Recovery Rebates and Economic Stimulus for the American People Act of 2008

Floor Speech

RECOVERY REBATES AND ECONOMIC STIMULUS FOR THE AMERICAN PEOPLE ACT OF 2008 -- (Senate - February 07, 2008)

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, under the agreement, I have 5 minutes. I will just take 4 minutes, and if the Chair will notify me when I have used that time so the Senator from Arkansas can have her 2 minutes-plus.

It is interesting here that the American economy is suffering from some ailment that leads us to believe it is headed to recession. So how are we going to treat this ailment, this fever? Well, we are trying to come up with some medicine in a hurry before it gets worse.

The Federal Reserve lowered the interest rates, and then we understood we could do our part in Congress on a bipartisan basis: Let's try to do something now before something worse happens. We know how bad it is: all of the people who are unemployed, the stock market in trouble, housing in shambles across America, the housing industry flat on its back. So we tried to come up with something quick, temporary, and targeted to get this economy back on its feet.

I give credit to both the House Republicans and Democrats for reaching agreement and sending us a bill. Then we sat down in the Senate and said: Can we improve it? Is there a way to put a little more medicine in this package so it will work?

Senator Max Baucus and Senator Chuck Grassley--Democrat and Republican--on a bipartisan basis came up with a really good package. We tried to pass that last night. We missed it by one vote. We needed one more Republican vote. We had all the Democrats and eight Republicans. We needed one more. We could not get it done. So today we decided we had to take the best parts of it that we could on a bipartisan basis and pass it. I am glad we are going to do that.

As I go around this country, people say the same thing over and over: Will you stop squabbling on Capitol Hill and get down to work? Will you try to work together? Today, we will. What the Senate Finance Committee did was improve the House bill and give us a chance to help this ailing economy get back on its feet.

What if this is not enough medicine? What if it is the wrong medicine? I think we are going to go back to some of the things that were rejected last night.

Unemployment insurance--boy, read the list. Madam President, 1.2 million Americans are going to see their unemployment insurance benefits end this month. We want to extend their protection. There are some who came to the floor on the other side who argued against that. Oh, they say if somebody is unemployed, you have to punish them, you have to pressure them to go back to work. Ever try to live on an unemployment check? I have run into people who do it, and it is not a rosy life. I think people are looking for jobs and finding them very difficult to locate.

I think we are going to return, and many of the things rejected last night by the Republican side will be part of the second dose of medicine for this economy. This economy needs to get well. We need to give the right medicine in the right amounts for it to happen. This is a good start. With one more Republican vote last night, I think we could have given that full spectrum of medicine to put this economy on the right track.

If our efforts fail now with this stimulus package, we need to come back and put back into the law the things that were defeated last night by the Republicans, and more. We need an economic recovery package for America.

I am sick and tired of sending billions of dollars to Iraq to rebuild hospitals and schools and highways and not do the same thing in America.

We have to focus on putting Americans to work with good-paying jobs, with decent benefits, so they will be spending again and this economy starts chugging forward again. For too long, we have ignored working families, and any economic recovery plan has to focus on those working families first. That is why I hope we pass this soon, monitor it carefully, and if we do more, let us respond as quickly as we can.

I reserve the remainder of my time for the Senator from Arkansas.

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