The Senate is convened.

• Today --
  • We will be in morning business for at least an hour.
  • We have DoD Authorization, the continuing resolution, a stimulus bill, and the financial bailout to cover this week,  all of which we wish to turn to.
  • We hope to be out of session during the Presidential debate and need to be out of session for the upcoming Jewish holidays.

• Spoke on a soldier who passed in the War on Terror.

• Propounded a UC to call up and pass H.R. 1199 and H.R. 923. (without objection)

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "we've ran geld a lot over this bill. one of the reasons is because of the financial problems we find ourselves in today in this country. begrudgingly, i have decided we could not, out of the waste of the justice department, get the senate to concur that we should not spend decisional money on it, that there's plenty of money. as a matter of fact, at the end of last year there was $1.7 billion in unexpended funds and unobligated funds at the justice department."
• Spoke on the SAFE Act.
  • SUMMARY "the reason the "safe" act is important is because it will do something the moment it's signed into law. internet service providers will have to start reporting to the government, to the f.b.i. child porn sites and the people who are utilizing them and putting them up. the "protect" act won't do any of that, but the "safe" act will."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "we ought to help the mortgage market that has caused this in the first place. now, let me just quickly recapitulate what is the problem that got us into this financial mess. it's the fact that banks and financial institutions acting as banks but not regulated as banks started encouraging loans to people on their homes that the people could not afford."
  • SUMMARY "he's saying $700 billion -- in order to infuse that back into these financial institutions, these banks and investment banks -p and insurance companies, all which fed off of this frenzy that had this balloon get bigger and bigger until it started to burst. and if we do that, aren't we rewarding the very people whose financial greed got us into trouble in the first place? and i think the answer to that question is "yes." and so i just want to tell the senate that this senator is not going to vote for a bailout of the financial institutions"
  • SUMMARY "in order to get the money, not into the banker's hands, to get it to reserve the mortgage market, in other words, revive the housing market, create a loan facility such as fannie or freddie with the legal authority to get in there and help people change the terms of their loan so that they can stay in their houses, in their homes. and then, secondly, as the chairman has suggested in his committee package, change the bankruptcy laws so that if someone has already been foreclosed, gone into bankruptcy, that the bankruptcy judge under law would have the discretion to change the terms of the mortgage"

• Spoke on the Emmett Till Act (H.R. 923).
  • SUMMARY "this has been a bipartisan effort that has been tied up for the last couple of years regretfully. today with the news that this bill just passed the united states senate is good news and i'm deeply grateful to the majority leader for, again, sticking with an issue and not walking away from something as important as this is. some might argue that while this is a long time in coming, there are others who say it is too little too late."

• Spoke on health policy.
  • SUMMARY "though the never event program is in its infancy, i am troubled by the direction that these washington bureaucrats are headed. i believe that the negative longterm impact on patient care is going to be significant. this year washington bureaucrats expanded the never event. they expanded the list to include even more conditions."

• Spoke on oil exploration.
  • SUMMARY "we've been saying we need to develop more of america's natural resources, american energy here at home so we would be less dependent on imported oil and gas from the middle east. until this point those pleadings, those requests had fallen, it seemed like, on deaf ears. but i -- i want to congratulate the democratic leadership in in the house -- leadership in the house. this could go down as a bipartisan success that we -- that we should be proud of. but i just want to remind our colleagues that this is only part of the equation."
  • SUMMARY "there are many examples of litigation thwarting drilling projects on existing leases. now, the area i'm talking about specifically is that the federal government has leased land in the beaufort area off of alaska's wildlife refuge. too often heavy investment of human and financial resources necessary to develop and produce these reserves are frustrated and future investment discouraged when projects that have been extensively reviewed for their environmental impact and approved by the responsible federal agencies are shut down and effectively thwarted by frivolous litigation."
• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "first and foremost, i think we need to ask ourselves how we can protect the american taxpayers. the vast majority of americans played no part in the collapse of some of the largest financial institutions in america, and they shouldn't be forced to pay the price for the irresponsible and risky conduct of those that were at fault."
  • SUMMARY "mr. president, i appreciate the opportunity to come and address these very important topics, and i hope as the days go by that congress can work together in a bipartisan manner to try to find a way to address these problems. but certainly the initial proposal by the secretary of treasury is unacceptable on a number of bases. but he has my commitment, as do my colleagues."

• Spoke on economic policy.
  • SUMMARY "in our country we've seen a betrayal of the middle class. the drug companies wrote the medicare law. the insurance industry's written health care legislation in this congress. the oil companies have dictated energy policy. and wall street has pushed through these job-killing trade agreements. but issue after after issue the republican majority in the house and senate for most of the last eight years and the bush administration have betrayed the middle class and betrayed the values that we, as a nation, that we, as state, find so important"
  • SUMMARY "imagine what would happen if we had gone along, if the country hadn't said no to this bush-cheney-mccain privatization scheme, that americans would now find that these private accounts weren't quite what they were billed to be. they were risky as many of us said. because of the promises of let us put our private accounts, our hard-earned social security dollars, let's have wall street manage the private social security accounts"

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "the fact of the matter is that we had a regulation bill before the senate. s. 190. i was a co-sponsor of it. senator john mccain was a co-sponsor of that bill. that bill would have regulated fannie mae and freddie mac. it got nowhere. the silence on the other side of the aisle was deafening. this was in 2005. it wasn't that long ago. there was an opportunity there for all to come around the idea that fannie mae and freddie mac who are at the heart of the problem that we have faced in this financial crisis should have a strong world-class regulator."
  • SUMMARY "when we talk about trade agreements that lose jobs, stalling a trade agreement with colombia, in addition to not securing our interests, is costing jobs in miami, in the port of tampa. these are good-paying jobs. these are the kinds of jobs that people today in florida with unemployment over 6%, would stand in line to be able to have. these are good-paying jobs at the ports. ports that would trade with colombia, the number one trade port in america with colombia is in tampa."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "this congress is about to consider the most important legislation affecting our financial markets. i would say for a generation and possibly the history of our country. the american people must understand exactly what is at stake as we begin to consider this legislation. and this is something that we have got to do. putting aside partisan rhetoric, putting aside the fact that in 40 days we have a presidential election. we have to put aside the partisanship."
  • SUMMARY "as congress debates this package, let's remember who we work for: the american taxpayer. the priority should be making decisions that serve their best interest. no blank check, strict oversight, accountability, taxpayer recourse. it is in every american's best interest that we act. i look forward to creating the right legislation that averts a financial crisis that will affect every single american."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "credit and the american credit system -- call it the banking system if you'd like, but i'm going to call it the credit system -- is what makes america's prosperity available to millions and millions of people. it is the credit system that we set up that has given us the greatest standard of living that any peoples have ever had. and something is going wrong with that financial system. it is not a question of wall street. it happens to be that wall street is the center for some of these financial systems that i'm talking about. but they are going amiss. they are going awry. something basic is happening, so that the liquidity of the system -- which means the money available for the financial system that i just spoke of, the american financial system -- something has clogged it up."
  • SUMMARY "i believe it's time for clear thinking, for senators to say we have to take this one on the chin. if it's going to hurt politically, it might as well hurt politically while you're doing the greatest thing you could do for your country and that is save it of the save it from economic turmoil. now, if that's not the case and you don't believe it, then, obviously, you can leave as senators or representatives once the c.r. is passed"

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "and this is a very simplelyified way of explaining this -- okay, i need some commercial paper, some financing to get through my next payroll, which is going to be this week, because i didn't make enough money on my business this week; it's maybe a seasonal event or just a slowdown -- i need to get some commercial paper to make my payroll. well, they can't get it because the bank can't lend it to them because the bank is holding their money or the financial house is holding their money for the purposes of supporting their own capital position or for the purposes of defending themselves against the fact that so much of their money markets are being called in. and the practical effect of this is that you create the potential for massive destablization. destableization of the economy at a level that we have never seen"
  • SUMMARY "banks would have had to contract their capital immediately -- immediately -- and that would have meant less lending. dramatically less lending. good loans being called. people who could pay their loans would find their loans no longer existing as the banks had to collect more capital to get their capital requirements up. many banks might have even failed as a result of that event. it was a systemic problem because the insurance was so pervasive throughout the system and i it so supported the banking and financial houses, to say nothing of the money market area, where it also had a -- played a major role."
  • SUMMARY "if things were to work out, we might get as much value back as we put in or maybe more. that is not the expectation and that's not the purpose but clearly when somebody gets on the public airwaves and says we're putting $700 billion of taxpayers' money into this and we're in the getting anything back and we are throwing it at the big companies, they are being demagogs, they're being dishonest. they're heightening the problem. the deficit will not be aggravated by anything near that number."

• Spoke on the retirement of five Republican United States Senators.

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "president bush put cronies and ideologues in charge of our most critical regulatory agencies including the justice department. who ensured that special interests would always come before the common good. and one example of particular ir irresponsibility, the bush administration refused to exercise its regulatory authority over the mortgage industry. the president's neglect allowed massive fraud and widespread predatory lending to pave the way for the largest mortgage crisis in our entire history"
  • SUMMARY "congress is prepared to act as quickly as we responsibly can. but the congress and especially the american people have a right to know this: where is president bush? president bush has sent congress an unprecedented $700 billion bailout proposal. $700 billion straight from the pockets of every single man, woman and child in america. and yet president bush has been absent from what may well be the most important debate on economic policy in a generation."
• Propounded a UC to recess following the remarks of the Republican Leader, subject to the call of the chair. (without objection)

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "the financial modernization act was passed. i said then on the floor of the united states senate, within 10 years i believe we will see massive bailouts paid for by the american taxpayer. i regret i was right. it shouldn't have happened, however. but i want to talk about what has happened as a result of taking down the basic protec protections."
  • SUMMARY "where were the people that were supposed to regulate in this town when you saw predatory lending, when you saw practices that were advertising mortgage conditions that you knew the borrower couldn't meet? where were the regulators? they were sitting by with some grins on their face because they were engaged in other things"
  • NOTABLE "here's what i found. how many places on the internet could i find the same business practices occurring? advertising come and get a loan from us if you are bankrupt? well, i found 325 cases on the internet where they would provide you a home loan and promise that they would not check your credit"

• Spoke on the Healthy Americans Act (S. 334).
  • SUMMARY "beyond the bill's coverage, the work which has been done on the appropriations subcommittee of labor, health, education where senator harkin an i have taken a lead with increasing funding for the n.i.h. from $12 billion to $30 billion. this proposal, senate bill 334, has a number of issues which i think need further analysis and further study and modification, as noted in the text of the statement. but i believe it is an excellent starting point, and having some 16 cosponsors, the most i've seen on a bipartisan piece of legislation to address this very important subject, i think it has an excellent opportunity in the next congress to provide the basis for moving ahead for the appropriate coverage of all americans"
• Spoke on filling the amendment tree.
  • SUMMARY "the practice of limiting the amendments which senators may offer on the floor and the problems of confirming judges, especially in the last two years of a president's administration. the great value of the united states senate on the american political scene which has earned this august body the title of "the world's greatest legislative body" has been the right of any senator at any time to offer virtually any amendment on a bill. and that, plus unlimit debate, has made this chamber a unique place among modern democracies where great ideas can be stated, can be articulated, and can be debated. and where, with sufficient debate, sufficient analysis, and sufficient merit, they can attract great public attention."

• Spoke on post-partum depression.
  • SUMMARY "there are far too many women in america suffering in silence from postpartum depression and it's time to let them know they are not alone. it is time to lift the veil of what some consider shame and secrecy. this condition is not their fault and they can get help. the melanie blocker stokes mothers act would establish the first comprehensive legislation to assist new mothers suffering from postpartum depression and educate women about this disab disabling condition"
• Propounded a UC to discharge, call up, and pass S. 1375. (Craig objected)
  • SUMMARY "i have a problem in that we have a process that has festered here where one person suddenly believes that they are the guardian of what is good and what is not. and i always get concerned when suddenly one person in an institution believes that they can use the powers that are reserved largely for the purposes of ensuring that something that they feel is he passionate about or so strongly about and to protect the powers of the minority can be preserved but then it gets abused."
• Propounded a UC that, following Senator Craig's remarks, the Senate stand in recess pending the call of the chair. (without objection)

• Spoke on VA healthcare.
  • SUMMARY "v.a. has become an i invaluable piece of the health care systems for all americans. at the same time, the v.a. is a separate health care system within our nation and creates a certain disconnect. the focus of v.a. has been on establishing a system that is dependent upon bricks and mort mortars and a fixed location. in the vast majority of situations, veterans enrolled in the v.a. health care system must receive health care at v.a. facilities unless they want to pay for care through private insurance or out of their own pockets. this system that veterans -- this means that veterans who do not live near a v.a. facility have more difficulty -- a more difficult time accessing v.a. care because of where they choose to live"
  • SUMMARY "we need to examine how we -- how we can integrate v.a. facilities with other health care facilities to better serve not only veterans but entire communities. is there a way that we can utilize existing v.a. facilities to serve all of those living in rural communities that struggle to recruit health care professionals without compromising care for veterans? is there a way we can change the v.a. health care system to enable veterans to receive care at their local non-h.v. health -v.a. healthcare providers?"

The Senate stands in recess subject to the Call of the Chair.

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "senator mccain has joust announced that he is willing to suspend his campaign, set politics aside, and sit down all sides to come to a solution to the looming threats to our economy. that's really an outstanding idea. the threats to americans and their homes, savings and retirements is really not a partisan problem and it won't be fixed with a partisan approach"
  • SUMMARY "any action we take must include the following. number one, limits on executive compensation. number two, debt reduction. number three, congressional oversight and transparency. and, yes, of course, taxpayer with regard to executive compensation, if weak companies are seeking government assistance, the taxpayers should expect no less than a firm limit on what kind of executive compensation might be possible for those involved in these distressed companies. debt reduction. any proceeds that are earned from the government buying these assets and then selling them in the marketplace must be used to reduce the national debt. these revenues must not be used to pay for unrelated and unnecessary pet projects. congressional oversight and transparency. americans need to be able to see how their money is being used and it's being managed wisely. we in congress will watch where every dollar goes to ensure th! ere is no waste and no funny business. taxpayer protection. americans have a right to expect that there is no fraud or abuse."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "presidents can do very little other than what we let them do. and when we talk about the lack of oversight and regulation, the problem is we weren't watching the regulators, and our constitutional duty is that we should have been. there's a lot of blame to go around, and it's not partisan, republicans and democrats, executive branch, even the judicial branch in some of the rulings that have created stupid consequences to things that were never intended by congress."
  • SUMMARY "imagine what would have happened after the failed attempt four years ago to try to put the controls on fannie mae and freddie mac that we had a monthly hearing outlining the worsening and worsening condition so that we could have avoided this. instead of us doing that, we did what was easy."
  • SUMMARY "i believe you're going to see people vote for bills that basically they don't like because it's in the best interest of the country. my hope is that when we do that, that it won't be a onetime habit. that we will in fact move back to the position to take a decision on how we vote on something and not do a finger to the wind or how it looks back home or how it looks for our political career, but in fact look at the u.s. constitution and say does it square with that and does it match our oath to do what's in the best interest of the country?"

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "don't you think this has to be done in a bipartisan effort and done in a very timely way or otherwise we're going to lose the opportunity to settle this situation out and we may see a disastrous event occurring which affects every american's pocket book and their lifestyle basically?"

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY " we have to drive back confidence. and so i -- i believe, senator gregg, that you will see a bipartisan vote in the senate. and the sooner the better, because every day we're not fixing this is costing jobs, it's costing the ability to promote new jobs in our economy, and it's costing savings for those people who are no longer working but living off retirement. so i feel that we're going to -- i feel that this body's going to stand up and do the right thing. i've been impressed with senator schumer. senator jack reed, i just saw him, the questions he asked and the questions he put forth both to secretary paulson and chairman bernanke yesterday i thought were right on the money. i don't think we're far apart."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "compare that cost to what happens if we do nothing. if we have a total destabilization of our financial houses, if banks start to fail, if main street contracts, if people are put out of work, if revenues drop dramatically. you're talking about lost revenues to the federal government of inordinate amount. you're talking about programs which will have to be added to try to take care of people who are in dire straits of inordinate amounts. i can't imagine what the cost would be if we went through a dire recession or worse."

• On the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "we're going to get back a fair amount of the money that we invested because we've got an asset, a physical asset. it's called a mortgage-backed security, most likely, and we own it, and we can resell it or we can wait until it matures at face value and get the money back, having bought it at less than face value."
  • SUMMARY "i do not want to see the cost of what will happen if we don't take action in the next few days. after you've lived awhile and after you've seen a few things, you begin to make some decisions, not just in the heart or the mind but in the gut. and this is a gut decision to me with a little bit of experience thrown in."
  • SUMMARY "so this crisis that we're all talking about here is not about a bunch of people on wall street. it's about a bunch of people on main street and whether or not we are going to act on a bipartisan basis to restore confidence in our country and to prevent what could be a major catastrophic event."
  • SUMMARY "i applaud senator obama's reaction to this economic crisis. it's a presidential reaction. it is restrained. it leaves room for discussion. and it recognizes the problem. i applaud senator mccain's decision to involve himself, if he can, in a solution to the problem. that's the kind of leadership we should expect of both men, both of whom are members of this body."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "he was all but saying that right now we're in a negative-growth month or two, could well be the quarter that we're in. and if you don't unfreeze these credit markets at this point in time, you're going to go into a lengthier, deeper recession that's going to take place because the credit is what allows small business to get loans to grow and what allows people to get student loans to go to college, what really lubricates and lets the system grow"

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "wall street is a location. as far as a bailout, this has nothing to do with wall street. the credit market of the united states, that which makes money available day by day to the people of our country for any and everything, their car, the nnew car they just bought, the house they added on to that they want to pay for, anything that you think think of that requires the exchange of money or payment by a check, all of this requires liquidity, requires that money moves. and when money is stopped, the whole thing stops."

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "i spoke with my colleagues, democrats and republicans, whose e-mail and phone responses to the bailout proposal that secretary paulson has brought forward overwhelmingly negative. it is a charged political atmosphere. bringing a presidential campaign into this atmosphere is not going to make it easier or more likely it will come to a good ending. i think we need to do this in a thoughtful, quiet, and sensible way. i think the joint statement by senator obama and senator mccain set the right tone, depolitical siding it at the presidential level and now we need to roll up our sleeves and go to work"
  • SUMMARY "we have one of the most important events before us this friday night: the first presidential campaign debate. i think these debates will be widely followed by americans across the board who will measure the major candidates and make their decisions. the american people are entitled to that. we need to move forward to make certain that those debates take place so that at the presidential and vice presidential levels voters can take their measure of the candidates."
• Propounded a UC that at 4:45 the Senate stand in recess subject to the Call of the Chair.

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "so what i would say is, look, i think all of us agree that something needs to occur. i think all of us agree that something drastic needs to occur in order to jolt this system. there's a lot of debate over what the right and wrong thing is to do but i believe we as a body should be responsible about this. i believe we should come together as two bodies with leadership of both bodies working together to try to get this legislation right"

• Spoke on departing United States Senators.

• Propounded a UC to lay before the Senate a message from the House with regards to S. 1315, to disagree with the House amendments, to call for conference, and appoint conferees. (Burr objected)
  • SUMMARY "i recognize the merits of the senator's position. now, however, the motion is to use the same bill, s. 1315, as passed by both houses, that is, in fact, the normal process, the regular order for resolving differences between the houses. i addressed the senator's concern -- concerns and i am disappointed to see his -- the republican colleague objecting objecting here. i wish to remind my colleagues this bill passed the senate by a vote of 96-1. surely there must be some willingness to stand by the senate position to validate the senate's action"

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "there will be a special pension that's created out of the continuing resolution. it will be funded with money that's pulled out of the sky which we do regularly in washington. the house has spoken about the hartness decision and the fact that they don't want to use that money."

The Senate stands in recess subject to the Call of the Chair.

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "i spoke with my colleagues, democrats and republicans, whose e-mail and phone responses to the bailout proposal that secretary paulson has brought forward overwhelmingly negative. it is a charged political atmosphere. bringing a presidential campaign into this atmosphere is not going to make it easier or more likely it will come to a good ending. i think we need to do this in a thoughtful, quiet, and sensible way. i think the joint statement by senator obama and senator mccain set the right tone, depolitical siding it at the presidential level and now we need to roll up our sleeves and go to work"
  • SUMMARY "we have one of the most important events before us this friday night: the first presidential campaign debate. i think these debates will be widely followed by americans across the board who will measure the major candidates and make their decisions. the american people are entitled to that. we need to move forward to make certain that those debates take place so that at the presidential and vice presidential levels voters can take their measure of the candidates."
• Propounded a UC that at 4:45 the Senate stand in recess subject to the Call of the Chair.

• Spoke on the financial relief package.
  • SUMMARY "so what i would say is, look, i think all of us agree that something needs to occur. i think all of us agree that something drastic needs to occur in order to jolt this system. there's a lot of debate over what the right and wrong thing is to do but i believe we as a body should be responsible about this. i believe we should come together as two bodies with leadership of both bodies working together to try to get this legislation right"

• Spoke on departing United States Senators.

• Propounded a UC to lay before the Senate a message from the House with regards to S. 1315, to disagree with the House amendments, to call for conference, and appoint conferees. (Burr objected)
  • SUMMARY "i recognize the merits of the senator's position. now, however, the motion is to use the same bill, s. 1315, as passed by both houses, that is, in fact, the normal process, the regular order for resolving differences between the houses. i addressed the senator's concern -- concerns and i am disappointed to see his -- the republican colleague objecting objecting here. i wish to remind my colleagues this bill passed the senate by a vote of 96-1. surely there must be some willingness to stand by the senate position to validate the senate's action"

• Responded.
  • SUMMARY "there will be a special pension that's created out of the continuing resolution. it will be funded with money that's pulled out of the sky which we do regularly in washington. the house has spoken about the hartness decision and the fact that they don't want to use that money."

The Senate stands in recess subject to the Call of the Chair.

• Performed wrap up.
• Tomorrow --
  • We will convene at 9:30 AM.
  • We will have morning business.
  • We expect to receive the CR tomorrow morning.

The Senate stands in recess until 9:30 AM tomorrow.

• Performed wrap up.
• Tomorrow --
  • We will convene at 9:30 AM.
  • We will have morning business.
  • We expect to receive the CR tomorrow morning.

The Senate stands in recess until 9:30 AM tomorrow.