American Recovery And Reinvestment Act Of 2009 - Conference Report
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, our Nation is in a serious recession. The American recovery and reinvestment conference report that we now have before us will help create or maintain 3.5 million jobs.
The question before my colleagues is this: Will we act together to reinvigorate our economy, turn the tide on this recession, and create those 3.5 million jobs, or will we say no?
When we cast our vote today, we are not choosing between the bill we personally would have written and the bill before us. The choice before us today is between the bill we have before us and doing nothing. And we simply cannot afford to do nothing.
The recession is the most pressing threat to our national security.
I have spoken often on the floor over the past several weeks about the alarming job losses that continue to escalate each day. That alone should be enough to convince my fellow Senators we must act.
Yesterday, we heard a new argument for action. President Obama's top intelligence advisor, Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair, told us yesterday that the deteriorating global economy is now the greatest threat to America's national security--a security threat more grave even than terrorism.
He said:
Roughly a quarter of the countries in the world have already experienced low-level instability such as government changes because of the current slowdown.
Director Blair said that the most immediate fallout from the worldwide economic decline for the United States will be ``allies and friends not being able to fully meet their defense and humanitarian obligations.''
We have a bill before us that is ready to be sent to the President's desk. What could any of us be waiting for? The global economy will only recover if the largest economy in the world--ours--begins to recover. That is what this bill is designed to do.
The bill provides a long list of critical investments. The powerful investments in America contained in this package are too numerous to list, but here are a few highlights:
On infrastructure, the conference report includes a critical $8 billion investment for our intercity passenger rail system. This funding will take us a long way toward the goal of transforming our national transportation system, including rail service for many people in my home State of Illinois who want to ride the trains today but simply can't find a seat on our overcrowded trains.
The conference report invests $4.7 billion in extending broadband access to underserved areas, so that all American families and businesses can benefit from the technology of the 21st century. These investments will create good-paying jobs here in America. And all Americans will benefit from stronger transportation and telecommunication systems in this country.
In the area of tax cuts, 95 percent of all working families in America will receive a tax cut of up to $800. Mr. President, 26 million families will be shielded from paying additional alternative minimum tax payments for 2009. Small businesses will benefit from new tax provisions related to expensing, net operating loss carrybacks, and capital gains. These tax cuts will help American families keep food on the table and will help many small businesses stay in business and weather the storm of this economic downturn.
On education, Pell Grants will be increased by up to $500 per student so that more students can stay in school even as the finances of their families deteriorate. Illinois students will receive over $650 million from this national investment in their future.
A new American Opportunity Tax Credit will provide eligible students with up to $2,500 to help with tuition and expenses. Over 150,000 students in Illinois will benefit.
Some argue that we shouldn't be investing in education because it isn't ``stimulative.'' I disagree. What is the impact on the economy if students all over the country have to drop out of school because their families can no longer afford the cost of higher education? How does that help turn around our economy and sustain our economic strength over time? An investment in those students pays off now, and it pays off again later, as they emerge from school better prepared to participate in a renewed economy.
On health care, out-of-work Americans trying desperately to maintain the health care coverage they received from their former employer will receive help from the Government with their COBRA payments. The Government will pay 65 percent of COBRA premiums for up to 9 months while these individuals look for work.
States will receive more Medicaid funds to help low-income children and their families keep their Medicaid coverage. My home State of Illinois, for example, will receive $2.9 billion over 2 years.
It is critical that families receive this modest but vital help as they try to stay afloat and desperately look for new jobs. Providing insurance against the costs of health emergencies is a fundamental way to help struggling families, and it produces an immediate, stimulative effect as the fund flows.
Voting no is the real generational theft. Now, some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle have claimed that this bill amounts to ``generational theft.'' My answer is this: We are stealing from our children's future if we fail to act today. If we don't act, we are stealing from millions of children the one thing that is more important than anything else: hope.
We are trying to save or create 3.5 million jobs with this bill. Those jobs aren't just numbers on a page; they represent real lives--real fathers and mothers who either can or cannot make ends meet for their little ones.
Are we not stealing hope from our children if we tell millions of parents that they have to go home to their kids and explain that there is no more money coming in to put food on the table?
Are we not stealing hope from millions of children if we take away the security of being able to sleep in their own bedrooms each night, if we stand aside as they are thrown out on the street when the banks come to take away the keys to their homes?
Are we not stealing hope from our children if there is not enough money to allow them to go to college because all of the money that might have been saved needs to be used now to keep the family from going bankrupt?
This bill commits generational theft?
We have been told by economists across the political spectrum that today's economic malaise is greater than anything we have experienced since the Great Depression. We have been warned of the potential for a decade of more lost growth.
What is the cost to our children, if they inherit an economy from us that is stuck in reverse or neutral for years and years? If we have a way out of this crisis and we fail to act, isn't that the real generational theft?
Voting no today steals hope from our children. Voting no today steals economic growth from our children. Voting no today steals a more secure future from millions of children.
That is the theft we commit today if we fail to send this recovery bill to the President's desk.
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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I have listened to the critics of this legislation. What would they have us do? They would have us do nothing. What they offer is one-half of this bill, in the hopes that that might do it. We tried that. I say to the critics of the bill that we tried their tax cuts last year under President Bush, and they didn't work. We tried their TARP under President Bush, and it didn't work as well as we had hoped.
Now we are asking for a chance. This President, President Obama, inherited the worst economic crisis in 75 years. He is showing leadership, and he came with a solution and offered it to the Republicans and said sit down with us, work with us together. Only three Republicans out of all those elected on Capitol Hill would do so. This President made direct overtures to bring in Republicans, to try to find a solution to these problems, and they refused to do so. Many of the same Republicans--not the Senator from Arizona--who have spoken earlier supported amendments to this, adding to the cost of this package $70 billion in the Finance Committee, up to $30 billion on the floor; and after their amendments were adopted, they said, of course, we cannot vote for the bill because it costs too much--after they added some $100 billion in costs to the bill.
They cannot have it both ways. They cannot ask us, as Democrats, to stand with President Bush when he tried to solve it and then walk out the door when we face this crisis under President Obama. We have invited the Republicans to join us, and three stepped forward. I salute them for their courage in doing so. I hope more will do that in the future.
A lot of the arguments are about the impact on the next generation. Consider the impact on the next generation of Americans if their parents lose a job. Consider the impact on kids in the next generation if their home is foreclosed upon. Consider the impact on the next generation if they are forced out of college because their parents cannot pay the bills. In this bill, we address each of those issues, providing tax relief to working families, creating up to 4 million jobs, giving people a chance to stay in their homes and trying to help them pay for a college education. Yes, we have our eye on the next generation.
What we are doing in the bill is trying to give a lifeline to our economy for those who are suffering in Arizona, Illinois, Colorado, and all across this country. This is a serious effort to find a solution. We have tried to work together. It is a transparent approach with full accountability, and we will do our best to pass it and turn this economy around and give America the new day it deserves.
I yield the floor.
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