S10702 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE November 20, 2008 

to meet these difficult challenges and 

to restore the vitality of our economy. 

Mr. KYL. Madam President, I support H.R. 6867, the Unemployment 

Compensation Act of 2008. The unemployment level is high, it is increasing, 

and it is likely that this condition will 

prevail for many months. Thus, the 

need for this extension. 

According to the Labor Department, 

claims for unemployment benefits have 

increased dramatically, last week 

reaching a 16-year high. The unemployment rate in October was 6.5 percent; 

last year the rate averaged 4.6 percent. 

The Federal Reserve also released estimates Wednesday that project the jobless rate will climb to between 7.1 percent and 7.6 percent next year. 

As everyone knows, the economy has 

slowed dramatically. Retail and business spending has decreased. The next 

several months are projected to be a 

period of contraction. As long as the 

economy continues to struggle, the 

people of Arizona and the rest of our 

country will face difficult job prospects, given the limited number and 

types of jobs available. 

This dramatic downturn in the economy and surge in unemployment convinced me to support this extension of 

unemployment coverage. But this step 

simply treats a symptom of the bad 

economy; it is not a solution. We must 

try to take steps to improve the economy and, thus, create new jobs. As I 

have said in the past, I do not believe 

an extension or expansion of Federal 

unemployment benefits stimulates the 

economy. In fact, most economists believe that continual, temporary extension of unemployment benefits has little effect on the economy, and, in some 

circumstances, actually lengthens the 

time individuals remain unemployed 

because of the incentive to remain on 

unemployment insurance. 

Accordingly, I support this extension 

with a steadfast commitment to work 

to pass pro-growth measures that will 

actually help the economy recover and 

create new jobs. In the long run, people 

would rather have a job than have to 

take unemployment insurance; and, at 

some point, it will have to end. 

What can we do immediately to help 

Americans get back to work? First, we 

must maintain existing tax rates. During an economic downturn, the last 

thing Government should do is take 

more money out of the economy by increasing taxes. Everyone benefits when 

lower tax rates enable businesses and 

entrepreneurs to expand and create 

more jobs. 

When Congress returns to Washington, its first priority should be to 

reassure taxpayers that taxes will remain low by maintaining existing income-tax rates, marriage penalty relief, current rates on capital gains and 

dividend income, and relief from the 

death tax. Under existing law, the tax 

relief enacted in 2001 and 2003 will expire after 2010. Extending current tax 

rates now would give individuals and 

small businesses the certainty they 

need to plan their family budgets and 

permit small businesses to make critical long-term investments in our Nation’s economy that will increase job 

growth now and in the future. 

Unless the tax relief is extended, 43 

million working families with children 

will face a $2,300 tax increase. Small 

businesses will see their taxes increase 

by an average of $4,100. The death tax 

will rebound from zero in 2010 to a 

whopping 55 percent. The tax on capital gains will increase 33 percent, and 

the dividend tax rate will increase an 

astounding 164 percent, affecting 18 

million senior citizens who will see 

their taxes rise by an average of $2,200. 

We shouldn’t be asking Americans to 

pay out more of their hard-earned 

money at a time when they need it 

most; but if Congress doesn’t act, we 

will be asking exactly that. 

The current economic downturn has 

also affected the Nation’s investors, especially seniors who rely on their investments for their income. We need to 

continue to encourage responsible savings and investment, and one of the 

things we should do to ensure savings 

is to allow unlimited contributions to 

retirement accounts such as 401(k)s 

and IRAs. We should also raise the age 

at which holders of tax-deferred retirement savings accounts must begin 

making minimum required annual 

withdrawals. I believe that Congress 

will likely suspend the mandatory 

withdrawal rules for one year. While 

that is a positive step, a more permanent measure would provide certainty 

to seniors. 

The United States also needs to improve its competitiveness. We need to 

encourage trade between our country 

and others, and we need to enact, as 

soon as possible, the Colombia, Panama, and South Korea free trade agreements. We also need to stop taxing 

overseas corporate income and decrease our corporate tax rate—let’s not 

provide additional reasons for valuable 

companies here in the U.S. to move all 

their operations overseas. 

The United States has the second 

highest corporate tax rate in the world. 

We can make the United States more 

attractive to foreign investment by reducing our own corporate tax rate, perhaps from its current rate of 35 percent 

to 25 percent. 

I will vote for the unemployment extension today. But I am also calling on 

the President-elect and Congress to 

quickly pass measures that will actually help the economy to maintain and 

create jobs. I look forward to working 

with my colleagues toward such an end 

in the coming weeks. 

Mr. LEVIN. Madam President, passing an unemployment insurance extension today is urgent. More than a million people have lost their jobs this 

year alone, and there are 10.1 million 

unemployed individuals. We must ensure that these individuals who have 

lost jobs and are looking for work, during a time when industries are cutting 

jobs and the price of food and other necessities is rising, are not also struggling to put food on their table, pay 

their utility bills, and provide shelter 

for their families. 

During economic downturns in the 

past, we have always provided longer 

periods of unemployment benefits. The 

bill that I hope we pass today will provide a much needed unemployment insurance extension. This extension 

would ensure that out of work Americans in high unemployment States like 

Michigan will receive an additional 20 

weeks of insurance, for a total of up to 

59 weeks. 

In October, Michigan’s unemployment rate increased from 8.7 percent to 

9.3 percent, the highest unemployment 

rate since July 1992. The Nation’s unemployment rate also increased to 6.5 

percent. These are very hard economic 

times. Unemployment rates are rising 

dramatically, and since January 2001 

we have lost 3.7 million manufacturing 

jobs nationally and more than 250,000 

manufacturing jobs in Michigan. There 

are currently 429,000 unemployed people in Michigan. Between August 2007 

and July 2008, the long-term unemployed—those who have been unemployed and looking for a job for 27 

weeks or more—comprise about 27 percent of the total unemployed in Michigan. This is approximately, 100,000 unemployed persons. 

The numbers of unemployed are rising all over the country. We must do 

something now to protect American 

workers and their families. 

∑ Mrs. LINCOLN. Madam President, I 

regret that I will be unable to be 

present for today’s vote on the Unemployment Compensation Extension 

Act, H.R. 6867, due to a hunger awareness event previously scheduled in Arkansas. If I were present for the vote, I 

would vote to support this important 

piece of legislation as I did in June 

when the Senate passed a 13-week unemployment insurance extension as 

part of the Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2008, Public Law 110–252.∑ 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under 

the previous order, the question is on 

third reading and passage of the bill. 

The bill (H.R. 6867) was ordered to a 

third reading, was read the third time, 

and passed. 

f 

ADVANCING AMERICA’S PRIORITIES ACT—MOTION TO PROCEED—Resumed 

Mr. REID. Madam President, I now 

move to proceed to Calendar No. 894, S. 

3297. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is now pending. 

f 

MORNING BUSINESS 

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask 

unanimous consent that we now proceed to a period of morning business 

with Senators permitted to speak 

therein for up to 10 minutes each. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with SENATE
November 20, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10703 

The Senator from Oregon is recognized. 

f 

TRIBUTE TO SENATORS 

GORDON SMITH

Mr. WYDEN. Madam President, at 

this moment, exactly 13 years ago, I 

was locked in the toughest political 

battle of my life against GORDON H. 

SMITH. I went on to narrowly win that 

race and continue to hold that Senate 

seat today. But GORDON SMITH dusted 

himself off only a few months later and 

took on yet another very tough battle, 

and that time he won the Senate seat 

that had been held for 30 years by our 

remarkable Senator Mark Hatfield. 

At that point, Oregonians did not 

know what to make of their Senate 

delegation. They had two Senators, 

myself and Senator SMITH, who were 

replacing Bob Packwood and Mark 

Hatfield. Those two individuals were 

the chairman of the Finance Committee and the chairman of the Senate 

Appropriations Committee. And, of 

course, the old story was that Bob 

Packwood got to raise all of the money 

because he was chairman of the Finance Committee, and Mark Hatfield 

got to spend it all because he was 

chairman of the Appropriations Committee. 

Of course, I was very much concerned 

about what was ahead because I 

thought it was very possibly going to 

be a long and uncomfortable 6 years 

serving with the fellow with whom I 

had just duked it out over many 

months of a political campaign that, as 

the two of us like to say, was not exactly for the faint hearted. 

One of the great surprises of my career came, however, when I discovered 

that my new colleague, GORDON SMITH, 

was as thoughtful and kind and decent 

outside the political arena as he was 

tough and competitive inside the political arena. It was that charm and that 

decency and his desire to meet me halfway on Oregon’s interests that got me 

closer to GORDON over the years and led 

to an unusually strong working relationship and what became a strong and 

genuine friendship. 

GORDON lost a very tough reelection 

race a few weeks ago in a State that 

has changed rapidly from what was a 

very small Democratic voter edge, 

back when we ran against each other in 

1996, to what has become a significant 

Democratic voter edge in 2008. GORDON

and his skillful campaign team battled 

hard and tough as they always have. 

They did everything they could to 

withstand a formidable political tide 

and a very strong Democratic challenger, a challenger whom I support. 

So it is with mixed and conflicting 

emotions that I come today to pay 

tribute to my colleague and my friend 

of 12 years, GORDON H. SMITH. 

GORDON and I have had plenty of political differences, enough differences, 

differences that we knew would be the 

case, that made us say from our very 

first meeting, when GORDON won that 

race to replace Mark Hatfield, that we 

would be supporting each other’s opponents in years ahead. 

Political campaigns are important, 

and each of us was called upon to separate our friendship from our beliefs 

every 2 years. Yet I will say this afternoon that I have come to genuinely 

loathe much of what has become of the 

political process in our country. The 

relentless and omnipresent negative 

ads obscure and distort to the point 

that it can be difficult for the typical 

citizen to maintain anything resembling a healthy perspective on fundamentally good and decent individuals who seek public office. 

Thankfully, the negative ads are now 

off the air, and I want to make sure Oregonians once again remember the 

GORDON SMITH I have known for 12 

years. GORDON has been a good and decent and selfless public servant. 

The fact is, GORDON SMITH did not 

need to serve another term in the Senate. He and his wife Sharon have built 

a strong and prosperous business, and 

they could have done countless things 

with their time that would have been 

more glamorous and certainly produced less strain and wear and tear on 

their personal lives. But GORDON ran 

because of his belief in the role that he 

believed he could play in shaping our 

country’s future. That, in my view, is 

the essence of being a good public servant. No one in this body or in the State 

of Oregon ought to lose sight of the extraordinary sacrifices that GORDON and 

his wife Sharon have made over the 

course of almost two decades of public 

service. 

Among GORDON’s many personal triumphs in the Senate, I would like to 

highlight two that are especially important to our State, to our country, 

and to me personally. I wanted to remind my colleagues and the people of 

our country of the very difficult decisions made by GORDON and Sharon to 

share with the public and the Congress 

their heartrending struggle on behalf 

of their son, Garrett. They did this 

selflessly to further the cause of mental health treatment, and particularly 

the cause of mental health parity. 

If not for GORDON’s courage in sharing their family’s story, I believe Congress might not have acted on mental 

health parity this past fall, and thousands of parents might never know 

that they are not alone in their difficult struggle. 

There were other critical tasks that 

GORDON shouldered and one that I was 

especially appreciative for his leadership on, and that was being the voice 

for rural folks, for people whose way of 

life and quality of life is connected to 

natural resources that are bountiful in 

our State. 

GORDON spoke for the farmer, and he 

spoke for the rancher. He spoke for the 

logger, for the mill worker, and the 

miner. He spoke for the rural communities they live in, communities that 

struggle to retain a voice in increasingly urban America. 

It was written fairly frequently in 

Oregon’s papers, and was in the New 

York Times at one point, that there 

was something in the State of Oregon 

that people came to say was the Senate’s odd couple. In fact, I think the 

headline in the New York Times when 

they talked about us was wildly inflationary, and GORDON and I came to 

laugh about it. I think the headline 

was, ‘‘Oregon’s Odd Couple Makes It 

Work.’’ It was essentially all about 

how there were two Senators from Oregon; one of them was a Mormon fellow. He was a Republican. He was from 

somewhere called Pendleton. GORDON

and I were never convinced that folks 

in the New York Times knew exactly 

where Pendleton was, but that is how 

GORDON was described. 

Then they said, the other Senator 

was a Jewish guy, and he was from 

Portland and he was a legal aide lawyer for the senior citizens, and he was 

an activist with the Gray Panthers. 

What in the world would these two people ever have in common? 

Well, I want people to know that 

gentle spirit, that Mormon from wheat 

and pea country taught this Jewish fellow from the city an awful lot about 

the too often forgotten voices, particularly those in our rural communities. 

In his absence, I will do everything I 

can to remind colleagues, particularly 

Democratic colleagues on my side of 

the aisle, of the challenges faced in 

rural communities, of the people and 

the issues that GORDON H. SMITH championed every single day in the Senate. 

I wish GORDON and Sharon well in 

whatever their future endeavors are. I 

have already made it clear they will always have my friendship and assistance in any project they pursue in the 

days ahead. But most importantly, I 

come to the floor and thank GORDON

for his personal friendship to me and 

his service to our State. I ask my colleagues here and the people of our 

home State to voice their thanks today 

to two very special people, Sharon and 

GORDON H. SMITH. 

I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania. 

Mr. SPECTER. Madam President, I 

have listened to the eloquent comments of the Senator from Oregon, Mr. 

WYDEN. I had planned to insert a statement in the RECORD complementing 

Senator GORDON SMITH on his tenure, 

but I would like to add my voice of 

laudatory comments at the conclusion 

of the statement of Senator WYDEN. I 

agree with him that Senator GORDON

SMITH has made an enormous contribution to the Senate in his two terms, 

and he will be sorely missed. He is a 

member of a small band of moderates 

on this side of the aisle. I suggest that 

GORDON SMITH’s brand of Republicanism is very much in need in this 

body. Very frequently, Members on the 

Democratic side of the aisle seek cosponsors. I have been told on a number 

of occasions that the ‘‘pickins are 

slim.’’ GORDON’s absence will make it 

more difficult. 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with SENATE