American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

Floor Speech

AMERICAN RECOVERY AND REINVESTMENT ACT OF 2009 -- (Senate - February 04, 2009)

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Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me comment on the underlying bill and then I will ask unanimous consent to set aside an amendment so I can offer an amendment.

First, let me comment on the underlying bill. We need to give President Obama the tools necessary for our economic recovery. President Obama said 2 weeks ago in his inaugural address the challenges we face are real, they are serious, and they are many. They will not be met easily or in a short span of time, but they will be met.

I think our responsibility is to make sure he has the tools necessary in order to be able to deal with our economic crisis. The current status of our economy is worse than any of us have seen in our lifetime. The gross national product fell 4 percent in the final quarter of 2008; our unemployment rates are at 7.2 percent.

Regarding home ownership and foreclosure, I know my Republican colleagues have had some discussion about trying to do more in that regard. This bill will save homeowners their homes. In my State of Maryland, we had 41,500 foreclosures in 2008, an increase of 71 percent. I need to point out that last year, it was the Senate Republicans who required seven cloture votes on the Foreclosure Prevention Act before we could take it up. At that time, 8,500 families were in some stage of foreclosure every day. The five months of stalling caused 1.2 million families to receive some form of foreclosure filings. The Republicans blocked amendments to provide additional funding for housing counseling and to let bankruptcy judges modify terms of subprime mortgages which could have kept 600,000 families in their homes.

So let me make it clear. We all want to preserve home ownership. We all want to prevent foreclosure. The underlying bill will help us get to that moment which we should have done earlier, and I regret that the filibusters prevented us from doing that.

Now, it is not only home ownership. People are losing their jobs. Retailers, automobile dealers, and restaurants are feeling the pinch. Small business owners are closing their doors. We need jobs and we need consumer confidence. The underlying legislation will allow for job growth. That is the No. 1 objective: Create more jobs in America because we are losing them today. President Obama made it clear the criteria for this bill must be that the investments we make must be targeted to new job growth. He does that through targeted tax credits and tax cuts, through aid to our local governments to avoid the layoffs that each one of our States will confront with State workers. In my State of Maryland, Governor O'Malley is having a very difficult time with the State budget. He knows we need help in order to preserve State employment and to preserve the type of services that the State must provide for essential services during a recession.

This legislation provides direct investment for projects that are ready to go, that will create jobs, and that are the right investments for America's future. I don't disagree with my colleagues as we look at each individual request that is made here. There are no earmarks in this legislation, but we
want to make sure there are right investments for America's future, whether it is improving education, educational facilities, energy so we can become energy independent, broadband so that we can compete in the future, health care technology so we can become more efficient in the way we deliver health care, our transportation system--I particularly mention public transportation which is critically important for our communities--or whether it is preserving home ownership. Also, the underlying bill must be temporary. We need to get back to balancing the budget; we understand that.

So what does this bill mean for the people of Maryland? Well, our State will receive directly $3.1 billion. We will receive $420 million for highways, $240 million for transit projects, $27 million for drinking water improvements, $96 million to improve wastewater facility plants, which is in desperate need in Maryland. The State energy program will get $8.5 million; weatherization assistance so that homeowners can have their homes much more efficient as it relates to the use of energy, $56.5 million. Many of the infrastructures that are being improved by this bill are 30, 40, 50 years old. A lot of our wastewater treatment facilities are in need of modernization. They are ready to go. The money has not been there for it. These are capital improvements so we can compete and have a better society. Once it is done, we can get back to being more competitive and get back to the budget discipline that is so necessary in this Congress.

Let me talk for a moment about the real estate market. The real estate market triggered this recession. We know that. I was listening to my colleagues talk about that on the floor and I agree with them. It is difficult for people to get into the mood to buy a home. They don't know whether we have hit bottom. So I particularly appreciate the Finance Committee for bringing out in this legislation the first-time homeowners tax credits, legislation that I introduced last Congress. It was included in the bill we passed in the last Congress, but it was a noninterest-bearing loan of $7,500. The Finance Committee has now changed that to a credit, which I think will be much more effective. First-time home buyers now know that if they get into the home buying market, the Federal Government is going to help them with a credit. That is what it should be, and I know there will be some additional efforts made to strengthen that amendment.

In regards to small business, I said earlier small businesses are the heart of America. It is where our economic strength is. The American dream is not only owning a home; the American dream is also owning a small business, being your own boss. Unfortunately, too many small businesses today have on their front door ``going out of business.'' We have to do more to protect small businesses. At the end of the day, when we pull out of this recession, we need to have small businesses in place because they are the economic engine of America. Madam President, 99.7 percent of the businesses in Maryland are small businesses and 80 percent of all new job growth is created by small businesses.

We had in the Small Business Committee a roundtable where we talked to small businesses in our State, in our country. It is interesting that a year ago, one out of every seven small business owners used their personal credit cards in order to get credit for their business. We understand that. Today that is 50 percent. It is the only place they can get credit. It is the most expensive and it can be pulled at any time. We have to help small business owners with their credit problems. We have to make sure the government procurement actually gets down to the small business owner. In this underlying legislation, the SBA loans, the 504 program, the 7(a) loans, there are major provisions to make it less expensive for small businesses. That is good. I support that. There is a microborrowing provision in this legislation for small businesses. That is important. That is going to help. But we need to do more. We need to do more to help small businesses, minority businesses, women-owned businesses, veterans' businesses.

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Mr. CARDIN. Madam President, let me very briefly explain this amendment.

This amendment improves the SBA program for surety bonds for small businesses. In the underlying bill the committee has brought out an additional $15 million that will allow SBA to help with the surety program.

The challenge today is that for small business to get a government contract of over $100,000, they have to put up a surety bond. It is very difficult for them to get that surety bond. The SBA has a program to help them obtain a surety bond. The challenge is that the current limit is $2 million. For any contract over $2 million the program cannot be used. Well, with the underlying bill and the types of procurement we are anticipating, there are going to be larger contracts. What this amendment does is increase the $2 million to $5 million.

Secondly, in order to qualify for a small business, your annual revenue must be below the Federal guidelines or State guidelines if it is a State contract.

What the underlying amendment does is use the Federal guidelines, which is $31 million, for construction contractor businesses and $13 million for specific trades as the standard for being eligible for the Federal SBA program on your surety bond. I am very pleased that this amendment has the support of the leadership of the Small Business Committee, Senators Landrieu and Snowe. It is bipartisan. The CBO scored this at no cost, so it will not cost money. I urge my colleagues to support it.

Lastly, Senator Snowe will be offering an amendment to make sure Federal procurement laws and regulations apply to all the contracts awarded under this legislation and that SBA regularly reports on these contracts to Congress. I am a cosponsor of that amendment; I strongly support that amendment. I hope we will also consider that amendment.

In conclusion, I am optimistic about our future, but we have a lot of work to do. We need to pass this legislation quickly and give President Obama the tools he needs so we can see that our economy is rebuilt and grown to its full capacity. I am confident we will reach that day by acting on this legislation, and it will be sooner rather than later.

I thank my colleague and yield the floor.

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AMENDMENT NO. 237

Mr. BAUCUS. Mr. President, next is the Cardin amendment, No. 237. I understand the chairman and ranking member of the Small Business Committee agree to this. I don't see the chairman. I see Senator Cardin on the Senate floor. I urge him to speak to the amendment. Otherwise, I am prepared to accept the amendment.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland is recognized.

Mr. CARDIN. Mr. President, I thank the chairman. This amendment will make it easier for small businesses to be able to get surety bonds in order to participate in these contracts with Government. It has the support of the chairman and ranking member of the Small Business Committee. I am prepared to accept a voice vote.

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