S402 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE January 15, 2009 

Today, we vote on stopping a filibuster on a motion to proceed to the 

Lilly Ledbetter legislation—legislation 

that ensures pay fairness in the workplace. This should not be necessary. It 

is really a waste of time—our country’s 

time. After at least 2 legislative days 

to get the bill before the Senate to 

have this vote today, we must wait another 30 hours until we can start offering amendments on the bill. That is a 

waste of time. That is 4 days at least of 

wasted time and unnecessary delay. I 

hope in the future we can just go to the 

bill, avoid the cloture filing on a motion to proceed. Instead of forcing cloture motions that only waste time and 

delay progress, I urge my Republican 

colleagues to offer amendments. If 

they object to parts of this bill, the 

Lilly Ledbetter bill, then let’s work on 

a list of amendments and get through 

them. I do not approve the amendments. The Republican leader does not 

approve them. Senators will have that 

opportunity to vote on amendments, 

up or down, and it does not get any 

fairer than that. There may be motions 

to table, but at least they will have the 

right to offer those amendments. 

I think we have the opportunity to 

get this Congress off on the right foot. 

I want all to know there is no attempt 

by Democrats to jam legislation 

through without Republican involvement. So I ask my Republican colleagues to accept my offer to work 

with us rather than revert to the old 

path of obstruction that served neither 

party nor the American people well. 

So I would hope that as soon as this 

vote takes place today, we would not 

have to wait 30 hours or 5 hours or any 

amount of hours. Let’s just start legislating on the bill. People could offer 

amendments today, after we get these 

votes out of the way. We could offer 

amendments tomorrow. I hope we can 

do that. As we have done in the past, if 

there is a series of amendments, we can 

always stack those votes to vote at a 

more convenient time for everyone. 

But I hope we can do that. 

f 

HONORING SENATOR JOE BIDEN 

Mr. REID. Mr. President, finally, let 

me say about Vice President-elect JOE

BIDEN, Senator JOE BIDEN, JOE BIDEN: 

Everyone knows about his courage, his 

wonderful family, his remarkable career in the U.S. Senate. We know he 

overcame a tremendously difficult personal tragedy during the first few days 

after his election. I am not sure many 

could have had the strength he had to 

conquer this tragedy. Then, of course, 

he got sick many years later and 

fought back. It was when TIM JOHNSON

was in the hospital in a coma that JOE

BIDEN visited him and his family and 

talked to him about the fact that there 

will be times when, as he is recovering, 

he may be embarrassed by his inability 

to speak very well. JOE BIDEN is one of 

the great orators in the history of the 

country. No one would have ever 

known he had a problem very similar 

to what happened to TIM JOHNSON. He 

was such a role model to build TIM’s 

confidence to be able to come back to 

the Senate. 

We here in the Senate know his wonderful family, and now, because of his 

exposure to America, our country has 

been introduced to this great family. 

We know he is now in his seventh term 

in the Senate, in which time he has 

served as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, chairman of the 

Judiciary Committee, and that he is a 

champion of rights for women, the environment, a strong military, and the 

rule of law. 

When I think of JOE BIDEN—I have 

known him here since I came to the 

Congress in 1982. I came to the Senate 

a few years later. But in all of this 

time, the picture in my mind is during 

the heat of the Presidential campaign. 

I am driving down through the capital 

of the State of Nevada, Carson City, 

and I look out on a corner there, and 

there is JOE BIDEN in Carson City, NV, 

campaigning. He had a number of people around him. I stopped the car, got 

out, and gave Joe a handshake and a 

big hug. It was so JOE BIDEN to be 

there. He was there pressing the flesh 

and talking to voters. 

The people of Nevada have come to 

know and love JOE BIDEN for that very 

reason. He is kind of a regular guy; 

whether it is at one of the sandwich 

shops which came from Delaware to 

Nevada, Capriotti’s—now they are all 

over Nevada—they all have a picture of 

JOE BIDEN in them because it was a 

Delaware-based sandwich shop. He is 

just a regular kind of guy who shows 

up on a street corner just to talk to 

people. 

I will always remember with gratitude the kindness he showed when I 

first arrived in the Senate in 1986. I 

will be forever grateful that he was one 

of the very first colleagues to support 

my candidacy for Democratic whip. I 

can remember. I was in his office. He 

called in his secretary, and I do not remember her name, but he said: I take 

no more calls on this. REID’s my man. 

Well, I have always been his. I am a 

Senate guy, just like JOE BIDEN. We 

cannot get that out of our blood. I wish 

him well. He is going to be a great representative of our country, and I am 

very proud to be able to say to JOE

BIDEN: You are my friend. 

f 

RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY 

LEADER 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is recognized. 

f 

LILLY LEDBETTER FAIR PAY ACT 

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, I, 

too, shortly want to make some remarks about our good friend from 

Delaware as he leaves the Senate today 

to take up his new responsibilities, but 

first a few observations about the next 

item on the agenda, the so-called 

Ledbetter legislation. 

Let me say to my good friend the majority leader, I intend to vote for cloture on the motion to proceed. He and 

I have had a number of constructive 

conversations privately, and he has reiterated again today publicly that we 

are going to make an effort to get the 

Senate back to operating the way it 

used to, which is that bills are amendable. So I have said to my colleagues 

and I would say to my good friend from 

Nevada that I trust you and believe 

you that we are going to get on the 

Ledbetter bill, we are going to have 

amendments and have votes and then 

dispose of the legislation in the normal 

way. 

With regard to the substance of that 

particular measure, despite the gross 

distortions voters heard about this legislation in the runup to the November 

elections, the Ledbetter bill as written 

is neither about women nor fairness, 

and it is not about whether pay discrimination should be illegal. Pay discrimination is illegal, and it has been 

since 1963. Rather, this bill is about 

how long the statute of limitations on 

pay discrimination suits should be. 

Last night, Republicans began to 

outline a proposal for addressing this 

question in a way that is fair for everyone. Senator HUTCHISON’s bill strikes 

the right balance. It says the clock 

should not run out on someone who has 

been discriminated against until he or 

she discovers the alleged discrimination. This way, the focus is where it 

should be, on the injured party. 

The Ledbetter legislation unfairly 

targets business owners, who may or 

may not have discriminated against a 

man or a woman, on the basis of pay 

years or even decades ago. Its primary 

beneficiaries are lawyers, who want to 

squeeze a major settlement out of 

every company that fears the expense 

or the publicity of going to court. This 

bill is unfair to business owners who in 

many cases will no longer have the evidence they would need to mount a convincing defense, and it is unfair to the 

millions of American workers who are 

worried about losing their jobs in the 

current economic downturn. Job creators have enough to worry about at 

the moment. Adding the threat of 

never-ending lawsuits is a new burden 

the Federal Government should not 

even be considering at this particular 

time. 

No right-thinking American would 

defend discrimination of any kind in 

the workplace or anywhere else. And it 

is unfair to the public to suggest that 

those who oppose this bill endorse discrimination. It degrades our public discourse and it degrades the legislative 

process. 

Many of us oppose this bill as written 

because it will paralyze businesses and 

add an even greater strain on workers 

than they currently face. We support a 

business climate that creates the conditions for success, not a climate that 

harasses the millions of men and 

women in this country who support 

themselves, their families, and their 


jbell on PROD1PC69 with SENATE