quorum call:

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask that the quorum call be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, we have had a long conversation with the republican leader. i think what we're going to do now is senator mccain is going to come and speak for a while and after that, it's my understanding that we'll have a vote on passage of the supplemental conference report. the matter that is to follow that is the tourism bill, which is so important to every state. the managers of this bill are senator dorgan and martinez. and what we're going to do is start with five amendments, republicans will have three, we're going to have two to see if we can work through this bill before we have to do anything procedurally. this is a heavily bipartisan bill. i don't know if there is a bill in the whole congress that is more bipartisan than that. the reason it's bipartisan is tourism is so important.

the presiding officer's state, what a beautiful state to go there to aspen, to vail, all of the many things, the national parks there. nevada, people think it's the bright lights of las vegas and reno, and it is. but it's a lot more. people don't realize that nevada is the most mountainous state in the union, 314 separate mountain ranges. we have 32 mountains over 11,000 feet high, one 14,000-foot high. but every senator here can boast about why people should come and vis their -- visit their state. i have been to every state in the union. they're all beautiful and all worth promoting tourism. in our country we don't promote tourism. we're the only industrialized nation that doesn't. some nonindustrialized nations promote their countries. we don't. we need to have people come here. since 9/11, the -- people coming

to the united states has dropped significantly because of 9/11 people haven't been told it's the safest place in the world to come. people should come here and so this public-private partnership that's in this legislation will have programs set up and, frankly, mr. president, it is comparable to what happens in las vegas with the las vegas businessuthority. they have done a wonderful job bringing people to las vegas. this should be done nationwide. i didn't draft the bill, but they did copy a lot of what has made nevada successful. i hope we can work our way through these amendments. and in the process, do something really good for our country. i don't think there's anyone who wants to deep six this bill. but i hope that the people offering amendments will offer amendments that are relative and germane. if they don't, they have a right to that and we'll be happy to take a look at them. and i have no concern that we --

that the legal jargon of germaneness may not apply. we'll go ahead to do our best to work through this. i would rather not to have to file cloture on this bill. because of the supplemental, there has been a lot of concern by the republicans, but that should be done now. i think we've satisfied all of their demands on the supplemental. hopefully we can move forward with this and a number of nominations. we're going to have -- there will be more votes tonight. maybe it will be only one more vote, but we'll have one more vote on the passage of the sum supplemental. -- supplemental. mr. mccain: mr. president? does the senator from north dakota want to -- mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: we have a supplemental appropriations

conference report supposedly on ostensibly to fund the war in afghanistan and iraq and to make sure that the men and women who are serving have the necessary equipment and wherewithal to pursue those conflicts with the utmost efficiency. so it's business as usual in our nation's capital. it's business as usual in the congress of the united states. instead of legislation to fund our troops and efforts in iraq and afghanistan, we have a bill that includes such things as: $2 million for freeze-dried mat lett development, $35 million for the fb to investigate mortgage fraud, predatory lending financial fraud and market manipulation. $13.2 million for payments to air carriers for participation

in the essential air service program and, of course, one of the remarkable acts and feats of ledger domain that i've seen in my many years here, cash for clunkers. cash for clunkers. someone should at least attempt to explain how cash for clunkers has any relation whatsoever to the wars in afghanistan and infrastructure. it bribes americans to trade in less fuel--- trade in less fuel-efficient vehicles considered clunkers despite the fact that the car could have been bought yesterday for a voucher worth up to $4,500 to the purchase of a new car that must get at least 18 miles per hour. at least 18 miles per hour? 18. not 38. 18. it's supposed to -- the estimate is supposed to cost

about $1 billion, but some economists have declared the real costs were between $3 billion and $4 billion. and i predict to you now on this floor that it will be a lot closer to $3 billion to $4 billion than it will be $1 billion. a giveaway of this nature will be, obviously, something that will be irresistible to many. so here we are, a supplemental appropriations conference report totaling $105.9 billion. now, the president requested $13 billion less. the senate request was $9 billion more than the house passed bill an and $14.6 billion above the senate passed bill. so what we've done is we pass a bill over here, we pass a bill over there, and we at to both -- to the sum of both.

the conference report provides crucial funding for ongoing military diplomatic and intelligence operations, provides emergency funding to strengthen shons to the h 1-6r7b n 1-6r7b influenza -- h1n1, and vouchers for consumers to trade in old cars for new. old, meaning as short a time as one year. the majority of the conference report includes urgely needed funding for the troop in iraq and afghanistan. our troops are engaged in an effort that must succeed. it contains assistance for the government of pakistan including funding for the pakistan counterinsurgency fund. this should send a message to the people of pakistan that the people of the united states has made a long-term commitment to stand by their side in the region and their home against

insurgents and extremists. however the conference report also contains billions of dollars in unrequested spending that is largely unjustified and certainly nonemergency. president obama's message to the congress was to keep funding focus on the needs of our troops and not to use the supplemental to pursue unnecessary spending and to keep earmarks and other extraneous spending out of the legislation. despite the president's insistence not to include unnecessary spending in the supplemental, the conference report contains a number of earmarks and unrequested congressional program additions. i'm disappointed that the majority chose to use the supplemental as a vehicle to add billions in unrequested funding and policy proposals which should have been fully vetted and considered on their own merits while at the same time stripping out out the senate

passed detainee proposal entered by senators lieberman and graham. the conference report is being used by the appropriators as a backdoor for funding -- quote -- "base requirements." house allegations for 2010, commonly referred to as 302-b allocations, cut defense spending by $3.5 billion, reduce international affairs funding by $3.2 billion. in other words, a slight of hand of adding nonemergency program funding to supplemental appropriations is becoming all-too familiar of a way of skirting fiscal discipline by increasing discretionary spending above congressional discretionary outlines. in other words, we are continuing that was unfortunately common in the previous administration. again, about cash for clunkers. i mean it's remarkable. on june 16, 2009, citizens

against government waste wrote a letter to all members of the senate stating this provision -- quote -- "is really another bailout for the auto industry. american taxpayers have already spend $85 billion and we now own two automotive companies -- we and the unions. why do we need another bailout for the auto industry? the cash for clunkers provision has no place on a bill that provides emergency war funds. mr. president, i couldn't agree with the citizens against government waste more. "the wall street journal" wrote in a june 11, 2009 editorial -- quote -- "congress wants to pay you to destroy your car. as economic policy this is dotty. it encourages americans to needlessly destroy still useful cars and misallocate scrace resources from another perhaps more productive uses in order to subsidize replacement. by the same logic, we could

revise the housing market by paying everyone to burn down their house houses to collect te insurance money and build new ones." what this is all about, it's really intended to help detroit out of recession by subsidizing new car purchases. maybe that's why the president's c.e.o. alliance of the automobile manufacturers wrote asking all senators to support this program as well as the united autoworkers legislative director who called this provision -- quote -- "the single most important step congress can take right now to assist the auto industry." haven't congress done enough for the auto industry? when is $85 billion not enough? -- not enough for the auto industry? lastly, this provision is a lemon according to a june 13, 2000, article from the ""l.a. times" critic say that the

improvements required in the trade as much as one mile per gallon for certain light trucks. you trade in your old light truck and buy another one that is one mile per gallon more fuel efficient. so you can swap one gas guzzler for another. so for $1 billion this provision doesn't achieve the environmental goals its authors set forth either. my colleagues senators feinstein and collins argued such an an opinion in "the wall street journal" on june 11, 2009 and wrote this is simply bad policy. it is designed to provide detroit one last windfall in selling off gas guzzlers currently sitting on dealers' lots because they're not a smart buy. this unrelated provision is an unwise use of taxpayers'

hard-earned money and bad environmental poll policy. i strongly disagree with its inclusion. there are a few more earmarks i would like to highlight. $2.2 billion in unrequested funding for eight c-17 globe masser cargo aircraft. we have either bought or ordered 30 more c-17 cargo aircraft than is the military requirement. it is not the jobs program, the backlog of c-17's so great that boeing will not begin to build the aircraft for three to five years. while secretary gates called the c-17 a terrific aircraft, he stressed that the military users have more than necessary capacity for airlift over the next 10 years. these are, again, testimonies to the power of the military industrial congressional complex in this washington, d.c. an unholy