said that a tax increase at this time would be foolish what we should be talking about is a tax cut and actually what we should be talking about here and what we on our side would like to do quite honestly is put in that we should put one in it's a little bit longer at least so that there's some predictability in tax laws but under no circumstances should we put in place and a m t fix which is coupled with a tax increase or which is terrible policy such as this virgin island loophole and the state legislature loophole that's put in put in this bill so that's why we resist this approach now the majority the majority leader when he was majority leader but the republican leader came to the floor couple days ago and he suggested three or four different avenues where we could correct this problem and they were all fairly reasonable i don't know why they were rejected by the other side of the aisle but  my sense is that we should be able to work this out because i honestly believe when i listen to the chairman of committee that there is not much difference between where he wants to go and where our side would like to end up which is let's straighten out the  let's put all this additional tax policy in these tax increases would you come from the house aside let's just let's just say well the house got off on the wrong track let's just take this approach of doing a m t and do a m t and fix that and then if the house wants to come back with a tax increase bill will fight that out in a separate agenda separate separate but we can on our side support a bill and vote for cloture on a bill which would mean we'd be shut off from a this vote in a way which would basically put us in a position which would potentially lead to a tax increase in order to correct what is an underlying important  concerned about the fact that we would be able to be allowed our amendments or our approach if we are if the other side position is well we're willing to give your vote so let's just set that up right now let's set up let's take the minority leader the republican leadership position set up three or four votes in tandem make them all sixty vote hurdle so that's what that requires is that's what will hire because pay goes going to wave on every one of them and then vote bang bang bang bang bang let's not go through this exercise on this on on cloture we want to correct the a m t problem we think it should be corrected we don't think the way to correct it is to raise taxes on the productive side of the american agenda and potentially throw us into a further slowdown of the economy or force people to go overseas in order to raise capital or alternatively put in place policies which basically make the virgin islands a safe haven for tax people on avoid american taxes or give sta period that's an option but to get there we need to get to the bill senior senator from new hampshire is recognized i would like to then renew the because i don't think this is inconsistent with what the senator from montana the chairman of the finance committee has asked for and i'd like to renew the majority of the republican leaders in the flat tax provided for the that there be an additional two hours for debate on the bill equally divided between the two leaders or their designees that there be a time limitation of two hours for debate on each amendment equally divided in the usual form provided that each amendment would require sixty votes in the affirmative for adoption and that each amendment does not receive sixty votes in the withdrawn i further asked that notwithstanding the adoption of a substitute and the other amendments speak in order and find the following exoneration of the above then votes the required for passage of the bill as amended and i would simply state that this this outlines a procedure to accomplish what i believe the senator from montana requested because it does have his first degree there are three other minutes in there but there are also object to sixty votes the session of the ensign in the dim it they're all subject to sixty votes and if they fail they fail and one presumes that depending on the position of the senator from montana since he controls more than votes and forty votes on his side that would happen and that we proceed in this way the other provisions listed that consent have nothing to do with filter minimum tax once the bush tax cuts they don't spend two thousand and ten we're talking about two thousand seven right now this month that's a flat tax my gosh has nothing do with alter middle tax that says it's just a whole nother issue has nothing to do with what we're trying to accomplish here today and i just urge senators we keep our eye on the ball as get always a m t patch asked that's what we're talking about here so i must understand fund and he feels that this is a suggestion he's proposing is the right way to proceed but i would note that this subject everything to a time when the yes the flat tax is going to be debated for two hours and no it's not going to get sixty votes so no it will not be in the final package  and that yes the ensign proposal which is essentially repeal a m t and also extend the cap gains dividends rates i believe that's a proposal i can't represented as totally that would be brought dated for two hours then we'd move on i would vote for that i would actually hope that that one might pass but in any event this sets out a very pretty tight time frame i mean if you take all the factors here we could finish this say well sometime around seven o'clock tonight and sue me if i want to talk for two hours which they probably wouldn't and be done we get it done get the a m t straightened out and and have done some good work around here  senator hatch said without objection so ordered this junior senator from texas is recognized mr president i'm not without sympathy for the position argued by the distinguished chairman of the finance committee i think the list of horrible that he is recounted by the fact that the a m t is not indexed and will cover up to roughly i think the figure is now twenty three million taxpayers unless we act i'm not without sympathy for what he is trying to do here  but the problem is we are not going to agree on this side to raise taxes against the american people in order to pay for a tax cut for others it's just simply that that that clear we're not going to agree to raising taxes particularly  time for economy by what some of estimated would be eighty billion dollars a year we've i believe that three simple principles will help us find a solution one as we ought to protect the a m t the middle class from the rise of the key which president clinton vetoed a full repeal in one nine hundred ninety nine i wish he had i wish he hadn't done that then that would protect us from where we are today we ought to pass the expiring tax provisions a so called tax extenders for capital gains and dividends rates and an other tax relief which has contributed to fifty months of continuous and uninterrupted job growth since those tax relief was passed back in two thousand and three and we ought to do both without raising taxes on the american people unfortunate we know a tax increase is like throwing a wet blanket on the american economy and the a m t if we don't act we'll hit about eight hundred seventy thousand of my constituents up from one hundred fifty thousand now and i would hope that and it sounds to me like the distinguished chairman the finance committee is sympathetic to the direction that we'd like to move that this bill unfortunate is not represent but as long as we're presented with the choice of cutting the empty by raising taxes by eighty billion dollars i don't believe we're going to see any progress at the floor there is time expired kinds of income every year today there are four million people that are paying a m t if we don't do something about it there will be twenty five million tomorrow and to be honest with you because we've delayed so long we're going to be in a bind as far as even getting the software the paperwork done the i r s work done to be able to give people their refunds this next year because of the delays that we've had here now i respect our distinguished chairman of the committee it's been a very very difficult kind of made committe demand management he's done a well as anybody i can imagine but the fact of the matter is it we need to fix the a m t but the devil's in the details and i cannot support a player that prevents a ta that prevents a tax increase on millions of americans by raising taxes on others congress never anticipated having anywhere near this level of a m t revenues to begin with so we should not be raising taxes permanently to make up for that phantom lost every day even if we were to patch the m k today the american people will suffer from our inaction we have known that the empty train was coming down the tracks all year now this third act is setting new standards for ineptitude and i don't blame anybody for it it's a very dysfunctional congress in many ways three weeks ago the failure to pass the a m t was merely creating uncertainty for millions of americans who would be subject to it if we dropped the ball three weeks later these poor folks are barely the half of it quorum call on the floor of the senate as senators today considering changes to the alternative minimum tax an estimated twenty one million additional people will be affected by the tax next year if changes are not made the bill also extends expiring tax cuts and offsets the loss in tax revenue by raising taxes for private equity managers venture capitalists and others vote scheduled that eleven forty five eastern for this motion to proceed to consideration of the bill again that should be eleven forty five eastern sixty votes are needed we will have live coverage of that vote as it takes place here in the senate on cspan to corum call continues on the floor of the senate we have the story that is just breaking here on c span two senate republicans chose lamar alexander of tennessee to be their third ranking leader today turning aside a bit by richard burr of north carolina this is from the associated press alexander former governor and presidential candidate was elected chair of the republican conference in secret balloting at a closed meeting in the capital he succeeds arizona senator jon kyl who was unopposed in ascending to the second highest party po it before we cast our vote this morning american should know exactly what we're voting on this is not a vote on fixing the a m t this is a vote to raise taxes every year for the last four years republicans in congress have found a way usually about may of the year in question to correct a glitch in the tax code that threatens to affect more and more families each year this is a middle class tax that was never meant to be it was created to make sure that one hundred fifty five super rich individuals couldn't avoid paying axis but because the people who wrote it didn't account for inflation it now threatens twenty five million middle class families republicans have always found a way to deal with this problem with the tax laws and we did it without raising taxes but the majority who now control congress have a different view they don't want to protect the twenty five million americans who get hit by this glitch over the next few months unless republicans agree to graze to raise taxes on other americans in the process again what we're talking about here is extending current  which normally we have done and adding a new condition to that saying we're only going to extend this tax break unless we raise taxes on a whole lot of other americans now republicans will respond to this proposal in the same way we responded to it publicly and privately all year no deal no tax hike democrats ought to get forces into accepting this proposal by waiting until the last days of the session to call a vote but they were wrong what they've forced instead is a crisis they fix this glitch millions of americans including more than three million and new york ninety eight thousand and of that eight hundred nineteen thousand in illinois will get a big surprise when they sit down to do their taxes over the next few months millions more will face delays in getting the tax refund checks they count on every year the majority needs to find a way to fix this problem before it gets even worse we've been warning them about it all year long the senior republican on the finance committee reminded us yesterday that he's spoken on the senate floor on this issue no fewer than twelve times and last january senator grass on this issue no fewer than twelve times since last january to try secretary sent us urgent letters the r s n as urgent letters there's really no excuse for the delay this is a problem we can solve we have shown the democrats hal we don't need the majority leader to do a backflip off the secretary's chair as he suggested yesterday we want him to give us a fix that does not raise taxes that is  that is simple this will work and this will not put the majority leader or anyone else at risk of any physical harm so far the majority of our it is our offer and so here we are about to vote on a massive ta that we know won't pass the senate and which we know the president wouldn't even sign if it did pass the senate instead of doing our job and fixing this middle class tax hike with all due respect this is no way to legislate it let me be very clear to my colleagues across the our republicans will not raise taxes will not raise taxes and exchange for blocking a tax that was never met to be our position is never been a secret the democrats have known it all year i will vote against this massive tax hike and i would urge all of our colleagues to do the s the majority leader is recognized during the clinton years we did some good things for this country and when the history books are written one of the things that will be paramount in those accounts will be what president clinton did with his allies in congress to turn the country around economically was present during the clinton years we were paying down the debt by half a trillion dollars we were spending less money and we were taking in and we can all look back to those days were alan greenspan told us and committees assembled that we should cut back we were paying down the debt too quickly when president bush took office there was a seven trillion dollar surplus over ten years with all the things that he has done to bankrupt this country we are now in a debt of some ten trillion dollars the bill we have before us is a bill that says this tax needs to be patched but it should be paid for that's what we did in the clinton years that's what we did in our budget we passed here mr president we passed the first budget in this senate in three years our modest majority by one is tim johnson who said we passed a again following the clinton example a balanced budget where we said we believe that if you're going to have new programs they should be paid for it's called paygo we said if they're going to be a cut in taxes they should be paid for the speaker has followed this and we have a bill now from the house of representatives that takes care of the patch but pays for it isn't that what the american people want is that the example we should set for them that you have we spent some money we have to make provisions to pay for if you have a home and you suddenly decide that you need something  refrigerator and your credit card is at its maximum and you can't buy that refrigerator there has to be some ability in this congress to treat this body just as a family treats its own budget and mr president the wailing and crying we're hearing here is that they find it offensive the words my distinguished republican colleague senator mccon yesterday they find it offensive to have to pay for these tax cuts well i hope everyone understands we're trying to do what is right but we're trying to have the government of the united states not be one buried in reading all the time there's a fifty billion dollar patch shouldn't be paid for the answer is obviously yes i would hope everyone would vote for cloture on this most important piece of legislation under the previous order the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture cloture motion we then are signed senators in accordance with their visions of rule twenty two of the standing rules of the senate to here by move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to counter number forty seven mr coburn mr cochran mr coleman mr eleven mr lieberman mrs lincoln mr lott mr lugar mr martinez mr mrs murray mr nelson of florida mr nelson of nebraska mr obama mr pryor mr reed of rhode island mr tester senators voting in the affirmative baucus brown and in no way senators voting in the negative alexander bond corker and  mr menendez mr menendez mr roberts mr roberts no mr sanders mr sanders  mr smith mr smith no mr brownback mr brownback  that it will be in order majority leaders recognized as present i enter a motion to reconsider that the motion to reconsider is entered mispresent majority leaders recognize that it will be an order  him he will do a wonderful job i also extend my appreciation to sir john kyl my center from my neighboring state of arizona who is going to replace trent lott i have expressed  arizona the country in the senate and i look for to working with both of them the as as we often do here on the senate floor as senator kyl who is a before coming here was a distinguished lawyer and i spent a lot of time in the courtroom myself it's totally appropriate that we here on the senate floor advocate for our constituency for our party and for individual senators in the best way that we know how but it's also very important that we maintain cordial relationships as we have well as we learned in our court experiences no matter how difficult the case might be no matter how tense might be the argument to a jury or to the judge in that courtroom is the journey the attorneys walk out shake hands go have a sandwich have a drink and go on and prepare for the next case and that's what i say to my friend lamar and jon kyl we're going to have some debates here in the senate floor that's what the senate's all about some say it's the greatest debating some organization has for the world i don't know whether that's the case and i've been involved in a few debates and a few tense times here on the floor  i always try and i haven't always been totally successful at those but i always try to put my emotions aside and walk off the senate floor and try to be friends with those that i was advocating against that it be substitute in the low there the bill be read a third time pass most reconsider be laid on the table so for everyone to hear mr president in the non legal words what i've asked is that we proceed in spite of how i would rather we not do this we proceed to vote for a m t a one year patch that's not paid for i've already given a speech prior to vote on the motion of vote cloture hell wrong i think this is but i also understand help portman is that we have the patch this patch would affect people who make from seventy five thousand to half a million dollars a year average tax of some two thousand dollars this tax was not meant to cover those people and therefore we should do the patch i would rather it were paid for i'm asking consent that we would be allowed to vote on this by simply accepting this there would need to be a vote there would be no debate if we get no objections to this then the empty would be patched for a one year we're going to have to object and objection is heard this doesn't i simply say to my friend i hope that's the case i hope we can move to this i'm a little suspect because we've been trying to work something out for speaking to heart's content and meantime we'll try to have something here legislature that we can work on so i just want to take a brief moment i was called off the floor just as the majority leader was saying some very nice things about me i heard most of them i regret that i didn't hear them all but i'll ask him to repeat them privately in any event i want to thank him for his kind remarks it is true that we are neighbors and as a result have had an opportunity to work together on a lot of things and it doesn't matter which side of the aisle we're on we can certainly do that and i also appreciate it is the old story about the lawyers who fight for their client's interest during the day going at it to the mail but then when the day is over they get together but as i heard the story it wasn't that they get know their first sandwich i always thought they got together for a drink at the end of the day but recognizing the majority leader's bant i appreciate the story and he certainly has my assurance that i'll approach the position which eventually will take here in a matter of a few days in that same spirit and again appreciate the comments that he made  i appreciate the opportunity to to pay tribute to a fallen soldier from my state the commonwealth of kentucky is mourning today because of the loss of one of our finest soldiers and i'm speaking of staff sergeant joe l dunnigan jr a bent he was thirty seven years old staff sergeant done against assignment was guarding a convoy of u s marines near fallujah in iraq when on march the eleventh two thousand and four an explosive device set by terrorists detonated near his humvee tragically taking his life staff sergeant donnegan who will always be remembered by his family as joey wore his country's uniform for twenty years because he was proud to serve joy lived his life the way he served his country he was gung ho about everything his stepfather sammy pride and joy was gungho from a very early age his family remembers that growing up joy love playing army his favorite toy was  joe in fact family members often called him joey as a young boy he participated in cub scouting and was an avid player of baseball and football joy was also musically inclined playing the trombone in the marshall county high school marching marshals he enjoyed watching nascar races and was a big fan of driver jeff gordon in fact his family remembers spottily the time joy was able to enlisted in the us army a month before his eighteenth birthday he told his mother dana bryant that she should either give her permission for him to enlist at age seventeen or he would enlisted soon as he turned eighteen but either way it was enlisting it was very serious about enlisting because he wanted to serve his country as a letter written by joyce family and sent to me by his mother dana so dana gave her permission to jolie became a soldier after completing basic training in fort benning down in georgia joey deployed to germany for his first tour of duty over the course of his army career he would also serve two tours of duty in south korea and inspire many younger soldiers through his work as an army however he served joy excelled at earning the respect and admiration of his fellow soldiers he would have made an excellent drill instructors said his step father sammy when he walked into a room you could hear him above all the others family was important to joy donnegan with joy as guidance his younger brother michael bryant followed joy's example and joined the u s air force and at the center of joys life for his wife misty and his two sons dustin and jesse as an older more experienced soldier joyce looked after the younger men serving alongside him he knew the difficulties of serving far away from home and far away from loved ones in an email he wrote to his mother dana gioia wrote please continue to remember me and the guys he shared with his fellow soldiers his thirty sense of humor even in the face of hard combat duty despite their sadness family and friends break into smiles when remembering joy donnegan he didn't want to have sad moments today in a recall he didn't like to be serious it was a gung ho young man he was happy bubbly infectious the day after staff sergeant done against family received the tragic news of his death an american flag blew it have stepped outside of dana and sammy bryant's home joey was very at the cemetery of his home church in benton kentucky on march twenty first two thousand and four he will be forever remembered by his wife misty his son dust and jessie his mother and stepfather dana and sammy bryant his father joe his sister robin collie his brother michael br his grandfather paul henson and many other beloved family members and friends mr president i want to leave my colleagues with the words of joy's family written in that letter sent to me by his mother that i mentioned earlier joe is a hero they write he loved god his family marshall county and his country he was born to and dedicated to  protect his country and fellow man i'm glad mrs bryant sent me this letter that expresses the depth of her son's courage and conviction spar better than i could in the center for more gun present i've come to the floor today with my colleague senator smith because many oregonians are hurting at home today for three days this week our state has been slammed by a storm the strength of which boggles the mind hurricane force winds with gusts exceeding one hundred twenty miles an hour almost a foot of rain raising water levels in some areas by twenty five feet in less than forty eight hours hundreds of our people are now in shelters hands of thousands are without power don't have thousands of oregonians have been willing to step forward with incredible acts of courage and generosity using helicopters and boats the oregon national guard and the coast guard have really come through for our folks rescuing hundreds of people trapped by rising water along with activating the national guard the governor has brought every state agency to help take care of the needs of the displaced get communications restored fix the roads clear the bridges and begin to assess the extraordinary damage and we especially today both of oregon's senators want to thank the oregon trail chapter of the red cross because they immediately moved into the affected areas and opened shelters they provided meals and they've now been assisting with the clean up the governor 's asked the president to declare a major disaster and our state and all of the oregon congressional delegation join the governor in urging the president can grant this request immediately from fema emergency management agency have arrived in our state they're going to begin making formal damage assessments today senator smith and i just talked to secretary chertoff on the phone and we ask for the department of homeland security to pull out all the stop aid our state immediately the immediate priority is to get our citizens the help they need to survive during these critical days once the full extent of the damage is known oregon and washington the hard hit pacific northwest is going to need federal assistance in recovering from the disaster this is s going to entail rebuilding roads and other essential parts of our infrastructure senator smith and i we are committed this morning to getting the help that is so urgently needed by the people of oregon we believe that it's critical critical in terms of timing that this help be made available now so that folks can get back on their feet we intend to pursue a variety of options including adding emergency funding to future spending bills if that is necessary i want to yield the rest of my time to my colleague senator smith we believe on oregon issues there are no partisan questions and today the people of our state are hurting and both of oregon's united states senators are committed to getting the help the help that is needed to sustain lives at home to the pacific northwest of the people of henri oregon immediately the president i yield my time organs recognized mr president i think my colleague  or being here with me today and with me on the phone moments ago with secretary chertoff doing what we can as oregon senators to best help those of our our state who have been devastated by this storm we would both like to be there in fact mr president on monday senator wyden and i were holding our sixth annual economic forum and hosting it in portland when we rushed to the air  airport in the midst of this incredible storm our plane could not land so we hopped on another plane that could take off but apparently it's it's apparently easier to take off and land in conditions as horrible as dreadful as those were to make it back to boats we would both like to be with our citizens of our state right now we in fact can do the most good for them by pulling all the levers we can here and using the leverage we have working in a bipartisan way to make sure that the federal government fully does its part and then calling upon president bush along with our governor ted kulongoski to as soon as  is possible to declare a and immediate major disaster declaration to free up all the the resources that the federal government can bring to bear i do want to commend him and the coast guard in particular theme in particular took a lot of criticism as the result of hurricane katrina we've had our own version of that now in oregon their response in oregon has been spectacular commendable and we commend them as oregon senators we thank the coast guard and literally a twenty four hour period the coast guard responded to well over six hundred emergency calls  and was able to save a tremendous amount of human life and extraordinary circumstances we thank them for this it seems mr president that as i consider our country and our our values and the kinds of storms and catastrophes that beset our country we can't stop mother nature but mother nature cannot break the spirit of the american people i look at the great motto that's just above your desk unum out of many one i'm reminded in disaster times like this that when when these events occur the many show up and become one and go and risk life to save one this is a tremendous act of selflessness and i applaud those and a few cases they were not able to save a number of lives but it was not because there was an extraordinary effort to do so so i think our federal response today i urge and at that disaster declaration as soon as is possible you know hurricane katrina was stronger it was an unbelievable catastrophe to the southwest to the southeast in the northwest so we have our own types of natural disasters ranging from earthquakes volcanoes to these kinds of storms a barrel in off the off the pacific that can do an believable amounts of damage in terms of landslides tearing roofs off of homes and causing rotten rivers to rise at record ra around the town of tillamook a river there rose literally twenty and a half feet within a few hours time sweeping away livestock homes tragically a few people but the response has been magnificent from all kinds of charitable organizations as senator wyden said the red cross in particular many church communities are coming to the rescue communications have been have been lost and so guess what happens the radio amateur radio operators are taking over and making sure that rescuers are able to be identified with those who need rescue  commend these people and we thank them and want them to know that whatever we can do as united oregon senators we will do for the sake of our state and we thank the federal government we thank the president united states we urge his immediate declaration so that we can do even more to bind up the psychological and the physical wounds and the property damage that has afflicted so many counties in the state of oregon and with that mr president i thank you for the time and i want to assure our the people of our state that we in the federal government will do our part and we will stay on this job until it is done  hundred eighty six to repeal the alternative minimum tax on individual and replace it with an alternative tax individuals may choose as president i would object to any further proceedings with respect to the bill  is heard the legislation would priest on the counter as the president of the center of new jersey's recognizes mr president today i rise on behalf of was one hundred thirty thousand new jersey homeowners who have a subprime mortgage i rise on behalf of the seven million american homeowners with the subprime mortgage and i rise on behalf of the more than two million americans who are or may be facing foreclosure in the coming years as a president this is a national crisis and certainly the time to respond is now families across this country are having their homes ripped from their grass and there's no end in sight some have been saying that the storm is over and others have been sitting silently as the black clouds roll by but the reality is that this storm is going to get worse more families are going to be facing foreclosure more homes are going to be lost and more damage is going to be done to our economy unless we act there is no point in letting an invisible hand guide this destruction if we have any sense of human compassion we will help these families now many families are in trouble because they got  good deal they didn't understand a long they couldn't afford and now they're adjustable rate mortgages are resetting but these families are just the beginning of the storm is only going to get worse many of the adjustable rate mortgages that were made in two thousand and six will explode with higher interest rates sometime in two thousand and eight and another type of adjustable rate mortgage known as the payment option are set to explode after that already foreclosure rates have doubled and tripled in many errors hundreds of thousands of families are already losing their homes over the next year absent strong action the wave will build into a mortgage tsunami not only will families lose their homes often the largest asset they have but the ripple effects will devastate neighborhoods in the broader economy if we do not act now to help these families the effect will be catastrophic we can see the storm coming we know the damage it will cause so we had better reinforce our levees and congress we should be working to help hundreds of thousands of homeowners modify their mortgages to avoid foreclosure we should be working to pass a bill that will help homeowners modify their loans for example in a bankruptcy proceeding and we must pass over  republican objections that we've had legislation to modernize the federal housing administration but this is just the beginning banks and lenders without the prodding of congress should be reaching out to help these troubled homeowners renegotiate loan terms this isn't the suggestion this is an expectation and president bush is announcing today his plan to address this crisis is reached an agreement with major mortgage firms to freeze interest rates for five years for financially troubled homeowners and while i applaud the president for taking the steps in the right direction plan simply does not seem to go far enough it seems to operate on the the assumption that we can that we only have to do what is minimally necessary pending on the details of this plan on how they determine who is eligible many homeowners may be left out in the cold a strictly narrow approach will keep relief out of reach for many who needed i'm concerned about the family next in line when they close the door on eligibility i'm concerned about the millions of americans who cannot pay their bills and i'm concerned that president bush's plan will only help a fraction of the families at risk hardworking families are at a crisis in america and in a time of crisis they expect strong and bold leadership to help them through we need to provide that leadership congress the administration and the industry all have key roles to play to help these families but what about the families that have yet to sign that stack of papers to get their future mortgage loan what about when my son or daughter or yours buys their first home but what about the homeowner who needs to refinance out of an unsustainable mortgage in order to protect those families we need to make sure that we stop predatory lending before it starts as a member of the senate banking committee i have repeatedly said that in order to prevent the mortgage crisis from happening again we need to find the root of the problem and fix it that requires all parts all parties mr president to step up to the plate and admit where they went wrong and not meet at a not me attitude will simply not work everybody who was responsible must be held accountable and i'm proud to be working with chairman dodd in the bill that will hold all parties accountable now when i consider what i hope to see in the final bill i looked at all of these responsible parties on the regulators to the lenders to the brokers and beyond but one particular piece concerned me and that's the secondary market in order to understand what i'm talking about i think it might help to step back for a moment and walk through the life of a sub prime loan a consumer decides to seek a loan to purchase a home or refinance an existing mortgage or more likely a broker or a lender approaches a consumer about a new loan as soon as the loan settles the broker gets a commission from both the consumer and the lender now here's where the secondary market comes in within ninety days after that consumer signs those settlement papers the lender sells the loan to that secondary market especially selling and essentially selling the loan to wall street that lender then watches its hands of the loan but keeps the fees regardless of what happens later on once in the secondary market the loan is bundled with thousands of other loans into what we call a mortgage backed securities this bundle of loans that passes through one or more corporate entities on its way to the trust where it will reside the trust is usually a private company with an investing firm the trust and slices these bundles loans into different categories call traunch those and investors purchase security and trust in the traunch it's the trust is considered the owner of the loan and the investors are represented by a trustee that acts on behalf of the trusts a service or possibly the original lender possibly another company services the loan on behalf of the trust meaning they collect and remit payments monitor the accounts and provide monthly reports to the trustees because the service or is the only one in direct contact with the homeowner most homeowners think the service or is actually the owner of their loan if the home goes into foreclosure it is the trusts that foreclose but for the homeowner they may not know who was foreclosing on them even if a homeowner had a predatory loan and has a good argument against foreclosure if that homeowner cannot identify the owner of the loan and hold them liable they  save their home that's the life of the loan and it is no wonder it's a process that few understand essentially the loans the hot potato it gets tossed from the broker to the lender to the trustee along the way each one writes their hands of responsibility after they send the loan on down the chain and when a bad deal this may each one points the finger at the previous owner well it's time to stop passing the buck and for me that buck must stop with wall street we cannot allow wall street to purchase loans without scrutinizing the details of that loan is the trustee had to make sure each loan was a good loan that it meets specific standards and practices and the lender had to make sure it was a good loans the brokers wouldn't have to stop making bad look the brokers would have to stop i should say making bad loans because they wouldn't be able to sell them if they did that's why i support a strong liability standard if a loan is made illegally or contains illegal terms the hone homeowner should be able to sue the owner of their loan otherwise who they hold accountable their broker and lender could both be long gone nearly a hundred some prime lenders have gone out of business in the last year alone and then where does the bar go for protection they have to be able to reach the holder of the loan without signing a liability  has no teeth yes of course we need stronger broker and lender standards but we also need a standard for wall street let me be clear i'm not talking about holding specific investors accountable who act much like shareholders in a public company they would see a reduction in the value of their stock of the company experienced financial losses but would not be personally responsible for this was talking about the trusts the company who owns the loan that is who must be liable this is not a popular provision that i'm calling for but i think it's the right thing to do we are in a crisis here in america and it is going to take bold decisions to get the system back on track these aren't just kinks that are going to work themselves out we've seen that the industry isn't just going to police itself ballance very changes are needed but the bottom line is without a cons ability we are not going to see responsible behavior as i said at the opening of these remarks and standing up today for the american homeowners if we want to prevent a similar problem from happening again in five or ten years time our final sub prime bill most of all wall street accountable as well there are steps we must take today in order to help tomorrow's homeowners we just can't kick the can down the road let's make sure our homeowners get their sustainable mortgages and that future homeowners are not caught in the future step crime storm enough is enough and it's time for real changes enjoyed working with chairman dodd on this issue over the past few months and look forward under his leadership to passing the strong subprime lending bill mr president center for wyoming thank you mr president i rise today in anger in disbelief and in disgust over the bureaucratic inner workings of washington there was a program called the abandoned mine lands program it was created as a federal state partnership with federal government collects the money and then it is designed to return half to the states over many years administrations of both parties have failed to honor the federal government's responsibility and commitment to the states and to the tribes i recently learned that the office of surface mining as decided to delay and withhold six hundred million dollars in funding owed to the people of wyoming and to deny hundreds of millions of dollars more odes to states nationwide they have used an internal policy memo to manipulate the law doing so is nothing short of outrageous this most recent decision it reeks of bureaucratic double speak and it does it to achieve an outcome that i believe was pre determined i cannot attempt to explain their decision or their reasoning because the decision to me was already pre determined this action represents a sad example of why so many americans and why mike constituents back home in wyoming have lost faith in washington the words of the washington bureaucrats ring hollow i am frankly amazed amazed that the bureaucrats can take the clear language the language from this body that says payments shall be made in seven equal installments payments shall be made in seven equal installments and then those then twist those words into a grant program requiring review and making an application their interpretation is inconsistent with the law that was debated by this body last year and signed by the president their interpretation is nothing less than nonsense and up structed mr president this summer just seventeen days after i was sworn into the senate i opposed the nomination of the director of the office surface mining in the energy committee over this very issue i asked specific questions and did not get specific answers now this mr president i take our legislative oversight responsibilities very seriously and i pledge to you i pledge to the people of wyoming and i pledge to the people of the other states and the other tribes who washington owes money  will explore every avenue every avenue available to right this wrong let's be clear this money is not washington's money this money belongs to the states and to the people it does not belong to washington and it does certainly not belong to washington's base of your ocracy mr president i been on the wall about the depth and magnitude of the sub prime loan crisis i've said time and time again that the bush administration needs to take off its ideological handcuffs and act quickly to prevent millions of families from losing their homes to the credit of treasury secretary paulson he seems to have loosen the in the administration's ideological handcuffs when it comes to the subprime mortgage crisis but the burning question is whether or not this administration's plan announced today will go far enough in helping families in need particularly when it's being announced at the same exact time that republicans in congress are blocking critical commonsense help targeted towards these same borrowers the president secretary paulson say they're for action f h a reform and a half hour ago when senator reid asked for it to come to the floor the republican colleagues blocked the bill has the white stop sending memos to the republicans in the house in the senate what is going on here i agree with secretary paulson that widescale loan modifications are key in helping prevent the foreclosure crisis i hearing that the plan being announced will be limited and targeted to only a limited set of borrowers who are at risk of losing their home i'm hearing from one of my constituents mrs diaz from staten island a hospital clerk i met as i talked about this issue back in new york would not be helped by this plan she and hundreds of thousands of other hard working families seeking help around likely to qualify for the administration's plan over two hundred thirty thousand americans will have lost their homes due to foreclosure in the second half of this year alone and just today foreclosures reached an all time high as did the number of americans who have fallen behind on their mortgage payments and many of these are people who could afford their homes if not for the subprime loans they received and we know that none of those families will be helped in this plan the bottom line with the administration's plan is that there are too many families who may be left out into little disclosure and transparency to ensure families who do qualify are being helped if as it's been reported the plan will exclude sub primes with three resets before january first two thousand and eight then according to the joint economic committee estimates the plan will not cover  hundred fifteen thousand homeowners who will be closed for close this quarter and will not cover the additional three hundred thousand to four hundred thousand who subprime resets have taken place in the second half of this year that's already close to half a million not being helped it's also been reported that the payment freeze will cover only borrowers who are current in their payments by definition this will exclude many of the borrowers who most need help they could be a couple of months in with some help they could solve their problems work out some kind of refinancing their out frankly i'm also very concerned about how this plan will be implemented we've heard for the last months from services that they've been modifying many troubled loans but it turns out this isn't exactly the case what's going to change and what's going to change in their calculations now do we have confidence that investors won't line up to bring lawsuits and bring this process to a grinding halt before it even begins even if this sound is planned the devil will be in the details of its implementation and for that reason it is imperative that the administration gather and make public data from the mortgage services and lenders about what they're doing we simply can't trust but we must trust but verify for a solution to the subprime crisis to be successful it must be transparent enough that all interested parties including homeowners investors and policy makers can verify that families are being helped this is even more true when it comes to this administration which is continually told us that the sub prime crisis is being contained some key information i believe needs to be provided to the public including the number of mortgages covered by the freeze the number and types of modifications offered the number of loans which are refinanced by f h a secure and the number of loans foreclose we need to get this right now and make sure that we do everything we can to make this rest rescue effort successful because if we wait three months six months a year the subprime crisis might overwhelm the economy and plunge us into recession the joint economic committee which i chair estimated that the spillover from the subprime foreclosure crisis could exceed one hundred billion dollars for homeowners their neighbors and the local tax base on top of the subprime foreclosure losses the continuing housing slump could be a massive blow to the economy economists like robert shiller who recently spoke before our committee estimate that a ten percent decline in housing prices could lead to an overall two point three trillion dollar economic loss at a time when this country can least afford it what does that mean for mrs diaz and the millions of other families who have lost their homes or on the brink of foreclosure or for their neighbors because their neighbors are beginning to worry too when our homes are worth less than they were only a year ago it's difficult to make mortgage payments each month when there isn't much in the bank account to pay high energy and health care bills people get anxious instead of easing americans anxiety republicans in this my body and for too many months in this administration have ignored that anxiety while we've been pushing to help american families they were nowhere to before be found there are things that we can do beyond what secretary paul has proposed senators brown casey and i with critical help from senator murray got two hundred million dollars in the appropriations bill for housing counseling organizations that can provide help yet instead of enthusiastically lining up behind this funding to help homeowners the administration is threatening to veto this critical funding that could help loan modification efforts like those being pushed by secretary paulson and instead of letting us pass an f h a reform bill that will allow this critical agency to help refinance trouble homeowners mr president as we speak senate republicans are blocking progress on this proposal for ideological reasons yes mr president there are some folks in the white house and on the other side of the aisle who believe no government involvement let the chips fall where they may that will hurt millions and millions and millions of innocent people that could lead to a recession that is not what the american people want so i say to the president and to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle take off your ideological handcuffs solve this problem that is afflicting america the american people are not ideologues left or right they want common sense practical solutions to solve this problem and the most frustrating thing mr president we know how to solve this problem in good part we're being blocked every step of the way again secretary paulson in the president's announcement is a good first step for the first time they are taking off the ideological straitjacket and putting their toe in the water but now they've got to get into the pool this is not a small problem this is not something that takes minor and half baked measures to succeed to and we're waiting the american people are waiting the homeowners on on the brink of foreclosure awaiting but so are their neighbors and so is every business owner in this economy i urge my republican colleagues to take off the blinders stop blocking assistance to families that will lose their homes unless we act allow us to pass the commonsense measures and convince this administration not to veto help for american homeowners during this holiday season i yield t mr president says the majority leader this president i want to thank my colleague from new york senator schumer's been a leader on this issue involving our nation's crisis involving subprime mortgages i think he's made constructive suggestions and was the author with several colleagues of an amendment to the transportation bill to provide some two hundred million dollars for housing counselors important advice and help for a lot of families facing foreclosure i thank him for that leadership and for his remarks on the floor there's been a lot of talk of both ends of pennsylvania avenue about the so called national mortgage crisis it's more than a marge crisis in america it's an economic crisis this is a crisis for everyone facing a foreclosure for their neighbors who will watch the values of their homes klein for local governments that will see revenues from property taxes diminish and for every company struggling to finance a business with the banking industry that has contributed to these foreclosures it's a crisis for all americans and it's time that this administration woke up to that reality over two million americans are about to lose their home to foreclosure forty four and a half million americans who live in their neighborhoods or watched the values of their homes diminish a home for many families is their most important and valuable asset through no fault of their own many people will see that asset losing value it will lose value at their expense and they know it we also know as well that homeowners living near foreclosed properties may see as much as five thousand dollars in the values of their home go down i represent the state of illinois in the county of cook which is where you find the city of chicago where we find some fifty nine thousand foreclosures that are looming and we estimate that some two million residences in cook county will see their value go down as a result of it that's two thirds of the residences in the county of cook one of the largest counties in america i went to the west side of chicago recently with alderman bob theoretic walk through a neighborhood where houses are boarded up because of foreclosure were auctioned science or out the front yard bob told me that many of these same townhouses were selling for three hundred thousand dollars or more just recently and now they're on an auction block for around one hundred thousand dollars what does it mean for the neighbor who spent three hundred thousand dollars on his home and now watches an auction of the next door neighbor old house one hundred thousand dollars it's bad news bad news for america the u s conference of mayors a major mayors projects that this crisis will result in five hundred twenty four thousand fewer jobs in america that's pretty obvious from the housing industry alone drop in consumer spending the loss of billions of dollars in tax revenue and a slowdown in economic growth in america this is not a small issue it is a major issue when it comes to the american  economy the chief economist of moody's economy dot com said yesterday in a hearing that i chaired quote there is a substantial risk that the housing downturn and surging foreclosures will result in a national economic recession if what we face is truly an economic crisis the response from this administration has been totally inadequate we convene summits to get the industry to agree to have their problem we've suggested refinancing guidelines to ease industry bickering about how to help people refinance we pressure the industry to reach out to borrowers early help them before the families get too deep in debt and there are all positive steps but moody's reports the for most loan servicers only one percent of the loans whose interest rates jumped in the first half of this year have been modified to help the homeowners continue to pay for their homes nothing beyond that meager industry has been done by this government to deal with this reality that is completely inadequate much much more needs to be done and it must be done now compare our situation to what happened in the late one nine hundred twenty s in america when housing prices in and housing prices in another crisis dropped thirty percent in one nine hundred thirty two congress collaborated with the real estate industry to establish the federal home loan bank system modeled after the federal reserve to create a special lender of last resort for real estate a year later congress modified bankruptcy law to allow insolvent wage earners to protect themselves from addiction a year after that congress created the federal housing administration to insure mortgages that were reasonable for the borrower by insisting on some mortgage terms nine hundred thirty eight congress created fannie mae eventually leading to huge securitization of mortgages compare that to what we're talking about the now jawboning conversations let's hope major parts of the industry decide they want to cooperate that's not leadership that's begging this list of government actions taken seventy five years ago highlights how little we've done to deal with economic crisis let me tell you what we proposed in this democratic congress a bill by senator dodd chairman of the senate banking committee to reform the federal housing administration and make loans available to families desperately needing him a bill by senator the bankruptcy court as a last resort so that families don't lose their homes f h a fannie mae bankruptcy the congress in the late twenty's and early thirty's understood the magnitude of the challenge and they acted as for the congress and this year some of us get it but unfortunately our efforts to pass this legislation have in many instances been stopped by the republican minority that's a fortune it's a pattern that's emerged in this congress this floor of the senate has been virtually empty this week you haven't seen senators come to the floor here proposing important legislation to deal with america's economic crisis to take seriously the economic challenges facing families no once in a while a republican senator comes to the floor to try to stop the business of the senate under the arcane senate rules they can do it and they've done it we just tried to bring up the alternative minimum tax it's a tax which is creeping forward and enveloping more and more taxpayers every year some one thousand million americans will be helped by this tax which was never the intention when it was created we wanted to bring a bill to the floor this morning a bill to change this and protect those tax payers a vote on the bill was forty seven to forty seven not one single republican senator voted to stop the alternative minimum tax from hitting nineteen million americans not one would cross the aisle why there's no reason no reason given other than the fact that time and time again the republican minority wants to stop the business of the senate whether it's a tax that needs to be reformed a mortgage crisis that needs to be addressed time and time again the republicans are using yesterday's tactics of obstruction yesterday's tactics of creating obstacles when america wants bipartisan cooperation and compromise that's why we're here the democrats have a scant majority fifty one to forty nine of the senate rules there is not a lot of things we can do take sixty votes for important decisions republicans know it and they're determined to stop any progress when it comes to solving america's problems we want change we want to move forward they are stuck in the past yesterday's party using yesterday's tactics and the american people are watching well let me say that this administration has come forward with a plan dealing with the mortgage issue it's a short term relief to deal with exploding interest rates for some families it's good but not good enough from the details we received thus far it's been reported that only twelve percent of subprime borrowers about two hundred forty thousand homeowners will be eligible for this help that is really unfortunate twelve percent when we have over to my million maybe three million americans facing foreclosure were going to happen only help one out of eight that's it that's as good as it c get i don't accept and even fewer may find help eventually after jumping through all the hoops it may be a ten percent solution for some not good enough one of the millions of people who will still lose their homes even if the bush plan is adopted is nettie mcgee whom i met a couple days ago what a great lady betty mcgee seventy three years old lives on the south side of chicago worked real hard during her life  picture frame factory retired at the age of sixty five and her dream came true for the first time in her life nettie mcgee was able to buy a home so proud of it talks about that home came to us yesterday in a hearing and told us what it meant to finally have her dream come true well she ran into a problem turned out her backyard wasn't on the same tax bill is her home she got a notice the taxes hadn't been paid in the backyard because they were being sent somewhere else she didn't know it she was five thousand dollars in debt to pay her property taxes and this poor lady didn't have it she was living on social security so she saw an ad on t v we see em all the time you can get a mortgage you can refinance she called number next thing you know the next day up pops a fellow says oh we can answer all your prayers we're going to provide you five thousand dollars and we're going to refinance your house well mr mcgee said the following day she was invited to a closing think of how fast this was moving the following day she went to closing she said in less than fifteen minutes they have forty pages in front of her and kept turning the pages and said keep signing keep signing keep signing and she did she walked out the door with the money she needed to pay off for texas she felt pretty good about it she went home i'm started making payments everything was just fine till two months ago and they called her and said incidentally mr de those papers you signed you've got an adjustable rate mortgage now it's not a fixed rate mortgage and instead of paying some six percent you can pay nine percent in interest that meant that her monthly payments went up two hundred dollars a month you know member of congress may not miss two hundred bucks a month but miss mcgee will the monthly payment which she's now required to make will take all of the money that is sent to her and her so security check she's about to lose at home after ten years of living her dream she's about to lose it she's one of the victims that we're talking about because of the reset of an adjustable rate mortgage you would hope that miss mcgee is just the kind of person to be helped by the administration suggestion on margins but sadly she's not she wouldn't qualify and that's really sad and it tells you that this is a safety net that has too big a hole in it and a lot of poor people are going to fall through i have a plan that will go further than the bush administration plan i want to change bankruptcy laws for about a fourth of the people facing foreclosure who end up in bankruptcy court i want to give him a chance if they've got enough income the court can order changing the terms of the mortgage the interest rate on the principal no lower than the fair market value of the property as at the time of the bankruptcy and by renegotiating the terms the people may be able to stay in their homes but what happens if the proposal that i had made doesn't become law well and be a real foreclosure they have to leave their homes the homes be sold on the market and for the lender what does it mean when you go through foreclosure it means fifty thousand dollars in debts for the foreclosure process it also means facing the possibility of a very real possibility that you're going to lose twenty to thirty percent of the value the loan the foreclosure sales well that's the reality and i hope we can change it and i hope that what we call the mortgage crisis will become a crisis that we respond to as a nation on a bipartisan basis congress and the president helping the american people realize their american dreams live in their homes and not see the value of their neighborhood diminish mr president university of wisconsin so you may recognize that name his name has been used in this for many times of the past eight years but the issue of embryonic stem cell research he is the man that discovered human embryonic stem cells just about ten years ago was thought that these sort of pluri potent embryonic stem we're going to solve a number of our human health problems and many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle embrace the news and said this is a fabulous thing and we're going to be able to now cure a number of people from diseases that have had great problems and difficulties and we want cures for them there was an ethical glitch with it and that it took the destruction of a human embryo to get these human embryonic stem cells in there  that the article i just submitted into the record is the book in on the other end of this debate that was started by professor thompson that many respects i hope is ended by professor thompson and his colleagues in this article  anyway because they've had a tumor formation problem but the ethical issue i'm hopeful that we're on the other book and end of this is now over that we don't need to destroy  human life for cures we don't need is for young human life or pluri potent cells we can do it much simpler and we can do it ethically and that good ethics is good science i put a  humans the university of tokyo professor had done this in mice earlier now protected the technique in human cells and both came out with an article basically saying the same thing the same day when saying these induced cells described here meet the defining criteria we originally proposed for human embryonic stem cells with the significant exception that the induced pluripotent stem cells are not derived from research this i know a number of people in the scientific field are saying great but let's let's not stop yet on embryonic stem cell work and destroying human embryos for research purposes let's not stop on human  though really would appear now the only reason to clone a human would be to bring a human to live birth at this point which i think still has everybody in this body opposed to that type of human cloning that is we're nowhere the that the father of dolly has said that he's given up on human cloning to go to this type of technique rather than human cloning to provide these sort of cures in research and in fact mr president if i could i'd like to also enter into the record at the end of my comments a telegraph article from the united kingdom  developing research that cures humans that is ethical that is sound and doesn't destroy human life i would know we have been able to do quite a bit of this already we've found recently there was a revelation  scientific work done by a northwestern university professor developing cure treatments for diabetes type one diabetes using stem cells but again this is adult stem cells  ethical moral no problem with this problem i found mostly whether it was a northwestern professor who was having to do this in brazil rather than in the united states to get support and funding but he's  saying this too early to call cure the procedure is unable to young people with type one diabetes to live insulin free so far some lost some as long as three years the treatment of all stem cells transplants and the patient's own blood  of the parents may be out here listening in and dealing with juvenile diabetes in the enormous difficulty of that this is fabulous fabulous news in humans and now we need a lot more of it and we needed to take place the united states is not in brazil and that's against brazil i'm glad for it to continue to be taking place there but i want to here i want to for our children to take place we now have as i've mentioned previously on this floor  seventy three different human applications for adult stem cells we have not been able to come up with any on the embryonic field yet i think probably a bigger number and we'll get this verified from my colleagues we don't have a verified yet but that somewhere north of four hundred thousand humans or hundred thousand people are now being treated with adult our cord blood stem cells in the united states different places around the world majority of  and in the united states citizens of course we're not have we don't have any in the embryonic the old because it continues to struggle with tumor formation as an issue but i just think these are wonderful numbers of treatments that we're getting in different human and then that hopefully that number we're going to be able to verify over four hundred thousand people actually treated with stem cells getting heart tissue to regenerate spinal cord tissue to regenerate parkinson's treatments coming forward just a beautiful host and set of treatments all with equal i would i do want to look at the budgetary numbers just briefly to remind and show these to my colleagues on where we've invested our taxpayer funding  this field and it's my hope that as we look at the numbers we've got an ethical issue on human embryonic stem cell research that i think i believe we've now crossed over the line that we need to do it i would hope we could continue to look at our funding issues here that we're putting a lot of money have put a lot of money into embryonic stem cell research we're now looking at one hundred forty million dollars f i two thousand and six six hundred  thirteen million nearly over half a billion dollars since two thousand and two in embryonic stem cell research of both human and non human types we have not treated a single patient yet with that money may i submit to my colleagues that half a billion over half a billion dollars we could be treating and developing these curers in the united states and not is not in brazil and trying to set aside all of the sharp edges that have now associated with this debate and just focusing on patients and treating people i hope we would say that we're all in this for cure we're all in this for treating people and so that if i could take portions of this bonds and put it into treating people and getting more people treated for parkinson's or congestive heart failure diabetes all things that we're actually doing and humans today but that need more research and funding that we would say ok you're right we don't have to go the embryonic stem cell right route now let's really go to where people are getting treated and let's treat people in that this is about curing people because that's what we've all debate and that's what we've all talked about for some period of time really curing people and we've got one is working we've got one that doesn't and you know we've invested pretty heavily in this and i just would ask my colleagues if there is some way that we could put the swords down we could talk about this rationally stop the fighting and say how do we how do we treat people on this because i believe that's all of our objectives on this and look at it rationally then mr president do thank my colleagues does and i think there indulgence on this debate it's going to continue to come up the next issue up is going to be human animal crosses just advised my colleagues on the say you're going to see people pushing to cross genetic material from mammal animals and to humans they're going to push forward they're going to say it's going to cure a lot of people i think this is just an enormous that they called their boundary that we really shouldn't be crossing at this point in time in our understanding of life and what it is to be human and i would really hope before we go that one that we would would all to gather together and say we're we're going to pause here for a while on this one this was just too big for all of us and we want to think about this for a while before do it left right m the senate today rejected a motion to move the alternative minimum tax bill forward all the republicans voted against that motion leaving democrats short of the sixty votes needed republicans opposed tax increases in the measure aimed at offsetting the a m t tax changing continuation of expiring tax cuts congress now reporting that the senate may consider a revised bill without tax offsets now an estimated additional twenty one million people will see taxes increase next year under a  unless congress changes the law our live coverage continuing here on c span two over on the other side of the capitol the house today working on an energy bill that raises fuel efficiency standards it also includes twenty one billion dollars in tax incentives and requires utilities to get more of their electricity from alternative sources like wind and solar you can follow the house over on our companion network c span for or mr president i come to the floor of the senate today to speak about two very important issues to america's taxpayers the first of course is the alternative minimum tax we had a cloture vote on this morning that is a very serious matter i voted against a motion to proceed because i don't believe the best way to prevent a tax increase on twenty five million taxpayers is to raise taxes elsewhere by about eighty billion dollars you know there's an old phrase out there saying that you're going to rob peter to pay paul well obviously peter fills his picked but paul might feel pretty good about it and that's the scheme that was played out here it's a switch kind of game that goes on the alternative minimum tax is important but you don't do what you're doing out there how can you give a tax break that's already there or by going out somewhere else and raising taxes to give it that's the issue at hand i hope the majority is serious about protecting millions of middle class taxpayers by bringing realistic bipartisan legislation to fix the a m t something that both sides of the aisle can and in all fairness should support mr president even though i didn't support how this legislation was crafted there was a provision in the tax extenders or package that i want to highlight because it's very important to taxpayers the bill we just voted on contains a provision to delay for one year a federal mandate that requires every level of government federal state and local deduct and to withhold a three percent tax on all payments of goods and services if that government spends one hundred million or more for those goods and all yeah that's a shuffle game that's been going on in the finance committee in the house in the senate for some time and it was slippin as a way to grab some money i saw that coming early on and began to object to it and began to look at the figures on it when others of us were saying well gee i thought that was the inability to raise some more money i was pleased that this issue was addressed finally but what we need is full repeal of this terrible tax policy not just a one year delay although i must say a one year delay is going to awaken a lot of my colleagues because their state and county and local governments city governments are going to be calling them if they happened and saying wake up you are putting up on top of us a substantial tax mr president i've come to the floor of the senate today to renew a promise i made over a year ago the same day this senate provided tax relief for millions of americans by passing the tax increase prevention and reconciliation act of zero five which i voted for i pledge to do all i could to remove this terrible provision that i've just talked about that was quietly slipped into the conference report as a last minute revenue raiser so i stand here today to renew that pledge last year i told members of the senate this provision would not go unnoticed and i was right once taxpayers learned that this congress had what this congress had done to the in the middle of the night when somebody wasn't watching they began to react angry taxpayers from across the nation are joining forces organizing coalitions and rallying grassroots support to fix this and just tax policy i applaud them for their efforts and i'm here to help them mr president let me take a couple of minutes to share with you what hundreds of angry taxpayers have shared with me i want every member of the senate to listen carefully i want you to understand how this three percent tax withholding will affect each and every one of your constituents i want you to understand why this mandatory three percent withholding tax is so bad first three percent withholding was justified in the name of closing a tax gap proponents argued it would improve compliance i'll show you the chart here they say it will improve tax compliance by approximately seven billion dollars over five years well i don't agree and neither do the numbers the numbers are based on joint taxes original estimates these numbers are simply a slightly different when you take the one year delay that was in the provision we had on the floor this morning into account but these numbers tell the story of why this is such a terrible provision two thousand and eleven the first year this provision goes into effect this three percent withholding tax accounts for about six point seven nine billion dollars in new revenue boon a big chunk of new revenue can't you see the spenders here on the floor of the senate salivating as they factor that into their budgets and bring down their deficit margins however each year after this provision only brings in about two hundred million why is that i'll tell you because about five point eight billion will be rightly returned to the taxpayer each year thereafter so it's a big bubble once but then it's a constant tax proponents argue that three percent withholding will improve tax compliance by seven billion over five years it's simply not true the real value of increased tax compliance is only about two hundred million dollars the bulk of these revenues five point eight billion dollars are not found it's not real money they are accelerated tax receipts contemplate that into any private or public budget or revenue and my guess is an accountant would say you're cooking the books you can't get away with that that's not real money and many of our tax payers are already saying yep tical of what we do around here and would suggest that we're not dealing in the real world in our desire to spend money and pay for it in some way that's exactly what's happening here the finance committees in the conference to put this in cook the books and as the pressure builds that's why well we better push this back for one year now even though these estimates say you are bringing in two hundred million in new revenue which is a good thing i guess there are i'm i hear i'm here to argue that the harmful consequence of withholding three percent on all payments of goods and services and when i said that the presiding chair brought his head up and the reason he didn't the reason any of us do when we hear about these things is wait a moment you're taxing goods and services of counties and cities and state government and why are you doing that this is going to far out see the benefit we gain from an additional tax revenue because somehow it makes its way through obviously to the constituent at the local level not only are their numbers misleading but the unintended consequences of this tax withholding are very serious who is going to bear the burden of enforcement and implementation the i r s the federal government all no no the burden is going to be borne by state and local governments your cities my cities our counties our state and companies large and small that does that do business with our government are going to have to reach into their pockets in advance and the magical threshold is one hundred million dollars a that's only for the biggies well a lot of our are cities out there today and a lot of our counties out there today and certainly all of our states fit into that category let me give you an idea of what i'm talking about the state controller office in my state of idaho an office that would oversee compliance of all state agencies with this new tax withholding requirement conservatively estimate that it would cost the bat office that office alone about three hundred fifty eight million three hundred fifty eight thousand to implement and about seventy eight thousand dollars a year to carry it on all remember this is a state of one point five million people this is not ten or twelve or fourteen million people those are real dollars now that is just one office in a small state when you add all the other idaho's state agencies and offices that must also comply those numbers will go up so it's not overstating the case to say that tax withholding will collectively cost my state of idaho millions of dollars just to implement not think of what it would cost state of colorado substantially larger than the state of idaho the state of california florida texas the numbers get big and the numbers get staggering mr president what about our city and county government that have to comply as well if they spend a hundred million a year that's the threshold most counties and cities don't even know what's about to hit them but there is one that does and they figured out how much it's going to cost and we talk about miami dade county florida they expect withholding provisions to cost them twenty seven million dollars let me say it again the new tax withholding will cost dade county florida twenty seven million dollars now if it costs them that what do they do they pay it do they cut services to the constituent or do they go out and raise taxes to offset it so they don't have to cut services because they are going to be forced to pay it by their federal government mr president it's not a stretch to say this is going to cost our states our counties and our city governments millions and millions of dollars a year and that cost as i said just a few moments ago has to be moved somewhere else you cut the services that the counties of the cities provide or you raise the taxes mr president the unsuspecting  victim then ultimately has to be the taxpayer either the services they expect from their government or gone or take a little more out of their back pocket proponents of the three percent withholding tax are saying this is the best way to make sure everybody pays their fair share of taxes well it's a new tax well mr president i disagree i don't think this is the best way to do it i believe that all citizens auto pay their taxes i think you and i would agree with that i also believe our taxes should be straightforward transparent and fair this new withholding tax is not straightforward it is not transparent and i suggest it isn't very fair it's simply another way for the feds to get their hands in the hip pocket of every level of government below them and into the poor taxpayers pocket ultimately the new withholding tax ultimately i think will devastate businesses and their customers across the nation's let me explain about businesses now it isn't just government's going to have to be paying this if you own a business and you have a contract to provide goods and services to the cities or the state or the federal government for that matter then the government will not pay you in full oh my goodness you've got a contract with the federal government x hundreds of millions of dollars to provide goods and services and they withhold three percent before they send you the money so how are you going to deal with that one because that's exactly what will happen competitive contracting very tight we hope the margins are tight we want the margins to be tight so keep your money for twelve to fifteen months because it's withheld and so where do you go then to get the money to provide the goods and services you go barlett and that endless circle goes on doing business with the federal government will be more costly ironically it will cost the federal government more if we expect private contractors to deal with our government here is the problem with that it will impact nearly every industry in our nation and it will negatively affect early every business or organization in america that contracts with a government entity to provide goods and services mean in many industries especially health care and construction and most small businesses will be particularly hard hit because the three percent withholding is actually larger than in many instances the entire profit on a contract flow which for small businesses can mean deciding between meeting a payroll expanding a company or buying needed equipment we leave small businesses with really only two options here either pass the cost along to their consumer and the price of business goes up or we borrow money from the bank and make up the shortfall and of course you borrow money from the bank and it cost you a little money to do it down goes the margin of profit down goes the buy ability down goes the strength and the ability of a small business to compete mr president it's ironic that we are forcing these small businesses to take out a loan to pay for our mistakes while the federal government is essentially getting an interest free loan from the taxpayer that's not right mr president i'm here on the floor of the senate today honoring the commitment i made a year ago to speak out to help shape coalitions to make america aware of what had been slipped in in the dark of night into a conference that was going to impact them directly well it's working slowly but surely america is awakening to this fandom again that our tax writers thought they could gain for our tax spenders sponsored legislation to repeal the three percent withholding i have not yet won that fight but to all who are listening that tax writers are starting to blink that's why the one year extension was stuck into this a m t provision because all of a sudden the pressure is beginning to build and those politicians here who raise your taxes are slightly feeling the pressure we've got to keep it on because a one year extension simply is not good enough a full repeal is what we must ask for unless we want to pass all of this through to our cities to our counties to our states to the business an industry that does business with our governments and ultimately to you the taxpayer who always pays the bill in the end no matter who writes the check so it is important i hope we can work out the differences we have across the aisle on the a m t and i hope that when we do that that one the senate back into a quorum call now are waiting for a member to come to the floor and speak earlier that the senate voted to not to move forward with consideration of the house passed a m t relief bill a cloture vote failing in the senate  forty six to forty eight on a motion to proceed congress now reporting it this way outrage that democrats proposed offsetting the cost of providing short term relief from the alternative minimum tax for millions of taxpayers senate republicans today blocked the legislation from advancing the senate is now expected to consider an a m t bill that does not require offsets by forty six to forty a vote this morning the senate opted to not and debates on the house approved a m t bill the procedural vote to limit debate on the bill by invoking cloture required sixty votes to pass democrats meanwhile contend that the bill must adhere to paygo rules and delaying its passage will impact millions of tax returns over the coming months over on the other side of the capitol house members now are working on an energy package that bill raises fuel efficiency standards it also includes a twenty one billion dollars in tax incentives and requires utilities to get more of their electricity from alternative sources like wind and solar you can watch that debate in the house on our companion network c span later at two thirty p m eastern time over on c span three bring you live coverage of a house hearing on army contracting our live senate coverage continues here on c span to quorum call continues on the floor of the senate waiting for a member to come to the floor to speak earlier today a vote to move forward with consideration of the house passed a m t relief bill failed in the senate by a vote of forty six to forty eight what today from the politico senator lamar alexander won a hotly contested leadership race for publican conference chairman today defeating senator richard burr the vote thirty one to sixteen in choosing a folksy moderate best known lately for trying to broker bipartisan compromises on the war in iraq senate republicans have at least for now embraced some middle ground in their leadership hierarchy the story continues alexander's ascension to the number three spot in republican leadership may come as welcome news to his friends on the democratic side of the aisle but he was not necessarily the choice of party conservatives who want to move or more firmly embrace a more ideological fiscally conservative future for the senate republican conference alexander's victory in the republican leadership brought about by the sudden retirement of senator trent lott senator jon kyl of arizona who was unopposed was officially appointed as minority whip to take over for a from lot while alexander moved up to conference chairman to replace kyle you can read that entire story and get more about congress the white house and politics by going to see spans capitol news dot org also earlier today an event that we covered live on c band three republican presidential candidate mitt romney confronted skepticism about about his mormon faith the associated press reporting it this way in a speech today at the george bush presidential library and museum in texas mitt romney said he endeavors to live by his mormon beliefs and will be true to them still he said he shares the same moral convictions as america americans that is of all faiths and that he would serve no one religion no one group no one cause if elected into office romney said calls for him to explain and justify his faith go against the wishes of the nation's founders again that from an associated press story reporting mitt romney's speech in texas today at the bush library with that speech our poll of the day our capital news poll of the day asks is a presidential candidates religion important to you you can visit seize bands capital news dot org to cast your vote quorum call continues here on the floor of the senate our live coverage on c span two over on c span coverage of the house the house today working on the energy bill quorum call continues on the floor of the senate we're waiting for a member to come to the floor and speak a story just coming in from congress now reporting that senate majority leader harry reid said this afternoon that he will schedule a saturday cloture vote if the house s the energy bill later today while he also acknowledged that republican and white house opposition may force the removal of two controversial provisions from the bill the house has been debating the energy bill and a vote is expected later this afternoon the sweeping legislation requires an increase in corporate average fuel economy cafe standards to thirty five mpg fleet wide for new cars and trucks by two thousand and twenty the bill contains a nearly twenty one billion dollars tax package and it would increase federal biofuels requirements and mandate new renewable electricity standards of fifteen percent by the year two thousand and twenty the white house this morning threatened to veto the bill over elements of all of these key provisions again that's from  congress now the house right now in fact is calling members to the floor for the final vote on the energy package earlier today the senate rejected a motion to move the alternative minimum tax bill forward  earlier today votes in the senate to move forward with consideration of the house passed alternative minimum tax relief bill failed on a vote of forty six to forty eight sixty votes were needed to move forward over in the house now house members are being called to the floor for a final debate and a vote on the energy bill you can follow house proceedings over on c span and live right now on c span three house hearing on army contracting back here in the senate senate majority leader harry reid said this afternoon he'll schedule a saturday cloture vote if the house sends him the energy bill later today congress congress now reporting that while he also acknowledged that republican white house removal of two controversial provisions from the bill reid said he will file for cloture today if the bill clears the house and has told the many democratic senators campaigning for president that he expects them to be present for a close saturday vote again that from congress now just a short time ago a quorum call continuing on the floor waiting for a senator to speak our live coverage on c span to to invoke cloture vote failing to move the a m t bill forward over in the house members are debating in the final minutes of debates on the energy package we expect a final vote on the energy bill in the house even watch that live on our companion network c span coming up tonight at nine eastern here on c span to its former governor mitt romney's speech from earlier today on religion in america we'll also get your reaction to the speech and then at about nine thirty p m bring you senator john kennedy's speech on religion and politics from back in one nine hundred sixty again that all starts tonight at nine eastern with the governor mitt romney from earlier today  and or the quorum call continues in the senate where waiting for a member to come to the floor earlier a vote to move forward with consideration of the house passed a m t relief bill failed in the senate on a vote of forty six to forty eight sixty votes were needed to pass congress now reported this way outrage that democrats proposed offsetting the cost of providing short term relief from the alternative minimum tax for millions of taxpayers senate republicans today blocked the legislation from advancing the senate now is expected to required sixty votes to pass democrats contend that the bill must adhere to paygo rules and delaying its passage will impact millions of tax returns over the coming months the other side of the capitol the house now in the waning moments of debate on an energy package with the house speaker nancy pelosi on the floor a final vote expected on the energy bill this afternoon you can follow the house live on c span our live set of coverage here on c span to earlier the senate today rejected a motion to move the alternative minimum tax bill forward all republicans voted against that motion leaving democrats short of the sixty votes needed meantime congress now is reporting that senate majority leader harry reid said this afternoon he'll schedule a saturday's cloture vote if the house sends him the energy bill later today while he also acknowledged that republican and white house opposition may force the removal of two controversial provisions from the the sweeping energy legislation requires an increase in corporate average fuel economy known as cafe standards to thirty five mpg fleet wide for new cars and trucks by two thousand and twenty the bill also contains a nearly twenty one billion dollar tax package the white house this morning threatened to veto the bill over elements of all these key provisions but the administration and republicans most vehemently oppose the r e s renewable electricity standards and the tax package which would cost industry billions of dollars senator reid said he will file cloture for cloture today if the bill clears the house and is told the many democratic senators campaigning for president that he expects them to be present for a close saturday vote right now in fact the house is voting on final passage of the energy bill you can watch the house live on c span senate coverage is live here on c span t quorum call continues in the senate as we wait for a member a member to come to the floor and speak earlier a vote to move forward with consideration of the house passed a m t relief bill failed in the senate on a vote of forty six to forty eight sixty votes needed to pass over in the house members now in the final moments of a vote on passing the energy bill you can watch live house coverage over on our companion network c span back here on c span two coming up tonight at nine eastern time we'll bring you former governor romney's speech from earlier today the republican presidential candidate spoke about religious tolerance and his own mormon faith he spoke at the george h w bush presidential library in college station texas this morning and we'll have that speech for you again tonight at nine eastern here on c span to also get your reaction to the speech and after that that about nine thirty p m we're going to show you senator john kennedy's speech from back in one nine hundred sixty on religion and politics as he was running for president that year john f kennedy on religion from nine hundred sixty about nine thirty tonight eastern time here on c span to farm bill now man i'm president when a lot of people think of my home state of washington they think about seattle and boeing and microsoft and all those important things but farming really is an incredibly important part of washington state's economy we happen to be the eleventh largest farm state in the nation and we are the third largest producer fruits and vegetables which are also known around here as specialty crops and this farm bill is very important to my home state because it will keep our state healthy and strong in fact madam president farming has been a really important part of my own personal life my grandfather moved to the tri cities in central washington to take a job with welch's grape juice factory long time ago in the early one nine hundred and my own dad grew up picking asparagus in central washington my hometown of bothell washington where i grew up small town of about a thousand people now backyard to microsoft but when i was growing up there we were surrounded by very for farms and we grew up with a very clear understanding of how important family farms are to washington state's economy so i know personally madam president that passing the farm legislation before us is absolutely critical for our farmers who grow apples or cherries peaches or great spirit as potatoes many of the other important products to washington state now i know that this is not perfect bill this farm bill but it is the best farm bill in years for my home state farmers largely because of what it does for those specialty crops i just talked about my home state and our nation cannot be strong unless our farmers are doing well and this bill this farm bill helps them stay strong by investing in programs that help them find markets for their crops both here in the united states and abroad and importantly this bill will help fund research to ensure that our farmers have a healthy and safe crop in the future so madam president the senate now has an opportunity to move forward a very good farm bill but unfortunately has we all are aware of now we have become bogged down because the republicans on the other side are now insisting on un related amendments that threaten to kill the help our farmers need and really deserve today semana president i want to be clear about what's happening here now republicans have been complaining for the last several days about the need to move legislation of any kind forward but here they are blocking this bill now i really hope that we can eventually make progress so i want to talk today this afternoon about what this farm bill can do and what we are losing if we don't move it forward madam president the biggest victory in this farm bill for washington state is the two point two billion dollars that will help our specialty crops farmers this is the very first time in this nation that we have addressed these specialty crops in a comprehensive and meaningful way the money in this bill will help carry out programs that i've been pushing very hard for in the last several years in this bill we have two hundred seventy million dollars in block grants those block grants will help our local growers to increase the competitiveness of their crops and we have fifteen billion dollars in badly needed aid for our asparagus farmers who met a president have really been struggling to keep the compete in this global marketplace that they're required to be in because we have been seeing a flood of cheap us paris coming in from peru madam president this bill also helps our farmers compete in what we all know is increasingly gold global marketplace and to find new book markets abroad for their crops madam president we know that south america and china and other countries are gress of really pursuing selling their crops in many of these very important nations overseas right now we have to remain competitive we've got to give our farmers the ability to get out there and let other people know what we have so that we can be competitive in that market this farm bill importantly increases funding for technical assistance for the specialty crops programs that will help our farmers overcome some of the barriers that expose that threaten their ability to export their crops today madam president this is so important my home state i actually was out in our state last week as many of us were after the thanksgiving holiday and i was in yakima washington where i had a listening session with some of our farmers and there were some cherry farmers there who are working very hard to develop a new program in japan and they were talking about how this technical assistance will help them help the japanese understand how important this is so that we can open up an entire new market that will help my farmers locally but certainly help our nation be competitive in this global marketplace and everything this bill will do will be to help ensure that nurseries can continue to have access to safe and virus free plant materials this is extremely important man and president apples peaches grapes are very vulnerable to viruses and a single plant or single grape vine can infect and wipe out an entire established orchard ared washington state university at prosser is doing some national research on this topic and there they are going to be in an important and clear credibly important part of this national clean plant network now i am president i also want to talk about a part of this bill that gets neglected often two way too often as we talk about it and that is the nutrition programs in this bill and very few people realize that over half of the farm bill goes to these important nutrition programs at those of the programs in the part of this bill that will help our kids out in our schools get access to fresh fruits and vegetables in their school  we hear all these reports about obesity i just read this morning that the the life expectancy of the younger generation is going to be for the first time less than our generation because of obesity we have to make sure that our kids at the very young ages are getting access to the best nutrition possible this farm bill how to do that to make sure that fruits and vegetables porton part of nutrition are part of the school lunch program at the very early age they're beginning to understand and learn and eat the right things so that we don't have a be seen as we all know leads to a lot of the health care problems in this nation today the farm bill also is helpful in terms of the nutrition programs for people who get food stamps and other assistance so they also get access to fresh nutritious food and the bill will help benefit and the benefit erosion that we have seen in the in the food stamp program over the years and that is especially important today for our low income families in our low income families are struggling today anyway with gas prices rising health care access all the other things that impact them just as much if not more than most of the of the rest of our families and making sure that they have access to food stamp program  that make sure they have adequate nutrition in their families is especially keen especially important right now so to use an old pledge cliche i really see this is a win win this helps on these nutrition programs help our children and adults fight obesity and the same time it helps our specialty crop growers finally madam president i wish that we had been able to include important improvements to the safety net that is so critical to the wheat farmers in my state i have been working for a number of years now with the wheat farmers in washington state to help them improve the countercyclical payment program so it will actually work for them now unfortunately we cannot make significant changes as in this bill happy that the bill holds harmless and that was important but man and president none of us get everything we want in this bill i'm not out here on the floor to hold up this bill because i didn't get one thing i wanted i am working to move this bill forward because in the large part it is best for our nation farmers and i hope that we all step back and recognize that in a and democratic body we have to fight for what we believe in but at the end of the day it's our responsibility to make sure the larger bil forward and i find it very troubling now that some people who didn't get something they wanted are now stopping this farm bill in the aggregate to move forward we have a lot of opportunity now to do good for our farmers so it's very troubling that we see the republicans come to the floor now and object to this bill now we have to ask why are they objecting so we go and look at the record and they're saying they're not allowed to get it i think it's over two hundred amendments now up  for consideration on if bill they're listed out here for us i was reading through them just a few minutes ago on what they want us to vote on in order to move this farm bill forward there's over two hundred amendments madam president that is just not going to happen in the last two weeks we have in this session so at the fence of asking for extraneous amendments that have net and to do with the farm bill they're holding up these critically important nutrition programs programs to be that our farmers need in order to keep their livelihood going and sending a huge question mark out across the nation about whether or not they're going to have what they need to say move into the next growing cycle i looked at this list of remembrance there and there's a mammoth they want us to consider on a farm bill for fire sprinklers and tort reform an estate tax repeal may all be critical issues but a farm bill that's not where we consider these issues man present this is too important this bill is far too important for our nation's health and our economy to use it now as a vehicle for some kind of political games you know only once in our modern history ever has a non relevant amendment been added to a farm bill each and every time as we consider the farm bill the majority and the minority have come and worked out a reasonable agreement that helps clear the path forward for this important bill but now what we see today unfortunately is a republican minority that has decided to throw the history books out on this and continue to set a record setting pace of obstruction and kill the help that our farmers need and deserve today our families are struggling gas prices energy prices mortgage crisis health care costs we've got to get beyond the politics of this and make sure that our farmers and our kids both benefit from the investments in this farm bill that are very very critical of president these aren't just numbers in the bill as you well know coming from a state that depends on agriculture these programs can make or break people's livelihoods we have got to come together and i urge our republicans to get their ship in order come to the table with a reasonable plan to move forward and let's get this bill passed thank you man and press a young for thank you madam president i would ask the chairman from washington now to present i asked the chair to lay before the senate a message from the house with respect to x twenty three seventy one higher education the chair lead before the senate a message before the house resolved that the bill from the senate us twenty three seventy one entitled an act to amend the higher education act of one nine hundred sixty five to make technical corrections do passed with an amendment speak about something that is on the minds of a lot of americans but also is something that was addressed an issue that was addressed i should say by the president and by secretary paulson today when they announced their loan modification program as it relates to the subprime crisis subprime lending crisis that is and golfing many american communities and so many families and despite all the evidence about the  size and scope of the sub prime crisis this administration today unveiled what i would argue is a tepid plan that will reach only a small number of sub prime borrowers i don't think it's too late for the president or treasury secretary paulson to come up with a real solution but this plan is far too little and it's my opinion that this plan will only affect a few borrowers not nearly enough to really meet the need it's  not just my opinion though it's the opinion of some experts in the industry one in particular barclays capital zest to me adding that that this plan announced today will reach only twelve percent twelve percent of all sub prime borrowers mr eric outbrain of the center for responsible lending a leading expert in this area that institution research that center for responsible lending mr  quoted the new york times as saying quote i don't see anything that leads me to believe we will see an increase in loan modifications so that's that's just too too experts weighing in on something that is critical to so many families in america the fact that the president and secretary paulson have put a kind of window dressing on these loan modifications in the problems that are caused by the subprime crisis doesn't mean that they can feel secure that they're meeting the needs that we see across the country and i think the administration has to do more than just talk about this issue and take credit for having some kind of a plan because we know that more than two million sub prime loans are about to reset at higher rates in the months ahead and this crisis is already slowed economic growth here in america and has had an impact the world over and it's threatening to push our economy into recession and still the president the administration are not are not willing to truly help homeowners on the brink of foreclosure the treasury secretary has known about these problems for some time as has the administration and i'm afraid that when members of congress weigh in on this problem as so many have with legislation with suggestions with ideas which i had with ideas i should say i think the administration tends to ignore that advice or ignore that plea for help just this week i sent a letter to secretary pauls which was signed by a number of other senators senator schumer brown and also senator dodd and we asked for the secretary to consider  basically five five considerations let me just read those things that we asked him to examine as he and the president were preparing the plan that they released today number one we asked ensure the that eligibility for modification not be too narrow and that people were affected have every opportunity to ensure that they remain in their home second make sure that loan modifications are long enough to insure that the long term to ensure the long term affordability of marketers and that and not merely delay of foreclosure number three we asked to waive all three prepayment penalties i think a reasonable request in this kind of a crisis number four we asked the secretary to guarantee guarantee the fair treatment of families who were not able to avoid foreclosure even with modifications and number five make sure that the modification program must be transparent to allow for independent monitoring of these five key points these five requests really it is only clear that one has been addressed one has been addressed by freezing rates for five years so a plan that affects only ten to twelve percent of borrowers can that kind of a plan qualify for and can most borrowers have confidence in such a such a plan i don't think so and i think unfortunately secretary paulson the president have come up far too short on their recommendations i think that so many people here in not just in washington but across the country know the effects of this crisis on our country i was in on families and their ability to make ends meet month to month paying the bills but also the effect on our economy and really the effect on the world economy we know that for example the joint economic committee which of which i'm a member and the presiding officer is also a member of proud member from the state of minnesota she knows that when our committee had a chance to review this issue we a study not too long ago about how much this problem will cost just let me give you a couple of numbers which are relevant two million foreclosures we've heard a lot about that but we know that two million will occur by the time the risk is subprime adjustable rate mortgages the so called air m's the arms will reset over the course of this year and next year many people thought the crisis was behind us so that we're all kind of over the hump a lot of experts believe the worst is yet to come that's why we need a real plan by the president not a not a half baked plan number two the joint economic committee found that approximately seventy one billion dollars  housing wealth will be directly destroyed because each foreclosure reduces the value of a home so that's seventy one billion dollars in housing wealth that will be directly destroyed there's another thirty two billion on top of that thirty two billion dollars in housing wealth will be indirectly indirectly destroyed by the spillover effects of foreclosures which reduce the value throughout the neighborhood states states across the country will lose nine hundred seventeen million dollars in property tax revenue because of this crisis the ten states with the greatest number of estimated foreclosures of course or some of the larger states california florida ohio new york michigan texas illinois arizona in my home state of pennsylvania and i'm sure the presiding officer state of minnesota is probably close to the top as well but there are several others that are close to that ranking finally in terms of the findings of this particular report on top of the the losses due to foreclosure this report also says that a will be a ten percent decline in housing prices which would lead to a two point three trillion dollars two point three trillion dollars economic lost loss because of this so we could go on and on about what the problem is but we know that there are some solutions on the table i'm one of the co sponsors along with senator schumer and brown of the virus protection act which imposes obligations on some of the players in this market that have not been regulated frankly have not been cracked down and the the so called unregulated brokers and originators this legislation the barn's protection actually did we would do that looking forward but also in the present context we push very hard in the senate has already passed legislation of course a president like isn't a lot of things talking about vetoing this legislation but we do have two hundred million dollars set aside for foreclosure counseling which a lot of families need and a lot of a lot of homeowners have a right to expect there's some short term and long term things that we can do but unfortunately what the president the secretary did today doesn't meet that i just want to conclude by quickly moving to another topic for just a few moments before my time is up to highlight something that was in the the new york times last friday it was right and of amber the thirtieth and the bottom of page eight twelve in the midst of all this discussion we've had in this country over the national intelligence estimate on iran and appropriately so that we debate that and discuss that all of the discussion on an crises and challenges in our foreign policy the threat threaten our national security the debate the ongoing debate about iraq but in the midst of all that we see in the new york times in another place other publications a headline that reads as follows in slovakia three are held in your rainy i'm smuggling case what's it's all about well it's about what a lot of people believe is maybe the greatest nightmare we face as a country that a small group of terrorists in get a hold of fissile material and create a nuclear weapon any kind of even unsophisticated nuclear weapon or dirty bomb hardly want to describe the various types of weapons that could be developed and that exploded in an american city or exploded in a in a western city across the across maybe across the world but here's what happened in this case this is cause for alarm because of the lack of attention that's being paid to this issue in the press frankly and and also when the press asked presidential candidates questions and debates because it hasn't been a subject of much debate at all we're talking about three individuals to hungary and in the ukrainian arrested last wednesday after trying to sell highly enriched uranium according to the diplomats in that part of the world now it was only half  kilogram in the poundage was very limited we know you that you need a lot more kids a lot more kilograms a lot more pounds to have a real threat but here's the problem we have an administration that's that has had a series of recommendations made to it over many years now about ways that we can prevent this nightmare from taking place i gave a speech a couple of weeks ago on this and a lot of members of this body have been concerned about this issue for years but the administration hasn't shown the kind of leadership that we need to prevent the nightmare of nuclear terrorism what can we do well there are couple things we can do very simple this country could lead an effort an international effort to create a global library fissile material so we can track this material if an explosion occurred earth terrorist attack occurred countries would be accountable if we did that but this administration hasn't shown the willingness to show real leadership on this issue secondly we should we should treat an issue like this as a crime against humanity that's another step that should be taken and this administration should lead that effort but unfortunately they have they've allowed a real gap in in  the work to persist so that other groups international groups groups here in america nonproliferation groups across the country have had to take up the ball so to speak and run with it because this administration doesn't show the leadership so i would i would ask this administration i'd implore them that even in the last year of an eight year administration that they take this issue very seriously even if this particular case and that was pointed out in the new york times and other places even if even if it was by a small group of very unsophisticated people across the world at some point in time we're going to be faced with the the challenge of a very  sophisticated group of terrorists might be al qaeda who are seeking to do this every day of the week that is the nightmare and we're not prepared for it we're not spending enough time on it and the administration should lead this effort in the next minute striation as well  congress has to show leadership on this issue but that is a gentle but firm reminder from a story just last week and it's a real threat to our existence and for threat to our our national security in and of in the senate earlier a vote to move forward with consideration of the house passed a m t relief bill mt of course the alternative minimum tax that failed in the senate on a vote of forty six to forty eight to sixty votes were needed for that to pass also senate majority leader harry reid said earlier today that he will schedule a saturday cloture vote if the house sends him the energy bill today while the house has passed the energy bill that final vote to thirty five to one eighty one congressional r quarterly reporting it this way this afternoon the house brushed aside a new white house veto threat against comprehensive energy legislation passing the bill today and sending it to an uncertain fate in the senate the white house renewed a threat to veto the bill over tax provisions and a renewable electricity mandate the white house in a statement after the vote said we believe that reducing our dependence on foreign oil and increasing energy security is an area where both parties should be able to find common ground unfortunately democratic leaders in the house today pushed a partisan bill which they knew was unacceptable to the president and had no chance of being signed into law speaker nancy pelosi of california in response to the administration's  threat said she was confident that there was common ground that could win bush's signature senate minority leader mitch mcconnell made it clear that he would fight passage of the latest version of the bill again that according to c q this afternoon again the house has passed the energy bill and the house has completed their legislative work for the week and will not be in session on friday here in the senate we're in a quorum call waiting for a member to come to the floor to speak our live coverage continues on the senate today rejected a motion to move the alternative minimum tax bill forward all republicans voted against the motion leaving democrats short of the sixty votes needed republicans opposed tax increases in the measure aimed at offsetting the a m t tax change and continuation of expiring tax cuts congress now reporting that the senate may consider a revised bill without the tax offsets earlier today mitt romney gave a speech at the george h w bush presidential library in college station texas the republican presidential candidate giving a speech addressing religious tolerance and his own mormon faith that aired live on c span three and will air tonight again on c span two at nine p eastern time former governor mitt romney's speech on religion in america we'll also get your reaction to the speech and after that at about nine thirty eastern time show you store experience from john f kennedy senator kennedy at the time a speech on religion and politics from one nine hundred sixty those speeches again coming up on c span two tonight nine o'clock for mitt romney about nine thirty for the john f kennedy speech year old girl named abby taylor who was severely hurt this past summer in a pool accident something that could have been prevented if this body and the house of representatives had acted a few years ago on a pool safety bill and we have an opportunity before we go into recess for the year and to do the right thing but before i talk about that i'd like to make no of the president's remarks today on the sub prime housing crisis that threatens our nation's economy while i am pleased that after months of trying to wish the problem away the president has only decided to come forward with a proposal for this problem today's announcement is really only a small step toward helping homeowners faced with foreclosure we must do more if we are truly going to address this problem in the world of sub prime lending the chickens have finally come home to roost nearly eight point six percent or one in twelve of sub prime mortgages in my state the state of minnesota are  foreclosure minnesota has the fourth highest foreclosure rate in the second quarter of this year the results of this spike in foreclosures will be devastating for our state as well for other states across the country as the number of foreclosures increased property values are likely to drop resulting in decreased tax revenues and increased municipal maintenance costs slumping housing values are also likely to result  decreased consumer spending and could jeopardize the overall economy if we are to contain the economic spillover effect of the sub prime lending disaster we must act now we need additional reforms rate and the adjusted rate we also need to ensure that homeowners aren't hit with a huge and unexpected tax or insurance bill at the end of year by as growing that amount i'm a co sponsor of the borrowers protection act that would require mortgage lenders and brokers to protect consumers from protect predatory lending practices banks should simply not be allowed to off for loans and ashley banks today are regulated in a way that make sure that they are not allowed to offer these loans i want to make sure that other lenders non bank lenders these predatory lenders are  asked to provide follow the same rules we need to protect the economy and take comprehensive action now before it's too late millions of families have been waiting for the president to take a seat at the table and let's hope that as  move forward we can enact something that truly addresses the needs of these families but i come here today to discuss as i said a constituent of mine a little six year old girl named abby taylor very brave little girl and i hope that this story will give people a sense of urgency about moving the legislation that is currently before the senate and i know we have big bills before us and i have come to the floor urging my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to allow these bills to proceed bills like the farm bill which is so important to so many farmers in my state to get these appropriations bills moving and the president has threatened to veto and we've stopped that transportation bill despite the move of the democrats to push and push and push that the transportation bill that's to stop and that includes i will tell you mr president hundred ninety five million dollars in funding that will help us to complete the work on the thirty five w bridge that so tragically in the middle of a beautiful day in minnesota right in the middle of the river should never happen but sometimes the bills that we can work on here make a difference in very small way maybe a way that isn't as big you don't talk about as much on t v but a way that can help save lives girls like abby taylor this legislation has already passed the commerce committee unanimously and it's awaiting our action this legislation would help prevent serious injury or death to other children in the future and i want to convey the sense of urgency on behalf of every taylor and our parents to each and every one of you i want you to know that families across our country are waiting for us to finally pass this legislation and one of those waiting is the taylor family of a dyna minnesota this summer their daughter abby went swimming at a local pool she was in a shallow wading pool when she sat over an open drain hole and had most of her intestines torn out by the drains powerful suction it was a miraculous miraculous gift that she lives she actually sat up and moved away from the suction when so many other children have perished when the same thing has happened so she somehow managed to stand up and take a few steps before collapsing along the side of the wading pool she remained hospitalized for weeks after undergoing several surgeries she will survive thanks to a miracle but doctors expect she will need a feeding tube the rest of her life and she is now on a live for transplant what happened to this little six year old girl on a summer day in minnesota  horrific my daughter's name is abigail and hearing about this incident brings chills to any parent when i first saw this story in our local newspaper i had to stop reading it because the details of it were so disturbing this is something that we could prevent and this is something that is every parent's nightmare you look at this first of the mother your daughter's enjoying a beautiful summer day having fun playing at the local pool it's not just the deep end of the pool this was the ki wading pool but suddenly something terrible happens and your life is changed forever that's what happened to the taylors when it was first reported like everyone else i thought it was some kind of freak one of a kind accident i never thought i would spend time talking about it on the senate floor and i didn't think i would have to come to the senate floor twice to talk about it when in fact the bill that addresses this pastor committee unanimously and has already passed through the senate years back but then i learned that this is not the first time that this is happening as it turns out although most schools are safe and well maintained this type of incident has happened to many times before resulting in the death of several dozen children over the past fifteen years it even has a name it's called pool entrapment it incurs when the child becomes stuck on a drain and is unable to escape due to of the water that's being sucked into the drain another scenario occurs when hair or jewelry gets sucked into the drain making it difficult for a child support free according to the consumer products safety commission the pressure on some pool drains can be as strong as three hundred pounds per inch in fact several years ago the commission produced an educational video on this danger it showed a muscle bound man trying to pull a ball off a swimming pool drain using both arms and all of his might and he couldn't do it the suction force was just too powerful two years ago the consumer product safety commission issued a report saying it was aware of at least twenty seven deaths and many more emergency room visits and hospitalization due to this entrapment most of these victims were children it is unclear how many actual incidents there are then that have not resulted in death but instead severe injury because entrapment is a little known risk and it is possible that many swimming pool drowning death or other injuries have not been classified as entrapment mr president this legislation must pass the legislation as several important provisions it would take and the big consumer product safety commission standards for pool drains which are now voluntary and make them mandatory it w prohibit the manufacture and sale or distribution of drain covers that do not meet the standards established by the commission and most importantly in this was an enormous improvement over the past bill at this body has two years ago it requires that all public pools in this country including hotels apartment local municipal and other pools intended for multiple users be equipped with anti entrapment drain covers these covers or something like thirty bucks apiece this was the amendment that i introduced on behalf of children like abby and i'm proud that it's now been included in the bill in addition we have an agreement on another provision that would require that all of these public pools was a single main drains incorporate an additional layer of protection to guard against suction related drain again this is about one hundred thirty dollars we're talking here not about private schools but about huge public pool that are used by thousands and thousands and thousands of children this legislation is called the virginia graeme baker pool and spa safety act named in the memory of seven year old virginia graham was the granddaughter of former secretary of state james baker i talked to secretary of state baker just about a week ago about this and we both concurred in our frustration that while this unsuccessful despite several efforts i talked to baker but just as importantly every other week i talk to the tailors and they always ask me if we've gotten are courageous that they have moved on from that her severe injury discussed today they wanted me to discuss this they want the world to know what happened to her because they don't want it to happen to another little girl again they're not afraid to have a talk about what happened to their little daughter because they want it to never happen to another child again there is a saying that when an accident happens that could reasonably have been prevented then it's not really accurate to call it an accident it's actually a failure in the case of injuries and deaths caused by poor entrapment laws and we have to take responsibility we're just like we have to take responsibility for these toxic toys that shouldn't be on our shores in our stores something else that we need to get done before we go home for the holidays is a failure whether it's about the toys or whether it's about these pool drain it's a failure that is within our power to correct a problem that can be face to reasonable measures and fixed by legislation i think the fact that senator stevens supports this bill and has worked with us on it the fact that we have republican support for this bill shows that this isn't some wacky legislation we work with people on both sides and is we work with  manufacturers on this we work with the consumer groups and we came up with a reasonable bill so i would ask my colleagues what i'm supposed to tell this dad when i talked to him tonight and i spoke to tell him that some rules in the senate say that one person can hold up a bill against the will of the entire body i don't want to tell him that i want to tell him that we were able to work this out and get this bill through and to make sure that no other parents are sitting in a waiting room and a hospital for a week while they're trying to find out if their daughter is going to live or if there's going to be a transplant for their daughter i want to tell them that this isn't going to happen again on behalf of abby taylor and the taylor family and for the house and safety of our all our children i urge the senate to take quick action to pass these simple consumer measures that are before us to pass the measure about the toys to pass the measure about the pool drain we're dealing with huge issues in this body about the war in iraq about foreign intelligence we're talking about the farm bill and we want them to pass but these are things these consumer bills that can actually have an impact immediately call without objection the center for michigan is recognized thank you mr president i come to the floor today with great concern and frustration as i know my colleagues in the majority feel about the fact that as we continue to work hard to make the changes that our american families want to see happen to improve their lives that we are stopped over and over and over again we now i mean i have a wanting to hart as my colleagues know we now as of this morning or this afternoon are up to fifty seven fifty seven republican filibusters tomorrow will be will be voting again on cloture and again only fifty eight fifty nine fifty seven filibusters today stopping us from making the improvements that the american people want to see happen things that will help them in their lives with their families things that are directly focused on the middle class of this country who are struggling on all sides saying mortgage foreclosures possibility of losing their home health insurance costs go up gas prices go up cost the college go up concerns about jobs in my state watching more jobs going overseas and products families are asking and we are working hard to respond to them and their families to create the change that we need to improve and just drink then our american standard of living and our american way of life that's what we're really fighting for is our american way of life the american dream that we all have believed in growing up in want for our children and we know right now given what's happening that there needs to be changes made changes in policy to be able to make sure that the american dream will really be there for our children so we find ourselves in a situation first of all historic in that the top number of filibusters ever recorded in the united states senate was for two year session and it was sixty one sixty one times there were filibusters within a two year period now in less than a year we're not even done with this number will probably hit sixty one before we leave this year but we are at fifty seven times as republicans have filibustered to stab us from making progress from solving problems for getting things done that the american people american families are desperate to have done when we look at the fact that we have tried to change the children's healthcare policy to cover ten million children in this country now in that case we have bipartisan support and that's what we've got to operate that frankly the children's health care plan is an example of the way we ought to be working together and i  commend colleagues and both sides of the aisle but in that case we have the president doing the blocking so when we talk about children's health insurance and our colleagues on the other side of the aisle a lot of them got a lot of pressure for working with us together for doing the right thing to add ten million more children to be able to receive health insurance working families those working hard every day minimum wage jobs one job to job three job they don't have health insurance we work together and they are the president blocked it and even though we could override a presidential veto here they could not get enough republican votes in the house but we want to get children's health insurance done we have been working very hard and have a majority of members to change the policy in iraq to get our brave men and women out of the middle of a civil war and to be able to change the policy to one that will drastically affect the threats facing americans to address what we ought to be doing in the world to keep us safe change that policy redeploy bring our people home out of harm's way out of a civil war we have a majority of members who have voted with us to do that but we could not get that policy done we haven't yet we're going to we're going to keep trying w happening but filibusters over and over and over again have blocked us from making the change that we need in iraq troop rotations protecting our troops being able to make sure that if they're deployed for twelve months they can have twelve months at home be able to westfield to see their family have retraining senator webb brought forward a an amendment that is one that says to our troops we understand we understand what's happening and that we are putting you with one deployment a second redeployment third redeployment and that we ought to be following that the current military policy of having the same number of days at home as we have you in harm's way in theater we had a majority of votes we have a substantial majority of votes votes to stand and we have not had enough republican colleagues join with us to stop those filibusters tomorrow we're going to be voting on whether or not to end a filibuster and i'm amazed mr president as a member of the agriculture committee and proudly a member everyone thinks of michigan and thinks of automobiles and we're proud of that too but our number two industries agriculture and i'm very proud to have worked with colleagues in a bipartisan way to have a bill develop that's terrific for michigan and it provides not only support for traditional commodities and agriculture but it moves us to alternative energy you know we want to be saying in michigan buy your fuel for middle america not the middle east and the agriculture committee put forward a farm bill that moves that and us in that direction it addresses nutrition and  more opportunity for children's schools they have fresh fruits and vegetables conservation there are provisions in there that affect the great lakes that i'm very proud to have included to protect the great lakes we have fruits and vegetables for the first time recognizes half of the crops that we grow in this country as a permanent part of the farm bill bipartisan unanimous support coming out of committee didn't even need a record welcome unanimous support we would think that people would be raring to go to pass this new policy that improves provides reforms moves us in a policy that reflects the future for the country and food policy world america fuel security we come to the floor and we've now this is our third week at least that we have seen filibustering the farm bill and tomorrow we will have a vote on whether or not that filibuster will end and we will see what happens whether we go from fifty seven then to fifty eight and then fifty nine on the energy bill the reality is that we have important work to do the support rural communities in michigan and across the country to address energy needs alternative fuels biofuels to address the nutrition of our children and our families support traditional agriculture  working very very hard and providing us with the food that we need the food security we need for this country this farm bill does that and i applaud our chairman senator harkin for his efforts and all of those who've been involved  republican side is to just stop change stop stop stop blocking anything from happening what we're seeing and i'm assuming it's pretty clear what the strategy is of the white house working with our leadership on the other side of the aisle is to make sure that we can't get things done for the american people stopping us from moving forward it's also clear and hopefully after next year's election we'll have a few more folks on this side after we can move forward on those things that we've had trouble moving forward on right now and they're certainly making the case for more change and in more additions to the majority in this process but we've also seen another critical area that we all are reading about hearing about hearing about for our constituents certainly i talk to people every single weekend when i go home as well as during the week here and that is the question of the mortgage crisis was happening in the housing industry not just sub prime but in the prime housing market and what what is happening across the country we see the white house finally gauge and we're glad to see that but when we hear that we need to take action and we have a tax issue are sponsored to make sure folks don't now narrow don't lose their loot not only lose their home but don't also get a tax bill on top of it we're working to move that forward but we hear from secretary paulson and others that f h a is important f h a modernization passed by the house important part of getting more capital into the marketplace we've got too many families now that have lost or will lose their home and for most families middle income families who buy a house try to get in a spot where they can have good schools for their children and for most families the equity in their home is their savings is their primary savings for most families so we hear that f h a modernization is important to do and our leader president our leader majority leader reid comes to the floor a couple of weeks ago and moves that we have unanimous consent to go to that f h a modernization belt which the administration says they support and they're urging us to pass and it's passed in the house and yet when i leader comes to the floor recognizing as he does representing a state heavily hit as well by the question of foreclosures comes to the floor makes a motion for unanimous consent and one more time the leader on the republican side o all we see are efforts to stop changes that are critically important for the families of america the economy of america the businesses of america to be able to make sure we can keep the middle class of this country and keep the middle class the american dream alive that's what we're all about i thought it was stunning today when again transportation and housing appropriations bill came in asking ask and sent to take up this critical be all that relates to infrastructure we have bridges and minnesota other places around the country that we certainly have all seen the pictures in minnesota what happened in minneapolis with the bridge collapse certainly that would be a priority i know it's certainly been a priority for senator coburn charge who has spoken eloquently and and made sure that there are resources and help for her state but you would think that after a long speech about how nothing was happening in the senate that our republican  murray coming to the floor to be able to move forward on this important bill written in a bipartisan way past my the senate to bring forward this conference committee on housing transportation a bill that includes dollars again that the administration says that they want in support two hundred million dollars for education and for consumer outreach to help those who are in bad loan situations who face resets or or possible more foreclosures next year to have the opportunity to sit down and work out a different mortgage that you ation to refinance we have heard and i thought secretary paulson for setting up a one eight hundred number and wanting to reach out to help those families we have to hundred million dollars in our budget which administration says that they support and yet when senator murray comes to the floor as chair of that effort again what do we here i object mr president i object mr president one more time something we're in the middle of a mortgage crisis a mortgage crisis affecting not only our families not only middle class americans all over the country but it's now rippling out to the entire economy and yet when our leader comes to the floor when our leaders come and ask that lew ford and those things that we can do together now we get i have jacked mr president we get another filibuster i don't know who's advising the white house and republican leadership on this strategy but sooner or later this is going to catch up with them when you are objecting to the changes that are needed to improve the lives of middle class americans whether it be helping the mortgage crisis whether it be children's health insurance whether it be helping rural america in addressing our alternative energy needs through the farm bill whether it be supporting our troops changing the policy in iraq we could go on and on and on the good news is  president even though we are struggling and i should also mention that we have a budget if we're talking about the good news i should mention that we are finding the same thing as it relates to trying to get a budget for this year this coming year trying to stop a cut in physician's payments through medicare which we have to get done our chairman of finance committee is leading this effort and  strongly committed to fixing this this policy that would provide cuts in wanting to advocate that we do it not just for next year but for two years as well as a number of other things we need to do in medicare we are struggling right now to be able to make that happen on the appropriations front and this is stunning stunning to me but we see a situation where i'm the one hand the administration is willing to spend twelve billion dollars a month and counting in iraq  paid for going right on to the deficit i have a beautiful new granddaughter first grandchild and she's going to help pay for that all the kids being born today help pay for that huge deficit that has been created and that's ok according to administration that's ok they want more money don't pay for it don't budget for it more money but when we put forward a modest two percent increase in investments for america just to restore some of the cuts that the president's made and community policing or in health research and education funding in those things that invest in american families american communities just a two percent increase the president says no to m he's willing to take us to it to the brink of a government shutdown too much two percent for america too much twelve billion a month in iraq not paid for paid for by our kids and our order to get appropriations done for this year we will split the difference and set a two percent investment increase for american communities and families will say one percent which is less than what we spend interactive one percent eleven billion dollars less than what we spend in one month interact and we hear that that is also not supported it 's time that we focus on what needs to be done to make sure that those working hard every day who care about their families want to make sure they have a job have health care and have a great american dream send the kids to college have the support that they need and that's what we're about that's what we are about fighting for those folks working hard every day who care about their kids they want to see a change from what has been happening and that's what we are fighting for i will close just by indicating that there is good news i see i wonder if a colleague from rhode island here who's been such a champion for us and as it relates to changing the policy in iraq and supporting our troops and this must be mr president rhode island moment because we have the distinguished chairman there chair presiding from rhode island we're so proud of him and as his senior colleague here as well but let me just saying conclusion because i paint a very bleak picture a very frustrating picture and we we feel it every day every day nobody feels it more than our leader who who is laser focused on getting through all of this obstruction to be able to get things done for the american people but the good news is and in spite of fifty seven filibusters we have gotten things done and we will continue to get things done it may take twice as long may take one hundred filibusters may take a hundred fifty filibusters but we're not going to st we're going to stop because what is at stake is our american way of life what is at stake is the ability for families to be able to enjoy the american dream we have raised the minimum wage for the first time in a decade for our families we have made college more affordable by passing the largest student financial aid package since the g i bill my dad went to school after world war two on the g i bill and i know he would not have been able to go to school without that and i'm proud that on our watch in this new majority we have put in place changes that will allow allow more young people to be able to have that american dream able to go to college and to be able to come out of college without the kind of debt that weighs you down for years and years and years we want to help them with that we have passed finally and i watched this happen quickly hasn't happened since two thousand and one but on our watch we've passed the nine eleven commission recommendations to actually focus on the real threats to keep us safe i'm very proud of the fact that  provision that i have been very involved in and making sure the radios work radio interoperability has been included so we can support our police officers and firefighters be able to talk to each other so we never again have a situation where brave first responders are running into buildings running in the towers they should have been running out of the we've got that done to pass a very important water bill water resources bill that has been languishing here for years coming from the great lakes states this is important to us and i want to commend senator boxer and all of those who work again on a wonderful bipartisan basis shion senator inhofe in putting that together and the judiciary committee you know sometimes we do things that are legislative it's more oversight and we have done a lot of oversight on iraq policy in no bid contracts on blackwater and private contracting on many many areas where there have been no oversight for years no oversight for years our people have aggressively as chairs of the committees been doing oversight and one area that has resulted in change that was needed for the hearings that were held with the former attorney general that focused on the fact that our great justice department  did not have the independence the u s attorneys did not have the independence they needed they were being used politically and to change occurred when the tourney general was forced to step down and we have made a major step forward in preserving the independence of the u s attorneys there are numerous other things i could mention and i will not suffice to say we're getting things done we are getting results for middle class americans every day and never doubt me all of our hard work and results raise a red flag down the other end of pennsylvania avenue they're going well well well you guys are making too many good things happen too many changes happen that that data that families are going to like that american people are going to like we better slow this thing down and so now we're in a situation where even those efforts we have worked on in good faith in a bipartisan basis and that's what we do here can't get anything done if you know we're together people of good faith on both sides they are working together even those things have been slowed down and stopped because it's felt now that the best thing to do is in make sure the democrats can't make any more positive changes happen so that it's clear the differences in values and priorities between this administration and their supporters and the new majority fifty seven filibusters and counting mr president the american people expect us to stop this this needs to stop enough is enough a lot of work to be done serious work american people expect us to do it and we are committed to getting it done announced a proposal to help stem the burgeoning crisis in foreclosures across this country it is a welcome step that it's a very timid step it is one that is long overdue in my estimation this crisis has been evolving over many many months and the white house and the treasury has taken a very long time to come to this moment where they have proposed some action but it is cautious and it is a partial approach to a very complicated and very dangerous problem dangerous in the sense that millions of american homeowners are facing the peril of losing their home to foreclosure because of these exotic mortgages that were sold to them with low introductory rates and now are being triggered to relatively high rates forcing many people do make the choice between giving up their home or giving up everything else to pay for their mortgage that's the human aspect of this and we're seeing it and our home state of rhode island mr president a record number of foreclosures page after page in the provenance sure in all of foreclosed homes and it has an effect not only on the individual family but on the community because as homes are foreclosed on a in a neighborhood they lower the value of the other home it's a ripple effect and so this has tremendous spillover is into communities it's a challenge i was meeting just a few weeks ago with the mayor of central falls rhode island who pointed out the number of foreclosed homes in his community and also the mayor pataki who is seeing a significant increase in foreclosures this goes right to the fabric of the community so on the individual family level on a community level and now on a nationwide global level this liquidity crisis this crisis in credit is threatening the ability of our economy to function officially to provide resources credit loans not just to homeowners but the industry in business to keep the economy moving and so the white house is acting today and i applaud their action but it is to me it is only addressing a very small fraction of the problem of foreclosure and it is yet to i think talk about the larger issues of economic growth and a continuing at a good and a bunch of supply of credit narconon according to treasury officials an analysis of been done by financial institutions this initiative  two hundred thousand people but the reality is there are millions of americans are facing the danger of foreclosure this two hundred thousand is a small fraction it's better than zero which was the president in the ministrations position just a few weeks ago as they worked on this but it is not adequate to the daunting challenge of the foreclosure closure crisis which is facing america today and in a deed the plan itself relies upon a very complicated and indeed convoluted process there's absolutely two classes of inquiry first that they would have to determine the borrower that is if they're eligible for this relief and then i'd have to go through another analysis to determine what type of relief they'd be eligible for if there is a loan modification the the borrower would have to contact the lender and the services this is not the responsibility of the lender services and as a result of these complicated maneuvers this is not a systematic approach to relieve this is a real a one by one case by case and valving very elaborate procedures were i don't think in effect will reach all the two hundred thousand endangered homeowners it is i think something that should be reversed the it should be the obligation of the lenders of services to reach out to these  take to help walk them through the process and it should be a much more efficient process the president today offered up at eight hundred number to those borrowers but there are a profusion of eight hundred numbers all the way from buying a salad maker to buying an exercise machine that i don't think is going to be able to engage people who are fearful about using their homes and get them into the process and make sure they're in the process and so i think this is  a shortcoming in the approach that is already a limited approach and finally it seems that this plan is not been ratified and excepted enthusiastically by the important vester investors and the other industry players the final plan was characterized as only in agreement with the hope now industry coalition this coalition consists mainly of trade groups and has no real ability to implement the plan they're the spokesperson for the people that will actually have to do the work and it seems to be a partial list at best and so for many reasons this in essence is a sum of guidelines of how they'd like to see it worked out but not the action forcing devices and the incentives for the services the lenders all of the people that really can make this work to go out and put in effect we need to do much more and there are several things we should do we need to do much more because this is a burgeoning crisis i can recall last april convening a committee meeting as i chaired the subcommittee in banking on six it is an insurance and had people from some of the major investment banks in new york city the rating agencies we had individuals who is facing the problem of foreclosure and at that point industry was describing this is a rather narrow self contained crisis obtaining only to sub prime mortgages they roughly talked in terms of nineteen billion dollars which in a worldwide economy is not a staggering amount of money it is to you and i but not in a worldwide economy and they also essentially said well this is all because the market's already corrected it's not over it's now tipping over into other forms of securities it's now endangering as i suggest initially because of psychological factors as well as  financial factors confidence in the overall banking system and the economy's ability to function in a newly released mortgage bankers association national blankly survey the rate of loans entering foreclosure processing was point seven eight percent that is up thirty two basis points over one year this is a problem that's growing this is not or a self contained problem this is a growing problem this is the highest rate of loans entering foreclosure ever recorded in this survey ever recorded going back many many years so this is not only an increasing problem it is a significant problem in our kaname and in the lives of americans everywhere the percentage of loans in foreclosure process also increased to one point six nine percent that is also the highest level ever recorded in rhode island we have the dubious distinction mr president of the highest foreclosure rates in new england the percent of loans that were seriously delinquent or in the process of foreclosure was three point two three percent and the percent of subprime loans is category was fourteen point nine seven percent so for our own home state  a explosion of these foreclosures and we're also seeing simultaneously the largest price declines in the housing sector since the great depression not only are people losing their homes but those that are still paying their monthly mortgage are seeing the value of their homes diminish significantly that was for so many people the whole sauce of well and fact i would suggest that it was one of the major reasons that consumption and consumer activities was so robust over the last several years as energy prices went up as other factors intervened what kept consumers in the game with this notion of they're wealthy because their house is appreciating every year that's changed and that's going to have an effect there at least one housing expert i talked to think that this housing downturn is going to be one of the longest with experience in the last fifty years instead of lasting an average of twenty four months he expects it to last up to forty eight months which you take is at least two years from now what we know now is that the banks in the underestimated the underlying risk in many of the financial products offered to home buyers and their actions have resulted in serious consequences to the credit and capital markets of our economy and the worldwide economy what started as a problem center on subplot prime loans has spread to other parts of the market and the economy and there has to be serious policy recommendations to address these problems or so now what we have to do is a series of steps none of which is a magic solution but they're all collectively important we just cannot stop today with holding up that f h a bill to let it go words are are important but deeds are more telling so if the secretary is truly interested in getting that bill moving he should be moving up here mortgage so that people can stay in their homes in a bankruptcy proceeding we need tax code changes so that borrowers won't pay federal taxes on the discharge of home mortgages the so called short sale there are some people that recognize they can't keep their home they can sell the home but not at the price they paid for it they're already taking a loss when they sell the home but at least they're getting something out of it but that something is quickly snatched up because the i r s under current tax law determines that to earlier day of the contract with the a m t finally i think we have to have a substantial increase in housing counseling and this is included in the bill i introduced called the hope back it's also in the appropriations for transmission housing and other agencies which has received a veto threat from the president and in my legislation also going forward i have suggested we clue mandatory loss mitigation records that a lender has the obligation to mitigate the losses before they go into foreclosure so that we can avoid foreclosure if it is economic honestly feasible to do so we need to work together the congress the ministration regulate is the industry towards the goal of keeping american families in their homes undermine economic progress in this country and maybe across the globe time is wasting we have to move forward i urge my colleagues to do so and i  of h r three nine nine six which the clerk will report on a number forty seven h r thirty nine ninety six and act on an internal revenue code of one thousand nine hundred six to extend certain expiring provisions and for other purposes all after the enacting clause is