Congressional Record UNUM

E PLURIBUS

United States

of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112th

 CONGRESS, SECOND SESSION

∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

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S6023 

Vol. 158 WASHINGTON, MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 10, 2012 No. 120 

Senate 

The Senate met at 2 p.m. and was 

called to order by the Honorable RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, a Senator from the 

State of Connecticut. 

PRAYER

The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, offered the following prayer: 

Let us pray. 

Eternal God, Your presence fills us 

with reverential awe for we find a light 

in Your commands. Even in darkness, 

your light dawns for those who love 

You. And so, Lord, as we begin the next 

phase of the work of the Senate, give 

us greater confidence in the power of 

Your providential purposes. Remind 

our lawmakers that the hearts of governmental leaders are in Your hands, 

yielding to the wisdom of Your sovereign will. Help us, Lord, to get to 

know You and love You so we can serve 

You as we should. 

We pray in Your mighty Name. 

Amen. 

f 

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE 

The Honorable RICHARD BLUMENTHAL

led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: 

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the 

United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, 

indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. 

f 

APPOINTMENT OF ACTING 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will please read a communication 

to the Senate from the President pro 

tempore (Mr. INOUYE). 

The legislative clerk read the following letter. 

U.S. SENATE, 

PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, 

Washington, DC, September 10, 2012. 

To the Senate: 

Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, 

of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby 

appoint the Honorable RICHARD

BLUMENTHAL, a Senator from the State of 

Connecticut, to perform the duties of the 

Chair. 

DANIEL K. INOUYE, 

President pro tempore. 

Mr. BLUMENTHAL thereupon assumed the chair as Acting President 

pro tempore. 

f 

RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY 

LEADER 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader is recognized. 

f 

WELCOME BACK 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I welcome 

everyone back, the staff and Presiding 

Officer. I hope everyone had a restful 

and productive month. I look forward 

to this work period, which will be very 

short and exact, and I hope we can accomplish a few things. 

f 

CLEAR PICTURES 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I wish to 

take a minute to talk about Congressman PAUL RYAN’s arithmetic. It is very 

interesting. He said he ran a marathon. 

A marathon is 26.2 miles long. While 

being questioned by the press, he said 

he ran it in about 2 hours and 50 minutes. Now, that is pretty fast. I would 

like to take a minute and apply the 

Ryan math to my marathon times. I 

will pick just one marathon time. 

I ran the Boston Marathon, and using 

the Ryan math my time would not 

have been a world record but within 

minutes of a world record. I could have 

made the Olympic team. By using 

Ryan math, I would have been superb. 

Well, the Ryan math doesn’t work in 

marathons. As we all know, we can always check someone’s math, and his 

math doesn’t work for running a marathon or anything else. 

The Ryan math doesn’t work with his 

budgets, it doesn’t work with Medicare, 

and it doesn’t work with his tax plan. 

It doesn’t work with anything he has 

suggested and opined. It is no more 

than his little assertion that I guess he 

thought no one would check. When people run these races, they keep records. 

For all of my marathons, they have 

kept records. So as much as I would 

like to have the Ryan math apply to 

my marathons, it doesn’t work. 

The Senate is going to resume its 

work in a few minutes on the heels of 

the two conventions. One was in Florida and one in North Carolina. The Republicans used their virtually fact-free 

convention to showcase the richest 

style economic policies. 

The Democrats took a different approach. I am sure we all had our favorites. I thought Congressman CLEAVER’s 

speech was so terrific. I don’t know 

how many were able to see it, but it 

was great. He was up there marching. 

He was just outstanding. 

Gov. Jennifer Granholm from Michigan was so good as she explained to everyone about jobs and why Detroit 

should not have gone bankrupt. 

I thought JOE BIDEN’s speech was 

typical for JOE BIDEN. It was wonderful. I admire him so much. I served 

with him for a quarter of a century. 

What a good man. He has contributed 

such valuable service to his country. 

While talking about his life story, we 

saw when his son introduced him. 

Tears were coming from his eyes. 

The President’s and Mrs. Obama’s 

messages were very clear. They did so 

well. 

In Charlotte Democrats presented 

Americans with a clear and honest assessment of the challenges we face as a 

nation and a concrete plan to overcome 

the problems we have together. That is 

why President Obama has seen a significant rise in the polls since that convention and all of those speeches—not 

just his speech but all of them. Even 

the Republican-skewed Rasmussen poll 

had him ahead by 5 points. 

In fact, we presented Americans with 

clear choices. It was not a choice between two candidates or two parties; it 


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