Issues Important to American Families

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD

SENATE

July 7, 2004

ISSUES IMPORTANT TO AMERICAN FAMILIES

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, there is a lot of talk across this country about the important issues in this Presidential campaign. Some people are going to try to define those issues on the floor of the House and Senate in the weeks ahead, but the issues in this campaign will not be defined in Washington, not on Capitol Hill. Those issues will be defined in homes across America where families will decide what is important, and they will listen to the candidates for Congress-the House and Senate-and those who are running for President and Vice President. They will listen to hear whether those candidates are responding to their real concerns.

There will be an effort here to manufacture issues to try to divert American families from their real concerns. In just a short time, I suspect we will have this rush of proposed constitutional amendments coming to the floor of the Senate. It is suggested one will be on the issue of marriage and one on the flag. Quite honestly, it is very apparent why they are being brought to the floor. I personally think we should pass one law-and do it quickly-which says no one can propose a constitutional amendment in a Presidential election year, certainly not within 6 months of an election. Such proposals are automatically suspect and clearly political.

In this case, the Republican leadership is going to bring constitutional amendments to the floor in the hopes that they can divert the attention of American families from the issues they care about to some new set of issues. Why would the Republican leadership want the American people to look at issues other than those they take personally? Because, frankly, they do not have many answers to the questions most families ask.

The families in Illinois and across America with whom I talk are working families concerned about their inability to keep up with costs.

Not surprising, take a look at this chart as an illustration. What has happened to real earnings over the past year in America? For families, average weekly earnings have gone down, but for corporate profits, they have gone up dramatically. There is a disconnect. We want business to be successful. Of course, we do. Successful business means more people working and more good jobs in America. But what is wrong with this picture? Why did corporate profits go up so dramatically and yet working families fell behind so much? The obvious reason is because there are elements in the budget of most families that are not being addressed in Washington.

What is causing this middle-class squeeze across America that is basically denying families their weekly earnings? Why won't the Republican leadership in the Senate and the House address the middle-class squeeze? Why won't we address issues with which people are concerned? Let's be more specific about what that squeeze consists of.

Look at this chart which shows real growth during President Bush's administration. Average weekly earnings have gone up 1 percent since President George W. Bush has come to office-1 percent. What about college tuition costs? They have gone up 28 percent; gas prices, 28 percent. And here is one, this is the killer for business, labor, and families: family health care premiums.

One can say to oneself: What in the world can Congress do about these issues that are raising the cost of living for working families? The answer is, "plenty." What have we done? Nothing, absolutely nothing.

What we have done, unfortunately, is to ignore the real issues facing families. We have ignored the issues they are coping with on a regular basis. College tuition costs: My colleague, Senator Schumer of New York, when we were discussing tax cuts, said the most important tax cuts for working families and for our future include the deductibility of college education expenses.

Well, that is obvious. What do I hope for for my kids, for the kids of my colleagues, and for all who are following this debate? A chance for a good education. What stands in the way? Well, certainly their own achievement-they have to do a good job in school to be eligible to go to college-but then the cost. My colleagues know what I am talking about. How many college graduates today face college tuition costs which are absolutely crippling?

Senator Schumer and others said if we are going to talk about tax cuts to help working families, why do we not allow them to deduct the cost of college education expenses? We offered that amendment. It was defeated by the Republicans. They said, no, the tax cuts should go to the highest income individuals and they will decide what to do with that extra income and they will ultimately help working families.

Gasoline prices-

Mrs. BOXER. Will my friend yield?

Mr. DURBIN. I will yield in just one moment.

Gasoline prices are another illustration. These prices have gone up dramatically in the State of California and in the State of Illinois. What has this administration done about it? Nothing. A cost to business, a cost to families, a cost out of the bottom line of the paycheck people bring home, and this administration refuses to confront OPEC about fair gasoline prices.

Why do family health care premiums continue to be the No. 1 issue across America, ignored by the Bush administration, ignored by the Republican leaders in this Congress? Because the leaders in this Congress and the Republican Party refuse to confront the health care insurance industries, the pharmaceutical companies, and those that are driving up the cost of health care. Those special interest groups are sacred cows in this town, and because the Republican leadership will not confront them, American families are being victimized by them.

These are the issues that families care about. They are the ones we are going to bring to this Presidential campaign, and they are the ones the Republican leadership wants to ignore. They want us to rush off and debate at length constitutional amendments that, frankly, are going nowhere.

I am happy to yield to my colleague from California for a question.

Mrs. BOXER. I came to thank the Senator for bringing out that chart, if he would keep it up there for a minute, and for making this point to our colleagues and anyone else who might be listening. It is one thing for us to critique the administration and say they are not addressing the real issues. When I go home, people say this administration cares about everybody else in the world; there is money for everybody else in the world; we are going to help everybody else; we are going to help the people of Iraq. Fine, but they are going to have universal health care and we are not? They are going to have their classrooms built and we are not? And it goes on.

So what I believe our people want us to address is what is happening to them, and what my friend has done in a most eloquent way, as he always does, is to point out this middle-class squeeze that is hitting our people.

These are the problems I care about. I say to my friend, we have a bill about reforming class action. I have taken a look at some class action lawsuits, and I have realized that is one tool to help middle-class families who may be harmed by products that are not safe. So I do not know why they are running off to do that and they are ignoring all of these other things.

I guess my question to my friend is, As we debate the Presidential election and we have a point of view that this administration is ignoring this middle-class squeeze, do we not find that happening right here with the Republicans who are in charge of this Senate? Are they not ignoring this middle-class squeeze? The best way to prove the point is what they bring up before the Senate. Are they bringing up anything to deal with college tuition and giving tax breaks to those folks who so desperately need it? Are they doing anything at all to help with gas prices, health care premiums, or prescription drugs, or are we going to face, after this class action debate, these constitutional amendments my friend referred to that I have to say in all honesty and frankness I have never had one person in California come up to me and say: Senator, the most important thing facing us is gay marriage. That is just ruining my life. Take that up. Ban it because that is what I think about night and day. No. They tell me they are worried about paying college tuition; they are worried about filling up their gas tank; they are worried about not being able to afford prescription drugs.

So my question to my friend is, Could we not do more to implore this leadership to take up some of the issues that are really affecting the people we all represent?

Mr. DURBIN. I thank the Senator from California for her question. The answer is clear to all of us. This Congress, under the Republican leadership and this administration, has decided that the special interest groups are more important than these issues that are facing working families. They have decided that giving tax cuts to the wealthiest people in America is more important than giving working families the deductibility of college education expenses. They have decided that giving breaks to oil companies is more important than confronting those oil companies and OPEC to bring down gasoline prices. They have decided that the pharmaceutical companies and the health insurance companies in America are more important, their bottom line profits are more important than the cost of health insurance to businesses, to labor union members, and to families across America. They have caved in time and time again to special interest groups, and they refuse to listen to the real concerns of America.

That is why Americans are saying, by a margin of almost 2 to 1, that we are headed in the wrong direction as a nation. They want leadership in Washington that responds to the real issues, the family room issues, the kitchen table issues families face every single day. This administration has refused to do it. Frankly, this Congress has refused to do it. They want to divert attention. They want to have the old sleight of hand. Let us talk about constitutional amendments. Let us not talk about things that deal with the real issues facing families.

I am happy to yield to the Senator from Nevada.

Mr. REID. Will the Senator from Illinois yield for a question?

Mr. DURBIN. I am happy to yield for a question to the Senator from Nevada.

Mr. REID. I say through the Chair to my distinguished friend from Illinois, also the two constitutional issues, gay marriage and flag burning, no matter how strong someone may feel about each of those, would the Senator acknowledge they have no chance whatsoever of passing, so we are not only taking up issues that may be secondary to the vast majority of the American people, but also they have no chance of passing? All they are doing is bringing these up to try to satisfy a small number of people in this country to divert attention from the real pocketbook issues the American people deal with every day. Would the Senator acknowledge that?

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. GRAHAM of South Carolina). The Democratic time has expired.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, if the Democratic time has expired, the Chair has not properly advised the minority. I yielded 25 minutes this morning to Senators LINCOLN and Senator Harkin, leaving 5 minutes. So where has the 5 minutes gone?

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Senator Harkin asked for an additional 5 minutes.

Mr. REID. I am sorry. I should never step off the floor.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Which completes the Democratic time.

Mr. REID. No problem. I should never step off the floor.

I ask unanimous consent that each side have an additional 5 minutes.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. DURBIN. I say to my colleague from the State of Nevada, he is going to find out in the rollcall votes, in the ultimate vote, that these constitutional amendments are not going to pass. This is a political grandstand. Frankly, we should pass a law that says a constitutional amendment cannot be proposed within 6 months of a Presidential election. That is what this is all about. It really demeans this great Constitution we have sworn to uphold that we are playing games by bringing issues like the gay marriage amendment to the floor of the Senate without even a markup in the Judiciary Committee.

Why? Frankly, it should not be done. Maybe one or two times in the recent history of this body have we brought an amendment to the Senate floor without a markup in the Judiciary Committee-I think Senator Hollings, through unanimous consent, discharged a proposed constitutional amendment from committee. So they are not taking it seriously. It is just a record vote to put Members on the spot and to try to gas up the special interest groups that feel strongly on this issue. That really does not address the issues working families care about.

If this Senate is going to be relevant to the people we represent, we ought to speak to the issues they care about. Whether the people are coming to this gallery or watching the proceedings by television, they know what working families care about. It is the cost of health insurance. It is the fact that one may have a dollar an hour more in their contract this year and do not have a penny more in take-home pay because health insurance has gone up. It is the cost of sending your kids to college. Your child works hard and has good grades, gets into a great college, and look at the cost: I'm sorry, you can't go to school; we can't come up with $20,000 a year.

It is the cost of gasoline which is killing small businesses and families alike.

These are issues we ought to be talking about and these are issues this Republican leadership consistently ignores.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator yield?

Mr. DURBIN. I am happy to yield.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. It is also the cost of prescription drugs, I add to my colleague from Illinois. I will tell you of the riveting experience I had last week as I was doing townhall meetings in my State of Florida, where a senior citizen, a lady, broke down crying in the middle of a jam-packed townhall meeting as we were talking about the issues of the day such as Iraq. She said: I cannot afford a roof over my head and the cost of prescription drugs. She said: I don't have any choice; I have to provide a home. That means I cannot buy prescription drugs.

Yet what did we do in this Senate? The Senator from Illinois and I did not vote for the prescription drug bill because it said Medicare could not negotiate by using bulk purchases, negotiating the price of drugs down as does the Veterans' Administration.

It is inexcusable. It is unexplainable, except that it rewards special interest politics to the neglect of senior citizens and allows those prescription drug prices to stay as high as they are so seniors cannot afford them.

Would the Senator reflect on that experience I had in my townhall meeting?

Mr. DURBIN. I would say to the Senator from Florida, he will hear the same response in Illinois, in California, in Nevada, in South Carolina. People can't afford prescription drugs. They can't afford college tuition. They can't deal with health insurance costs. They can't deal with these rising gas prices.

Here is the problem. We need to create a special interest group called Working Families in America. Wouldn't it be great if they had a lobby here? Wouldn't it be great if we walked out in that hallway and men in three-piece suits and Gucci loafers were representing working families in America? There are plenty out there for the drug companies, plenty out there for the health insurance companies. But this Senate and this Congress only responds to special interest groups and those are groups such as the pharmaceutical companies that have record profits at the expense of consumers across America.

When are we ever going to address issues that real families care about? If we are not here to address those issues, then, frankly, we ought to just close up shop and go home, and I don't think we should. I think we have a responsibility to stay here and work and make certain that we deal with the issues real families care about instead of all these special interest groups that come in.

Now they want to get rid of class actions. They have said class actions, that is a dirty phrase. We should not say that in America because the people who go to court and sue on behalf of a large group of people have no business doing it. They are frivolous lawsuits. They are unproductive.

Then take a look at those class action lawsuits. Those end up being lawsuits by consumers across America who may have just lost $100 personally, but when aggregated turn out to be a large group of people who have created a great profit for a company that didn't deserve it.

Those are ways that Americans speak to the issues that concern them. Those are opportunities which the Republican majority wants to silence.

I yield the floor.