senaterecord_1-7-15

8/10/2019 SenateRecord_1-7-15

1/42

Congressional RecordUN

UMEPLUR

IBUS

United Statesof America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 114th CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION

This bullet symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor.

.

S27

Vol. 161 WASHINGTON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 7, 2015 No. 2

SenateThe Senate met at 9:30 a.m. and was

called to order by the President protempore (Mr. HATCH).

f

PRAYER

The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of-fered the following prayer:

Let us pray.Eternal God, ultimate judge of us all,

provide for the needs of our lawmakersfrom Your boundless resources. Leadthem along paths that will bring gloryand honor to Your Name as You sur-round them with the shield of Your di-vine favor. Lord, intervene in theirlives to keep them from becomingweary in choosing the harder right andlead them in the way everlasting. Keepour Senators from presuming that Youare automatically on their side. In-stead, let them earnestly seek to be onYour side. Enable them to find unitywith each other because of their con-nection with You.

We pray in Your merciful Name.Amen.

f

PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE

The President pro tempore led thePledge of Allegiance, as follows:

I pledge allegiance to the Flag of theUnited States of America, and to the Repub-lic for which it stands, one nation under God,indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.

f

RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITYLEADER

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Themajority leader is recognized.

f

MEASURE PLACED ON THE

CALENDARS. 1

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, Iunderstand there is a bill at the deskwhich is due for a second reading.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Theclerk will read the bill by title for thesecond time.

The assistant legislative clerk readas follows:

A bill (S. 1) to approve the Keystone XLPipeline.

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, inorder to place the bill on the calendarunder the provisions of rule XIV, I ob-ject to further proceedings.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objec-tion having been heard, the bill will be

placed on the calendar.f

ORDER OF PROCEDURE

Mr. MCCONNELL. Mr. President, Iask unanimous consent that the timebetween 2:15 p.m. and 3:15 p.m. be con-trolled by Senator HOEVEN and thetime from 3:15 p.m. to 4:15 p.m. be con-trolled by the Democratic leader or hisdesignee.

The PRESIDENT pro tempore. With-out objection, it is so ordered.

f

SCHEDULE

Mr. MCCONNELL. This morning the

Senate will be in a period of morningbusiness while we continue to organizefor the new Congress. We will need topass a resolution making committeeappointments later today so they canbegin their work on the Keystone Pipe-line bill and other important priorities.

As we announced last month, the bi-partisan keystone energy bill will beon the floor and it will be open foramendment next week. The House isalso sending over a reauthorization ofthe Terrorism Risk Insurance Programtoday, and we will need to take actionon that quickly as well.

f

OPENING THE 114TH SENATE

Mr. MCCONNELL. Yesterday we in-augurated the 114th Senate of the Con-gress. We welcomed back many dedi-cated Members and swore in many newones. I have high hopes for our new col-leagues. They share the resolve of my

conference to restore the Senate to aplace of high purpose, and they are de-termined to make a positive differencein the lives of the people who sentthem.

The men and women we have justsworn in have inaugurated one signifi-cant change already; that is, the ma-jority we seated yesterday. I look tothis new beginning with optimism anda profound sense of purpose, and I lookto my colleagues with gratitude fortheir trust. Next to serving the peopleof Kentucky, this is the highest of hon-ors. I recognize the serious expecta-tions of the American people and Iknow they are counting on usand I domean all of usevery single Member ofthis body.

We are in a moment of great anxietyas a nation. The people we representhave lost faith in their government.They no longer trust Washington to dothe right thing. Many face the realityof losing health plans after being toldotherwise. Many struggle with risingmedical costs after Washington offi-cials repeatedly said they would belowered. Confidence in the Americandream has plunged. Anxiety about thetype of country we leave to the nextgeneration is widespread. For many ithas never seemed more difficult just toget by.

When Americans look overseas theysee a world filled with chaos: insta-bility roiling the Middle East, terror-ists pressing an aggressive agenda, andautocrats scoffing at a superpower thatdoesnt seem to have a real plan.

At home they see a government thatis either uninterested in or incapable ofaddressing their concerns, a govern-ment that seems to be working foritself instead of them. Whether it isWashingtons dysfunction or a bureauc-racy that has grown so Byzantine andunaccountable, it tried to muzzle polit-ical opponents and ignore the needs ofveterans.

The American people have simplyhad enough, and this past November

VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 08, 2015 Jkt 049060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A07JA6.000 S07JAPT1


2/42

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD SENATES28 January 7, 2015

they had their say. The message theysent was clear. If voters hit the brakes4 years ago, this time they have spunthe wheel. They said they want the ad-ministration to change course andmove to the middle. They said theywant Congress to send legislation tothe President that addresses their con-cerns. This November the Americanpeople didnt ask for a governmentthat tries to do everything and fails,and they didnt demand a government

that aims to do nothing and succeeds.They asked simply for a governmentthat works.

They want a government of the 21stcentury, one that functions with effi-ciency and accountability, competenceand purpose. They want a Washingtonthat is more interested in modernizingand streamlining government thanadding more layers to it, and theywant more jobs, more opportunity forthe middle class, and more flexibilityin a complex age with complex de-mands.

That is why we plan to pursue com-monsense jobs ideas, including thosewith bipartisan support: measures such

as reforming a broken tax system tomake it simpler and friendlier to jobcreation, opening more markets toAmerican-made products so we can cre-ate more jobs at home, and moving for-ward with bipartisan infrastructureprojects such as the Keystone XL Pipe-line.

Americans are challenging this Con-gress and this President to work forthem. They are challenging lawmakersin Washington to work for jobs forAmericans, not just jobs for them-selves. It seems simple enough. But inthe end, in the era of divided govern-ment control, we are going to have towork hard to meet expectations and we

are going to have to work together.Step No. 1 is getting Congress func-tioning again. That means fixing theSenate. Last session the House sentover countless commonsense bipartisanbills. Too many of them died right herewithout so much as a hearing, and Sen-ators from both parties with ideas forjobs and growth were routinelystopped.

So it is time to change the businessmodel. We need to return to regularorder. We need to get committeesworking again. We need to recommit toa rational, functioning appropriationsprocess. We need to open the legisla-tive process in a way that allows moreamendments from both sides.

Sometimes it is going to mean actu-ally working late, but restoring theSenate is the right and practical thingto do because we are only going to passmeaningful legislation if Members ofboth parties are given a stake in theoutcome. That is the genius of regularorder. That is the genius of the Senate.

I am reminded of this every time Iwalk into my office. On the wall areportraits of John Sherman Cooper, aRepublican, and Alben Barkley, a Dem-ocrat. Keeping watch from below is abust of Henry Clay. Each of these Sen-

atorseach of these Kentuckianscame from a different political party.Each viewed the world through a dif-ferent ideological lens, but all of thembelieved in the Senate and all of themleft behind important lessons fortoday: Clay, about putting countryfirst and pursuing principled com-promises; Cooper, about choosing whento make a stand and making it; andBarkley, about having the courage tothink differently from a President of

the same political party he had serveddutifully for years.These lessons echo into the present

and they help point the way toward abetter functioning government. A Sen-ate and a Congress that function againwill help move us past an era of gov-ernment by crisis. It doesnt mean ev-erything will be perfect, it doesntmean we will never come up against adeadline, and it doesnt mean we willalways agree, but together we can com-mit to changing the way Washingtonoperates. This can be done. It can bedone.

This Senate has seemed imperfect atmoments, but it has been proven to be

a place of high purpose at many othertimes, a place where our country hascome together to confront great chal-lenges and advance solutions that onceseemed completely out of reach. Thatis the Senate I saw when I saw SenatorCooper whip votes for the Civil RightsAct many believed would never pass,that is the Senate I saw when Presi-dent Reagan worked with Democraticleaders to pass major reforms to taxesand Social Security, and that is theSenate I saw when a Republican Con-gress worked with President Clinton topass historic welfare reform.

The promise of the Senate is real.Time and time again it has been an en-gine for bipartisan achievement towhich both parties can assume eithercredit or blame, and that is how weshould view it today.

So, yes, the American people electeddivided government, but that doesntmean they dont want us to accomplishanything. If there is a will to do so, wecan come together to achieve greatthings. If President Obama is inter-ested in a historic achievement of hisown, this can be his time as well.

The President has already indicateda willingness to work with us on tradeand infrastructure and comprehensivetax reform. These efforts are going torequire a lot of work. Navigating thepolitical pitfalls will not be easy, butpassing these types of measures willrepresent a win for the American peo-plewins we could all be proud of. Thetruth is we could work for biggerthings too. We could work together tosave and strengthen Medicare, to pro-tect Social Security for future genera-tions, to balance the budget and putour growing national debt on a path toelimination. But bipartisan reform canonly be achieved if President Obama isinterested in it. The President is theonly one who can bring his party onboard. He is the only one, obviously,

who can sign something that Congresssends him. I assure you, threatening toveto a jobs and infrastructure billwithin minutes of a new Congress tak-ing the oath of officea bill withstrong bipartisan supportis anythingbut productive.

I appreciate that bipartisan com-promise may not come easily for thePresidentnot his first inclination.The Presidents supporters are pressingfor militancy, not compromise. They

are demanding the comforts of purityover the duties of progress.From DC to Montpelier, they see the

limits of an exhausted 20th centurymindset asserting itself, even whennearly every lever of power has been inhand. Across the Atlantic, they see theSun setting on the social democraticidea. They see the tragic legacies ofwelfare statesempty promises andfear of the future. It is understandablewhy the Presidents supporters mightwant to retreat to past comforts, butnow is the time to accept reality. Nowis the time to actually move forward.

Americans know that democracy isnot about what you can get away with,

it is about what you can achieve to-gether. Many in this body, on bothsides of the aisle, understand that. Ihave talked to many colleagues on theother side of the aisle who understandthis fully.

We are calling on the President to ig-nore the voices of reaction and to joinus. Whatever he decides, though, thisCongress is going to function again.Lets pass legislation that focuses onjobs and the real concerns of the mid-dle class.

After so many years of sluggishgrowth, we are finally starting to seesome economic data that can provide aglimmer of hope. The uptick appears tocoincide with the biggest politicalchange of the Obama administrationslong tenure in Washingtonthe expec-tation of a new Republican Congress.This is precisely the time to advance apositive, progrowth agenda.

Some of the measures the new Con-gress will pass may seem significant;others may seem modest. That is OK.As we have seen in recent years, a big-ger bill does not always mean a betterbill.

While we are always going to searchfor areas where we can agree, thePresident may not be enamored ofevery bill we pass, and that is OK too.It is not our job to protect the Presi-dent from good ideas. A little creativetension between the Executive and thelegislature can be pretty healthy in ademocracy such as ours. Presidents andCongresses have disagreed before. Theyhave confronted challenges that eclipsethe ones we see today. What is impor-tant to remember is that the Senatehas always enduredalways. We have aduty to restore it now so we can meetthe mandate of the people who sent ushere.

Former majority leader HowardBaker once noted that making the Sen-ate work is like trying to make 99

VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:26 Jan 08, 2015 Jkt 049060 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 0624 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\G07JA6.002 S07JAPT1


3/42

CONGRESSIONAL RECORD SENATE S29January 7, 2015

independent souls act in concert underrules that encourage polite anarchy.Yet he also reminded us that itdoesnt take Clays and Websters andCalhouns to make the Senate work. Itsimply takes men and women of honorworking in a spirit of good faith.

It may be difficult, but it has beendone before and it can be done again,and if we are going to get there, ithelps to recall in whose footsteps wewalk today. This is the same Chamber

where Dirksen and Mansfield allied forhistoric progress. This is where Byrddrew from antiquity to rouse col-leagues to present challenges andwhere in later years he would critiquesuccessors on the finer points of proce-dure. This is where Mitchell honed theskills he needed to help bring warringcommunities together, enemies who re-sponded to critics not just with floorspeeches or press conferences but actu-ally live ammunition. This is whereDole shared war stories with Inouye,and with a fateful tap on the shoulder,he would partner with Moynihan intheir effort to reform Social Security.

The names of many Senators who

came before us are etched into thedesks we sit at today. The men andwomen who precede us include futurePresidents and Vice Presidents. Theyinclude former athletes, veterans, andastronauts. We have forgotten some,we remember others, but their legacieslive on.

Here is how Senator Claude Pepperput it:

The Senate is inefficient, unwieldy [and]inconsistent; it has foibles, its vanities, itsmembers who are great . . . and those whothink they are great. But like democracy. . . it is strong . . . it has survived manychanges, it has saved the country [from]many catastrophes, [and] it is a safeguardagainst any form of tyranny.

In the last analysis, Pepper noted,the Senate is probably the price we inAmerica have to pay for liberty. Foreverything Senator Pepper and I maynot have agreed on, we certainlyagreed on that.

In the same way, each of us here maynot agree on every issue. We may beRepublican, we may be Democrat, butwe are all Americans. We each have aresponsibility to make the Senatefunction, and we each have a duty towork for the people who sent us here inserious times to get serious results.

Lets restore the Senate we love.Lets look for areas of agreement whenwe can. Above all, lets make Wash-

ington work again for the people weserve.

I yield the floor.

f

RECOGNITION OF THE ACTINGMINORITY LEADER

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.BOOZMAN). The Senator from Illinois isrecognized.

f

PRESERVING THE SENATE

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, before Iread a statement into the RECORD

which was written by the minorityleader, Senator REID, I have to say thatthe Senators who serve on the Demo-cratic side of the aisle are committedto the traditions, precedents, and therules of the Senate. We, of course, willwork to preserve this great institutionand protect our own individual rightsand responsibilities in the Senate.

I welcome what Senator MCCONNELL,our new majority leader, has envi-sioned as a more active floor in the

Senate where we do not run intolengthy and repeated filibusters butbring amendments to the floor, debatethem, vote on them, and ultimatelypass legislation. That is the procedureof the Senate which historically hadbeen honored but fell, sadly, into dis-repair over the last several years.

Although we hope our minority sta-tus in the Senate is short-lived, I thinkwe will establish that the Democratsare a much better minority when itcomes to the Senate than perhapsthose on the other side of the aisle, butonly time will tell.

f

NEW CONGRESS

Mr. DURBIN. I have the opening re-marks from the Democratic leader,HARRY REID, which I wish to read intothe RECORD.

Senator REID states:

As some already know, I had a mishap inmy home last week while exercising. As a re-sult, I sustained several broken bones in myface and ribs. As bad as that sounds, I amdoing well and recovering quickly.

I regret I am not on the Senate floor tomake these remarks in person, but my doc-tors have urged caution and ordered me tostay home while I recuperate.

I thank my friend, the Assistant Demo-cratic Leader, for delivering my remarkstoday.

A Greek philosopher once wrote: There is

nothing permanent except change. Our na-tions elections prove that theory every twoyears. This is one of those times of changefor the Senate and for our country.

The desks in this Chamber have been rear-ranged, committee assignments adjusted,and a new majority assumes control for thenext two years. Or in other words, its justanother Wednesday in January at the startof a new Congress.

For all of the changes, our duties as UnitedStates Senators remain the same: We arehere to help working Americans and ensureour government has all it needs to serve thepeople.

In spite of almost no Republican coopera-tion over the last six years, weve made sig-nificant strides in many regards. The newMajority Leader claims the Senate hasnt

achieved, in his words, squat in recentyears. The numbers, however, tell a differentstory. Today the U.S. unemployment ratestands at 5.8 percent. Over the last six yearsthe American economy has added 10 millionjobs. The stock market has reached all-timehighs. Our nations manufacturers are thriv-ing. The American automobile industry wasbrought back from the brink of collapse inspite of Republican opposition. And lets notforget that there are more than 10 millionAmericans newly insured with health carecoverage.

While some here in Washington may seethat as squat, the economic recovery hasbeen very real to American families. I know

how important it has been to working Ne-vadans.

And while we worked to improve the econ-omy without Republicans help, we alsoworked to fulfill our constitutional obliga-tion to offer advice and consent on Presi-dential nominations.

Just last Congress we confirmed 132judgesthe most since the Carter Adminis-tration. Overall, we confirmed 611 of thePresidents nominees last Congress in spiteof Republican opposition. As we speak, wehave an Attorney General and a Secretary ofDefense waiting to be confirmed. I remind

everyone that last Congress the Republicansmounted an unprecedented filibuster for anominee for Secretary of Defense [a formerRepublican Senator].

I challenge my friend, the Majority Leader,to change course and work with SenateDemocrats in confirming the Presidentsnominees in the 114th Congress. Working to-gether, we can easily meet and surpass lastCongresss benchmark of 611 confirmations.

My Republican colleagues, and especiallythe Majority Leader, should also know thatSenate Democrats are especially eager tocontinue to help American families.

Working together, we can send meaningful,bipartisan legislation to the President forhis signature.

The mistakes of the past, the gratuitousobstruction and wanton filibustering will not

be a hallmark of the Democratic minority inthe 114th Congress. The filibuster is an indis-pensable tool of the minority, but Repub-licans abuse of it last Congress has come toepitomize the gridlock here in the UnitedStates Capitol.

To be clear, I have no intention of justrolling over. I cant. Not when the middleclass is teetering on the verge of extinction.

Any attempt to erode protections forworking American familiesthe dismantlingof Dodd-Frank, the weakening of net neu-trality rules, or the Republicans never-end-ing quest to repeal the Affordable Care Act,known as ObamaCarewill be met with swiftand unified Democratic opposition.

But wed rather legislate together. Andtheres plenty of common ground for bipar-tisan compromise if Republicans are willing.

That is the end of the statementfrom Senator REID.

f

TERRORIST ATTACK

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, through-out the history of the United States ofAmerica, we have had a remarkable al-liance with the nation of France. Itbears remembering and repeating thatthe French stood by our side whenAmerica was fighting for its independ-ence from Great Britain. The Frenchwere honored in many ways for that al-liance and help, including, as I recall, aportrait of the Marquis de Lafayettewhich hangs in the U.S. House of Rep-resentatives to this day.

That was not the only time by anymeans that the French have stood withus and we have stood by their side. Ithappened during World War I, WorldWar II, and many times after that.Through the NATO alliance and inmany other ways, we have worked withthe people of France for common goalsand common purpose, and that is whywe were so saddened this morning tolearn of the news that was reported bythe Tribune:



4/42


Masked gunmen shouting Allahu akbar!stormed the Paris offices of a satirical news-paper Wednesday, killing 12 people before es-caping. It was Frances deadliest terror at-tack in at least two decades.

With a manhunt on, French PresidentFrancois Hollande called the attack on theCharlie Hebdo weekly . . . a terrorist at-tack without a doubt. He said several otherattacks have been thwarted in France in re-cent weeks.

France raised its security alert to thehighest level and reinforced protective meas-ures at houses of worship, stores, media of-

fices and transportation. Top government of-ficials were holding an emergency meetingand Hollande planned a nationally televisedaddress in the evening. Schools closed theirdoors.

World leaders including President BarackObama and German Chancellor AngelaMerkel condemned the attack, but sup-porters of the militant Islamic State groupcelebrated the slayings as well-deserved re-venge against France.

This event in Paris recalls what welived through not that long ago whenthe United Stateson September 11,2001was attacked by terrorists andmore than 3,000 innocent Americanslost their lives in New York, in Wash-ington, and in the countryside of Penn-

sylvania. Many of us recall that at thatmomentthat sad, awful momentpeople around the world rallied tostand with the United States in ourgrief and in our determination for jus-tice. We particularly remember thatthe people of France did that, and theyspoke out in one voice saying theywere going to be by our side in thisbattle against terrorism. I think it isappropriate today that we follow suit,that we join in that same spirit. A cemoment tragique, nous sommes tousParisiens, nous sommes tousFrancais.

Let us all work together not only tobring justice to this horrible situa-

tionthis attack on free press inFrancebut let us also work togetherto bring an end to terrorism in ourtime. We can work with our allies andfriends in France to achieve that goal.

f

RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME

The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr.PAUL). Under the previous order, theleadership time is reserved.

f

MORNING BUSINESS

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Underthe previous order, the Senate will bein a period of morning business, withSenators permitted to speak thereinfor up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I sug-gest the absence of a quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Theclerk will call the roll.

The assistant legislative clerk pro-ceeded to call the roll.

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I askunanimous consent that the order forthe quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Withoutobjection, it is so ordered.

CONGRATULATING SENATOR PAT-RICK LEAHY ON 40 YEARS INTHE U.S. SENATE

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, 40 yearsago this week, a young prosecutor fromVermont was sworn into the Senate.He was part of a historic group of law-makers often referred to as the Wa-tergate babies. Today that man isPresident pro tempore emeritus as wellas the most senior Member of the Sen-ate. It is an honor to serve with him

and to recognize Senator PATRICKLEAHY for reaching this historic mile-stone.

PATRICK LEAHY remains the youngestSenatorand the only Democratic Sen-atorever sent to this body by the peo-ple of his home State of Vermont. Butthat is not what makes PATRICK LEAHYexceptional. What makes him excep-tional is the fact that he is a consensusbuildera thoughtful man committedto making government work better. Ithas been a privilege for me to workclosely with Senator LEAHY serving onthe Senate Judiciary Committee.

As a member of that committee since1979 and for many years as chairman,

Senator LEAHY made a profound markon Americas system of justice. He hasvoted on the nominations of every sit-ting member of the U.S. SupremeCourt. He has fought to preserve thebalance between liberty and securityduring especially difficult times. Sen-ator LEAHY has also fought to makeAmericas respect for human rights acornerstone of our Nations foreign pol-icy. He has been a leader in the globaleffort to ban antipersonnel landmines.He championed the Leahy Law toprevent U.S. tax dollars from bene-fiting human rights abusers abroad. Hewas a leader in recent efforts to freeU.S. citizen Alan Gross from a Cuban

jail and in the modernization of ourNations policy toward that island.One last point, PAT LEAHY is also, al-

most certainly, the biggest DeadHead in the Senate. Twenty yearsago, he invited his good friend, JerryGarciathe lead guitarist for theGrateful Deadto join him for lunchhere in the Capitol. Two other mem-bers of the band came, too: drummerMickey Hart and bass player Phil Lesh.As one might imagine, this unusualfoursome created a bit of a stir in theSenate Dining Room. Then in walkedSenator Strom Thurmond of SouthCarolina. Ever the bridgebuilder, Sen-ator LEAHY walked over to Senator

Thurmond and said: Please join us.Theres someone I want you to meet.It is a story worth pondering as we

begin the 114th Congress. If we couldall be so open to creating unlikely alli-ances, there is no telling what wemight achieve in the next 2 years.

Again, I thank my friend SenatorLEAHY on his 40 years of service to thepeople of Vermont, America, and to thegreat causes that face our generation.

Mr. President, I yield the floor andsuggest the absence of a quorum.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Theclerk will call the roll.

The assistant legislative clerk pro-ceeded to call the roll.

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I askunanimous consent that the order forthe quorum call be rescinded.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. Withoutobjection, it is so ordered.

f

RESTORING THE SENATESGREATNESS

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, I risetoday to address the state of the Sen-ate and how to restore its greatness.

Yesterday, I was sworn in as thePresident pro tempore. Although therehave been some notable exceptionsthroughout history, the modern prac-tice of the Senate has been to elect asthe President pro tempore the mostsenior Member of the majority party.As one noted historian of the Senatehas generously written, election of asenator to the office of president protempore has always been consideredone of the highest honors offered to asenator by the Senate as a body.

I am greatly honored to have been se-lected for this position, but I am keen-ly aware of the great responsibilitiesthat come with it. The President protempore of the Senate is one of onlythree legislative offices established bythe U.S. Constitution, and in recentdecades it has been occupied by true gi-ants of the Senate. Their names, whichinclude Vandenberg, Russell, Byrd,Stevens, Inouye, and LEAHY, resonateas some of the greatest legislators everto serve in this body.

Beyond the President pro temporesformal responsibilities in presidingover the Senate and helping ensure thecontinuity of government, this officerepresents a unique opportunity to as-sist the majority leader in guiding theSenate as it addresses the criticalissues facing our Nation. In that sense,the President pro tempore serves as anelder statesman, sharing accumulatedknowledge and lessons learned throughlong experience.

I consider it fortuitous that the be-ginning of my service as President protempore coincides with the start of anew year. For many, the new year is atime for reflecting upon the past andreviewing commitments for the future.I believe we as Senators should use thisopportunity for some much neededintrospection about the state of thisinstitution.

The Senate has long been heralded asthe worlds greatest deliberative body.With so many critical challenges fac-ing our Nation today, there has neverbeen a more important time for theSenate to live up to its storied legacyand to fulfill its responsibilities to theAmerican people.

Central to properly understandingour responsibilities as Senators is toappreciate the Senates role in our sys-tem of government. This means under-standing both the Senates purposesand its unique place at the center ofour constitutional structure. It is im-portant for us to consider these issues.



5/42


James Madison famously called theSenate the great anchor of the govern-ment. He described its purpose as two-fold: first to protect the peopleagainst their rulers; secondly to pro-tect the people against the transientimpressions on to which they them-selves might be led.

The Senate accomplishes the firstgoalprotecting the people againsttheir rulersby playing a crucial rolein the appointment and removal ofboth judges and executive branch offi-cers. The Presidents power to appointis tempered by the requirement thathis appointees receive the Senates ad-vice and consent. Additionally, theSenate possesses the power to removefrom office any official that has en-gaged in high crimes and mis-demeanors. The Presidents power toenter into treaties is also criticallychecked by the requirement that theSenate provide its advice and consentto a treaty before ratification.

As such, the President does not haveunfettered power to fill up executiveoffices, pack the courts or make agree-ments with foreign nations. He cannotstaff agencies with corrupt, incom-petent or ideologically extreme croniesunless the Senate allows him to do so.He cannot conclude treaties that willharm American interests unless theSenate gives its assent. In selectinglife-tenured judges to apply the Con-stitution and laws of the land, thePresident cannot act unless the Senateconfirms his nominee. In all of thesesettings, the Senate serves as a crucialcheck against executive abuse.

The Senate accomplishes the secondof Madisons goalsprotecting againsttemporary shifts in popular opinionthrough its character and its institu-tional structure. In contrast to thelarge, transient House, the Senate issmall, more stable, and therefore, ithas the opportunity to be morethoughtful. Four hundred thirty-fiveMembers inhabit the House, and only100 fill this Chamber. The entire Housestands for election every 2 years. Natu-rally, reelection is constantly on Rep-resentatives minds. Senators, by con-trast, have 6-year terms and only one-third go before the voters each elec-tion. Even with the pressures of mod-ern campaigns, these divergent charac-teristics produce fundamentally dif-ferent institutions.

But the Framers designed the Senateto do much more than merely checktransient and occasionally intemperateimpulses. They created the Senate torefine the publics will and to givemore wisdom and stability to the gov-ernment. The Framers chose the Sen-ates relatively small size to enablemore thorough debate and to provideindividual Members greater oppor-tunity to improve legislative proposals.Longer, staggered terms would giveMembers greater flexibility to resistinitially popular yet ultimately unwiselegislation. They would also guardagainst temporary majorities. A flukeelection may produce significant ma-

jorities for one party that 2 years laterdisappears. This can lead to wildswings in the law as each new majorityseeks to enact a vastly different agen-da during its brief period of power.Overlapping terms help to avert thisdanger.

Finally, statewide constituencies re-quire Senators to appeal to a broaderset of interestsincluding the concernsof the State governments themselvesthan do narrow, more homogenous

House districts.To these constitutional characteris-tics, the Senate has added a number oftraditionssome formal and others in-formalthat have enhanced its delib-erative character. These include theright to extended debate, an openamendment process, and a committeesystem that gives all Membersfromthe most seasoned chairmen to thenewest freshmena hand in draftingand improving legislation.

The late Senator Byrd liked to saythat as long as the Senate retains thepower to amend and the power of un-limited debate, the liberties of the peo-ple will remain secure.

The Senate protects liberty by givingeach Senator an active role in the leg-islative process. This multiplies thechecks against bad laws and expandsthe universe of individuals working tomake good laws better. It erects whatMadison called a necessary fenceagainst hasty and unwise governmentaction. It enables each Senator tobring his or her own wisdom and con-sidered judgment to bear on pressingnational issues.

When the Senate functions properly,it is a truly deliberative body in whichall Senators work to identify the com-mon good and the best means toachieve that common good. The Fed-eralist describes the common good asthe permanent and aggregate interestsof the community. This is to be distin-guished from the individual good,which may vary from person to personand which may not result in the Na-tions benefit.

Much like the Senate is designed toprotect against transient shifts in pub-lic opinion, it is also designed to enableSenators to pursue the common good.Senators are able to prioritize achiev-ing the correct results over doing whatis politically convenient. The best an-swers do not always immediatelypresent themselves nor are they alwayseasily explained. Longer terms giveSenators more time to investigate, toanalyze, to reconsider, and to recali-brate, and so do robust debate and anopen amendment process. These arecritical elements of our deliberativepursuit of the common good.

Another crucial component of ourpursuit of common good is prudence.Aristotle called prudence the legisla-tive science because it concerns thebest means of achieving the most goodin practice. Prudence restrains us fromseeking immediate and complete vindi-cation of a single abstract principle.Instead, it counsels us to work within

our existing circumstances to vindicatethe enduring principles upon which ourliberty depends.

While we should remain true to ourprinciples, we must also recognize thatwe operate in an imperfect world wherewe do not control all of the levers ofpower. We cannot simply charge for-ward blind to present realities. To doso is to jeopardize our hopes for achiev-ing any meaningful success, because inthe messy world of politics, adopting

an all-or-nothing strategy usually pro-duces only the latternothing.Politics is the art of the possible. Ide-

ology is important, and rhetoric is cap-tivating. But at the end of the day,when the campaign is over, the Amer-ican people sent us here to govern. Weare here to protect their liberties andto protect and improve their lives.When we grandstand or hold out forimpossible demands, we do nothing buta disservice. The Framers gave us stag-gered, extended terms so that we coulduse our independent judgment to getthings done. We should try to get to it.

An astute commentator observedthat the Senate stands at the cross-roads of our constitutional system. Itshares power with the other branchesof the Federal Government. It ensurestemperance in the legislative branch.It must consent or not consent to thePresidents treaties and appointments,and it plays a critical role in appoint-ments to the Supreme Court.

But it alsoand this is unique amongthe branches of the Federal Govern-mentembodies the interests of fed-eralism and State power at the na-tional level.

The Framers created the Senate tobe much more than a simple legislativebody. The Senate is uniquely posi-tioned to mediate both among the Fed-eral branches of government and be-tween the Federal and State govern-ments. As such, the Senate truly em-bodies the role described by one wisecommentator as the sober guardian ofthe Republic.

Our responsibilities as Senators fol-low directly from the Senates con-stitutional role. As the peoples rep-resentatives and as envoys of our indi-vidual States interests, we are ac-countable to our States and to our Na-tion. We do not serve any one party orprinciple, or any particular ideology orfaction. We may align ourselves intocertain groupsRepublican and Demo-crat, conservative and liberalfor pur-poses of organization and cooperation,but we are Senators first. Other labelsare secondary.

Civility and statesmanship must beour constant ideals. Madison once in-structed that the Senate is to consistin its proceeding with more coolness,with more system, and with more wis-dom, than the popular branch. A keypurpose of this body is to calm the pas-sions that arise from the heat of polit-ical discourse. As such, we must alwaysbe courteous in our communicationsone with another, both formal and in-formal, on the floor and off, face-to-



6/42


face or on a video screen. When we dis-agree we need to do so with dignity andrespect, acknowledging the sincere mo-tives and passions of even our mostfirm adversaries.

Statesmanship connotes public spir-itedness and a willingness to com-promise in pursuit of broader goals.Petulance and unilateralism accom-plish nothing in this body. Any Senatorwho would choose the glow of the cam-era over the prospect for meaningful

achievement seriously misunderstandstheir role as a Senator.Next on the list of practices Senators

must follow are prudence and consid-ered judgment. I have already spokenabout prudence. It is a habit of mindthat focuses on present realities andachievable goalsnot pie-in-the-skypipedreams. Prudent lawmakers makeexperiencenot theorytheir guide,and they recognize that success in a re-public requires harmonizing competingvalues.

Considered judgment is closely tiedto prudence. Prudence is not rash. Itrequires deliberation and thoughtfulanalysis. Our constituents sent us herebecause they trusted our judgment andfavored the general outlines we pre-sented in our campaigns. Now that weare here, it is time to put our plansinto action. We do this by studyingproblems, investigating proposals, andcarefully choosing solutions that bestcohere with our principles. Exercisingjudgment is an individual matter. Col-leagues and opinion leaders may guideour deliberations, but the ultimatechoice of policy is one which we eachmust make on our own.

The final two obligations I wish tohighlight are our responsibilities: first,to seek the common good through ear-nest deliberation, and second, toachieve consensus to the extent pos-sible.

As I explained, the Framers designedthe Senate so that Members would beable to seek the common good encum-bered by few political constraints. Be-cause we stand for election only every6 years, we are less susceptible toswings in public opinion. We have theindependence to value long-term im-pact over short-term politics. And be-cause we are a small bodyrelativelyspeakingall Members are able to par-ticipate fully in the legislative processand to add their voice of praise, warn-ing or suggestion to each proposal thatwe consider. We deliberate not to scorepoints or to craft sound bites but be-cause we believe that in the contest ofopposing views, the best answers willwin out.

I mentioned consensus. Althoughmuch of our day-to-day operations areconducted by unanimous consent, obvi-ously we do not do everything aroundhere by consensus. We are 100 fiercelyindependent legislators. Even at theend of a lengthy debate with numerousopportunities for amendment, we mayremain sharply divided about a billswisdom or the objective it seeks toachieve. But that does not mean con-

sensus should not be our goal. Weshould take counsel from past legisla-tive victories which show that broadvictories produce lasting reform,whereas narrow partisan power playstend to yield only rancor and repeatedattempts to repeal.

For 38 years I have had the extraor-dinary privilege of serving in the Sen-ate. During that time, I have witnessedit at its best and, more recently, at itsworst. My experience throughout thelast four decades has confirmed to methe wisdom of the first Adlai Steven-son, then Vice President, who in his1897 farewell address captured the es-sence of the Senate:

In this Chamber alone are preserved with-out restraint two essentials of wise legisla-tions and good government: the right ofamendment and of debate. Great evils oftenresult from hasty legislation; rarely fromthe delay which follows full discussion anddeliberation.

In recent years these foundations ofthe Senates unique charactermean-ingful debate and an open amendmentprocesshave come under sustained as-sault by those who have prioritizedscoring political points over preserving

the Senates essential role in our sys-tem of self-government.

Rather than simply bemoan this re-cent institutional damage, we have aduty to use this new Congress to re-store the Senate. By returning to reg-ular order and committee work, pro-moting robust debate, and enabling adeliberative amendment process, wecan make the Senate work againbothDemocrats and Republicans.

First, robust debate. Senators abil-ity to engage in meaningful, sub-stantive debate is at the core of theSenates identity. Through robust dis-cussions and inclusive deliberation,Senators examine all sides of an issue.

We air opposing views and ensure thatin haste we do not make worse theproblems we are trying to solve.

When individual Senators have theright to debate a matter fully, it en-genders confidence that the final legis-lation produced represents the bestpossible bill upon which the Senate canagree. Many pieces of legislation thatseemed imperfect passed this way andhave gone on to benefit the Nationgreatly. For over 200 years, the Senatehas provided each Member broad pre-rogative to debate and discuss the crit-ical issues of the day. In the earlyyears of the Republic, visitors flockedto the Senate gallery to hear Senatorssuch as Daniel Webster, Henry Clay,and John C. Calhoun, just to mentionthree, to hear them expound upon mat-ters of national concern.

It was in this body that some of ourNations most important debates overtaxation, slavery, expansion, and for-eign affairs took place. For manyyears, free-flowing debate was so inter-twined with the identity of the Senatethat no effective cloture mechanism tocut off debate even existed until wellinto the 20th century.

While the need to end debate in cer-tain circumstances is clear, we have

strayed too far from this important de-liberative tradition. In particular, thepractice of filing for cloture at thevery same time a bill is brought up forconsideration has proliferated to a dis-turbing degree. When a full and robustdebate has occurred, invoking clotureis often appropriate. But we must notabuse this power by reflexively seekingto cut off debate before it even begins.Let us return to a system where allSenators have a say in what the Senate

does and are able to express their viewswithout getting cut off.The second Senate hallmark we must

restore is an open amendment process.The reason for an open amendmentprocess is to improve legislation. Nosingle Member can foresee all contin-gencies that may arise or identify allof the potential pitfalls.

There is a reason there are 100 Sen-ators, not just 1. More eyes mean moremistakes caught and more opportuni-ties for improvement. An open amend-ment process also facilities consensus.One amendment may resolve a par-ticular Senators concern, allowinghim to support what he or she once op-

posed. Another may make a bill politi-cally palatable to Senators who sup-port the bill in principle but not in itscurrent form.

Amendments may also achieve buy-in as Senators who successfully amenda bill find themselves more committedto final passage. When Senators retainthe ability to amend legislation, suchinput can establish a wide and lastingbase of support that crosses partisanand ideological lines. Indeed, an openand honest amendment process has fre-quently enabled diverse coalitions tofind important areas of agreement.

I even found that the former Senatorfrom Massachusetts, the late Ted Ken-nedy, the famed liberal lion of the Sen-ate, a man I came to Washington tobattle, could be a productive partner.In the process, he became one of myclosest friends, even if we widely dis-agreed on a lot of things. I miss himpersonally. We were able to do thingsthat would not have been done had itnot been for the work we did together.

Unfortunately, over the past severalyears, the Senates traditionally openamendment process has come under in-creasing attack. For the sake of shield-ing electorally vulnerable Senatorsfrom tough votes, we have emasculatedone of this institutions critical char-acteristics. It is time to stop manipu-lating Senate rules to prevent amend-ments. It is time to stop blockingamendments for fear of tough votes. Itis time to return to healthier ways ofdoing things, where we work togetherto improve legislation rather thandoing all we can to keep Members outof the process.

The third hallmark we must restoreis a vigorous and productive committeesystem. Although perhaps not as mori-bund as our amendment process, therole our committees play in draftingand refining bills has indeed suffered inrecent years. For centuries Senate



7/42


committees have served as the primaryforum for critical deliberation andamendments in this body.

Bills introduced in the Senate are re-ferred to the relevant committeeswhere Members have the opportunityto consider, debate, and amend the billat length. Committees are the work-horses of the Senate or at least shouldbe. On the floor we can do only onething at a time. But any number ofcommittees and subcommittees mayoperate simultaneously, allowing Sen-ators to work out language and makecompromises on multiple bills at thesame time.

Committees also perform a crucialinvestigative function. They hold hear-ings, call witnesses, and solicit expertopinions on a wide variety of issues,enabling Members to expand their un-derstanding and to better fine-tune in-dividual bills. Lately, however, we havewitnessed a disturbing trend of bypass-ing the committee process altogetherby bringing bills directly to the floorfor votes.

This practice undermines committeework and frustrates Members who dili-gently seek to move their legislative

priorities through the committee. Italso deprives bills of the benefits ofcommittee review, which include moresearch and consideration of language,opportunities for comment by outsideexperts, and the ability to address sup-port for amendments without tying upprecious floor time.

A healthy committee process is es-sential to a well-functioning Senate.This body is not a fiefdom. We do notconvene merely to give our assent toimmutable messaging bills. We are sup-posed to work together to write,amend, and pass important legislation.When Senators bring up for consider-ation bills they have written without

input from other Members, manipulateSenate procedure to prevent flooramendment on those bills, and then si-multaneously file cloture to cut off de-bate, they act as autocrats rather thanagents of democracy.

Lets return this body to one that op-erates by consensus, not dictate. Letsreturn the committee process to itsproper place in our legislative land-scape, as the first line of review ratherthan an utter irrelevancy. Lets restorethe Senate to its proper role in ourconstitutional system by restoring thetraditions that have made this body sogreat: robust debate, an open amend-ment process, an active, meaningful

committee process.Equipped with these tools, the Sen-ate historically never shied away fromtaking on what everyone agreed werethe toughest issues of the day. Yes, wehad to take tough votes. Yes, we couldnot rush legislation through as fast aswe sometimes would have liked. Yes,we sometimes felt deep disappointmentwhen proposals we championed fellshort. But while the Senates rules canbe frustrating and politically cum-bersome, they are what allowed theSenate to serve the country so well forso very long.

Restoring the Senate in this mannerwill not be easy. After years of bitterpartisan tension, we cannot expect acomplete change to come overnight.But by reestablishing our historic aimsand reinstituting our designing modesof operation, including robust debate,an open amendment process, and reg-ular order through committee work,the Senate can once more be about thepeoples business and observe the titleof the worlds greatest deliberative

body.f

WISHING SENATOR HARRY REID ASPEEDY RECOVERY

Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, one of myfriends in this body is the distinguishedminority leader, HARRY REID. HARRYand I have been friends for a long time.He has served here for a long time. Heserved well in many respects. He cer-tainly was a tough majority leader. Heis a tough guy.

Recently he suffered some very se-vere injuries. He is mending. These in-juries seem to be injuries he can han-dle, although very strong, tough inju-ries. I wish him the best, that he maybe able to recuperate well, come backagain to this deliberative body, andplay the role he needs to play for theminority in this illustrious body.

HARRY and I believe many things to-gether, especially in the religious area.He is a fine man. His wife Landra is avery fine woman. I am glad to see thather health has improved. She is a ter-rific person. Both of them are terrificpeople in their own right. I pray thatthe Lord will heal HARRY and make iteasier for him to come back as soon ashe can. Being a tough guy, he will beback here pretty soon. I wish him thebest. It is no secret that Elaine and Ihave been praying for him. Hopefully,those prayers will be efficacious.

I have great respect for my col-leagues on the other side as well as myown colleagues on this side. These aregood people. There are very few Sen-atorsnot more than 2in my 38 yearsin the Senate that I thought might nothave much redeeming value. Everybodyelse has played significant roles in thisbody, sometimes that I hotly contestedand differed with, but neverthelessvery good people over all these years.

HARRY REID is one of the nicest peo-ple one will ever meet off the Senatefloor. He is all right on the Senatefloor too. All I can say is that I wishhim well. I am praying for his recov-ery. I want him to succeed in everyway. He is from our neighboring State.Nevada is very important to us. Welike both Senators from Nevada. Sen-ator HELLER is one of the finest Sen-ators here. They work well in Nevadasinterests together. I hope everythinggoes well with Senator REID and hiswife Landra and his lovely family.They are good family people.

I wanted to make those comments onthe floor because of the high esteem inwhich I hold HARRY. Yes, we disagreeon a lot of issues, sometimes pretty

strongly we disagree, but great Sen-ators can do that. They can get over itquickly too.

I hope the remarks I made earlier inthe day on this deliberative body willbe taken up by everybody in the Senateto realize this is the greatest delibera-tive body in the world. We need tomake sure it remains such. That meanstough votes. It means tough amend-ments. It means long days here some-times, but it also means an ability tohave a rapport with my friends, notonly on this side but the other side aswell and for them to have a rapport notonly with their side but with our side.

Lets hope we can build somethingand lets hope we can bring our twosides together and work in the best in-terests of the country and get somethings done that are sorely in need anddo things that both Democrats and Re-publicans can say: We did it together.Yes, there were tough times. Yes, wediffered from time to time. But we didit together, and we did it in the best in-terest of the country.

I hope both leaders will be able towork together in this manner and thatall of us will do our work in the best

interest of this country. I do not thinkwe necessarily have to forget politics,but we ought to sublimate them some-times to the point where they do notinterfere with getting very importantwork done.

I wish HARRY REID the best. As I said,he is in my prayers.

The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-ator from Missouri.

f

JOBS

Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, first ofall, this is the first opportunity I havehad to follow our new President protempore of the Senate on the floor. He

was just elected yesterday.I have spoken on the floor at timeswhen he has been in other leadershiproles. He is a solid Member of this Sen-ate whom we rally around in so manyways. The comments he just madeabout the leader of our friends on theother side and the importance of fam-ily to Senator REIDthat is also im-portant to Senator HATCH. People areimportant to Senator HATCH. I believehe is going to be a tremendous Presi-dent pro tempore of the Senate, chair-man of the Finance Committee, and acritical leader at a critical time.

The comments he made on the floortoday about Senators being willing totake tough votes, to take positions onissues, to let the American peopleknow where we standthat is not onlywhere the Senate ought to be but in somany ways it is where Senator HATCHhas always been as a Member of theSenate and now as the highest electedofficial in the Senate, the Presidentpro tempore of the Senate. I look for-ward to seeing him do that job, seekinghis advice, and watching his leadershipas he leads us now in multiple ways inthe Senate.

Mr. HATCH. Would the Senator yieldfor a comment?



8/42


Mr. BLUNT. I yield to the Senator.Mr. HATCH. I thank my dear friend

from Missouri for being so kind andthoughtful to me and the Senate. I ap-preciate our friendship and the leader-ship he provides in this body.

Mr. BLUNT. I thank my friend for hisleadership and his comments.

The Presiding Officer and I are look-ing at legislation we looked at lastyear where the Senate would simplyhave to stand up on rules and regula-tions that have an impact on the econ-omy and say Yes, we are going to im-prove those or No, we are not goingto do those. That would be a role forthe Senate where the regulators for thefirst time have an obstacle and an op-portunity to come to the people whohave to go to the voters and say: Whatdo you think about this rule? What doyou think about this regulation?

I look forward to seeing the REINSAct again that would put some morecontrols over regulators, which boththe Presiding Officer and I have workedon.

Today I will talk for a few momentsabout the work we will hopefully get toquickly.

The first numbered bill in this newSenate is the bill to authorize the Key-stone Pipeline. In the 6 years that Can-ada has been waiting to try to sell us aproduct that we need, I have spokenabout thisas many of us havemanytimes. It is hard to actually thinkabout what I might say today thathasnt been said before in that 6-yearperiod of trying to do what I believeand what most Americans believe isthe logical thing for us to do.

Our best trading partner, Canadamore North American energy is one ofthe critical keys to our economic fu-ture. As I over and over again think ofthe list of opportunities in front of us,that has to be near the top. What hap-pens when we have more American en-ergy? What happens when we are moreself-sufficient with our two closestneighbors for the energy we use, theenergy we need? What happens whenwe are less dependent on economiesthat we dont do as much business withor places that arent as friendly to usas our neighbors to the north and ourneighbors to the south?

More American energy has an impacton utility bills, it has an impact ontransportation, and it has an impact onwhether we are going to make morethings. An economy that grows thingsand makes things is stronger than aneconomy where we just trade serviceswith each other. We should be lookingfor those things which create that com-petitive incentive for us to get backinto manufacturing.

In the last session of Congress, wewere able to pass a bill I cosponsoredwith Senator BROWN from Ohio on ad-vanced manufacturing, and I think it isgoing to have an impact on doingthings in different ways, but I dontsuggest that it would have a greaterimpact than a utility bill that some-body thinking about building a factory

understood that they had a great like-lihood of being able to pay for a longtime and in a competitive way or a de-livery system that works. Those arethe kinds of things that will createmore American jobs.

The Keystone Pipeline clearly cre-ates some jobs in and of itself. I think20,000 jobs or so is the estimate just tobuild the pipeline and another 20,000 forall of the support of material andthings that go into that pipeline.

I think the Presidents own State De-partment has a number of 42,000 jobsthat would be created if we go to thisshovel-ready project. We had a lot ofdiscussion in the country when thePresident became President about theimportance of finding shovel-readyprojects. This is a project where peoplehave had the shovels in hand for a longtime. They have a product we need. Weare their best trading partner. It is log-ical that they would want to sell it tous. It is equally logical that we shouldwant to buy it from them. The StateDepartment says over and over againand this is the State Department wherethe Secretary of State was put in place

by the President, who yesterday saidhe would veto this billthe State De-partment says over and over again thatthere is no environmental impact weshould be concerned about.

For people who say: Well, the Cana-dians should be concerned about theimpact of taking that oil out of theground, that is really going to happen.The oil sands are going to be heated up.The oil is coming out of the ground. Itis going to be sold to somebody. Thequestion is, Do we take advantage ofthat logical opportunity or do we givethat opportunity to somebody else?

When we get into this debate nextweek, somebody will say: Well, maybethere are 40,000 jobs to build the pipe-line, but there are only three or fourdozen jobs to run the pipeline. Well, ofcourseit is a pipeline. It is not com-plicated to do, but it is the logical andeasiest way to move fuel that we need,oil that we need, oil that would becomepart of our commerce and other com-merce.

But anybody who thinks that thoseare the only jobs that would be createdwhen we grasp the idea of more Amer-ican energy just isnt thinking aboutwhat this means to our economy.There are many jobs to be created.That is why this has become such animportant issue and such an importantvotenot just for the pipeline itselfbut for the message it sends to theAmerican workforce, the message itsends to people who are thinking aboutmaking things in America, and themessage it sends about our future econ-omy. This is one of many things thatare just waiting for us to take advan-tage of them so that we can grow oureconomy in new and positive ways.

Among the things that will be saidthat I will disagree with on this in thenext few days: Well, this is only 35 per-manent jobs. Anybody who believesthat embracing more American energy

is only 35 American jobs is either kid-ding themselves or just trying to kidthe American people.

We need to take advantage of this op-portunity. There is no governmentfunding involved. It is just governmentapproval. This is a $7 billion project,42,000 jobs. The government just has tosay yes.

Six years and several months agoagoI think about 2 months ago nowwe passed the 6-year anniversary of the

Canadians having the application andasking us to let them do this. Why dothey even have to do that? Becausethey cross an international border. Webuild pipelines in the country all thetime with very little Federal involve-ment.

This is revenue for the States, com-munities, and counties this pipelinegoes through. There is a revenuestream there. You pay for the perma-nent ability to have that infrastruc-ture available to you. It is a $7 billionproject, revenue for State and localgovernment, but most importantly, itis a sign from the people of the UnitedStates of America through their gov-ernment that we are going to take ad-vantage of this great opportunity ofmore American energy that is in frontof us.

Since he came to the Senate thesame day I did 4 years ago, SenatorHOEVEN has been a leading advocate asa North Dakotan. He understands whatenergy can do for the economy. He alsounderstands the importance of beingable to transport that energy productaround in the right way. It frees traincars for manufactured goods, agri-culture, and other things. It does so inthe best way. Senator MANCHIN, joiningwith Senator HOEVEN as the principalsponsors of the bill, is a leader on theseenergy issues. He understands energyissues. I am pleased to be a cosponsorof this bill. I believe there are 60 of uswho have cosponsored the billclearlyenough to send the bill to the Presi-dents desk. It would be nice if thePresident would look at the oppor-tunity and decide to sign this bill.

This is an important part of the fu-ture of the country. It is time for theSenate, the Congress, and the Govern-ment of the United States to wrap itsarms around what this means to thepeople of the United States. It meansgood jobs. It means a different futurethan if we dont have it.

One other topic I wish to mentionwhile on the floor isspeaking of goodjobsjobs for veterans. A bill I filed inthe last Congress in the Senate haspassed the House again last night, theHire More Heroes Act. I hope we canget to it quickly. Last year it passed inthe House 406 to 1, but the Senatewouldnt take up the bill that passedthe House 406 to 1.

How do we hire more heroes underthis act? We give people who alreadyhave veterans health benefitsTRICARE or other VA benefitsa lit-tle bit of an exception as an employee.Employers dont have to count them



9/42


toward the 50 employees that trigger alaw that many employers are trying toavoid being affected by, the so-calledAffordable Care Act.

We have a chance to go to those whoserved us and say: Look, we are goingto create one additional opportunity.We are not going to count the fact thatyou already have health care againstyou; we are actually going to let itwork in favor of your opportunity toget a job and to move forward with

that job.Whether it is more American energyor hiring our heroes for jobs they needto havethe veteran unemploymentnumbers are unacceptable. Veteranswho have served since 9/11 at one timelast year had an unemployment rateright at the 9 percent number. Anynumber is unacceptable. We need totake those veterans skills and putthem to work. I hope we do that byquickly following our colleagues on theother side of the buildingwho nowhave passed this bill twiceand gettingthis bill on the Presidents desk aswell.

Hiring our heroes, creating jobs,

looking at more American energyIam hopeful these are the kinds ofthings this Congress will quickly senda message to the President and thecountrythese are the kinds of thingswe want to see happen for more oppor-tunity for young Americans and for allAmericans.

I yield the floor.The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mrs.

FISCHER). The Senator from South Da-kota.

Mr. THUNE. Madam President, Ishare the view of my colleague fromMissouri about the importance of theKeystone Pipeline. We will have an op-portunity over the next several days totalk more extensively about that andthe importance it has to our economyand to energy security. Obviously it issomething that we think is about jobsand the economy, which is why there isso much support for it in the Senateamong Republicans in the Senate, andI would argueI think there will be alot of Democrats as well.

Yesterday Republicans assumed themajority in the Senate thanks to theoverwhelming support of the Americanpeople, and we are ready to roll up oursleeves and go to work.

This week President Obama is goingto be traveling around the country at-tempting to take credit for the recentshred of economic good news we havefinally seen after 6 years of economicstagnation under the Presidents poli-cies. Unfortunately, all of the cam-paign-style tours in the world cannotdisguise the fact that our economy isnowhere near where it should be. Morethan 5 years after the recession sup-posedly ended, Americans are still feel-ing the pinch. Wages are stagnant.Household income has declined by al-most $3,000 on the Presidents watch.The price of everything from healthcare to education has risen. And thePresidents policies have done nothing

to help. In fact, the Presidents policieshave actually made things worse.Whether it is the taxes in the Presi-dents health care law or the energytax proposed by the Presidents out-of-control EPA, the Presidents policieshave done nothing to help the econ-omy.

But there is reason for Americans tobe hopeful. Poll after poll has dem-onstrated that the American people areconcerned about jobs and the economy,

and in the new Congress Republicansare going to make jobs and the econ-omy our priorities. We are committedto passing legislation that would helpcreate jobs, grow the economy, and ex-pand opportunities for struggling mid-dle-class families, and we plan to getstarted right away.

This week the senior Senator fromNorth Dakota, Mr. HOEVEN, reintro-duced legislation to approve the job-creating Keystone XL Pipeline. Ac-cording to the Presidents own StateDepartment, this commonsense projectwould support more than 42,000 jobs. Itwould also substantially increase rev-enue to State and local governments,

providing increased funding for localpriorities such as schools, roads, andbridges.

I can speak firsthand to that becauseit would cross my home county, JonesCounty, in South Dakota. I can say thepeople in my home county see the op-portunity to generate revenues thatwould help support the local school dis-trict in an area of the State which islosing population and having a harderand harder time keeping the schoolopen.

The pipeline has bipartisan supportin both Houses of Congress, and I amhopeful that the President will drop hisinexplicable opposition and finally signoff on this job-creating project.

Republicans also plan to take up theother job-creating measures that spentfar too long languishing in the Demo-cratic-led Senate. The Obamacare taxon lifesaving devices, such as pace-makers and insulin pumps, has alreadyhad a negative impact on jobs and themedical device industry. At a timewhen our economy is still sufferingfrom years of stagnation, repealingthis tax is a no-brainer. I am confidentwe will have bipartisan support for thisrepeal, and I hopeI hopethe Presi-dent will sign it.

Republicans also plan to repeal theObamacare provision that changed thedefinition of full-time work from 40hours per week to 30 hours per week.This provision is forcing businesses toreduce employees hours and wages andhire part-time rather than full-timeworkers in order to comply with theObamacare requirements. Millions ofAmericans who want full-time workare currently stuck in part-time jobsbecause they cant find anything else.The last thing the government shouldbe doing is making it more difficult foremployers to offer full-time positions.

Another Obamacare position that ismaking it difficult for employers to

hire is the employer mandate. Latertoday I will introduce a bill called theHIRE Act, which would make it easierfor employers to hire new workers byexempting Americans who have beenunemployed for more than 27 weeksfrom counting as employees for whoma tax penalty must be paid by the em-ployer under Obamacares employermandate.

In addition to passing job-creatinglegislation, the new Republican major-

ity is committed to increasing congres-sional oversight. Executive branchagencies have been out of control underthe Obama administration. The Presi-dents EPA alone has proposed billionsof dollars worth of regulations thatwill have a catastrophic effect on oureconomy and eliminate tens of thou-sands of jobs, if not hundreds of thou-sands of jobs. Just one of these regula-tionsthe backdoor national energytax on coal-fired powerplantswouldcause Americans energy prices to soarand destroy families livelihoods.

In my State of South Dakota, house-hold energy prices could increase by asmuch as 90 percent. South Dakotans

with incomes below $50,000 a year al-ready spend one-fifthone-fifthoftheir aftertax income on residentialand transportation energy costs, whichis twice the national average, I mightadd. They cant afford a 90-percent in-crease in their costs.

What is more, this national energytax will have almost no effect on ourair quality. It would devastate commu-nities and drive up energy bills in thiscountry for nothing.

The EPA is far from the only Federalagency to have abused its power underthe Obama administration. Take theObama IRS, for example, which tar-geted organizations for extra scrutiny

based on their members political be-liefs. It is past time for Congress to as-sert its oversight authority and checkthe executive branchs overreach.

While Republicans want to work withDemocrats as much as possible, we willnot hesitate to draw a bright line be-tween Democratic and Republican pri-orities.

Republicans want to address some ofthe biggest challenges facing our econ-omy, to put our Nation on the path tolong-term prosperity. That meansdoing things such as reforming our TaxCode, which is inefficient and bloated,making it simpler and fairer for fami-lies and businesses in this country. It

also means reforming our regulatorysystem to eliminate inefficient and in-effective regulations that are discour-aging job growth.

The Democratic-led Senate was pret-ty dysfunctional. The minority partywas largely shut out of the legislativeprocess. Bills were frequently writtenbehind closed doors. The committeeprocess was largely defunct. Too oftenthe Senate floor was a forum for par-tisan politicking rather than seriousdebate. What was the result? Thevoices of too many Americans got shut



10/42


out of the process and the Senate ac-complished next to nothing for theAmerican people.

Republicans intend to change all ofthat. Under Republican control, theSenate will return to regular order.That means bills will once again be de-bated and amended in the open, in com-mittee, before coming to the Senatefloor. Once bills come to the floor, allSenators, regardless of party, will havethe opportunity to offer amendments

and to fully debate legislation before itcomes to a vote.The American people deserve a Sen-

ate that works and Republicans intendto give it to them. The American peo-ple have spent a long time strugglingin the Obama economy, but they areabout to get some relief. Republicansare determined to pass solutions thatwill help create jobs, grow our econ-omy, and expand opportunities forAmerican families. We hopewe hopethe Democrats in the Senate and thePresident will join us.

I yield the floor.The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen-

ator from Vermont.

f

IMPORTANT ISSUES FACING OURCOUNTRY

Mr. SANDERS. Madam President, aswe begin this new session, I think it isimportant for us to remember why weare here and what our job is as Sen-ators. What our job is, it seems to me,is to try to understand the needs of theAmerican people, the problems facingour constituents, and propose real solu-tions to those problems. So before weget involved in all of the debates Iknow we are going to have, let me puton the floor what I believein hearingfrom the people of the State ofVermontare some of the most impor-tant issues facing our country and theneed for the Senate, the Congress, andthe President to address those issues.

First and foremost, to my mind, isthe state of American democracy. Weare a democracy, and men and womenhave fought and died to preserve Amer-ican democracy, which means the peo-ple of Americanot kings, not queens,not an aristocracy but the people ofthis countryregardless of where theycome from or their economic status,have the right to participate in the po-litical process, to elect their leadersand create the future they want forthemselves and their kids.

What is the status of American de-mocracy today? We just came out of amidterm election where Republicansdid very well. But I think it is impor-tant to understand that in that elec-tionthat national election63 per-cent of the American people didntvote. Eighty percent of young peopledidnt vote. The overwhelming major-ity of low-income and working peopledidnt vote.

There are a million reasons an indi-vidual doesnt vote, but my guess isthat for many people they look at thepolitical process and they say: Yes, my

family is hurting. I am working longerhours for lower wages. My job went toChina. My kid cant afford to go to col-lege. I cant afford health insurance.What are those people in Washingtondoing to protect my interest? Notmuchnot the Republicans, not theDemocrats. I am hurting. What arethey doing? People say: Hey, I dontwant to participate in this process. Itdoesnt mean anything. I am not goingto vote.

I think another aspect about whypeople dont vote is they turn on theirTVs and they are bombarded with 30-second ugly television adsoften adsthat come not even from the candidatebut from people who do independentexpenditures. As a result of the disas-trous Supreme Court decision on Citi-zens United, billionaires, corporationsare now allowed to spend unlimitedsums of money in a political process. Ifsomebody is a billionaire, they can nowspend hundreds and hundreds of mil-lions of dollars to destroy other can-didates or to elect the candidates theywant.

Is that truly what American democ-

racy is supposed to be about? Do we be-lieve that men and women fought anddied for us so billionaires can electcandidates to protect the wealthy andthe powerful?

I would say at the very top of theagenda for this Congress should be amovement to overturn, through a con-stitutional amendment, this disastrousSupreme Court ruling on CitizensUnited. In my view, we should move to-ward public funding of elections so allof our people, regardless of their eco-nomic status, can participate in the po-litical process and run for office.

I think the next issue we have totake a very hard look at is the 40-yeardecline of the American middle class. Iknow some of my Republican friendstalk about what has happened underthe Obama administration, and theyare right in saying we are nowherewhere we should be economically. Noone debates that. But let us not forgetwhere we were 6 years ago when GeorgeW. Bush left office. Everybody remem-bers where we were: 700,000 people amontha monthwere losing theirjobs.

People say: Hey, we are growing200,000 or 300,000 jobs a month now, notgood enough. Right, it is not goodenough, but growing 200,000 or 300,000jobs a month is a heck of a lot betterthan losing 700,000 jobs a month.

Our financial systemthe U.S. andthe worldswas on the verge of finan-cial collapse. That is where we werewhen Bush left office. Now Wall Streetis doing very well.

In terms of our deficit, when Bushleft office we had a $1.4 trillion deficit.Now that deficit is somewhere around$500 billion. Are we where we want tobe? No. Are we better off than we were6 years ago? Absolutely.

But when we look at the middle classtoday, we understand the problems arenot just the last 6 years or the last 12

years. The problems are what has beengoing on over the last 40 years. Thefact is, we have millions of workingpeople who are earning, in real infla-tion-accounted dollars, substantiallyless than they were 40 years ago.

How does it happen, when we are see-ing an explosion in technology, whenworker productivity has gone up, thatthe median male workerthat maleworker right in the middle of the econ-omyearns $783 less last year than hemade 41 years ago?

Look at why people are angry. Thatis why they are angry. In inflation-ac-counted-for dollars, the median maleworker is making $783 less last yearthan he made 41 years ago. The medianwoman worker made $1,300 less lastyear than she made in 2007.

Since 1999, the median middle-classfamily has seen its income go down byalmost $5,000 after adjusting for infla-tion. So people all over this countrylook to Washington and they say: Whatis going on? You gave us this greatglobal economy. You have all thesegreat unfettered free-trade agreements.We have all this technology. Yes, Iknow the billionaires are getting rich-

er, millionaires are getting richer, with95 percent of all new income going tothe top 1 percent. We have one family,the Walton family, now owning morewealth than the bottom 40 percent ofAmericans. Yes, the billionaires aredoing great, but what is happening tome?

What is happening to the middleclass? The answer is, for a variety ofreasons, in the last 40 years the middleclass has shrunk significantly. Todaywe have more people living in povertythan at almost any other time inAmerican history, and we have thehighest rate of childhood poverty ofany major country on Earth.

So what do we do? What do we do torebuild the middle class? What do wedo to create the millions of decent-pay-ing jobs we need? Let me throw out afew suggestions that I hope in this ses-sion of Congress we will address.

For a start, everybody in Americaunderstands our infrastructure is col-lapsingno great secret. According tothe American Society of Civil Engi-neers, nearly one-quarter of the Na-tions 600,000 bridges are structurallydeficient or functionally obsolete, andmore than 30 percent have exceededtheir design life.

What that means is that all over thiscountry bridges are being shut downbecause they are dangerous and theyneed repair, almost one third of Amer-icas roads are in poor or mediocre con-dition, and 42 percent of major urbanhighways are congested. As we speak,in cities all over America people arebacked up in traffic jams, burning fueland wasting time because we donthave proper infrastructure. The Amer-ican Society of Civil Engineers says wemust invest $1.7 trillion by 20205yearsjust to get our Nations roads,bridges, and transit to a state of goodrepairmore than four times the cur-rent rate of spending.



11/42


So what happens when we invest ininfrastructure? I will introduce legisla-tion to invest $1 trillion in rebuildingour roads, bridges, water systems,wastewater plants, aquifers, olderschools, and rail. When we do that, $1trillion in infrastructure investmentnot only makes our country more pro-ductive and efficient, but it also cre-ates a substantial number of decent-paying jobs. A $1 trillion investmentwould maintain and create 13 milliondecent-paying jobs. The fastest way tocreate good-paying jobs is to rebuildour crumbling infrastructure. In myview, that should be a very, very highpriority for this Congress.

The second issue I think we need toaddressand I understand there aredifferences of opinion on this issue. Ithink when our kids and our grand-children look back on this period andthey look at an issue such as the Key-stone Pipeline, they will be saying:What were you people thinking about?How could you go forward in terms ofincreasing the exploration and produc-tion of some of the dirtiest oil on thisplanet when virtually all of the sci-entists were telling us that we have to

substantially reduce carbon emissionsand not increase carbon emissions?

In my view, an important mission ofthis Congress is to listen to the scienceand the scientific community. They aretelling us loudly and clearly that cli-mate change is real, climate change iscaused by human activity, climatechange is already causing devastatingproblems in America and around theworld in terms of drought, in terms offlooding, in terms of extreme weatherdisturbances, and we have to transformour energy system away from fossilfuel and into energy efficiency, intoweatherization, into wind, into solar,into geothermal, and into other sus-

tainable energies. When we do that, wenot only lead the world in reversingclimate change, but we also create asignificant number of jobs.

In this last election, interestinglyenough in some of the most conserv-ative States in America, voters votedto raise the minimum wage becausethey understand that a minimum wageof $7.25 an hourhere in Washington,DC, the Federal minimum wageis lit-erally a starvation wage. No family, noindividual can live on $7.25 an hour. Iapplaud all those fast food workers allover this countrypeople who work atMcDonalds and Burger Kingfor hav-ing the courage to go out on the streets

and say: We have to raise the minimumwage. I applaud their courage in doingthat, and I applaud the many Statesaround this country, including theState of Vermont, who have raised theminimum wage. In my view, if someoneworks 40 hours a week, they should notbe living in poverty. I hope that one ofthe major priorities in this Congress isto raise the minimum wage to a livingwage. Over a period of years, I wouldraise that minimum wage to $15 anhour.

It is also unacceptable that in Amer-ica today women who do the same

work as men earn 78 cents on the dollarcompared to male workers. I think wehave to address this discrimination,and we need to move forward with payequity for women workers.

When we talk about the decline ofthe American middle class and the factthat millions of workers are workinglonger hours for lower wages, when wetalk about the fact that in the last 14or so years this country has lost 60,000factories and millions of good-paying

manufacturing jobswhen we put thatissue on the table, we begin the discus-sion which is long, long overdue aboutour trade policies. That is what wehave to talk about. The truth of thematter is that from Republican leader-ship in the White House to Democraticleadership in the White House, therehas been support for a number of tradepolicies which, when looking at thecold facts, have failed. NAFTA hasfailed. CAFTA has failed. PermanentNormal Trade Relations with ChinaPNTRhas failed. Over the last 30years, Republican Presidents andDemocratic Presidents have continuedto push unfettered free trade agree-

ments which say to American workers:Guess what. You are now going to becompeting against somebody in Chinawho makes $1.50 an hour. If you dontlike it, we are going to move our plantto China.

And many companies have done ex-actly that. Do we think that is fair? Dowe think that is right? I dont.

We are going to be coming up withthe Trans-Pacific Partnership tradeagreement, TPP. Without going intogreat detail at this point, I have very,very serious problems with that agree-ment. In terms of the process, no Mem-ber of this Congress has been able towalk into the office where these docu-mentshighly complicated legal docu-mentsare held, bring staff in there,and copy the information. We are notallowed to do that, but we are supposedto vote on a fast-track agreement togive the President the authority to ne-gotiate that agreement. It doesntmake a lot of sense to me.

So I hope we use the TPP as an op-portunity to rethink our trade agree-ments. Trade is a good thing, butAmerican workers should not sufferfrom unfettered free trade. Tradeshould be used to benefit the middleclass and working families of thiscountry and not just the multinationalcorporations.

We live in a highly competitive glob-al economy. Everybody understandsthat. I think we also understand thatour young people are not going to dowell and our economy does not do wellunless our people have the educationthey need to effectively compete inthis global economy. It saddens me tonote that a number of years ago theUnited States of America led the worldin terms of the percentage of peoplewho had college degrees. We were num-ber one. Today we are number 12. Thereason is that the cost of college hassoared at the same time that the in-

come of many middle-class and work-ing-class people has declined. We are ina position now where hundreds of thou-sands of young people thinking abouttheir future look at the cost of college,look at the debt they will incur whenthey leave college, and they are saying:I dont want to go to college. I am notgoing to go to college. I am not goingto get post-high school education. Thatis a very bad thing for this country. Itis a bad thing for our economy. We

should put high up on the agenda theissue of how in America all of our peo-ple, regardless of the income of theirfamilies, can get the education theyneed without going deeply in debt. Thisissue of college indebtedness is a hor-ror.

I remember a few months ago talkingto a young woman in Burlington, VT,who left medical school $300,000 in debt.Her crime was that she wanted to be-come a doctor and work with low-in-come people. She shouldnt be punishedwith a debt of $300,000. Other people aregraduating college $50,000 in debt. Andgraduate schoolwe have attorneys inmy office who have a debt of over

$100,000. We can do better than that asa nation.Those are some of the issues. There

are others out there. But

senaterecord_1-7-15

Documents