S10824 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 9, 2008 

his retirement yesterday after 23 seasons in the big leagues. Greg Maddux 

announced his retirement. He is such a 

fine person, unassuming. We see all of 

the negative things about athletes 

today, their taking steroids and fighting at bars and carrying guns into bars 

and shooting themselves in the leg and 

having dogs fight each other, not setting good examples for kids as to how 

they treat women. Greg Maddux stood 

for everything that they didn’t—a wonderful family man, beautiful children, 

who prizes his family. 

This is not a speech about some guy 

who played baseball in Las Vegas. This 

is a statement about one of the greatest baseball players of all time. You 

take the thousands of people who have 

pitched in the big leagues, Greg 

Maddux, this small man, relatively 

small man, who never lifted a weight in 

his life, is eighth on the all-time list of 

pitchers, Cy Young, go down the list, 

Warren Spahn, Greg Maddux; he is 10 

games away from being in the top four 

or five—10 wins. 

Another reason it is so important is 

that Greg Maddux is from Las Vegas. 

He never left. He went away for 23 

years, spent half the year playing baseball, sometimes more than that, but he 

always came home. Las Vegas is home. 

That is where his kids go to school. 

So this is a statement about a wonderful man who is a role model for anyone who participates in athletics but 

also someone Nevada is very proud of. 

He went to Valley High School, a high 

school that is still there. There are 

wonderful stories about this boy who 

went to that high school. A columnist 

from a prominent newspaper—I think 

that is where it was—a few years ago 

wrote a story, a column about Greg 

Maddux. He was a senior in high 

school. They had this skinny little 

sophomore who was going to pitch 

against him and his team. And he 

looked forward to batting against this 

skinny little sophomore who was pitching for Valley High School. And he describes in the column he wrote, he 

struck out every time he got up 

against this guy and they were, of 

course, beaten. Stories like that are all 

over Nevada about what he did in his 

youth. 

Greg will soon be 43 years old. Yesterday he held a press conference. In effect what he said is: Thank you to everybody in baseball. He said: I still 

think I could play this game but not as 

well as I would like to, so it is time to 

say goodbye. And that is what he did. 

His accomplishments are legendary; 

355 games he won. He won more games 

than Roger Clemens, and he did it 

without taking any supplements of any 

kind. I repeat what he told me. He said: 

You know, I have never lifted a weight. 

He said: When I was in high school, a 

physical therapist said: Don’t mess 

with your body. And Gregg may have 

pushed a few weights with his legs, but 

no way did he touch his arm, not because his arm had such great power, 

because he didn’t throw as hard as a lot 

of pitchers, but his accuracy was nearly perfect. 

Of the seven men in front of him on 

the victory list, only Warren Spahn 

pitched in the second half of the last 

century. He is the only 300 game winner to have more than 3,000 strikeouts 

and less than 1,000 walks. He averaged 

less than 30 walks per year. That is a 

remarkable accomplishment; the first 

player in the history of baseball to win 

at least 15 games in 17 straight years; 

the only player in the history of baseball to win 13 games over 20 years. 

He won four straight Cy Young 

awards. He won a World Series with the 

Atlanta Braves. He won 18 Gold Gloves. 

What is a Gold Glove? That means you 

are the best fielder in baseball at that 

position. He won 18 of them. No one 

will ever match that. That is for his 

fielding excellence. That is the most of 

any player ever, 18 Gold Gloves. 

How did he do this, a man who didn’t 

throw that hard, wasn’t a monster on 

the mound being 6 foot 9? He was about 

my size, a little heavier than I am. He 

was able to do that because of his consistency, his control, and his mental 

acuity. He studied those batters. He 

knew their weaknesses and their 

strengths, and everyone marveled at 

how he could throw that baseball. 

The stories will go on and on about 

Greg Maddux, but one story is not legend. It is true. For a sportswriter’s entertainment, he said: Have the catcher 

hold up his glove and then we will 

make sure the catcher can’t see so he 

can’t move his hand. Let’s see if you 

can hit that glove. 

Think about that. The catcher is, in 

effect, blindfolded. He didn’t do it once. 

He did it three times. Think about 

that. For those of us who have ever 

thrown a baseball, to hit that target is 

pretty significant. He is a man of humility. I just am so proud of Greg 

Maddux. I don’t know what team I am 

going to root for now, because when he 

was with the Cubs, I was a Cub fan. 

When he was with the Atlanta Braves, 

I was a Braves fan. As difficult as it 

was playing for those losers, the Padres; they wouldn’t get him any runs, I 

followed them because I knew Greg 

Maddux was on that team. And then he 

went with the Dodgers, and I became a 

Dodger fan. I don’t know who I am 

going to cheer for. I really don’t know. 

His brother is a wonderful man. He 

was a long-time pitching coach for the 

Milwaukee Brewers. He has now, I understand, gone with the Texas Rangers. 

Whenever he came to town, I tried to 

visit with him. He was also a major 

league pitcher, 5 or 6 years older than 

his little brother Greg, but always 

looked out for him and was always so 

proud of him. 

I want the record to reflect that 

America lost from baseball a great 

human being yesterday. But for us in 

Nevada, the place of his home, we still 

have Greg Maddux. His ties to Las 

Vegas make us all so very proud. Local 

historians will say—and rightfully so— 

that Greg Maddux is the greatest athlete in the history of our State. 

RECESS 

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent 

that the Senate stand in recess until 

2:30 today. 

There being no objection, the Senate, 

at 12:54 p.m., recessed until 2:30 p.m. 

and reassembled when called to order 

by the Presiding Officer (Mr. CARPER). 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Who 

seeks recognition? 

The majority leader is recognized. 

f 

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY 

LEGISLATION 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I just finished a meeting with my staff representative who has been working with 

the two Banking Committees and the 

White House on the Detroit situation 

that we are trying to work out. I think 

there has been a whole lot of progress 

made. I hope the White House will be 

meeting with Senator MCCONNELL in 

the near future and we can start moving forward. 

We very much want to complete this 

as soon as possible. I have had calls 

from lots of different Senators, all having very important things to do and 

places to go dealing with their service 

as a Senator. I think it is going to be 

very difficult to get a vote today. The 

legislation is not drafted yet. Most of 

it is, but there are a couple provisions 

they are working on. So I think it is 

very unlikely there will be votes 

today—not impossible but unlikely. It 

is more likely there will be something 

tomorrow. 

But everyone should understand, if 

we have a number of Senators who are 

objecting, who want to slow this 

down—they have a right to do that; I 

understand that—we are going to complete the process. That being the case— 

everyone knows the rules around here; 

and I do—it may be necessary, if we get 

some push back from some of our Senators, where we have to go through the 

process of moving to proceed and filing 

cloture and all that kind of stuff—if 

that is the case, everyone should understand we are going to work until we 

complete this. 

The American people want us to 

make a decision. I am fairly confident 

that all the work that has gone into 

this is going to bear fruit, that we will 

be able to pass legislation that will be 

good legislation. It will help the workers. When I say ‘‘the workers,’’ not 

only those people who are directly employed by the automobile manufacturers, but the suppliers, the bondholders, 

and on and on down the road. A lot of 

people are dependent on our doing 

something that is appropriate, and I 

think that can be done. 

We are going to have a vote on this 

sometime. We can either have it sooner 

or we can have it later. But everyone 

should understand there will be no 

stalling us from doing this. We are 

going to complete this legislation. 

That may mean—and people have 

heard me talk about this before, but 


wwoods2 on PRODPC68 with SENATE
December 9, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10825 

everyone knows I am serious about 

this—that may mean we have to work 

this weekend. I hope that is not the 

case. Today is Tuesday. But the rules 

are as they are and we may have to 

work through this. We cannot let a few 

people stop us from doing the people’s 

business. 

I think Senator MCCONNELL and I 

have the same view; we discussed it 

this morning, that we want to move 

forward making sure all parties feel 

they have been part of the process. 

There is nothing we could do that 

would be perfect. So we can only do the 

best we can; that is, to work through 

this legislation with the art of compromise. We have had to do that on 

this piece of legislation. 

So we will have to wait until the 

White House completes their meetings 

with the leadership on the Republican 

side. Hopefully, today, we can have a 

better direction as to when we can 

complete this. 

I think the seriousness of what we 

are engaged in with Detroit and the financial bailout of the banking institutions and the financial apparatus of 

this country has been very hard and 

difficult, and we need to keep moving 

forward. As everyone knows, thousands 

of jobs have been lost, and we need to 

get our country back in a position 

where we are talking about and feel 

good about the jobs that are being 

gained, not the jobs being lost. 

So having said that, Mr. President, I 

will be happy to answer any questions 

anyone has. They know how to get 

ahold of me. 

I suggest the absence of a quorum. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the 

quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

MORNING BUSINESS 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now 

proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak 

therein for up to 10 minutes each, and 

that the morning hour expire at 4:30 

p.m. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest 

the absence of a quorum. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The 

clerk will call the roll. 

The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll. 

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order for 

the quorum call be rescinded. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. 

SANDERS). Without objection, it is so 

ordered. 

Mr. CARPER. Mr. President, I want 

to take the next several minutes, as we 

are getting together back in the Capitol, to discuss the possible future assistance the Federal Government 

might provide to our auto industry. 

Coming down on the train, several 

people said to me—some for and some 

against the proposal—that they were 

not comfortable with the idea of giving 

money to the auto industry, and I said 

neither am I. I am not interested in 

giving money to the auto industry any 

more than I wanted to give money to 

the financial services industry. 

I invite the people who are following 

this issue to go back in time to 1979, 

1980, when Chrysler was going through 

a difficult time, and Lee Iacocca was 

the CEO of the company then. He 

called for Federal assistance. I think at 

the time they were interested in a Federal loan to Chrysler. We weren’t interested in doing that then, but we agreed 

to provide loan guarantees so that if 

Chrysler could find financing elsewhere, the Federal Government would 

provide a backstop in the form of a 

guarantee of the loans; otherwise, 

Chrysler would not have been able to 

obtain the needed financing. We called 

on Chrysler to make some difficult decisions to reduce costs and make sure 

that in the long haul they would be 

successful and viable as a company. 

At the time, Lee Iacocca told us: If 

we could make that Chrysler K Car, 

that is our ticket to salvation and redemption and profitability. He said we 

don’t have the financial wherewithal to 

get there. The Federal Government 

agreed to provide a lifeline in the form 

of a loan guarantee. A number of 

States, including my State of Delaware, agreed to provide loans—direct 

loans in this case—to Chrysler. We negotiated a collateralized loan to Chrysler in 1980. In return for the Federal 

taxpayers taking on the risk in 1980 of 

the loan guarantees, we asked for an 

ability to participate in an upside. We 

wanted to make sure not just the 

shareholders and employees would benefit but that the taxpayers would benefit. We agreed to make loan guarantees in return for getting warrants— 

not warrants for anybody’s arrest but a 

warrant that is a financial instrument 

that can be used to turn into stock and 

provide the potential, at least, for the 

Federal taxpayer to make some positive return on this investment. 

As it turned out, when the deal was 

closed and Jimmy Carter signed the 

legislation in the early part of 1980, the 

stock for Chrysler was about $5 a share. 

Under the terms of the agreement, the 

Federal Government was able to purchase Chrysler stock for $13 a share. It 

didn’t sound like a very good deal at 

the time. Nonetheless, we had that option to buy Chrysler stock at a future 

date at $13 a share. Later, Chrysler 

built the K Car and returned to profitability. They made money and the 

value of the shares appreciated. The 

time came when the Federal Government decided to go to Chrysler and say 

we would like to use our warrants and 

buy the stock at $13 a share. Then we 

turned around and sold them for $30 a 

share after that. The difference between the $13 and the $30 we sold them 

for led to an appreciation or accumulation of about $310 million for taxpayers. The loan the State of Delaware 

made to Chrysler—the collateralized 

loan I negotiated as State treasurer— 

was paid in full. Not only did we get 

the principal back, but we made interest for the taxpayers of my State. The 

same thing occurred to the taxpayers 

of other States. Meanwhile, Chrysler 

agreed to make a number of concessions that there be a sharing of sacrifices made by labor and management 

and others to help make that company 

viable for the longer haul. Lee Iacocca 

worked for $1 a year. 

The long and short of it is that it 

worked. That was in 1980. It worked for 

over a quarter century. Chrysler has 

gotten themselves into trouble because 

they began relying more and more on 

large inefficient vehicles—SUVs, 

trucks, and relatively few fuel-efficient 

cars or fuel-efficient light trucks or 

SUVs. In the end, by this time last 

year, roughly 70 percent of what Chrysler was building was energy-inefficient 

cars. During the CAFE increases last 

year, among the companies that 

pushed back initially was Chrysler. 

They have had to begin pivoting, if you 

will, to move from a product line where 

up to 70 percent of the vehicles were 

light trucks and SUVs, relatively few 

cars, and not many very fuel efficient, 

to one where not just the light trucks 

and vans and SUVs were energy efficient but also the cars. You cannot do 

that. Chrysler cannot do it, and Ford 

and GM cannot move within a year, or 

even 2 years, from a product line that 

is woefully inefficient in terms of fuel 

economy to one that is highly efficient. 

It has taken a period of time. 

I am encouraged by the progress they 

are making at Chrysler. They are a 

couple of years out from being where 

they need to be, given the marketplace 

and what consumers are asking for. 

Meanwhile, over at Ford, about 2 

years ago, they largely redefined the 

company, including the logo, to begin a 

major transformation. Under the leadership of Bill Ford and Alan Mullaley, 

former head of Boeing, who was 

brought in to run Ford a couple years 

ago, they began a transformation not 

12 months ago but more like 2 years 

ago to move to vehicles such as the 

Focus and Fusion. They are in a better 

position now as people are buying 

fewer vehicles and are looking for energy-efficient vehicles. There is some 

neat, nifty technology and items for 

the vehicles as well, with the partnership they have worked out with Microsoft. 

Over at GM, meanwhile, GM is hopefully about to introduce, in a year or 

year and a half, what I call the most 

advertised car that has never been 

built, the Chevrolet Volt. I saw it unveiled at the Detroit Auto Show about 

a year and a half ago—a plug-in hybrid, 

flex fuel vehicle with the potential of 

getting not just 40 miles out from the 

garage in the homes in the morning, 


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