quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: mr. president, are we currently in a quorum call? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent the proceedings of the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coons: mr. president, as we come to the close of the 113th congress i'd like to speak for a few minutes about why i think we should be optimistic about the future and what we can and must do to take advantage of the opportunities that lie ahead. mr. president, despite economic slowdowns throughout much of the world, among developing and developed nations alike, america's economy continues to steadily grow. just last friday we got great

news that our economy created more than 300,000 jobs in the month of november. that marks 57 straight months or nearly five years of positive job growth numbers and for the first time since bill clinton was president of this nation we've averaged more than 200,000 jobs, new jobs per month for ten straight months. particularly in the economy is an area of growth and opportunity that i focused on in my time before coming into public service and in my four years here and that's american manufacturing. an industry about which i've spoken at length about here on the senate floor and worked with my colleagues to craft and assemble a group of bipartisan bills that can help move american manufacturing forward. and the news this last month was good as it has been for months, for years now, about american manufacturing, which continues to grow as well. there are 28,000 new american manufacturing jobs last month, which continued this sector's

steady climb. it's now created more than 750,000 new jobs over the last four years. manufacturing jobs are great jobs. they typically are hire wage and hire skill and have higher benefits than any other jobs in eye sector. they're middle-class jobs you can raise a family on and deal with one of the biggest ongoing remnants of the great recession, which is the lack of real wage growth in our economy. so i'm excited to see that manufacturing jobs continue to grow in our economy and to talk about the things we can and should do to help sustain this growth in manufacturing. we have reasons then to be optimistic but we cannot be complacent. as much as we've built momentum over the last year since the recession and especially this year there is, of course, no natural law, no fundamental principle that says it won't turn back around. we need to sustain our positive direction, particularly in this sector, particularly as we move towards the 114th congress.

i'm proud that congress last year passed a two-year budget to create some stability and some certainty for our country and economy. we've gotten out of the way and allowed our businesses and workers to do what they do best, to move our economy forth. and in -- forward. and in the next few few days we'll have chances to do the same when we vote on a number of women's. one of them that will keep our government for a few days or weeks or months but the overwhelming majority of this government will be authorized and funded through next september. the funding bills that are included in this omnibus continue investments in innovation and continue to move our country forward. there's a whole raft of bills i've been interested in and engaged in as a member of the appropriations committee that are valuable programs that will strengthen manufacturing. for example, the manufacturing extension partnership which has done amazing work on the ground in delaware, helping small and medium manufacturers to be competitive, to train their

work force in current stills, to grow into the spaces of the world economy where we have real opportunities. this bill will help sustain the funding for the manufacturing extension partnership nationally. there are several other programs related to innovation in the department of energy, for example, sustained funding for arpa-e, for a model that funds category redefining research and development in energy and in clean energy manufacturing and in technology deployment. there's also opportunities for us to put americans to work through investments in infrastructure. as someone who lives on amtrak 16 hours a week i'm thrilled with the outcomes for both the amtrak budget and for tiger grant programs, a tool used by the department of transportation to help incentivize snowflake -- innovative transportation projects that break through bottlenecks and put americans back to work. there are so many different ways that the work of this bipartisan

committee, the appropriations committee, helps move our economy forward that at times aren't focused on here on the floor or in the general press coverage of such a large and comprehensive bill as the omnibus but i wanted to take a moment and to highlight a few ways in which the omnibus invests in innovation, in competitiveness and in moving our economy forward. i'm also grateful in some ways most importantly that it includes emergency funding to respond to ebola both at home and abroad which will be critical to helping stamp out this deadly virus at its origin in west africa and in protecting americans here at home and others around the world. the appropriations bills thisware shepherded through the dozens of subcommittees give us reasons to be optimistic about the future was the chair, senator mikulski and the vice chair, senator shelby, have done a laudable job of crafting a bipartisan bill here in the senate which i hope that the members of this body will

study, will consider and move forward and adopt. as we move to complete the business of funding the government, we'd be remiss if we didn't take stock of the opportunities in front of us we haven't yet grasped. there is unfinished work to be done. this week we'll almost certainly pass a one-year tax extenders bill which will taxpayer forward certain temporary tax credits and dukeses -- deductions but for just one year. it signifies a missed opportunity on our part. much of what made me optimistic is how much our economy has fun gun in a more predictable regulatory environment but this one-year extension doesn't do much to give businesses certainty they need. i've worked with democrats and republicans alike to make permanent the research and development tax credit which is relevant to manufacturing because manufacturing is the most r&d intensive sector of the economy and manufactures invest

more in r&d than any other part of the american landscape. this one-year extension misses an opportunity to either make the r&d tax credit permanent or to make it more accessible. i was excited to have the opportunity early on here to team up with two republican senators, senator mike enzi of wyoming, and senator pat roberts of kansas, to find ways to make the r&d tax credit more accessible to early stage and start-up companies, companies with high growth growth potential but because the way the r&d has been structured for decades don't have the opportunity to access it. the start-up innovation credit act which i introduced introduced with senator enzi would have further expanded the access to r&d for start-ups and the bipartisan innovators act would have expanded it to innovative small businesses as well. both were part of the package advanced here in the senate but

will not be part of the ultimate one-year extender considered later this week. i wanted to title that as we look forward, there are opportunities still in front of us for us to tackle the challenges and to seize the opportunities, to take things that are important to manufacturing and to move them forward. there are lots of other bills in the mix that will be adopted this week either by unanimous consent or as part of larger packages, and the number of them relate to manufacturing. i am optimistic that we will adopt a national manufacturing strategy bill i've worked hard on with republican senator mark kirk of illinois. i'm optimistic that a bipartisan manufacturing hubs bill that senator sherrod brown of ohio and roy blunt of missouri where have worked hard together to craft and hone and get to a place where it's ready to be passed that they will make it across the finish line to the president's desk. but just this past week i stood this in floor with senator ayotte of new hampshire and spoke about a bill we will take

up again next year, the manufacturing skills act which helps to focus and prioritize the investment in skills training at the state and municipal level all over this country in partnership with the federal government. mr. president, what i wanted to do today was simply highlight a few perhaps underappreciated, underrecognized areas of legislative action on a bipartisan basis in this chamber that help put some lift under the steady forward progress of the manufacturing sector in our country and to express my hope that we can find ways to continue to work together on a bipartisan basis to keep our economic momentum going in the year and the congress ahead. mr. president, as i close, i'd also like to thank those of our colleagues who will be leaving the senate after the new year. it is an incredible privilege to work in this chamber and to represent the people of delaware, and every day i'm awed by the dedication and talent many of our colleagues, public servants who come to work and to fight for their states and their values.

to those ending their service in the senate know i value your friendship and partnership. it has been an honor to work with you and i thank you for all you've done for our nation. with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. heller: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to speak in support of some of the public lands provisions that were included in this year's national defense authorization act. before i do so i'd like to recognize the work of senators levin and inhofe. they've put together into this bill and their dedication to reaching an agreement with the house so that this bill can move forward on time as it has done over the last 50 years. as a member of the various committee -- veterans' affairs committee, i hear every day about the sacrifice our service members make to protect our country. passing the authorization bill that helps ensure they have the equipment they need and the resources required to meet the mission that they are tasked for is very important. while i'm pleased that the senate will be

moving affor forward on this bii want to note that the service members bill does concern me. i hope the senate will have the opportunity to amend this in the future. this year the final defense bill includes several nevada public lands priorities that will spur economic development and job creation in our state while enhancing u.s. national security. i've been working on many of these proposals since i irrelevancfirstcame and was firo congress in 2006. i want to thank lisa murkowski for her leadership and work on this public lands peafnlgt we've been working together for many years on this bill included in the package and i'm glued see that they're final -- and i'll glad to see that they're finally getting across the finish line. just because some of these blils are related to public lands does not mean that they do not have the direct relationship to

defense and to protecting our national security. my nevada copper bill will increase domestic production of copper. the second-most used mineral at the department of defense, as well as directly benefiting two bases located in the state of nevada. mr. president, as you know, roughly 85% of the land in nevada is controlled by the federal government. this presents our local and state governments with many unique challenges. our communities' economies are directly tied to the way the federal government manages those lands. they often work closely with me to develop legislative solutions to their problems. whereas out east local governments can acquire land on their to enbuild public works projects, out west, unfortunately, we have to get the permission of congress. that's why reducing the federal access to our lands has been one of our top priorities in congress. this package goes a long way towards accomplishing these goals. it resolves over 60 of these

titches issues throughout the west. over 110,000 acres of land will be removed from federal ownership and utilized for mineral production, timber production, infrastructure projects, and other community development. in addition, it releases approximately 26,000 acres of current wilderness study areas which unlocks areas to be used for multiple use. it's very important to discuss the eight nevada provisions today, to show my colleagues here the many hoops our western communities have to go through to take the same steps that many eastern communities can accomplish in a single day. the lyon economic and development conservation act is a jobs bill that i first introduced while in the house but it's been held up in the senate for many years because of gridlock. this bill allows the city of urington to partner with nevada copper to develop roughly 12,500 acres of land surrounding the copper hollow project site to be used for mining activities,

industrial and renewable energy development, and recreation. senate passage is the final hurdle of more unanimous 1,000 new jobs at an average of over odes 85,000 per year. the mine will contribute nearly $25 million in property and net proceeds tax per year that would be distributed to the state, to lyon county, their scoocialtion the hospital district -- their schools, the hospital district and the mason district u nevada copper plans to invest in the facilities that can be used to support other land uses and economic development. this bill will transform the local economy of one of the counties in our nation that is struggling most during this recent economic downturn. as i said before, copper is the second-most used mineral at the department of defense. and it's considered and essential mineral for weapons production.

copper is also the primary mineral from which other strategic and critical metals like radium are derived. a domestic supply of this important reduce directly benefits our national security. there is a provision in this package that will allow the naval -- the fallon naval air sphaition stietion acquire over 400 acres of b.l.m. land fo ando construct the much-immediated family housing for the station and at the station. both of these plans will greatly benefit mission operations and the quality of life for our brave service members serving there. the station first asked for these lands over 20 years ago. i'm glad that their wait will finally come to and. an end. third you the package includes a proposal that has been in the works in humolld county for

nearly a decade. it offers a diverse formation of brush and rock formation. from the ranchers who make their livelihood on grazing allotments and conservationists -- to conservationists who intend on preserving a rugged landscape, anyone familiar with the place agrees that it's special. in addition to conserving these areas, the bill releases areas from wilderness that needs watershed restoration and treatment due to high wildfire threat. it also provides for the construction of additional camp sites and accommodation accommos motorized camping. the initial work in the pine forest bill was grass-roots driven, transparent, and ultimately supported ultimatelye unanimously by all stakeholders and local governments in this koifnlts fourth the package includes the elk motor cross and tribal conveyance act. a a bill i first introduced in the 111th congress as a member

of the house. it contains 275 acres of b.l.m. county to elco county for a public moat owe cross park. it provides 373 acres to the elko band of tribe for economic development. outdoor recreation and tourism are such important parts of life in nevada. opening up this land will benefit the residentses of northern nevada for years to come. fifth, this land package also includes the las vegas public lands and tewly fossil beds monumental act which is the culmination of effort to conserve the ancient tooly fossil beds while providing job creeks opportunities and critical civilian and military infrastructure that will be necessary to meet the needs of the las vegas valuely. after working with stakeholders at every level, i'm pleased that we can navigate a path forward

for southern nevada. while serving in the house, i also introduced legislation in both the 110th and 111th congresses to convey parcels of b.l.m. land to the necessarily is air force base to create a vehicle park and to convey land to the nevada system of higher education to expand educational opportunities for southern nevadans. those smaller bills were ultimately included in s. 973 this congress, so i am pleased that over six years' of work on this tooly springs legislation will finally become a reality. the final three nevada bills included in the lands package are newer proposals but achieve long-term economic objectives that the affected communities have long asked for. the friendly economic self-determination act provides the opportunity to purchase up to 9,114,000 acres of federal land within the city boundaries for economic development.

firmly was incorporated in 2001. since incorporation, the city has been working with the private business partners and state and federal regional agencies to develop a long-term economic development planning. these parcels have significant potential for commercial industrial development, agricultural activities, and the expansion of community events. similarly, the carlin economic development allows carlin to purchase up to 13,029 acres of blame lands. this city located in elco county is the land-locked by the federal government. without this, this would be impossible for the leaders to meet the demand of expansion of their growing population needs. finally, the story county provision conveying over 1,700 acres to virginia city. these properties have been occupied for decades intrid whose purchased them or acquired them legally yet their continued reservresidency is trespass accg

to the federal government. it is very burdensome oversight by the federal government that must be resolved for the sake of my constituents. they have struggled for years, hawntsd by this error, that is the result of no fawflt their own. as you can see, these small public land proposals are going to make a major impact on nevada's economy. they have been developed at the local level and signed off by the local communities. i understand my colleagues' concerns that they would have liked the opportunity debate and vote on more amendments to this bivment i, too, had filed a number of amendments that i would like to see considered and will continue pushing those priorities next year. but right now congress has a rare opportunity to pass this public lands package that enables important mining, energy development, ranching, and timber work to go forward, generating economic and employment opportunities for my and other states and local residents. let's get the government off

these nevadans backs and allow them to do what they do best, and that is creating jobs. mr. president, thank you and i yield the floor. ms. mikulski: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. ms. mikulski: mr. president, as come to the floor today during the consideration of the national defense authorization to bring my colleagues up to date on the appropriations bill. as we know, the continuing resolution expires on thursday at midnight. but i'm here to talk about some good news. the appropriations committee on both sides of the dome, the house appropriations committee and the senate, working in a conference committee has completed its work. this legislation is now, as we speak, heading to the rules committee into the house. hopefully it will head to the house floor tomorrow. on the senate tomorrow night and into friday, and this means no

government shutdown, no government on autopilot, we fund the government through the rest of the fiscal year for 2015, except homeland security, which will be a continuing resolution. mr. president, what we're talking about here is a monumental achievement. it is a monumental achievementship for showing how we can work together, we can govern, and we can get the job done. working on a bipartisan basis in the senate, we worked on our subcommittees, we held our hearings, we held 60 hearings in 60 days and did a good bit of our markups. we were able to work on our senate appropriations. over in the house, they did the same thing. but then alas when we got to

september, we had to go on a continuing resolution. that was until december 11. i, as a rule, don't like continuing resolutions. we have 12 subcommittees, and i had a hope hoped under the timei chaired the committee and held the gavel that we could consider one bill at time and bring it to the senate floor. alas, partisan politics, gridlock, deadlock, gamesmanship, showmanship prevented all that. but, you know what? we on the appropriations committee, working with our -- me with my vice chair, senator shelby of alabama, we kept ourselves on track. then we met in the conference committee -- first there's subcommittee chairs and then chairman rogers, shelby, congresswoman lou we and myself. we did work on ads 1 trillion spending bill. that number is breathtake.

but we need to remember over $550 billion is in national defense. the rest is in domestic discretionaryary. that means everything from veterans to foreign aid to school aid. and also funding innovation. i will talk more explicitly about the bill when it comes to the senate floor. but for today, i wanted everyone to know we're keeping the process going. we actually made the process work. we showed that we could govern. we worked across the aisle. we worked across the dome. we practiced civility. we argued, we debated. we fought. you know, sometimes you give a little, you take a little, but you stand up for them all. and i want t you to know that we were able to concentrate and compromise what i call capitulation on principle.

so i wanted to sigh say to my colleagues, stay steady, stay strong. we expect that the house will pass this rule sometime after 3:00 today. that's the framework that enables them to go to the floor tomorrow. they will follow their own rule and hopefully that bill would pass. if it does pass, it will come to the senate and we will immediately take it up under the rules that the two leaders will have worked and steafnlt established. so we look forward to completing the work on the appropriations committee within the next 72 hours. i hope this update is of value to my colleagues as they plan their schedule and wish to participate in the debate and the discussion. but it's not whether it's of value to us. it's whether it's a value to the nation. i think what the last election said was we've lost confidence

in your ability to govern. we hope over the next 72 hours -- by the way, with we will bring this bill to the floor -- we will make sure to get out of this whole game of government by crisis, government by artificially -- artificially imposed deadlines where all it is more drama than debate and we would like get back to this regular order. hopefully, though, we can now move our bill forward. mr. president, i want to thank you for your attention. i yield back the floor. i note the senator from arizona is on the floor so i will not ask for a quorum. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: i ask unanimous consent to address the senate as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: today i'd like to offer words of tribute to my departing colleague, senator tom coburn, whose service

exemplifies standards of purposefulness, integrity and decency to which we should all aspire and whose example ought to inspire the service of new and returning service alike. -- senators alike. i'm going to miss an awful lot our colleague from oklahoma. i've always admired tom for the strength of his convictions and the courage and candor for which he stresses them day after day. the number-one thing people should have do in congress, tom once said, is stay true to their heart. no one in the history of this institution has ever followed that injunction more faithfully than tom coburn has. tom coburn has an unshakeable faith in the goodness of america, and he has worked dill gently with others when he could and alone if necessary, to make sure government respects the people we serve, respects their hopes and aspirations, their

concerns and sacrifices. he's never forgotten he's the people's servant first and last. and they've never had a more genuine and determined champion. i think he has often acted as the conscience of the senate. he can be unmovable on matters of principle when to do otherwise would harm or do no good for the country. tom coburn is sometimes called dr. no, affectionately most if not all the time. he's held up more legislation that he thought ill served the public interest than any other member of this body. he even placed a hold on one of his own bills that he thought no longer met his high standard of accountability after it was reported out of committee. i don't think the american taxpayer has ever had a greater defender than tom coburn. i like to think i've taken a few principled stands when the

situation is warranted, and i've made myself an educational educational -- occasional nuisance in what i thought was a good cause but never felt so conscientious that i felt obliged to beat deet my own legislation. that's a pretty high standard of personal responsibility to meet and a character test of the first order. i'm not sure many of us would pass it. i wouldn't. but then as all his colleagues could attest, tom coburn is a person of the very highest character. he possesses the highest virtues -- courage, hue tilt -- humility, compassion in abundance. as principled as he is, as unwavering as he can be when he believes it necessary, he's also been a brave and determined proponent of compromise when he believed it served the public interest and when would help build a more prosperous and

secure society with more opportunities for more people and brighter futures for our children. we always have detractors. it comes with the job. whether tom was standing on principle or seeking a principled compromise, he stood up to criticism. he stood up to pressure. he stood up to threats and instilts and whatever negative personal consequences he might suffer. he stood up to whatever came his way to do what was right for his country. he stood up for the american people, no matter how difficult it was. what better can you say about a public servant? we work together on a lot of things. we fought together to end earmarks and opposed other forms of wasteful spending. we worked together on oversight projects for the stimulus bill and highway trust fund spending. we also fought for a long time to let veterans decide where they could best receive health

care. we made good progress on some issues and not enough on others. but tom coburn was always an example and an inspiration to me. but if i could speak more personally, he was more than a paragon to me and to other members of the senate. he is first and foremost a kind, considerate, and loyal friend. a friend in good times and bad, a friend who brings out the best in you because he believes in the best part of you. i said earlier tom coburn sees the innate goodness in the american people. he also sees it in his colleagues, even when it isn't apparent to other observers. we shared happy times together, tom and i, but tom has the instinct and the kindness to be the kind of friend who is there when you need him. when you need him most, in

moments that aren't so happy. we all lead pretty good lives here. we get the chance to serve the greatest country in the world, and on occasion to make history. we're honored and feted and praised more than we deserve but as all human beings do, we have moments of worry and doubt and disappointment. tom always has a knack for showing up when i need cheering up. he has made the point over the years of being company when you most need it. friendship is a virtue to him, and he means to live a virtuous life. you could be working on something on him or opposing each other on an issue, it doesn't matter. if you need him, he'll be there for you with a kind word, a piece of advice, a little encouragement, or just good company. there are too few people like that in anyone's life not to cherish the hell out of those

who are. i cherish my friendship with tom coburn and i always, always will. mr. president, the senate will be a poorer place without tom coburn to set an example of public service for the rest of us, but in gratitude to him for his leadership and friendship, i will try a little harder to live up to his standards, and i hope he will let me know when i fall short. mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: the senator from michigan is recognized. without objection the quorum call is waived. ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, there was an

opportunity this session to work together in a bipartisan way to provide certainty around the tax code for families and farmers and businesses, at least for 2014 and 2015. there may still be a small window of opportunity to get things done. i certainly support doing that if we can. but i want to speak to the importance of having some certainty at least through the end of 2015 as it relates to our tax policy for investing, for the economy, for homeowners to make decisions. back in april, thanks to the leadership of chairman wyden and ranking member hatch, those of us on the senate finance committee worked together closely and passed the expire act, a bipartisan bill that would renew tax provisions for

2014 and 2015 so that, again, people can plan -- business, farmers -- at least through that two-year period. it would give businesses and families across the country the certainty that they desperately need. unbelievably, back at the time when we brought it to the the floor after a bipartisan effort, republicans in the senate filibustered it and we could not move it forward. so we've been trying to get this two-year bill done as the first year has been ticking away, we're now at the end of the first year of the tax bill, and, unfortunately, instead of having a two-year bill we now have a bill from the house that contains what we call tax extenders, extending tax policy for the economy from research and development to homeowners to

depreciation for investments and jobs, and we have something that is only extended to the end of this year. as our chairman has said, it's a three year -- three-week bill and by the time we get done it will probably be a two-week bill. we need to do more than that, and i know the chairman and ranking member, many of us, are still trying to do everything we can to get the house to agree to something with more certainty than three weeks. or two weeks. which i think is an embarrassment, frankly, for the congress that we're not able to come together and pass the expire act, to be able to give more certainty. there is aglimmer of hope, though, on a piece of tax reform i want to mention and, frankly, disagreement on this, on our side of the aisle.

i respectfully agree to with those in the white house on this as well, but there is a bill that i hope will move -- it's on the suspension calendar in the house -- on charitable giving. i can't imagine at this time of year of charitable giving as we come up to the end of the year, people are making decisions about where to place their dollars, what kinds of causes and so on, that we couldn't come together on a bipartisan bill to deal with donations to food banks and conservation easements that protect our land for the future, that make sure that we are not plowing up our land and putting more co2 into the acres right at a time when -- into our air, right at a 250eu7e when we're trying to deal with climate issues. forest issues, dealing with investments in our research institutions, dealing with

investments in important areas near and dear to my heart like the city of detroit, where our foundations are playing such a critical role in making the investments, whether it's in transportation infrastructure, whether it's job training, whether it's rebuilding the neighborhoods to be able to turn detroit around -- and i believe we're going to be able to do that. i know we're going to be able to do that. but a major reason has been the foundations, the kresge foundation, the keller foundation -- there's been so many that have been there. so we have an opportunity prior to going into a larger debate on tax reform, to actually take a piece of this that normally would be on its -- on the substance is very bipartisan and actually be able to get that

done. and i'm hopeful that we will be able to do that before the end of the year. -- because of the important provisions in it. now, let me go back to, though, the tax bill that was sent -- the broader tax bill being sent as a one-year renewal from the house of representatives. and as i said, at most, it's a three-week bill. may end up actually by the time it's done, a two-week bill, at this point in time. i can't believe that people are honestly with a straight face calling this tax policy, to be able to do this. you know, mr. president, there are homeowners who lost their job during the recession and can no longer afford their mortgage payments. they've had their homes foreclosed on or maybe they've been able to do a short-sale with their mortgage lender. and these families have had no

way to know whether or not we were going to renew the mortgage forgives tax relief bill, which i was proud to offer, a bipartisan bill back in 2007, which we have continued to renew, because we still have families struggling from the recession in terms of their home. the bill has -- if we can renew this and -- will spare families from having to pay income tax on the difference between their mortgage on the valu and the vaf their home. so if in fact they get some loan forgiveness or can work something out with the bank and, in fact, $20,000 is forgiven on the mortgage who are $30,000 or $40,000, they don't end up paying taxes on that as income, which is what will happen if we don't get something done. but we're looking at the fact that these folks, going into 2015, that are trying to decide

what to do on their homes, whether or not they can keep their mortgage, will be back in the same situation of not 2340eg whether or not they'll have thousands of dollars of their tax bill going into next year. so, we're seeing a lot of folks trying to keep their homes who've had to cut corners in every which way. parents stop paying toward their kids' college funds or they put off buying new clothes or canceled their vacations while trying to figure out how to keep a roof over their heads. and one of the things -- obviously there are many things that need to be done to appellat-- to support families, but one thing has been this mortgage tax forgives bill. for two weeks you can know that you can refinance with the bank. not next year. we kept you hang for all of

2014, but for two weeks or three weeks we'll give you some certainty. so more families are going to be stuck with the same wrenching decisions that they had this year next year if we can't get at least a two-year bill. so when we look at other areas where folks will be left hanging, we have a very important area of the economy creating jobs every day in the wind energy, the wind energy industry. there is a huge supply chain, mr. president, as you know, as someone who cares deep lay about manufacturing -- deeply about manufacturing, from the making of turbines, to the installation in the fields, to the operations, to the maintenance. all of these are connected to american jobs, good-paying jobs. in fact, one of the big turbines, the big ones, has 8,000 parts in it. somebody is make those parts. i would suggest -- we can make

every one of those in michigan, i'm sure we could make them other places as well, although we'd love to make them in michigan. but what the industry doesn't know is whether or not the tax policy, the production tax credit which they depend on, will be renewed for more than three weeks at the end of the year. in fact, what the house did is say, you've got three weeks to make business decisions about hiring new people, growing your business, building more parts for the winter. you got three weeks. go get 'em! three weeks. so they can't make business decisions and they're going to have to cut. in the meantime, that means layoffs, like the 30,000 workers who were laid off when congress waited until the very last minute in 2012. 30,000 people were laid off. when the same thing happened in 2012 in the production tax credit. it was renewed at the last minute. and even if this bill passes

extending the production tax credit this week through the end of the year, it may be too late to prevent another 30,000 people right before the holidays -- merry christmas! -- not being able to have their job extended. 30,000 people who could help us lead the world in clean energy production, that could help us develop energy here to be less dependent on foreign oil. but because we don't have the fortitude to extend this, even after we have a bipartisan bill, the expire act, come out of the finance committee last spring, we're looking at job losses. 30,000 families putting holiday gifts on a credit card, not knowing whether they're going to be able to make payments when the bills arrive. businesses in the wind power industry make investment decisions on what their taxes will be, just like any other business -- five years, ten years, 15 years in the future.

there have been, by the way, tax breaks for big oil for almost 100 years, the first one in 1916, embedded in the tax code, never having to be renewed. so long-term business decisions with be made. but for their competitors to create jobs and bring prices down through things like wind or solar or biofuels, it is a slog every year, every two years to try to keep these industries going. is that fair? of course it's absolutely not fair. we ought to have the same kind of tax policy. if we're embedding in the tax code provisions to support oil production, we should be doing the same for wind, the same for solar, the same for biofuels. what republicans are doing when they force us into a situation where it's only a three-week

extension basically, they're teling americans that -- telling americans that don't -- american businesses, don't invest, don't hire people. you know, would don't want competition to bring prices down on gasoline or prices in electricity. we don't want you to do that. we're unwilling to commit. -- we're unwilling to commit to something that will create jobs beyond somebody, you know, that we've been fighting to protect for almost 100 years. so this is of great, great concern to me, and in the process, americans deserve better. our businesses deserve better. our innovators -- we go out and say, we want new innovation to create new kind of jobs. that is happening. and then the doors are shut over and over again. or it takes forever to pry the door open. you got three weeks. the door is open. and then it shuts.

anden this we talk about another -- and then we talk about another area i'm concerned about, where people will be deeply hurt if we don't pass the two-year expire act that we put together in the finance committee in a bipartisan way. and that is salaried workers like those at delphi, the auto parts manufacturer that used to be a part of general motors, who during the 2008 rescue of the auto industry, somehow the salaried workers slipped through the cracks in terms of losing portions of their pensions, their health care coverage, and their insurance, and it's not fair. one woman who worked at delphi for over 30 years lost nearly half her pension and all of her health care coverage. which she needed for her husband who suffers from chronic pain. a manager who worked at delphi, delphi facility in michigan, was so devoted to the people he

supervised that he volunteered to retire rather than lay off some workers. then four months after his retirement, he found out he was losing 40% of his pension and awful his health care -- and all of his health care coverage. most of what was left of his pension would go towards paying the cost of his health care, and it was deaf tating to him and his family. so we have in this health -- this extenders bill, this expire act, the health coverage tax credit, which was created for people like this. and i'm proud to be a coauthor with senator brown, who's been a real leader on this, for people who have lost their benefits that were supposedly guaranteed to them. it does not restore their pension, but this credit pays 72.5% of their health care premiums, making it possible for retirees to afford coverage

similar to what they earned when they were working. and frankly, it helps people that can't get helped in other ways, who really fell through the cracks. the credit expired at the end of 2013. the bipartisan bill we passed in the spring, in april, renewed the credit, and i was very pleased that we were able to put this in the bill and thought we were on our way again to help people throughout this year who have been waiting and waiting and waiting. but, again, when we passed this in april, it was filibustered on the floor by republicans, and now with three weeks left before the end of the year, and what do we get from the house is a bill that's retroactive for 2014 but does not even include the health coverage tax credit, doesn't even include it. so even though this is retroactive only for 20 14*, the

people involved -- the salaried workers who lost pensions, homs have bee-- who haven't who havep for their health care at least will not be getting that this year. there are 20,000 delphi retirees in michigan, pennsylvania, indiana, wisconsin, and illinois. all of whom are watching right now on this process in the senate and the house to see what will happen, who are reaching out to their house members, their senate members. michigan, ohio, pennsylvania, indiana, wisconsin, and illino illinois. to continue all the other tax provisions but cancel the atca is a cruel trick on these families and certainly has underscored this terms of the

holiday -- in terms of the holiday season. it's time for or colleagues across the aisle to stop forcing americans to play a guessing game about their future taxes or their health care. i regret that the clock has been ticking and running out and left us with no time at this point to get the fairness and the tax code that we need. there is still time, if we wanted to, to pass is the expire act and send it back to the house, and i'm all for it, and i know our chairman, senator wyden, has been working night and day with colleagues across the aisle to try to make that happen. but if it's too late for this year, if the clock runs out, shamefully, and we return next year without our republican colleagues in the majority, i would suggest a new year's resolution -- to stop doing

retroactive extensions, stop doing retroactive extensions when it involves investments people have to make, which they're not going to be able to do retroactively, or decisions about health care or decisions about a home. start getting serious about making long-term economic decisions. and i know the presiding officer agrees with me on this and has spoken frequently about this. whether it's tax policy, investment policy, infrastructure policy, we need to make long-term decisions, support policies so that businesses can make long-term decisions. and, finally, we need to deliver certainty for families, for small businesses, for manufacturers, for -- for those in alternative energy, for all of those who are working hard to invest in america across this country. stop doing retroactive

extensions. start getting serious about long-term tax policy and deliver certainty for families and businesses across the country. i think there's still time if we wanted to, to at least give the certainty of next year. shame on the congress if that does not happen. but i hope that we will at least commit ourselves for this being the last time this is done this way. thank you, mr. president. i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i would ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: mr. president, the american people must make some very fundamental decisions in the coming years, and the most important of them is whether or not we continue the status quo of american society, and that is in terms of our economics and our politics which

includes a 40-year decline of our middle class. let me repeat that. we're not just talking about what's happening today. we're not talking about the wall street crash of 2008. we are talking about a 40-year decline of the american middle class and an ongoing and growing gap between the very, very wealthy and everybody else. that is the reality of american now. and we can continue the same old same old or we can develop a bold and meaningful economic agenda that begins the process of creating the millions of jobs we desperately need, an agenda which raises wages so that most of the new jobs being created are not low wage or part time, an agenda which protects our environment and an agenda which

enables us to join the rest of the industrialized world and guarantee health care to all people as a right. that is the issue of our time. do we continue the status quo, continue the disappearance of the middle class, continue the growing gap between the very, very rich and everybody else or do we have the courage to come up with an agenda that stands for working families and raises wages and provides for our kids and our seniors? mr. president, as part of that decision, and in my view, as the reality that we cannot go forward unless we deal with another very important question, and that is do we as a nation have the courage to take on the enormous economic and political power of the billionaire class? i know many of my colleagues don't like to talk about it.

we talk about this, we talk about that. but most americans in their gut understand that our economic and political life are controlled by a small number of very, very wealthy people and institutions, including but not limited to wall street, the oil companies, the insurance companies, the drug companies, the military industrial complex, et cetera. and all of their lobbyists who flood capitol hill trying to get this or that provision in tax bills and every place else. and of course their power in terms of campaign contributions, and especially since this disastrous supreme court senior citizens united decision -- citizens united decision it means the billionaire class can now put unlimited sums of money into electing candidates who represent their interests. mr. president, those are the most important questions of our time.

do we have the courage to take on the handful of billionaire special interests who wield so much economic and political power? do we have the will to push forward an economic agenda that works for working families and not just for the very wealthy? mr. president, the long-term deterioration of the middle class accelerated by the wall street crash of 2008 has not been a pretty sight. today we have more wealth and income inequality than any major country on earth and the gap between the very, very rich and everybody else is growing wider. the top 1% now own about 41% of the financial wealth of our country while the bottom 60% owns all of 1.7%. top 1% owns 41% of the financial

wealth. the bottom 60% owns 1.7%. in fact, amazingly enough the top 1/10 of 1% now owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90% of the american people. does anybody really believe that is what america is supposed to be about where the top 1/10 of 1% owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90%? today we have the absurd situation, the obscene situation where one family, the walton family, the owners of wal-mart, are worth about $148 about. that is more wealth in that one family than the bottom 40% of the american people. mr. president today the united states, we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any

major country on earth. about one-quarter of our kids gets their nutrition through food stamps and we are the only industrialized country, major country that does not guarantee health care to all people as a right. mr. president, we once led the world in terms of the percentage of our people who graduated college, but today in a highly competitive global economy we are now in 12th place. in terms of infrastructure, the united states used to have the finest, most envied infrastructure in the world. today, as i think every citizen of this country knows, our infrastructure -- that is our roads, our bridges, our rail, water systems, airport, dams -- they are virtually collapsing. the american society of civil engineers tells us that we need

to spend $3 trillion just to bring our infrastructure up to par. but with infrastructure spending now at its lowest level since 1947, we rank 16th in the world in terms of infrastructure, according to the world economic forum. so once we led the world in terms of the numbers percentage of people who graduated college. today we are in 12. once we lead the world in terms of of the strength of our infrastructure. today we are at 16. but we do have the dubious distinction of being first in terms of childhood poverty of any major country. mr. president, real unemployment today is not what the official unemployment states of 5.8%. it is over 11% when you include those people who have given up looking for work or are working part time. youth unemployment is over 18%.

we hear a whole lot about ferguson, missouri, and that's a very important issue, but we don't hear enough about the reality that african-american youth unemployment is over 30%. today in this country millions of americans are working longer hours for lower wages. in inflation adjusted for dollars, the median male workers -- listen to this. it is quite unbelievable and tells us a little bit as to why the american people are angry. the median male worker -- that worker right in the middle of the economy -- last year earned $783 less than he made 41 years ago. $783 less than he made 41 years ago in inflation accounted for dollars. an explosion of technology, the great global economy, all of the

great free trade agreements, and that male worker today is earning over $700 less than he made in real dollars 41 years ago. the median female worker made $1,337 less last year than she earned in 2007. since 1999 the median middle-class family has seen its income go down by almost $5,000 after adjusting for inflation, now earning less this year than the family earned 25 years ago. are we better off today than we were six years ago when bush left office and we were hemorrhaging 700,000 jobs a month and the financial system was on the verge of collapse and we had a $1.6 trillion deficit? of course we are. but if you look at the trends over the last 40 years, the reality is the middle class of

this country is disappearing and almost all new income and wealth is going to the people on top. mr. president, the american people must demand that congress and the white house start protecting the interest of working families, not just wealthy campaign contributors. we -- we need federal legislation to put the unemployed back to work, to raise wages, to make certain that all americans have health care and education in order to lead healthy and productive lives. mr. president, it is one thing that we could spend hours dissecting and analyzing the problems of american society, and in my view, they are worse today than any time since the great depression, and if you throw in the planetary crisis applying the change, we may have more problems today facing our nation than any time in a very long period. but what i want to do today is throw out very briefly and

discuss 12 initiatives that i believe if enacted by the united states congress could begin to address the collapse of the middle class and rebuild our economy. let me just touch on them briefly. number one, as i mentioned earlier, our infrastructure is collapsing. that's our roads, bridges, water systems, wait water plants, airports, railroads, older schools. we spent $3 trillion or at the end of the day when we take care of our last veteran, we'll have spent $3 trillion fighting a war in iraq that we never should have fought in the first place, $3 trillion. mr. president, if over a period of years we were to invest $1 trillion in rebuilding our infrastructure, we could create 13 million decent-paying jobs, and that is exactly what we have to do. think of what an america would

look like when we went around the country and you saw work being done on roads and bridges and cutting edge technology for our water plants and our waste water plants. we become more productive, we become more efficient. we put people back to work. number two, in my view -- and i know that many of my republican colleagues don't agree, but the scientific community is united, climate change is real, it is caused by human activity, and if we do not reverse and cut back substantially carbon emissions, this planet will become increasingly uninhabitable for our kids and our grandchildren. in my view, we must transform our energy system away from fossil fuels and into energy efficiency and into sustainable energies, wind, solar, geothermal, et cetera. when we do that, energy efficiency, sustainable energy, not only do we lead the world in

transforming our energy system, reversing climate change, but we also create a significant number of meaningful and important jobs. number three, in my view, instead of giving tax breaks to large corporations who shut down in america and go to china, we want to invest in new economic models to increase job creation and productivity, and that is giving workers the opportunity to own their own businesses, work their own businesses. we have some of that in vermont and in ohio. there are worker earned businesses, where workers are more productive, feel better about their jobs. i would rather invest in that than in corporations that will shut down in this country and move abroad. four, i think most people understand when you have the union to negotiate and engage in collective bargaining, wages are higher, working conditions are

better. today corporate opposition to union organizing makes it extremely difficult for workers to join in a union. we need legislation which makes it clear that when a majority of workers sign cards in support of a union, they can form that union. five, the federal minimum wage today is a starvation wage of of $7.25 an hour. we need to raise the minimum wage to a living wage. people who work 40 hours a week should not live in poverty. six, women workers today earn about 78 cents on the dollar to what their male counterparts make doing the same work. that is not acceptable. we need equal pay for equal work. we need pay equity in our country, and we have got to pass that legislation. number seven, an issue that we don't talk about enough and in fact has had bipartisan support for many decades, and that is

our disastrous trade policy, nafta, cafta permanent normal trade relations with china. simple fact of the matter is these trade policies have been a disaster for the american worker. since 2001, we have lost more than 60,000 factories in this country and more than 4.9 million decent-paying manufacturing jobs. not all of that is attributable to bad trade policies but a lot of it is. we need to rethink our trade policies demand that corporate america invest in the united states of america and not in china. i know that's a radical idea. imagine if we go shopping in a department store we actually purchase products made in america and not in china, but i think we should be doing that. number eight, we are not going to be a successful economy unless our young people have the ability to get the college education they need, regardless of the income of their families.

right now it is increasingly difficult for working families to afford college. many of our young people are coming out deeply in debt. in this area, we are moving in exactly the wrong direction. 40, 50 years ago, some of the great public universities in america, university of california, new york city, state colleges around the country, tuition was virtually free. today it is unaffordable. mr. president, we need to radicalically rethink higher education in this country. our goal is that everyone, regardless of income, should be able to get a quality college education and not come out in debt. number nine, i think everybody understands the enormous stranglehold that wall street has on our economy. what banking is supposed to be about is the facilitator to get money out in the productive economy where economies are producing products and services,

not see wall street or financial institutions as an end in itself, but that is exactly what we have right now. you have six financial institutions now in this country that have assets equivalent to over 60% of the g.d.p. of the united states of america. that is too big. that is too much economic and political power, in my view. they must be broken up and we must bring about a more competitive financial system where money is getting out to the real economy so businesses can create real jobs. number ten, many people don't know this. the united states is the only major country on earth that doesn't guarantee health care to all people as a right, and yet we end up spending almost twice as much per capita on health care as any other nation. in my strong opinion, if we want health care for all and we want to do it in a cost-effective way, we need to move toward a medicare for all single payer

system. number 11, today in this great nation, millions of seniors are living in poverty, and that number is growing, and we have the highest rate of childhood poverty of any major country. we must strengthen the social safety net, not weaken it. instead of talking about cutting social security or cutting medicare or cutting medicaid, cutting nutrition programs, we should be expanding those programs. this is a great country, and we should not have millions of people wondering about how they're going to be able to buy medicine for their illness or heat their homes in the wintertime. we have to expand the social safety net for our kids, for our seniors and for our vulnerable populations. and last but certainly not least, mr. president, at a time of massive wealth and income and equality, we need a progressive tax system in this country which is based on ability to pay.

it is not acceptable that major profitable corporations have paid nothing in recent years in federal income taxes and the corporate c.e.o.'s in this country often enjoy an effective tax rate which is lower than their secretaries. we are losing about $100 billion a year from companies who stash their profits in the cayman islands, bermuda and other tax havens. we need real tax reform. we need to end all of these corporate tax loopholes so that we have the revenue that we need to do the important tasks in front of us to rebuild this country. so, mr. president, with that, i think the american people have some fundamental choices to make. do we continue the status quo from an economic perspective, from a political perspective, or do we demand that congress starts listening to the pain of the middle class and working families of this country and starts producing legislation

which rebuilds our crumbling middle class? and with that, mr. president, i would yield the floor. mr. brown: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the comments of the senator from vermont. i ask unanimous consent to at the conclusion of my remarks of up to 15 minutes -- of up to ten minutes, that senator manchin be recognized for his remarks. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. every year about this time -- actually, every few months, maybe every month, there are attempts by wall street to again change the rules, cut back consumer protection laws, change the rules, change the regulations that protect the american public against wall street greed. it happens -- it happens almost weekly, it seems, in the financial services committee in the house of representatives. there are attempts in the agriculture committee, attempts

beaten back by senator stabenow, to her credit, attempts in banking committee beaten back by chairman johnson to his credit. almost every week it seems there are efforts by wall street to undermine the protections that we were able to build in under the dodd-frank bill to stop wall street from doing to the economy what it did in 2005 and 2006 and 2007 and 2008. september, 2008, had been preceded by a decade of deregulations of the financial industry, decades of lobbying by wall street by very effective lobbyists for the six biggest wall street banks. risky behavior was rewarded with gargantuan profits for the firms for multimillion-dollar bonuses for the executives. c.e.o. of one of the largest megabanks in the history of the world, not just in our country today, one of the largest megabanks in the world's c.e.o. said as long as the music's playing, you've got to get up

and dance. as long as the music's playing, you've got to get up and dance. there is a lot of money to be made in wall street, and they have got to take advantage of every loophole, particularly those loopholes that their lobbyists create. this unmitigateed greed led to eight million people losing their jobs, seven million losing their homes after being foreclosed on because of a financial system that lacked the necessary safeguards to protect wall street. dodd-frank was supposed to end all that. it's made progress. preventing taxpayer bailouts for banks, risky derivatives trading was one of the central goals of dodd-frank. an amendment by senator lincoln, then the chair of the agriculture committee brought forward in 2009. dodd-frank went through the process. the day that president obama signed the dodd-frank bill to protect americans from wall street greed, the chief lobbyist for the chief financial train association in this town said now it's half time. what's it mean now it's half time? well, the bill passed.

we don't like that, wall street financiers and their lobbyists said, but now we can go to the regulatory agencies, we can weaken the rules, we can delay their implementation, we can sometimes stop some of the rule making and we can go back to congress and continue to lobby and weaken these rules. 1995, give an example of what's happened. six largest banks in the united states had assets, equal to 18% of g.d.p. i don't want to bore people with numbers, but 1995, 18% of g.d.p. these six banks. today they make up 64% of g.d.p. these largest six wall street banks, everybody knows their names, these largest six wall street banks are getting larger and larger, increasing their economic power and as we see almost every day in this country and especially in the house of representatives dominated by tea party republicans, dominated by people at the beck and call of wall street, we see their power, their political power growing.

now, under the accounting rules applied by the rest of the world, the derivatives holdings, the derivatives holdings of the six largest banks, basically insurance policy on top of insurance policy on top of insurance policies as financial instruments. the derivatives holdings are 39% larger than we think they are. that's a difference of about $4 trillion. now, derivatives were described by warren buffett as time bombs, financial weapons of mass destruction carrying dangers that are potentially lethal. senator levin, about to retire from the senate after 36 years, calls them nuclear weapons, these derivatives. now, so what we're finding out is there has been a lobbying effort, according to the "new york times," bank lobbyists wrote provisions dealing with derivatives that will give -- that will repeal the lincoln language -- not to get too technical, repeal the lincoln language. here is what the language in

section 716 says. notwithstanding any other provision of law, no federal assistance may be provided to any swaps entity with respect to any swapped, security-based swap or other activity of the swaps entity. this is now language of the federal law. this language says no more bailouts. however, the legislation likely to be in front of us, the omnibus that we will be facing, because of wall street lobbyists, because of republican financial service members caving to special interests, this provision that says, no more bailout, is done with. we will see language now stripped out of federal law that says no more bailouts. the public needs to understand if this language passes, so strip this bill out, if this bill passes, that bailouts again can be imminent. bailouts brought on by wall street greed. bailouts brought on by risky

trading now protected by taxpayers. so in other words, it's head's, i win. tail's, you lose. if i'm a wall street banker, i make tens of billions of dollars. however, if i make bat bets and something happens, taxpayers get to pay it. that's what happens with stripping out this section. i'm not the one that thinks this. the leading selection for the head of the fdic board. sheila baer, once senator dole's chief of staff, president bush appointment then president obama kept her on as a major federal regulator, she's opposed to repeal, as has the white house opposed the repeal. mark zewanski, a friend of mine in cleveland, runs an $1 $11 billion bank in cleveland.

he makes mortgages, doesn't deal in derivatives. he told me banking should be boring. it's not about taking excessive risk, especially with those excessive risks are underwritten by taxpayers. that's what -- that's what abolishing 716, that's what the repeal of the 716 language does, it puts taxpayers on the hook in the form of a future bailout. it's a subsidy today for the six largest banks. it puts taxpayers on the hook in the future, gives all kinds of additional incentives for wall street bankers to engage in more risky derivatives trading and puts us all again under the possibility of a bank bailout. mr. president, it simply doesn't make sense. we had the opportunity to reject this part of this legislation. we owe it to families in my state, to families in virginia, to families in delaware, to families in georgia, all over this country. that's why we can't support a measure that values corporate

greed overworking america. -- that values corporate greed over working america. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. manchin manchin: i want to y colleague for giving me this time. i represent the great state of west virginia, as most of you know. it's a rural state but we believe in commonsense solutions and values. in the mountain state, we understand the importance of leveling the playing field for community institutions and helping small businesses create and keep jobs. as a senator from west virginia, i was sent here to represent the people of main street. for those reasons, i rise today to explain why i must oppose the nomination of wall street investment banker antonio weiss for under secretary of domestic finance at the department of treasury. i cannot and will not support his nomination because i do not believe he possesses the characteristics -- the characteristics and the background we need in an under secretary to push for strong wall street oversight and to protect our small businesses and financial institutions on main street all across america.

the position to which mr. weiss has been nominated is one that would put him at the head of the treasury's decision making on issues of domestic finance, fiscal policy, government liabilities and other related domestic matters. he would oversee critical issues such as wall street reform, financing the national debt, housing finance reform, and small business credit. i have serious doubts that mr. weiss has the right experience to take on such a role. it is clear that as the global head of investment banking at lazard, mr. weiss is very talented and experienced in working in financial markets and economic institutions. but as an investment banker on wall street, he does not have the experience for this particular oversight position. he has dealt most -- almost entirely with european investment banking matters, not domestic finance or community banking or regulatory issues of any kind, all of which falls under the jurisdiction of this important position. and besides, not having this right background for the job,

the fact that mr. weiss is a top corporate deal maker with a specialization in international finances is in itself troubling to me. he has spent a good deal of his professional career working on mergers and acquisitions for the world's largest corporations and he has spent time in paris running the european division. there's not a thing wrong with that. but this fits the administrati administration's position of choosing insiders instead of those with strong consumer or protection. plainly spoken, people that have worked on main street. to make matters worse, the substantial compensation lazard plans to offer mr. weiss upon his confirmation is another reason to be very skeptical. the financial giant is planning to pay him $20 million if he's to win confirmation and come to government service. this kind of arrangement and human nature suggests he will be especially sympathetic to

lazard's lobbying efforts. public service is a noble cause and a $20 million golden parachute makes it very hard to gain the public trust. with that being said, mr. president, i do not believe mr. weiss can fulfill the duties of the under secretary of treasury department. since joining the senate banking committee, i have tried to make our banking and financial system work better for small business businesses, banks and middle-class west virginians and americans and i will continue to do so. that's why i cannot support this nomination. mr. weiss does not have the experience for this particular job and it is important to send the message that we will no longer allow wall street to exclusively make our fiscal policy decisions, especially when they affect so many -- so many -- around this country on main street. economic and banking policies have too often been made without the input of our nation's mid-sized banks, community banks and credit unions. we must strive to have a balanced view of engaging voices on all sides of these important

issues. mr. president, by confirming mr. weiss as the under secretary, we are putting wall street before main street and we've already seen from the 2008 crisis how that harms the nation and as a whole. we don't need to repeat that picture again. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia is recognized. mr. warner: mr. president, i just wanted to rise very briefly because i am -- i know he's about to give his final speech and commend my dear, good friend, the senator from georgia, for his service in a state through his speech but i know there will are others who will probably rise afterwards to give accolades. and i wanted to be first in line to salute him for his service, his friendship to so many of us in this body and my personal good wishes for his future. i know there will be others later but i thought for a change i'd get a word in first.

with that, mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. chambliss: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia is recognized. mr. chambliss: mr. president, as my service in the united states senate comes to an end, i rise today to say thank you to some of the wonderful people who've been a part of a great ride for over 20 years. we as americans are fortunate to live in the greatest country in the world, a country where the american dream is still alive and well, a country where, in spite of all of our problems, we are the envy of the free world. a country where a preacher's kid from rural southern georgia can rise to be elected to the u.s. house of representatives and then to the united states sena senate. we, as members of the united states senate, are fortunate to have the opportunity to serve and we are blessed to be able to work in such a historic venue as

we are in this afternoon. as we come into our offices and into this building every day, there are some things that we take for granted. so to the entire capitol hill work force, from those who clean our offices to those who change the light bulbs, provide our food, maintain our subways, keep us safe and secure and all those inbetween, i say "thank you. you're very professional at what you do and you always do it with a smile." to the floor staff and the cloakroom staff for both the majority and the minority -- thanks for putting in the long hours, listening to often boring speeches, reminding us when we have not voted, for scheduling floor time, reminding us of the rules and making sure that you'rourmistakes are at a minim. i have been fortunate to be surrounded by great staff during

all of my 20 years in the house and senate. mostly young people from varied backgrounds who are the brightest minds that my state and my country have to offer. they're committed patriots and loyal to the core. to those current and former members of my staff, thank you for your service to me and to the state of georgia. i have been served by four chiefs of staff -- rob liebern, kristin holiday, charlie harmon and camilla knowles. every office plan that each put together starts with better constituent service than any other member of the house or the senate. i'm extremely proud that our record shows that we achieved the goal of doing just that. i've even had government agency personnel call my office asking for guidance on cases from other offices. i've often said that my greatest

satisfaction from this job comes not from negotiating major pieces of legislation but from being able to help georgians with difficulties they're experiencing and having a positive impact on their lives. i am particularly blessed to have three members of my staff who have been with me for all 20 years. my deputy chief, theresa irving, debbie cannon and bill stembridge have walked every mile with me and have been so valuable. thanks, guys. my greatest support comes from my family. my wife, julie anne, my daughter leah, my son bo along with our grandchildren, john, parker, jay, kimbro, anderson and ellie, have all been somehow involved on the campaign trail. come the 28th day of this month, julie anne and i will have been married for 48 years,

having met at the university of georgia a couple of years before that. for tolerating a husband who had a 24/7 job for 20 years, for being a single mom part of that time and understanding why i could not get home until christmas eve some years, i say thank you, sweetheart. i am privileged today to represent almost 10 million georgians who are the most wonderful people god ever put on this earth. i lost my first primary election and went on to win each of my next seven races. i won every one of those seven races because i shared the values of my constituents, i outworked each of my opponents, and i had better ideas and the best advisors and staff. thanks, tom and paige. thanks to senators nunn and miller for their regular advice and counsel.

thanks to my three leaders -- senator lott, senator frist, and senator mcconnell, each of whom provided me with strong leadership and always listened to me even when i had ideas that might have been different from their ideas. i'm often asked what i will miss most about the senate and the answer is very easy. i'll miss my friends. and the relationship that we have developed over the years. senator isakson and i entered the university of georgia 52 years ago in september and became friends immediately and we have been the dearest of friends ever since. he is without question the most trusted friend and advisor i have and i will miss our daily conversations. my three best buddies from my house days -- speaker john boehner, congressman tom latham

and senator richard burr, along with senator tom coburn, have been legislative collaborators, dinner partners, golfing buddies, confidants and numerous other things that should not be mentioned on the floor of the of the united states senate. senator lindsey graham is like a member of my family. we have traveled the world together many times, learning a lot. i have no plans to write a book but if i did, lindsey graham anecdotes would fill a chapter. senator feinstein has been a great chairman and partner on the intelligence committee. i will miss her leadership, her wisdom, her friendship and those late afternoon glasses of california wine. my most productive time in the senate has been spent with my dear friend, senator mark warn warner. our work with the gang of six, which included senators durbin, conrad, coburn, crapo and then

later senators johanns and bennett, represent the very best of everything about the united states senate. we spent literally hundreds of hours together debating ideas and trying to solve major problems and we came very close. senator warner's insight, his wanting to solve problems, his political inspiration are lessons that i will carry with me forever. as the senate now goes forward under new leadership, i have two comments. first, the senate should return to regular order. senator mcconnell has indicated that will be the case and it should be. the rule change by the current majority changed the institution of the senate in a negative way. i hope the rule is changed back to require 60 votes on all issues including judges and nominees. some of those vocal favoring the

rule change lost their elections and while the rule change did not cost them their election, it is very clear that the american people wanted a change in the leadership that changed the rule. regular order will help in restoring trust and confidence to the world's blows deliberative body. second, it is imperative that the issue of the debt of this country be addressed. just last week our total debt surpassed $18 trillion. we cannot leave the astronomical debt our policies have generated up to our children and grandchildren to fix. it is not rocket science as to what must be done. cutting spending alone, i.e., sequestration, is not the solution. raising taxes is not the solution. as simpson-bowles, domenici-rivlin and gang of six agreed, it will take a combination of spending reduction, entitlement reform

and tax reform to stimulate more revenue. hard and tough votes will have to be taken, but that's why we get elected to the united states senate. the world is waiting for america to lead on this issue, and if we do, the u.s. economy will respond in a very robust way. the gang of six laid the foundation for this problem to be solved, and it is my hope that we do not leave the solution for the next generation. i close with what i've enjoyed most about congress, and this is the opportunity i have had to spend with the men and women in uniform and those in the intelligence world, all of whom are willing to put their life in harm's way for the sake of our freedom. whether it was robbins air force base, kabul, jalalabad, or due by, i always get emotional telling the men and women how

proud of them i am and how blessed we americans are to have them protecting us. they are special people who sacrifice much for the sake of all 300 million millions americans. let us remember and be thankful for the families of those military and civilian personnel who likewise make a commitment to america. as we head into another christmas season, many of those families will not have at home their spouse, their parent, their son, or their daughter. may god bless them, may god bless this great institution, and may god continue to bless our great country. mr. president, i yield the floor.

the presiding officer: the senior senator from california recognized. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, mr. president. senator chambliss, my remarks are personal. we have worked together for the past eight years on the senate select committee on intelligence. for four years, we have worked as chair and cochair. we have exchanged views, we have negotiated bills, we have shared information, we have been there through very tough times, and some very pleasant times. and it's very hard for me to see you go. i've learned to trust you, i respect you. we have worked together in ways the committee put together a

benghazi report, we worked very hard, we found areas of agreement, and senator collins is here on the committee, senator warner is here, and -- am i missing anyone else from the committee? senator burr, who will be the new chairman, senator coats, senator coburn. and we were able to come together and put together a report unanimously, and it was really because of your leadership. and as i watched what became very apparent is that maybe your side isn't as fractious as my side is, but you were able to say yes, we can do this, or no, we can't do that and you reflected your members. and that made it very easy for me, and i am very grateful. yesterday we disagreed, and it really -- you know you have

never taken a cheap shot. we worked to the at the same time to move our intelligence authorization bill. there was one last glitch which you worked out, and that bill passed unanimously last night. we together have worked to put together an information-sharing bill for what is probably our number-one defensive issue, which is cyber, and the attacks that have taken 97% of our businesses into difficulties. you have compromised, i have compromised. unfortunately, on our side we have some unsolved issues, so hopefully i will be able to pick up with senator burr where we left off and we will be able to get that job done next year. what i want you to know -- and i said this to you in another way -- that it was such a wonderful experience for me to work with you.

and this is the hard part. we're only here from an instant in an eternity, and the only real matter is what we do, the only thing that matters is what we do with that instant. and i guess what i want you to know is you have really done yeoman's work in that instant, and i am very grateful to have the pleasure of working with you. i have learned from you, and i wish you all good things. thank you very much, senator chambliss. the presiding officer: the senator from georgia is recognized. mr. isakson: mr. president, i rise to pay tribute to my friend, saxby chambliss. i will have to admit to you this is a speech i never wanted to make. i never wanted to make it because we've had a wonderful relationship in this body for the last 10 years, we've done everything together, he's had my back, i've had his back,

he's a great friend and i'll miss him. but i'm not a selfish guy. he married one of the finest women i've ever known, julianne, one of the best friends my wife has. i know he's leaving us and i'll miss the crutch i've used. she is getting her saxby back and she and her family and those grandkids he loves so much, that's exactly what saxby wants to do. georgia has had some great senators. richard russell, really the master of the senate, zell miller, the former governor of georgia, a friend of mine and mentor to our state and sam nunn one of the finest in national defense and foreign policy our state ever offered. saxby will be the fourth on the mount rushmore of georgia senators who served georgia with distinction and with class. i want to tell saxby this personally. for ten years we've done a joint press conferences, we've messed up twice and when i messed up he covered my back and when he messed up, i covered his. in fact, in 2008 when he almost

lost a race and got got into a runoff, in december in georgia i rode a bus for 21 stimulate days introducing him three times a day and eating barbecue every day for dinner and lunch. that's a price to pay only friendship friendship will bring out of anybody. but he's a dear friend and i love him very much and i love his family etch very much and i could talk all fay-day but i wanted to open up and close by saying saxby, i love you, the state's going to love having you back, the country will miss you but my grandchildren are safer, my state is better and our relationship has never been stronger. may god bless you and your family in every endeavor you take and may god bless the united states of america. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia is recognized.

mr. mr. manchin: when i came, i look, my friends on the republican side and i didn't come here looking at what side you were on, i looked at basically the person i was dealing with. there was a person that befriended me almost from the first day, knowing that the transition was a challenge, and he stepped up to the plate with a few of my other friends over there, i see senator coburn behind him, that basically took me under their wing and said we can work together and get along. what we do here is bigger and for the greater good than what we do for ourselves. saxby not only showed but but basically i was able to follow and watch how he did this --this chamber should be filled right now, it really should be, from all sides but the bottom line is you're loved by everybody.

i've neverrered an ill word said about saxby chambliss and the distinction you carry as far as the united states senate but as a human being with our family your priorities are correct, your moral compass is working and working well. i can only tell you thank you from someone from the other side of the aisle that is a fellow colleague and fellow american, you are an installation -- inspiration to us all. there won't be another saxby but i'm glad they gave you me this short time for four years. i envy johnny for 52 years he's been you have close friend, your partner in crime back there, senator burr. we hope he doesn't tell it all when he gets up but with that being said there are so many people that have a relationship that's unmatched and that's with you and because of you. so i say my dear friend, my hat's off to you. thank you and god bless you for what you've done for the united states of america, for georgia but most importantly for all of us. thank you, sir.

mr. burr: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from north carolina is recognized. mr. burr: mr. president, this moment is bittersweet for me. i've spent more time with saxby than i have my own wife for the last 20 years. we've done everything together. those vacation spots he mentioned -- kabul, baghdad, i was right beside him. we've traveled to areas of the world that others wouldn't venture to, and there was a reason he was there. he was concerned about america's future, he was concerned about his children's future, and he was in a position to have an impact on it to make it better for them in the future. that's why he served. it's obvious to all of our colleagues that he's a lot older

than i am. but, you know, he's worked just as hard as the youngest member of this institution. and even though we've seen each other's children grow up and now we've seen them all married off, he deserves the time to go home and spend some time with grandchildren and more importantly, to get to know his wife again. i want to say, senator feinstein, i like red wine just as much as saxby does. i probably can't be bought as cheaply as he could. but i do look forward to continuing to work with you and more importantly, to continue to do the work on the intelligence committee that really does build on what saxby started in the year 2000 as we went on the house intelligence

committee together. mr. president, i think there's only one way to sum up saxby chambliss. he's a true southern gentleman. he is absolutely a statesman. but i think the one thing that everybody that meets saxby understands is this -- he's a great american. he loves his country, he loves this institution, and some piece of him will remain here when he leaves at the end of this year, and he will have an impact on what happens even though his presence may not be here. we wish godspeed in life after. who are senator mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from indiana is

recognized. mr. coats: mr. president, i'm a bit out of order here. i was waiting for some of my colleagues who have spent more time here than i have recently to speak, but i want to take this opportunity to add my sincere thanks to saxby chambliss for the kind of person he is, the kind of leadership he's provided, the kind of example that he has set during his time here in the congress and in the united states senate. i was privileged to be able to come back to the senate and join a group of people who share the same deep concerns that i had shared, and the reason i did come back:threats to our country from abroad and the fiscal plunge into debt that is going to affect our nation dramatically in the future if we don't deal