in their lives help them to seek to heal the hurt in our world and to be forces for harmony and goodness lord remind them that they will be judged by their fruits and that you require them to be faithful may they seek to serve rather than be served following your example of humility and sacrifice opened their minds and give them of the genre of the on limited possibilities of bailable to those who trust you as their god we pray in the name of him who is our refuge and the foreign intelligence act of course and i i am disappointed that we don't have something we can sign off on that but we're very very close and i've told the leader that with more than twenty four hours we're very very close but i really do think we are we can if things go as i think they are sooner bond and rock solid work very hard on that i think we can complete that in one day or be a long day maybe a ten twelve hour day but i think we can do that with the stimulus package i have briefly explained to the republican leader where i think we need to go on now he needs to consult with his leadership and staff to determine of how we get to where we both think that last year i had four democratic senators running for president i was thinking all men elected president but only one can be and so two of them out of that race now i still have two democratic senators and as you know next tuesday a super tuesday and they're both very busy as is senator mccain so i probably can't get them back here until monday but i do need them back and i sold the  republican leader understands that and we'll try to work something out today to give us a pathway to complete this stimulus package and vice president going to change the subject for just a when i my children were growing up we had a rule that may accept it and i don't seem to complain now where we did much television on sunday was just kind of a rule we put down the television was going on all other times i'm sunday we didn't watch t v except super bowl sunday and mispresent this coming sunday is super bowl forty second in phoenix it may be a fourth down hill mary pass that saves the day or the player who suffered an injury in the first quarter but was able to limp back on the field and play through the pain and now is known as the man who led his team to victory even though he was injured knees sunday heroes will all and soak up the cheers of an adoring nation on sunday but mr pres there are hundreds and hundreds of former national football football league players no longer here these chairs instead mr president they suffer great pain as a result of lifelong injuries from their days on the field these are the stars of your stars in the past two people from nevada who played professional football who i know  are people who are injured playing football but yet this present these men drop pensions as a result of their injuries because they were modern day football players henry rawlings outstanding athlete went to my high school basic i school came out of high school hundred seventy five pounds on not being a four year all american the ocean of that reno played and the pros for nine or ten years and was injured and he has the benefit of all the good things that come now being a national football league player some of the players are legends to me henry rowling is a legend some are wealthy and rerolling is a rich man now he lives comfortably but many others never hosted a trophy or earned a spot in our memories many were faces figures behind helmets boston history but for these yellowed photographs they show to their family and maybe even some dusty highlight reels they helped build the league but never learn much from their on the field heroics often they work second jobs in the offseason so far from basking in the kind of wealth we have so socially with the athletes of today many are now struggling just to pay their bills making ends meet for their families but when they came to the national football league's retirement plan to claim their disability benefits they were said they were told go someplace else go your state see what they have for y national football league can't help as wealthy as they are they turn these players away the league to which they gave their hearts souls and bodies has not stood by their side in september one of these former players who lives in reno nevada brant boyd stopped in my office to visit with me to tell me about his struggles which are the struggles of many former football players this present he's a huge man and he's not fat he is a huge man when he played in was six foot three and weighed two hundred seventy pounds you couldn't see brant without thinking that guy must be a football player he played football at u c l a was drafted by the minnesota vikings now what do we know about the minnesota vikings during his tenure there they played football on astroturf brown explained to me it would be like playing a football game on seem it covered with a rug every time he hit the pavement he was hurt that's the way many of those players he was an officer of linemen during a preseason game in one thousand nine hundred eighty brett remembers only waking up after being hit very hard he had a terrible headache he couldn't see out of one eye his coach asked this rookie linem they could see out of the other eye he said yes and he said was go back into the game and he went back into the game he was blind in one eye branded what was expected of him played through  injuries that was the culture of the sport that was just one of countless hard hits that brant took during his playing days he told me how would you like what he told me how would you like playing on seem it that's what we did that's the old artificial playing surface where like every hit when he came down and hit his head even though he had the helmet he could feel it was until years later that his doctors began to connect the dots discovered that his chronic dizziness fatigue depression headaches were result of a head injury a result of the hit after he took during his six year career so many concussions that you've got to stop well brant didn't have the ability of being able to go to a doctor when he wanted and robinson line now has retired in phoenix arizona making a lot of money his son now you're starting center at the university of texas line has the benefit of things that brant boyd doesn't have branches unable to hold down a steady job he doesn't think right he went to the n f l retirement plan for help he was granted a few dollars  disability payments far below the eight thousand two hundred dollars promised ex players whose injuries resulted from football brown told me of the struggle that ensued many doctors visits delays denials financial troubles know that football is a terribly dangerous sport for those who are in millions perhaps it's fair to say that the reward is worth the risk of brant played a different time he never signed a big contract he started it was good he never earned a shoe indorsement deal never appeared in commercials now he struggles to pay his bills he struggles to pay his rent is his story an exception really isn't two football greats might that care and jerry kramer people that those of us my age and probably all ages know the names of jerry kramer and might that they were great and great great on great day they they were people who helped create the fund help retired players in need they discovered heartbreaking stories from retired stars including willie would this present willie would i know about willie would because i was in high school with a young man by name of bobby peck in school oh is he an athlete not very tall he was all state and football baseball and basketball and he went to a junior college called coalinga junior college in california which is a place that prepared people to go to u s c and other great schools i was stunned bobby peck didn't make him he was not the starting quarterback he was beaten out by m by name a willie would well athletically bobby had never been beaten out by anybody in anything so he next year went to dixie junior college in st george utah where he became all conference first nevada where he still holds records a great athlete but i'm just saying as good as he was he was in a different league than willie would willing would went on to play at university of southern california quarterback as good as he was he figured willie would didn't figures good enough to play n f l as a quarterback so he came and tried out for the green bay packers vince lombardi rookie you can try out for the team willie would became probably the greatest safety in history in the national football league but his injuries are tremendous he weighed one hundred seventy five pounce on wilbur marshall three came upon many lesser known players with stories like brent's players like mike mosley a buffalo bills receiver for three years nadya's he suffered mean neck back injuries and forced him to retire early and left him personally disable nationally the n f l disability committee granted him benefits but in september two thousand and four a doctor hired by the n f l role that he could do he could there's some work you could do if you sat around he could work and they cut off his benefits totally this reminds me  jacksonville jaguars and in years past like mike bryan was forced into early retirement by injury he was unable to navigate the disability system or red tape even though his back was broken in seventeen different places brian and his family were left homeless he told the denver post the n f l is a multibillion dollar business and guys are giving their quality of life up for this sport just a little respect and dignity is all we want these stories illustrate a point statistics confirm according to one press report almost two thirds of former professional football players suffer an injury serious enough to require surgery almost half of all players retire due to injury but among more than one thousand disbelief claims filed by former n f l players about thirty percent receive a pro the rest are thrown in the trash can just like my friend from reno nevada brant boyd was among the former players who testified before the commerce committee this past september they told us how they feel abandoned and forgotten lost and lost doctor visits and red tape darryl johnson who played eleven years a running back for the cowboys to say that he retired with five years remaining on his contract after suffering a hernia disk the players association sent him an evaluation one of their doctors not his own he was not permitted to even bring his x x rays or m r i results like so many others his claim was denied him after the hearing last september and countless news stories n f l and players association taken some steps i hope to right this wrong where before there's prove a process seems a little more than ad hoc they now apply standards used by so security administration to building we hope this is more effective we've also implemented the eighty eight plan which provides funds for residential care facility and home and and home care the question is who are they going to give it to brant boyd and so many others like him suffer the pain of their injuries the inability to think properly because of the head trauma they suffered and i can't pay their bills in coming weeks i hope the n f l players association other retirees will report on progress being made at the super bowl is that spotlight shining on the n f l they are a multibillion dollar business shouldn't they help these people who have given their lives for the sport that they loved as a bright light shine on this super bowl i want brandon who's in your brothers to know they're not fighting in the shadows they deserve the spotlight also friend the republican leader is recognized republicans and democrats rose above politics and put the people and our economy first and on tuesday the house of representatives passed their compromised stimulus bill by a vote of three hundred eighty five to thirty five an impressive bipartisan majority then all of us turn to the senate would we put our individual interests as sad or would we throw the whole planet in jeopardy by loading it down with gifts for anybody who came calling apparently the temptation for giveaways was too great for some to resist as soon as the bill hit the senate and it started to look a lot like christmas over here  the bill was even considered in committee three more amendments were added and a committee you could almost hear being crosby's voice coming out of the finance committee and so the stimulus train is slowing grounding to a halt here in the u s senate all of which only reinforces my view that the only way we'll get relief to the people sent enough for it to work will be to insist on speed over spending and the only way to do that is to pass the bipartisan house passed bill that way we can send it to the president or second tour and get much needed relief into the hands of millions of americans as quickly as they are now expecting it this is the only way to pass an economic growth package that doesn't grow the government or raise taxes and that can be signed into law in a timely fashion the other option is to bring it to the floor where we no longer grow and slow under the weight of analysts additional spending proposals we need to act quickly the majority leader called for a bill that is timely the house has acted very quickly now it's our turn we have a choice and we can accept washington politics as usual and spend weeks and weeks arguing over how much more can be added to an already on wheels a bill or we can act right now and deliver a timely economic growth package with bipartisan support that can be signed into law now we could get a bill down to the president in thirty seconds if we wanted to the white house and the house have done their part now let's do our part let's vote on the house passed bill without any another another issue as my colleagues to pause for a moment so i may share with them the story of a soldier lost in battle on january fifth two thousand and seven major michael mund brandenburg kentucky and his unit were sent to secure a combat area in fallujah over in iraq after an american tank reported being struck by an improvised explosive device on route to the seign a second explosive device went off near major mondale's the ickle tragically taking his life he was forty seven years old major nadal served in the u s army for over a decade before retiring from service to work as a civilian contractor to the armed forces in november two thousand and five he again volunteered for active duty his wife audrey tells us that mike once told a friend he was going over there to fight them so they couldn't come over here and hurt his children for his bravery and service major mando received numerous medals and awards including two meritorious service medals the bronze star medal and the purple heart mr president major mondale was one of those who may have been born in one of the other forty nine states but became a kentucky and by choice born in pittsburgh he grew up in canada burg pennsylvania as a child like developed a passion for military service he wanted to grow up and drive tanks when he was three he had his father an encyclopedia and ask him to read it to him his family says this began a lifelong love of reading as an adult he enjoyed civil war history and would often read more than a book a day he also enjoyed mysteries and thrillers and read through the bible three times in one nine hundred seventy seven mm i graduated from canon mcmillan high school home of the big macs his wife audrey and i like to tease him that his high school mascot was named after a hamburger that mike made a school proud on the football field by going on to graduate from washington jefferson college in one thousand eighty one where he majored in history participated in our o c c and played soccer after graduation mike realized his lifelong goal of becoming an army officer when he received his commission as a second lieutenant assigned to fort knox in kentucky where officers basic training mike became a kentucky that is when he was not spending three years in germany working as a tank officer in one hundred eighty four while stationed at fort knox mike met audrey a student at liz the town community college through a mutual friend he was attracted to her red hair she liked that he was a handsome and intelligent they were married in one thousand nine hundred five and had four children daughter erica and sons ryan jack and dale mike had a special relationship with all of his children and made each one feel as if he or she was his favorite by grace's family and brandenburg it was a devoted fan of the pittsburgh steelers he liked to watch historical documentaries and his favorite movies where the war the war f glory and patton as a soldier strategy and tactics that was his thing and he was extremely good at it says audrey he was so intelligent after over eleven years of service mike retired from active duty in one nine hundred ninety two and went on to become a private contractor to the armed forces working at fort knox but in november two thousand and five he volunteered to again a uniform mike was offered the chance to go to iraq and do administrative work but he said he would refuse to go if they were going to simply sticking behind a desk said awdrey santa the first brigade one hundred  eighth division based out of spartanburg south carolina major mondale was tasked with training the iraqi army his tour of duty started on father's day two thousand and six mike wrote e mails often to his friends and family sometimes exhibiting his robust sense of humor in an e mail dated june twenty third two thousand and six he tried to describe the kuwaiti heat this is what he said turn on a blow dryer pointed at yourself and stand there he wrote and stand there and stand there and throw some dust from a vacuum in the air every once in a while while ah you're experiencing kuwait other e mails describe tenser times take the one he wrote on july twenty fourth two thousand and six about one of the first times he found himself under far all of a sudden boom our radios were filled with shouts of incoming he wrote we took three mortars and close later in the same email however major mondale made it clear that despite the danger he was committed to his duty he wrote this is the most intense most real thing i have ever done in my life my thoughts and prayers are with major mondale's loved ones today including his wife audrey his daughter his grandmother in law jesse is mother in law carolyn kind of his brother in law steve condit his sisters in law and he alan and say andy stout and many other beloved family members and friends major mandela's funeral service was held january the fourteenth two thousand and seven at the chapel in fort knox the funeral procession was a mile and a half long and the  was overwhelmed at the outpouring of support from the community for their lost husband father brother and friend recalling a conversation with her youngest child audrey tells us what her son dale said upon seeing the crowd they'll ask me all of this for my dad roger says and i told him yes all of this for your dad mr president like the hundreds in fort knox that day this senate wishes to express its deepest gratitude to major michael el mundo for his service this man who his wife audrey described as a soldier through and through gave everything he had to protect his family and his country our nation will forever honor that sacrifice now mr president i also want today to pause in memory of another fallen soldier staff sergeant johnny cooper flemingsburg kentucky staff sergeant cooper was lost on january the fifteenth two thousand and seven in mosul in iraq when an improvised explosive device that terrorist one of near his home the he was twenty nine years old this was staff sergeant cooper second tour of duty in iraq where his bravery in uniform he received numerous medals and awards including the noncommissioned officer professional development ribbon the combat the bronze star medal and the purple heart staff sergeant an army veteran of over a decade knew from an early age that he wanted to dedicate himself to serving his country he wanted to be a soldier from the third grade on as his mother janice bokken and he was strong enough to pursue his dream of being in the military as a child john had many interests in middle school he became fascinated with native american culture and found it to be part of his own family he learned about the trail of tears and the spark his interest in native americans says his mother janice who is herself a native american heritage john later went to several family reunions at serpent mountain native american side in adams county ohio and high school john was active in future farmers of america and the drama club he enjoyed being outdoors the youngest of four children he loved to spend time with his brother terence and his sisters sherry and susie because he was the youngest john got teased a lot but as the baby of the family his siblings also spoiled him quite a bit for instance every year the cooper family would travel to kings island and museum and park in nearby center nattie john graduated from fleming county high school in one thousand nine hundred five and that september at age eighteen fulfilled his childhood aspirations by enlisting in the army i remember that he would go running along country roads built himself and be ready to pass his physical training when he went into basic says his sister sherry spring we're all so proud of him as a soldier he could go places and do things he will to be able to do the state around here says his mother janet a skilled marksman john served in the army for eleven years and dedicated himself to making it a career he really like being a military person says janice over those eleven years staff sergeant cooper was deployed to afghanistan korea the si had his first tour of duty in iraq and went to london by the time of his second deployment to iraq he was assigned to the second squadron seventh cavalry regiment fourth brigade combat team first  division based out of fort bliss texas john and has his leadership skills by attending the primary leadership development corps an air assault school cooper's family is in my thoughts and prayers now as i share his story with the senate he will be forever loved and remembered by his mother janice bach and his father michael cooper his aunt theresa gates is grandparents james and lily and burke and many other friends and family members on january twenty eighth of last year a staff sergeant cooper's family held a memorial service for fleming county high school people came from as far away as indiana ohio and west virginia to pay their respects to this fallen and for treatment and they landed entrance of the school with american flags and the example john set for the other soldiers was so remarkable that when the history channel joined his unit to capture some documentary footage they selected john's story to foll out of four thousand men and women they were impressed with his leadership qualities and caring for the men that served under him said his mother janice the history channel is still working on the documentary but they screened some of that footage at a memorial service for staff sergeant cooper in texas i'm glad they recognized and were able to capture on film the character and abilities of the soldier called by his army  john's family feels the same way they and everyone who is lucky enough to know john already realize he was a true hero who was dedicated to his country now his heroism has been documented in preserved for all to see we're very proud of john what he did and who he was john's mother i want to know that the u s senate expresses its deepest gratitude for staff sergeant johnny cooper's life of service and we express our deepest gratitude for the copra family raising a soldier and patriot who answered the call in his country's time of need  previous order the leadership time is reserved the senate will now conduct morning business senators are limited to up to ten minutes each present senior senator from montana is recognized as president  a few minutes ago the majority leader urged the senate to just simply pass the house stimulus bill no members say it's a christmas tree to pass  which president i don't think the senate wants to deprive twenty million american seniors of a rebate check i don't think i've state senate was a private but million disabled veterans a rebate check million disabled vets receiving the stimulus rebate check under the plan i don't think the senate wants to do that i guess and it was to make some very modest changes to the house passed bill and to the house passed bill so those stimulus checks we may not be sent out very quickly we on this side this president do want speedy passage of the stimulus package the majority leader's indicated that he would take are saying gee let's get those demolition checks out by february fifteenth is it january thirty first we can get this done very very quickly a matter several days maybe sometime by the or the end of next week well before february fifteenth so quarter million disabled veterans of their of those rebate checks president they came of age of the great depression during world war two and of them tom brokaw wrote quote at the end of the twentieth century the contributions of this generation would be in bold print it is a generation that by and large made no demands of homage from those who followed him prospered because of his sacrifices is a generation of power and achievement and modest demeanor a legacy of their formative years when they were participants in and witnesses to best of their generation didn't make it to their early twenty's and many brilliant scientists teachers spiritual and business leaders politicians and artists are lost in the ravages of the greatest at the world has seen and quote they fought for their country our american seniors they gave a lifetime of labor they gave a lifetime of service they paid a lifetime of taxes and they contribute to the economy today twenty million of these seniors would not get a check in the house passed into this bill twenty million twenty million american seniors would get it checked and financed the substitute these twenty million seniors would be a left out of the house passed tax rebate why just because they don't have at least three thousand dollars in earned income  or enough taxable income to meet the tests set up by the house bill in contrast the finance committee plan would allow all seniors to receive at least five hundred dollars they would just have to show that they received at least three thousand dollars of social security income on their two thousand and seven tax return may vary can see has lived on fixed incomes some earn some wages make some money but many american seniors live only on fixed incomes there's no security benefits many struggle to pay their medical bills many struggle to pay their heating bills especially as energy costs are going up so high drug prices are going up to seniors deserve to be included in any rebate program when we were contemplating distributing stimulus checks broadly across most american families it would just be wrong not to include twenty million seniors of the greatest generation and rebate to seniors works for america's economy too not just the right thing to do but it works for our connelly and here's why congress agree that consumer spending fueled by tax rebates can boost america's economy and americans over age sixty five are responsible for fourteen percent of all consumer spending repeat that americans over age sixty five are responsible for fourteen percent of all consumer spending now look at this chart to my right mr president indicate something very simple very basic very important from an economic perspective let alone the moral imperative to do is right for our seniors with an economic perspective americans over age line represents spend almost all of their income in any given year they spend ninety two percent of their incomes in any given year contrast that with households headed by a person a little bit older over age seventy five spend  even higher percentage of their income at ninety eight percent that's higher than any other demographic group over the age of twenty five seniors spend the money they receive much more than any other demographic group over the age of twenty five and other small scale recipients can benefit too in two thousand and six eighteen million americans receive social security disability benefits or survivor benefits widows widowers disabled veterans disabled for their country disabled veterans once again the house left them out the house said no to acquire million disabled veterans they said no no rebate checks if you're disabled  quarter of a million disabled vets the senate plan makes them eligible to receive the same five hundred dollars rebate as wage earners and so security recipients say the veterans administration would distribute distribute the rebate servicewomen have now been wounded in iraq and afghanistan twenty one thousand now thank god not all of them will become disabled veterans but many many will no one can question their sacrifice no one can question their contribution and no one can question that they have earned their right to participate in this rebate program every bit as much as any other american and so mr president let us honor the americans who came of age in the great depression and during world war two honor the americans who fought for our country and its wars only to come home disabled and let us ensure that these greatest americans receive their fair share of any economic stimulus that's what's at stake here that's why the senate should not just rubber stamp the house passed bill that's why rather the senate should pass the finance committee stimulus bill to do anything well senators are working behind the scenes right now on their economic stimulus plan last night the senate finance committee passed a package of tax rebates small business tax incentives unemployment benefits and a number of other items to strengthen the economy amendments may be added later or earlier today we heard senator reid anticipating a stimulus package resolution early next week a number of senators are away from washington campaigning for the upcoming super tuesday primaries so that throws a little bit of a monkey wrench into things but right now senators working behind the scenes on the economic stimulus package we'll have more on this as the senate continues negotiating and we can get more right now on the stimulus package from a reporter covering the issue on capitol hill wessel economics editor with the wall street journal on the phone with us the senate is considering its version of an economic stimulus plan today one of the key differences in this bill compared to what the house has already passed there are some differences i think the first point is they're not really big differences and you could get hung up on the differences between the house and senate the remarkable thing here is that the thousands of congress are moving with speed that i haven't seen in years to get something to the president that he wants to sign that said  there's differences in the details of how much money they would put out the senate would do a little more than the house and there are differences in which individuals would get the rebate and how big the rebates would be one of the most significant differences is that the house version wouldn't give much money to people who don't have wages and that's really alarmed people who represent the retirees a a r p and all that so the senate bill would expand the eligibility for rebates so that people older americans the social security disabled veterans and so forth would get checks that wouldn't get him out of the house bill and the second big difference is that the traditional in the u s that when we get into a recession we extend the amount of time that you can collect on the kind of unemployment compensation and employment compensation is an indefinite because if you did that people would have no reason to look for a job but we know in a recession people can't find jobs if they want to the house did not put in an extension of the benefits the senate does so are senate republicans on board with this package now as you know there's a lot of fighting going on between senate democrats and senate republicans some republicans are with the democrats in the  senate and some are against it and we may have it one of those procedural things where somebody has to get sixty votes in order to get their way in order to keep the senate from being gridlocked if the democrats proposal won't get sixty votes then the  senate may have to retreat and do something closer to what the house did which is what the republicans in the senate and the president would like what about the minority leader him self mitch mcconnell what version is he promoting he's trying to basically keep would love for the senate to approve the house bill which would be something like one hundred sixty one billion dollars worth of stimulus the democrats measure in the senate would be something like one hundred ninety three billion worth now thirty billion dollars is a lot of money  to you and me but in the scope of the federal budget or thirteen trillion dollar federal i mean it's thirteen trillion dollars u s economy where are going really about very small details here i think one of the most interesting things is that the senate has no objection to what the house wants to do in terms of housing that is raise the level of the price of houses that you can get a mortgage that can be bought or sold by fannie mae and freddie mac one of the really big problems in the economy right now is if you have a mortgage or you want to buy a house that requires you to have a mortgage that's more than four hundred seventeen thousand dollars it's really hard to get a loan and the rates are not very attractive and that the bills would change that by making it easier for  to buy and sell these higher priced loans so as assuming the current senate version or something like it passes in the senate how difficult might it be or how long might it take to work out the differences with the house well ordinarily i would say it take a long time but this theme to be a faster track than anything i've seen in years so my guess is they would ireton out pretty quickly and that within a couple of weeks the president would be signing a bill note to pass on to you california governor arnold schwarzenegger will endorse republican john mccain's bid for president mccain campaign aides said on wednesday this is a story brought to us from yahoo news sports negara moderate republican who had largely stayed out of the presidential race the expected to formally announce his backing for mccain on the to appear together at an event in los angeles today swardson eggers support could give mccain the front runner for the republican nomination in november's presidential election an important boost in california which is among more than twenty states that will hold nomination contests on super tuesday next week and we will have live coverage of that event with john mccain and order towards i go this afternoon on c span you can see that beginning at around twelve eastern we will also bring you a campaign event with mitt romney that will happen at about two fifteen eastern and also this headline on the drudge report suggesting that nancy reagan will endorse john mccain that will possibly be made formal but a bit later today quorum call continues on the floor of the senate as senators continue working on an economic stimulus plan prepared to ten minutes a few issues thank you thank you mr speaker and today i come today is january thirty first that signifying an end to many things a month maybe we begin to see a little bit of spring down the road but it's also the end of an amazing career of somebody we all know and love and that is marty paon marty paon has worked for thirty two years on the hill twenty eight years on the floor he started in the household post office before working in senate parking he joined the cloakroom in one thousand nine hundred seventy nine and was appointed democratic secretary in one nine hundred ninety five by senator daschle he worked under for democratic leaders senator byrd senator mitchell senator daschle and senator reid and i think every one of them would agree with a word that i would describe marty paon as witches in dispensable we don't know what we're going to do without marty here he has been just such an amazing presence so knowledgeable not only about the rules of the floor but just about how this body works i know that senator reid relied on him for just about every kind of advice and again his advice was indispensable i am particularly appreciative of his kindness to me when i was a new senator here teaching me the way the place worked helping me realize when there'd be a vote so i could tie my schedule as most of you know mr president like to be busy but i hate to miss votes like everybody else and just dedication to this institution i think if you made a list of the people most dedicated to the united states senate marty paon would be in the top ten or twenty in all our history we're going to miss his ever presence he hovered in the background quietly omniscient always knowing what was going on and always being there to help we're going to miss marty just as a person his quiet droll way was actually a very very funny guy i want to wish marty the best i think i speak on behalf of one hundred senators and everyone who served previously i want to thank his wife ruby for putting up with the long hours and i know because i would call marty at home on weekends much of the time and asking him for advice or when there might be a vote or this or that his three kids alex stepney and tommy stephany's at william and mary alex goes to v c u and tommy still in high school and a particular hello because i've heard she's watching  evelyn pale mrs paon god gave you ninety five years and let's hope it gives you many more i know you're so proud of marty maybe even a little prouder than we all are marty we will miss you we thank you we love you good luck godspeed mr president i suggest the absence of the co as senators continue working behind the scenes during this quorum call on the economic stimulus plan we're going to go to this morning's washington journal one of our guests today was senator ron wyden of oregon a member of the finance committee joined us to discuss the interest rate c and the economic stimulus plan are good morning thanks so much for being with us thank you for having me i've got a newborn twins that at home think got me out of a little bit of childcare this morning and i'll try to restrain myself from showing their pictures on the air well congratulations and we're happy to get  from early morning file didn't i when you headline in the washington post showdown years on stimulus bill tell our audience please what will happen in the senate today or what you think will happen on the stimulus package i think the  promptly i do think it's our obligation as united states senators to wring every bit of value out of the stimulus dollars i think the senate package certainly makes enough over improvement there is help for example for low income  retired there's also help for disabled veterans but i think it's our obligation to do better i and senator thune have been joined by more than twenty united states senator because we want to get some media to help for workers and particularly worker and community family wage and employment in the area of infrastructure rational budget office there director peter or as i indicated that projects like road resurfacing could actually pump money into the economy faster than these rebate checks arrive in the senate has made a number of improvements we're going to be joined today by several additional and colonel d r seagraves are our thoughts and our prayers are with his  d wife roberta or as we call are bert and their three children sean kelly and darcy dee as he was called by his friends was a caring father loving husband and a member of my extended family a patriot in every sense of the word he spent twenty six years serving his nation in the u s marine corps upon retiring from the corps in two thousand and three d decided to continue serving this country in a different capacity from two thousand and three until september of this past year colonel d was my military legislative assistant in this capacity d advise me on all national security matters all the while reminding me that once a marine always a marine and that the him in marine is always capitalized and those of us who are friends with the will remember him more for who he was than the lifetime of service that he gave to this country my staff and i will always misty know when exactly what the redskins were doing wrong we will miss him always saying keep your seats whenever he entered the room we will misnamed constantly singing to jimmy buffett songs out loud and losing at least two sleeves of golf balls every time he played we will mrs laughter and if camaraderie and most of all we will miss this friendship mr president knew that i was making this statement on the floor about him today he would be upset that was the type of individual that he was and while he would not have wanted this attention americans deserve to know the type of person that d was and to know a story this past summer at our annual staff retreat colonel d n ounce that he would be leaving the office to go to work in the pentagon as the deputy and undersecretary of defense for budget and appropriations this was a bittersweet this was bittersweet for most of us we were thrilled of course for di but sad to see him go unfortunately he was never never able to report to work for his new job a challenging position that he looked forward to starting during his tenure on capitol hill he had many many accomplishments which de referred to as doing the people's business and these accomplishments included in vice and me as my role as chairman of the senate armed services subcommittee on readiness and management support in this capacity he drafted legislation and amendments roast wrote numerous floor statement staff me and high level meetings advise me on billion dollar spending bills and on occasion voted my proxy or what d would refer to his role as the extremely junior senator from nevada he spent a great deal of time in nevada at our military bases meeting with veterans office that he would be leaving for the pentagon he told a short story and i believe this story reflects the type of individual that dave truly was he told us that the professional accomplishments that he was the most proud of was bringing a junior our o t c program to douglas high school in northern nevada the fact that detour pride in accomplishing those less glamorous to have that directly impacted the lives of nevadans is what made him the man that he was and made him the man that all of us admired president ronald reagan once said that some individuals go through life wondering whether or not they've made a difference the marines don't have that problem he said mr president i'm here to tell you that this could not be any truer than in the case of colonel the r c rise of america's a stronger nation because of the lifetime of public service that colonel d gave i will truly miss my friend his last saying that all of us used to kind of get a chuckle out of when he was tired of talking used to say yesterday the finance committee went to work in the senate we marked up the stimulus package after the house had done their package or not i have to say i believe it was in a package to us because quite frankly as we look out across this great nation we understand that our economy needs a jolt it's a quick jolt it needs something for hardworking americans to be able to do to participate in bringing this country back on line and getting our economy growing and moving forward and that's exactly what we did in the senate finance committee we took the bill that the house had done quickly they moved clee with the administration to put something out there and and that was a good thing to do to get us started and get us moving in the congress but unfortunately as we looked at that package that they sent us there were some very hardworking americans some very justifiable americans who needed to be a part of stimulating this economy that had been left out and so what we did in the senate finance committee was to try to make some some improvements in a timely way with the package that the house had already produced and to get it over here so that we could get to work on it here on the floor of the senate and move it forward so that the people of this country could again reinvigorate themselves and their economies and get back to work are playing included t nation these are the individuals who have built this country they've labored hard they've given their all and the fact that their social security income does not count as income on their tax return is no raisins and leave them out of this equation the other growth is are disabled veteran i know my colleagues here can realize the importance of this group  courageous american courageous americans who have fought who have given to this country in order that we can live in this great land and enjoy the freedoms that we do there is no reason mr president that we should leave these two groups out in stimulating the economy at least twenty million seniors to pay and primarily on social security income for their retirement income these are individuals who are out there in their communities they're working hard still to be an active part of that community but more importantly they are also those who need it the most they are the ones that are deciding between whether they're going to purchase their prescription drugs whether they're going to baffled whether they're going to be able to pay the utility bill and whether or not they're going to be able to do that small something special for a grandchild or a neighbor because that's the kind of people they are i did a call in show yesterday and there was the most delightful man and eldred elderly gentleman i believe he was from south carolina that called in to the program and he said you know i'm one of those thing years and i don't want to be forgotten i want to be a part of stimulating this economy he said and really needed and he said i'm appreciative that you you didn't forget our wounded warriors our disciples veterans those that have given of themselves that this country could be free and respected he said but i gotta tell you if you leave us out he said it'll be ok he said come back to believe in this country and i still believe in those who do need it he said those folks who are working hard to take care of their families but that's just the kind of person we need to help somebody that has that kind of compassion somebody who respects the fact that they made it but they're going to continue to give back to this country in whatever possible way they came in mr president there is no excuse for us not bringing up this senate finance committee package and passing it leaving those two groups of individuals out in this great opportunity to revitalize our economy put fight back in the american people that we're going to act quickly that we're going to target these these resources into places where we know they're going to get back into the economy if you look at the facts from the  older americans spend about ninety two percent of their income a greater proportionate share than all other adults out there they're going to spend those resources on putting it back into the economy so for instance more than ninety five percent of the food we consume in this country is produced or are processed in this country those are american jobs that they're going to be supporting it's an economy that supports us all they will be supporting it is critical that we make sure that these two groups are not left out and we did that in the senate finance committee those were two of our proud already i was so proud to join with my colleague senator olympia snowe from maine to offer the human amendment for our wounded warriors and i was ever so proud of senator baucus and senator grassley for working with us to make that happen realizing a growth that had been left out that was essential and that should not lose the opportunity nor the belief that we have in the end that they are an integral part of this community this american fabric they're the very reason that we enjoy the freedoms and maintain the freedoms that we have that are disabled veterans such an incredibly important group we know that there are approximately three point two million veterans who receive this ability income from the veterans administration tax returns now we don't know that all three point two million on the carpet but we do know that at the lily a quarter of a million of them will we know for a fact that a quarter of a million saddam will qualify for that re it's it's certainly more than that that's that's possible but the point is not how many of them qualify the point is is that we would attempt to lay that out of them in terms of being able to participate in this economic stimulus theys americans our wounded warriors are disabled veteran just like our seniors and just like hardworking american families they're go spend their rebate checks on a variety of needs they're either going to be spending it on thursday a new pair of shoes they're going to be taken care of their needs may be pumping money back into the economy in a multitude of ways the senate plan mr president is a good plan it's good for americans it's good for sane years it's good for disabled veterans and it is good for our economy we have worked in the committee in a timely way we have targeted these dollars we have kept a rain all the amount of money that we are spending having been advised by all kinds of economists secretary of the treasury  former secretaries of the treasury who said to us don't make the plane too big keep it limited and that's exactly what we did but we did take the opportunity to not forget to very very valuable parts of the american fabric in the american family and that's our seniors and our disabled veterans if we take this senate committee package up and pass it quickly get it to the president then we will have achieved the goal of stimulating our khana me and not leaving out any americans who could be such a vital part in helping us do that so mr pres and i encourage all of my colleagues let's don't sit here and squabble over a whole lot of things let's move quickly taking what the house has done making the improvements that we has my images forward get this done and then mr president we have an even greater opportunity to start in on the work that is the business of the united states congress and that is to make sure that the investment we have made in these people and in this great the millers package is not lost or squandered because we're going to follow it up with a multitude of other things that are on our plight that can continue stimulating the economy the one that comes demands of me is the farm bill the farm bill that we passed out of here with seventy eight seventy nine votes would have been more of all the had been here we've never gotten that many votes for a farm bill i don't think in the history a great opportunity to infuse rule of america with world development dollars conservation programs that need to be funded looking at nutrition programs which are essential obvious mention that eighty five percent plus of the food we consume in this country is grown or processed here think of the good american jobs we stimuli when we make sure those nutrition programs are  d we have a host of opportunities before us mr president and i hope i hope we won't drag our feet on this stimulus package that we can come together in a bipartisan way just as we did in the finance committee and vote for this stimulus package that's come out of committee with the improvements that don't leave any of our american family behind thank you mr facing our country mr president i think it is clear to the vast majority of the american people if not for the president of the united states that our country has some very very serious economic problems of the middle class is shrinking a tens of millions of americans are working longer hours follow wages poverty is increasing and there is a level of economic desperation among the lowest income people in our country that many of us have not seen for a very very long time mr president as we speak senior citizens in the state of vermont offline to get extremely difficult to pay for their home heating fuel bills which all soaring as they are seeing record breaking levels of costs of war home eating oil emergency food banks in the state of vermont throughout this country are literally running out of food because so many low income working people are simply today not being able to earn enough money to purchase the food they need for their families homeless shelters are running out of beds we have some major economic problems and the time is long overdue for this congress to begin to address them mr president as we discuss the new economic stimulus package there are members of the senate and there are many americans who have appropriately raised questions about the amount of money that we intend to spend in an economic stimulus package and there are people who point out quite correctly that in this country today we continue to have record breaking d we have a huge national debt and all of that is a very legitimate concern that i share and that is why we should not be heeding the advice of the president who in his state of the union address urged us to extend hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to the wealthiest one percent of our population no i don't think that the wealthiest people in this country need more tax breaks i think we've got the sot focusing our attention on the needs of the middle class on working families on those americans most in need the president at this point let me give thanks to our friends in the house who passed an economic stimulus package which has started the bowl rolling now with the legislation that we have the bating here in the senate it is our job to improve upon what the house did and i hope that we will be doing exactly that while the house bill has a number of important actor buttes the stimulus package passed yesterday in the senate finance committee is in fact a much better and a far more significant piece of legislation the senate bill among other things understands that low income senior citizens across this country are  very very serious economic problems and like low and middle income working people they need help senior citizens every week that i go back to vermont tells me that they cannot survive on their social security checks of the cost of living colas ought to small they cannot find the money that they need to heat their homes they are having a hard time purchasing the food that they need and that is why i very strongly support the provision in that legislation passed by the senate finance committee which will enable over twenty million senior citizens to get a one time five hundred dollars tax rebate this is money that will be part of an economic stimulus because these are some of the people most in need who will certainly be spending that money quite kick quickly helping to create jobs in the process so i would urge all of my colleagues in a nonpartisan way to stand with the hard pressed low income senior citizens all of our country and support the provision in the senate finance committee bill which says that we are going to provide a tax rebate to senior citizens they cannot and must not be polluted from the economic stimulus package further the senate bill does a nother very important thing in reaching out to our disabled american veterans many of whom are also struggling economically by definition these are people who have been disabled defending the united states of america they must not be forgotten as we discussed  package and at the very least what the senate finance committee did will provide a rebate was some two hundred fifty thousand of those veterans and perhaps even more that is the right thing to do from a moral perspective those people deserve that help and in fact helping them will also provide an economic stimulus as the president the senate finance bill also expands unemployment benefits by thirteen weeks in all states and twenty six weeks in states experiencing high rates of unemployment and that is a good and proper thing to do as well as unemployment rises and especially in those areas where there are consistently high levels of unemployment many people are going to be running out of unemployment their unemployment will expire that those benefits need to be  extended and that is what the senate bill does and the house bill does not so in my view the legislation coming out of the senate finance committee is a more significant piece of legislation  passed in the house and helping those people who are most in need and it is also more important in terms of providing the economic stimulus our economy needs but to be very present with you what came out of the senate finance committee is an important step forward and important improvement of what existed in the house but we need on the floor of the senate to do much more than what was in the senate finance committee for example the senate finance committee bill does not provide any funding for food stamps mr president according to the u s department of agriculture over thirty five million americans struggled to put food on the table last year and the number of the hungriest americans those people who literally do not have enough food every day that number goes up and up and up economists from different political persuasions both the left and the right have told us that food stamp benefits would be one of the best ways to stimulate the economy so once again you're dealing with the moral issue that as the united states of america in the year two thousand and eight we should not tolerate a situation where any american goes hungry where food banks are running out of food that is not what america should be about and second of all as we expand the food stamp program we create a very important economic stimulus by definition a people don't have enough food to eat they are going to spend that money they're going to spend it on food food which is by and large grown in the united states of america and we're going to create jobs in that process so my hope is that again in a bi partisan or try partisan manner the senate will add food stamps to the economic stimulus package mr president the book is substitute the senate finance committee bill just like the house bill does not provide any money for the low income home energy assistance program usually known as lawyers and this is a program which is extraordinary really important to coal whether states like vermont the wiggle in all across the northern tier but in fact is important to every state in this country because in arizona in the summer when it goes one hundred twenty degrees people they need help as well right now in the state of vermont that all over this country we have senior citizens and low income people struggling carrying out their head trying to figure out how they are going to pay to heat their homes when the cost of home heating oil is now well over three dollars a gallon and the reality is that because we have not increased funding for ally to the degree that we should either the amount of money that each individual person is getting is going down or states are making the decision to provide light heat on to fuel of our people and neither alternative is acceptable this is a cold winter in various parts of the country it has been below zero in the state of vermont recently no american should go cold no american should be forced to make a choice between food and heating his or her home we have got to expand lighty funding and people who receive that will be spending that money and that is also an economic stimulus in my view including food stamps law heap and unemployment benefits in the economic stimulus stimulus package is not only the right thing to do in terms of stimulating the economy it is the moral thing to do it is what we as a nation should be doing what to wall i think the white house and the congress have been identified with programs that help the wealthiest people in this country the people in fact who don't not need any help at all richest one percent is the one just fine without any tax breaks from congress now is the time to sot paying attention to the middle class the working families the vast majority of our people who watch dealing economically now is their plight and we have got to listen to their needs and respond to that mr president in addition to addressing issues like ally he food stamps and unemployment there are other areas that we should be moving forward on rebuilding and repairing our schools bridges roads coverts sewer systems rail ports airports not only would we be addressed addressing the tremendous problems that we have in our crumbling infrastructure but that is also a quick route to put people in the construction industry back to work in the state of vermont it is estimated that we have over a billion involved in work that has to be done in our infrastructure the estimate according to the engineers is that we have over a trillion dollars of on met infrastructure needs in america we should rebuilding our schools making them more energy efficient and in the process we put our working people in the construction industry back to work we should address that issue as well with the president coming from a cold weather state i am very conscious of the issue of whether resent it makes zero sense that we have in vermont and all across this country millions of lower income people who are living in homes which are poorly insulated which do not have storm windows whose rooms leak energy so these people are spending money for heating fuel that is literally going out the window out the rope when the recession projects already in existence and all of the states putting money into whether results should puts people to work it saves on the fuel costs of many seniors lower income people and it also not on what really helps us reduce greenhouse gas emissions so funding where the recession is a when when when we should do that as well and i also believe that we should be increasing renewable energy investments in windham solar that is in as i understand that the finance bill very very important we are losing out to the rest of the world in creating the kind of industries we need was solar energy and when to destry in the process we create many good paying jobs the idea that we have not yet passed and extend the tax credit for wind and solar meg zero sense we've got to move and that area as well i personally also would like to see included in the simulates package increase funding for community health centers because when people lose their jobs they are losing that health care federally qualified health centers have been a wonderful tool to bring people into primary health care access regardless of their incomes mr president back in  two thousand and one i was an early backer of tax rebates one of those who actually came up with that concept i support tax rebates for the middle class following families with children and for persons with disabilities i also believe that senior citizens should be receiving help in this bill as well through a bonus in their social security checks so mr president i think we are making some progress i think the senate bill is far better than the house bill i think we have the responsibility on the floor of the senate to improve upon what was done in the finance committee and i would hope that in a nonpartizan way  will reach out to the american people and let them know that we are aware of the pain that they are experiencing but we know what's happening in the low income community we know what's happening to our veterans we know what's happening to our senior citizens and we very very important for the american people i hope we do it and i hope we do it as quickly as we possibly can thank you mr president now yield back my time mr president senator from florida mr president i want to say to the senator from vermont he comes from a cold weather state this senator comes from a warm weather state and a lot of the ideas proffered by the senator from vermont apply to my stay as well as he is he has very eloquently laid out how if you really want to do stimulus the quickest way to get the money in to the economy and flowing so those dollars can turn over is increase compensation unemployment compensation an increase food stamps if you really want to get the money in this this three hundred dollar per person over now house improved over here not just because it's five hundred dollars but because it's going to senior citizens as well in the senate finance package whichever one of those you look at it's going to be may june july and august before those checks get out into the economy which if you want to do stimulus immediately you're talking about two weeks away with increased unemployment compensation and food stains what the senator says about taking care of our veterans are disabled veterans what he says about the infrastructure we desperately need infrastructure improvements now as far as a stimulus right now that's not going to put the money out there but a lot of this stimulus package which is psychological it's the fact that the federal reserve through monetary policy by cutting the interest rates that banks share with each other that helps but there's really a delay a lag before that really does the immediate jolt really is psychological so too with this stimulus package and at the end of the day the senators go want to support it because we do need that psychological jolt that the government is standing behind us not slipping further into recession but if this senator had his druthers he shares a lot of the ideas that the senator wrote from vermont has proffered on the quick ways to get the money out into the economy now i've been requested by the senator from colorado who would like to speak after this senator does so i ask consent that the senator from colorado would be able to follow sworn and mr president i have a unanimous consent request for committees to meet during today's session of the senate they have the approval of the president i can tell you who said our people are hurting you don't normally think of the state of florida which is in the megatrends which is the fourth largest state it's going to become the third largest state within four years the state that is the microcosm of the entire country in almost every demographic group we reflect the country in large part because a lot of the country has moved to florida you don't normally think of a go go state like that as being hurting economically but in the need our state is hurting a lot it has to do with the real estate market going flat you take tremendously robust areas like fort myers and lee callan on the southwest coast of florida it has been in a building boom for years and of course that real estate market is flat now and all the ripple effects throughout the economy as a result of  that we are hurting our people are hurting because they're paying more for gas for milk for bread and meanwhile because of the flat real estate market they are seeing their housing values plummet and many of them are trying to correct the situation by selling their houses which they can't sell or unwinding the bad loans that they have but then they can't get buyers to look at their homes and we see the statistics bear this out nationally the samberg rate on unemployment was five percent and that's the highest it's been in two years and the g d p growth for the last quarter of last year oh seven it increased only point six of a percent compared to an almost five percent increase in the third quarter of  seven and yesterday the fed in response cut the interest rates again by a half point and this is the second rate cut  just today the department of labor released the initial unemployment claims or the wait that ended last week january twenty six and guess who had the largest unemployment increase in the country it's my state of florida the layoffs concentrated in construction in tray and service and manufacturing and so we're in the middle of a crisis foreclosures mortgage defaults and we're hearing the experts say that the worst is still to come to million americans could lose their homes we had in florida last year in two thousand and seven the second highest mortgage foreclosure rate with more than two percent of all our households entering some state of foreclosure during the year that's over one hundred percent increase over the previous year and florida home sales last year were down thirty one percent compared to the previous year and oh by the way the median home price dropped thirteen percent so we're now seeing that ripple effect through the economy particularly in a state like mine that we're such a hot growth market we're seeing it in the deterioration of the home values and we're seeing it in the state's economy the falloff of revenues to the state of florida has been significant and since the housing crisis is a lot of at the heart of this slow day it's crucial that in this rescue package that we target these  concerns there is going to be an temporary increase in the conforming loan lenat limits of fannie mae and freddie mac also the f h a program i think these measures will help restore confidence and liquidity in the housing market the senate bill and more a including a provision that would allow state and local governments to issue bonds to help with the financing of those sub prime loans and then of course we mentioned earlier disabled veterans this package is going to provide quick  to disabled veterans as well as seniors and i'm certainly hoping that we're going to get a clear up or down vote on providing an additional thirteen weeks of unemployment compensation that are going to help the pain of those who are being laid off because of this recession we have now slipped into time is of the essence in a perfect world we shouldn't have to do this because whatever we come up with in this package we've got to go out and borrow and that means we're going to borrow from china and that's not good that's just piling on more debt to the national debt but the fact is we've got to do something and mr president i'm going to support  president colorado mr president i would ask unanimous consent that the statement i'm about to make on the stimulus package be included in the appropriate place in the record when we get on the bill on the finance committee legislation that objections or mr president i come to the floor this afternoon urge my colleagues to embrace the urgency that we should be bringing to this legislation at this point in time was just this week that we heard from the president of the united states on the need for us to move forward with an economic stimulus package because he recognizes as do american families that the economy is on tonight it is remarkable that we have a bipartisan movement moving forward with the president working with speaker pelosi and others to try to get a stimulus put together that makes sense for the united states of america and yesterday in the finance committee and another demonstration of what you can do when you work together in the with the leadership of senator baucus and senator grassley we put together a robust package that should be considered here on the floor hopefully later on today i want to say a few things about that package because i think it's important for us to recognize that what came out of the house has now been put into a finance committee package that is a much improved package that will help us emulate the economy in a number of different ways but the house dead we can applaud but there are improvements that need to be made with legislation and like any other legislation as you get into the detail of it you find ways of making it better and that's in effect what senator baucus and senator grassley and the members of the finance committee did yesterday want to simply  address five key points that i believe make this package and improve package the first so that the first point is simplicity the house version has a rebate package it's tempting to get money back the pockets of consumers this stimulate the demand to stimulate the economy and that package is a relatively complex formulation of how you provide those rebates our package coming out of the finance committee is that it if you are a tax filer you're going to get five hundred dollars if you're filing jointly you and your spouse will get a thousand dollars if you are filing jointly and you have two children it's going to be sixteen hundred dollars it's a relatively simple package to understand and that's about two thirds of what's included in this package so the american public will be able to understand what it is that they're going to be able to get without having to go through an accounting exercise in order to determine what kind of tax rebate they are going to get so the package out of the finance committee should be applauded for its simplicity it improves significantly upon the house package in that regard secondly there were groups important americans that we have a moral obligation to stand up for which were left out of the package that came out of the house of representatives twenty million seniors twenty million seniors in america who are the ones who have paved the way for all of us have the america that we have here today would be left out of a tax rebate from the house back it's the reason that they would be left out in the house packages because the way that the formulation of the tax rebate was put together there where it's based on earned income if you're a retired senior and you're on social security or you're on a pension you don't have earned income that means they don't qualify i for the tax rebate there for what we did in this much improved package coming out of the finance committee is we said we are going to provide the tax rebate to these twenty million americans and i hope across america across the united states of america those who care about seniors and seniors themselves are watching what this senate does this afternoon and tomorrow and beyond with respect to this much improve package that would add these twenty million seniors to the tax rebate in addition the house package it came over here also left out another very important group of people and those are disabled veterans two hundred and fifty thousand disabled veterans are left out of the tax rebate because the benefits that they receive are not characterized as earned income i would bet  ask our colleagues here in the senate today democrats and republicans they would say we want to stand up for our veterans we want to honor the nation's commitments to help our veterans and they would say we ought not to leave two hundred fifty thousand veterans behind by the senate finance committee in a bipartisan way forward said we are not going to leave two hundred fifty thousand disabled veterans behind we're going to get them the tax rebate that they deserved so our finance committee package in my view closes these gaps that were left there in the house package that was passed last week in addition what we do in our is move forward with the extension of unemployment insurance yes we are seeing the signs of significant unemployment in many states and in my state alone unemployment has gone up about half a percentage point to the last several months and you focus in on states like michigan and ohio nevada where you are seeing unemployment rates that are as high as eight percent and when you have that kind of unemployment it is important for us as a nation to recognize that our unemployment insurance program should reach those people who do not have a job at the end of the day if you think about the quality of life for people in this country if you don't have a job you can have a quality of life and so extending the unemployment insurance benefits is very important in addition mr president our package takes some of what the house of representatives did with respect to incentives for job creation for small businesses and big businesses alike  fifty billion dollars more laps is what would be used to incentivize job creation through both small and large businesses and they would do it by creating bonus depreciation and other mechanisms to him to incentivize businesses to invest in themselves and you think about small business in particular we know that small businesses are the economic generators of most of the jobs that we have here in america today and by providing a mechanism that gives the bonus depreciation we will be able to to we'll be able to make sure that these businesses are able to invest in themselves i know of one small business owner in the state of colorado was said that because of this package he will be able to move forward and open up a restaurant where he will be able to hire somewhere between twenty and thirty five people so this stimulus package will do a lot for small business and it's something that we very much appreciate but we decided not just to leave it there because there's some other important aspects of the economy that needed to be addressed in the short term and we did that through again some improvements in that aspect of the stimulus package first we looked at the energy issue that we're facing here in america today we know that in many of our states the new frontier of the energy revolution is coming our way in my state of colorado you see it in how we're capturing the power of the sun the power the wind the power the bio masses many of the production tax credits and investment tax credits are going to expire and this economic wave that's a positive economic wave needs a short term extension and we have done that in this package thanks to the leadership of senator cantwell and other senators on the finance committee who pushed that amendment so hard so mr president i would urge my colleagues to support the finance committee package and get our economy up and running again and in conclusion i would say this this is a stimulus package that means it needs to be targeted means to be timely and it needs to be temporary but this package isn't going to solve the economic problems that are facing our country today there are longer term issues that are crying out for a solution much of which we ought to be able to do here in the congress of the united states this year alone i will throw out just a few of those examples first the two thousand and seven and farm bill the two thousand seven farm bill the presiding officer knows food security is important in montana it's important for the nation it's important for the world you know my dad for many years as attorney general of colorado and now as a u s senator i have had on my desk a sign that says no farms no food i would like to see what would happen to america follow us suddenly didn't have our grocery shelves stocked with food and have the most inexpensive and high quality food of any nation in the world or the two thousand and seven farm bill which we crafted out of the agriculture committee which garnered the support of eighty two senators here in this chamber needs to be brought across the finish line so the administration the president the united states should be asking us to move that farm bill through and get it done quickly we need to be able to do it we were able to get it through the united states senate we need to pivot off of the short term stimulus package and we need to get the farm bill done the food security of america requires us to do that but we can't just in my view with moving forward with the farm bill there's also other work that we need to do we know that we're in a housing crisis in america today we know that we're in a housing crisis in my state of colorado in the state of colorado we have one out of three hundred seventy five homes currently in foreclosure these are families who live in those homes who have lost their homes one out of three hundred and seventy five homes in foreclosure but that doesn't tell the story of pain yes those families that have lost their homes certainly are are suffering or you think about all of the other homeowners in my state of colorado and probably ninety percent of them have seen the kleins in their home values or most americans their home is essentially the majority of the equity that they own and so when you see the decline in home values you also see a taking away from the value that most american families have built in their homes when you look at the housing industry the home construction industry they are as my good friend from north dakota senator conrad said yesterday in the finance committee not in a recession homebuilders are in fact in a depression because of what's happening with the high all the market across the nation we try to do something in this bill but there's other work that we have to do to try to stand up the housing complement of our economy because housing is such a key indicator of the strength of our economy so we need a farm bill we need to do additional work significant additional work to try to write the housing crisis that we're in we can't stop with the farm bill and we can't stop with the housing issues that we need to address we also need to address some other issues that are long term and which we have a historic opportunity to address including the issue of energy and renewables that we tried to get through this senate chamber last year we must stop for a moment and say thank you that part of the energy package that we debated here on the floor is now law we have cafe standards that are going to bring about significant savings in the oil that we currently import from other countries that is a very good thing we have a renewable fuel standard which has where we want to go with respect to growing our way to energy independence we've created an energy package that says that we as america have a vision that by the year two thousand and twenty five twenty five percent of our energy is to come from the power of the sun from the power of the wind from the crops that we grow here in america but what was missing in that package was a part of the legislation which the finance committee passed in a bipartisan way that would have given us the jet engine to power this clean energy economy for the twenty first century we must return to that energy legislation to complete a complete energy package that will help us move forward to address the fundamental values that are at issue when we deal with the issue of energy and those fundamental values mr president in my view are very simple those values are about national security so we're not compromising our foreign policy by our over dependence on foreign oil those values are about making sure that we're taking care of our planet and addressing in a realistic way the issue of global warming and those values are in my view the great economic opportunities for america from shore to shore to create economic opportunity from the new energy economy so mr president this stimulus bill is important and we must move forward with urgent matter let us all remember that this is the phase one of what we have to do to restore the foundations of a good long term economy for the united states this to speak about what we did in terms of the senate finance stimulus package which i think is something that makes a tremendous amount of sense for people for investment for the economy and before speaking about unemployment compensation insurance which is a critical part of the package let me just say that i want to commend most sincerely our chairman senator baucus our ranking member senator grassle for again not only working together producing something that is a balanced approach that addresses both stimulus from the standpoint of helping people put money directly back into people's pockets but also helping to stand in support businesses small businesses large businesses those not only earning a profit that make investments with those who are not earning a profit and making investments  have the vision to do work with us in the area of alternative energy production to expand production tax credits which directly relate to jobs that is a part of this bill as well i particularly want to as well to thank them for taking a look at the house package and while we commend what was done it was bipartisan they did it quickly it was a step in the right direction working with the white house but we found that there were parts of what they did in structuring the rebate that really needed to be fixed because we found that over twenty million seniors would be left out of getting a rebate because they don't have earned income they're living on social security and they would have been left out as well as about a quarter million disabled veterans who would have been left out again living on disability not having earned income and not only is it the right thing to do the moral thing to do to make sure our seniors can get help that we're helping our disabled veterans but economically it's a smart thing to do because we know that those who are  living on fixed incomes are spending dollars because they have to do they have lived to be able to pay their rent and the mortgage and the heating bill and food and and all of the other things their prescription drug costs all of those things and so immediately giving help to those are struggling to make ends meet is not only right but it is smart in terms of the economy and so the senate package expands on what the house did to make sure we don't leave people out we don't have seen senior citizens out we don't leave disabled veterans out and we also make sure that we don't leave out millions of americans who have worked all their lives middle income wage earners who have built the american dream for their family have a home have had in the past abilities send the kids to college maybe they had  in michigan a cottage up north or a snowmobile or they had the ability to live the good life that we have all wanted for ourselves and our children and have found themselves caught in the economic downturn  in fact a recession from their state of michigan it looks and has looked like for too long a recession and a lot of middle income families now find themselves in a situation where they are out of i want to work nobody wants to live on forty percent of their income which is what unemployment compensation provides and trying to make the mortgage payment and try to care for the kids and pay the heating bill and the food and and do all those things that we we need to be able to do to pay the gas prices and so on and nobody wants to be unemployed and nobody wants to be finding themselves in a situation where they're having to live on unemployment benefit but we have millions of people in this country who find themselves in this situation and our finance package our finest simonis we'll make sure that we can extend benefits thirteen weeks for unemployed individuals in every state and then additional thirteen weeks for those who are in states of high unemployment again this is now is the right thing to do not only the moral thing to do it's the smart thing to do when it comes to the economy we had economists from president reagan's time congress from president clinton's time we've had and everything in between we have had the congressional budget office tell us that extending unemployment compensation is one of the top two ways along with food stamps to stimulate the economy quickly we don't have to wait till the i r s gets done with their taxes and  normal rebates and and getting around to doing the additional rebates in may june or july that this can happen immediately and we go directly to those who unfortunately are not in a position to save but need to spend every single dime of dollars that come in to their household in order to be able to try to hold things together not lose the house and to be able to keep their family going mr president all the signs that this will be a terrible recession for american workers and we are moving in a direction that is extremely difficult in terms of the economy the national unemployment rate has shot up to five percent experts predict that predict it's going to rise above six percent in the next year in two thousand and nine we've never had such a dramatic jump in unemployment without having a recession  many states the jobs picture is far gloomy or as i was mentioning in michigan we have an unemployment rate of seven point six percent and mr president i can assure you that's one area where we don't want to be first  we are in fact are working very hard to turn that around in a number of ways other parts of this bill dealing with alternative energy are great for us because we are making those wind turbines and those polar panels and  e fuel vehicles and we are working very very hard to move ourselves out of that situation but we have a lot of people that are working very very hard who can all fog of them all no fault of their own have lost their job and have not been able to find another one in this economy so in addition to michigan seven point six percent mississippi is at six point eight percent unemployment ohio alaska south carolina are all over six percent and expected within the month to meet the trigger that is in this bill six point five percent as a as a possibility and the unemployment problem is unfortunately getting worse rapidly we've had more than half a million workers join the ranks of the unemployed in the last month half a million five hundred thousand people who have become unemployed in the last month alone workers have lost their job who have lost their jobs are having much more trouble finding work today than in past recessions today seventeen percent of workers have been looking for a job for more than twenty six weeks compared to only eleven percent in two thousand and one and let me also stress that in the last package that we had the last stimulus package we were looking at  long term unemployment of eleven point three percent back in january two thousand and one we were first talking about a stimulus and decided to include unemployment insurance now as of december this last december the long term unemployment is seventeen point five percent is fifty five percent higher than it was fifty five percent higher than it was when we started first talking about the last emulous package and which we included unemployment compensation extension as a part of that and so again i'm very grateful to the chairman and the leadership of the finance committee and our leader senator reid for speaking out about this and supporting our efforts to make sure that this is in the senate package and this problem is affecting workers all across the economic spectrum even those with college education and years of experience we have engineers in michigan we have talented well qualified well educated people who find themselves in this situation of losing their jobs their nearly two unemployed workers for every job opening across the country which is also critical to talk about we have right now seven point seven million americans who are competing for four million jobs and so when people say well you know summaries on unemployment compensation him and they just don't want to work they don't want to work and if we extend those that compensation for another thirteen weeks or twenty six weeks where people just want to work that would be an incentive not to work i welcome anyone to come and talk to a family in michigan and say that but the reality is that we have seven point seven million americans right now competing for four million jobs and mr president that raises a whole other host of issues i won't get into th two today about how we need to stop exporting our products stop x start exporting products and stop exporting jobs in this country and all the other things that we need to do to tackle this issue of a strong economy  but the reality is that for too many folks that debate that debate is not going to help them when we look long term but what we need to do and we do need to do that they're looking at right now ok am i going to be able to keep the lights on and my going to be able to keep the phone or am i going to be able to make sure that i can make a mortgage payment so my family is not out in the street i mean those are the questions that are being asked and no one no one is finding themselves in unemployment insurance living it up it's just about trying to help them keep the family together keep things together until they can find that next job and this is what they're competing against because it's becoming harder to find a job in the coming months faced with these clear warning signs we must act quickly in anything that we pass and i sure hope it's a senate finance proposal because i think it's balanced it's effective it's targeted and it's the right thing to do but anything we do here hass to include extending unemployment compensation for these families that have finding themselves and such a traumatic situation it's wrong to abandon them when they need it the most and i would say again it's the smart thing to do according to all economists if we really want to say we have done something that is targeted that is quick extending unemployment it's much quicker than a rebate check and i certainly support the rebate track but it's going to take a while to get those to people unemployment extension is much quicker for the quick of things we can do so from every angle this is the right thing to do most important you know i look at the families who are looking to us to do the right thing in the past we've waited too long and working families have suffered in the wake of september eleventh the unemployment rate rose to five point three percent in october of two thousand and one there was a bipartisan consensus we should do something but political gridlock prevented us from an acting anything until the following march of two thousand and two by that time unemployment was up to five point seven percent to five point nine percent in april the two thousand and one recession proved devastating for our economy and unfortunately too many families have not recovered from that time the bill passed by the finance committee yesterday is a crucial step a crucial step forward for our economy and for our workers and our family by extending unemployment benefits for thirteen weeks and providing an additional thirteen weeks of benefits and high unemployment states as i said before we provide an immediate boost to the economy at the same time help hardworking middle class families whether this storm all of the economists agree each dollar invested in benefits to out of work americans leads to a dollar sixty four increase in growth a dollar equals a dollar sixty four and growth that is clearly one of the top two things that we can do to be able to stimulate the economy is compared to only pennies of stimulus in other areas no stimulus package will be effective unless it provides real security for families that are struggling the most we've got to address this issue we've got to address this unemployment situation let me just say in closing that when we look at the coming year january of last year average unemployment was four point six percent we're at this time it's five percent although many of us from are much higher than that but it's protect it's projected by next year that the unemployment rate will go up to six point five percent now granted michigan right now it's seven point six ther states that are above six percent above or close to six point five but mr president this is the direction we are going in and one of the things about acting now with unemployment compensation extension we can help those families at this moment that are here and going to be going to here we could actually be ahead of the curve rather than way behind and helping a family be able to keep their house or to be able to put put their family at a use to know that at least there will be something available the senate finance package makes sense it is the right thing to do on the business side we not only focus on investments for those that are making a profit but for those that are not but still making investments important in areas of the economy like manufacturing to michigan we extend critical tax credits for alternative energy production which is critical we make sure over twenty million seniors are left out over two hundred fifty thousand disabled veterans are left out we added piece for state local bonding authority for housing which will help and support what the house did and then mr president we do what i've talked about today we remember the faces of the people who have worked hard to make this country great middle class families across this country no fault of their own and i would argue too much of the time to action of the current administration or inaction  what we need to be doing i'm forcing trade policy or changing the way we fund health care in this country or doing other aggressive actions in order to keep jobs and expand jobs through no fault of their own they find themselves caught in this economic downturn they are looking to us if there ever was a time that they would expect their government to act behalf of middle class america it would be now and it's critically important and i am very pleased that the senate finance package includes extending unemployment compensation i hope that when it's time to go mr president we will see a very strong bipartisan vote on this issue and before stepping down i see my good friend the ranking member the republican leader on the finance committee on the floor and i want to personally thank him for working with us on an approach that's good for people good for families individuals for seniors disabled veterans good for business looks to the future on energy and i appreciate his leadership as always and i'm hopeful that we will see a bipartisan vote that says we get it and we're committed and we're willing to of my colleagues my experiences of traveling through the state of maryland during these last few weeks i had chance to be on the eastern shore of maryland just this week i've been to western maryland been to the urban centers and i can tell you that there are families in my state that are hurting there on certain about their future they're not only worried about whether they should buy an all out of the bill or go out the dinner they're concerned about their economic security they're not sure what tomorrow will bring they see a shrinking of the middle class they don't know whether their economic future health bright it will be i've seen seniors who are concerned about their financial stability they hear all this talk about trying to cut back on social security and medicare and they're worried about where they will be as far as being able to pay their bills they need to know that we are confident about america's future and i must tell you what the federal reserve did in reducing the prime rates i think was the right thing to do it will have an immediate impact as far as reducing the prime interest rates but it also instills confidence in our economy and in our future i believe the congress has a similar responsibility i think it's important that we pass a short term economic stimulus package as quickly as possible that package needs to be targeted  targeted on i mean it means to put money in the hands of people who will spend that money who will be able to help our economy and it must be fair must be fair to those who are really at risk because of the economic conditions that our nation is confronting the how the the bill that passed in the other body i think was a good start i think it was a bill that would provide money to basically middle income families i think that money is likely to get back into our economy and just as importantly it was a signal of confidence in our economy and confidence in america's future but i believe it's our responsibility to try to improve that package and i want to thank the leadership of the senate finance committee and the and my colleagues on the senate finance committee for bringing out a package that i believe improves the bill that came over from the other body in approves it in several ways and let me just talk about three of the provisions because i think they're very very important to a short term economic stimulus package first the senate finance committee's recommendations would include low income seniors how low income seniors are really concerned about their future but just as importantly it's not a fair thing to do it's not in the right thing to do to help our economy because low income seniors you give them that check they're going to go out and buy something and that's going to help us that's going to help the grocery stores it's going to help the the retail establishments it's going to help the restaurants and it's going to generate activity so it's in our interest to accomplish the objectives of an economic stimulus package to include the low income seniors and i'm very proud that the committee that the finance committee included that in their package they're recommending to us the second thing they put in the package which i think is very very important is the extension of unemployment insurance benefits for all states we get an extra thirteen weeks and for those high unemployment states a twenty six weeks now again this is a matter of fairness the people who are directly impacted by the downturn in our comedy are those who are on employment who don't have jobs who've lost their jobs and we're finding that the unemployment rates are getting higher i come from a state that does not have a high unemployment rate we have a rather diverse economic structure in maryland so we're not quite as hit as hard as the rest of the country as far as i'm climate numbers are concerned but i am proud to support the provision and encourage my colleagues to do it that provides the extra benefits for those states have been hit the hardest because they have people there who have a much more difficult time finding new employment so it's a fair thing to do it's the right thing to do during an economic downturn but it also is going to help our economy you give extra money you give money to people around the unemployed those individuals are going to spend that money they're going to spend it on basic necessities that's going to help economic growth is going help everyone in this country so it is targeted and it is there the third provision that i really appreciate being is senate finance bill one to help the housing market we have a housing crisis in all parts of maryland we have homeowners who are somewhere who are in foreclosure many to others who are at risk of losing their homes but we have young families that are trying to buy a home we have people trying to sell a home and they can't there's a credit crunch out there and the senate finance bill will we start us in the way of trying to help the trigger for our current economic problems i say the trigger because there were signs that we would have a slowdown in our economy but was triggered by the mortgage crisis in that regard the senate finance bill does something about that it's targeted to the problem that we have in our economy so i just really want to thank the members of the senate finance committee the leadership  improving the package and some modest change from the house package in dollars but it's huge as far as the impact it will have on the people in our community and trying to deal with the current economic problems i want to thank  leader reid for bringing this issue up prepared to bring this issue up now we can't delay it timely is important we've got to get this bill done and i appreciate our leader bring this bill to the floor as quickly as we possibly can i urge my friends on the other side the all the please work with us we might have some differences let's work out those differences but don't use the delaying tactics of this body so that we can't vote on a stimulus package as soon as possible we like to do it today we can't do a day as do a monday but let's get it done because the the effectiveness of the economic stimulus package depends upon it getting out as quickly as possible and part of it's a message to people this country and i think if we put aside our partisan differences and get it done it be an incredible message to the american people but let me also point out that once we've gotten that done once we're able to work out those short term stimulus package i hope the same spirit of cooperation that we can use for the long term economic challenges that we have in this nation we have long term economic challenges of we're going to be as competitive as we need to be and we're going to see the type of economic growth that we should have and we're going to see the growth of the middle class and middle class families being able to enjoy the fruits of our society and we need to deal what the frustrations of typical families of maryland around the know they're worried about their energy costs are worried about the cost of gasoline and filling up the tanks of their of their cars they're worried about healthcare costs rising health care costs in our community and they're concerned about the halfing market and if we use the same degree bipartisan cooperation and focus as we did on the short term economic package let's do the same thing in the long term economic problems let's get energy independence in america let's bring down the cost of energy is make it predictable let's not be dependent upon the whim of other countries let's develop alternative fuels let's do the conservation we need let's make energy more reliable and affordable and by the way more environmentally friendly let's bring down health care costs let's deal with the number of people uninsured which is terribly expensive to all of us the uninsured use our health care system in a more costly way many times through the emergency room let's work together to bring down the cost of health care so it's more affordable and accessible every family in our community and let us deal with the credit crunch in a responsible manner so homeowners who need to sell their homes have a market in which they can sell their homes and families who want to buy homes have the resources in order to do it that should be our challenge for two thousand and eight and if we get this package done and can address these underlining issues that i think we carried out a responsibility each of us has mr president i am pleased that i would yield the floor as president the senator from washington thank you mr president mr president come to the floor this afternoon to speak about the economic stimulus that before i go to that i want to just take a moment of personal privilege to recognize a special member of the senate fan one whose last day in the senate is today and that's someone we all know well marty pay oney he's been a tremendous asset here to all of us his goodwill his steadfast fastnesses the just the way he worked with all of us because he loved the senate and understood the dignity of it and yet had a great passion for the work that he was doing he will be missed i know marty came to the senate nearly thirty years ago and joined the democratic cloakroom back in one thousand nine hundred seventy nine and worked his way up all the way to become secretary for the minority back in one thousand nine hundred five and currently secretary the majority he's had he's just been a tremendous asset to every one of us and i think i speak on this on behalf of myself as well so members the senate that he will be greatly missed but we wish him absolute the best in his new career mr president i come to the floor this afternoon to talk about the economic stimulus package in the last several years millions of americans have seen their primary source of well their homes plummet in value as many as two million mortgage holders may lose their homes in this us sub current sub current sub prime crisis that we are seeing investors around the world are now very concerned about the state of our economy in my home state washington and across the country people are very worried we see americans losing their jobs we see them struggling to make ends meet to buy groceries to pay their power bills even death or health insurance with our markets in decline we have the opportunity now to give this economy a jumpstart and help prevent a full fledged recession experts are telling us that taking action now to stimulate the economy by giving millions of taxpayers a rebate could help increase production and lift employment businesses especially american manufacturers need people to buy their products and americans need money to spend on those i believe that a quick stimulus bill that gives americans some of their tax money back could make a real difference but we also have to ensure that whatever action we take it is temporary and targeted to where it can do the most good and i am optimistic mr president that we can do just that i want to thank our house colleagues for coming to a quick agreement with the president on an economic stimulus package their proposal was a very good start and i really to thank chairman baucus and ranking member grassley for getting to work immediately on a senate plan i hope that we can all agree to get a bill to the president by february fifteenth and get this economy moving again mr president  the last few days i have talked with several economists who have before appeared before our budget committee they have shared their analysis of what congress can do to prevent our economy from a full recession and i think that the legislation that was passed by the senate finance committee largely meets their recommendations the finance committee bill would give middle and lower income americans a five hundred dollars rebate check it ensures seniors who receive social security will get that rebate and importantly it extends a rebate to ensure that our disabled veterans who would not have qualified under the legislation to this point would get that rebate as well and i think this is particularly important restores the income cap so that the repaints will go to the people who need it the most mr president any bill we pass has to ensure that the rebates are targeted at seniors and working families they are the backbone of our economy they are the ones who need the money most and they are the most likely to spend it so you can be sure that i will continue to fight any proposal that changes those provisions but i want to add a few words just to underscore the importance of including seniors in this bill more than twenty million seniors depend on social security for their income and they spend ninety two percent of it a greater a proportionate share than all other adults and seniors are among those who are hurt the worst during an economic downturn because of increasing health care costs that they are going through and it's our finance committee chairman pointed out seniors have worked hard all their lives they've paid taxes all their lives and many of them still pay sales property and of course other taxes so mr president leaving seniors out of any stimulus bill would overlook their importance are in our common and an economy it would make  stimulus bill much less effective and most importantly it would be enormously unfair so mr president madam president i am encouraged by the progress we have made so far i think a temporary targeted stimulus is the shot in the arm that our country needs and i've been pleased to see that the president has been willing to work with us here in congress but i also believe there's a great deal more that we can and should do that would help millions of struggling families and turn our economy around over the longer term and i know that many of my colleagues agree so i hope the president continues to see the value of working with us on longer term investments that will pay off for years to come one of those investments that i have high hopes to get us back to this restoring our economy is a summer jobs program for teenagers better president the unemployment rate for teenagers has really jumped in the last year for all teens it's seventeen percent up from thirteen percent of in december of two thousand and six among african americans who are ages and sixteen to one thousand nine hundred is almost thirty five percent as of last month thirty five percent unemployment for african american youth between the age of sixteen and one thousand a summer jobs program would have a number of immediate and long term benefits we all know that teenagers are likely to squeeze we spend any money they earned so of course it would provide an immediate economic stimulus but it also would work to begin to create a new generation of workers and research shows that teens who get work experience earn more over their life lifetime now and present last november i held a hearing of my help subcommittee on the employment of work safe safety workplace safety at south seattle community college what we did was we focused on the need to create a number of pathways multiple pathways to career success for our young workers we had representatives from the private sector organized labor and they all talked about the need for a new generation of skilled workers but often said they were not getting enough information about career opportunities and options i heard there about the real need for green collar workers and the dire need for skilled skilled trade workers who drive our country's economic engines point quite frankly madam president attracting these young people to our labor force is something that i believe is a vital to our economic future in this nation but madam president the summer jobs program that i've been talking about has another benefit for our communities teens with jobs are less likely to commit crimes or join crank a gang a columnist for the seattle post intelligencer wrote a story that caught my eye i a few weeks back that a seventeen year old boy who'd been killed in what police believe was a gang related shooting a columnist robert interviewed some of the boys friends for the piece that he wrote and one friend said that boy had applied for nearly a dozen jobs but just couldn't get anyone to call him back so he turned to other means and tragically we lost him in a in a gang related shooting madam president tragically too many of our young people face the same choice between joining a gang or sticking with a discouraging job search that story i believe illustrates why a jobs program for young people is one of the most important investments we can make in all of our future i want to work with my colleagues on a bipartisan basis to provide the opportunities and the resources to ensure that this generation of workers and the next have the skills that employers need so we can compete in the global economy madam president i also believe that we can create jobs and stimulate the economy by making desperately needed investments in our infrastructure including our roads and our bridges and our levees and mass transit systems across this country investing in our infrastructure would create jobs and increase spending on construction materials that would immediately infuse millions of dollars into our economy do you know that for every billion of dollars in federal spending on highways and trance that we create a whopping forty seven thousand five hundred jobs that's putting people to work those investments would pay off in the long term as well by helping ensure that our bro roads and bridges and mass transit systems are safe and they're strong and finally we have to do more to address the housing crisis itself that is spread across this country while the economy that may be headed toward recession the housing market is in a depression according to the new york times the number of homes set for foreclosure is higher than any time since the great depression we are seeing communities in this country where people are literally abandoning their homes because they cannot afford their mortgages and they cannot find a willing buyer you know in this country homeownership has always been a sign of prosperity but now for millions of americans it's become a trap and with each and every foreclosure the foundation of every one of our communities weakens as well madam president there were warning signs more than a year ago that this crisis could affect the entire nation but president bush took a hands off approach and ignored the problem regulators failed to take aggressive action and now a condom is tell us the worst is yet to come our economic strength depends on americans having a state safe and stable place to live and raise their families our economy will not be stable again tell this housing crisis is corrected we have to take action to help prevent more drastic problems and we have to ensure that this situation can't happen again families facing foreclosure must be able to get mortgage counseling or help refinance their mortgages the finance committee bill includes as well critical tax relief which i support for businesses that were directly impacted by the home building industry which has as we all know now come to a standstill and we must reform the lending system to prevent more families from losing their homes i think we should have two main goals first of all we need to modernize the f h a to enable the federal government to offer an alternative to nontraditional loans we have seen explode in the past several years and secondly we need to ensure that government lenders can replace some of the worst sub prime loans with sound traditional mortgages than a president i believe those investments will have a positive ripple effect on the economy for years to come i guarantee i'll be back on this floor many times over the next several months pushing this congress to take action  and president the current economic trouble we face now is a direct result of this administration's failure to plan for the future and lead us in the right direction just like any family that prepares to balance a checkbook we've got to take stock of our finances and get our books back in order american families understand how to live within their means when they sit down and work out their yearly budgets they consider all their costs decide how it to invest in savings and balance or checkbook the bush administration inherited a budget surplus but they squandered it with policies paid for by borrowing funds from future generations of americans by waging a war in iraq and failing to be honest about the true cost of that war president bush has racked up a mountain of debt with no strategy whatsoever to pay it back instead of looking out for the needs of everyday americans he allowed his friends on wall street to take massive paychecks following predatory lenders to work on regulated at the same time the bush administration has failed to invest in our roads in our bridges in health care in education in energy independence and in our safety here at home these are things that help our citizens get to work stay healthy and safe and these are things that keep our economy stable over the long term the longer we go without addressing our crumbling highways are skyrocketing health care costs or our dependence on foreign oil the higher the cost will be when we have no choice and amid options to fix those problems we saw that with katrina we saw with the minnesota bridge collapse madam president every family knows that ignoring the need to spend wisely on things you depend on and failing to live within your means is a recipe for serious trouble down the road so the economic stimulus we are working on will do a lot of good in the short term we have to insist that we deal with the real causes of our economic problems it's time i think to take a lesson from american families balance a budget be honest about the true costs of this war and think seriously about how we move forward it is time to insist that the federal regulators who are supposed to watch out for economic trouble actually do their job and it is time to stop ignoring our needs right here at home president bush has shown a willingness to work with congress on this economic stimulus package i hope he continues to see the value in working with us on the longer term policies that our stimulus package but before i give a general overview of the stimulus package i'd like to say something about one of the several mistakes or oversights that's in the house bill and i'm not mean to imply that these were  known as oversights of the time but one of them stands out so strong that you wonder whether or not the house is consistent in its approach to the issue of illegal aliens and i'll speak from the standpoint of my experience with the children's health insurance bill you may be familiar with the freeze where you stand depends upon where you stand nothing better able straights a point than this debate and the issue of rebates for illegal immigrants we're told that we must pass the house bill and that changes are unnecessary in other words somehow you assume the dials representatives passed a perfect bill and all we ought to do is rubber stamp it i disagree i think the house bill makes it too easy and in several areas but too easy in the area of illegal immigrants to get rebate checks according to numbers usa the house bill could allow as many as three million illegal immigrants earn rebate checks the house minority leaders spokesman was quoted in the press as saying quote there is no language in the measure that would enable illegal immigrants to receive a tax rebate mr president there is no language whatsoever in the house bill that would prevent an illegal immigrant from receiving one of these tax rebate checks my colleagues on the other side rotunda should be quite familiar with this line of reasoning because they devoted countless times on the house floor last fall trying to convince people that because the s chip bail didn't explicitly prevent states from covering children up to four hundred percent of poverty and must mean that states can cover kids up to four hundred percent of poverty the same folks who want still believe that the house bill is just fine said that we hadn't done enough to prevent illegal immigrants from receiving benefits and as chip even though the as chip bill had this very language and i want to quote that very language nothing in this act allows federal payment for individuals who are not legal residents titles eleven nineteen twenty one of the social security act senate last year it's amazing how the standard has changed the same people who said the language i just read wasn't good enough when we took up the children's health insurance program are now saying no language whatsoever is from the simple fact of the matter is that the house bill allows illegal immigrants to get rebate checks plain and simple it is important for us to fix that and i believe we will before the bill leaves a salmon we should not give rebate checks to people in this country who have come to this country illegally and we should not give the house an opportunity and we should give the house of represent opportunity to fix this huge mistake that's in this bill they sent to us and i can't imagine why anyone on the house side would complain about our doing that after all the uprising we had last fall about the senate even considering the language i read didn't do enough to prevent people here illegally meaning illegal immigrants from getting children's health insurance program my recent experience negotiating with the house on the issue of illegal immigrants and public benefits taught me that certain folks seem to care quite a lot about that issue except somehow it was an oversight in this tax bill this rebate i'll quote from the debate on the s chip bail in the house of representatives october twenty fifth last year and i to actually quote the members by name you can find it in the congressional record if you really want to know who says it doesn't matter who says you know it was an overwhelming opinion of people that other body particularly republicans and that other body one member alleged that the s chip bill tried quote to give benefits to illegal immigrants while we still have americans under unserved and the he went on to say quote that is not right this is not fair this is not democratic suppose i put in there in place a benefits paraphrase of this way the same  to give tax rebates to illegal immigrants why we still don't have enough money to serve all americans is wrong non democratic well let's go on if it wasn't right there in the ash chip bill it surely isn't right here in this tax bill it's also not fair we should not leave some americans on sir when it comes to rebates like seniors and disabled veterans as they did not as representatives well we're going to let illegal immigrants get checks rebate checks want another quote for you this one's also from the day same day october twenty fifth quote i don't think our constituents then i would think that member of the house would not want to make it easier for illegal immigrants to get a rebate tax paid checks finally here's a quote from september twenty fifth one month before in  children's health insurance program in the other body a member who used to chair one of the committees of jurisdiction over there quote what that means is that they want illegal residents of the united states of america t get these benefits this is what the objection me so for the reason for that reason alone i would ask that we vote against this bail and a quote for that reason alone he said regardless of what else is good about the bill including the language the senate put in which was meant not to give children's health insurance program money it still wasn't enough and yet now let that tax rebate bill come over for that very same body and let illegal immigrants get rebate so i say for that reason alone is a reason for this body to defy people in this body who say that we should not change the senate bill one iota and my colleagues on the house side issue is now on the other foot the same principle that applied than should apply now if you felt strongly enough to stop the children's health insurance bill over your concerns about illegal immigrants receiving public benefits then you certainly should not object to the senate repairing a bill you sent us that would allow illegal immigrants to get a rebate check you cared about it than you should care about it now you said it wasn't right dan well it's not right now you said it wasn't fair than well it's not fair now the senate will fix it it was a mistake the senate will fix but let's get back to some history about the purpose of the united states senate for anybody who thinks that a bill lot of come over here from the other body without fair consideration by this body and i've used this example before and i don't know whether george washington actually said this or not but it's been on the history books for so long it's fact as far as i'm concerned but he was trying to demonstrate to people than about the new constitution and the purpose of the house and the purpose of the senate and he had a cup of coffee on a saucer and the cop with the coffee and or the cup was the house and the saucer was a senator and the coffee in the cup the hot coffee in the cup was a piece consideration to let the pressure that comes up on a body that's exacted for a two year period of time a body that might be more responsible to the trench it will of the majority that that train trip will of the majority needed to have a body kind of rethink things maybe verify that what the house did was absolutely right maybe verify that they everything they did was absolutely wrong or that a few changes might be made and then after that the senate passes the bail and it goes on its merry way to the president of the united states but i believe that people that i've heard from lately including i guess even our own president of the united states say that somehow the senate ought to just automatically take what the house of representatives did and forget all about the historical purposes of the united states senate and be on our way with these mistakes in it a person who was illegally in this country could get a rebate check when i doubt if we're taking care of the needs of all the people that that can help us revitalize this economy through rebate checks and through enhanced investment madam president i also came to the floor of the senate to discuss this bill generally i want to start out by thinking chairman baucus for his courtesy hard work and patience in this legislative effort as we have in the past we want to process we want to process the economic stimulus issue through the committee that process stated started shortly after this session of congress to open we talked substance and process we had discussions with the administration especially secretary paulson we had discussions with our leaders went to a private meeting and took input from our committee me had two areas on economic stimulus our goal in the finance committee was a bipartisan economic stimulus package we both wanted a bipartisan economic stimulus package that responded to the needs of americans and business and would provide a much needed both for the economy during the same period the president sent a strong message that congress must act and congress  zionist fiscal stimulus package aimed at boosting the economy the president said that such a plan would provide quote shot in the arm unquote to keep the economy healthy last week the bipartisan by camel congressional leadership met with the president at that meeting the senate leaders more or less yielded the alleged so you process and substance of this important question to the house and the senate in other words senate leaders agreed that whatever package the house leadership in the white house agreed on would be treated as a fait accompli in the senate the senate leaders suddenly she sudden shift in direction c baucus and me by surprise and as i noted above we'd already engaged in the committee process for several weeks we were fully engaged on a member and staff level many of our members and staff brought to the table the experience from three stimulus bills earlier this ferry that gate now i respect the role of leaders here my guess is chairman baucus and the two thirds of the committee members that supported the bail yesterday also respect the role of our leaders many in the leadership on my side of the are worried about the problem that might arise if the senate had no role other than to rubber stamp the house bill they are rightly concerned about the senate processing a bail dragging it out and loading the bail up certainly that is a reasonable concern certainly that something we happen to find happening often here in the senate but is that concern in a cell so great that the senate should abdicate all of its legislative responsibility is that concerned so great that the finance committee members should have no say over legislation falling within its jurisdiction in my almost quarter century of service on the finance committee i'm not aware of any precedent like this i'm also not aware of any precedent on the house side at the end of the last session some of the house side might have complained about the outcome of senate legislation favoring the outcome of legislation favoring the senate position i'm not however aware of a situation where house leaders on either side virtually ceded their role in legislating on a tax bill this important as i said i respect the concerns of leaders about timing it comes down to this madam president the leaders concerns with timing might weigh against the question of the quality of the house bill and other words is there i take it or leave it fail which passes quickly better than a senate bill which allows the senate to work  will i've laid out the leader's concern about timing now we question now we question the adequacy of the house bill that's the other side the balance that we need to strike i know other members on both sides have asked themselves the same questions including chairman baucus chairman baucus makes the ultimate call even if i had decided the importance of quick action outweighed the benefits of going through the committee process the chairman would have made the ultimate call to go ahead that was a call the chairman made back in two thousand and two it was a call he made this time in two thousand two i disagreed on the substance and we had a party line markup but the committee did process the stimulus bill so to anyone on my side who says my opposition would have stopped the chairman from going forward check the history books it didn't stop the committee in two thousand and two and it would stop it now the same out come occurred in two thousand and three when i was chairman of the committee and senator baucus was the ranking member we went forward in two thousand and three this time we were able to proceed in a bipartisan manner and what did the committee process healed let's examine this side of the question ask another way did the committee process improve the house bill with the senate amendments was senate amendments one thing i heard loud and clear from republicans was concern about suffocating income limits the chairman heard me out and agreed to eliminate them on fortunately the support from the republican side of the aisle did not line up with the principle that i had heard from them that they wanted included in the bill as a correction to the house bill on the chairman  democratic side of the aisle there was great controversy over taking those limits all we heard the on capped proposal over and over again defined as a as something specifically benefiting bill and melinda gates so those on the left let me tell you that there must be a lot of bill and melinda gates out there the reason i say that is that twelve billion dollars of rebate checks is involved in going back to the house income cap with the amount of checks cap it means that there's millions of families not a few million that are being affected like i said those facts didn't move me on my side away from the house bill that contains those caps so i revisit the issue with the chairman that capture back but a much higher level they begin to phase out at one hundred fifty thousand dollars for single taxpayers and three hundred thousand for married taxpayers so we in few we include a few more middle income people madam president that's double the house income limits helping more middle income people it's safe to say that higher income limits well made a lot of alternative minimum tax paying families that we hear about from my perspective this is a big improvement over the house bill stuart if your support if you support the finance committee bill you're recognizing the burden these tax payers families bears through the a m t i don't want to hear any more demagoguery about bill and melinda gates is getting checks there's are going to be any more billionaires getting checks no millionaires getting checks no have millionaires getting checks but a lot of upper middle income families who won't get a check under the house bill will get a check under the finance committee a man with most on my side would consider these higher income caps an improvement on the house bill particularly credit senators craig from kyl for bringing this point up in our finance committee meetings some on the other side especially those from high income high tax blue states will quietly support this change as well but not echo what because they don't want to face should grin of members who think that that nobody on the democratic side ought to be concerned about anybody that's a little higher income now on the other end of the income income scale are twenty million low income seniors underscore that point twenty million low income seniors the house believes them out entirely the chairman's mark in the senate correct set and i'd like to tell you that the house bill right here you won't find seniors with social security income covered in this bail you will find them covered in the senate  since we don't have the bill text yet this is just holding up the chairman's mark we made this happen by including social security benefits as a qualifying income in the chairman's mark and here's what that mark says on page three quote all eligible individuals are entitled if they satisfy at least two of the following criteria the sum of an individual's earned income and to social security benefits must be at least three thousand dollars that language is not in the house bill because that language is not in the house bill twenty million seniors won't get checks if that house bill had been rubber stamp or is rubber stamped by the united states senate during our committee process many members discussed this effect in the house bill as a result of careful finance committee member deliberations we were able to improve the house bill many disabled veterans don't get checks under the house bill here again the house bill doesn't cover disabled  provision modifies the chairman's mark to expand the rebate benefit to disabled veterans during careful finance committee get elaborations senator lincoln and snowe filed an amendment to ensure that disabled veterans would be covered the chairman incorporated that amendment into his modified mark does anyone think that this is an appropriate improvement in the house bill i ask that those who insist that we rubber stamp this house bill if they don't if they don't have guts enough to tell chuck grassley that ought to be included at least in your own mind i hope you know you're wrong by not including the disabled veterans by saying that we ought to just rubber stamp the senate bill so the house bill which some are insisting cannot be improved by the finance committee and whose twenty million seniors and disabled veterans the house bill also could send checks to illegal aliens that's right as i said before spent a great deal of time on this point for those who maybe missed the beginning the house bill which some are saying is the best bill we can get in order to be rubber stamped here in the united states senate it's going to allow illegal aliens to get checks before we take care of all the people i understand the house of representatives passed a bill to give rebate checks to stimulate the economy making up possible for illegal aliens to get checked but not twenty million seniors and disabled people in this country who are here illegally i want to be specific on the modifications in the chair chairman's mark and here's again the document i'm referring to page two here is what the document says the provisions the nih has the basic credit and the qualifying child credit to individuals if they do not include on their tax return a valid tax payers identification number for one themselves and if they are married their spouse and to any children  qualifying child tax credit is claimed for these purposes a valid taxpayer identification number is defined as a social security number continuing to quote if an individual falls fails to provide a correct taxpayer identification number such omission will be treated as a mathematical or clerical error as under present law the internal revenue service maybe some  assess additional tax dues as a result of a mathematical or clerical error without sending the taxpayer a notice of deficiency and giving the taxpayer knopper two hundred to petition the tanks court where the i uses the summary assessment procedure for mathematical and clerical error the taxpayer must be given an explanation of the asserted air and given sixty days to assess that i tax payers getting the check is identified by the taxes during finance committee deliberations senator ensign and his staff raises an important issue senator ensign filed an amendment that was addressed in the modified chairman's mark bill has no such provision and and again i'm not going to keep holding these bills up but we've got the house bill without this provision the senate bill with that provision there's no language in the house bill to address  problem that senator ensign properly raised in the committee the committee bill improves the house bill by making sure illegal aliens could not get a check the finance committee amendment also be sop the business stimulus package by adding additional years to the current law net operating loss carry back rules of finance committee bill as extension of unemployment insurance benefits i know this it was a big sticking point in the negotiations between the house and the white house in this respect i favor the house bill my personal preference would be doing eliminate this provision it however was a key issue for all the democrats so in compromise and you don't get anything done the senate if you don't have some nothing strictly democrat or strictly republican can pass here except under a process of reconciliation so one compromise the chairman has worked has it worked out and it was essential that it be worked out i pushed hard for investment energy incentives and the chairman agreed with my with me in that respect so the last piece of this compromise in his mansion of investment incentives to seamles expand investment incentives for wind biomass and other renewable energy projects projects in committee these provisions caught some criticism and i expect we'll hear more of the same during this debate all respond in detail when those criticisms are given it's all madam president i compliment committee members on finding a bipartisan middle ground the committee stimulus package raises the caps on rebate checks expanding the benefits to more middle class americans social security recipients and disabled veterans to make sure illegal immigrants don't get tricked it also expands some of the business really finding addresses on employment the energy investment incentives round out the pack i asked members of go back to the basic question of balancing quick action on a house and that house bill being imperfect as i pointed out in this debate versus improvements they were made by the finance committee the house bill could be passed quickly without improvements or we could finish the process here in the senate and had improvements made by the finance committee i challenge anyone to argue that none of the improvements made by the committee prizes are important enough to finish the job here in the senate i hope nobody comes over and tells us that for instance it's ok to give rebate checks to people that are here illegally having made that point madam president we could prove our leaders right if we load up the bill in the senate so we are to keep our ball i on the ball and not loaded up because we want to get a stimulus package passed we don't want that to sing christmas is over so let's not make this for additional christmas tree that the senator from wisconsin is recognized madam president i asked permission to speak as if in morning business without objection  madam president today our country is facing difficult economic times and economic growth is slowing consumers have maxed out their credit cards and are cutting back on spending and the value of the dollar continues falling while prices for gas and food rise daily we hear news about growing problems in the mortgages a mortgage industry forcing our neighbors into foreclosure in my state of wisconsin foreclosures are up twenty seven percent from this time last year and it will get worse as more sub prime mortgages adjust to on affordable higher interest rates working families around the country are facing stagnant wages while prices rise and their most important investment their home is losing value in response to this bleak picture the house and senate have been able to move quickly in a bipartisan way to try to head off to a growing economic storm it's a rare moment these days with senators set aside their individual priorities and agree on th the greater good but that is what has happened with the economic stimulus package that we are currently considering this package strikes a balance between rebates business needs and immediate relief and i am proud to support the bill before separate us today the centerpiece of this legislation is a rebate of five hundred dollars per individual and a thousand dollars per couple with an additional three hundred dollars rebate per child this will provide effective and efficient relief for families while jump starting our economy we need to get this money into the hands of people who will spend it so i applaud the finance committee's decision to including come caps income caps ensure that recipients of the rebate low and middle inco working families will put the money back into the economy finally as the chairman of the special committee on aging i want to voice my strong support for the extension of rebates to low and moderate income seniors th legislation would leave out nearly twenty million elderly people from receiving the rebate even though they're facing the same rising prices as everyone else seniors living on fixed incomes deserve to share in this rebate after paying taxes for all their working lives however this package is not perfect i was disappointed to see that additional funding for food stamps was not included as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee which your stiction over food stamps the hunger and nutrition programs are something that i take very seriously the strain is economy imposes on lower income americans is abundantly clear to me before we even understood that we are headed toward economic crisis we increased funding by some six hundred million over the president's request simply to feed the people already in the program and now that the crisis has become clear how can we stand by and not do more i hope the senate will soon act to add an additional five billion dollars in food stamp funding with a downturn in the economy we all know that even more people will need a helping hand to put food on their family's table we should increase funding for food stamps this year because we know there are families in dire need and we should boost food stamps because we know that spending will stimulate our economy every dollar spent on food stamps generates a dollar and seventy three cents in economic activity and it happens quickly eighty percent of all better so use within two weeks of being sent out and ninety seven percent are ready by the end of the month and we don't have to create a new mechanism to deliver this stimulus adding food provisions to this package just makes sense i'm pleased that the senate has come together quickly to move this important baggage we cannot delay and we should not let this bill get bogged down we need to pass it soon next call continues on the floor of the senate as senators continue working on the their version of an economic stimulus package and there is talk that both will begin happening on monday we get an update now from a reporter who's covering the issue on capitol hill of the economics editor with the wall street journal the senate's been trying to move ahead with their version of an economic stimulus plan is their game plan emerging well the game plan is that the game is taking a lot longer to finish than had been sabaidee or hoped for their number of competing proposals in the senate and the leaders of the senate now say it will be next week before they can sort them all out what impact might the agreement have on the stimulus plan that came out of the senate finance committee yesterday well the senate finance committee came out with a plan that somewhat bigger than the one that passed the house and will give bigger rebates and given to more people particularly to retirees who don't pay any taxes but might and don't earn any money in the labor  force it doesn't look like the democrats have sixty votes to get that through the senate so the best guess is that that will come up it will fail and eventually the senate will and with something that looks quite a bit like what already passed the house which has been aborted dorce by the president could we quickly review some of the differences that the senators are proposing compared to what the house passed earlier this week sure i mean basically i think the most important thing is that there the differences are very small and that in  thirteen trillion dollar economy the difference between one hundred sixty billion from the house or one hundred ninety odd billion from the senate is not really very significant so that's the first thing the senate has somewhat bigger rebates five hundred dollars a person or thousand dollars a couple as opposed to three hundred six hundred in the house bill they go to a wider set of people as i said about twenty million retirees and the senate also has done something which congress has often done in the past in recession which is extend unemployment benefits which run out at a certain point in recession and we don't want to make out employment benefits indefinite because that gives people very little incentive to find a job the house didn't include that extension which is traditional in recessions that the senate has republican leader mitch mcconnell has been pressing for the house version will senators get a chance to vote on that it looks like what they'll do is first of all it on the senate finance committee version then they'll vote on a version that some other senate democrats are pushing and then they'll finally be a vote on something which looks like an amended version of the house package so yes they'll get their way but will have to go through some steps first what's the white house saying about the economic stimulus efforts in the senate the white house says the senate should pass the house bill treasury secretary henry paulson said today that what the senate's doing is too complex putting in all this other stuff he says will make it too complicated and will slow the bill and slow the cutting of checks to individual americans and then how about house leaders who negotiated their plan with the administration well i haven't seen any comments from the house leaders yet today but judging from what we've seen in the past the house leaders are usually impatient with the senate that's sort of a state of nature and part today is probably day when they're impatient with the senate again david wessel economics editor with the wall street journal we thank you for your time a pleasure and senators may also continue working on the senate foreign intelligence surveillance bill both the health and the senate passed a short term extensions earlier this week it was set to expire tomorrow the house is not in session today or tomorrow house members are away on a political retreat