Senate Proceeding on Sep 29th, 2008 :: 0:07:47 to 0:20:00
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0:06:49 to 0:09:49( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Harry Reid

0:07:36 to 0:07:47( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: there will be a 1:30 democratic caucus and we're going to talk about the emergency economic stablization act and i would therefore ask consent that the senate be in recess from 1:30 to 2:30 until i conduct

0:07:47 to 0:08:02( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: that conference. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, one of the issues that we have to address this morning -- i have talked here on the floor, i've talked in

0:08:02 to 0:08:18( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: press conferences how difficult it's been to get the energy and the business tax extenders. it has been very difficult. we have had nine votes to get where we are. nine votes spread out over a

0:08:18 to 0:08:30( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: period of months. and finally, with the work of a number of senators -- principally senator baucus and grassley and two other memrs of the finance committee, senators cantwell and ensign -- they worked

0:08:30 to 0:08:45( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: to put together a package, and it is delicately put together, and i've tried to explain to my house colleagues how difficult it is for me to accept what they've sent us. they've broken this up and

0:08:45 to 0:09:01( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: say, hey, look ... this is what we want. and you should take it. so, mr. president, i am going to ask consent now that the two -- they sent us one part of the thing that we sent over to them, and

0:09:01 to 0:09:11( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: that is the tax extenders, both the energy tax extenders and the business tax extenders in one package and that's what i'm going to ask consent that this matter that i've just acknowledged -- h.r.

0:09:11 to 0:09:23( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: 760, the renewable energy and job creation tax is what they call it, which was received from the house, the bill be read three times, passed, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, with no intervening

0:09:23 to 0:09:37( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: action or debate, and, remember, that is out of the package that we sent them, they broke this up and sent to us the tax stendlers, energy and business tax. i ask consent that that matter be accepted.

0:09:37 to 0:09:49( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. kyl: mr. president, reserving the right to object, i'd like to make a brief statement. the senate and house are on the verge of a very historic action

0:09:49 to 0:10:02( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: to deal with the crisis in our economy. an action that would not have been possible if democrats and republicans had not work the together and had worked with the administration. in the senate over

0:09:49 to 0:12:08( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Jon Kyl

0:10:02 to 0:10:13( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: the last several months we've had the same kind of work with respect to the unanimous consent request that has just been made. we tried each of us in our partisan ways to get something passed that we

0:10:13 to 0:10:29( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: could send over to the house of representatives that deals with the so-called tax extenders, the energy extenders, and a.m.t. relief. and what we found was that neither side could prevail if we tried

0:10:29 to 0:10:43( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: to do it our way. and we had, as the majority leader has said, something like nine separate votes, i believe. we finally concluded that the only way that we could, for the good of our constituents, extend

0:10:43 to 0:10:57( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: these important tax provisions and fix the a.m.t. was to have a series of votes which expressed the will of the senate, wk together to pass in a bipartisan way legislation that we would then send

0:10:57 to 0:11:12( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: to the house of representatives. democrats and republicans in the senate agree that the legislation represented by the consent agreement is an important priority for the american people, and that's why

0:11:12 to 0:11:26( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: we approved this bipartisan package by an overwhelming vote of 93-2. but before the package received the overwhelming approval, the energy tax extenders failed as a stand-alone bill, as i said, nine times.

0:11:26 to 0:11:37( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: the senate has spoken clearly. this legislation will pass the senate if it receives a vote in the same packaged norm passed by the vote of 93-2. it is the path that we must continue to follow. the majority

0:11:37 to 0:11:45( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: leader has made that point. the minority leader has made that point. and i reiterate that point again to our colleagues in the house of representatives, and for that reason would object to the request

0:11:45 to 0:11:55( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: that's been made. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader -- objection is heard. the majority leader. mr. reid: i've served in the house of representatives. my friend,

0:11:55 to 0:12:08( Edit History Discussion )

Jon Kyl: the distinguished senator from arizona, has served in the house of representatives. i i understand the house. i loved my experience in the house. but their rules of engagement are different than ours,

0:12:08 to 0:12:21( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: and if it were up to me, i would accept this in a second. i think it's fine. but, mr. president, i don't have that ability here. i do not have the strength and the power legislatively, procedurally

0:12:08 to 0:15:36( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Harry Reid

0:12:21 to 0:12:36( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: that they have in the house. the house is like the british parliament. if you're in the majority there you can get a lot of things done. but we continent's can't being in the majority here. my majority

0:12:36 to 0:12:53( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: is extremely slim, 51-49 when everybody is here. many dames a in the nomplet so i just beg my house colleagues to understand, this isn't something that we are trying to surprise them with. it's taken

0:12:53 to 0:13:06( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: me this long to get here. the ability to get here has been long and hard. it has been -- and we're not trying to pull anything over on the house. mr. president, for us as a congressional body, house

0:13:06 to 0:13:22( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: and senate, to approve this legislation would be historic. long-term tax credits for renewable energy, creating thousands and thousands of jobs. for the first time in a long, long time, we're extending

0:13:22 to 0:13:35( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: the business tax credits for two years. the business community, small businesses and big businesses, are elated over that. because we have given them one-year extensions time and time again. in this

0:13:35 to 0:13:47( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: legislation there's some really good stuff. there's mental health parity, there's something that -- every state west of the mississippi will benefit from. the state of nevada, as an arks we've been cheated

0:13:47 to 0:13:57( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: for years because the law is if you have federal properties there that take away from your tax base, then the federal government should help. and they have helped but not very much. 87% of the state of

0:13:57 to 0:14:07( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: nevada is owned by the federal government. the legislation that we've sent to the house removes some of the unfairness in that. so i just ask my cleandz z friends from the house of representatives

0:14:07 to 0:14:21( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: -- so i just ask my friends from the house of representatives we can't do this. you've sent us over these tngs piece by piece. we can't get it done. the reason we were able to get a.m.t. is because

0:14:21 to 0:14:34( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: it was part of the package. so i appreciate my -- i say to my colleagues, i wish we had more votes. and we could run over you, like they do in the house. we can't do that. i wish that we could just do what

0:14:34 to 0:14:49( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: we thought was right on this side of the aisle and not worry about you. but i can't do that. and i say this, mr. president, in the house of representatives this matter will get 250-300 votes. this

0:14:49 to 0:15:08( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: will pass overwhelmingly in the house. this is bipartisan legislation. so i would hope my friends who are part of the blue dog caucus would understand we are not trying to embarrass them or anyone else. we

0:15:08 to 0:15:22( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: believe things should be paid for. we look forward to working with them. in the time to come. and i say i wish we were not going to spend $700 billion. i wish we weren't going to spend $60 billion

0:15:22 to 0:15:36( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: unpaid for on the a.m.t. but i hope my friends in the house understand we are doing the best we can. i repeat, senator kyl said it twice and i said it three times, it took us nine votes to get where we

0:15:36 to 0:15:50( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: are. if we leave this congress without having done this it does not speak well of this congress. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i

0:15:36 to 0:19:15( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Max Baucus

0:15:50 to 0:16:04( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: regret the senate has been unable to take up and pass this legislation. we all know how important it is. the problem here now is that the senate has now demonstrated the limit of what it can do and what

0:16:04 to 0:16:16( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: it can't do and the senate has demonstrated it cannot pass the tax extender bills. it cannot be done. i want to follow on with what the leader said it is not a matter of embarrassing anybody. sometimes

0:16:16 to 0:16:30( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: our friends in the other body think we are tryg to embarrass them. it is not a matter of embarrassing anyone, it is a matter of getting good public policy passed here for our country in the closing days

0:16:30 to 0:16:46( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: of the congress. we're talking about energy incentives to help make us more independent from opec; mental health, trying to get mental health parity bill finally passed which clearly is point for obvious

0:16:46 to 0:17:04( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: reasons; then there are the awful word "tax extenders" it just helps america be competitive; research and development tax credit to help kids get to school. this is very simple stuff. very basic stuff.

0:17:04 to 0:17:17( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: i think some of our colleagues and friends on the other side think we are trying to embarrass them. this is not a matter of embarrass embarrassing anybody, it is not a partisan matter, but doing something

0:17:17 to 0:17:28( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: for america. some are calling and saying, gee, we have, $700 billion fiscal relief bill and doesn't it add so much to the deficit. i don't know if it will or not. it is in the like passing the $700

0:17:28 to 0:17:40( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: billion corporation bill. it is an authorization. similar to what we did so the so-called chrysler bailout and the so-called new york bailout where the taxpayers made money on the deal. i wouldn't,

0:17:40 to 0:17:55( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: if i were a blue dog i would not get too worried about the big price tag. the main point is that we need to get this passed now. it's very modest. next year is another year we can deal with all kinds

0:17:55 to 0:18:07( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: of issues we want to deal with but for the good of the country i very much say to my colleagues across the body over there on the other side, just, please, don't miss this opportunity. please do

0:18:07 to 0:18:19( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: what is right. let's pass this bill before you leave town because to do so would not be responsible thing to do. it must be passed over therere. that is the only responsible way out of this difficult

0:18:19 to 0:18:40( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: situation that we're in. nothing is perfect. nobody gets everything. but we have demonstrated now that the house-passed bills cannot pass. that has been demonstrated by the objection we just heard.

0:18:40 to 0:18:53( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: they cannot pass. so the only solution, then, is to take up the bills -- which were compromised with the republicans overhere and blue dogs over there. it seems to be a fair compromise. i hope the

0:18:53 to 0:19:03( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: house will take that up. mr. reid: mr. president, while the chairman is re and the assistant republican leader, the mark of the blue dogs is on what we have done this congress. we have struggled because

0:19:03 to 0:19:15( Edit History Discussion )

Max Baucus: of the blue dogs and rightfully so on paying for different things. the chairman of the finance committee -- remember how difficult -- remember the difficult time we had on schip and that is because

0:19:15 to 0:19:29( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: of the mark of the blue dogs wanting to make sure we pay for what we did. we try to follow their lead on so many different things because their cause is a righteous cause. they want this government

0:19:29 to 0:19:40( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: to start paying for things and stop running up those deficits. we look forward to working with them in the future. mr. baucus: we did pay for the children's health insurance. the presiding officer:

0:19:40 to 0:19:54( Edit History Discussion )

Harry Reid: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, there will now be a period for the transaction of morning business until 12:00 noon with senators peopled to speak

0:19:54 to 0:20:07( Edit History Discussion )

Lamar Alexander: for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. the senator from tennessee. mr. alexander: thank you, mr. president. over the weekends bipartisan

0:19:54 to 0:27:47( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Lamar Alexander