Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from North Dakota. He told the story about the immigrant who settled in Chicago. That may have been a story from a different era, but we still in so many ways are a nation of tinkerers and inventors, entrepreneurs and scientists-- a nation that still leads the world in brain power in terms of figuring out new products, new ways of doing things, new services. The problem is, there has been a disconnect between that and production and job growth and job creation. That is why the President's speech last night, to me, was so disappointing, that he has asked for more tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans, tax cuts that, frankly--usually, these tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans are at the expense of the middle class. He has asked for more trade agreements while our trade deficit explodes year after year after year. As Senator Dorgan suggested, we know what we need to do as a nation. We know what we need to do with tax policy to serve the middle class. We know what we need to do with trade policy to serve the middle class. Even though the President wants to stay the course, wants to continue the same direction, I think there is change afoot in this country. People want change. People want to strengthen again the middle class and strengthen our communities in New Jersey and Rhode Island--Senator Whitehouse is in the Chamber, too--and in my State of Ohio, from Lima to Zanesville and from Dayton to Warren. I thank you, Mr. President, for your time and again exhort Americans to look down the road for a new trade policy, a new tax policy that helps to build the middle class.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 282 just received from the House and at the desk.

Mr. BROWN. I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, without intervening debate or action.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 425 submitted earlier today.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I now ask for its second reading and object to my own request.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I understand that S. 2556, introduced earlier today by Senator Reid, the majority leader, is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, first of all, I thank the Senator from Iowa for his terrific work on advocating for those who are most victimized by this recession, the elderly who need help on their heating and weatherization of their homes, the people who need food stamps, people who have lost their jobs, people who have lost their health insurance, people who are struggling the most. I wish to thank Senator Harkin for his work. I wish to tell a story that I think illustrates the hardship among middle-class Americans, middle-class Ohioans, people who have worked hard, played by the rules, have seen their unemployment run out, or seen their job lost or seen the prices of gasoline and home heating and food go so high that they cannot afford the middle-class lifestyle or even the subsistence living that has afflicted their lives. I mentioned this story on the floor a couple times, but it so much illustrates Senator Harkin's words and Senator Harkin's solutions of extending unemployment, that gets money in people's pockets quickly; of helping with food banks and food stamps and LIHEAP and all that. Congress's response needs to be twofold. We need to stimulate the economy, and the House version is a start, it is a good start, and we need to help those who are most victimized by the recession. In Logan, OH, in Hocking County, a county halfway between Columbus in Central Ohio and Athens on the Ohio River, in Logan, OH, a southeast Appalachian county, on a cold December day about a month ago, at 3:30 in the morning people began to line up outside the United Methodist in Logan, the county seat of Hocking County, to get food. It was 3:30 in the morning on a cold winter day. By 8 o'clock, cars were snaked around the church and the neighborhood and up and down the streets when the food panty opened. By 1 o'clock in the afternoon, 2,000 people--2,000 people in a county of about 30,000--7 percent of the county, had come to this food pantry. Many of those in this county had driven 20, 25 or 30 minutes to get there, a county that has had problems in the past but a county where that food bank served only a few dozen people 3 or 4 or 5 years ago. Across the State, in Warren County, a relatively affluent community overall, a larger county northeast of Cincinnati down in southwest Ohio, the head of the United Way told me 90 percent of their people who come to their food pantries in their county, 90 percent of the people have jobs. The mayor of Denver told a group of us, the Presiding Officer was there, that 40 percent of the homeless people in greater Denver are employed. Underemployed, perhaps, employed obviously in low-wage jobs. Tim, a gentleman from Cleveland, used to donate time and money to the local food bank and soup kitchen. He is still employed, but the costs were consuming him and his family. He quit giving money to the food bank but continued to volunteer there. Now he is in a position where he relies on those resources himself. He said he used to be middle class, but he does not consider himself middle class any more because his wages have not kept pace with the cost of basic needs such as food, heat, and shelter. He spoke of the great humility it took to go to the food bank for his own household. He said it is merely a drop in the bucket compared to what his family needs. Today my office received an alarming e-mail from Ohio's Second Harvest. Second Harvest is a group of food banks that serve our State. The e-mail mail explained that Second Harvest Food Bank of Southeastern Ohio, which serves the area where Logan is, the community I mentioned earlier, is nearly out of food. For the fourth time in just over a year, the e-mail said, they have come very close to closing their doors; there is no relief in sight. This problem is not unique to Ohio, it is affecting cities all over this country. It is affecting rural areas, large cities, small towns, and suburbs. No community seems to be immune from this. That is why our efforts are so very important. Senator Harkin had a chart that showed the importance of putting money directly into the pockets of those who are most afflicted by this recession. That means people who go to food banks; it means people on food stamps; it means people who have problems paying their heating bill; it means people whose unemployment has run out. I appreciate the House action. As I said, the House has a good start, putting money into the pockets directly of middle-class taxpayers, of working families. But we need to do more. The best thing we can do while we want to stimulate the economy, the best thing we can do is extend unemployment compensation. Because that money will be spent by those people who are hurting because they lost their job, they cannot find work, and their unemployment has run out. Our proposal of $40 million that I introduced back in December may need to be more than that, but that would be a good start, to get people over December, January, February as these food banks have run out of food. That $40 million spread around the country will matter, as these food banks say they are in the worst shape than any time in the last 20 years. They are in worse shape because grocery stores donate less because they are more efficient, they damage fewer cans, they have less oversupply or waste that they donated to food banks in the past. Obviously, the demand on these food banks is so much greater than it has been. Again, I would also add that donations are down in January. They always are after Christmas. People, as generous as they are at Christmas, sometimes sort of forget in January, so they are not getting help from the individuals and the community. Of course, the demands on those food banks are higher. So that stimulus package, while a good start in the House, putting money in the pockets of middle-class Americans and working Americans, needs to go further and needing to go further is helping the most afflicted, pained, the people who need it most and have been victims of this recession. As Senator Harkin said, that money will then be spent in our communities with American-made products and will have a very good multiplying effect for jump-starting our economy. No one should go hungry in the richest country in the world. We are spending $3 billion a week on the war in Iraq. The tax cuts the President gave over the last 6 years resulted in huge numbers of dollars to the richest people, the richest 1 percent in this country. It is time we dealt with some of the problems that are hurting people in Steubenville and Lima and Zanesville and Dayton and Cleveland and Akron and Youngstown and Warren in my State. So I ask, as this bill comes to the Senate after House passage, that we look seriously at the proposal Senator Harkin had to take care of food stamps and food banks, to extend unemployment benefits, to take care of seniors who simply cannot meet their heating bills as the winter moves on.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Presiding Officer of the Senate be authorized to appoint a committee on the part of the Senate to join with a like committee on the part of the House of Representatives to escort the President of the United States into the House Chamber for the joint session to be held at 9 p.m. on Monday, January 28, 2008.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, if there is no further business, I ask unanimous consent that following the remarks of Mr. Dodd, the senior Senator from Connecticut, the Senate then stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 422, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I regret I wasn't standing here with the congratulations of the Red Sox beating the Cleveland Indians earlier last year.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 424, which is at the desk.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I congratulate the new appointee. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 423, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, I appreciate the comments of my colleague from Maryland and his insight. The economic house in our country is not in order. The United States may be entering its first recession since 2001--since the beginning of the Bush Presidency. It is pretty clear in my State of Ohio, from places I visited in January, from Kenton to Celina to Cincinnati to Lancaster, to places all over my State, that people are suffering. Food banks are at their most perilous time in at least 20 years. In Logan, OH, a small community halfway between Columbus and the center of the State and the Ohio River and the town of Athens, halfway between Hocking County and Logan, OH, is the United Methodist Food Pantry. At 3:30 in the morning on a cold December day just about a month ago, people began to line up to go to this food bank, and by 8 o'clock, when the doors opened, cars were all the way up and down the road. This is a small county. By 1 o'clock in the afternoon, 2,000 people--7 percent of the people in this rural Appalachian county, Hocking County, Logan, OH--had come to this food bank; 2,000 people, 7 percent of the people who live in this county, many having driven 20 or 30 minutes to get there. Middle-class families in Ohio and throughout our Nation face higher costs for energy and health care and education, amidst stagnant wages and falling home prices. In Lebanon, OH, in Warren County, the United Way director told me 90 percent of people going to food banks to pick up food are employed. The mayor of Denver told a group of us today--Senator Stabenow and others--that 40 percent of homeless people in greater Denver are employed, they have jobs, but not making enough because of foreclosures or cost of food or transportation, simply not making--making low wages, not making enough to make a go of it. Our Nation is bleeding jobs. The middle class is shrinking. People are hurting. When it comes to responding to these realities, we have several choices. We can try to buy time, as many of the Republican candidates for President are saying, and leave it at that. The economy is cyclical; it will get better; let's ride it out. No government involvement at all. That is one option. The second option is we can enact a short-term economic stimulus package where we put money in the pockets of middle-class taxpayers, whether they are paying income tax or Social Security tax, put money in the pockets of middle-class taxpayers, extend unemployment compensation, offer aid for food stamps and food banks, and also offer aid to LIHEAP for seniors who are particularly victimized by this recession. The third option is we can learn from our mistakes. We certainly need to do the short-term economic stimulus package. That is very important, but that is not enough. We can learn from our mistakes. We can confront the underlying causes of our Nation's economic stability. I want to focus on one of those causes. It is a refusal to acknowledge that U.S. trade policies must evolve as the global marketplace does. When I first ran for Congress in 1992--the same year as the Presiding Officer was elected from her State of Washington--our trade deficit was $38 billion. Our trade deficit figures for 2007 are estimated at nearly $800 billion, and that is before we count the December numbers. So we know our trade deficit went from $38 billion to, a decade and a half later, nearly $800 billion. President George Herbert Walker Bush has said that $1 billion in trade deficit or surplus translates into 13,000 jobs. So if you sell a billion dollars more out of the country than you import, that is a net increase of 13,000 jobs. If you export $1 billion less than you export, then that is costing 13,000 jobs. Do the math. We went from a $38 billion trade deficit to an $800 billion trade deficit. The fact is, these job-killing trade agreements are hemorrhaging jobs out of our country and our manufacturing communities, from small towns such as Tippin, OH, to cities as large as Cleveland, OH, from places like Chillicothe, to places like Columbus. The U.S. trade deficit with China, which has continued to spiral upward, hit $238 billion through November of 2007. In 1992, the year I ran for Congress, our trade deficit with China was slightly over $10 billion. It hit over $238 billion, and that is just through November 2007. As President Bush the first said, $1 billion in trade deficit costs 13,000 jobs. Do the math. Just with China alone, this is the highest annual imbalance ever recorded with a single country, with any bilateral relationship in world history. The trade deficit we have with China now accounts for 33 percent of the U.S. total trade deficit in goods. Since 1982, our Nation has accumulated trade deficits of $4.3 trillion. That is money that must be eventually repaid. When you look at $4.3 trillion, think of the first President Bush's formula: a billion-dollar trade deficit costs 13,000 jobs. Today, Americans are losing jobs for reasons, frankly, that have nothing to do with this recession. They have much to do with our country's narrow, myopic, tunnel-vision trade policies. When we craft trade deals that favor gains for multinational corporations over evenhanded competition for both trading partners, why should we be surprised when U.S. companies are crippled or they move out of the country? In Tippin, OH, where I visited a week and a half ago, workers are losing their pensions, health care, or the company has come in and raided these communities and put people out of work, so there are less dollars for schools, less dollars for police protection, for fire protection, and fewer dollars for the local hardware store, fewer dollars for the local restaurants, all of that. That is why we need to enforce trade rules meant to prevent anticompetitive practices by countries such as China. We should not be surprised when our manufacturing sector--which is not only crucial to our economy but to national security--falters because of these anticompetitive practices. It is not in our Nation's best interest to rely on other nations for our defense infrastructure, our transportation infrastructure, our industrial infrastructure. The tragedy is, we in this country do the best research and development in the world. We do the research and development and so often companies take that research and development and make the products in other countries. Then we continue to do research and development, and they continue to take the production of these items and goods and this research and these high-tech products out of our country. The research and development certainly creates jobs, good, high-paying jobs, many in the State of the Presiding Officer and many in mine. The fact is, we cannot continue to run an economy when we do the research and development in this country and then we farm out the production of those goods that are developed to other countries, to exploit low-wage labor, to exploit weak environmental laws, to exploit worker safety laws, to exploit the consumer products safety net. Look at the toxic toys coming from China and the contaminated toothpaste and dog food, and the unsafe tires coming from countries that don't have a consumer products safety net and the food safety net we have. We clearly need a stronger manufacturing sector such as we have had in our history. That sector cannot effectively compete against companies subsidized by the Chinese Government, companies that pay slave wages, that too often churn out dangerous toys that end up in our children's bedrooms, and toxic, contaminated food that ends up too often in our families breakfast rooms. On a level, competitive playing field, U.S. companies thrive. When the cards are stacked against them, they struggle, of course. In 2007, prior to the onset of the 2008 recession, 217,000 manufacturing jobs across the country were lost. That was last year before this recession seems to have deepened. Madam President, 217,000 jobs were lost in the manufacturing sector last year in places such as Youngstown, Warren, Ravenna, and Lima, all over my State. The United States now has fewer manufacturing jobs--get this--the United States, now with 300 million people, has fewer manufacturing jobs today than it did in 1950 when we had about 150 million people in our country. Manufacturing jobs bring wealth to our communities. A job that pays $15 an hour in Marion, OH, and pays $14 an hour in Springfield, OH, brings wealth into the community that spends out into other jobs and prosperity for other people in the community. We have lost more than 3 million manufacturing jobs since President Bush took office in 2001. Many of these jobs have been eliminated because of imports from China or direct offshoring to countries such as China. Last week, NewPage, a paper manufacturing company based in Miamisburg, OH, near Dayton, announced it was shutting down plants in Wisconsin, Maine, and Chillicothe, OH. Heavily government-subsidized Chinese paper producers account for nearly 50 percent of the world market. One country, because of subsidies and low wages, unenforced environmental rules, and pretty much nonexistent protection for workers, accounts for 50 percent of the world market. That is not free trade, that is a racket. China has done little to address the fundamental misalignment of its currency, a practice that continues to take jobs and wealth from our country, and they don't share it with their workers. If they didn't have an oppressive, authoritarian government, it would be a different story. They are taking wealth out of our country, and it means higher profits for outsourcing companies, more money for the Chinese Communist Party, for the People's Liberation Army, but not much for Chinese workers. When we allow China to manipulate currency, trade isn't free, it is fixed. When we allow China to import dangerous products into our country, we should not be surprised when Americans balk. It took generations for our Nation to build a solid product safety system. If we don't demand safe imports from China and our other trading partner nations, our investment in U.S. product safety becomes an exercise in futility. Think how it happens. U.S. companies shut down an American toy manufacturer, for instance, and those U.S. companies, after shutting down the manufacturing in the United States, move to China. China is a country with low wages, unenforced environmental and worker safety standards. The U.S. company goes to China because of weak environmental and worker safety standards and low wages. Because they don't enforce those rules, you know what is going to happen. Products made in those countries will be made in bad conditions, and there is likely to be toxic or dangerous toys, and more likely to be contaminated food. The U.S. companies in China then push their Chinese subcontractors to cut costs because they want more profit. So they are pushing the Chinese subcontractors to cut costs, and then those products that are imported into the United States are even more dangerous. Then the Consumer Products Safety Commission in this country--because of President Bush's decisions, we have weakened the regulatory system, so those products come in and there are not enough inspectors. The laws are weakened, so the dangerous toys and contaminated food too often ends up in our family rooms, bedrooms, and our kitchens. Some free-trade proponents say workers and consumers should get over it, get used to it; it is globalization and there is nothing you can do about it. That is wrong. Continuing this course will not only cost the middle class more jobs, it will cost our economy its global leadership. It will foist so much debt on our children and their children that basic economic security, basic retirement security may be reserved for the fortunate few. Certainly not the middle class. And as for the poor, just let them eat cake. The people in Ohio, in all corners, are swimming upstream against deteriorating economic forces. One important reason for that is that Federal policymakers continue to cling to the fantasy that markets run themselves and police themselves, and as long as the rich are getting richer, wealth will trickle down, jobs will be created, and everybody is better off. It is time to take the blinders off. To secure our economy for the future, we need to write trade rules that crack down on anticompetitive gaming. In our country, still the most powerful in the world, with the most vigorous economy, we need to write trade rules that crack down on anticompetitive gaming of the system. That is what they have done. We need trade rules that prevent dangerous products from entering our country. We need trade rules that acknowledge that destroying the environment in any country, whether it is China or the United States, is a threat to every country. We need to take responsibility for the consequences of our inaction when it comes to trade policy. We need to take responsibility for the consequences of mistakes we have made in writing trade policy. We need to change course, and we need to do it now. I yield the floor. (Mr. CASEY assumed the Chair.)

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate now proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 421, which was submitted earlier today.

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid on the table.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it stand adjourned until 9:30 a.m., Thursday, January 24; that on Thursday, following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the Senate then resume consideration of S. 2248, the FISA legislation.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Madam President, Wall Street and international markets are clearly concerned or worse over a possible U.S. recession. Congress is formulating, as we know--the President, both parties' leadership, the Members of the House and Senate--an economic stimulus package, which is the right thing to do, but there are several pieces to this puzzle. The economy is faltering, to be sure, and we have those concerns about our economy as a whole. Equally important, I would argue more importantly, more Americans are losing access to basic necessities because of it. A stimulus package should do two things. First of all, a stimulus package needs to stimulate the economy so we can pull ourselves more quickly and more vigorously, if you will, out of this recession. A stimulus package also, equally or more importantly, needs to help those people who have been most victimized by the recession. I rise to urge this body to take responsibility for helping those who are without food, without adequate heat, and without adequate housing; those for whom the economic crisis is not just a source of anxiety, in some sense it is a thief in the night who has robbed Americans of basic human needs. In December, I spoke about the crisis food banks across our Nation face. It was the lead-up to Christmas, a time when the spirit of giving is at its peak. The holidays are now over and we are deep into January. Not surprisingly, food bank donations have fallen off precipitously. Yet the need for food grows as the economic crisis deepens. Across this country more Americans are in need of food assistance and less food is available. The result is hunger. In the wealthiest Nation in the world, people are waiting in line for a subsistence level of food, food that runs out too often before the lines run out. People who live in the communities we serve are facing increasing food insecurity. In too many cases, people don't know from where their next meal will come. Increasingly, these are families with children. Food banks in Ohio and Virginia and Arizona and California and in the Presiding Officer's home State of Missouri, in Colorado and every State in the Union are underfunded, overextended. The unemployed, the sick, the aged, the homeless, the mentally ill--these are the individuals who typically seek food banks and food pantries for assistance. And now more working families are also being forced to seek food assistance as factories close and as gas prices and transportation prices--the cost of transportation goes up for people driving to work, wages stagnate, food prices go up, and daily necessities become more expensive. Five years ago, the Food Bank of Southeast Virginia reported serving 95,000 people--95,000 people in 2002. In 2007, that food bank served 203,000. Forty-two percent of their recipients are categorized as working poor, a population that is on the rise. In Warren County, OH, a generally affluent county northeast of Cincinnati--the county seat is Lebanon, which I visited last week--in that county, 90 percent of people who go to food pantries have jobs, 90 percent of them are working. They are working often in part-time jobs, often in full-time jobs without benefits, always in jobs that cannot pay their bills. For many years, one of my constituents, Tim, and his wife donated time and money to Cleveland-area food banks and soup kitchens. But over time, cash for Tim and his wife became tight. They stopped giving money to the food bank; they continued to donate their time to the food bank. This year, after months of rationing food in their own household, Tim and his wife were forced to use the food bank themselves. It took great humility, Tim recalls. Tim says he used to be middle class, but he does not see himself as middle class anymore. He says his wages have not kept pace with subsistence expenses. What he gets from the food bank is not enough either. The groceries he receives last his household about 1 week. Food distributions are limited to once a month. In Ohio, 70 percent of food pantries do not have enough food to serve everyone in need. This problem is not unique to Ohio. It is affecting cities across the country, with Denver and Orlando and Phoenix particularly hard-hit. American's Second Harvest, the nationwide food bank network, projected a food shortage of 15 million pounds--11.7 million meals--by the end of 2007. Congress must act swiftly to alleviate the current food shortage. That is why I introduced last month legislation that would allocate $40 million in emergency assistance--$40 million is all. Just to put it in perspective, we are spending $3 billion a week on the war in Iraq. We are asking for $40 million in short-term emergency funding for the Emergency Food Assistance Program, so-called TEFAP. With legislators still negotiating the details of the farm bill, critical TEFAP funding, which provides food at no cost to low-income Americans in need of short-term hunger relief, has dried up at the worst possible time. This bill will provide the funding necessary to keep food banks funding intact until the farm bill is signed into law. On a cold December morning about a month ago in southeast Ohio, in the town of Logan, at 3:30 in the morning--3:30 in the morning--people began to line up at a food bank at the Smith Chapel United Methodist Church pantry. By 8 o'clock, about 4\1/2\ hours later, when volunteers began distributing food, the line of cars stretched for more than a mile and a half. By early afternoon of this cold December day, more than 2,000 residents had received food. That is 7 percent of the local population in a county where people drove 20 or 30 minutes to get there. Seven percent of the local population in 1 day, in one church, came to this food pantry for food. Just 8 years ago, that pantry served 17 families a month--17 families a month. One December day, 2,000 families, that is a crisis. In the Los Angeles Times yesterday, a grateful recipient of scant food donations said: I eat anything they give me. In the Virginia Pilot in southeast Virginia yesterday, a recipient admitted: What I get here lasts all month. I kind of stretch it. Of the shortages at the food banks, Tim from Cleveland asked: How hard is it to give a can of tuna? In a nation as wealthy as ours, no one who works hard for a lifetime--as most of these people who have gone to food banks do and have worked a lifetime to provide for their families, to get along, try to join the middle class--no one who works hard for a lifetime should ever have to make statements like those statements. This is a national crisis. In a faltering economy, more people descend into crisis. It is inevitable. The need for economic stimulus goes hand in hand with the need for a caring community. Again, the economic stimulus package needs to stimulate the economy. It also needs, equally, maybe more importantly, to help those who have been victimized by this recession. Our Nation has always been a caring community. More children are hungry today. More elderly Americans cannot pay their heating bills. More middle-class families now consider themselves among the working poor. Americans do not turn their backs on fellow Americans in need. As individuals, Americans do not; as a government, we should not. The economic stimulus package should revive the economy and reaffirm our bonds with each other. This economic stimulus package is an opportunity to demonstrate our economic and moral strength. Let us take that opportunity. Let us act immediately to prevent more Americans from going to bed hungry. The stimulus package needs to include food banks, food pantries, extension of unemployment compensation, and help for those elderly Americans who simply cannot pay their heating bills. I yield the floor.

Mr. BROWN

Mr. BROWN. Mr. President, on Monday, in Hocking County--a small-town, rural county in southeast Ohio--residents began forming a line at the Smith Chapel United Methodist Church Pantry before dawn. By 8:30, when volunteers began distributing food, the line of cars stretched for more than a mile and a half. By early afternoon, more than 2,000 residents had received food. That is over 7 percent of the local population. Mr. President, 1 out of 14 people in this county had received food from this food pantry. Eight years ago, the same pantry was serving 17 families a month. Two thousand people in one day; 17 families for the whole month 8 years ago. The Freestore Foodbank in Cincinnati, OH, has seen a 52-percent increase in demand this year. Many of these new patrons are working people. They are working minimum-wage jobs. Some hold two jobs. They are not just the homeless. They are not just the dispossessed. They are all kinds of people who have had a series of bad luck in the last several months. With food prices going up, fuel prices going up, wages stagnating, and subprime foreclosures continuing to hit home, working middle-class Americans are finding it difficult to find room in their budgets for food. More Americans in need; less food available--the result is far too much human suffering. Think of this. In the wealthiest Nation in the world, people are waiting in line for a subsistence level of food, and some of them are not even receiving that. The men and women and children waiting in line for food are men and women and children you have passed on the street--mothers and fathers trying to feed their kids, children too proud to admit there is no lunch money in their pocket, no food in the refrigerator, no holiday meals ahead; no food. Grandmothers raising their grandchildren, living on fixed incomes, relying--because they have no choice but to rely--on food pantries, on food donations, on food banks. The unemployed, the sick, the aged, the homeless, the mentally ill. And in Hocking County, 1 out of 14 people went to one food bank on 1 day. There are people who live in the communities that all of us serve. Food banks in Ohio, in Montana, Michigan, Illinois, Arizona, New York, New Mexico, North Dakota, and Rhode Island and in every State of the Union are underfunded and overextended. Food banks too often are rationing rations, trying to prevent children and families from going hungry over the holidays. In Lorain, OH, my hometown, the Salvation Army Food Pantry ran out of food completely and was forced to close temporarily. The society of St. Vincent de Paul Food Pantry in Cincinnati has been forced to give families 3 or 4 days of food instead of the customary 6 or 7 days of food when people come to see them. In Athens County, OH, earlier this month, the director of the Family and Friends Choice Pantry was actually ``praising God we are in a snowstorm and not many people showed up'' because if they had, her pantry would have run out of food. In Ohio as a whole, 70 percent of food pantries don't have enough food to serve everyone in need. That is why earlier last week I offered legislation to act to alleviate the current food shortage. That is why I want to see us include $40 million in emergency food aid for food pantries across my State and across the country. I appreciate the leadership of Senator Durbin and Majority Leader Reid in wanting to include this at the next opportunity come January to get this $40 million out to the States, out to churches and food banks and food pantries so that the 1 out of 14 people in Hocking County and people in need all over this country can get the assistance we can afford to give them.