S10538 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 17, 2008 

Dale Huffman, from Montgomery 

County, is a U.S. Army veteran. His 

public broadcasting skills have helped 

to energize veteran advocacy, and he 

was inducted into Dayton’s Walk of 

Fame on September 25, 2008. 

Charles Ianni, deceased, was from 

Cuyahoga County, U.S. Army veteran, 

World War II. Ianni was named Veteran 

of the Year by Cuyahoga County and 

was a charter member of the John 

Towle Chapter of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, Special Forces 

Chapter. 

James Johnson, from Franklin County, is a U.S. Air Force veteran. Johnson was awarded the AFCRC Certificate of Recognition for his contribution, support, and distinguished service 

to his community, especially in the 

area of veterans affairs in 2007. 

Jack M. Kennedy, from Franklin 

County, is a U.S. Navy veteran, Vietnam war. Kennedy has served in the 

Navy League of the United States, 

where he has held various positions, including Navy League council president. 

He is a lifetime member of the Military 

Officers Association of America. 

Margaret Kruckemeyer, a nurse, 

from Green County, is a U.S. Army veteran. Kruckemeyer is the president of 

the American Veterans Heritage Commission and is past national board 

member on the Nurses Organization of 

Veterans Affairs Foundation. 

Samuel Lanza, from Trumbull County, is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, 

World War II. Lanza was appointed to 

the Trumbull County Veterans Service 

Commission in 1997. He is a past State 

commander for the Disabled American 

Veterans. 

Gregory Lashutka, from Franklin 

County, is a U.S. Navy veteran. 

Lashutka is the former mayor of the 

city of Columbus and was selected as 

Municipal Leader of the Year in 1993. 

He has maintained continuous membership in the Columbus Chapter of the 

Navy League and has provided support, 

counsel, and advice to individual veterans and veterans groups. 

Erwin Morse, from Clark County, is a 

U.S. Air Force veteran. Morse retired 

from the U.S. Air Force and went to 

work at the Dayton Veterans Administration Medical Center. He is the 

founder of the Honor Flight Network 

which raises funds and collaborates 

with a number of organizations to provide an opportunity for our Nation’s 

World War II and terminally ill veterans from around the country to experience the National World War II Memorial in Washington, DC. 

Stanley Pace, from Cuyahoga County, is a U.S. Air Force veteran, World 

War II. Pace has been active in the Boy 

Scouts of America since 1958 and was 

awarded the Silver Beaver and the Silver Antelope for his service. He is also 

active in the United Way of Cleveland 

and served as chairman of the annual 

United Way fund drive. 

Elva Pounders, from Summit County, 

is a U.S. Marine Corps veteran, Vietnam war. Pounder is vice chairman for 

the Governor’s Advisory Committee on 

Women Veterans and was awarded the 

500 Hour Award for her extraordinary 

volunteer efforts at Brecksville VA 

Medical Center in 2006. 

Tony Sustarsic, Cuyahoga County, is 

a U.S. Army veteran, World War II. 

Sustarsic is the founder, past president, and lifetime member of Euclid 

Veterans Club. He is also a fundraiser 

for the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post 

1056 and American Legion Post 343. 

William Willoughby, Jr., from Lake 

County, is a U.S. Army veteran, Vietnam war. Willoughby is a U.S. Military 

Academy admissions coordinator and 

serves on the Veterans Issues Committee. He was very helpful to me in 

selecting young men and women for 

West Point, for the U.S. Military Academy, when I was a Member of the 

House of Representatives. 

Herman Zerger, a long-time friend of 

mine, is from Monroe County, U.S. 

Army veteran, with service in World 

War II and a prisoner of war. Zerger 

was one of the founding charter members of the Veterans of Foreign Wars 

Post 5303. He is an active participant in 

Ohio No. 1, American Ex-Prisoner of 

War. 

As a Member of the Senate Veterans 

Committee, on which I serve with the 

Presiding Officer from Montana, my 

colleague, Senator TESTER, it has been 

my privilege to hear from Ohio veterans across the State about what matters most to them. Those discussions 

with veterans at roundtables and hearings in Ohio reinforce my profound respect for our veterans. 

It is our duty as Members of Congress 

to do all we can to provide the services 

they have earned and deserved. I look 

forward to working with veterans and 

their families in the coming years to 

ensure that Ohio veterans’ voices are 

heard in Washington. 

We made major progress last year. 

Senator TESTER, Senator WEBB, Senator SANDERS—many of us on the Veterans Affairs Committee—Senator 

MURRAY and others, and, of course, 

Chairman AKAKA, made major gains in 

health and education benefits for veterans with the new GI bill—the most 

important benefits granted, the largest 

amount of benefits granted since the 

original GI bill several decades ago. I 

am appreciative of the work of my colleagues on that issue. 

f 

EXTENSION OF UNEMPLOYMENT 

BENEFITS 

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, when I 

think about the debate over extending 

unemployment insurance, some questions come to mind. 

Does anyone in Congress want more 

American families to lose their homes? 

Does anyone in Congress want more 

American children to go to bed hungry? 

Does anyone in the House or Senate 

want more American families to stop 

paying their heating bills, to delay 

their credit card payments, to skip out 

on their health care bills? 

Does anybody in the House or Senate 

want consumer spending to slow even 

further, dragging our economy from recession to something even worse? 

Assuming the answer to any of these 

questions is no, then voting to extend 

unemployment insurance for current 

job seekers should not be a fight, it 

should be a formality. 

This Chamber approved a massive 

bailout of the financial industry, not 

because investment bankers might 

have to forsake that second or third 

Mercedes, not because Wall Street bonuses might drop from eight figures to 

seven figures. We approved that bailout 

because when credit markets freeze, 

businesses cannot get working capital, 

and when businesses cannot get working capital, Americans lose jobs, and 

when Americans lose jobs, their families suffer, their communities suffer, 

and our Nation suffers. 

It all comes down to Main Street 

Americans who want to work, who 

want to pay their bills, who want to 

take care of their families; their wellbeing is tied to the well-being of our 

economy and our Nation. Unemployment insurance is the mechanism by 

which Americans looking for jobs but 

who have lost their jobs can sustain 

their families, can keep their financial 

commitments, can afford the tools 

needed to find a new job. 

I have heard too many cases where 

people could not even fill their gas 

tanks to go out searching for jobs, particularly in rural northwest and rural 

southeast Ohio. 

Extending unemployment insurance 

is key to getting the economy going. It 

injects dollars into the economy and 

helps people meet their obligations, 

raise their kids, and do what they need 

to do in the community. It is one of the 

most important and immediate ways to 

stimulate the economy. 

Relief for financial institutions was 

intended to prevent massive job loss, to 

stabilize the economy, to stem foreclosures. Extending unemployment insurance is intended to promote job 

growth, to stabilize the economy, and 

to stem foreclosures. It is the smart 

thing to do. It is the right thing to do. 

It holds one important advantage over 

the financial bailout. The people who 

benefit directly from an extension of 

unemployment compensation, from an 

extension of unemployment insurance, 

live on Main Street, with not a single 

Wall Street CEO in sight. 

I yield the floor. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from California. 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. I thank the Chair. 

(The remarks of Mrs. FEINSTEIN pertaining to the introduction of S. 3685 

are printed in today’s RECORD under 

‘‘Statements on Introduced Bills and 

Joint Resolutions.’’) 

Mrs. FEINSTEIN. Mr. President, I 

suggest the absence of a quorum. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll. 

The legislative clerk proceeded to 

call the roll. 

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November 17, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10539 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order for 

the quorum call be rescinded. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

ECONOMIC AID TO THE 

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY 

Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, I have 

sought recognition to comment on two 

issues relating to our current economic 

problems which are so widespread in 

our country. One is the proposed economic aid to the automobile manufacturers and the second is the proposed 

assistance to people who are threatened with foreclosure. 

The suggestion has been made that 

there should be very substantial Federal economic aid to the automobile 

manufacturers, focusing at the moment on General Motors. I am prepared 

to consider that issue providing we 

have a factual and evidentiary basis 

which would warrant such economic 

aid, with an analysis of the current financial situation of General Motors, 

with an analysis of what the proposals 

are to assist General Motors in a way 

which would be realistically calculated 

to keep General Motors in operation, 

and with an evidentiary base to show 

that there is not some preferable alternative with respect to letting the market take its course. 

It seems to me indispensable that if 

Congress is to undertake that kind of 

analysis that there is going to have to 

be regular order followed as to how we 

legislate in this body. And that was not 

done on the recent $700 billion proposal 

which was passed by the Congress last 

month. Our regular order requires that 

there be a legislative proposal, a bill 

written down which can be read, studied, and analyzed. After there is a bill, 

to have hearings with the appropriate 

committee and to hear proponents of 

the plan and to hear opponents of the 

plan and then to have in regular order 

a committee markup where the members of the committee sit down—in this 

case the Banking Committee, which 

has jurisdiction—look over the bill and 

then mark it up—that is goes over the 

bill line by line. Then a report is written. The report comes to the full membership, the Senate has debate, amendments may be offered, and then the 

Senate works its will on passing a bill, 

if the Senate chooses to do so. 

A similar proceeding occurs in the 

House of Representatives, and then 

there is a conference with Members of 

the two bodies coming together for a 

presentation to the President, who 

then has ideas maybe involved in the 

legislative process, and he signs or vetoes. 

Regrettably, that was not done during the passage of the $700 billion economic aid proposal, and it was not 

done, I submit, much to the disadvantage of the country. When this issue 

was under consideration, I wrote to the 

majority leader and the Republican 

leader by a letter dated September 21 

urging that we not rush to judgment; 

saying that we ought to follow regular 

order in the way we handle this matter. 

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have inserted in the RECORD a 

copy of this letter following my remarks. 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered. 

(See exhibit 1.) 

Mr. SPECTER. On September 23, I 

wrote to Secretary of the Treasury 

Paulson and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke raising 

quite a number of issues looking to 

what the merits of the proposal were. 

On September 27, I wrote again to Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, 

also again to the leaders of the House 

and Senate, and also to the key members of the committee raising a series 

of questions. I have yet to receive an 

answer to any of these letters. 

On September 29, I was informed that 

we would have a session after the 

House of Representatives defeated the 

proposal, which was a surprise; that 

there would be a session on Wednesday, 

October 1, at 7:30 in the evening, and 

the Senate was then confronted with a 

proposition to either take it or leave 

it. No amendments could be offered. By 

this time, the original proposal had expanded from 4 pages, which Secretary 

Paulson had initially submitted, and it 

had expanded to more than 100 pages, 

then to more than 400 pages. It was unknown generally that there was a good 

bit in the legislative proposal of what 

we refer to as grants or pork, which 

turned out to be very, very embarrassing. But faced with that kind of an 

emergency situation, my vote was cast 

in the affirmative. 

The vote was 474 to 25, a very heavy 

margin in support of the legislation, 

and it was a rush to judgment, without 

following regular order and without 

considering so many of the critical 

issues which should have been taken up 

in the regular course of Senate business. 

I traveled my State during the course 

of the month of October, as it is my 

custom to touch each of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties each year, and the 

number one item on the agenda was 

the $700 billion economic aid program. 

And candidly, the temperature of my 

constituents was boiling—212 degrees 

Fahrenheit—and the thermometer was 

broken. I see the distinguished Senator 

from Maryland, Senator MIKULSKI, 

nodding in the affirmative that that 

was the situation in her State as well. 

Now we are asked to have economic aid 

for General Motors. There has been a 

figure of some $25 billion which is 

talked about. I am prepared to consider 

that, but only if there is an understanding of what are the facts, what is 

the evidence; is there a factual and evidentiary base for Congress to do this? 

I am told informally that it takes $11 

to $14 billion in cash to operate General Motors. 

But they now have $16.2 billion. They 

have $50 billion in bonds that are perhaps worth in the range of $20 billion 

or a little more in the market that 

yield 9 percent in interest. On the market value, that would put their borrowing somewhere over 20 percent. The 

question comes to my mind: Isn’t that 

expensive? Couldn’t that be modified? 

But I have yet to see any semblance of 

a plan for General Motors to become 

viable. What are the prospects? 

General Motors and the automobile 

industry generally—the industry has 

been on notice for a long time that 

they were in a very difficult competitive situation; that the standards on 

gas mileage were about to be imposed 

and were imposed in legislation last 

year. What have they done? 

We have been told it is not advisable 

to consider chapter 11 proceedings 

under bankruptcy. But we know that 

Continental and U.S. Air have gone 

through that. 

We are told that the warranties 

would not be sustainable and that people would lose confidence. There may 

be ways to address that kind of issue 

with a fund set up for warranties to be 

funded. 

All of these are questions which, it 

seems to me, need to be answered. 

When we were informed through a variety of sources that we would be in a 

lame duck session starting today, there 

was a projection for a Senate vote on 

Wednesday. I wrote to Senator REID

and Senator MCCONNELL, a letter very 

similar to the one I wrote on September 21, urging that we not rush to 

judgment and asking that there be consideration of a great many of these 

issues if we were to make some sensible 

determination as to financial aid to the 

automobile industry. I sent copies of 

this letter, again, to Treasury Secretary Paulson and to Federal Reserve 

Chairman Bernanke, and also to the 

chief executive officers of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. 

I ask unanimous consent that copies 

of these letters be printed in the 

RECORD. 

There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in the 

RECORD, as follows: 

U.S. SENATE, 

COMMITTEE ON THE JUDICIARY, 

Washington, DC, September 23, 2008. 

HENRY M. PAULSON, Jr., 

Secretary of the Treasury, Department of the 

Treasury, Washington, DC. 

BEN S. BERNANKE, 

Chairman of the Board of Governors, Federal 

Reserve System, Washington, DC. 

DEAR SECRETARY PAULSON AND CHAIRMAN

BERNANKE: I write to you because I am in the 

process of deciding how to vote on legislation to deal with the economic crisis. I agree 

that there is need for federal action; but I 

am concerned that we not rush to judgment 

without giving sufficient attention to the 

many complex issues which are involved. 

At the outset, the, or a, precipitating 

cause was the fact that hundreds of thousands of people, perhaps as many as five million, faced an inability to make their mortgage payments and eviction from their 

homes. These mortgages were ‘‘securitized,’’ 

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