies of ours so desperately desperately bad in the state of nevada because of the downturn in the economy a governor with the state legislators have had to cut almost a billion dollars in programs that are there in the state road construction new buildings new programs and cutting some of the old programs course they are programs are going to let prisoners prisoners out of our pr more quickly not because it's good for the people stay in nevada because they're desperate for money more training record prices for nearly everything yet the average household income has dropped american families earning less and paying more republican answer for seven long years has been to slash taxes for the ultra wealthy to side with big business oil companies utility companies let the little guy fend for himself is present we have really worked hard as the democratic party first in the minority now in the majority to cut taxes for middle class and the end mill and their dependence on oil that keeps our gas and heating bills sky high make health care and college tuition more affordable for families we've tried now for days to quickly pass highway bill that takes here's some of the problems we had in the massive bill we passed before our corrections we would like to make in that and here on the floor last thursday evening the distinguished assistant leader was on the floor as was the system leader for the republicans we talked about why are we having another filibuster on this and my friend the junior senator from arizona said all it's there be no filibuster on this when everything's going just fine words to that effect we must the president had the vote last night to invoke cloture and rather than being able to legislate on the bill we're here talking on the bill stalling wasting time we could have started on this legislation thursday night we could have legislate all day yesterday and all day today but no we're not going to be able to do that they're using a full thirty hours mr president this is a number that is probably higher than this but let's assume right last time we came out and said was seventy plus filibusters they said all we need not that many not that many so sixty five for purposes of this discussion in the tire history the country no matter what's been going on in this country we've been through some difficult times the most filibusters we ever had was sixty one or sixty two during a two year period of time during entire c but now in the first year of this congress they broke that record stalling slowing things down so that we can't legislate the people's business because they are protecting the status quo i crossing a t that's what we're doing that's what this legislation is all about technical corrections supported by the ranking member senator again off and the chairman senator boxer there filibuster means making is used all the time some may ask why they are doing this well mr president the main reason is they are protecting the status quo time after time republicans have seemed intent on obstruction only for obstruction sake they pursued this course on legislative matters large and small it doesn't have to be as they done many times stopped us from moving forward on matters relating to iraq many times let's consider that a big issue but let's consider what we're doing today a small issue technical corrections on a bill look what's going on in the country today look what's going on in the world today we listen to the news find in the newspapers day in iraq scores of people were killed last night iraq bombs here bombs there two american soldiers killed in iraq yesterday we've learned that two point seven million people are displaced in iraq and it is iraqis countries only twenty five million people to begin with two point seven million of them are wandering around trying to help find a place to live in iraq about three million have left the country so they they have blocked us from doing anything about that petraeus talk about what's going on in iraq he didn't answer the questions are we any safer now than we were before this or act were started before the surge started no answer to that when we get here troops home no answer that they've even deploy him the they have even mr president gone forward on tactics delaying matters on legislation they ultimately came to support just stalling for time most unfortunate aspect the republican strategy of real people suffer because of it why do i say that well mr president there are a lot of things we need to do as a country we have now a big merger that took place making big business even bigger delta airlines adjoined with northwest they'll have seventy five or eighty thousand employees now there's talk of united joining with other companies we have heard of southwest airlines was they were flying airplanes that were in bad shape but they did it anyway we have learned in recent weeks that the federal aviation agency is protecting the airlines and not the consumer we have a bill that we need to do we have a reauthorization we need to do that bill we'd like to bring that bill up but we can't because we're being stalled on a technical corrections bill only stalling for time veterans health care senator in a way has asked for months why can't i bring my bill up every time i say telling center kaga we're doing our best but they've stalled