Farm, Nutrition, and Bioenergy Act of 2007

Floor Speech

FARM, NUTRITION, AND BIOENERGY ACT OF 2007 -- (Senate - December 05, 2007)

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, it is interesting that when you offer to the Republicans the opportunity to have a farm bill and debate the issues on the bill, they reject it. They want to debate a lot of other things. They want to bring up a lot of other issues. I recall the list of amendments, including one from the Senator from Alaska regarding the Exxon Valdez litigation. That is an important issue, but is it a farm bill issue? Would the Senator from Georgia argue with me that that has no place on the farm bill? Why would that be on the list? I am sure it is a valid idea.

When it comes to AMT, 19 million Americans are going to get hit with this tax if we don't do something. The Senator from Kentucky says we should engage in a debate on the Senate floor on the flat tax. What? Yes, the flat tax. That is one of their amendments. They want to toss out the entire Internal Revenue Code and replace it with a flat tax. We have to argue that before we take up the AMT. That is what we are hearing from the Republicans.

Does that sound like it is responsible, like it addresses the issues we were sent to deal with? Every time we get to a substantive issue, Senator Reid comes to the floor and says let's narrow the amendments, have the debate, and decide it up or down. We will give you your chance to offer amendments related to the bill, and we will see how it ends. How much fairer can that be? They reject it.

Time and again, they reject it because they don't want us to achieve anything in this session. Fifty-six times this year they have created a filibuster situation. Now, people who don't follow the Senate may not know what that means, but if you saw ``Mr. Smith Goes to Washington'' and watched Jimmy Stewart crumple at his desk when he had run out of steam and could not talk anymore, that is what a filibuster is all about. That is what the Republicans are all about--talk, talk, talk--or in the modern era, recess, quorum call, recess, quorum call.

Some Senator said to me it reminds him of when Abraham Lincoln contacted a general during the Civil War and said: If you are not going to use the Army, can you let me use it to execute the war?

If we are not going to use the Senate floor to do the business of the American people, can we set up a flea market or something, so that something positive is happening?

The Republicans are determined to stop anything substantive from happening. We want to take up the AMT tax and protect 19 million taxpayers. They are going to stop us. When they stop us, they are going to blame us. We saw that earlier in the day. The Republican leadership stopped a bill, and a Senator said we are just not taking up appropriations bills. They cannot have it both ways.

I listened to Senator Reid, and I detected a note of frustration. How many weeks have we wasted trying to get through a farm bill that passed overwhelmingly on a bipartisan basis? They want to consider an amendment on the Exxon Valdez spill on the farm bill. I am sorry, but there are important things in that bill that need to pass, and they should not be held hostage to the whim of every Senator on the Republican side who has an idea. I am sure we could have a spirited debate about the future of the flat tax. But it is getting close to Christmas, and we are supposed to get this done before we leave. We will never get it done if every Senator on the Republican side who dreams up another debate topic is given another half day or 2 days to pursue it.

At some point, leadership involves responsibility. At this point, I think the Republicans are being irresponsible because they refuse to let us do the people's business. They want to protect the status quo. They don't want this to change. They want to make this a do-nothing Congress just like the last Congress, when they were in charge. We are trying our best to avoid that. The honest answer may be that we need more votes on this side of the aisle so we can stop this, so we can move ahead and make some real changes in farm policy and tax policy. We would not reach that point if the Republican strategy continues--filibusters and blocking, coming up with excuses, and spending months on a bill that should have taken days.

That is their plan, their policy. That is what they believe in. That is the best they can offer the American people. That is why the Republican Party leadership in the Congress has been summarily rejected by the American people. They are sick of it. They want bipartisan cooperation, progress, and they want change.

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