RECOVERY REBATES AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - February 07, 2008)
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT
Ms. STABENOW. Thank you very much.
Madam President, certainly we come here today supportive of what has been done to this point, congratulating the House for beginning this process, on which we can build. But I think it is very important we make it clear what has happened.
We had the majority of the Senate that supported something that would have gone further, something that would have been better, in my judgment, and it was stopped by a filibuster and our inability to get one vote--one Republican vote--to join with us to stop the filibuster. So what does that mean? It means millions of unemployed middle-class Americans are left out. Unemployment benefits--one of the top two areas that economists have agreed upon to stimulate the economy--were left out because of one vote from our Republican colleagues. We just needed one more vote to include that.
Jobs from alternative energy production--we literally have businesses saying they will bring jobs back from overseas to this country--we lost that by one vote. Those jobs will stay away. Plants, we are told, will not improve and may, in fact, close certain projects because of the lack of one Republican vote. Help for homebuilders and homeowners--at the heart of this crisis--help for other employers struggling to invest and keep Americans employed, we lost this by one vote. That is what is so unfortunate here today.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Ms. STABENOW. Thank you, Madam President.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT