Celebrate Safe Communities

Floor Speech

CELEBRATE SAFE COMMUNITIES -- (Senate - September 30, 2008)

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THE ECONOMY

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, yesterday's House vote has come and gone, but the threat to our economy has not. Congress must still act swiftly and decisively to protect millions of ordinary Americans from a credit crisis that they had no hand whatsoever in causing but which obviously threatens to reach into every single household in our country.

Retirees are worried about their savings. Small business owners are panicked because the banks will not lend. Homeowners are watching the equity they have in their houses dry up.

I am hearing from towns and municipalities throughout Kentucky that cannot find the money to finance new schools and other civic projects and from farmers and small business owners who are suddenly being told by their banks that a long-term loan is due. Others are being pressured to pay more or well ahead of schedule. These are people with good credit.

I am hearing from people such as the retired school counselor in Anderson County who said she cannot afford to see her small retirement savings vanish. ``I have never written to any Senator or Congressman before now,'' she wrote. ``This is so important to our Government and its citizens.''

One small business owner wrote me about a company he started in his garage that now employs 100 people. He said that because of the credit crisis, the interest rate he is paying on his building jumped 400 percent. Speaking on behalf of all small business owners in his community, he had a simple message: ``Kentuckians need help now.''

Here is what a woman from central Kentucky wrote to me about the financial rescue plan the House of Representatives rejected yesterday. She said:

I hope you will not lose sight of the vast numbers of innocent Americans who work tirelessly to create a better future for our children and fellow Americans, who could be financially wrecked by plummeting U.S. and overseas markets.

If the rescue plan fails, this woman added, she is afraid she will have to sell off part of her family's farmland.

The credit crisis is spreading. It has gotten too big to ignore, and it is too big for one party to solve on its own. Congressional leaders are assessing the legislative path forward, but one thing is clear: Any solution will be a bipartisan solution. Both sides have to work together, and we will stay until the answer is yes.

There was a lot of frustration around here yesterday which led to a lot of accusations and blame. Today we must move forward together. The voters sent us to respond to crises, not to ignore them, and if you fail the first time, you get back up and work with each other and you figure a way to get it done.

We know what we need to do and we know we need to do it quickly and we know that time is not the ally of millions of Americans facing a serious threat to their way of life. The majority leader understands this, and he and I are working together to find a way to get to yes.

Working together is the only way to get this rescue plan passed, and that is exactly what we intend to do.

I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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