THUD Appropriations

Floor Speech

THUD APPROPRIATIONS -- (Senate - December 05, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Thank you. We need all the help we can get.

Mr. President, what I have heard this afternoon on the floor of the Senate is nothing short of incredible. The Senator from Washington came to the floor and asked to bring an appropriations bill up for us to consider. Have you noticed how much business we are doing around here? The answer is none. So there is nothing to conflict with it. We have plenty of time. Shouldn't we earn our paycheck today by doing something? The bill she wanted to bring is an appropriations bill and it is a conference report that has been signed by every Democrat and Republican--bipartisan. Everybody is agreed on it.

She asked to bring it to the floor to consider it, and there was an objection from the Senator from Texas. Senator John Cornyn objected.

Senator Murray tried to explain what was in this bill, how important it is. He didn't waiver. He said that is it, we object to considering this bill.

Eventually she yielded the floor to Senator Cornyn who stood up and said, Do you know what is wrong with this Senate? We are not considering any appropriations bills. Just minutes before it was Senator Cornyn of Texas who objected to considering an appropriations bill. That is a matter of record.

But beyond that procedural experience, look what was in that bill. It is not just--just?--transportation and housing and urban development; $200 million is in there for housing counselors across America. What are they going to do? They are going to try to help families work themselves out of this mortgage foreclosure crisis we are facing. This money is desperately needed. Senator Murray worked to put it in the bill so people would have a helping hand to save their homes when they are facing foreclosure.

How big an issue is this? Mr. President, 2.2 million Americans face foreclosure on their mortgages. If they go forward with those foreclosures, 44 million American homes will lose value.

You see, the mortgage crisis is not just your neighbor's problem, it is your problem. If that house on your block is foreclosed upon, the value of your home goes down. That is a fact. So 44 million homeowners across America are waiting to see if this Government will do anything.

Senator Murray comes to the floor and tries to move the bill to do something. The Republicans object.

I tell you, this is an issue that strikes home in Illinois. Cook County, where Chicago is located, has the second highest number of foreclosures of any county in America--56,000 mortgage foreclosures. As a result, two out of three homes in Cook County, IL, will lose value. This is a crisis. It is not only a housing crisis, it has put our economy in a tailspin. We are trying to move and act and do something about it, and the Republicans say no. No, we don't want to do that.

That is unfortunate. It is unfortunate for the homeowners who need a helping hand. It is unfortunate for their neighbors who do not realize that this kind of effort by the Republican Senators is not in the best interests of America or its economy.

It troubles me as well because this bill includes money to rebuild the bridge near Minneapolis, the one that came crashing down, with deaths involved and real concern across America about the quality and safety of our infrastructure. Senator Murray, on this bill, on a bipartisan basis, puts money in--$1 billion, is it?--for bridges across America, including the bridge in Minneapolis.

I would beg Senator NORM COLEMAN of Minnesota to speak to Senator Cornyn of Texas and ask him to take his hold off this bill, to stop objecting for the good of his own home State of Minnesota and for all of our States. I hope Senator Cornyn of Texas will reconsider his position; will remove his objection to this bill; will let us move to this appropriations bill in a timely fashion.

This is not the only time we have run into this. Senator Conrad of North Dakota was here a moment ago, begging for the farm bill to come to the floor. Every 5 years we have a new farm bill. It takes a lot of work to put it together. It is a very important bill to Illinois and almost every State, and the Republicans have stopped it in its tracks. We waited here on this floor for 2 weeks and did nothing because the Republicans refused to reach an agreement on moving this bill forward. The Senate rules are written so that even a minority party can stop business. Senator Conrad said, let's agree on a list of amendments. You can have yours, we will have ours, but let's get going, let's get to work. And the Republican answer is no.

It is not the first time. Fifty-six times so far this year, the Republicans have filibustered, stopping debate, stopping legislation, stopping attempts to make America better--56 times.

You might say, I am sure that goes on every day, doesn't it? No. The record in the Senate is 61 filibusters over a 2-year period of time. The Republican Senators this year are about to break the record for filibusters in one Congress in 1 year. It tells you what they are all about. It is not doing the people's business. It is not trying to solve the housing crisis, dealing with the farm issues. It is about stopping the business on the floor of the Senate. They are using that opportunity and that authority to do that.

I want to correct the Record. Staff just advised me that Senator Specter and not Senator Cornyn was directed on behalf of the Republican leadership to object to the earlier bill. I want to make it clear and apologize to my colleague Senator Cornyn--we are friends--and I misrepresented his position on that because it was, in fact, Senator Specter of Pennsylvania speaking on behalf of the Republican leadership, Senator McConnell of Kentucky, who objected to the transportation bill. I hope the Record reflects that, and my apologies to Senator Cornyn for mentioning his name improperly.

But the position still stands. A Republican leadership position, directed to stop the appropriations bill, and then Republicans coming to the floor saying, Isn't it a shame we can't move appropriations bills.

The last thing I want to mention is the alternative minimum tax. This will affect 19 million Americans if we don't change it. Some are in higher income categories. Many are not. We want to make sure we correct this problem and move forward with it. I think the responsible thing to do is, if you are going to cut a tax, either raise another tax or cut spending. I think that is responsible. Republicans reject that. They say we want to cut taxes and we don't want to pay for it. We want to add to the deficit and it is OK, and they can prevail because we don't have 60 votes. It takes 60 votes to accomplish something here on the Senate floor of controversy.

So what we offered to them is their way of looking at the world. We will let you cut this tax and not pay for it, just add to the deficit, the old Republican way of doing things. You prevail. You win. And their answer? No, we won't even let you go to the bill under those circumstances. It is pretty clear; it is a question of blocking and intransigence.

In addition to the fact that the Republicans are blocking the farm bill, an attempt to deal with the mortgage crisis in America, bridge building for the State of Minnesota and all other States, and dealing with the alternative minimum tax, it is pretty clear they want this Congress to end without any accomplishments. They had a do-nothing Congress which cost them control in the last election. They are determined to do everything they can to make sure we do nothing in this Congress.

Sadly, the message to the American voters is we need more votes. If you want real change in Congress, we need more Senators to come to this floor who want to accomplish things, rather than stop things and block things. That is what we have seen repeatedly here, this day and every day during the course of the session. I had hoped a handful of Republican Senators would stand up and say: Enough. We have a responsibility to the people of this country, a responsibility that goes beyond our party responsibility. We need to pass a farm bill, we need to do something about the housing crisis, we need to give real tax relief to American families.

We are still waiting for those voices, and I hope they will come to the floor and accomplish that. In the meantime, we will continue to make our offers to the Republican leadership, to find a responsible way to move forward. I hope they will accept this opportunity and I hope we can get something accomplished. It is clear, as this empty Chamber passes hour after weary hour doing nothing, the American people are fed up with it. I think they are fed up with it enough to want real change in the next election.

I yield the floor.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Georgia is recognized.

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