Senate Proceeding on Jul 26th, 2008 :: 0:10:18 to 0:22:01
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0:03:01 to 0:10:18( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jon Kyl

0:10:04 to 0:10:18( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, at this moment in the united states capitol, there are scores, if not hundreds, of employees at work. it's unusual

0:10:18 to 0:10:29( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: for most of them to be here on a saturday, but sometimes it's necessary. it's unusual for the senate to be in session on a saturday, but sometimes it's necessary. one can certainly argue that when the

0:10:18 to 0:22:01( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Durbin

0:10:29 to 0:10:42( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: united states is facing a serious issue, that we should be at work, whether it requires our being here on saturday, sunday, or all the days of the week. that's what we were elected to do. and certainly

0:10:42 to 0:10:55( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: the housing bill which is before us now is a matter of grave concern to many of us who see a across america foreclosures that are taking away the homes of many american families and affecting the value

0:10:55 to 0:11:11( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: of millions of other homes. but this could have been done yesterday. in fact, it could have been done weeks ago. si different times the republicansre initiated filibusters to stop this housingou bill.

0:11:11 to 0:11:23( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: six different times. they've set all the records in the senate for filibusters, and they applied six of them to the housing bill. and to add insult to injury, they add a day of session, a totally unnecessary

0:11:23 to 0:11:36( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: day of session that we are meeting this morning. this could have been sent to the president yesterday. he could have signed it, bringing some assurance and confidence to consumers across america that maybe

0:11:36 to 0:11:48( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: this housing crisis can be put behind us and this economy can move forward. but one senator, the senator from south carolina, insisted that the members of the senate all stay here today. it's the second

0:11:48 to 0:11:59( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: time in two weeks that he's taken away a day of our lives with our families. this time the senator from south carolina is going to be here for the vote that he's asked for, and i think that's good.

0:11:59 to 0:12:13( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: and it's certainly his right to do that. and you say to yourself, there must be some matter of great moment that would have him keep the entire senate here for an extra day, cause us to ask scores,

0:12:13 to 0:12:25( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: if not hundreds of people, to come and work that extra day. well, what is that issue? the issue is whether or not we are going to put some language in to limit or prohibit two federal agencies --

0:12:25 to 0:12:38( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: fannie mae and freddie mac -- from having lobbyists here on capitol hill. it's a good issue. i might even vote with him on this issue. but to think that he would hold the senate for another day, make

0:12:38 to 0:12:52( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: us open this session and bring all of these people to work for this amendment on a bill which we know must pass, which the president has urged us to pass, is hard to understand. it's his right to do

0:12:52 to 0:13:05( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: it.~ its any senator's right to do it but there comes a point where you step back and say, we can fight this battle another day. this is not a life or death issue. this isn't an issue that has to be

0:13:05 to 0:13:17( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: decided on this saturday or else. but we're here. and we're here to face this issue, deal with the housing bill -- which i hope will pass. president bush ibunitially opposed this bill. the president

0:13:17 to 0:13:31( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: said that there were provisions in here that he couldn't accept. but then there was a serious concern across america as to whether these critical agencies -- fannie mae and freddie mac -- which are

0:13:31 to 0:13:42( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: involved in standing behind almost half of the mortgages in america, were being threatened. i got a personal call from secretary henryen paulson, our secretary of the treasury, at home last week. he said,

0:13:42 to 0:13:53( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: "we have to do something, this is an emergency." i said to secretary paulson, i think you are right. i may not agree with your approach but there come as time we have to rise together on a bipartisan

0:13:53 to 0:14:05( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: basis and deal with a serious crisis. and this could be a crisis if we don't act. i said to him, would you urge the republican members of the senate to have the same sense of urgency in passi this housing

0:14:05 to 0:14:18( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: bill that i hear in your voice? he said he would try. well, he wasn't very successful. six different times the republicans have tried to stop this housing bill with a filibuster and now have dragged

0:14:18 to 0:14:29( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: us into a saturday session here to slow it down again. but today with any luck it will pass and finally well send it to the president's desk and the president has said he is prepared to sign it. this

0:14:29 to 0:14:43( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: is too serious an issue for him to stand in the way. i'm glad that the president has made that decision. i don't think this is going to turn around the american economy but we know the housing crisis

0:14:43 to 0:14:54( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: certainly started us on the skids that are leading us toward a recession. there are much bigger issues that need to be resolved even beyond housing. the simple fact of the matter is, the overwhelming majority

0:14:54 to 0:15:05( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: of americans are worried and angry. worried about their own financial situation. they've seen the values of their homes plummet. they have seen their retirementization diminish by a stock market that

0:15:05 to 0:15:17( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: is unpredictable. they know the cost of gasoline is taking more money out of the their wallets and credit cards each week. a trip to the food store is more expensive than it used to be and it costs

0:15:17 to 0:15:29( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: more money to put the kids through school. boy, if you get stuck with medical bills now, it could break the bank and empty your savings account. that's the reality of life in america today. the bush economic

0:15:29 to 0:15:46( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: policy has failed. this notion that we can somehow give tax breaks to the wealthiest people in america and prosper as a nation never did make sense and has resulted in the mess we have today. this

0:15:46 to 0:15:59( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: notion that we could wage a war and spend $12 billion to $15 billion a month for almost six years, now, and not suffer some oblems in america as a result never made sense, doesn't make sense today.

0:15:59 to 0:16:16( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: each month the administration adds that money to the deficit, piling up more debt on america's kids, debt that's currently financed by foreign governments who step in and buy america's mortgage. boy,

0:16:16 to 0:16:28( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: what a legacy. an economy that is so weak that people are worried and even angry, a prospect of more of the same unless there's a real change here in washington and when it cops to comes to the

0:16:28 to 0:16:45( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: senate, a slow down. let's make the senate meet on a saturday, keep themay memorial and try to slow -- keep them in and try to slow it down more. that is the republican approach. there are republican

0:16:45 to 0:16:57( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: senators of good will who understand we can do better. let me point out one: senator richard shelby of alabama, he stepped up. as the ranking republican on the banking committee, he and senator dodd

0:16:57 to 0:17:08( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: worked to get this brought to the floor. that is the kind of bipartisan spirit we need, that sense of urgency, of bringing the bill to the floor to do something for our nation. i wish his voice prevailed

0:17:08 to 0:17:18( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: in the republican conference and all the filibusters had not taken lace and this unnecessary saturday session hadn't taken place but the decision was made by the leadership to allow this to go forward

0:17:18 to 0:17:29( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: and that's their decision. can i say an word about what senator kyl addressed on the energy package? it is hard for me to understand how my friend from arizona, and he is my friend, could stand here

0:17:29 to 0:17:42( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: and suggest we have stopped the republicans from offering their solution to deal with america's energy crisis. we didn't. senator kyl knows we said to them, put together your package and bring it

0:17:42 to 0:18:00( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: to the floor. we'll do the same. let's have two competing ideas, let's debate them and give them the same vote and then let's decide. that's what we're supposed to do, isn't it? we are elected to try

0:18:00 to 0:18:11( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: to solve problems w351 democrats and 49 -- with 51 democrats and 49 republicans it has to be done on a bipartisaan basis. but senator mcconnell and sendnator kyl wanted to bring out seven amendments

0:18:11 to 0:18:21( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: to start with and you can bring out whatever you want, and let's talk it over and let's go through the debate and, unfortunately, that would have led to nothing. because we have a deadline facing

0:18:21 to 0:18:31( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: us. coming just a few days we will break for our august recess, with could have been mired down in this debate with an endless number of amendments and nothing would have happened and the american people

0:18:31 to 0:18:46( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: want something to happen. th want us to deal with this energy crisis and they understand that simply saying we're going to drill more oil on its face doesn't make sense. the united states in all of

0:18:46 to 0:19:03( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: its oil reserves that we can identify and think of has about 3% of the world supply of oil but we are big oil consumers in this country. we consume 25% of the oil produced in the world each year.

0:19:03 to 0:19:14( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: 3% available, 25% consumption. as t. boone pickens, now the patriarch of energy policy said, we can't drill our way out of this problem. been boone is an t. boone pickens is an oil man. he needs we need

0:19:14 to 0:19:27( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: w more. we need to use the lands we have leased, we need to tell the oil and gas companies, reporting record profits, get to work and find the sources of oil that you already think are there in

0:19:27 to 0:19:37( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: this leased federal land and go after them. do it in a responsible way. don't pollute our beaches and don't pollute our nation. do it in a sensible and responsible way. i think all of us would endorse

0:19:37 to 0:19:49( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: that. i hope that's whathe republicans stand for, too. but it's not enough. we need conservation and fuel efficiency. we need cars and trucks that get much better miles per gallon and we need to

0:19:49 to 0:20:03( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: think about the buildings being constructed and the lives we lead and how we can change our energy consumption without compromising our economy. we need to think about renewable, sustainable sources.

0:20:03 to 0:20:15( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: it breaks my heart three times we brought to the floor this energy tax extender whi ech would create tax incentives for more renewable, sustainable energy -- wind power, solar power, the kind things that

0:20:15 to 0:20:26( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: don't pollute, don't create global warming but do create electricity and energy for families and businesses and america's economy. we lost it. we couldn't bring enough republican votes forward to vote

0:20:26 to 0:20:40( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: for it. three different times. a major company in my state came to visit me a man from this company this week and said "i'm phrasing bankruptcy if you don't accept the responsibility off extending

0:20:40 to 0:20:52( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: the tax credits. i really believed you when the congress said we need a new american energy policy. i invested my hard-earned money and i am employing people around the country. we are building the

0:20:52 to 0:21:06( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: wind turbines, why not do your part and extend the tax credit." we have not been able to rally the writtens. we will have another try this week. i hopeop they reconsider their position and forward

0:21:06 to 0:21:17( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: think about the energy policy of this country. that's the reaty. if we can bring down gas prices and stabilize them, if we can look ahead to new sources of energy, if we can start creating new companies,

0:21:17 to 0:21:32( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: new technology, new jobs, new tunes, then we clearly will have a better future in the 21st century. i want to help, and i am sure everyone in the senate does, wants to help these families deal with

0:21:32 to 0:21:48( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: the realities of energy costs. we can do it. we will have a liheap will bill later today for the poorest who cannot afford to pay their utility bills in the summer and winter the we give them a

0:21:48 to 0:22:01( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: helping hand. extend that, too, these folks are barely getting by at the moment. we ought to give them the helping hand. today we have a chance to vote on it. mr. president, i yield the floor.fl

0:22:01 to 0:22:24( Edit History Discussion )

Jim DeMint: the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. demint: thank you, mr. president. good mor ning. i have a parliamentary inquiry: who in this senate has the last word on when votes are