December 11, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10927 

of domestic auto producers are greatly 

magnified. 

I will not defend the mistakes made 

by auto executives, but a significant 

amount of blame lies with Federal policymakers who blindly embraced philosophies of deregulation and trade 

that undermined protections for working families, public safety, and the environment. In fact, some of the same 

people opposed to any temporary help 

for the automakers now were the ones 

who helped dig the hole in which that 

industry now finds itself. 

More importantly, being angry at 

these companies’ past mistakes is no 

reason to permit the auto companies to 

go under at this time. To allow these 

companies to go into bankruptcy could 

prove to be a tremendous shock to our 

already weak economy and could end 

up costing the U.S. taxpayers even 

more in pension guarantees, unemployment benefits, and other costs. 

And we are not just talking about the 

jobs of the autoworkers at the U.S. 

auto plants, although those jobs are 

important. We are also talking about 

the millions of jobs in related industries including steelmakers, rubber 

companies, hundreds of other suppliers, 

parts manufacturers, car dealers, and 

other industries that would be negatively impacted if the U.S. auto companies went bankrupt. 

Workers around Wisconsin are already struggling with the downturn in 

the auto industry and would be even 

harder hit if Congress fails to provide 

assistance to the auto industry. My 

hometown of Janesville, WI, is proud 

home to the oldest GM plant and for 

over 80 years, generations of Janesville 

men and women have built cars and 

trucks for GM. The Janesville GM assembly plant has been the core of the 

community and surrounding area for 

decades by providing its workers with 

family-supporting jobs and contributing to the lifeblood of the community. Earlier this year, GM announced 

that it would cease production at the 

Janesville plant by the end of the year. 

Despite this unwelcome news, the 

State of Wisconsin and the local community, including workers, business 

owners, union leadership, have all 

come together to propose a plan to encourage GM to retool the plant to build 

a future product line. I am so proud 

that stakeholders in Janesville and in 

Wisconsin have come together to try to 

keep these jobs in Wisconsin and I will 

continue to do all I can, along with 

others in the Wisconsin congressional 

delegation, to support their efforts to 

keep an auto presence in Janesville. 

Janesville is not the only community 

in Wisconsin that is closely watching 

what we do in Congress this week. A 

Chrysler engine plant employs hundreds of people in Kenosha and various 

suppliers and related manufacturers do 

business in communities throughout 

southeastern and southwestern Wisconsin. I have also heard from auto 

dealers representing communities all 

across Wisconsin about the need to provide assistance to the U.S. auto industry to help ensure that their businesses 

continue to provide jobs in these troubling times. I understand Americans 

want businesses to be held accountable 

for bad decisions they have made in the 

past, and I do not think the Federal 

Government should get in the business 

of bailing out every industry in need of 

help. But in this case, failure to provide assistance to the auto industry 

could cause such a horrible shock to 

the American economy and communities all across our country that we 

must take action. 

While I think the Federal Government needs to act, any rescue package 

should not be a blank check and this 

particular rescue package contains 

various provisions to help ensure that 

the auto companies are held accountable for the Federal financial assistance they receive. Unlike the Wall 

Street bailout that I voted against, 

this bill provides strict rules that the 

auto companies must follow in order 

for the companies to be eligible for 

Federal assistance. The companies 

must negotiate with their employees, 

shareholders, creditors, and other parties to develop restructuring plans to 

show how these companies are going to 

reform themselves for the future, including improving their capacity to 

build the fuel-efficient vehicles that 

Americans are demanding. These restructuring plans are due within the 

first few months of 2009 and if they are 

not approved by the Federal Government, the auto companies will not be 

able to receive additional Federal funding and will have to repay the Federal 

assistance they have already received. 

I would have preferred this money to 

come from the $700 billion Wall Street 

bailout that Congress passed earlier 

this year. I am disappointed that the 

Bush administration refused to use its 

authority under the Troubled Assets 

Relief Program, TARP, to provide financial assistance to the auto companies. Congress’s investigative arm, the 

Government Accountability Office, testified before the Senate Banking Committee last week that the Bush administration currently has the authority 

under TARP to provide this assistance. 

Secretary Paulson could have acted 

weeks ago to provide such assistance to 

the auto industry, yet he continues to 

refuse to take those steps, and allocate 

what amounts to a small percentage of 

the Wall Street bailout to help millions of working families in this country. 

Because of the administration’s refusal to use its existing authority to 

help the auto industry, Congress has 

been forced to act. Unfortunately, we 

have also been forced by the administration to take money from the Section 136 Advanced Technology Vehicles 

Manufacturing Program that was created last year to provide Federal funding to auto companies and manufacturers to help them as they develop more 

fuel-efficient vehicles and related technology. This bill is far from perfect and 

one of my biggest concerns is that Congress has been compelled to raid the 

pot of money designed to help auto 

companies and parts manufacturers 

build more fuel-efficient cars in the future. Diverting the Section 136 money 

is going to further set back the work 

that the auto industry is doing to 

make their products greener and more 

marketable. 

Everyone, including the U.S. auto industry, has acknowledged that U.S. 

auto companies need to start building 

more fuel-efficient vehicles. Furthermore, all of the U.S. auto companies 

have applied for loans under Section 

136 and access to the Section 136 retooling funding is critical to their future 

success. Yet today we are taking this 

retooling money to pay for the shortterm survival of these companies. This 

was a false choice and if the administration had been more willing to work 

with us on this issue, we could have 

done both. Instead, by taking from the 

Section 136 program today we are engaging in extremely shortsighted policymaking. I will work with my colleagues to help ensure that funding for 

Section 136 is reinstated next year. 

I regret that we find ourselves in this 

position today. I thank Senators 

LEVIN, STABENOW, and DODD and their 

colleagues in the House of Representatives for putting together this legislation in very difficult circumstances. 

This bill is not perfect, but given the 

need for prompt action, I will support 

it and I urge my colleagues to do the 

same. We must act in order to help protect millions of American jobs from 

disappearing and to help prevent 

countless communities in Wisconsin 

and around the country from experiencing even more economic hardships 

in the short term. As the new Congress 

gets under way shortly, I look forward 

to helping develop longer-term policies 

to assist American industry as it responds to 21st century challenges so 

that it can continue to lead the world 

in innovation. 

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 (Mr. 

TESTER). Without objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY CRISIS 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, to all those 

within the sound of my voice, we have 

tried very hard to arrive at a point 

where we can legislate for the automobile industry. People have worked 

very hard. I believe everyone is working in good faith. I am terribly disappointed that we are not able to arrive at a conclusion, but I want to say 

in the most emphatic manner how 

much I appreciate Senator CHRIS DODD. 

He has worked going into months now. 

S10928 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 11, 2008 

We had the housing crisis, we had the 

bailout of the financial industry, and 

now the automobile industry. This man 

has worked day and night for months. 

CHRIS DODD is one of America’s great 

legislators. He has been here a long 

time. He is a veteran of the House and 

the Senate, and so I admire his patience and perseverance. 

His counterpart, Senator SHELBY, 

and I served together in the House, and 

he hasn’t been heavily involved in 

these negotiations, but I like RICHARD

SHELBY very much. One thing about 

Senator SHELBY, you never have to 

guess where he stands on an issue. 

In the last several days—and maybe I 

will be criticized by some on my side, 

but I doubt that—I have been extremely impressed with BOB CORKER of 

Tennessee. Now, we weren’t able, based 

on his good work, to arrive at something on which we could get enough 

Republicans to agree, but he did some 

wonderful work, and I think the work 

he did is going to pay dividends next 

year because even though this is a real 

loss—my personal feeling—for the 

country, that we are not going to be 

able to do something, I think the manner in which we have proceeded, led by 

Senator CORKER on the Republican 

side, has been extremely good. I repeat, 

I think it is going to work well next 

year. 

We have a lot of work to do. We have 

issues like this we will be dealing with 

next year, and I think we have come to 

a point in the legislative process in the 

Senate that we have to start working 

together and not have one side say yes 

and one side say no. So I hope my 

friends on the other side of the aisle 

also recognize what Senator CORKER

has tried to do. 

I certainly have no problem with others who disagreed with the approach we 

have taken, with the White House. This 

is not our proposal. We have worked 

with President Bush. President Bush is 

President of the United States—and everyone knows, you can read my book 

as to how I felt about the White House 

and what has happened—the White 

House has been extremely available. 

Josh Bolten and others in the White 

House have worked very hard with us 

to come up with an agreement, and we 

did, working with the House Banking 

Committee, the Senate Banking Committee, as I have indicated, led by Senator DODD. But we have not been able 

to get this over the finish line. 

So although we have worked and 

worked—and we could spend all night 

tonight, tomorrow, Saturday, and Sunday—we are not going to get to the finish line. That is just the way it is. 

There is too much difference between 

the two sides. All of us on this side of 

the aisle are in favor of the proposal 

that has been negotiated with the 

White House and the two banking committees, but we are not going to be 

able to vote on that more than likely. 

The procedure now that we have in 

the Senate is that 1 hour after we come 

in tomorrow morning, we can vote on 

cloture. And what are we voting on? It 

is a bill that we took from the calendar 

to be an instrument—it is a tax instrument because a lot of what we are 

doing with this banking matter involves the Finance Committee—and we 

would take that and move to proceed 

on that—cloture on that—and then as 

soon as we got cloture on that, we 

would amend it with our proposal. 

As I have indicated, we know we 

don’t have 60 votes. There is no need to 

play around with that and cause undo 

hardship. So I have spoken to my 

friend, the distinguished Republican 

leader, and what we propose is that at 

about 10:30 or so tonight we will vote 

on cloture, just to show everybody 

where we are. Everybody should understand when this vote is over tonight— 

and I don’t think we are going to get 60 

votes—it is over with. 

Mr. President, I dread looking at 

Wall Street tomorrow. It is not going 

to be a pleasant sight. Millions of 

Americans, not only the auto workers 

but people who sell cars, car dealerships, and people who work on cars, are 

going to be directly impacted and affected. 

As I mentioned earlier today, Christmas is approaching. This will be a very 

bad Christmas for a lot of people as a 

result of what takes place tonight. 

I want my colleagues to know that I 

have expressed my opinion as to what I 

think should happen. There are many 

people who have been involved in this 

on the other side of the aisle who in 

good faith disagree with what I said, 

and I accept that and appreciate that. 

But I think the time for talking is 

over. We should vote and move on to 

something else. 

I am happy to yield to my distinguished colleague, Senator MCCONNELL. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. 

CASEY). The Republican leader is recognized. 

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, this 

has been a challenging exercise for everyone involved on both sides. We all 

remember a couple of months ago we 

were called upon to rescue the American financial system. At the end of the 

day, after a few fits and starts, 74 out 

of 99 Senators present thought it was a 

good idea to do that. It was a vote we 

all proudly cast from our individual 

seats and most of us supported it. It 

was a broad, bipartisan vote, supported 

by the two Presidential candidates as 

well. 

Now we have moved into a very 

tricky and challenging area, and that 

is sort of industry-by-industry rescue. 

We have had before us the whole question of the viability of the American 

automobile manufacturers. None of us 

wants to see them go down, but very 

few of us had anything to do with the 

dilemma they have created for themselves. So the question was: Is there a 

way out? The administration negotiated in good faith with the Democratic majority a proposal that was 

simply unacceptable to the vast majority of our side because we thought it, 

frankly, wouldn’t work. 

Into this breach stepped the junior 

Senator from Tennessee who, I must 

say, has made an extraordinary impact 

in a very small amount of time. I am 

hard pressed to think of another Member who has been here such a short period of time who has made such an impression on colleagues on both sides of 

the aisle by mastering an extraordinarily complicated subject and being 

able to explain it in a way that is understandable. He has diligently pursued 

an agreement that could pass, that 

could enjoy broad support on both 

sides. He has made great progress in 

that direction. 

The sticking point we are left with is 

the question of whether the UAW is 

willing to agree to a parity pay structure with other manufacturers in this 

country by a date certain. I understand 

their reluctance to do that, and so far, 

in the discussions Senator CORKER and 

Senator DODD and others have had, 

they have not been willing to give a 

date specific by which parity could be 

achieved. It is upon that issue that we 

have reached an impasse for the moment. 

At this stage I share the view of the 

majority leader that we should go 

ahead and have the vote on cloture to 

the measure he outlined. We can have 

it at 1 o’clock this morning or we could 

move it up and do it now. I will be 

happy, I say to my friend, the majority 

leader, to try to get the vote we could 

have at 1 o’clock at 10:30 or 10:40, if he 

wishes me to. I think that would probably end the discussion, at least for 

today. We all know we will be involved 

in this discussion in the future, but 

that will probably end it for today. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture vote on 

the motion to proceed to H.R. 7005 

occur at 10:40. I ask consent that Senator DODD, who has spent so much time 

on this, be given 10 minutes. 

If there is anyone who wishes to respond to that, they would have 10 minutes to do so. 

Mr. MCCONNELL. I say to my friend, 

I have to reserve the right to object for 

the moment. I think I have one Member with whom I have to check to see 

if he can get this done in the next few 

moments. I can think of no reason this 

would not be a good idea, but for the 

moment, I am going to have to object. 

Mr. REID. So we don’t lose any time, 

let’s move to Senator DODD, and when 

you come back we will move forward. 

Thanks for everyone’s patience. 

Senator DODD. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Connecticut is recognized. 

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, let me 

begin by thanking the distinguished 

majority leader and my colleagues. 

This has been a long ordeal. I know 

many of the conversations I have had 

over the last several days have been 

wondering when, if ever, we might 

come to a conclusion of what has been 

a lengthy process over the last 2 weeks 

December 11, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10929 

now since this matter emerged. Prior 

to the Thanksgiving recess, the majority leader and others invited the automobile industry to present plans by December 2 to the Congress on how they 

might restructure their industry in a 

way that would allow us to step forward and try to preserve them and 

allow them to exist for a few more 

weeks while a broader plan could be devised that would allow them to possibly survive. 

As my colleagues may know, over the 

last several weeks we have had a number of hearings on the matter. The Presiding Officer at this point is a member 

of my committee, along with others 

who have been very diligent in sitting 

through long hearings, on an average 

of 5 or 6 hours apiece, to listen to all of 

the various ideas. 

As the Republican leader pointed out, 

it is a very complex subject matter to 

be asking this institution, in a matter 

of days, to try to understand with all of 

the ramifications of it. Given the precarious nature of it, I think we all appreciate at this juncture that we are 

looking at least one, maybe two, of the 

three automobile manufacturers that 

have existed for almost a century in 

our country—at a time of great economic peril, when the confidence and 

optimism in our country is at risk—we 

run the risk over these days of watching this industry disappear. The blow 

to the American conscience and confidence and capability is beyond economic terms, if that occurs. 

I pray this evening that will not happen. No one can say with absolute certainty it will. But we have been 

warned. We have been cautioned by 

those whose jobs it is to analyze this 

industry who have told us that could 

happen. 

Tonight we will go home for the holiday recesses, but for the literally hundreds of thousands of people whose jobs 

depend upon this industry, this will not 

be a joyous season, wondering whether 

their jobs, their livelihoods, their 

homes, their children’s futures are at 

risk because we were incapable of coming up with an answer to provide a period of time here to allow intelligent, 

solid, good, hard-working people to put 

together a plan to save the American 

automobile industry. It is disheartening to me, to put it mildly, that we 

were unable to come to that agreement. 

Let me say very candidly, BOB CORKER is someone I have come to appreciate immensely. He is a member of my 

committee. We have worked very well 

together over this last year on many 

complicated issues, and I appreciate 

immensely his effort, as he did again 

this evening, to try to come to a conclusion where we could at least agree 

on something to move forward. 

There were three major issues my 

friend from Tennessee brought to me. I 

will not go into great detail in this 

limited time. I will wait until tomorrow, if time permits, to go into a 

longer discussion. Of the three issues, 

we agreed on two almost immediately. 

On the third, involving the parity with 

compensation of the domestic automobile industry and those of the foreign competitors doing business here, 

we could not come to closure. The issue 

simply came down to this. There was 

no debate, by the way, from the United 

Auto Workers or anyone else that we 

ought to achieve parity in those wages 

or benefits. The question was the timing of it. 

We are in a deep recession. People 

are being laid off. The Bank of America 

announced today 35,000 people will be 

laid off. Industry after industry is 

dropping its employees. The idea that 

you are going to have new hires replace 

the active employees in a time such as 

this is difficult, to put it mildly. So the 

notion somehow that within days or 

weeks after March 31 of this year that 

this would mandate—mandate parity 

between those wages of domestic companies and foreign companies was the 

stumbling block. 

The President of the United States, 

the other body, Democrats and Republicans as well as the autoworkers, the 

heads of these companies, came together and for 8 days we negotiated an 

agreement. It was painful. It is not perfect by a long shot. But it allowed us to 

get to next year to begin to work on 

this in a way that might make it possible for this industry to survive. 

Tonight, regretfully, despite the efforts of the White House, people here, 

people in the other body obviously, 

workers as well as managers, we have 

stumbled this evening, unable to make 

this closure on this issue to allow us to 

go forward. 

I am deeply saddened, but more than 

saddened I am worried this evening of 

what we are doing with an iconic industry. None of us here was going to 

write a check without conditionality. 

This bill I have drafted along with others is some 36 pages long and filled 

with conditions, establishing a czar— 

chosen by this President of the United 

States, not the coming one—to oversee 

this and say you must meet these obligations if you are going to survive. His 

determination will determine whether 

the industry can go forward. If the czar 

were to say you have not complied, 

bankruptcy would entail, chapter 11 

and, candidly, chapter 7. It would be 

nothing more than a liquidation of this 

industry. 

But we ought to try to avoid that. I 

thought most of us felt that was a bad 

outcome. I know my friend from Tennessee believes that, as I do. The outcome of that will cost the American 

taxpayers billions of dollars, by the 

way, and that is very well where we 

may end up this evening. I regret it 

deeply. I am saddened by it, worried 

about it, that in the midst of deep and 

troubling times we are now going to 

add to that substantially by walking 

away from an issue of whether we 

could agree that parity between these 

wages and benefits could be achieved 

without slamming it down in such a 

way as to make it difficult for us to 

achieve the result. 

Out of the three issues, we agreed on 

two and three-quarters but were unable 

to come to closure on this one which, 

frankly, in my view, was not an economic issue but a political one, because we are not demanding this of 

dealers, of suppliers, of anyone else. 

The only group we have asked this of is 

the workforce. No one else in this bill 

is required on a date certain to meet 

any other obligations, only this one. 

Yet we fully understand economically 

how hard that could be, to demand that 

kind of accountability and not trust a 

czar or a leader working with the industry and others to reach that agreement. 

To the majority leader I say thank 

you, and to your staff, the Banking 

Committee staff, my friend BOB CORKER, the Members of the House, Republicans and Democrats, to the White 

House, which has been tremendously 

helpful in these last few days on trying 

to put this together without all of us 

agreeing. Yet, despite all of that, this 

evening we will not get cloture. This 

will fail. We will go home. I am afraid 

our country is going to be in deeper 

trouble because of this issue. I regret 

that deeply. 

I thank the majority leader. 

I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized. 

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent 

the cloture vote vote on the motion to 

proceed to H.R. 7005 occur—Senator 

STABENOW wants the last 5 minutes before the vote. 

Mr. MCCONNELL. I say to my friend, 

at least 5 minutes for Senator CORKER. 

Mr. REID. Senator SHELBY, 5 minutes? 

Mr. SHELBY. I would like 3 minutes. 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, Senator 

CORKER will be recognized for 5 minutes, Senator SHELBY for 3 minutes. I 

said a lot of nice things about you so 

that is about the right length of time 

for the speech. The final 5 minutes will 

be Senator STABENOW. Then we will 

vote on H.R. 7005 as soon as their 

speeches are finished. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there 

objection? Without objection, it is so 

ordered. 

The Senator from Tennessee is recognized. 

Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, I want 

to express my deep gratitude to CHRIS

DODD for all the work he has done over 

the last week, to Senator DURBIN who 

joined us in meetings, and to all the 

people who have been involved in trying to reach an agreement. 

I do want to say this is a highly technical matter. It involved volunteer employed benefit accounts, it involved 

bonds, it involved all kinds of discussions that were technical in nature. We 

had the United Auto Workers representative in the room. We had three 

companies in another room. We were 

talking to bondholders on the phone. 

We were certainly talking to our colleagues. We are about three words, 

three words away from a deal. 

S10930 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 11, 2008 

What my colleagues wish to see is a 

date certain when something is going 

to occur. We offered any date in the 

year 2009, any date. 

Any day. Just when will we actually 

get there? I think what we have offered 

is incredibly reasonable. I think there 

is a way for us to get there. I still do. 

There are an awful lot of bright people 

in this room. This is an important 

issue. We have solved everything substantially, and about three words keep 

us from reaching conclusion tonight. 

Again, we offered any date in 2009. 

We were not able to get a definitive 

day. And I think there is still a way to 

make this happen. By the way, I want 

to say, if this happens, this is so much 

better than what is before us on the 

floor. 

These companies are going to be able 

to go forward with only one-third of 

the debt level they now have—onethird. They are going to be able to pay 

half of their VIVA, $21 billion to GM, 

half of it in stock, so it is not cash. 

Those companies will be stronger than 

they have been in 40 years if we are 

able to reach this agreement or they 

will be in Chapter 11 because there are 

date-certain things that have to occur. 

This is a very responsible piece of 

legislation, and I think people on both 

sides have acted responsibly. But we 

are three words—maybe two, maybe 

four, somewhere in that range—away 

from having what I believe is a landmark piece of legislation, landmark, 

historic, that would actually allow 

those companies to go ahead with 

strength they have not had in my lifetime. I regret that, but I thank all of 

those who have been involved. 

I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama. 

Mr. SHELBY. Mr. President, I have a 

few minutes, but first I wish to commend my colleague and fellow member 

of the Banking Committee, Senator 

CORKER, for his work in this regard, 

trying to forge a compromise. 

Of course, I think most of you know 

where I stand on bailouts. I do not 

think they work. I do not believe this 

one would ever work. But these companies could be saved. These companies 

could be saved. I have said I think they 

are bloated, the management is bloated. These companies either have already failed or are failing. That is a 

shame. These are not the General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler I knew. But all 

of us in America will benefit by competition. 

I come from the South, where we 

have a growing automobile industry, 

but there are 300 million people in this 

country, the largest automobile market in the world. There is no reason for 

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler not 

to be competitive, but they are not 

going to be competitive, folks, as long 

as they are operating under this business model. Whether they get money 

soon or next year or what, it is going 

to be probably a lot of money. 

But I want to tell the American people tonight, bailouts generally do not 

work. And this is a huge proposed bailout. I fear it is just the downpayment 

on more to come next year. So I would 

vote no on this tonight. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Michigan. 

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, first 

let me say that this is not a bailout 

this evening, this is a bridge loan of $14 

billion to stop us potentially, if one of 

the companies goes under, from over 

$150 billion in taxpayer funds that we 

will be spending, including assuming 

the taxpayers’ cost for 775,000 pensions 

in a bankruptcy that will go into the 

pension guarantee fund. So we are 

talking about a small bridge loan in a 

global credit crisis where every other 

country in the world has stepped up to 

help their auto industry because they 

understand it is critical to their national defense, they understand it is 

critical to their economy, and they are 

trying to create the middle class we 

have had in America. In America, if 

this goes down tonight, we are saying 

we do not care about the backbone of 

the economy which has been and will 

continue to be manufacturing. Somebody has to make something in this 

country. We cannot all push paper on 

Wall Street. Somebody has to make 

something. 

The reality is, this is a tough bill. I 

wish to thank our leaders, Senator 

REID for his patience and diligence and 

leadership, and Senator DODD for his 

incredible patience, his staff being involved. It placed one more crisis on the 

doorstep of Senator DODD to have to 

deal with. I appreciate Senator CORKER

stepping up to try to work this out and 

certainly Senator VOINOVICH and Senator BOND. Senator LEVIN and I have 

worked closely with them. But the reality is this: If we walk away this 

evening and do not vote to proceed 

with this bill, we are saying it is okay 

for a major auto company in America 

to go bankrupt, for 2.5 million people 

in this economy to lose their jobs. Over 

what? We have a tough bill that creates a restructuring mechanism where 

everybody comes to the table to restructure. We give them until March 

31. If they are not moving in good 

faith, the $14 billion can be rescinded. 

If they do not have a viable plan by 

March 31, there is no more assistance. 

Unfortunately, what my Republican 

colleagues have said is that the only 

way we are going to do this, the only 

way we are going to do this, is the 

workers have to negotiate first with 

the Republican Party, with the Republicans. As long as the workers were 

willing to take all of the cuts the Republican Party thinks they should before the negotiation, they would be 

willing to step up and save the backbone of manufacturing in this country 

and 2.5 million jobs. 

We have tried everything. We have 

negotiated with the White House in 

good faith. I appreciate that. They 

have kept their deal. We have negotiated with every party that wanted to 

come forward, including today, all day, 

focusing with Senator CORKER. But the 

reality is, we are in a position where 

evidently the only thing that matters 

to the majority of those on the other 

side of the aisle is that workers get 

paid too much in this country—somehow, workers get paid too much in this 

country—and unless we sock it to the 

workers, they are not willing to allow 

a $14 billion bridge loan to be able to 

save an industry and save an— 

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, can 

we have order? I would like us to at 

least give the courtesy of listening to 

the Senator since we are not going to 

give her the courtesy of the vote. 

Ms. STABENOW. Mr. President, 

there are those who think they can 

play games with this and there are no 

consequences. This is not, tonight, 

about Democrats and Republicans. It is 

not about auto executives versus workers. This is about the economy of this 

country. We are in serious trouble, ladies and gentlemen. If one of our auto 

companies goes down, we are going to 

pick up the paper and begin to see the 

suppliers of this country go down. And 

they supply not only the folks in my 

State, they supply Toyota, Nissan, and 

Honda. They supply the Army. The 

same folks who make the axles for the 

trucks that our brave men and women 

are driving in Iraq and Afghanistan 

today make the axles put on our trucks 

and our cars. 

The reality is, our national defense 

and our economy and the middle class 

of this country are hanging in the balance by this vote. Shame on us if we 

walk away cavalierly thinking that we 

can do this another time. Now is the 

time. People are watching, not just in 

Michigan but all across the country, 

businesses large and small, families in 

their homes, retirees who have done 

nothing but work hard their whole 

lives and now want to know their pensions or their health care, as part of 

something they worked for all of their 

lives, is protected. This is about whether we are going to make a commitment 

to the middle class and a commitment 

to American manufacturing. You cannot walk away from the American auto 

industry and not affect every part of 

manufacturing in this country. 

It is not too late. I know we assume 

the votes are not there, but the votes 

can be there. There are enough votes in 

this room. There are enough votes in 

this room to give them the chance, just 

the chance to restructure. And if folks 

do not believe in the end that what 

they have come up with, 3 months from 

now, is good enough, then that is it. 

But don’t 2.5 million people and the 

major auto presence and manufacturing in this country deserve 3 

months, 3 months of time to be able to 

restructure, for advanced manufacturing in the future? If we do not do 

that, we are going to change our dependence on foreign oil for a dependence on foreign automobiles. We will be 

asking other countries to send us their 

tanks, send us their automobiles, send 

us their trucks for our defense. That 

December 11, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S10931 

makes no sense. People of good will 

know better. 

I would ask my colleagues to join 

with us in voting for the future and the 

economy of this country. 

f 

CONCLUSION OF MORNING 

BUSINESS 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Morning 

business is closed. 

f 

ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX RELIEF ACT OF 2008—MOTION TO 

PROCEED 

CLOTURE MOTION

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under 

the previous order, the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. 

The legislative clerk read as follows: 

CLOTURE MOTION

We, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule XXII of the 

Standing Rules of the Senate, hereby move 

to bring to a close debate on the motion to 

proceed to Calendar No. 1128, H.R. 7005, the 

Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act. 

Harry Reid, Debbie Stabenow, Byron L. 

Dorgan, Robert P. Casey, Jr., E. Benjamin Nelson, Joseph Lieberman, 

Sherrod Brown, Claire McCaskill, Carl 

Levin, Daniel K. Akaka, Barbara A. 

Mikulski, Charles E. Schumer, Christopher J. Dodd, Patty Murray, John D. 

Rockefeller, IV, Richard Durbin, Frank 

R. Lautenberg. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. By unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum 

call is waived. 

The question, Is it the sense of the 

Senate that debate on the motion to 

proceed to H.R. 7005, an act to amend 

the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 

provide alternative minimum tax relief 

for individuals for 2008, shall be 

brought to a close? 

The yeas and nays are mandatory 

under the rule. 

The clerk will call the roll. 

The assistant legislative clerk called 

the roll. 

Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the 

Senator from Delaware (Mr. BIDEN), 

the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. 

KENNEDY), the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. KERRY), and the Senator 

from Oregon (Mr. WYDEN) are necessarily absent. 

I further announce that, if present 

and voting, the Senator from Massachusetts (Mr. KERRY) would vote 

‘‘yea.’’ 

Mr. KYL. The following Senators are 

necessarily absent: the Senator from 

Tennessee (Mr. ALEXANDER), the Senator from Texas (Mr. CORNYN), the Senator from Idaho (Mr. CRAIG), the Senator from South Carolina (Mr. 

GRAHAM), the Senator from Nebraska 

(Mr. HAGEL), the Senator from Oregon 

(Mr. SMITH), the Senator from Alaska 

(Mr. STEVENS), and the Senator from 

New Hampshire (Mr. SUNUNU). 

Further, if present and voting, the 

Senator from Texas (Mr. CORNYN), the 

Senator from Tennessee (Mr. ALEXANDER), and the Senator from South 

Carolina (Mr. GRAHAM), would have 

voted ‘‘no.’’ 

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. 

KLOBUCHAR.) Are there any other Senators in the Chamber desiring to vote? 

The yeas and nays resulted—yeas 52, 

nays 35, as follows: 

[Rollcall Vote No. 215 Leg.] 

YEAS—52 

Akaka 

Bayh 

Bingaman 

Bond 

Boxer 

Brown 

Brownback 

Byrd 

Cantwell 

Cardin 

Carper 

Casey 

Clinton 

Collins 

Conrad 

Dodd 

Dole 

Domenici 

Dorgan 

Durbin 

Feingold 

Feinstein 

Harkin 

Inouye 

Johnson 

Klobuchar 

Kohl 

Landrieu 

Lautenberg 

Leahy 

Levin 

Lieberman 

Lugar 

McCaskill 

Menendez 

Mikulski 

Murray 

Nelson (FL) 

Nelson (NE) 

Pryor 

Reed 

Rockefeller 

Salazar 

Sanders 

Schumer 

Snowe 

Specter 

Stabenow 

Voinovich 

Warner 

Webb 

Whitehouse 

NAYS—35 

Allard 

Barrasso 

Baucus 

Bennett 

Bunning 

Burr 

Chambliss 

Coburn 

Cochran 

Coleman 

Corker 

Crapo 

DeMint 

Ensign 

Enzi 

Grassley 

Gregg 

Hatch 

Hutchison 

Inhofe 

Isakson 

Kyl 

Lincoln 

Martinez 

McCain 

McConnell 

Murkowski 

Reid 

Roberts 

Sessions 

Shelby 

Tester 

Thune 

Vitter 

Wicker 

NOT VOTING—12 

Alexander 

Biden 

Cornyn 

Craig 

Graham 

Hagel 

Kennedy 

Kerry 

Smith 

Stevens 

Sununu 

Wyden 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. On this 

vote, the yeas are 52, the nays are 35. 

Three-fifths of the Senators duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the 

affirmative, the motion is rejected. 

The majority leader is recognized. 

Mr. REID. Madam President, I enter 

a motion to reconsider the vote by 

which cloture was not invoked on the 

motion to proceed to H.R. 7005. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The motion is entered. 

Mr. REID. Madam President, the 

night is late. Morning is fast approaching. I appreciate everyone’s cooperation. We are going to be in a series of 

pro forma sessions and likely we will 

be doing no more work until we come 

back after the reconvening of the new 

Congress. 

I appreciate everyone’s work over the 

past many hours. I have already given 

my remarks. I only say that I would 

hope the President, who has worked so 

well with us the past few weeks on this 

legislation, would now consider using 

TARP money to help the auto industry 

and the workers of this country. Any 

conditions that were proposed by all 

Senators—Senator CORKER, Senator 

DODD; anything they wanted to put in 

there, they could do anything they 

wanted. I would hope they would consider that and do it as early as tomorrow. 

f 

MORNING BUSINESS 

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the Senate 

now proceed to a period of morning 

business, with Senators permitted to 

speak for up to 10 minutes each. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

The Senator from Connecticut. 

f 

THANKING STAFF 

Mr. DODD. Madam President, as 

Members are leaving, I would be remiss 

if I did not express my very deep and 

sincere gratitude to some remarkable 

people who, like all of us, have staff 

members who do incredible jobs who 

never get the recognition they deserve. 

They worked over these past 8 or 9 days 

literally until 2 and 3 and 4 in the 

morning—night after night after 

night—in an effort to put together a 

package here that would win the approval of our colleagues. These remarkable young men and women have 

just served our country. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Could 

people take their conversations outside 

the Chamber while the Senator from 

Connecticut thanks the staff. 

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I 

thank you. 

I want to begin by thanking the staff 

director of the Banking Committee, 

Shawn Maher. He is the father of a 

young 11-year-old boy, and I don’t 

think he has probably seen Aidan much 

over the last number of months, let 

alone the last week or so, because he 

has dedicated himself to the work of 

this Chamber, this body. So I begin by 

thanking Shawn Maher. 

I also thank Aaron Klein, Amy 

Friend, Dean Shahinian, Neal Orringer, 

and Deborah Katz; from Senator REID’s 

staff, Mark Wetjen; from Senator DURBIN’s staff, Brad McConnell; from Legislative Counsel, Laura Ayoud, who 

does a remarkable job for all of us. 

There are many others, but these are 

the ones who principally did the work 

night after night, day after day, nonstop through the weekends, to try to 

package here a proposal that would win 

our support. And I apologize to them. 

We were not able to do it. I feel badly 

myself that maybe their Members did 

not probably work as hard as maybe we 

should have after all the effort they 

put in. But I want them to know, as we 

come into this holiday season, there 

are many people who in this country 

owe a great debt of gratitude to these 

people who worked so tirelessly on 

their behalf but never get the credit 

and the recognition they deserve. 

So this evening I thank them immensely for what they have done, and 

we will be back another day to fight 

again, and my hope is to make a difference for people in our country. But 

we all owe them a debt of gratitude, 

and I am particularly grateful to each 

and every one of them. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader is recognized. 

f 

THANKING MEMBERS AND STAFF 

Mr. REID. Madam President, I will be 

very quick.