Disapproval Of Obligations Under The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Of 2008 - Continued

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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, there are moments in the Senate that are memorable, but the most memorable moment for me in the last several months occurred in the conference room of Speaker Nancy Pelosi when we were called in, Democrats and Republicans, House and Senate leaders, and sat around a large conference table facing the Secretary of the Treasury, Hank Paulson, and the head of the Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke. They opened the meeting by saying that America is facing an economic crisis that no one in this room has ever seen, which will spin out of control, reaching across the world, creating economic consequences you cannot even envision, unless we act and act now. You could have heard a pin drop in that room. They said we need hundreds of billions of dollars to put into the banking system for credit, and we have to do it as quickly as possible or you are going to see major corporations in America fail, thousands of jobs lost, and an economic recession bordering on a recession. The choice was clear at the end of the day. In light of that circumstance and the clear failure of these major institutions, we had two choices: do something or do nothing.

I chose to do something. I voted for this TARP plan--a strong bipartisan vote, Democrats and Republicans--and said we have to do something, we can't let this happen to our economy and businesses and let families and individuals suffer for a long time to come.

We put in conditions and said: We will split it. Of the $700 billion, you can spend the first $350 billion, but you have to come back and ask us for the second half, and we will decide whether you have spent it well.

Time passed, and here we are. There is a request from President Bush for the remaining $350 billion, but we clearly know he won't spend it. It is money that can be spent, may be spent by the new President, Barack Obama--by the new administration. Do we need it? Are we still facing an economic crisis? Today in America, 17,000 Americans lost their jobs, 11,000 lost their health insurance, and 9,000 saw their homes go into mortgage foreclosure. Oh, it isn't just another bad day in America, it is a pattern that has developed since we were told last September what was happening to our economy.

There are those on the other side who say the best thing, in light of this economic situation, is to do nothing. I am not one of them. As badly and poorly managed as those funds were--the first $350 billion--I happen to be one of those people, one of those voters, and one of those Senators who said to America: Give us a new leader, give a new team a chance to change this country. A majority of the American people said that is the right thing to do, and they elected Barack Obama and Joe Biden. They are asking for this money not to use it the wrong way, the old way, an imperfect way, but to use it with transparency so that the American people can see what is being done to stabilize this economy, to stop this hemorrhaging of jobs, to create some credit so that businesses can survive, and to inject perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars into mortgage foreclosure so that people can stay in their homes and the real estate market bottoms out.

Listen, if we don't do that, this is going to go from bad to worse, and 17,000 jobs a day lost in America could double--yes, it could--by doing nothing. And those who vote yes on this are standing for that premise: Do nothing. Don't trust this new President. Don't trust this new administration. Just wait, things are bound to get better.

I am not one of them. I want to give President Obama the tools he needs to breathe life back into this economy, to give working families a fighting chance, to create good-paying jobs in this country, to give small businesses a chance to survive, to provide a decent income and some benefits for their workers, and maybe to preserve some basic industry in this country so there still are manufacturing jobs in America. We can't achieve that by doing nothing.

As badly as this money has been managed--the first $350 billion--we have to look forward. Some of the people who managed the first $350 billion could not imagine an America without the giants, such as Goldman Sachs. I can't imagine America without our middle class, without working families, who really form the basis, the bedrock, the foundation for the growth of our economy and the growth of our democracy.

I am going to be voting with the faith that this new administration, with new leadership and new eyes and new vision and new values, will invest this money properly so that we can turn this economy around and build a strong American future.

Madam President, I yield the floor, and I reserve the remainder of my time.

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