Senate Proceeding on Sep 27th, 2008 :: 3:55:29 to 4:05:56
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3:53:41 to 3:55:29( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Kent Conrad

3:55:12 to 3:55:29( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: able to introduce this bill this morning, i wanted very much for it to be introduced with support from both the republican and democratic leaders. and i was able to secure that, as i said. the senior senator

3:55:29 to 3:55:43( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: from texas is a cosponsor of this bill, and aim certain that sometime before the next few days she will speak on behalf of the farmers of texas because i, myself, am aware, having flown easer many parts

3:55:29 to 4:05:56( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Mary Landrieu

3:55:43 to 3:55:54( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: of southwest louisiana what the agricultural situation in texas looks like, not quite as bad per capita as louisiana and of course texas has galveston, bridge city, houston and so many other areas

3:55:54 to 3:56:12( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: affect affected. but the agricultural hit to texas is going to be significant. may i inquire how much minutes i have remaining? the presiding officer: the senator has 18 minutes remaining. ms. landrieu:

3:56:12 to 3:56:29( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: thank you. mr. president, i think this says it all. and i most certainly am not trying, again, to grandstand here because i do understand that what goes on on wall street and in manhattan and in many of

3:56:29 to 3:56:43( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: the financial centers of this country, of which new orleans -- whether it is a small city -- merrill lynch actually started in new orleans. it's -- many, many years ago. so i am not unaware of the significance

3:56:43 to 3:56:58( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: of cities like boston and manhattan and new orleans and san francisco and chicago for the well-being and the financial ability of our country to operate. and i'm not unaware of the importance of this

3:56:58 to 3:57:13( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: financial system to be secure not just for our people, our institutions and our taxpayers but for the world, because our economy is so large and so much of the rest of the world's finances if in large measure

3:57:13 to 3:57:30( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: now are so interconnected. so i am not here complainaiing about the time and effort that has gone into trying to figure the situation out. what i am complaining about is that in all of these discussion

3:57:30 to 3:57:48( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: no one seems to understand that there is a financial crisis right now in the heartland that is not being relieved by this disaster bill that we're getting ready to vote on, nor to date have i heard

3:57:48 to 3:58:07( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: one sentence, one phrase, one section, one paragraph that might bring any hope to the thousands of farmers and ranchers who never even saw a subprime loan, who've never filled out an application

3:58:07 to 3:58:20( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: for a subprime loan, whose crops in the field are rotten -- rotting, unharvestable, not one single word about them. so i thought it was worth at least an hour of this congress's time to hear that word

3:58:20 to 3:58:36( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: from me and to hear that word from senator lincoln and to hea that word from senator conrad and to hear that word from senator pryor and to hear that word from senator wicker and senator hutchison,

3:58:36 to 3:58:47( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: who have joined in this effort. and i am going to ask the other senators to join with us, many of them are reading the document now -- senator harkin has it under consideration; senator savment

3:58:47 to 3:59:00( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: xby chambliss has it under consideration. and i've expressed to both of them with respect as leaders of the agriculture committee, should they see anything in this bill that they think should be

3:59:00 to 3:59:20( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: modified or increased or decreased or written in a different way, the senator from louisiana is most certainly willing to take any amendments that they would think necessary to make this work. and

3:59:20 to 3:59:38( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: i'll not even asking for this again to be for louisiana. this is for the whole country. but i just have got to spend an hour saying, $700 billion for wall street and zero for farmers? i mean, it could

3:59:38 to 3:59:51( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: be said a different way. $7 billion for finance years, zero for farmers? y if you want to know why people in america are upset about this bailout, i could give you several reasons but let me just try

3:59:51 to 4:00:16( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: one big one. the regular people out there that put boots on in the morning and go to work, direct traffic, you know, run the day-care centers, teach our kids in school, get on the firetrucks in the

4:00:16 to 4:00:29( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: morning, shine shoes, open the grocery store, they don't think anyone is listening to them and they are right. no one is listening to them. everyone is listening to the people that have a lot of money

4:00:29 to 4:00:45( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: -- money, money, money, money -- and just people that kind of work hard every day and actually put in 14-hour days and maybe work -- maybe make -- not farmers, because they usually make more than this

4:00:45 to 4:01:06( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: -- or $8 an hour or $10 an hour, they just work hard. they've never heard about a quick buck. there are no quick bucks in the life they live. they don't make $500 million an hour. they don't make a million

4:01:06 to 4:01:23( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: dollars a minute. they're lucky if they make a million dollars in a lifetime. and i have to go home and tell them not only w i not able to do anything to help them but no one in the whole congress

4:01:23 to 4:01:32( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: could come up with a plan to help them. i'm not going home with that. i'm just not going home with it. i'm not going home with googley-de-gob. i want to read it again in the last five minutes. this is the response

4:01:32 to 4:01:47( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: i got. senator, we c an't do anything for you, we can't amend the bill, we can't give you a vote in the floor, we can't put it in the bailout package, we can't put it in the disaster package, we

4:01:47 to 4:02:00( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: can't have a committee meeting, we can't do anything. we just can't doing anything. that's what was told all week. so this is the sheet of paper that i'm going to submit for the record. this is $6.5 billion.

4:02:00 to 4:02:15( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: and i want -- i hope the cameras can see t. i wish hi it blown -- i wish i had it blown up. $.5 billion. that is what we're -- $6.5 billion. that is what we're taking home for all the disasters, including

4:02:15 to 4:02:30( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: houston, galveston, everything else. and i was told that if i needed help for my farmers, i could do this. "dear senator: your request to help farmers. this is probably an eligible activity under the

4:02:30 to 4:02:46( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: community development block grant disaster recovery program. these funds may be used to assist businesses to creator retain low-spd -- low- and moderate-income jobs. the cdbg program allows states

4:02:46 to 4:03:00( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: to make loans directly rather than through local governments. the only issue that may arise is that circular o.m.b.8-87 may -- does not allow one federal program to be used for costs applicable to

4:03:00 to 4:03:13( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: another program and these costs may be applicable to the usda shore program. if the cdbg activity is designed to only cover costs, usda will not allow, then would work." i don't have time to explain this

4:03:13 to 4:03:29( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: to my farmers because it doesn't make any sense. and the only thing -- and actually nothing makes sense to them. i went home last weekend -- and i'm going to wrap up, i have about a minute left -- i went

4:03:29 to 4:03:46( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: home last weekend and told them i would be there and hundreds of them came out of the fields with dirt on their hands. and, of course, filthy dirty. men who had been farming for decades. who said, senator,

4:03:46 to 4:03:59( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: i left my sons in the field to come meet you. these are the farmers that i met with. they said, senator, what is going on in washington? we -- between the weather reports that we have to read and working

4:03:59 to 4:04:16( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: hard in our fields all day, we're havg a hard time understanding what -- about this bailout. who are we bailing out? why are we bailing them out? and does anybody know that our crops are underwater, that

4:04:16 to 4:04:30( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: we've had the worst disaster? and ts disaster for us, may i remind everyone, comes after a -- three years ago when katrina hit our state and it was the worst natural disaster and manmade disaster.

4:04:30 to 4:04:46( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: let me just give you a number to illustrate it. all other disasters in the history of the country, the per capita never exceeded $400 per cata. our disaster went to $6,500. okay, let me repeat that.

4:04:46 to 4:04:58( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: no disaster in the history of the country ever exceeded $400, including 9/11 or anything. our disaster in katrina and rita for mississippi and louisiana exceeded $6,000 per capita. i know about disasters.

4:04:58 to 4:05:12( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: i've been through the worst one in the history of the country. so on top of that, we're just recovering, we're grateful for the aid, we're -- we're -- we're grateful for the aid, we're still struggling.

4:05:12 to 4:05:30( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: we have communities that are still destroyed, neighborhoods whose houses are worth $600,000 as well as $50,000 still struggling. the gulf coast is not back. and then we get hit by this. and then i

4:05:30 to 4:05:41( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: have to go home and tell my farmers that we're going to do $700 million for financiers, billion dollars, and nothing for them. i have to go home and tell them i don't know what's going on in this

4:05:41 to 4:05:56( Edit History Discussion )

Mary Landrieu: bailout package. all i can tell you is, it looks like the financiers are going to win and you're going to lose again. well, i just thought before i did that, that at least they could see that i was fighting

4:05:56 to 4:06:12( Edit History Discussion )

Thad Cochran: for them and they could see an actual bill that we introduced that might be helpful. and i see my good friend, the senator from mississippi, here and i'd be happy to yield a minute if he wanted to speak on

4:05:56 to 4:07:41( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Thad Cochran