Senate Proceeding on Jun 18th, 2009 :: 0:46:10 to 1:01:45
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0:46:09 to 0:46:30( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: florida for patience. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. nelson: and indeed the distinguished senator from tennessee is a great gentleman, and he's a pleasure to work with. madam president, the legislation that's on the floor is the

0:46:10 to 1:01:45( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Bill Nelson

0:46:31 to 0:46:55( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: travel promotion act. this is an important legislation that will help our ec travel to the u.s. and it promotes travel to areas not traditionally visited will highlight the united states

0:46:56 to 0:47:17( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: as aremier travel designation. -- destination. the bill initiates a nationally coordinated travel promotion campaign established in a public-private partnership to increase international travel to the united states. and it also creates a corporation for travel promotion, an independent

0:47:18 to 0:47:39( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: nonprofit corporation to run the travel promotion campaign. the program will be funded equally by a small fee paid by foreign travelers coming into the u.s. and by matching contributions from the travel it's interesting that the

0:47:40 to 0:48:00( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: department of commerce announced that 3.8 million international visitors traveled to this country in march 2009, which was a decrease of 20% compared to march of 2008. that total visitation in the

0:48:01 to 0:48:22( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: first quarter of 2009 was down 14% from the first quarter of 2008. and international visitors spent almost $10 billion during the month of march, 16% less than they had a year ago.

0:48:23 to 0:48:44( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: and this march of 2009 marks the decreases in international visitor spending. and so, the bill is going to go a long way to help reverse the decling trend. i rember back in the 1980's when i, as a member of

0:48:45 to 0:49:08( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: of representatives, chaired the u.s. congressional travel and tourism caucus, and we had little bitty agency in the department of commerce that leveraged so much of the taxpayers' dollars by advertisin overseas to get visitors to come here, which

0:49:09 to 0:49:30( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: broughtpending to our shores. d that's what we're trying to re-create herin the meantime it had been shut down, and we were certainly cutting off our nose to spite our face. this legislation clearly is something that is important to the country. it's important

0:49:31 to 0:49:53( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: because, of course, my state is one of the highest of foreign travelers coming to the u.s. and despite the obvious atractions like disney world, florida's beaches are ranked one, two, and three and number

0:49:54 to 0:50:16( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: nine in a recent ranking of all beaches as the best beaches in the so clearly, this is good for florida. it's good for the u.s. and i hope we will get on with it and pass this legislation. now, while we debate this tourism promotion act, i think

0:50:17 to 0:50:42( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: that we are remiss to not mention the fact that as we are going into this travel and tourism season of the summer, what is happening with gas prices. gas prices have risen for the last 50 days. it's been the longest record

0:50:43 to 0:51:03( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: streak of rises dating back to 1996. and the national average of gas has gone from $1.61 a year ago to more than $2.67 a gallon today. crude oil is now over $70 a

0:51:04 to 0:51:24( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: barrel. it has doubled in the l months. well, how soon we forget the lessons that we learned a year ago during last summer. in the run-up of the oil and prices, it wasn't the result of

0:51:25 to 0:51:50( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: the fundamental concepts of supply and demand. but it is largely run-up due to excess kwreufp and unchecked -- excess kwreufp and unchecked speculators on unregulated commodits

0:51:51 to 0:52:11( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: running up the price of oil as they speculate buying and selling. now, it's a fact that across america we are using less gas. and cording to the energy information administration, demand for petroleum products in

0:52:12 to 0:52:34( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: this country is lower thaod it was -- lower today than it was ten years ago. and according to the e.i.a., the supply of petroleum p higher than it was in 1982.

0:52:35 to 0:52:55( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: so you wonder why if this thing isn't being caused by supply and demand -- which it isn't -- but gas prices keep going up, well, what's happening? well, there's going to be an amendment on this bill offered

0:52:56 to 0:53:17( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: by i am a cosponsor. as a matter of fact, madam president, i am not a cosponsor, and i want to ask unanimous consent to be a cosponsor, the amendment number 1330. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. nelson: that amendment is identical to legislation passed

0:53:18 to 0:53:38( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: in the house of representatives by a whopping vote of 402-19. it will put the brakes on excessive speculation in markets. the bill directs the commodities

0:53:39 to 0:53:59( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: futures trading commission to use its e including its emergency powers, to immediately curb the role of excessive speculation in any market it reg eliminate -- it directs them to

0:54:00 to 0:54:21( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: eliminate excessive speculation, price distortion, sudden or unreasonable unwarranted changes in prices. now, you wonder how does this occur. it occurs because as people get into the marketplace wanting to

0:54:22 to 0:54:42( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: protect against the future rise of the price of a barrel of oil, they buy a contract to lock in a certain price for that oil to be delivered in the future. now, naturally, a business that would want to do that would be, for example, the airlines.

0:54:43 to 0:55:05( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: if they think that the price of oil is going up, they want to get in and buy a supply of that petroleum at the price now before it goes up. but what happens is that when these commodities exchanges were

0:55:06 to 0:55:27( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: unregulated loophole in december of 2000, there is no regulatory authority by these exchanges. so, for example, they could not require a certain amount to pay down if you're going to buy that futures contract.

0:55:28 to 0:55:51( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: and if you don't have to pay anything down, then there's no skin in the game of just continuing to buy and bid up the price. or, for example, they could require that you had to buy those contracts because you had a reasonable expect aeration that you were going to use that

0:55:52 to 0:56:12( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: company. but, no, what happens is if you don't have to have tt reasonable expectation, the people who want to get in and ride that price words, the speculators, like the condo flippers. buy a condo because the rise in

0:56:13 to 0:56:37( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: price is going to occur, and we'll flip the contract for the purchase of the condominium without ever having to close. it's the same concept of speculatio and we should note that this does not apply only to the

0:56:38 to 0:56:58( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: markets that the products -- that the consumer finance futures, trading commission, does regulate. there are still tkpharbgts beyond the regulator's control. and there is respectful debate amongst some in the senate over the reach of the provision that

0:56:59 to 0:57:23( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: we passed in the farm bill last year that gave the commodities futures trading commission the oversight over unregulated trading of larger oil contracts. i think we have to go further. i recently learned that the

0:57:24 to 0:57:44( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: commission, the cftc is utilizing its authority for the first time. and i believe what we have to do is give them further tools to go further than just discretionary oversight, be able to regulate all energy trades. so, in addition to the sanders

0:57:45 to 0:58:07( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: amendment, ultimately i wish that the senate would consider a bill that i filed that would simply december of 2000 when the enron loophole was passed before these sweeping changes were made that allowed the rampant and excessive speculation in our

0:58:08 to 0:58:28( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: energy markets. mr. president, i wanto turn to -- madam president, i want to turn to one final topic, and

0:58:29 to 0:58:50( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: that's the nomination tannenbaum to be chair of the co commission. they have faced a number of new challenges: inadequate staffing, insufficie a product testing facility that was a joke. as a matter of fact, we saw a picture of it, and it was a couple of cardboard tables with all of the imported toys dumped

0:58:51 to 0:59:11( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: on it when we were having that trouble with the defective imported chinese toys. and most significantly it lacked leadership at the top. so we took action last year, and we gave the cpsc new authority,

0:59:12 to 0:59:32( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: new funding and a new lab facility. and so today we have to deal with the final issue, and that is the leadership. and i just want to commend to the senate that i think inez tannenbaum is going to be at leader.

0:59:33 to 0:59:54( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: she had her nomination hearing earlier this week at the senate commerce committee. throughout her career in the south carolina legislature, inez tannenbaum showed compassion and leadership on these

0:59:55 to 1:00:16( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: environmental and children's issues. then took charge can and reinvigorated an agency with over 1,000 employees. by the time she stepped down from that post in 2007, she was recognized for her efforts to improve the aountability, standards and peformance in south carolina's public schools.

1:00:17 to 1:00:38( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: and i think that this is exactly the kind of leadership that the cpsc needs at this time. and i've met with her personally, and i know her personally, and i strongly support her nomination. and so my concluding comment is,

1:00:39 to 1:00:59( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: we're not only having problems in florida with chinese drywall. chinese drywall that is completely ruining the lives of people in their homes because of the smell and the corrosion and the sickness that it's bringing on to people. lo and behold, they're finding

1:01:00 to 1:01:22( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: chinese drywall now in day-care centers, in commercial buildings, and even reported in virginia, they're finding it in a hospital. so this is going to be a big issue in front of the consumer product safety commission. they have the authority under law to do something about it.

1:01:23 to 1:01:46( Edit History Discussion )

Bill Nelson: they've lacked the leadership. now with inez tannenbaunm, they ought to be able to start doing the regulatory authority that the united states government should have been doing in the first place with these defective, imported products in our country. and that's why i think we need