American Jobs And Closing Tax Loopholes Act Of 2010

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. HARKIN. I am delighted to yield to the Senator.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator for bringing this issue and timely discussion to the floor.

We had a meeting today of the deficit commission--18 of us who have been charged with finding a way to deal with our Nation's deficit. Speaking to us was the Director of the CBO, Congressional Budget Office, Mr. Elmendorf, who talked about what we need to do. I asked him a question that went directly to the Senator's point: As we talk about reducing the deficit, isn't there a worry or concern that if we hit the brakes too soon, we can plunge even deeper into a recession, with more people out of work? He said yes. He said that you have to make sure we start moving forward, putting people to work, with the GDP growing; and once you have the economy stabilized and moving forward, with people paying taxes--which, incidentally, brings down the deficit--then you can talk about the long-term deficit fix. So I say to the Senator from Iowa, he really hit the nail on the head.

Our colleagues on the other side who refuse to support extending unemployment compensation benefits say: We want to take it from some other area of spending. Well, of course, that just reduces the stimulus to the American economy. So they are not helping things. What we need to do is help them.

I see the Senator from Iowa has 3,700 workers in Iowa affected by this. We have over 10,000 in the State of Illinois. In fact, it is 20,000 at this point. It will be 80,000 by the end of June, if I am not mistaken. At this point, these folks have reached a point of desperation.

I had a call over the weekend from a friend who is unemployed. She is the mother of three kids, with a grandchild in the house. They are cutting off her utilities because her unemployment check was cut off. That is the reality of life for people who have lost jobs through no fault of their own.

I thank the Senator for bringing up this issue. I will be embarrassed if we leave here for the Fourth of July break without taking on this unemployment issue and helping people across the Nation who are similarly situated.

I will ask the Senator a question since he yielded for that purpose. Does the Senator even possibly agree with what I have said?

Mr. HARKIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator, who has been a champion of working people and families for all the many years I have known him, and that is many years now. I thank him for telling us about what the CBO said in the deficit commission.

I pointed out a couple of things earlier. The Senator is right on the mark in terms of economic activity, and that is why it is so important right now to get the economy moving again, to keep it moving. The biggest bang for the buck we get is food stamps. People spend those right away on food.

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