Senate Proceeding on Sep 29th, 2008 :: 0:33:48 to 0:53:48
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0:27:47 to 0:33:48( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Durbin

0:33:38 to 0:33:48( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: do that this is an important step forward for the 21st century for service jeer service and that amtrak is part of america's future. i yield the floor. behalf. mr. domenici: mr. president? the presiding

0:33:48 to 0:34:02( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. domenici: i know would don't have a lot of time so i would try to ask for five minutes. is somebody controlling our time here? the presiding officer: without

0:33:48 to 0:41:24( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Pete Domenici

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Pete Domenici: objection, the senator will be so notified. mr. domenici: thank you. let me rise to first thank the distinguished senator from tennessee, lamar alexander, for his eloquent remarks here this morning. and

0:34:22 to 0:34:38( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: i would say to anyone who wants to try to understand the situation we're in in terms that everybody could -- can sends feel, they ought to read his speech. i also thank him because he used a metaphor

0:34:38 to 0:34:55( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: that i developed with some of my staff to try to explain this, a he's added to it and amplified it where he has taken the idea that we came up with in my office. i asked my staff to sit down about

0:34:55 to 0:35:10( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: me and talk and the only thing we could think of about the clogging of this passageway was a bored that didn't sound like it was a very good word to use. it was "constipation." i said, could we not think

0:35:10 to 0:35:24( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: of some metaphor that's better than that? and after 20 minutes, the idea came forth of a superhighy with four or six lanes loaded with cars, traveling at full speed, 65-70 miles an hour and then

0:35:24 to 0:35:43( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: there there was a crash that took all lanes and stopped all of them and the cars piled up for miles back. and as the good senator from tennessee, the wonderful friend of mine, has just gone on from that

0:35:43 to 0:35:58( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: simple beginning that i just described to aanalogize the entire problem that we have to that accident, where these cars that are all cracked up are the toxic assets that we're buying. they're toxic

0:35:58 to 0:36:12( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: because they're all broken down, not worth anything anymore. and we're going to buy them. that's why we're setting up this rescue fund. when we buy them, eventually get them off of there. the cars

0:36:12 to 0:36:27( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: will be loosened from that long 30 miles that they're blocked by this accident, which is the toxic assets. but it's really the cars stopping movement. and then he went on to explain what all those

0:36:27 to 0:36:40( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: cars were because so many people think that this is wall street. this rescue plan is not wall street. some of the large institutions that hold this paper that is clogging the highway, some of them

0:36:40 to 0:36:59( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: are in new york. but we read today some of them are in europe. but we should understand that it's where the money moves, where the money comes from, and it is a moves out into our country, the inner

0:36:59 to 0:37:11( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: land, that's where the problem is. because these assets, these broken-down -- these cars that end up in a wreck, these toxic assets were purchased by banks and institutions all over the cundz and the world apparently.

0:37:11 to 0:37:28( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: some countries bought a lot of them from what's coming out now, and their banks are having the same kinds of problems thousands of miles away from the united states. and so we are going to be

0:37:28 to 0:37:45( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: called upon as senators to decide whether we want to rescue this american financial system which was the greatest delivery system for money the world has ever seen. the reason we live in such high

0:37:45 to 0:37:58( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: prosperity with so many material things of wealth, so much wealth that is material -- a number of houses -- you might own two of them, from cars to appliances to everything that is there -- it's financing;

0:37:58 to 0:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: it's the financial system that is so magnificent in america; it permits all that to happen. and it's breaking down. if we're going to rescue it, if we can, or look what we are saying to our people.

0:38:13 to 0:38:27( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: we are unable in the worst kind of crisis as it pertains to the material wealth of our country, with that breaking down in front of our eyes, so that we -- as our senator -- as my friend, the senator

0:38:27 to 0:38:46( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: from tennessee said, the things we will not have, that won't be available. in essence, we will be a country that is in bankruptcy. we don't know where the money will be. you don't know what notes

0:38:46 to 0:39:02( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: and instruments will be valid. you don't know who will deliver money to whom. and you will have a literal fiscal mess, a literal financial money mess. fix it or be charged with letting it break down. vote

0:39:02 to 0:39:12( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: for this and fix it. do the rescue plan or walk out of here as a senator that can claim -- can claim no victory, can claim that they didn't want, they didn't see fit -- the presiding officer: the senator's

0:39:12 to 0:39:25( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: five minutes have expired. mr. domenici: one additional minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. domenici: if they didn't see fit to lend their vote to a rescue plan of this type

0:39:25 to 0:39:38( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: and i believe no matter how much guff you're getting from your constituents, no matter how much they are talking to you on the phone and in letters and other ways, that you have to explain it to them right aht then

0:39:38 to 0:39:59( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: you have to vote what's right for the united states. that's why you're here. now, some will say it's easy for you, domenici, you're leaving the senate after 36 years. but i hope that i could tell

0:39:59 to 0:40:14( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: you in my mind i can safe a only been here 12 years and i'm going to stay here. and i would vote this way if ira senator that had to vote and run again. i hope the house passes it soon and i hope

0:40:14 to 0:40:25( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: our majority leader sees fit to call it up soon, sooner rather than later. with each day more damage is being done here and around the world. i hope -- well, i think we're lucky to have two good people

0:40:25 to 0:40:36( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: managing the affairs of the united states. i want to close on that noavment we certainly could have had leaders in treasury and in the federal reserve that were not as good as ours on this subject.

0:40:36 to 0:40:49( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: and that's helpful because most of us who are studying this can go back to our offices and then talk to our families and our constituents and say, we are understanding it and we think we're being dealt

0:40:49 to 0:41:03( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: the right information pands a good plan. with that, i want to once again thank senator lamar alexander, my good friend, for his excellent speech this morning. i say to anybody who wants to understand it,

0:41:03 to 0:41:12( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: read it. understand 0 our problem, read t and i thank him for useing a little by the of my thinking in his speech. once again, thank you, senator. i yield the floor. mr. lieberman: mr. president? the

0:41:12 to 0:41:24( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. lieberman: mr. president, while the senator from new mexico is on the floor, i want to, number one, thank him for his characteristically lucid

0:41:24 to 0:41:37( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: and honorable "put the national interest first" statement. also to say that i gather this afternoon colleagues will be coming to the floor to pay tribute to some who are not running geng, as senator

0:41:24 to 0:44:22( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Joseph Lieberman

0:41:37 to 0:41:56( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: domenici is not running. i've got to go to connecticut to join my family for a celebration of rosh shah shan in a right after the vote. so i want to take this moment to thank senator domenici for

0:41:56 to 0:42:15( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: his extraordinary service and to say to him what an honor and pleasure it's been. sometimes it is an honor to work with some people but not an honor -- but not a pleasure. with you, it's been both. you

0:42:15 to 0:42:29( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: spoke to our responsibility to our country and in this economic crisis. and you spoke to -- you spoke from your iran character -- your inner characteristically american optimism. we've got every

0:42:29 to 0:42:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: reason to be optimistic but we're really in a crisis. to me that's the kind of service you've given our cufnlt and you are a characteristic american story because your family doesn't go back to the mayflower,

0:42:44 to 0:42:58( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: as we used to say in my family. like yours, your family came from italy to this country. and they gave you a love for this country, a confidence that if you worked hard, used the anlts that god gave

0:42:58 to 0:43:12( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: you there was no limit to how far you could g and like so many others, you have served your country with extraordinary honor and effect across a wide range of subject areas, i think particularly of the

0:43:12 to 0:43:28( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: great work you've done in trying to regularize and make orderly and efficient and responsible our budget process. from that kind of nuts and bolts, dollars and cents, to the passionate advocacy

0:43:28 to 0:43:41( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: you've given for equal treatment of -- in our insurance system for those who need assistance from our medical system for mental illness to treat mental illness exactly as physical illness. so, senator

0:43:41 to 0:43:56( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: domenici, it's been an honor to serve with you. if i may get a little ethnic with you, i would say in leaving the senate this year, you're following in the footsteps of another great i italian-american hero,

0:43:56 to 0:44:06( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: admiring in a different field of endeavor, rocky marciano. he retired undefeated and you are, too. thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. domenici: one minute, please. thank

0:44:06 to 0:44:22( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: you, senator. etit's always been a pleasure working with you and being with you. and i wish you the very best. i know you're heavily involved in another kind of campaign. and you're doing something

0:44:22 to 0:44:35( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: very, very difficult, and i know you must go through difficult times, even though you are a. -- though you're enthuse enthusiastic about what you're doing. its very different and you choose these situations

0:44:35 to 0:44:45( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: and handle them well and i compliment you and wish you the very best and hope after the presidential election, whatever happens, you will come back and have a very, very good life here in the senate.

0:44:45 to 0:45:02( Edit History Discussion )

Pete Domenici: mr. lieberman: thank you. mr. domenici: i yield the floor. mr. lieberman: i thank my friend. mr. president, i want to at this moment -- and i'll put statements in the record to offer thanks and best wishes

0:45:02 to 0:45:14( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: to our other colleagues who are leaving -- senator allard, senator hagel, and senator craig -- and i particularly want to say a word about the occupant of the chair, senator warner of virginia, senator

0:45:02 to 0:57:20( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Joseph Lieberman

0:45:14 to 0:45:27( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: webb, i know this afternoon there will be tributes to all colleagues not running again. and you were kind enough to ask me last week to join on a tribute to john warner. i want to say a few special

0:45:27 to 0:45:42( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: words about him because our careers and our lives have intersected so much in service here. if i may take the opportunity to do so now and i'd like to begin by quoting another great virginian, thomas

0:45:42 to 0:46:08( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: jefferson, who when he arrived in paris as the united states minister to france, what we would now call an ambassador, he friended himself to the -- he psented himself to the french minister of foreign affairs

0:46:08 to 0:46:24( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: who asked jefferson -- because he was replacing benjamin franklin, do you replace monsieur franklin, and jefferson replied "i suggest seed him; no one can replace him." and i wouldcy -- i would say

0:46:24 to 0:46:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: of another great virginian, john warner, that no one can replace john warner here. he is a senator's senator, a patriot's patriot, a true servant of our country and of his beloved state of virginia,

0:46:44 to 0:46:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: all of which will be forever grateful to his lifetime of service and dedication. senator warner began his service to our country at the able of 17 -- let me just say generally without revealing

0:46:59 to 0:47:12( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: his exact age, that would be more than 60 years ago. he enlisted in the united states navy during world war ii. in 1950, at the outbreak of the korean war, he interruptd his studies of law to return to

0:47:12 to 0:47:23( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: active military duty. hike -- like so many who served our country in that period of time and i meet them all the time in connecticut, particularly the world war ii veterans, the ones who, for instance,

0:47:23 to 0:47:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: will call or their families will call and say, you know, my dad or my grandparent thinks he may have been entitled to his medal for service in world war ii but he never got it because they rushed

0:47:36 to 0:47:48( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: back after the war just to return to their families and to their work. like all my colleagues, we check the records and in almost every case, in fact, these veterans of world war ii deserve medals

0:47:48 to 0:48:03( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: and almost every case when you give them to them, as i've had the honor to do on many occasions, the veterans of world war ii will say, you know, i didn't really want this for myself, i wanted it

0:48:03 to 0:48:20( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: for my grandchildren. and then they almost always say, i'm no hero, i'm just an ordinary american who was called to serve our country in a time of crisis. but the truth is that these veterans and those

0:48:20 to 0:48:36( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: who follow them in succeeding conflicts, including the distinguished occupant of the chair, may each think of themselves as ordinary members but, in fact, together they have protected america's security,

0:48:36 to 0:48:49( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: saved our freedom. those veterans of world war ii defeated the threats of fascism and nazism. think about what the world would have been liked if our enemies in world war ii had try upped and then -- triumphed

0:48:49 to 0:49:07( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: and think of the extraordinary period of progress and economic growth that followed after the successful conclusion of world war ii. john warner was part of that. and his service just continued. in 1969

0:49:07 to 0:49:20( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: he was appointed under secretary of the navy; from 1972 to 1974 he served as secretary of the navy. throughout the rest of his career, including his long and distinguished and productive service on the

0:49:20 to 0:49:34( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: senate armed services committee john warner has shown unwavering support for the men and women of the armed forces of america. of course, in a larger sense, unwavering support for the security

0:49:34 to 0:49:48( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: of america and the ideal of freedom which was the animating impulse and purpose that motivated jefferson and all of the other founders of our country, to create america, a country created on an ideal,

0:49:48 to 0:49:59( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: with a purpose, with a mission, with a destiny. john warner has always understood that and i think the fact that he is a virginian is part of that understanding. it has been my great honor to serve

0:49:59 to 0:50:19( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: with senator warner in the senate and particularly on the armed services committee where over the years i've come to work with him. senator warner, as we all know, is a great gentleman, a word that

0:50:19 to 0:50:32( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: can be used lightly but really belongs with senator warner, a person of personal grace, of civility, of honor, of good humor, someone who, in his service here, has always looked for the common ground.

0:50:32 to 0:50:50( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: as anyone here will tell you on either side of the aisle when you make an agreement with john warner even on the most controversial circumstance, his word sticks. he keeps the agreement. no matter

0:50:50 to 0:51:09( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: how difficult the political cross currents may be. he has had an extraordinary record of productive service to america and to virginia. it has been my honor and one of the things i cherish in 1991 after

0:51:09 to 0:51:25( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: saddam hussein's invasion of kuwait i was asked to join with senator warner in january of 1991 to cosponsor the resolution which authorized the commander in chief to take litary action to push saddam hussein

0:51:25 to 0:51:39( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: and iraqi forces out of kuwait which they, of course, did successfully, heroically, with great affect on the stability and future of the middle east. it turned out that in 2003 when it came time again

0:51:39 to 0:51:54( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: for the senate to decide whether we were prepared to authorize yet another commander in chief to take military action to overthrow saddam hussein -- i don't need to talk about the causes for which

0:51:54 to 0:52:10( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: we argued for that case -- senator warner asked if i would join as a cosponsor and it was a great honor and it passed overwhelmingly with a bipartisan vote. but i will tell you that in a very special

0:52:10 to 0:52:28( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: way notwithstanding this kind of work and work that we did together, for instance, to establish the joint forces committee located in norfolk, virginia, to make real the promise of joint war fighting

0:52:28 to 0:52:44( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: inherent to the goldwater-nick also legislation but -- nickels legislation but was not quite realized. fresh in my mind and, i think, expressive of the range of john warner's interests here and of his commitment

0:52:44 to 0:53:01( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: to the greater public good was the fact that at the going of this session of congress he sought to become the ranking member of the subcommittee on climate change of the environment committee which

0:53:01 to 0:53:15( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: i was privileged to about to be chair of. we talked about it. we talked about the problem before. john didn't rush to the, as this issue, this challenge to mankind has taken shape, he did not rush

0:53:15 to 0:53:34( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: to the front of it. he was skeptical. he listened. he read. he studied. he concluded the planet is warming, that it represents a profound threat to the future of the american people, people all around the

0:53:34 to 0:53:51( Edit History Discussion )

Joseph Lieberman: globe and that it represented a threat to our national security which has been the animating, driving impulse of his public service. he said -- we talked and we decided to join together. we put in