S186 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 8, 2009 

a devastating impact on our Nation if 

they are not aggressively and boldly 

addressed that we can’t afford this to 

be a party-line event. We need to have 

cooperation. We have a template for 

that. When we took up the TARP bill, 

which was an extraordinary piece of 

legislation, it was done because we recognized the crisis was upon us and action had to be taken, and it was done in 

a totally bipartisan and, I thought, a 

very effective way, and that is a good 

template for moving forward. 

So I just lay these ideas out as an approach to take, and I say, from my 

standpoint, to the extent I can participate—and I hope I can—I am willing to 

listen to any ideas, and I want to see us 

make progress. I want to see it be 

prompt because in this area, it is absolutely critical for the President-elect 

to succeed for the Nation’s good. 

Mr. President, I yield the floor. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Illinois. 

f 

UNANIMOUS-CONSENT AGREEMENT—MODIFICATION TO APPOINTMENTS 

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that the order of 

January 6 with respect to the announcement of Members appointed to 

be Senate tellers for the joint session 

today be modified to reflect that Senator SCHUMER will replace Senator 

FEINSTEIN. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

f 

SUPPORTING THE ECONOMIC 

RECOVERY BILL 

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I want 

to follow on the comments of my friend 

from New Hampshire, Senator GREGG. 

Although he and I may disagree on 

some political issues, and we do, the 

fact is, many of the things he just said 

I agree with completely. I think there 

is a sense among Members of Congress 

that we are facing an extraordinary set 

of circumstances in America today. 

The Presiding Officer, from the State 

of Michigan, probably has endured 

more economic bad news than almost 

any of us. If I am not mistaken, one 

out of every eight people in his State is 

currently on food stamps, and it is an 

indication of how his economy is struggling. 

With regard to the economies of some 

of the other States, when you look 

across the United States, the headlines 

are sobering. We have been told repeatedly about the loss of jobs. Look at 

some of the most recent headlines: 

DHL cuts 9,500 U.S. jobs; Chrysler to 

lay off 2,400 in Fenton, MO; AT&T announcing job cuts; Sprint losing jobs; 

Stanley Works, GM, Office Depot—the 

list goes on and on. 

The fact is, yesterday 22,000 Americans lost their jobs. If the latest projections are true, 22,000 more Americans will lose their jobs today, and 

22,000 more Americans will lose their 

jobs tomorrow. That is the state of the 

economy. Instead of creating employment, we are losing jobs at a pace 

which sobers all of us. 

As a student of history, I understand 

the Great Depression that Franklin 

Roosevelt inherited as he became 

President in March of 1933 was much 

deeper and dangerous and wider in 

scope. But when you look at what we 

face today, that is the only historical 

analogy we can point to in recent 

memory that even is close to what we 

are facing. 

Over 9,000 American families lost 

their homes to foreclosure yesterday, 

more than 9,000 families will lose their 

homes today, and another 9,000 the day 

after and every day that succeeds. The 

reason, of course, is that we have so 

many bad mortgages—the subprime 

mortgages. Many people were misled 

into signing up for mortgages they 

couldn’t afford, and now, as the terms 

reset and come due, families can’t keep 

up with them and are losing homes. 

It is not just a problem for that person who lives down the street, the family who had to move out; it is your 

problem too. In my hometown of 

Springfield, IL, a small Midwestern 

town, with relatively stable real estate 

values, my home is diminished in value 

because of the foreclosures that are occurring in our community and the general state of the economy so even families dutifully making their mortgage 

payments are falling behind because 

their core assets, such as the value of 

their home, are diminishing. 

Every day this economic crisis 

deepens and claims more victims. Families who have worked so hard for so 

many years are finding it difficult to 

maintain even the most basic standards of the middle class. This is the 

worst economic time our Nation has 

seen since the Great Depression 75 

years ago. We can observe it, lament it, 

give our speeches about it or we can do 

something. This morning, Presidentelect Barack Obama, my former Illinois Senate colleague, gave a speech at 

George Mason University, right outside 

Washington, DC, in Fairfax, VA. He 

talked about what we are facing and 

what we need to do about it. He said: 

. . . equally certain are the consequences 

of doing little or nothing at all, for that will 

lead to an even greater deficit of jobs, incomes, and confidence in the economy. 

President-elect Obama said: 

That is why we need to act boldly and act 

now to reverse these cycles. That’s why we 

need to put money in the pockets of the 

American people, create new jobs, and invest 

in our future. That’s why we need to restart 

the flow of credit and restore the rules of the 

road that will ensure a crisis like this never 

happens again. 

That work begins with a plan, a plan 

that he says he is confident ‘‘will save 

or create at least 3 million jobs over 

the next few years.’’ He talks about the 

priorities we need to invest in, such as 

energy and education, health care and 

new infrastructure, that are necessary 

to keep us strong and competitive in 

the 21st century. 

Yesterday, the designate for the new 

Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, 

came to my office. He is a man who is 

widely respected for his academic expertise and knowledge of energy issues. 

He finds it a little challenging and 

daunting, as he thinks about facing 

Members of Congress and the massive 

level of employment of personnel at his 

Department, but he talked in terms of 

energy, and he said it is ironic we have 

reached a point in history that the 

United States is not on the cutting 

edge of developing new forms of energy 

technology. The windmills we are constructing across America are, by and 

large, built or designed in Europe. Nuclear energy we have not touched for 

some 20 years in this country and have 

ceded the research to other countries. 

There are areas where we need to invest in America. As President-elect 

Obama said this morning at George 

Mason University, this energy investment is important for our future to 

move toward energy independence. 

President-elect Obama in a few days 

will take the oath of office not far from 

here and then will count on Congress 

to move quickly to pass the American 

Recovery and Reinvestment Plan. He is 

urging we do it boldly and swiftly and 

that we bring transparency and openness to the process so the American 

people see their money is being well 

spent on investments in America’s future—investments when it comes to 

education and energy and health care; 

investments that will bring down the 

cost of health care for many American 

families who are struggling today, not 

to mention those who have no health 

protection whatsoever. 

He also calls on us to stabilize and 

repair our financial system on which 

we all depend. I think we know what 

we are talking about. When a man 

named Bernard Madoff can, over the 

span of 10 or 20 years, lure investors 

into what has turned out to be a Ponzi 

scheme, causing many of them to lose 

millions of dollars, and his wrongdoing 

goes unnoticed by major regulatory 

agencies such as the Securities and Exchange Commission, it is clear more 

has to be done. 

When the ratings agencies, major 

ratings agencies that set the standards 

for whether a company is doing well 

basically ignore their responsibility 

and fail to make accurate reports, everyone loses as a result of it. 

President-elect Obama said in closing 

today: 

It is time to set a new course for this economy, and that change must begin now. We 

should have an open and honest discussion 

about this recovery plan in the days ahead, 

but I urge Congress to move as quickly as 

possible on behalf of the American people. 

For every day we wait or point fingers or 

drag our feet, more Americans will lose their 

jobs. More families will lose their savings. 

More dreams will be deferred and denied. 

And our Nation will sink deeper into a crisis 

that, at some point, we may not be able to 

reverse. 

I hope what I am about to say is a reminder to all of us of the responsibility 


rfrederick on PROD1PC67 with SENATE
January 8, 2009 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE S187 

we face in this new session. We are all 

concerned about the size of the economic stimulus plan. Eight years ago, 

the Federal Government was actually 

running a budget surplus. Today we estimate a budget deficit, by the end of 

the year, of $1 trillion. That deficit is a 

reflection of poor choices that have 

been made at many levels of Government, but we cannot let the bad 

choices in the past prevent us from 

making the wise choices we have to 

make now to end this economic crisis. 

It is interesting that economists 

from all across the political spectrum 

have come to the same conclusion 

about what America needs. Nobel 

Prize-winning economist Paul 

Krugman, who is put in the category of 

liberal or Democrat, said recently: 

It is much better, in a depressed economy, 

to err on the side of too much stimulus than 

on the side of too little. 

He publicly wondered whether threequarters of a trillion dollars is enough. 

Martin Feldstein, President Reagan’s 

chief economic adviser, said: 

Without action, the economy will continue 

to decline rapidly. 

Mark Zandi, who advised Senator 

MCCAIN during his campaign, said: 

My advice is, err on the side of too big a 

package rather than too little. 

All the great minds, economic thinkers, are coming to the same conclusion: 

We need to act, act decisively, and act 

boldly. But we need to act responsibly 

too. We do not have a day to waste, but 

we do not have a taxpayer dollar to 

waste either. We have to make sure the 

dollars are well spent, not in the creation of Government agencies but in 

the creation of good-paying jobs right 

here in America; not in investments in 

bureaucracy but investments in our 

economy that will help our Nation 

grow in the years to come. 

We need to include smart spending 

and targeted tax cuts for the middle 

class so they can cope with the challenges, the economic challenges they 

face. We have to make sure the money 

that is spent by Congress is spent responsibly so we do not end up with embarrassing earmark projects that have 

not been subjected to public scrutiny 

and review in advance. We need to 

make sure programs are authorized and 

funds are pumped quickly into the 

economy but in an efficient way. 

We need to invest in jobs for American workers. States have identified almost $18 billion in road and bridge 

projects ready to launch within 90 

days. Every $1 billion of Federal funds 

can create up to 35,000 private sector, 

good-paying American jobs and generate $6.2 billion in economic activity. 

There is a lot of work to do. Our 

States are struggling. They don’t have 

the money to keep the safety net 

Americans will need as the economy 

weakens. They cannot help colleges 

and universities that need a helping 

hand. Nineteen States are considering 

cutbacks in basic health care; 18 States 

are cutting services for the elderly; 20 

States are cutting or proposing to cut 

K through 12 and early childhood education. The list goes on and on. 

I see my colleague from Montana, 

and I will be happy to take the chair so 

he can continue his remarks, if necessary, but the last point I will make is 

that the mortgage foreclosure crisis is 

at the core of our problems in America. 

We cannot come to grips with a rebirth 

of the American economy without dealing with the mortgage foreclosure crisis. It is a crisis that, as I mentioned 

earlier, hurts the families losing their 

homes and those living in the neighborhoods and towns around them. We are 

all in this together. What we need to do 

is work with major financial institutions to renegotiate these mortgages so 

people who still have a job and can 

make a reasonable mortgage payment 

can stay in their homes. 

I got off the phone with one of the 

major bankers in the city of Chicago, a 

friend of mine. He said: We get it. We 

are going to have to do things much 

more boldly to deal with mortgage 

foreclosure. The programs we put together, the voluntary programs, have 

not worked, they have not touched 

enough people. More and more homes 

are facing foreclosure, more people are 

heading to bankruptcy, and that has to 

come to an end. The housing industry, 

much like the automobile industry, is 

one of the staples of our economy and 

we have to deal with putting it back on 

track. 

Last month, Credit Suisse estimated 

8.1 million homes were likely to be lost 

to foreclosure by 2012. If the economy 

continues to worsen, they believe foreclosures will exceed 10 million homes. 

We are going to have to come up with 

the money to turn this economy 

around. It will mean more debt in the 

short term but, if the economy starts 

moving forward again, it, frankly, is 

the only thing that we can look to in 

the long term for America’s future. I 

urge my colleagues in the Senate, 

Democrats and Republicans, to try to 

find a common ground where we can 

work together. 

Just a day or two ago, Presidentelect Obama came up to meet with 

Democrats and Republicans, House and 

Senate leaders, just a few steps from 

this Senate floor. There was a conversation about ideas. I know him pretty well, having served with him, and I 

have been his friend for a number of 

years. I know he was genuine and sincere when he turned to one of the Republican leaders and said: If you have a 

better idea, I want to hear it. I want an 

opportunity to bring in all ideas, 

Democratic and Republican, so we can 

come up with the best package to serve 

the American people. It is not about 

one political party taking credit. Let’s 

take credit as a Congress and as an administration in turning this economy 

around. 

We are going to have that chance, to 

stabilize our economy and to rebuild it 

in the future. I look forward to working on a bipartisan basis to achieve 

that. 

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, I join 

the Democratic whip in his comments. 

I think it is critically important that 

we work together in these economic 

times to solve the problems this country faces. We don’t have problems as 

Democrats or Republicans with the 

economy, we all have problems with 

the economy, and I think the American 

people are looking forward to us working together for solutions to our economic mess. 

f 

ORDER FOR RECESS 

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I ask 

unanimous consent that at 12:45 p.m. 

today, the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair. 

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without 

objection, it is so ordered. 

The Senator from Montana. 

f 

MONTANA NATIONAL GUARD 

Mr. TESTER. Mr. President, as we 

begin this new year and this new Congress, I would like to ask the Senate to 

stop and reflect on the service of the 

men and women of our military. Every 

day, hundreds of thousands of men and 

women in all branches of our military 

are performing jobs that place them in 

harm’s way and at the tip of the spear. 

In particular, I would like to thank 

the 229 men and women of the Montana 

National Guard who have deployed or 

will be deploying this month. 

Just in the past week, 46 airmen from 

the Montana Air National Guard security forces left the sub-zero temperatures in Montana for training at Fort 

Bliss, TX. From there, they will head 

to Kyrgyzstan. 

Another 120 soldiers of the Montana 

National Guard’s 639th Quartermaster 

Battalion left Helena for Fort Lewis, 

WA before they leave for Iraq. 

And later this month, 63 soldiers 

from our 189th Aviation Battalion will 

go to Fort Sill to prepare for a tour in 

Iraq. 

We feel a great deal of pride when 

sending our strongest and most dedicated Montanans overseas. We feel a 

great deal of hope too. 

Leaving Montana to answer the call 

of duty isn’t just another assignment. 

It is a symbol of commitment and 

courage. We will always appreciate 

their service, their hard work, and 

their willingness to protect Montana 

and America. 

They say Montana is just a small 

town with a lot of long streets, and 

that means that when 229 guardsmen 

deploy overseas, it impacts a great deal 

of the State. 

Businesses lose talented members of 

their workforce. Cities and towns lose 

cops, firefighters, doctors and other 

professionals in the community. 

And most important of all, families 

have an empty seat at the dinner table. 

Family schedules get changed. Mothers 

and fathers become single parents for a 

little while. 

Americans will never forget the sacrifices National Guard families make 

at home. 


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