tv U.S. Senate CSPAN April 15, 2010 5:00pm-8:00pm EDT
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the presiding officer: are there any senatorsishi to vote or wishing to change their vote? hearing none, the ayes are 85, the nays are 13. the amendment is passed. the senator from montana. mr. baucus: madam president, i move to reconsider that vote and i move to lay that motion on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the next two votes be 10-minute votes. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion, we the urched signed senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 2 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order.
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the clerk: the debate on the baucus substitute amendment numbered 3721 to h.r. 4851, a bill to provide a temporary extension of certain programs, and for other purposes, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is is it the sense of the senate that debate on amendment numbered 3721 offered by the senator from montana, mr. baucus, to h.r. 4851, an act to provide a temporary extension of certain programs and for other purposes shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. e clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:
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the presiding officer: under the previous order, the amendment as modified is agreed to. the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the senate will be in order. the clerk: calendar number 323, h.r. 4851, an act to provide a temporary extension of certain programs and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the letter from the chairman of the budget committee. the clerk: statement of the senator, mr. conrad. this is a statement of budgetary effects of paygo legislation on h.r. 4851 as amended by senate amendment number 3721, as modified. this statement has been prepared pursuant to section 4 of the
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statutory -- mr. baucus: madam president? madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: madam president, first, the senate is not in order. second, i ask consent that the reading of the letters be waived. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. baucus: madam president, i ask for the yeas and nays on this. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? yes, there appears to be. under the previous order, the cloture motion on the bill is withdrawn. the question is on the passage of the bill, as amended. the clerk will call the roll. vote vote:vote:
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the presiding officer: are ereny senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? if not, the yeas are 59. the nays are 38. the bill as amended is passed. mr reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session and that it be in order to file cloture on the following nominations in the order listed: calendar 644, 165, 699, 578 and 607. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i now ask consent that at nomination reported and the cloture motion stated that the mandatory quorums be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the cloture vote on calendar number 644 occur at
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5:30 p.m. monday april 19. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will rept. mr. reid: thank you, mr. president. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of lael br a r of the district of columbia to be under secretary of the treasury signed by 17 senators. cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of marisaj. demeo of the district of columbia to be associate judge of the district of columbia signed by 18 senators. cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of christopher h. schroeder of north carolina to be an assistant attorney general signed by 17 senators. cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules
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of the senate hereby move to bring to a close debate on the nomination of thomas i. vanaskie of pennsylvania to be a united states circuit judge for the third circuit, signed by 17 senators. cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of denny chin of new york to be united states circuit judge for the second circuit, signed by 17 senators. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i now unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators a thousand dollar to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i note the -- absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:
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the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i -- the middle class is the backbone of our nation. middle-class families sustain our neighborhoods and our economy and support our public services like our schools and police and fire departments and libraries. over the last two weeks, last week and the week before, i traveled extensively across ohio and met with ohioans who define the character of the american middle class. college students at the university of toledo described their hopes and their aspirations to become our next
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educators and entrepreneurs, community and business leaders and civic activists. workers at the 60-year-old general motors plant in defiance near the indiana border described how they are ready to build the next generation car engines and rebuild the middle-class community they work in and live in. in cincinnati, workers at the -- in g.e.'s historic evandale plant, a cincinnati suburb, represent the classic american success story, people working hard, getting ahead, getting paid an honest day's wage for an honest day's work. i met with veterans, chairman akaka had set up -- allowed me to set up in cambridge, ohio, in rural appalachian rural ohio, a veterans committee hearing and met with other veterans. in the chilicothe v.a. center, in the cincinnati v.a. center, two terrific v.a. facilities, to those -- to meet with and talk to and understand better the
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services for veterans who return from war and who represent those values of hard work and fair play. across ohio and the nation, middle-class families work hard and play by the rules, but too many middle-class families -- and the presiding officer's state of whether it's in joliet, illinois, or mansfield, ohio, too many middle-class families are fighting to have something to show for it. they are fighting to have secure jobs with decent wages, a home with an affordable mortgage, and the belief that their children will have a future full of opportunity and stay close by and raise their children so they can know their grandparents. tax day is today, april 15, and many middle-class americans are just trying to get by while our economy begins to recover. that's why when president obama and this congress, the senate and the house enacted the american recovery and reinvestment act, the a.r.a. last -- the arra last year, we made sure that one-third of those $700 billion, one-third of
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those dollars went to tax relief for 95% of working families in america. now, we hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle talk about tax cuts as if they invented them, but we don't hear them really tell the truth about tax cuts because their idea of tax cuts is overwhelming tax benefits to the wealthiest people in our society. not doing what president obama and the house and senate did last year and this year, providing those tax breaks and tax cuts and tax relief directly to the -- to the large middle class and working class in this country. middle-class taxpayers as a result can collect on more than a dozen recovery act tax benefits this season. while the recovery act is putting americans back to work rebuilding america, it's also honoring the dignity of work through the making work pay tax credit. on average, ohioans receive $496 through the making work pay tax credit. middle class, $496 in people's pockets. middle-class tax relief helps
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make college more affordable through the american opportunity credit. tax savings for up to $2,500 to pay college expenses. more homes can be energy efficient and less costly through energy efficiency and renewable energy incentives. energy efficient windows and doors or heating and cooling systems reduce utility bills, heating and cooling while increasing the value of the most important asset for many americans, their home. the first-time home buyer tax credit has made the dream of homeownership a reality, helped create jobs, stabilize home prices, rebuild communities across the nation. and, mr. president, these are tax breaks that have been enacted that americans are already taking advantage of and, in many cases, celebrating on this day that people aren't particularly glad to see, april 15. it means this april 15 is a whole lot better for american taxpayers than two years ago april 15 was for people that didn't really have the tax
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relief that the obama administration's brought them. the cash-for-clunkers program provided american consumers and ohio consumers with vouchers to purchase more fuel-efficient vehicles. it was a resounding success. the program helped stable -- more americans bought more american cars. that program stabilized the auto sector. can created or saved thousands of jors -- it created or saved thousands of jobs across the nation. saw those jobs being created, in defiance, high high, a, ohio, ws are being called back to build engines. and i think there will be others helping with the stamping in the fabrication of those chevy cruz. and i know that 1,100 workers are in the process of being put back to work at the lordstown g.m. plant, to build the chevy cruz, the more energy efficient car in the g.m. fleet. and existing tax credits.
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the earned income tax credits which reward work for peoplely making $20,000, $30,000, $40,000, $50,000 a year. these resident welfare who rewards people who are working hard, playing by the rules, not making a lot of money, or child tax credits. these existing child tax credits were meant toker sure that more americans use those tax credits they earned. there's a record average, the average tax refund is $3,036 so far. those numbers will slightly change as people file today before midnight. the i.r.s. says this is largel largely -- this increase is largely due to the recovery act. 99% of working families and individuals in ohio benefited from at least one of the tax cuts signed into law by -- by president obama. working ohioans received $1,046 on average from these critical middle-class tax relief programs. that means because of what this congress did, the senate, the house, what president obama did,
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that middle-class ohio families get -- save over a thousand dollars, a thousand dollars in their pockets that wouldn't have been two years ago before president obama took office, wouldn't have been available, this thousand dollars under the bush tax policies because his tax policies benefited the richest people but didn't benefit the middle class. so under the bush tax policies, wealthier people are particularly happy the middle class was left out. under obama tax policies, wealthier people might not be quite so happy but the broad middle class will have a thousand dollars, more than a thousand dollars extra in their pockets as a result of this middle-class tax relief. it's a critical part of our economic recovery. that's why the president and the congress passed just last month the largest health-related middle-class tax cut in the last two decades when it passed historic health reform, insurance reform legislation. we know there's much work -- and i would add the first thing that came out of that legislation on
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health care was already in place and is now already in place and that is significant tax incentives for small businesses, for employers to provide health insurance for their employees. if they can provide -- when they couldn't afford it in the past with these tax incentives, many employers will be able to afford these -- will be able to afford providing health insurance for their employees. we know there's much work ahead to ensure the interests of the middle class are protected in our tax code over the corporate special interest. now, i know that many republicans, including those running for office in my state, for governor and senate and attorney general, many republicans want to repeal the health care bill. but understand, if they repeal the health care bill, they are doing what they've done in the past, they're taking from the middle class and giving to the wealthy. that's the class warfare that i've heard on this floor for the last three years. it's the class warfare i heard in the house of representatives when -- when republicans
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continue to do more and more for the richest people in this country and less and less for the middle class and less and less for low-income people. that's the kind of class warfare they've waged for years. i hope they aren't successful in doing that on the health care bill. i don't think they will be. but it's important to -- to guard against that. senate democrats, we're not just look back at what -- looking back at what we're able to do, we're looking forward on making the senat tax code work better r middle-class americans. we'll continue to fight for middle-class tax relief that will rebuild our economy in dayton and springfield and zanesville and mansfield and revenna and girard and lima and restore prosperity for all ohioans, not just those at the top. we'll continue to fight for the college students in toledo, the g.m. workers in defiance, the g.e. workers at evendale and
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veterans and all middle-class families across ohio. america's middle class as a result will pay less and save more because this president and this congress are actually doing something about it. mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thankesidt. i ask unanimous consent the senate now proceed to the en bloc consideration of the following senate resolutions accident s. rest 484, s. rest 485, s. rest -- s. res. 486, and senate resolution 487.
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the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc. the presiding officer: without objection. so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2:00 p.m. on monday, april 19. that following the prayer and the pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each. that following monk business, the senate proceed -- that following morning business, the senate proceed to executive session to debate the nomination of lyle brainerd to be under secretary of the treasury. the presiding officer: without jectio so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.
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the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown brown: mr. president,k unanimous consent the quorum call be vitte -- dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, it is so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president are i ask unanimous consent the majority leader be authorized to sign any duly enrolled bills or joint resolutions today, april 15, or tomorrow, april 16. the presiding officer: without t objection, so ordered. mr. brown: mr. president, today senator reid filed cloture on several executive nominations. at 5:30 on monday, the senate will proceed to a cloture vote on the brainerd nomination. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the
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mr. sessions: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alabama is recognized. mr. sessions: i would ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. sessions: mr. president, i shared recently with my colleagues my concern about the surging federal debt and the ramifications that arise from that and how it has a damaging effect in ways a lot of people have not considered on you are a economy and on the quality of life of the american people. a scholar at the cato institute published an excellent op-ed, i thought, in yesterday's ""washington times"" on impact of borrowing on the american economy. savings are essential as we all know for economic growth because it's from those savings that
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people borrow it and then they're able to invest in the new factories, equipment, research, development, breakthroughs, and create businesses that create jobs. and that's how we get economic growth, and it's part of our tradition of a free economy and has served us well and few -- very few, but some, i would acknowledge, would deny that this is the best way to allocate wealth rather than trying to have a government-mandated economy. when the government issues debt and private citizens, corporations buy it, that, by definition, steers that money -- that savings -- from the productive or private sector of the economy and toward the government. if the government wasn't issuing the debt or borrowing the money,
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people wouldn't -- would have money then this they would likely invest in private corporations through bonds or stocks. they might place it in a bank and buy a c.d. and then the bank would loan that to a private company or some person who's wishing to build a home or a shopping center, creating jobs and growths in the economy. now, some of our colleagues, i think, like to think that you can borrow money and you can increase debt and it's free money and there's no cost. but if we think, we know that's not true. nothing comes from nothing. as -- everything has a cost, and it will be paid for one way or the other, one time or another. the unprecedented federal debt that we're dling with today is unlike anything we've seen
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before. i think it's fair to say, both parties have blame to share, but i just have to say, we've never seen anything like the president's ten-year budget and what impact it will have on our debt a understand our economy. our debt in this 2008 was $5.8 billion. in 2012 it's projected to double to $11.6 trillion. in 2018, to triple to $17.6 trillion, tripling the entire debt of the united states in that many years. and people would say, well, what does that mean? well, i would say to you, it means one thing that i can show you. you borrow that money. somebody loaned it to the government. and when the government took that loan and borrowed that money, they have to pay interest on it. and just to show you what the
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congressional budget office has told us about what this actually means, in 2009, we paid $187 billion in interest on our debt. that's going to go up every single year, according to them, until 2020. we'll be paying $840 billion in one year in interest on the debt. now, all of us have projects that we believe in. we believe in education or health. we believe in helping seniors or young people. we believe in highways and research and development, national defense, and health care -- national institutes of health and science and technology and improving energy uses and cleaning up our environment. those things cost money. and i will just say, according to the projections from the congressional budget office, $840 billion will have to be
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taken off the top. it will have to be paid first for interest alone. that will be larger than anything in our budget, including defense, unless it continues to surge, and we hope it doesn't. it'll be larger than any other account. it'll be crowding out money that we could have been spending on things that work. some of the money we spend does not work. it's wasteful washington spending. too much of it is. but some of this money is very productive, and we like to think that we're making the world a better place. we're going to have less of it because of this interest. now, the unprecedented federal deficit last year of $1.4 trillion is a stunning number, and the projected $1.5 trillion deficit this year -- that's this
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shortfall -- will be taking $3 trillion out of the economy. in fact, the cato scholar richard rahn compared the percentage of money -- compared the percentage of money the government is taking out of the economy in this recession compared with how much the government took out of the economy in previous recessions and found that the current depletion of savings that's going to the government is unprecedented over the last 30 years. in 2009, he says the government took 38% of all the gross savings in the country by borrowing it. money that might have been available to a shopping center guy or a start-up company or a person who likes to buy -- needs to buy a home. they would borrow the money. the government is borrowing this money. there's a limited number of
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savings -- dollars in savings in this country. and we're now taking 38% of it. by contrast, it did not take more than 15% in any of the recessions of the past 30 years, and the average takings have been less than 5%. i'll just show this chart. "savings taken by the government during recessions." the average per quarter in the last 30 years is, what, 1% or 2%. in 1982-83 recession it hit about 12%. in 1992-93 recession, it hit about 15%%. 2003-2004, about 11% or 12%. and look at this. 38% in the 2009 recession that we're in. you say, well, this is worse than anything we've ever seen
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before. it is very bad. and it is an unprecedented thing. but you have to think of what we're doing in terms of the context of how much debt we can borrow. if it's so easecy and it has to costs to borrow, why don't we borrow twice as much? if there is he no cost, well, we all know there is a cost. and we have to make judgments about how far we can go, how much can we continue to borrow. we borrowed $800 billion for the stimulus package. now we've got a $270 billion stimulus package that's proposed, and since that wouldn't fly as a big package, it's being broken up and we voted here to have another $18 billion for a month extension of unemployment insurance and doctor fix and some other things. just borrowed it.
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but we thought when we did that -- the largest expenditure in the history of the republic, when we borrowed $800 billion for the stimulus package, that that would -- i thought was more than we could possibly afford to borrow to try to stimulate ourselves artificially out of this economic slowdown. it worried me. in fact, i supported a plan that we believe would cost half as much and created more jobs using christine romer, the president's advisor on economics, own studies to show how growth is created and use those numbers. it would have been more productive than the one we did. and one of the great tragedies of this whole process is how little stimulus we got out of the $800 billion. and it was, as gary becker, the nobel prize winner said, it was
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not a stimulus package. it was not written to create jobs and growth. and he predicted it wouldn't create the jobs that were being held out for it. he unfortunately has turned out to be correct. so i would just say, mr. president, as we deal with these bills -- and we just dealt with one, and senator coburn and several of us and others oppose this bill because it ought to have been paid for, should have been paid for out of the stimulus package. unemployment compensation was certainly one of the things that was in the stimulus package. and the doctors' fix, well, what about that? we've got to do that, don't we? yes, we do. we really do. and where should that money come from? the failure of compensation to our physicians -- please understand -- is a result of a
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rau that we passed that we -- is the result of a law that we passed that we cannot adhere to that in effect would cut physicians pay for medicare patients 21%. many physicians already quitting to taking medicare. if this were to pass, we would have very few continuing to take medicare patients. the whole system would collapse, and they're not getting paid enough now. private insurance pays much more than the government does. so, how should we pay thing doctors? don't we have to borrow the money? well, in the health care bill, one of the great flaws in the health care bill, i have to say, was the failure to fix medicare's doctor payment. that was the crisis always in medicare. so the proposal that passed on a
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partisan vote in the senate, the proposal to have a new health care program, raise taxes for medicare, bringing in more money for medicare, cut benefits from medicare, and did they fix the crisis? the doctors payments first, like had been said, had to be done from the beginning; that one of the reasons we needed health care reform was because we needed to have a permanent solution to the doctors' payment shortfall. did we use the money for that? no. we took the money and created an entirely new spending program, a new health care program. and our colleagues are proposing that we just borrow the money, the $371 billion it's going to take over ten years to fix the
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doctor payments. now, this is why the american people instinctively understand that we're not in control here. we're out of control. we're in denial about how serious our situation is. and i think the american people instinctively are right. the people say, the town hall meetings are angry. well, some of them are angry. i sense they're just deeply concerned about the country they love, and they have a sense and are correct, that we're irresponsibly managing our duties here. and as a result, we are saddling them and their children with the largest increase in debt the nation has ever seen. and it has the potential to put a cloud over the long-term growth in our economy. i do believe that we are going
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to get some economic strength from this stimulus package. it's impossible to spend $800 billion and not get some economic growth from it in the short term. but the money is going to be spent in now, what, one more year it will almost all be spent. it's already going down in the amount, i think, that's being spent. it will reach a peak this year. i guess before the election we will have the highest peak of money being spent. and we're going to get some benefit from that. and i hope that we'll have long-term positive benefit. but, the congressional budget office, our group that we ask to analyze spending and score the cost of legislation, analyzed the $800 billion stimulus package. this is what they said, and i think it makes sense, and i'm
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afraid it's true. for the first two or three years, we're going to have an economic lift from this, all this flood of money into the economy. but over ten years the congressional budget office has concluded that the $800 billion in spending will not improve the economy. their score was that the economy would grow less in ten years if we passed a stimulus package than if we passed nothing, if we didn't spend anything. wow, mr. elmendorf said the reason is that when you borrow $800 billion, you crowd out borrowing from the private sector, where our economic growth is. you take available money that they could have borrowed to run
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their businesses and factories, and you give it to the government to spend on some sort of pork programs and social programs. and this shows exactly that. i didn't know that 38% of the money that's being saved in this country would be be gobbled up by federal government borrowing to keep our ship afloat so that we can still try to buy our way out of this recession. and as the people, experts say, recession the are cyclical. if you don't do anything, you're going to come out of it. we hope some sort of stimulus package could help us come out of it faster with less pain. and i was prepared to vote for and did vote for several packages that would be more job oriented and more targeted to
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growth. but we didn't pass that kind of bill. we passed a big governmental spending bill. and it was predicted not to be growth oriented. it was predicted not to be job creating. and apparently, unfortunately, that's been basically true. so i'm hoping that we'll have some growth for a few years here, but i am confident that logic tells me that in the out years, growth will not be as vigorous as it would otherwise have been because we're going to be carrying an unprecedented amountf debt. we're going to be paying an unprecedented amount of interest every year. and this is going -- will have crowded out private borrowing and cost the government a stunning amount of interest which will allow the government not to do anything to improve the lives of the american people, because that money, first has to go to pay the
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interest. mr. president, i just wanted to share that because there's some people saying that those of us who objected to this bill, this small $18 billion debt expansion that passed today, those of us who objected to that somehow don't love america and we don't love people in need. we believe and offered legislation that would have paid for these expenses by taking it from unobligated funds and programs that don't work in our country effectively and would have been able to fill this $18 billion need without increasing the debt. but instead of doing that, the majority of the senate, our democratic leaders, pushed through legislation that would just borrow. and i guess that's the plan we're on. have $800 billion, $270 billion, start a new $2.5 trillion health
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care bill, and more and more spending each year, and more and more debt. we've just got to stop. i know it's hard to say "no" and hard to make the tough choices, but that's what we've been elected to do. i really think we've got to get serious about it. i'm getting serious about it. i don't intend to continue to vote willy-nilly for these debt-increasing bills. i believe this congress has got to get serious about our financial future and get -- take some commonsense steps that can lead us into a better future. i thank the chair and would yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 2:00 p.m. on monday, april 19, 2010.
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annual report on patronis spending by the group citizens against government waste. speakers include senators john mccain and jim demint. this annual report is called the congressional pig bouck the reference to what some call federal pork-barrel spending. it's about 25 minutes. >> good morning. i am the president of citizens against government waste, and this year is the 20th
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anniversary of the congressional seat. i want to point out that after congress has approved $700 billion for the bank bailout, 862 for the stimulus, $3.6 trillion budget, $1.1 trillion deficit there's a little bit of good news for taxpayers earmarks are reduced from the soldier 20093 the the 2010 congressional pig book shows 9,129 fraudulent which is a template to decrease in the 10,160 in fiscal year 2009 and 16.5 billion of earmarks which is a 15.5% decrease from the $19.6 billion in fiscal year 2009. so while that is good news is still above the historical average, and it's still not at the level that president obama promised when he took office which is $7.8 billion.
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and not only what everyone standing with me today prefer that it would be zero earmarks every taxpayer would also like that to disappear. and with our usual oinker awards this year as every year. the little engine that could end aboard this to the $465 million for the alternate engine for the joint strike fighter, a project that has been the pig book since for the alternate engine as well as the c-17, which constituted $2.5 billion out of the $16.5 billion work. interestingly, and the defense bill 59% of the cost was not associated with a single representative or senator which violates house and senate rules requiring appear next to each
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and every earmarks. this year there was a little competition for who could get rid of the most earmarks come certainly say they were going to get rid of earmarks, house democrats said they would not earmarks for fiscal year 2011 any earmarks that go to the for-profit entities. republicans countered with a no earmarks whatsoever decision that was unanimous in the concert. the senate of course as usual said we don't care about the house and we don't care about tax payers. we are coming to continue earmarks. and that certainly accounts for the top earmarks in congress, senator cochran, the ranking member of the senate appropriations committee who received the award for his $490 million in pork. senator cochran is the number-one force three years ago and his total exceeds $2 billion during that three-year period of time. ..
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committee chairman bill yamelie of florida and stephanie herseth of south dakota who came in with $190 million. as people look through the pig book and add up the numbers to match this is $2.5 billion with the individual numbers calculated because members have asked multiple projects, more than one ask for a project but it's all there in our database at cagw.org and several of her other records included the hell bent on earmarks reward, 10 million for the home sat down security congressman held rogers of kentucky and the mission is organized and kentucky's higher institution -- higher education institutions to get more money for holland security projects. in other words, it is to help get more earmarks. in 2007 there was revenue of $3.57 million and since then
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congressman rogers has had $20 million for this organization. the narcissus awards has several candidates in this year goes to senator tom harkin, $7.3 million to continue the grant program in iowa and senator robert byrd of manufacturing systems which will be added to the byrd droppings' portion of our website which names everything that is named after senator byrd and west virginia. the harkin grant program has received 33 million since 2005. this award will be limited hopefully the only senators and be essentially to no one since the house didn't have any earmarks named after sitting members of congress because the chairman of the appropriations committee said no to at least one thing going on for many years. the dunderhead award and goes to senator arlen specter representative kanjorski of
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pennsylvania, 200,000 for design of a small business incubator and multi-purpose center,, of direction of office. i was joined today by members of congress fighting side-by-side with cagw to eliminate earmark not with us longer than senator mccain when remembers pigs in the pig book were much larger. we will also hear from a republican study committee chairman tom price of georgia fall by senator jim demint of south carolina a representative paul brown of georgia and rep jeff fi of arizona and before we hear from speakers i want to once again thank our great sat at cagw and especially david williams are vice president from policy doing thior 17 consecutive years. also are research associates john kennedy, new policy association putting a lot of time and effort to make this happen. we want to recognize brad stone,
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william dudley, and, of course, cagw more than 1 million members of supporters up without him the paper would not be possible. senator mccain. >> thank you, tom, and i think i've been here most of the 20 years. i would like to say thanks for your great work and david evans at all of those members of the citizens against government waste in the years you have made a difference, you have made a difference in the debate and have given us ammunition to use when we go home to talk to our constituents and make them understand how pernicious and corrupting this process of is. i like to say thanks to my colleagues from the house including my dear friend jeff blake, ferrera son who shares with me the miss congeniality title us in the u.s. congress. congressman price and congressman brown, thank you for your engagement one and our leader in the sense, reform, and
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the nation, many of the practices the american people have so much dislike and the leader in the elimination of waste and management and government, centered demands and who i appreciate his leadership, our work and also of a back that he is willing to stand up to maybe others to have been more powerful and influential men and does what right is interesting, tom, that she would be unveiling aren't 20th pig book essence of people have gathered in the tea party this morning and thousands and thousands of people tomorrow all over america, hundreds of thousands if not millions of people will be gathering into replaces all over america in outrage saying they have had enough and are frustrated and tired. they're tired of taxes and tired
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of the wasteful and unnecessary corrupting influence of it earmarking and wasteful of spending. whilst the city of pusan to cut its budget 13% last year we hear washington cut domestic spending by 13% and thousands and thousands of earmarks, wasteful programs and it would take me a long time to enumerate. the practice we have a deficit of over $1.4 trillion us, and this year $1.5 trillion. my favorite bumper sticker that i've seen recently is, please don't tell the president what comes after a trillion. so the pig book is a critical importance and with what needs to be tied in. there is a peaceful revolution going on out there. it will be manifested with a lot of the airways between now and next november, but the pig book
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at really attention and and the citizens against government waste continuously worked tirelessly on behalf of the american taxpayer, i'm very grateful and grateful for the participation of my colleagues. i wanted to mention an additional issue. the house republicans as i mentioned have courageously declared an end to earmarking and that's one of the most impossible moves man and a long time. senator demint and i will work to try to see the same thing happen amongst republican congress and the united states and and on to thank senator demint for his leadership. tom, thank you anacharis knew him, he didn't have a gray hair on his head. thank you. ifs [laughter] [applause] >> thank you, tom price, i represent the sixth district of georgia and i chair the study committee. a bumper stickers have -- i'm a great fan because they highlight
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the sense in the emulsion and the thought of the american people, the one i saw last week that was my favorite was if you ain't mad you in pain attention. and as citizens against government waste and attention for 26 years and 20 years to publish the pig book and i want to commend you, tom, and cagw for the work you're doing. if this weren't so serious it would be humorous, the highlight of projects that we all take the light in exposing but this is serious staff and this book has gotten bigger hearing guess it's more colorful copley to draw more attention to it that the american people understand that what goes on in washington from a pork-barrel standpoint and earmarking point is a process that is corrupting. you of the names of the individuals who have been gotten him astray because of this process and have suggested a nation has gone astray because of this process so i want to commend cagw for the work you're
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doing and i look for to get into all of the booklet and the items in the book and asking my colleagues and there are if you i want people to ask and i want to mention that briefly. 81 anonymous projects, 81 blokes and didn't have the guts to stand up and say i want this project, 81 with $6.5 billion. what are they afraid of? why are they in the shadows? i urge them to come out and stand up and when the projects they put forth because the nation demands and their constituents demand its. senator mccain mention the republican conference a few weeks ago stood up and said as a group we of all of your request earmarks and i think that's the kind of leadership that the nation wants to say. the american people are mad and a because they don't believe washington is listening. i am sure that cagw is listening and harmony in congress, i am pleased to join my colleagues on the stage were listening and look for to expanding our numbers after november 2010.
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thank you so much, todd your nice [applause] >> thank you, tom. both. r. sanders gave the power of the purse to congress so that we would control the spending and other executive branch, so that we could most apply with politically and directed parochial projects. there are a lot of republicans and democrats,, the earmarks don't have anything to the budget allows congress to directed rather than the executive branch. this is a bunch of baloney. mw to a large degree because earmarks are the engine that pulls the train. almost every bella has some kind of kick back and whether it is to nebraska or louisiana purchase, major pieces of legislation with a major price tags pulled through by giving north direct spending to an
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individual member congress. the sestak to change, these charts here are only the tip of iceberg and the number of earmarks, the total price of earmarks are small. this is -- small not to the average american but relative to our total budget of the spending and borrowing and the debt we are incurring as a nation, i think we're nearly $13 trillion at this point in time of year, it's a direct result of over 500 congressmen and senators coming here believing that it's their job to take money home to their states and congressional districts. that is what is driving the out of control spending indebtedness. in respect of of the price tag of the earmarks, what it does is it buys votes and any senior member of our conference for this conference was to pass a bill, they use earmarks, they sprinkle around like candy. so the post a horse and they don't drive spending or add to our budget, frankly there are not telling the truth.
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this is my 11th year. i can tell you with complete conviction that the reason we are in a situation of out of control spending and debt, the recent year at a place where some members of congress are saying our debt is unsustainable and have to do something but turnarounds and i need a million dollars for a local store project, that type of distance between reality and the fact, just tells you how irrational the spending culture has become. and it's driven by earmarks. so what time in the organization has been doing for years of brutus allied to the point of this number alexian i'm convinced is going to be as much about who asks for earmarks and doesn't that any election we have never have. in leadership of the tea party of movement across the country are realizing that this is the canary in the mineshaft. if you want to know who is really going to be the advocate for the change as congress you
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can tell by whether or not they will ever crossed the line so that's giving a good way to identify candidates who will fight the fight when they get here. tom, thank you again for bringing this to the attention of the american people. i think this is the year will make the election about stopping earmarks once and for all. >> [applause] >> good morning, and paul brown and represent the tenth congressional district in georgia. as a family physician i've seen how small is seemingly a significant symptoms often indicate more serious and sometimes fatal disease. and proponents of earmarks argue that pork-barrel spending on it represents a small fraction of a much larger budget to. the simple truth is earmarks our major symptoms on august symptoms of serious way, ron and
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abuse and corruption in washington dc. in the fiscal year 2010 a preparation bill alone congress has spent $32 billion on again, justify their pork by putting up 32 billion represents only .9% of the total money spent last year that's a lot of money to me and most people in georgia, that's $32 billion representing a huge amount of spending. i to point out that this logic is an example of the arrogance and ignorance and incompetence we have in washington d.c.. because of the in washington can you quantify $32 billion as a small impact with $32 billion we could give each one of the individual in america a check of $2,133. in and out in favor of doing that, but we could. city, county and state
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governments have been forced to cut back in order to stay and other budgets. and back in georgia with there are struggling to meet the balanced budget requirements of our state constitution. it is time for washington to follow state, county and governance in particular families leads in balancing the budget and stops earmarks the first step in the process. we must take the first false step for fiscal discipline and changed the way that washington spends the american people's hard-earned tax dollars. i applaud the citizens against government waste and were provided much-needed transparency and accountability for the american taxpayer. it's up to the american taxpayer and the american people to decide where we will go in this nation here and we're at a pivotal point in this country. are we going to continue down the road of greater density, and greater deficits, stopping this
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earmarks process which will lead to total financial ruin in this country. or are we going to take a step toward financial responsibility of a balance in the budget, stopping this earmarking process. >> when i was a little kid raised on a ranch my dad used to have me go on the prowl after we branded a lot of calves, part of the brand was a year marked out of it left a. would be lying all over the ground so i could say that i was doing something in had to collect those earmarks and put them on the fence post and count to have an unofficial tally of the cab's we branded. now two years later in congress i'm doing a lot of the same thing. [laughter] i thought i would move on by now, but county earmarks is not an unpleasant task in cagw has been doing it for a long time effectively. a few of us didn't think we
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would see the day is really not at all your years ago when the house republicans at least would stand and say calling for their been a republican earmarks and a preparation bills this year, that's a great day and hear and of the democratic side have said no earmarks for-profit companies. that's a great start. i should point out that there are many so-called non-profit that would be tax-exempt companies to receive earmarks and some have revenues in excess of a billion a year. some are tied up with the p.m. a scandal a year so ago that are still slated to get earmarks in these of preparation bills coming out so we need to watch carefully the process this year will. it's all well and good two have them members named next to earmarks and these could reforms seem unable into enacting the last couple of years unless members can challenge those earmarks on the floor of the house or in committee is of little use.
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last year we have every appropriation bill come to the floor under a closed rule hasn't just a fraction of the earmarks eminence we wanted to offer could be offered and need to make sure this year that we have open rules on a probation bills and i believe that this year with some members not taking earmarks at all would be former difficult for those who are to justify them. so again i want to thank citizens against government waste for working there so long and so effectively in and my colleagues for all this been done, we are making some progress here. thank you. >> thank you, i wanted to mention a number of representatives and senators not requesting earmarks, 47, obviously the gentleman here included, 11 democrats and 36 republicans. in the seventh its divided evenly, three republicans and three democrats but that 6 percent of the body which is not all that much and headcount for center -- senator demint
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effort to get moratorium. we did get 25 votes for his amendment to have seven moratorium and that's progress. i remember when senator mccain offered an amendment i believe 2002, to eliminate money for the statute in alabama and he got 12 votes so things are in a somewhat direction. i'm happy to take questions and to address any of the member standing here. yes, sir. >> one what you make of your senators requesting a lot of earmarks? you said that republicans had a earmarks para had de uc that under: when a lot of youth senate republicans are the exception? >> well, we've had 25 republicans in our conference that voted for a one-year moratorium. and i think we're going to continue to build on that. with a lot of canada supporting around the country, marker
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rupiah, that to me, these new candidates to look like they are in good shape in this election are not going to request earmarks which the lips i have not requesting earmarks is writing the earmarks system and as we want here. so i'm not so focused on the old spending culture, a lot of folks feel like that's their job and that's why they feel like they're here burin frankly i think that's part of the problem so i'm going to work on building the numbers and earmarks and let those who continue to earmarks, that's just part of, they feel that's their service. >> [inaudible] >> no, you have to watch the office to get the job, sorry. the name of the company in the office is the dunderhead award, is a real awarded for a fictional show.
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all the way lost your jobs than we did last month, our unemployment rate climbed to over 10 percent, is over a number that underscores the economic challenges that lie ahead. but history tells us that job growth always lags behind economic growth. which is why we have to continue to pursue measures that will create new jobs and i can promise you i won't let up until the americans who want to find work can find work until all americans in herndon have to raise families and keep their businesses open. >> people have made to pack up and leave but more and more are losing jobs everyday but few are being fired. some are showing up for a single interview because it is their only hope. >> people are suffering.
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>> you never expected people in this town either about to lose a job or already jobless. >> i was very shocked when i found out i was laid off. actually it felt like a death and complete this belief that all major companies are reducing their sales force by almost half so i don't see if i get back in, it wanted. >> for some time in job takes a short amount of time but it's not and the jobs they're happiest in. many are settling for jobs they do not want. >> currently i'm working as a clerk for a law office and i do is answer phones and to scan in, so it's not anything i really trained for. i don't really enjoy it that much because it is just scanning and it's not anything along the lines of what i want to be doing. >> one add of 10 are unemployed
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in >> been looking for a new job i find it difficult to do the things you have to do am and go and continue to find out what your skill sets are and in some cases if you been out of school for a long time or you worked in one particular sector of work over a long time you are so worn out. >> hi family members were sending me newspaper articles. >> many companies are being forced to find new employees the new methods because of the way people shop. >> we had a job there and it you actually have that because there over 2,000 people that show up for the job and they were interviewing were a number of different positions. >> on top of all this farmer people are being put behind
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bars. >> partially is because people are out of work and in some cases there are looking for some means of income. two offset the loss of wages. that income ceiling stealing from someone else. obviously that is not an acceptable alternative, but we do see that from time to time and when people are unemployed it brings a sense of frustration to them because there are probably used to working, they're used to support and their families, and it causes a been a depression for some people whether or not they're able to work. >> per the jobless it is greatly affected in. instead of increasing our development it is the reverse. >> as of the 22nd october ended 9.8% in the knox county
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our unemployment rate was at 8.1%. i do believe that the current economy can have a huge impact on the development so in this economy we're starting to see a lot more people contemplate starting businesses. they didn't want to go, the and have made the decision to reinvent themselves. i think we are going to see again the same level of a massive development we saw a few years ago. if we do see something approaching that level it's going to be that way. >> the same thing is affecting every corner of this nation as a will for years to come. >> them on i took office i have made a point that employment is often the last thing to come back after recession. that's what history shows us a year since the time last winter when losing an average of 700,000 jobs per month we have
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certainly made some progress on this front. but today's job report is a sobering reminder that progress comes in bits and starts and we're going to need to grind out this to find out step-by-step. whenever i see statistics like the one we saw today, prince of the people behind me, economists, decent americans who want more than the opportunity to contribute to their country and help build a better future for themselves and their caritas is to do everything we can possibly do to accelerate that process and i want to let every single american known that i will not let up until those who are seeking work can find work and until businesses seeking credit are able to get pregnant and thrive and until all responsible homeowners can stay in their homes in. >> at the time that recession will get better but it's still i
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