the senate will come to order today's opening prayer will be offered by guest chaplain pastor linda perry from new harvest worship center in waynesboro virginia let us pray father god acknowledge you as a ruler of all nations and we pray for peace and justice in our world we pray for timothy one three four north therefore that first of all prayers intercessions and giving us thanks be made for all men for kings and for all that are in authority that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life and all godliness and honesty this is good and acceptable in the sight of god our savior who will have all man to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the true father pray for our president and first lady bless them this day and give them the wisdom to do all that is that before them pray for the senate to have your wisdom to a compilation of all that is set before them bless them for their commitment to serve the people of our nation to carry out their duties other in jesus name call this united states of america blessed and jesus name amen a communication to the senate washington d c june twenty first two thousand and seven to the senate under provisions of rule one paragraph three of the standing roles of the senate i hereby point the honorable barack obama a senator from the state of illinois to present thank you very much for your patience his presence the center ensign and i hold every thursday in a room right off the chamber here in the johnson room l b j room a breakfast where we have nevadans come and visit with us today it was a larger crowd than we usually have because school's out and if even if it were a larger crowd or a lot more kids there one of the young that was there's an a russell yanis from sparks nevada she came to see me day before yesterday with some other nevada girls because she's a diabetic she was there today with all of her family wonderful child she's thirteen years old during her lifetime as president young lady has had twenty thousand finger pokes thirty five thousand injections she's a diabetic i repeat think about that when we go to a doctor and they draw blood or give you a shot we always went because it hurts when we've tried all our backbone of steel but it hurts this young lady said twenty thousand finger pokes to determine what her blood sugar levels are and thirty five thousand injections that's why mr president it's so sad when we see this young girl here with her family the hope is when taken away she came here with these other girls to talk about the need for stem cell research which the president yesterday in his message to the senate snuffed out hope for tens of thousands of people in nevada people like anna and many others suffering from parkinson's alzheimer's spinal cord injuries millions of americans smoke snuffed out with the president vetoing this bill and it's really really too bad his present i also think it's so important that i mention to everyone here i as i've said here on the floor i get up every morning and do my exercise and listen to public radio at the news at the top of the hour in the middle of the hour and try to be up to date on what's going on in the world today that's not in the morning newspaper well it was not on the morning news this morning the tragic sad news from iraq and fourteen more of our soldiers were killed in the last thirty six hours fourteen i don't know if any are from nevada meanwhile we see further evidence that the iraqi leaders are frozen in an increasingly dangerous stalemate the vice president resigned the fact is our troops are caught in the middle of this civil war in faraway  unfortunate mr president rocky's leaders continue drag their feet all our troops are getting killed fourteen more brave american soldiers but the problem is just our in iraq the middle that's why we have fought so hard as democrats will continue to fight to change the course in iraq we need a new mission one that's aligned with our strategic interests we need to begin  redeploy our troops from iraq so we can reduce our large combat footprint and actually create forces from this civil war and mr president we need more than two republicans to help us we've had t intend to wage our battle on iraq changing the course of the war in iraq it's morning us present under an order entered yesterday the senate will resume the energy legislation have seventy minutes of debate from arizona president good buys those on the other side how senator domenici and i intend to divide our time i have fifteen minutes and i think what i'll do is take five minutes right now and then defer to senator domeni for his twenty minutes and then i'll conclude and of course the majority will be putting their time in there as well but that's that's what we intend to do so mr president with that let me just remind people what nation's dependency on corn oil by investing in clean renewable and alternative energy sort resources and so forth and for that purpose under the previous order there will now be seventy minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote in relation to amendment number seventeen thirty three offered by senator from arizona mr kyl and on the motion to invoke cloture on amendment seventeen zero four offered by the senator from montana mr baucus center from arizona mispresent resuming debate on the amendment which i offered him it is very straightforward it simply says that notwithstanding the tax increases twenty eight point six billion dollars in tax increases in this amendment in the amendment pending on the floor they shall not take effect unless the secretary of energy certifies that those tax increases will not increase gasoline prices at retail gasoline prices or reliance of the united states on  foreign sources of energy the point of the amendment is to make it clear that sometimes tax increases on business can be passed on to consumers and if that happens in this case we're going to see higher gasoline prices at the pump not lower prices one of the concerns that many of us have with the underlying bill is it doesn't produce any new energy and yet it spends twenty eight and a half billion dollars and to make up for that spending it taxes an additional twenty eight point six billion dollars and somebody has to end up paying that tax most people in america know that when you put a tax on a business that gets passed on to the consumers who buy the product in this case gasoline so instead of reducing gasoline prices this bill if the underlying amendment passes is going to add to the cost of gasoline now yesterday i mentioned a heritage foundation study which confirmed what i was saying was not simply my opinion but the facts as a result of the study that  heritage foundation had done i'd like to expand on that a little bit because we actually have the figures for two states the state of the chairman of the committee montana in my state of arizona just to illustrate the point the study suggests that  projects at gas prices in montana for example in may were averaged at three hundred seventeen dollars three dollars and seventeen cents per gallon they would be three dollars and forty eight cents per gallon next year as a result of the energy bill before the senate a montana taxpayer would see spending on gasoline increased by one thousand six hundred thirty two dollars and ninety five cents next year as a result of the bill in arizona we're paying about three dollars and nine cents per gallon that will go up to three dollars and forty percent next year as a result of this bill so an arizona taxpayer will see spending on gasoline increase by one thousand one hundred forty dollars and fifty one cents next year as a result of this energy bill that is a huge increase in consumers payment for gasoline and when we realize that with many people driving is not a luxury it's a requirement to get to work or to perform work it's clear that we're costing the american consumer  huge amount of money that's important for our economy and for them to make a living that is an unintended consequence of the tax increases embodied in this bill but real nevertheless and what we're saying is that if that's the result of the tax increases then those tax increases would not go into effect i think that's an important principle for us to establish the other thing i'd like to mention just in my opening comments are here is to respond to a couple of points made by opponents of my amendment the chairman of the finance committee argued that the tax increases in the underlying bill are simply loophole closures but that's not true mr president the largest tax increase in the bill is a brand new tax it's not a loophole closer it's a new thirteen percent tax on new oil production in the gulf of mexico how's that going to help bring down gasoline prices i suggest it's not it will help to raise prices the second largest tax increase in the bill raises the corporate tax rate that's not a loophole closer either it's simply needed to pay for the other costs of the bill and so it was a ready source of resin revenue that they decided to tap this is a raise in the corporate tax rate for oil and gas companies which would then make it higher on those companies than others in manufacturing something that we were trying to promote when we passed the bill two years ago raising the corporate tax rate is obviously not a loophole closer and i suggest that when you raise marginal tax rates you either get less production or higher prices more likely vote not good results from raising taxes finally the center from oregon argued yesterday that with oil over fifty five dollars per gallon  oil companies should not need any incentives to drill for new oil and gas and i certainly agree with that they don't need any new incentives to drill for oil and gas i've always argued against those kind of targeted incentives or taxpayer subsidies for any form of energy but imposing a new tax or raising the corporate rate are not the same thing as repealing targeted incentives which is what we should be doing moreover with the oil over sixty dollars a gallon right now renewable energy companies should not need any further taxpayer subsidies either the market is providing all the incentives necessary to produce hybrid cars in advance fuels so these tax increases are not necessary they are going to be counterproductive to our economic growth they're going to hurt our producers these of the foreign producers they're going to further increase our dependence on foreign oil and most importantly they're going to raise the cost of gasoline at the pump for american consumers all my amendment says is that if that happens then these tax increases should not go into effect if it doesn't have that effect then the tax increases would go into effect and all urge my colleagues to support my amendment and reserve the balance of my time  wrong places and secondly it spends these taxes and the wrong policy i'd like to make just two points up front before i start my remarks when we speak of american big oil let me remind people that america's five big oil companies whole less reserves then hugo chavez the state owned company of hugo chavez in his country my second point is we very seldom in the united states tax businesses that are in competition overseas let me repeat that we in america hardly ever tax american businesses that are in competition overseas obvious i will repeat there it raises taxes in the wrong places and then it spends in the wrong places i cast this vote and and i think it's an informed vote based on my experience it is with a deep sense of responsibility to do what is right with a keen interest and understanding of energy policy because i've been forced to work on it with many who know a lot about it and with a real appreciation of the importance of this vote i will oppose the cloture attacks that visions in this bill will increase the cost of gasoline at the pump for americans increased electricity bills for families and  significant that a significant increase in energy prices can simultaneously slow the economy and raise inflation i cannot vote for this or that consequence and i urge that my colleagues not not do so either mr president i i do not cast his vote lightly and i arrived at the decision after a great deal of reflection there are many good and important provisions contained in this amendment in the area of renewable energy while there may be questions about how long certain tax credit should be extended there should be no doubt that in the past i have supported renewable energy in the large major energy policy of two all five was senator bingaman we passed the largest tax incentives for renewable energy of a variety of renewable energies that we ever have in american history my friend and colleague senator alexander is often referred to the that we passed as the clean energy act and he's right in two thousand and five the energy policy act that we provided renewable energy production tax credits automobile tax credits in we can keep going we provided tax credits for energy efficient improvements for biofuel biodiesel and for ethanol we included tax credits for installing alternative refuelling property tax credits for the installation of solar the world demanded cleaner energy and energy policy act answered the call between two thousand and four and six global private capital investment in clean energy rose from around thirty billion to sixty billion a year it rose because we set the framework into law and it was invested on the private side in the public market and in venture capital and private equity corporate research development and demonstration and government research and development and asset but mansingh the answer has been the same both the private and public sector are excited about the the future of clean energy and they're busy under our two thousand and five act investing heavily in it the weaknesses in the amendment that i'm talking about without question some of the tax incentives in this bill could have a positive impact on the landscape of american energy future to deny that would be to debate unfairly in the merits of the this amendment cellulosic ethanol and ethanol production credits plug in hybrid vehicles in clean coal energy bonds are smart financing financial incentives and those tax policies implemented complement many of the goals that we've sought to achieve in the previous legislation and i think that's good supporting the great  great things that are we accomplished together in the energy bill two years ago made us all feel good however mr president the tax incentives in this bill focus on too narrow a field of energy policy the finance committee has reported this amendment with a price tag of thirty two point one billion dollars a very large tax increase and a few minutes out speak about the troubling revenue rising raising proposals in this amendment but first i ask myself and i ask there's just so our people would get a a feeling of what thirty two point one billion dollars is and what it could be better used for what it might be used for in the american economy if it was free to be invested there are are other things bought with it thirty two point one billion would produce purchased christine by a refineries six ten thousand barrels per day coal to liquid refineries five gasoline refineries in four nuclear power plants ten bio energy research centers and five hundred miles of transition lines now i'm not suggesting that we would buy them with this bill but i am suggesting that everyone should know the huge size of this tax out of taken out of the economy and what it would invest in similar dollars what it could invest in the american economy and i just told you what they were we could use this money for commercial demonstrations on oil shale and then fund demonstrations for for energy from coal using i g c c and we all know we must do those we don't have any money to do  and we're having difficulty getting loans from the government and here we are we're taxing thirty two billion dollars and don't provide anything for these kinds of investments that we must do if we're going to keep pace with china which is going to pull speed ahead  with all of these things including nuclear power nuclear power plants in their country we might get there also but in the meantime we're taking an awful lot of revenue out of the economy right out of the right away from the energy companies who know how to invest it where to invest it how to pick up reserves and how to keep the price of oil and as much within bounds as the world market will permit without question the revenue raising proposals in the amendment will increase the cost of exploring or and producing our nation's oil and gas and natural gas as a result americans will pay higher prices for gasoline at the pump and will suffer increase electricity costs at our nations and our natural gas supply and at as that is we can we will pay higher prices obviously for natural gas the excise tax our oil and gas exploration increases taxes ten billion dollars over ten years on producers on our nation's outer continental shelf frankly mr president i believe that entire tax is wrong we shouldn't be taxing the most productive the most productive and and the places where more money is being put for exploration than anywhere else the outer continental shelf yet one third of the taxes here come from the imposing a fee a very high fee on the outer continental shelf who would have thought it a place in america where we have a chance of really producing we have imposed a heavy tax proponents of this amendment claim that these tax provisions only affect the five largest u s oil and gas companies not true but i have already told you what that who they are and what they represent in the world markets in fact there are forty less the companies nearly seventy five percent of all entity leasing in the o c s that hold leases that would be subject to thirteen percent punitive tax i hardly thought i would see that on the floor of the senate and there yet here it is bragged about as a very big source of money that we can do other things with without regard to the prices that american people are going to pay the increased prices for oil and gas coming from the shell this is the lifeblood of our domestic oil and gas production it makes absolutely no sense to advocate for independence from four or an oil and then turn right around and raise taxes on our domestic companies who are producing america's oil and natural gas it will mean higher prices for consumers all and gas production in the outer continental shelf amounts to approximately one point seven million barrels of oil per day and twelve and a of natural gas annually this production equals approximately six hundred million barrels of oil per year and four point seven trillion cubic feet of natural gas per year that's good they're doing fine so why don't we just put a tax on and thirteen point five percent surtax makes no sense the price will go up production will come down these amounts produce thirty percent of our domestic oil production for a year and twenty three percent of our domestic natural gas placing a punitive tax on this production is a serious business and it's backed by very serious facts and i say serious consequences activities on the o c s provide an average of over six billion dollars a year in revenue to the treasury and in the future the offshore will be even more important the minerals management estimates that about sixty percent of the oil and forty percent of the natural gas resources estimated to be contained in remaining undiscovered fields in the united states are located where would you where might you guess in the outer continental shelf upon which we are going to place a very stiff very high tax furthermore the intent of the o c s excise tax and the effect of this tax on is crystal clear the provision charging thirteen percent of the removal price of taxable crude oil and natural gas with a credit available to those who have price threshold on their own oil and natural gas in plain english this amount this amendment seeks to legislatively breach valid contracts on one nine hundred ninety eight in one nine hundred ninety nine because the clinton administration failed to include an a turn on these agreements in other words it was no fault of the companies the clinton administration either made a mistake or didn't want to didn't want to put the fee on they just did it didn't happen so those two years we have we have royalty leases with no royalty threshold congress cannot rewrite contracts after the fact merely because we don't like the contract or its results i predict that when we're all vanished records of the land are going to say this part of this taxes is illegal and unconstitutional and out the window will go a very large portion of this tax because the lights are clearly there we just have to think about it and think about what we're doing i don't like the idea of the united states of america going back on its contracts sounds and looks and smells like some porn country but we choose to do it here in the name of some nuance and at the same time saying it's going to yield revenues for us to use for various things in this bill i'm i'm going to put in a statement without reading it about the supreme court and the circuit court on this issue i suggest the senate to the senate that the federal court will recognize this tax for what it is and therefore there's ten billion dollars we're counting on and this bill will be last apartment of interior is already testified before congress and now at this point i would note that i have another page and a half i had asked that it be made a yielding i do come to the floor today to oppose the tax that has been proposed and is now before us brought by the finance committee mr president it's very easy politically to stick it to the big boys and that's the political game that's being played on out on the floor of the united states senate as we speak stick it to the big boys ok we're going to stick it to the big boys thirty two point one billion dollars worth of taxes and what will it do for us will it change the price at the gas pump in america today no in fact you just heard the senator of new mexico say it could possibly raise the price of gas in the long term hasn't this senate heard the plea of the american consumer over the last six months about three dollars gas don't we get it today or do we just want to play petro politics now that's what the finance committee has done they've played petro politics they're sticking it to the big boys and they're going to put it in the green machine and the green machine may yield some energy in the future but it sure isn't going to change the price at the gas pump tomorrow or the next day or next week or next year and if they argue in disagreement with me my answer is simple prove it prove that you'll change the price at the pump or will the big boys simply try to pass it through to the consumer but we'll find out won't we if this bill passes and that's why i'm going to have to oppose cloture on the baucus provision of taxes the petrol politics of this issue let me show you the petro politics of the relief because here is where the reserves in the world exist today here are the big boys of america here's exon here's chevron here's marathon do you really think if we stick it to these three and more we'll change the world no no the world today from a standpoint of energy is controlled over here on the left hand side of the chart it's controlled by saudi arabia by iran by iraq and so on down the line they control the known reserves they control the world's oil supply they are the big boys and we're not sticking it to them in fact we're handing them a golden leaf we're saying you control the world oil supply and we're dependent upon you to sixty percent of our supply but we're going to penalize our producers because of the petro politics of this issue there another petro game being played out there petro politics is being played out on the floor of the united states senate but petro nationalism is being played out by these companies and countries of known reserve every one of these producers control their supply their nations governments and their nations governments companies control the supply of oil and they can turn the valve on or they can turn the valve off and every time they do the american consumer ultimately pays more that's called petro gneisenau listen i believe when we talk about the war of energy today and that's what we're involved in we're involved in a war on who can produce energy and can we and can we become energy secure so that we don't have could be depended upon saudi arabia and iraq and iran and we know what's happening in that area of the world today phenomenal instability you see not only do these nations play petro nationalism they also play with something else they have the weapon of mass disruption let me repeat that these nations hold the weapon of mass disruption you change the price at the pump a couple of dollars because you turn the valve off in these countries and you hit this economy like a freight train and what do we do today we're going to tax it a little more that's all this congress really knows how to do is tax they don't know how to produce we don't produce we get out of the way of production we encourage production but this bill will not produce one barrel of oil exxon mobil will produce a barrel of oil chevron will marathon will the rest of these countries will but we don't we're now stepping in the way of that production we're now penalizing that production the senior senator in the mexico talked about where the greatest reserves of america live today offshore and yet we're saying you want to play out there you want to go out you want to find you want to drill we're going to tax you we're going to penalize you instead of encourage you and incentivize you to discover to bring it to the wellhead to bring it to america's shores and to refine it for the american consumer no anybody in a reasonable way that doesn't want to play the political ga that's being played out on the floor as we speak federal politics needs to vote no on cloture if the american consumer thinks that the these companies are going to pay the thirty two point one billion in taxes they got it wrong you're going to pay at the pump the baucus bill pumps tax dollars out of the back pocket of the american consumer it does not allow it to be pumped out of the ground it doesn't about allow u it really isn't it's anti production it's anti consumer it's anti american to deny our nation's economy access to the world energy supply and that's what we're doing and so let's allow saudi arabia and iraq and iran to grab us by the gas nozzle and jerk us around every time they choose and this tax package suggests that that could start once again tomorrow because we're not going to get ourselves back into the business of production i yield the floor and hold the balance of my time the senior senator from montana is recognized as friends and is a very interesting series of statements we've heard in the last you know fifteen minutes half hour this day was basically would try to lead americans into believing that this energy is the finance committee tax package as well as the of the provisions in the tax package to pay for the incentives senator kyl basically delegates to the secretary of energy whether or not thirty billion dollars worth of tax provisions will be an active or not i'm astounded americans are in a better position to determine our own destiny in a better position to get more more energy production here in america how do we do that if the bill does that through stockholders so i'm going to charge whatever i can and that's why profits are so high because americans can't put milk in their gasoline in their car or their truck they can't bridge your water they've got to put diesel fuel gasoline americans are to domestic production that states and if they export those products by if they don't that's fine but still give a break and that's that's what that is what's happened to all domestic oil production united states since that was the act of two thousand  breaks in this area that is ordinarily a company gets a gets reduced its income taxes and the amount of the foreign taxes that company pays to a foreign country now the point the laws differ the gulf of mexico so let's be honest about this first of all the president states himself bullies that there's insufficient revenue paid to uncle sam compared to other countries tax on gas as the amount the result of the g a o study that is all the g a o study is we americans basically tax all the gas less other jurisdictions around the world or other states state of alaska is taxing more now other countries taxed more you know we americans are pretty easy in soft compared to other countries and how much we tax on gas rent and so this argument that somehow reliant upon those countries that some senators here say that this bill gives a break to does not this bill does that opposite it helps america become america again my colleague in your senator from iowa has recognized i want to address why we have culture on this bail to get to finality and that's going to take sixty votes and why you should  support the column in my in the debate on some of those bills particularly in committee we had the issue of well we're taxing oil companies to promote renewable fuels that this was an industrial policy and it was bad for congress to be and involved in industrial policy you know basically i agree but remember throughout the history of this country congress has been involved monopoly on hauling things if we didn't have river improvements so that barges could work as well railroads would still be hauling most of our commerce if we had built on the interstate system and the airports and airlines are all about the government promoting competition and also all we're involved in where we're taxing the oil industry to get a renewable energy industry started as we have been for twenty years now just with ethanol expanding it beyond ethanol but we would not have an ethanol industry today if we had not had tax incentives over the last few years and there will be some day just like we're saying to the oil companies today you know you got your start because of tax policy a lot of tax benefits because an oil industry was impotent one time and needed to get started the same thing is true of alternative energy if we don't give some tax incentives to yet we're not going to develop these industries to the strong capability they need to be when there's less and less and less transportation provided by petroleum products so i think we ought to look at the reality of how a gigantic oil industry got started in the united states through tax incentives we're talking about tax incentives to get alternative energy started and that's why i hope that you will abide by the decisions that the committee on finance made to have these situations where there's some tax on oil companies for the benefit of tax credits for alternative energy and i hope you also appreciate the fact that maybe a lot of us would like to have the tax incentives without off says but we're in an environment of paygo we're not in a reconciliation is reconciliation situation we're in a situation where we've got to provide the necessary offsets in order to get this legislation through so i hope you'll think of the history of where we've been with tax policies to promote an industry that's out there now i hope you'll understand that god only made so much f fuel and that's got to be a follow on of we're going to have the growth of our economy and i'd like to leave as last one point that i've heard the president of the united states make many times when i've been to the white house in the oval office to talk energy the president has said many times that with these high prices of oil the way it is we do not need any more incentives to the oil companies  to get more energy and he and the president has been a friend of of alternative energy most most often expressed any support for ethanol but a supporter of alternative energy and i hope he's in support of this legislation as well and i'll yield the floor because i think you are times about thank you senior senator from montana grassley for their leadership in putting this tax package together that has been reported favorably by the finance committee that i'm privileged to serve on let me speak also briefly about the kyl amendment and then talk about the tax package more generally and why we should vote to invoke cloture on this tax package and proceed on the  provision of the subtitle the subtitle being those provisions that that raise revenue to pay for this we are in a pay go situation here in the senate under our  budgetary arrangements so that if we're going to provide tax credits and tax benefits to some parts of the economy we need to pay for that we need to find some way to obtain the revenue and the way that the committee is found is to reduce the tax benefits that some other parts of the economy are enjoying today so senator kyl's amendment says that notwithstanding the provisions of  the provisions in the tax package that raise revenue none of this shall take effect unless the secretary of energy positively decides that is  that the amendments will not increase gas retail prices and the reliance of the united states on foreign sources of energy so essentially we're saying it's up to the secretary of energy whether or not we have this we pay for this set of tax  visions or don't pay for the set of tax provisions i don't think that's responsible for this congress to take that position i mean us great i know everybody likes to be able to go home say i didn't oppose the production tax credit extension which is in the bill i didn't oppose the investment tax credit for solar energy that's in the bell i didn't oppose the the provisions that would incentivize more bio fuel production all i opposed was the idea that we should pay for it and and i don't think that's a responsible position for us to take on the general tax package and the cloture issue let me just say the arguments i've heard are three some of argue this is going to reduce production some of argue this is going to increase the price gas some of argued that this is going to going to hurt the energy companies so let me just wo big items that are used being used to pay for this tax package are this section one ninety nine deduction which is was not even in the law till two thousand and four so we're taking that away as it applies to certain large companies and then of course this severance tax provision well let me talk a minute about that i know as i wasn't here last evening when senator bunning was speaking but i notice he's referred to it as this as senator bingaman skeen in his comments last night the severance tax proposal is not that it is a thirteen percent tax which would apply prospect of lee it doesn't go it's nothing retrospective about it it's prospect of it applies to all production of oil and gas that occurs in the outer continental shelf in the gulf of mexico it's designed so that it will not be unduly burdensome on any company that's producing in the gulf of mexico and i think we've done a good job in accomplishing that it does not  abrogate contracts it is a forward looking tax provision which i think is eminently reasonable now it would raise some revenue that is is sorely needed if we're going to extend  these in these tax provisions the production tax credit the investment tax credit the other provisions that are in the bill so i feel very strongly that we should keep it in place and  and it's an appropriate way for this this congress to proceed the second argument we heard was that if we adopt this we're going to see an increase in the price of gas the truth is we all know the price of oil world market our producers produce something like five percent of the oil that goes into the world market and so the idea that that for us to to raise some revenue here is going to affect the price of gas at the pump is just not true i mean if the world price of oil goes up we wind up paying more at the pump if the world price of oil goes down we wind up paying less at the pump and i think american consumers have watched that occur year after year and they understand that that's the circumstance the other argument is this is going to hurt our energy companies and this is an undue burden on them when you look at the reality the reported profits of the top five integrated all in gas producers last year were over one hundred eleven billion dollars i don't begrudge them lap but that's that's that's one year and that's five companies if profits continue at somewhere in that range where we can reasonably expect very conservatively that that producers large producers of oil and gas will have over the next ten years over a trillion dollars in profits  could i ask for one additional minute that was wrecked i think senator from montana so we've got a trillion dollars expected profits over the next ten years there's this package calls for raising twenty seven billion dollars over the next ten years so that's something in the range of two point five percent of profits a much smaller percentage of revenues of total revenues so i would just point out that that's not an undue burden on anyone and i think that all of the screams that this is the end of the world for the owning gas industry are just not founded on any kind of basis in fact mr president i think the whole purpose here is to is to do some very good things in the tax code which i compliment the senator from montana in the senator from iowa for for proposing and to do so under our pay go rules find revenue where it will reduce production the very least and i think they've done an excellent job in accomplishing that i urge my colleagues to support the the tax package and vote for cloture on the tax package when it comes up for a vote following the column in monogamously i colleague president bush said well companies don't need taxpayer subsidies to drill oil is now just under seventy dollars a barrel and certainly companies truly don't need taxpayer subsidies to drill for oil in the finance committee amendment begins to reverse decades of policies that equated what was good for the major oil companies was good for erica and that oil companies would get  cheap and plentiful energy supply here in america the reality is if you go to the gas pump today you see that gas is not cheap if you look at the impact of a refinery fire or a pipeline problem or a cold snap and the impact on heating oil prices you see that energy is not plentiful if you look at the growing level of oil imports from countries around the world that don't have our best interests at heart you'll see that what has been good for the major oil companies has not been good for the wellbeing of the citizens of america kyl amendment is just the latest in a long line of arguments that has been advanced on the theory that we ought to keep subsidizing  oil industry or energy prices will go up oil imports will go up and america will be less secure the fact of the matter is our people and our country have now experienced the results of past policies based on the idea that we ought to just send billions and billions of dollars of subsidies to the major companies it's time to end those subsidies it's time to stop the major oil companies from fleecing taxpayers when they drill for oil on public lands and it is time to embrace the very different vision of a more positive energy future largely constructed by the chairman the finance committee and the chairman of the energy committee i urge my senator from montana is four and half minutes the senator from arizona has eight minutes to not be happy to take half of my time right now let the senator then close and then i'll close after that  zone is recognizing q i would like to respond to some of the arguments that have been made here first of all i do appreciate the candor of both the senator from new mexico and the senator from iowa rather than arguing that these tax increases are loophole closers as has been suggested they candidly acknowledged that the reason for the tax increases is to pay for the costs of the bill as the center for my was said would like to avoid offsets but we can't we have to pay for the cost of the bill so much for the argument that these tax increases are loophole closers they are very plainly necessary to pay the cost of the bill so their tax increases and i appreciate that another bit of  senator from montana quoting the or paraphrasing anyway the chairman of former chairman of exxon oil company essentially argued that it's ok to add these taxes on oil companies because they make too much money  and make too much profit so we're justified in taxing them and mispresent i'm not going to argue with that that they're if they make too much money we're going to tax them if that's the if that's the argument for imposing new these new taxes all i say is as long as it doesn't raise the price of gasoline for american consumers then i guess the question would be who cares but if they do raise the cost of gasoline for american consumers then i think we should care and that's all this amendment does it says if it doesn't raise the cost of gasoline go ahead impose a tax if these oil companies are making too much money go ahead and tax them but if the result of it is not just hurt they all companies but they hurt the american consumer then congress says wait a minute not so fast we're not going to allow that to happen that's all this amendment does so we don't say you can't tax what we say is you can't tax  has a negative impact on the american consumer now there was a question about the heritage study i noticed that there was no attack on the numbers no refutation of the numbers just well who paid for the study i don't know who paid for the study i presume heritage paid for the study it's their study and what did it say and why is it such a burden to the saddle of those who oppose my amendment well it found that the tax provisions in this bill setting aside the other mandate will likely increase gas prices by twenty one cents per gallon over the next eight years and taking all of the provisions of the building gether it can increase the price of regular unleaded gas from three dollars and fourteen cents a gallon to six dollars and forty cents a gallon in the year two thousand and sixteen over the next ten years that's one hundred  four percent increase mispresent if that's the case even if it's only half that much it's a huge hit to the american consumer and we shouldn't even be thinking about that kind of a hit on the american  is a letter from our bruce johnston who makes the point that the u s chamber of commerce opposes the tax increases in the bill and supports the amendment which i've offered which would  condition that tax increase on not hurting american consumers he says the amendment would require the secretary of energy to certify that the tax provisions will not lead to increased reliance on foreign oil or higher gasoline prices for american consumers and as a result they support them and i believe they will keep it as a key vote he goes on to say the chamber strongly opposes the tax title of this bill because it contains many proposals that amount to little more than a modern day windfall profits tax x when that tax increase was an act of hundred eighty it resulted in higher prices for consumers long waits at gasoline lines and increased consumption of foreign oil mispresent that's what we're concerned about here if the tax increases don't have that effect then nobody has to worry about it but if they do have that effect on the american consumers they would not go into effect my penultimate point here is the argument here that we've got to do something to wean ourselves from opec so what do we do we slap a new thirteen percent tax on the production of new oil how does that help we notice from opec what it does is to say to the producers of oil you go out and find some and by the way if you do we're going to hit you with a new tax this is a perverse augment that we are hearing today is that we should have trust in the oil companies at exxon mobil and their friends last staying up nights and days worrying about  prices in the best interest of the can people and if anyone believes that i think we've got some good bridges to sell you right now the truth of the matter is the oil companies are ripping off the american people this moment in american history is a time that our country needs to radically change the way it does energy and the finance committee and a bipartisan way the energy committee and a bipartisan way is making some very clear statements and what they are saying is that global warming is a huge problem for this nation today and if we do not get a handle on it that problem will only intensify in years to call what we must begin to do and what this legislation is of route is making it clear that we have got to break our dependency on fossil fuel that we have got to move to energy efficiency that we have got to move towards the same noble energy and in that process not only can we substantially lower greenhouse gas emissions but we can also create millions of good paying jobs for the american people and as the chairman of the energy committee made clear a moment ago the oil companies year after year are making record breaking profits i for one do not stay up nights worrying about exxon mobile when a few years ago they were able to provide a four hundred million dollars retirement package to their for fielding from montana was present on all this taken me two minutes this whole debate is really boils down to something pretty simple and basic and that is do we as americans want to begin to become more self sufficient in our energy production do we want to be a little less reliant upon opec do we want to give i country has this congress for many many many years has provided some very significant tax incentives to all the gas industry to help america be strong to help make sure that we as americans have a strong industrial base and a strong energy base to fuel our industries and that was probably the right thing to do over the years one hundred sixteen one thousand eight hundred twenty six  various provisions are all very lucrative and have helped america i think the time has come for us to give some incentives to other industries alternative energy you know it feels clean coal technologies say last week and so forth the same kinds of incentives that all the gas industry has enjoyed for decades and decades and decades and we're not taking away these and said is no the gas industry at all we're just saying that the time has come for us to give some incentives to make america more self sufficient dux of energy and this whole bill helps accomplish that result and the financing way we do that and remember it is very fair it's very balance mr president let me senator from arizona is recognize closing the debate on this amendment respond to the point that both the senate from vermont and the chairman of the committee have just made and that is the need to promote renewable energy and to give incentives to those producers that's a fine sentiment my amendment has nothing to do with that my man that doesn't affect these incentives one iota it doesn't speak to them at all so that's a str just as it is a straw man to argue that we ought to have the right to sock it to the oil companies because they're making huge profits i'm not arguing that proposition back yesterday i offered an amendment to eliminate a real loophole in one of those subsidies that one company is going to be taking advantage of and both of the senators i just mentioned voted to support that subsidy and i voted to eliminate it so i'm not trying to protect the oil companies obviously i'm just trying to protect the american consumer my measurements says if the american consumer comes out ok tax the oil company my meant simply says if the american consumers are going to lose then we say no then there's an unintended consequence to all of these wonderful sentiments the sentiments of socking it to the companies the sentiments that create subsidies for renewable energy producers and so on but if it adversely affects american consumers and increases our dependency on foreign foreign oil then does anybody argue that we should do this wouldn't they instead try to find another way to achieve the objective i think the answer to that is yes so all my amendment says is do whatever you want to do here but if it adversely affects the american consumer or increases our dependence on foreign oil that's where we say no we need to back up and find another way to do this by mehmet does not affect the underlying subsidies it does not say that you can impose these additional taxes all of these arguments are straw man all i say is if the american consumers into being the losers as they sometimes have with our tax policies if these are the unintended consequences that we end up the loser and we become more dependent on foreign oil then we say no that's all this amendment does and i urge my colleagues very carefully about this and i hope that they'll support my amendment which we are going to vote on right now but i think the chairman of the committee wants to raise a point and i'll yield the floor at this time for him to do that brownback mr bunning mr coburn mr cochran mr coleman ms collins mr conrad mr nelson of florida mr nelson of nebraska mr rockefeller mr salazar mr sanders mr schumer mr sessions mr shelby mr tester to greg thanks mr gregg now mr conrad mr conrad  mr rockefeller mr rockefeller no mr obama won't any member wish to vote does any senator wish to change his or her vote on this vote the ayes are thirty eight the nays are fifty five three fifths of the senators duly chosen and swore not having voted in the affirmative the majority leader as president just a few minutes ago a record was broken senator frank lautenberg has just passed senator clifford cases record for the most votes cast by senator from the state of new lautenberg career can't possibly be summed up though on just numbers alone i've had the good fortune of serving with this man in the senate since i came here sometimes the term american dream is just thrown around probably a bit too much to have order in the senate please but if there were ever a member of this body who exemplifies the american dream it's frank lautenberg the senator from new jersey  was born without privilege to immigrant parents he served his country bravely in world war two put himself through comi a university on the g i bill he is an example of what the g i bill of rights did for america frank lautenberg achieved great personal success in the business world but he wanted to do more and be a successful businessman and he was a success a successful businessman both in reputation and ability to make money our great free enterprise system he was an example of exemplary of that but he decided that he would seek public service and very unusually he shot for the time he ran for the united states senate and ran and ran and ran and ran and i was elected in  sponsored countless laws to make neighborhood safer as far as health and safety he led the fight regarding drunk driving by toughening federal laws and penalties relating there to in states in the environment and i had the good fortune of serving with him on the environment committee from the first day i arrived in the senate and i do say to frank and he knows this as a result of his having a very short retirement voluntarily i was fortunate enough to be able to come the chairman of that committee twice had he been here he would have been chairman on those two occasions and the environment no one and i say without any reservation no one has a better environmental record in the history of our country than frank lautenberg he sponsored countless laws reduce pollution super fun one of the real battles of the senate in recent years is a battle that he and the ranking member had and the chairman they went back and forth as to what would happen regarding the superfund and the veyron public works committee he has followed that like no one else has ever followed it has promoted recycling by legislation he's done legislation to protect our drinking water and importantly mr president to ensure the public's right to know about invite mental hazards in our communities but for me personally the legislative accolades i want to give him relate to what he did regarding smoking cigarettes i have five children traveling back and forth in nevada as we have done one of my boys was terribly affected by cigarette smoke and you know they tried something you can only smoke in certain parts of the airplane that didn't work if you're allergic to cigarette smoke that didn't work and my boy key  suffered as a result of people smoking in those airplanes now when frank lautenberg took on this battle actually people made fun of him why would he take on the tobacco industry and if he did did he mind losing well he lost a few battles but he won the war and my boy is extremely happy that he did win that war because day to day they don't even have ashtrays in commercial airlines anymore the list is longer than i could possibly enumerate his legislative accomplishments but one of the things that's not a legislative accomplishment that i so admire about frank lautenberg is his sense of humor his presence there is a story that he tells he tells lots of them but he tells a number of stories i go around and ask him would you tell your story again and he tells it just as good as the last time and one reason i admire his humor is he reminds you of red skelton because even though he's retold those jokes many times in my presence he laughs at them harder each time his own jokes suffice it to say when the days come up for health safety and welfare of every single american not just those from new jersey because record a record breaking vote is reason enough to honor him but his tremendous record is an accomplishment that will endure for many generations to come congratulations  energy bill signed by seventeen senators and animists consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived the question is is it the sense of the senate that debate on a mammoth number seventeen zero four offered by the senate from montana mr baucus to h our nation's dependency on foreign oil by investing in clean renewable and alternative energy resources promoting new emerging energy technologies developing greater efficiency anchor and creating a strategic energy efficiency and renewable reserve leahy mr levin mr lieberman mrs lincoln mr lott mr lugar mr martinez mr schumer mr sessions cantwell this can't well i easter demand  senator was to vote does any senator wish to change his or her vote by this vote the yeas are fifty seven the days of thirty six three fifths of the senators do it shows this or not having voted affirmative the motion is not agreed to present majority leader i had a motion senate will come to order this president this president the man seated behind me robert byrd just voted for the eighteen thousand time more than any other senator in history let me just tell a couple of things that are important to me about my relationship with this unusually brilliant man  his present i had returned from nevada to washington said i will come to order please take your conversations outside the senate the majority leader i was a new senator i asked senator byrd what he had done that we can we were standing back here and he said i've been studying the roman empire reading for the third time givens rise and fall of the roman empire and he said what did you do i say was well sure granted well i grabbed a little pocket book out of my library at home and that was the adventures of robinson crusoe and he looked as we all know senator byrd when he's thinking about something year old his head back and let the peace in robinson crusoe he said let's see how long was he on that island and he said twenty years two months two weeks and two and five days i looked at him like he's talking i just read the book i do know how long you've been there so i went home that night and looked senator byrd was right robinson crusoe had been on that island twenty eight years two months two weeks and five days of he had read the book in forty five or fifty years but he remembered that all of us will remember how he disliked the line item veto so he came to the senate floor once a week for ten weeks and gave a lecture on the evils of the line item veto but he did it in a unique way because it was all about the fall of the roman empire his thesis was that the roman empire fell because the executive took power away from the legislative branch of government he gave ten lectures every law sure last of exactly one hour now these were absolute there is not a professor who teaches roman history that could give the detailed lecture on the roman empire that senator byrd did but he gave it up i will ask and it was so good that at the university that las vegas they had a political science department took those lectures and turned it into a course a graduate course i asked senator byrd that was quite remarkable you know he did it without a note he just walked out here and gave his lecture and it had he as we know he had he referred to the emperors and how long they were there and the battles that took place and the times they took place i senator byrd tell me how you did that without a note he looked at me and said i memorized what i was going to say so he gave ten hours of lectures every word of it he had memorized finally and i could tell stories about this man for a long time but let to meet with us a few senators in the hills of west virginia it was beautiful they had bluegrass music there and it was a festive occasion so relatively small number of if anybody here anything that i've said is wrong you've been given a little notebook and pencil to write it down and we'll talk about it later so he proceeds to tell us and those british parliamentarians the reign of the british monarchs starting from the beginning now remember he has no no he's just standing up there starting from the beginning he would say if they win if it were necessary he would spell the name of the monarch he every one of them he gave the years they were rain that they rained and if it were something interesting that happened during their reign he would tell us about it it took him five an hour and twenty minutes to do this the british parliamentarians were dumbfounded here is this american senator telling them far more than they know about their own country well this man has been such a an inspiration to all of us with this in mind this incredible mind i just finished reading walter isaacson's einstein a wonderful book five hundred twenty eight pages that talk about this brilliant genius i don't i don't know i don't know i didn't have the opportunity meet our nine science but i had to the opting to meet this genius he has an unparalleled knowledge of the rules of the senate he has a reverence for this institution that is unsurpassed and one of the things that i think is so important is that he believes in the constitution i have here with me the other one is worn out the other one is worn out but i have here with a new very nice inscription that i prizes i have it will with me virtually every day signed by united states senator from virginia robert byrd these gifts that he has been given by the all my brings to my mind words from ralph waldo emerson and his s c m self reliance which was ten thousand words long now senator byrd if he had if he were familiar with those he would resign i can't i'm all i'm not when you give you ten thousand words then i'm going to give you the last paragraph of this brilliant essay by ralph waldo emerson which i think talks about who this man is to use all that is called fortune most men gamble with her and gain all and lose all as are we all roles but do they all leave as unlawful these winnings and deal with cause and effect the chances of god in the will work in a choir and valleys chain the wheel of chance and shall sit here after out of fear of her rotations a political victory a rise of rents the recovery of your sick or the return of your absent friend or some other favorable event raises your spirits and you think good days are preparing for you do not believe that nothing can bring you peace but yourself nothing can bring you peace but the tri republican leader mr president of all the many milestones along the way of the extraordinary career of senator robert byrd and by the way we've celebrated a few of those on the floor of the senate since i've been here is here chivas more and more that distinction by setting more and more records about senate service i'm always reminded that senator byrd said his greatest accomplishment was his extraordinary be his incredible successful marriage to his beloved arma so mr president let me add on behalf of those on this side of the aisle our congratulations to the distinguished senior senator from west virginia for another remarkable accomplishment the previous order the clerk report the motion to invoke cloture your motion we dinner signed center is in accordance with the provisions of rule twenty two of the standing rules of the senate do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the reid substitute a member number fifteen zero two to count or number nine h r six energy bills signed by seventeen senators doing read to by an absence sent the mandatory quorum all has been waived the question is is it the sense of the senate that debate i remember at number fifty you know two offered by the senator from nevada mr reed to h r six and act to reduce our nation's dependency on foreign oil by investing in clean renewable and alternative energy resources reporting new emerging energy or technologies developing greater efficiency and creating a strategic energy efficiency and or noble renewable reserve to invest in alternative energy and for other purposes shall be brought to a close the azan naser mandatory in the rule the clerk will call the ro is to read of rhode island to reid of nevada mr roberts is to rockefeller mr sala cochrane mr cochrane now greg mr greg i this is feinstein i mr col mr pryor no mr alexander  we're all partisans here and i really do believe this though we just took is going to change the complection of the senate the american people are upset at us democrats and republicans because we're not getting things done and we've got to get over that i so appreciate democrats and republicans doing what is good for the country and is not where there are still things with this bill that i don't particularly like there are things that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle don't like but we have got to start legislating and i really do say and i repeat i think this could be the beginning of our being able to legislate may we have order please take your conversations off the floor of the senate west virginia expect me to do the job they sent me here to do and i'm doing it i love the senate for its president age requirements special functions delegated to the senate regarding treated appointments impeachment all of these make our country a better pla the people are send us here to do a job they don't send us here to score political points or good vance our personal agenda senator from maryland mr president the first of all on behalf of the democrats the majority leader i have fourteen unanimous consent request for committees to meet during today's session of the senate they had the approval of the majority minority leader and i ask unanimous consent that this request that the d's request be agreed to and that these request be printed in the record without objection mr president today the senate is trying to come up with an energy bill and i know that senators have been working very hard on all sides of the aisle to come up with consensus and i just wish and that we could support and a compromise so in the cafe but mr president we are now where we are and we are in a very important juncture in our history mr president you know me i'm a blue collar senator my heart and soul lies with the blue collar american i spent most of my life in a blue collar neighborhood when back on steel went on strike my dad gave those workers credit when you i w was having a hard time my boy my father and mother tried to smooth the way by helping them in the grocery store my career in my public service is one of deep commitment to the working people so when automobile manufacturers told me they couldn't meet the increased cafe standards i glisten and i listened year after year and now i've listened for more than twenty years when they told me they needed more time i agreed when they told me that an increase in cafe standards was unattainable with existing technology i voted against the increase to give more time so that we could come up with attainable and existing technology but twenty years have gone by since the last increase in fuel efficiency standards i was here when we voted for those cafe standards and now after twenty years i firmly do believe it is time for change not any kind of change mr president a smart change a feasible change and affordable change that's why i support the energy bill that is before us and i support the framework that's been generally presented by senator feinstein of california i know that american automobile manufacturers and their workers are true patriots they want what is the best for our nation they faced challenges before and they've met them and i believe that they will face these challenges now i believe they know and want to build their calls that are safer and more energy efficient but the time is now come to increase fuel efficiency standards we need a national effort we need a national standards and it's time for our automobile industry to make the changes because they need to be able to do that to help their own industry survive and also in the interest of the nation i believe that our world and our nation is facing a crisis when you look at the increased gas at the pump it's hurting every single one i seen you talk to the family you now it costs ninety dollars to fill up a minivan a commuter who has no one other way to get to work than an automobile is now paying more to get to work than they are for their food bill and certain parts by q mr president we know that small business they need those vans to make those the governors whether they own a flower shop whether they're here heating an air conditioning guy whether it's the plumber whether it's the person to govern pharmacies to nursing homes and my own state right now the waterman those fisherman are out on the chesapeake bay trying to harvest ever diminishing crabs with ever increasing fuel prices mr president it is time to conserve our energy resources and to deal with the crisis that we are facing we know that energy and gasoline and petroleum products are unlimited supply and are going up we know that america's dependence on foreign oil prevents presents a very serious national security challenge i'm one the intelligence committee and i know what these transnational threats are i know that energy independence is absolutely crucial to fighting the global war against terrorism five zero the mining mr president and know that every time we're putting money into the tank we're putting money into the pockets of the petro jaundiced those petro shot is that are trying to undermine is everywhere around the world undermining an attacking our troops in iraq and destroy the you not only american lives but the american way of life i don't want to support al qaeda by buying more gasoline than i have to or what this is what a ran venezuela and others are doing we need to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and that is one of the most important ways that we can as the public to fighting the war against terrorism there are one hundred fifty thousand men and women fighting in iraq today the temperature is one hundred ten degrees we already have lost fourteen more military and while we're doing that though there are three hundred million of us who don't have to share and the sacrifice of the battle in iraq but we can share and that sacrifice if we embrace energy conservation and are serious about it the same time we know that there is a dangerous increase in the climate crisis that affects the arab but life on our planet it too is a national security issue because make no mistake the climate crisis will affect our food supply will create a climate in w infectious disease will grow and natural disasters will increase now what can we do about it how can we sign up to have a safer america a safer planet well i believe that the most sensible foundation of energy and of an energy plan must begin with conservation we've got to make better use of what we've got in our homes in our businesses in our cars and in our air claims we also need incentives for newer noble energy and energy efficient technologies that we use in our home in our business and an increase in fuel efficiency standards for our vehicles on the road and our vehicles in the air now and considering any fuel efficiency standard otherwise known as cafe i come back to where i began my heart and soul lies with the american worker so i technological ability to accomplish it that means a reasonable we need time to adjust their produce production and i also believe we have to create incentives to enable companies to achieve those goals i wave in industrial policy where we pick winners and losers but if we're going to pick a winning energy policy we have to provide some type of help to the industry to help them get where we need for them to go hundred fifty s when part of the world heard the iron curtain come down and they went into communism many against their own will there was a whole other world that chose to go and what they called a socialist tendency we saw industrial democracies like england france canada develop a national health system but we said oh no word merican we don't want to go that way we don't want to have a national well system so when he said to the private sector provide health care provide pensions and we'll support that s our american manufacturing base when to a defined benefit they did provide health care they didn't provide pensions and now they should not be penalized for it and yet when you look at the fact that our american manufacturers and our automobile industry itself does carry the legacy costs of health care and we asked them to do it and they did do it general motors provides more health care than the v a system they provide more health care than some countries around the world they have legacy costs to retirees so for we're going to make the move in cafe we have to acknowledge that issue and also how that also impacts their competitiveness let's put our thinking cap on let's not only help one industry maybe this is the time to motivate us to get serious about having universal health care and a real prescription drug benefit so that we don't dump it on the private sector to do i also know when we look at this and preserving jobs we need to also make sure the technology is achievable and i believe that it is i believe that also that there are certain waivers in this bill that help them achieve that that deals with the fact that if they cannot to crease some of these standards that the mandates can be waived but mr president you don't get an energy policy by mandates alone we can't mandate and regulate our way out of this now i'm going to wrote to raise fuel efficiency standards only because i'm so convinced that it is in our national security interest but i do not want to ignore the economic impact that this is going to have on the automobile industry we just can't mandate and we just can't regulate so i say to my colleagues if we're go base out of control health care costs mean that companies are less able to innovate and invest in technology our current president wants to talk about a lot about relieving the tax burden but to w business community the cost of health care is a tax because we have not gotten serious about how to provide affordable health care both to the people who want to buy it and businesses who want to provide it so let's get rid of that health care tax on american business and come up with universal health care last year we made some progress on helping manufacturers meet their pension obligations and we can do it in health care the time has come to raise the cafe standards but the time has come also to put our thinking cap on to be an innovation society and come up with new ideas for efficiency new technologies for energy efficiency new composite materials to make cars lighter but keep them safe and also at the same time to serious they come to grips with health care this is not an easy vote for me i'm telling you this is not an easy vote for me i have now i have always for twenty years stood with colleagues like glavine and stabenow i stand with them now but i also know that if the old american automobile industry is going to survive and that if we're going to deal with these petro show hottest we need to get serious about fuel efficiency let's get serious about the legislation let's get serious about health care let's be serious about the american workers and get the job done that the people want us to do so today i know they have to be voted for cultural in the bill but we have to continue to speak up on what we need to do to make us a safer country but keep a stronger economy and for god's sake could we start to be smarter about it mr president a probably take up to ten minutes but that would be my request to announce requests without objection me earlier when he announced the fact that i had become the second long us or largest senate voter from the state of new jersey  took place that that kind of law jeopardy has been extended to me by the voters of new jersey the people of new jersey and as i now enter in the middle of my twenty was a different discussion for another term but the majority leader was very generous and his comments about me and coming from a person who's provided so much by way of leadership and was for me the fact that i'm here in this chamber as long as i've been here i spent thirty years building a company with a couple of colleagues that's a legend of america about what happens even though if you're born poor and you have some assistance i wore the uniform of the country proudly during world war two  and was a beneficiary of the g i bill of rights that's how they define the educational opportunity that by surprise by all if i will if i may that i was able to go to columbia university a distinguished educational facility something that i never dreamed possible because of the humble roots that my family had they gave me that use nothing of value but value as my parents admonition throughout my life was always be august always tell the truth always work hard and remember one thing son that there are people as poor as we are as difficult as it is the times that there are always people less fortunate that way and my grandmother had a little bank and the house we shared with her many times and which we would put small coins in to be used for we can't use the word charity but for others who were less fortunate so ice stand in this chamber at this moment and i want to talk about something related to roots to my roots my dad and my mother were brought to this country by their parents hoping for an opportunity to make a living and to have some degree of dignity and opportunity and  my father worked in the silk well with a dear friend of his who was later on very active in union organization and my father made a plea to his foreman for a holiday off was an important religious holiday wasn't looking for any pay heaven forbid but he just wanted to have the time off for the observance of the holiday and he and his very close friend it would be all right if they took the day off for the observance of the holiday that was the week following the foreman's reply was very succinct sorry quit he said i'm sure you can take th welcome back to work here anymore and with that you can imagine the view of my father and his friends and not being able to had continue a job that was scarcely difficult to time to get so they waited hand hat and hand in those days the people would wear hats even to work and common labor in the mail and they describe hat in hand the two of them nervously waiting for the owner of the company that come by and finally they wouldn't let him go into that the owner office heaven forbid that no place for people like you but the owner was a kind generous man and when he walked out they stopped him and explained that they desperately wanted to take the holiday off but they needed their jobs and the owner was sympathetic man and sympathetic person and he said take the time off and you're going to be paid for that holiday and that was in the beginning days of union representation in this country very active very confrontational very difficult sometimes violent but my father saw it and his friend saw that they had to have a better way to do things than stand at and hand and beg for a day off fortunately they found the kind man who listened and gave them the day but the experience was searing and they never forgot that working people had to have representation they then both of them got active in union organization and it was those were really difficult days and we vul heard stories about the employees who wanted some representation and wanted a voice and how they were paid and wanted a voice and what conditions were like best present my father worked in a mill my father was a health fattest even in those days he took very good care of themselves he was a man with muscles he would go to the gym and they would lift weights they belong to the local y and he took very good care self never smoke light on coffee no liquor he died when he was forty three years old forty three really keep the machinery working that ultimately cause my father's cancer his brother died aged fifty six also from cancer their father died at age fifty two also from cancer induced by the environment of the factory they worked in and so unions mean something mean a lot to me i mean a lot to america mr president the fact that people who work in places should have a voice and when we see the disparities that all that we do see where it took ten years to get it changed and the minimum wage in this place it still is not effective under the chair most and so it's time to give unions to give working people a chance to participate in what might be their lifetime work or their opportunities to take care of their families or the opportunities as my father said hold your head high be proud be proud that you're a worker rou that you're contributing something to your country and so what we see around me is discretion for most presidents and we're now discussing freedom of choice for workers give them a chance to vote without having to go through a hassle about whether or not they organize i've seen what happened mr president have i run a very big company when i left the company had sixteen thousand toys today they had forty thousand employees come in i started with two other poor or kids from the neighborhood and we were always very conscious of our responsibility to our employees and that's why the company was so successful had the longest growth record of any company in american history a temper cents or more on the bottom line and so when we look now and we see what's happening we had a case of bus driver from new jersey fired for being a union supporter giving test and only to the national labor relations board and even as we gather here we see that employers are still using all kinds of tactics to harass threaten or fire workers who try to exercise their right to form a union ninety two percent of employers make their employees sit through one sided anti union present stations and this is according to a study the cornell university the cornell study also said that seventy eight percent of employers supervisors told repeated closed door one on one meetings with workers to intimidate country as we ship so many jobs abroad as technology i come from the computer business i know something about technology as technology takes jobs away from people who only skill is our manual skills and they need a way to make a living you don't have to just be a new immigrant to need a job where you use your hands or use your body or use your your strength to make a living but these jobs are going further and are growing further and further afield because of the technology so we should allow employers to prevent workers from having a greater voice in their workplace on issues of pay and benefits and working conditions well we can improve the situation mr president by passing the employers free choice  act to protect work person to protect their rights and they yeah use the expression hold their heads high though that they can provide for their families know that they don't have to apologize to their kids for  having to work as hard as so many do to jobs in many cases well the billets will be in front of us would let employees select a union if they sign a majority signed cards and say they want representation they want to take over the ownership for the company they don't want to deprive senior executives from making their their  when we see what's happening in america today there is a frightening specter out there and i talk as someone who came from the boardroom from the corporate boardroom i can be accused of being a tree hugger because i really care about the environment i can be accused of other things but i can't be i can't be accused of  understanding what it's like to run a business a successful business and so if people want representation when we see that there are people in this country one man earned a billion eight hundred million dollars for single years work and many others earned two hundred forty million or over andy the salaries the compensation is adequate enough to take care of as they said in an article in the new york times a couple weeks ago that if it took the sum bind wages of people who may two hundred  forty million dollars or more in the year you could pay eighty thousand schoolteachers in the city of new york for three years well some disparity and what has to happen mr president is that people who work for a living have to understand that their work that their effort that their contribution the country would have tom brokaw and a large right now he wrote a book the greatest generation second half of the last century what was it was working people who made a contribution who was working people mr president who on d day i didn't arrive in europe on the day i arrived a little bit later but those who were there those who were the heroes those who say their campaigns working for the working people mr president and they're entitled to be heard and it can't be they can't be hassled or want representation current law allows for this majority sign up but only at the employer's discretion the employer can instead demand in the election and use the time before that election as fair work as a way from joining in the employee free choice act would protect and enhance the right of workers to join unions and there's good reason for some to choose a union as president bush helps the wealthy get wealthier it helps the corporations develop ever more earnings i see nothing wrong with that as long as there's a fairness and equity and when a company like exxon mobil earns almost forty billion dollars in a year and americans pull up to the pub and very often they're giving away a significant part of their purchasing power at that gasoline we have to be sure mr president that we don't totally demar allies the working people of this country union wages can help low and middle wage workers earn their way to new opportunities financial stability everybody knows that it costs more to live these days and it costs more to send a kid to college it costs more to get health care and it costs more for gasoline and costs more for mortgages cost more for everything well we have to make sure that the people who work for a living who do the building who do the lifting that they are able to make a living comes the wages union wages are almost thirty percent higher than nonunion wages and union workers are almost twice as likely to have employer sponsored health  two thousand and five one point three million new jersey residents were uninsured for health but three hundred thousand more than residence more resonance than five years ago union membership huge difference to them and their families hardworking americans deserve these benefits and we do need the employer free choice act so that work workers can express themselves without intimidation and put their names on their either as they have to be certified if they make that choice but we also want employers to be accountable when they violate the law this bill would strengthen penalties for employer violations of the national labor relations act so that employers are deterred from breaking the law present workers deserve an atmosphere where they can choose their freedom to choose a union without intimidation or coerce and they need a strong law to allow them to make their own choices without interference from the employer free choice act is that law it would give employees a stronger voice in shaping their workplace and would help employees earn more money benefits and improve their futures so i'm proud to support this bill for america and new jersey or new jersey and america's current union members and for those who want to be unionized so i urge my colleagues to support it permit people to make their choice make it freely and not have to be worried about intimidation or harassment