American Housing Rescue and Foreclosure Prevention Act of 2008 - Continued
Floor Speech
AMERICAN HOUSING RESCUE AND FORECLOSURE PREVENTION ACT OF 2008--CONTINUED -- (Senate - July 10, 2008)
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Ms. STABENOW. Thank you, Madam President.
THE ECONOMY
Madam President, I come to the floor after reading something I find very shocking. This is evidently in an interview with the Washington Times, referred to today by Jonathan Weisman. It has this quote. Former Senator Phil Gramm, a top policy adviser of Senator John McCain's, said the Nation is in a ``mental recession,'' not an actual one, and suggested the United States has ``become a nation of whiners.''
Senator McCain is in my State of Michigan at this moment today. I certainly want to go on record here on the floor of the Senate to say that the people of Michigan are not whiners. The people of this country, who have seen their jobs slip away--over 325,000 jobs since January, good-paying American jobs--are not whiners. People have seen gas prices going up and up and oil prices doubling over the last 10 months. This is not a nation of whiners. We are seeing food costs go up, health care costs go up, gas prices go up, everything in people's lives going up. Every middle-class family, every family in America is struggling while they see their wages go down, if they have a job at all. This is not a nation of whiners; this is a nation of tough people trying to survive, Americans who believe in this country, who believe in the American dream, who are fighting to keep their way of life in this country today.
Mrs. BOXER. Madam President, will my friend yield for a question?
Ms. STABENOW. I will be happy to.
Mrs. BOXER. I am just stunned that Phil Gramm, who is a top adviser to Senator McCain--would you repeat exactly what he said?
Ms. STABENOW. Yes. I would be happy to. He said the Nation is in a mental recession, not an actual one, and suggested that the United States has become a nation of whiners.
Mrs. BOXER. Let me get this straight. Senator McCain's top adviser--one of his top advisers on the economy--says we are in a mental recession, there is no actual recession, and we are whining about it.
Ms. STABENOW. Right, absolutely.
Mrs. BOXER. Let me ask my friend, what does she hear in her State about gas prices from her constituents?
Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I thank my friend from California, who comes to the floor and fights every day on behalf of middle-class Americans and people struggling to make it. We in Michigan have the highest unemployment rate in the country--8.5 percent as of the last numbers. So people are losing their jobs.
Mrs. BOXER. Is that mental? Do they just think they are unemployed but they are really employed? What is he talking about?
Ms. STABENOW. The Senator from California is absolutely right. The fact is that folks who are losing their jobs or who are seeing their wages cut in half are seeing gas prices go up and up and up.
We have had two oilmen in the White House for 8 years, and we have had now the highest gas prices we have ever had to pay while they protect oil profits, oil company profits over and over again. This is not an accident, what has happened here. I think it is almost too obvious. We have two oilmen in the White House, and we are in the situation we are today, with families struggling to get to work, to get the children to childcare, maybe to go on a vacation, who can't hold things together, and they are looking around, saying: What in the world is happening? Now, we are hearing from a top adviser of someone who wants to be the next President that this is a mental recession and that we are whiners.
Mrs. BOXER. Will my friend continue to yield?
Ms. STABENOW. I am happy to.
Mrs. BOXER. I didn't expect to stay here and engage my friend, the Senator from Michigan, but when she read this--I know what her State is going through, and I have to say that California is suffering as well. If it were not for the fact that we have seen companies invest in alternative energy, and that is taking some of the jobs--and thank goodness--away from a crumbling housing industry, we would be in worse shape. We are not in good shape in California. We have real problems.
My friend from Michigan makes a good point. Two men in the White House--and I remember when George Bush was running in the beginning and saying: Well, put two oilmen in the White House, and we will see how we will deal with gas prices. Well, we have seen.
Is my friend aware that since George Bush and Dick Cheney--two oilmen--took over the White House, we have seen about a 255-percent increase in the cost of gas per gallon? Is my friend aware of that?
Ms. STABENOW. I am aware of that. It is outrageous. It is so stunning that this would be happening and be so obvious in terms of allegiance.
Mrs. BOXER. Let me ask one more question, and then I will leave her to the rest of her remarks. I know she has some thoughts she needs to share. As Phil Gramm, the economic adviser to John McCain, says that Americans are whining, we all know that the middle class is suffering, as the Senator from Michigan said, not just from gas prices but as a result of food prices, health care prices, credit card rates. There is a middle-class squeeze going on that is hitting our people very hard, and they are falling behind by thousands of dollars a year because of increased prices. Now, Phil Gramm, he doesn't feel the pain. He probably is in the top one-tenth of 1 percent of income earners, let me say.
I wish to ask my friend, and then I will leave her to her speech, does she know how much the head of ExxonMobil made this year?
Ms. STABENOW. Well, I know this: I know ExxonMobil has made the highest profits of any company ever in the entire world. I don't know the exact number, but my guess is that it is a lot more than people in Michigan are making.
Mrs. BOXER. Well, the CEO, the chief executive officer of ExxonMobil, according to my information, including his last paycheck and bonuses and the rest, made $400 million in 1 year. So no, he is not whining, and Phil Gramm is not whining. That is obvious. They are the winners in this economy with two oilmen in the White House.
I wish to thank my friend.
Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I so much appreciate my friend from California and her advocacy on a daily basis on this floor for people who are feeling the squeeze on all sides.
We are seeing a situation in this country where, frankly, most middle-class families, as well as small businesses and large businesses and those who want to do business in this country, just can't take any more. We are at the limit right now of what we can absorb in terms of higher and higher costs on people every day, with lower and lower wages, maybe losing a pension, maybe losing your health care.
What we have seen over the last 8 years is the creation of a race to the bottom in a global economy, a race to the bottom where the average American is told: If you only work for less, pay more in health care, and lose your pension, maybe we can be competitive. As Democrats, we believe in a race to the top. As Democrats, we believe it is critical that we address the squeeze middle-class families are feeling if we are going to have an economy.
What has made us strong among nations around the world is a strong, vibrant middle class, folks who can have the American dream, who know they can have that job. In Michigan, it is to have a home and maybe a little cottage up north or a boat to go around the beautiful Great Lakes and enjoy fishing and hunting and know they can send the kids to college--all of those things that have meant the great American dream for families in America. It is slipping away because of the policies of the last 8 years, not paying attention to what is happening to our global economy and making it worse by, in fact, protecting those whose profits are getting higher and higher at the expense of middle-class Americans.
So I would just say that to hear we are a nation of whiners from someone who is advising someone who wants to be the President of the United States--alarm bells should be going off to every single person who drives up to a pump today and has to pay somewhere between $4 and $5 a gallon for gasoline or goes to the store and sees the price of milk going up and bread and everything else they need to feed their family or sees their costs of health care going up, if they are fortunate enough to have health care alone.
So I certainly invite Senator McCain to come to my State of Michigan as many times as he would like, and I hope he listens very, very hard. I hope he doesn't hear it as whining. I hope he hears it as a sign of proud, patriotic, America-loving people who just expect decisions here in this Government to be made in their best interests, not in the best interests of oil companies or credit card companies or insurance companies that aren't willing to cover their health problems. People want to know that, in fact, their families will be put first for a change. That has not happened in the last 8 years. We certainly don't need more of that.
Frankly, when I look at the gas price situation alone, I must say, if I remember correctly--and I will check this for sure--if I remember right, the gentleman who now calls us a ``nation of whiners'' actually authored language that began to deregulate the energy markets back in 2000, which has actually created much of the situation we are in today, with lack of accountability and transparency and gas prices, oil prices, going up and up and up.
The people of this country have had enough, and they expect us to work together in their interests. They expect that we will put them and their families first, that we will do everything possible to create a climate where they can get a good-paying job and work hard every day and know that if they play by the rules in America, they are going to be able to have a better life for their children than they have had for themselves. That is all on the line right now in America because of what has been happening in the last 8 years.
We are not a nation of whiners. America is going through tough times. Even though times are tough, so are we. We are tough, resilient, hard-working people. I am proud of the people of my State who are working hard to keep their heads above water, to keep their families and their houses, to be able to keep some kind of an income coming in in the midst of all of this. I am proud to fight for them every day, along with a caucus that understands what is happening and which is going to do everything we can to turn this around.
I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks, Senator Grassley be recognized to speak, to be followed by Senator Pryor.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. STABENOW. Madam President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
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