Highway Technical Corrections Act of 2007 - Motion to Proceed - Continued

Floor Speech

HIGHWAY TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS ACT OF 2007--MOTION TO PROCEED--Continued -- (Senate - April 15, 2008)

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Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, I commend my friend from North Dakota. He is exactly right. The middle class in our country is in deep trouble. Some would argue the middle class is collapsing. And the people of our country are looking to Washington, to us, to get something done. What they are finding is a filibuster on a corrections bill and inaction in every single area that faces working people in our country.

A couple of weeks ago in Vermont we held several town meetings on the economy. I invited Vermonters to respond to our Web site about what the collapse of the middle class means to them personally. I think it is one thing for those of us to give a speech, to use huge numbers, to talk in an extravagant way; it is another thing to hear directly from people in terms of what is going on in their lives.

What I promised that I would do, and continue to do, is read some of these very poignant e-mails I received, mostly from Vermonters, some from other parts of the country, where people are simply saying: Look, this is what is going on in my life today. I thought I was in the middle class, but I no longer am.

So what I want to do is read a few of the e-mails that I received, to put what we are debating and discussing in a very personal tone, in the real words of real Americans. This is the collapse of the middle class as described by ordinary people.

We received an e-mail from an older couple in the State of Vermont. This is what they wrote. The woman writes:

My husband and I are retired and 65. We would like to have worked longer, but because of injuries caused at work and the closing of our factory to go to Canada, we chose to retire early. Now with oil prices the way they are, we cannot afford to heat our home unless my husband cuts and splits wood, which is a real hardship as he has had his back fused and should not be working most of the day to keep up with the wood. Not only that, he has to get up two to three times each night to keep the fire going.

We also have a 2003 car that we only get to drive to get groceries or go to the doctor or to visit my mother in the nursing home 3 miles away. It now costs us $80 a month to go nowhere. We have 42,000 miles on a 5-year-old car. I have Medicare but I cannot afford prescription coverage unless I take my money out of an annuity, which is supposed to cover the house payments when my husband's pension is gone. We also only eat two meals a day to conserve.

This is a 65-year-old couple in the State of Vermont in the year 2008, and I suspect this story is being told all over America.

Here is another story about a woman who lives in our largest county, Chittenden County. She writes:

First of all, I am a single mother of a 16-year-old daughter. I own a condominium. I have worked at the hospital for 16 years and make a very good salary, in the high $40,000 range. I own a 2005 Honda Civic. I filled up my gas tank yesterday, and it cost me almost $43. That was at $3.22 a gallon. If prices stay at that level, it will cost me $160 per month to fill up my gas tank. A year ago, it would cost me approximately $80 per month. I now have to decide what errands I really need to run and what things I can do over the phone or the Internet.

But the other issue is, if I use my cell phone too much during the month, my bill will increase and that will cost me more money. I feel as though I am between a rock and a hard place no matter how hard I try to adjust my budget for the month. I am watching my purchases in the grocery store and department stores more closely because of increased prices.

I am not sure that can I afford to take a summer vacation this year. I usually take a day off during my daughter's spring vacation so we can go shopping in New Hampshire somewhere. I have already cancelled those plans for this year.

I am hoping that I can take a few days off this summer to go to Maine. We will see how the gas prices are this summer, but I hear it is going to get worse. Not much hope for someone on a tight budget.

Here we have somebody who asks nothing more than to be able to take a few days off with her daughter to go shopping. Somebody who works very hard cannot even do that because the price of gas is soaring.

Here is another e-mail that comes from a woman living in a small town in Vermont. This is what she writes:

Yesterday I paid for our latest home heating fuel delivery, $1,100. I also paid my $2,000 plus credit card balance much of which bought gas and groceries for the month. My husband and I are very nervous about what will happen to us when we are old.

Although we have three jobs between us, and participate in a 403(B) retirement plan, we have not saved enough for a realistic post-work life if we survive to our life expectancy. As we approach the traditional retirement age, we are slowly paying off our daughter's college tuition loan and trying to keep our heads above water. We have always lived frugally. We buy used cars and store-brand groceries, recycle everything, walk or carpool when possible, and plastic our windows each fall. Even so, if and when our son decides to attend college, we will be in deep debt at age 65. P.S. Please do not use my name. I live in a small town and this is so embarrassing.

Well, it is not embarrassing. That is the story being told from one end of this country to the other. People who thought that after working their entire lives, they would be able to retire with a little bit of security and a little bit of dignity are now wondering, in fact, if they will be able to survive at all.

After working your whole life and being frugal, you should not have to retire in debt dependent upon a credit card.

The e-mails we receive from people who are young, middle age and old, each in its own way is a work of poetry because it comes from people's hearts. It is poignant. It is true. This is what a younger person from Vermont writes:

I am 23 years old. I have about $33K of education debt + $12K of credit card debt and only make about $26K a year + benefits. I barely make enough to support myself and whenever unexpected expenses come up I end up having to use credit to cover them. I feel like I will never catch up and now everything is getting even more expensive; it seems hopeless. Meanwhile I listen to the news and how the rich are getting richer and it is making me hate this country. I am not an economics expert but I know that things could be done differently to help people like me who work hard and get little in return instead of rewarding those who have the ability to use their money to make more money.

We heard Senator Dorgan talk about huge tax breaks that go to some of the wealthiest people, people who don't pay their taxes because they move to the Cayman Islands and set up phony front offices. This writer, who may not have a PhD. in economics, hit it right on the head. This young man and these old people are the people we should start worrying about, not the wealthiest people who are having it very good.

Let me talk briefly about a woman. This is another piece of reality. She writes:

As a couple with one child, earning about $55000/year, we have been able to eat out a bit, buy groceries and health insurance, contribute to our retirement funds and live a relatively comfortable life financially. We've never accumulated a lot of savings, but our bills were always paid on time and we never had any interest on our credit card.

Over the last year, even though we've tightened our belts (not eating out much, watching purchases at the grocery store, not buying ``extras'' like a new TV, repairing the washer instead of buying a new one ..... ), and we find ourselves with over $7000 of credit card debt and trying to figure out how to pay for braces for our son!

I work 50 hours per week to help earn extra money to catch up, but that also takes a toll on the family life--not spending those 10 hours at home with my husband and son makes a big difference for all of us. My husband hasn't had a raise in 3 years, and his employer is looking to cut out any extra benefits they can to lower their expenses, which will increase ours!

Here is a woman who has to work longer hours in order to try to catch up, and she can't spend time with her husband and son, which is what her life is about. How many millions of people are in the same boat?

What is not usually talked about on the floor of the Senate is the fact that here in the United States, our people work longer hours than do the people of any other industrialized country. Not talked about terribly often is that to make ends meet now, in the vast majority of middle-class life, you need both the husband and the wife working long hours. Despite those two incomes, people have less disposable income today than 30 years ago in a one-income family. But when you talk about the collapse of the middle class, one of the manifestations of much of it is that people have to claw and scratch and work so hard that their family lives deteriorate. In this case, a woman cannot even spend the time she would like with her son and husband.

Here are a few more e-mails. This comes from a veteran from the State of Vermont:

The real killer is the price of heating fuel.

Up here in northern Vermont we need heat in the winter. With a Military Pension I make too much to get any assistance. We got a 2.8% pension increase in January, and the price of heating fuel has increased by about 50%. We have to cut back on food in order to stay warm. Thank you.

Somebody trying to live on a military pension that goes up 2.8 percent, the price of home heating fuel soars, not making it.

This is another short e-mail we received:

The company I work for has just announced a ``raise freeze'' which means not even a cost of living increase can be expected this year ..... this will be tough for us, as we were counting on at least a cost of living increase in a year where the cost of living has surely increased, be it groceries, fuel, wood, gasoline, etc!

Let me finish by reading an e-mail from another young Vermonter:

As a graduating law student I am particularly concerned with the potential reduction of jobs available to me. I am leaving school with a great amount of debt in student loans and credit cards and entering the uncertain job market.

I currently pay a tremendous amount of money in rent. I would like to work in poverty law but those jobs only pay about 36,000 so it is unlikely going to happen.

Here is an example of a young man who goes to law school, wants to work in poverty law, but because his debts are so high and the interest rate on that debt is so high, he no longer has a choice of careers. This is happening to young people all over the country.

The middle class in America is collapsing. Poverty is increasing. The gap between the very wealthy and everybody else is growing wider. Today we have by far the most unequal distribution of wealth and income of any major country on Earth. We are the only major country on this planet without a national health care program. The cost of college education is very high, while the oil companies make huge profits. Our people cannot afford to fill up their gas tanks.

As Senator Dorgan said, the time is long overdue for this Congress to start focusing on the real issues facing ordinary Americans. The time is now for us to develop the courage to stand up to the big money interests, the 35,000 lobbyists who surround us every day, the big campaign contributors who want benefits for the wealthy and the powerful. We have an obligation to stand up for the middle class. I hope we can begin doing that as soon as possible.

I yield the floor.

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