Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008 -- Motion to Proceed

Floor Speech

RECOVERY REBATES AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ACT OF 2008--MOTION TO PROCEED -- (Senate - January 31, 2008)

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I certainly don't fault the majority leader, but this has indeed been an exasperating week. We had our one and only vote last Monday and have had none since. At that time I was optimistic that we were on the cusp of two important bipartisan accomplishments at the beginning of the second session of the 110th on two extraordinarily important issues. We had seen on the stimulus side an example of the administration and the Speaker of the House and the Republican leader of the House coming together behind a package and passing it in record time, by a stunning, overwhelming majority, and sending it over to us. We have appeared to be on the verge of getting a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act out of the Senate basically in the same form it came out of the Intelligence Committee, 13 to 2, a Rockefeller-Bond proposal which the President has indicated he would sign.

My optimism waned somewhat during the course of the week, but I heard my dear friend, the majority leader, reiterate once again that he thinks we can finish both of these jobs, and finish them soon, and hopefully get back about that on Monday. I am hoping for a better week next week. We are ever so close to achieving something important for the country in two areas that are of great concern to the American people, the state of our economy on the one hand and protecting us from terrorists on the other. Hopefully, next week will be a better week.

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