Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008 -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

RECOVERY REBATES AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ACT OF 2008--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - February 04, 2008)

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I understand that. I was not making an offer to put my colleague on the spot but merely putting on the Record, because I think the American people sense what is happening in Congress and Capitol Hill and the Senate.

I have been out watching the Presidential debates, both the formal ones and the presentations made by candidates. Change is the biggest word of this election cycle on both sides. I think it is evident the American people feel America is headed in the wrong direction by overwhelming numbers. When they look at Congress and Washington, they do not sense that we are sensitive to the real challenges families face every day. They listen, some of them do, particularly those suffering from insomnia, watch and listen to C-SPAN and wonder why, why all the quorum calls in the Senate? Why all the time wasted? Why not more votes on bills? If you are here in Washington, why not earn your keep?

Sometimes I wonder if this would be a better institution if Senators were paid by the production of this Chamber because certainly this week we are not likely to earn much pay. Last year, the Republican minority, and it was their right under Senate rules, were responsible for 62 or 64 filibusters.

A filibuster is an attempt to continue debate indefinitely rather than reach a conclusion and a vote. Sixty-four filibusters made an all-time record in the Senate for 1 year. Sixty-four times the Republicans said: Whatever you are doing, let it go on forever, let's not bring it to an end.

And that, unfortunately, meant many important issues were not voted on, were not decided. That is their right, the minority's right. It is the nature of the Senate to slow things down. But I think the Republican minority in this circumstance has taken it to an extreme.

I think it is this extreme that has led to the frustration across America as they try to witness what is going on in the Senate and wonder why more is not accomplished.

Well, what we have tried to do today, unsuccessfully, is to ask permission from the Republicans to make tomorrow a productive day, to make tomorrow a day when we can either debate the stimulus package, preparing for a vote on Wednesday, or consider amendments to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act so we can move that bill toward passage; in other words, let's not waste a day. Let's not turn the lights on and bring all the staff out, turn on the television cameras and stand here before the microphones and say nothing and do nothing.

But the Republican position is to insist we do nothing tomorrow. Nothing. I made a request that we go to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Now, this is the law the President is asking for, in fact demanding, on a timely basis. The President is saying: I need this authority to keep America safe. It took us a long time to work out an agreement on amendments. I am sure fingers can be pointed to both sides. But we reached the agreement on how many amendments, how many votes will be necessary.

Now I have made a request that we go to that bill tomorrow, let's not waste tomorrow, let's move on this important domestic security issue. Let's have our debate, let's have our amendments, let's move forward, let's get it done, let's put in a good day's work. And the Senator from Arizona, on behalf of his leadership, has objected.

It means tomorrow we will gather, we will bring in the Chaplain, he will say an inspiring prayer, we will say the Pledge of Allegiance, then we will figure out how to kill a day. That is what will happen.

We will fill the Congressional Record, there will be some interesting speeches, no amendments will be considered and voted on, no debate on the economic stimulus package, it will be a wasted day.

Can America, can the Senate afford a wasted day? We are in the midst of, or at least close to a recession, if not there. A lot of people are worried about it. People back in Illinois whom I represent are concerned about what is happening to our economy. We have a lot of folks with 401(k)s and IRAs and pension plans who look at the stock market on a daily basis and worry about their life savings and their retirement, as they should.

People are concerned if we slide into a recession there will be even more unemployment than was reported last week, on Friday, when we had sobering figures about the thousands of Americans who were out of work.

The President has expressed alarm about the state of the economy. All these things argue for us to move forward and do something. We can start doing something tomorrow. We can have a legitimate, substantive debate on the economic stimulus package and a vote on Wednesday. Now, would that not be historic, that the Senate would actually get an important measure out of the way in a matter of a few days? What is the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats at this moment on the economic stimulus package? I am not sure anymore. You see, the President's original position with the House, Democrats and Republicans, suggested we would be sending checks for $600 or $1,200 for a family, to individuals, to try to stimulate the economy and extra money for children if there are children in the family.

That is a good start. It is a start that we built on in the Senate Finance Committee on a bipartisan basis. In the Senate Finance Committee we said: Beyond those individuals covered by the House, we think 20 million seniors should receive this kind of rebate check as well. They will spend that money, many of them on fixed incomes, and stimulate the economy. Let us, in fairness, give them a helping hand.

I am not sure, as I stand here, whether the Republicans in the Senate are supporting this. Only three Republicans in the Senate Finance Committee voted for it. But what is at stake in our vote on the economic stimulus package is whether 20 million seniors in America will be included in the rebate checks. That is a pretty straightforward vote. You either think they should be or they should not be included. The Democrats think they should be included.

In addition, some 250,000 disabled veterans who receive compensation from our Government for their disabilities for their wounds, we too believe they should receive a rebate. Some say they already get a check. That is true. But if any group deserves an extra helping hand, it is those who stood up and fought for this country and risked their lives for America.

I certainly believe 250,000 disabled veterans should be included in the economic stimulus package. I do not know if the Republicans now support that. As I said, three, only three in the Senate Finance Committee would vote for that.

We also have a provision which says that if you are unemployed, receiving unemployment compensation,

we will extend your unemployment compensation benefits for a matter of 13 weeks. And if your State is hard hit by unemployment, 26 weeks. Most economists will tell you that is the easiest and quickest way to stimulate the economy, people who are unemployed are scraping by.

Every dollar received is spent to keep things together while they look for a job. Well, we think that group, which has historically been part of any economic recovery package, should be part of this package as well. Now, some of the Republicans object to it. They have said so publicly. They have a curious notion that if you give people 13 weeks of unemployment benefits, they will then decide to pull out the motor home and go on vacation and stop looking for work. I wonder if these same Republicans have taken a look at how much these people are paid. You know, it is not a princely sum. In many cases it is $500 a week, $500 a week for someone who has had a good job is not going to be enough to get by. Trying to survive for 3 months or 6 months on that could be extremely challenging. I think it is only right and just and fair and moral for us to say to unemployed families: Here is a little extra help so you can get by as we push toward and try to avoid a recession.

Some Republicans disagree. So perhaps that is the reason why they oppose the Senate Finance Committee package. There are other provisions there. You can argue them up or down. Should we have a provision, as the Presiding Officer from Vermont has asked for, to extend LIHEAP. This is the Low-Income Heating Energy Assistance Program. It is a way to help people pay utility bills who otherwise cannot afford to do it.

The Senator from Vermont who is presiding has been one of our leading spokesmen for that. Interestingly enough, as Senator Boxer from California mentioned earlier, the Republican leader said that was one of the reasons we could not take up the economic stimulus package, he had to read the provisions on LIHEAP because they are the only major change in this bill.

Those provisions take all of a page and three lines. I think any Senator could get through that without a lot of strain. You do not have to be a speed reader to understand exactly what it says.

So here we are again, as we were last year 64 times, the Republican minority doing everything they can to slow down the Senate, to stop us from considering important legislation, so at some later date they can complain that we have not accomplished enough. Well, you cannot have it both ways. You cannot object when we try to move to the FISA legislation and consider amendments and then say later we are not moving quickly or on a high priority.

You cannot object to an economic stimulus vote on Wednesday, as we try to schedule it and then object that the Senate Democratic leadership is not responsive to America's economy. We are going to do the best we can under the Senate rules. We are going to, unfortunately, kill a lot of time because of this Republican approach. It is their right under the rules. I do not question it. But I do question the wisdom of allowing this Senate to continue to move so slowly, to be so unresponsive, to spend so many wasted hours and wasted days for no earthly purpose.

It would be far better for those of us who were drawing a paycheck around here to roll up our sleeves and go to work, be accommodating to schedules as we must be, but for goodness sakes, would it hurt us tomorrow to take up these amendments to the FISA bill, to debate them and vote on them?

I think it would be a good, healthy thing. It almost would bring the Senate perilously close to being a deliberative body again, which we do not do enough of. I hope the Senate leadership on the Republican side will reconsider their position, will stop objecting to considering substantive amendments to important legislation that we ought to move as quickly as possible.

I will make a comment that I think most Members are aware of, but there will be no further votes today.

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