Christopher Dodd

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Administrative Oversight and the Courts, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``What Went Wrong: Torture and the Office of Legal Counsel in the Bush Administration'' on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at 10 a.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at 2:15 p.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Subcommittee on Competitiveness, Innovation, and Export Promotion of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, May 13, 2009, at 10 a.m., in room 253 of the Russell Senate Office Building.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H. Con. Res. 80, which was received from the House.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to this measure be printed in the Record.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Res. 148, submitted earlier today.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the resolution be printed in the Record.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, under rule XXII, the filing deadline for germane first-degree amendments is 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow, Thursday, May 14; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and there be a period for the transaction of morning business for up to 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, that the majority control the first half and the Republicans control the second half, and that Senator Feinstein control the majority time. I further ask that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of H.R. 627, the Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights legislation. Finally, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorums under rule XXII with respect to the substitute amendment No. 1058 and H.R. 627 be waived.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I see my friend from Oklahoma is here and I gather has an amendment. I would be happy to entertain that amendment at this hour, if he cares to offer it.

Mr. DODD. It is already submitted.

Mr. DODD. Let me suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DODD. Reserving the right to object, is this just a parliamentary inquiry?

Mr. DODD. I do object.

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the amendment be considered as read, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I wish to take a moment to thank my good friend and colleague from Alabama, Senator Shelby, the former chairman of the committee and a very good partner to work with. I wish to thank Bill Duhnke, Mark Oesterle, and Jim Johnson, as well as Amy Friend and Charles Yi and Lindsey Graham of my office who did a terrific job of working together over long hours, including up and through a good part of this weekend, to reach an agreement on the substitute. Senator Shelby and I have worked closely together over a number of years, but during the last 2\1/2\ years of my chairmanship of the committee, I could not have asked for a better partner on this issue of trying to develop whatever we can in terms of bipartisan solutions to problems. This is an example. I suspect many people thought it would not be possible. This is an issue that has divided people in the past-- dealing with credit card reform and the needs of consumers--but because of the hard work and because of the determination to try and reach that agreement, we are proud to announce today that we have a substitute to offer to our colleagues. It is not everything everyone would like. There are certainly people who will oppose this legislation because they think we have gone too far. There are others who think we should be going much further. They will make cases for that, I presume, in an amendment process. But this is a body of 100 Members. We deal with the other side of this building as well, not to mention the White House and other interests, in trying to meld those together. Major steps forward are not an easy task, but it is made easier when you have people you can work with who understand the legislative process and who are willing to sit down and try and compromise where we can on behalf of the people we represent. This is a bill we are going to try to pass, not because the President wants it, not because Senator Shelby wants it, and not because I want it but because the American people need it. They are paying outrageous fees. They are watching exorbitant interest rates go up. Seventy million accounts over an 11-month period and one out of four families watched credit card interest rates go up, in many cases at any time and for any reason; not because they were late on payments, not because they failed to pay but because the industry has the right, under their contracts, to change those terms for any reason, at any time. That is unfair. There is no other contractual relationship that I know of--when you buy an automobile, when you buy a home, when you buy appliances, there is a contract. You don't change the terms of the contract after awhile because you don't like them or because you want to raise the rates. There is an understanding there is a responsibility. Consumers have it but lenders have it, too, in this case the issuers. But with 70 million accounts going up, interest rates going up, affecting 1 out of 4 families at a very difficult time: when 10,000 families are losing their homes every day and 20,000 losing their jobs, the idea that the card companies will raise those rates and add on fees is outrageous, and it affects every demographic group. It doesn't affect just one income group; it is across the country. All of us hear, on a daily basis, stories from our constituents about these egregious behaviors. So our bill is designed to deal with this. We like credit cards. They are a wonderful vehicle. They are a valuable vehicle for many people. This is not to be punitive. It is certainly not an expression of our opposition to the use of these vehicles. It is when these vehicles are being abused by the issuers at the expense of consumers when we must step in and change the rules, and that is what we are doing with this legislation. I am pleased to be able to stand here, once again, with my friend from Alabama and thank him on the floor of the Senate for his cooperation in pulling this together. We urge our colleagues to take a look at the bill, come on over, ask us and our staffs about it. We will be glad to have a conversation with you. We are grateful as well that groups such as the Consumer Federation of America and others are strongly supporting this legislation. This is a unique moment and opportunity. We spent the last 6 or 7 or 8 months talking about financial institutions and getting them stabilized. We talked about TARP money, automobile bailouts, and all of those sides of the equation. How about taking a week out to do something on behalf of the consumer, the average citizen who is suffering terribly in this economic time and paying outrageous fees, outrageous interest rates; taking 1 week out to do something on their behalf, while we have tried to do some of these other things. It is long overdue. My hope is we can do it this week and send a bill to the President of the United States that accomplishes the goals we have outlined with this legislation. With that, I see my colleague from Florida and I yield the floor.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I am told we can yield back all time in morning business.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I did not intend to comment on all of this, but as the manager of the underlying bill dealing with the credit card legislation, let me first of all thank my colleague from Oklahoma for that clarification I raised because it is an important point, and it is one raised by others as well about whether a State statute that would have prohibited someone from carrying a licensed weapon in a State park would apply as well to the national park located in that State, and I appreciate very much his answer to that question. And the point raised by Senator Webb is worthy as well. I come from a State that I believe is still the largest manufacturer of weapons in the United States, Connecticut. Not many people are aware of that fact. But we have lost a lot of that employment over the last number of years. A lot of it has gone offshore, regrettably, but for a number of years Connecticut led the Nation in the production of rifles, shotguns, and handguns. So I have more than a familiarity with the issue. My concern here is about the amendment, on one hand, but I respect what my friend from Oklahoma said. My concern is about the underlying bill and what happens to it, having watched the fate of other legislation where it has been the case that it moves to the other body and what happens to the underlying bill. I suspect, based on what I have heard, that it may carry, and if that is the case, my hope is that we will be able to still move forward with the other body, resolve these matters favorably one way or the other, and still deal with the underlying issue of credit cards. I hate to see us lose this opportunity to make a difference with credit card reform. I am not anticipating that to be the case, but there is always that risk we run, and I would be remiss if I didn't raise that concern I have as the manager of the bill. Senator Shelby and I have worked very hard to put together a credit card reform bill that we hope enjoys broad bipartisan support. It is a balanced bill that will allow an industry to continue to profit, to move forward, but not at the expense of consumers with unnecessary rate increases or exorbitant fees and the like that we have watched too many Americans face over the last number of years. We make major changes in how credit cards are handled under this bill. I know millions of Americans will benefit from this if we are able to pass it into law. I believe the interest of my friend and colleague from Oklahoma is not in undermining that effort, but he has a strong interest in the amendment he has raised, and I believe he has raised it on any number of bills over the past weeks or months. I see my colleague standing, and I yield.

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I yield back all time at this point and ask for the yeas and nays on the Coburn amendment.

Mr. DODD. Madam President, I thank the majority leader for those words, and let me just say, on behalf of Senator Shelby and myself, if Members have amendments, please bring them over. In many cases, we might be able to accept them; others to modify. In some cases we may have to reject them, but we can't make those decisions unless we know what they are. We can move this along pretty quickly if Members will let us know what they want to offer, and we will see if we can work those out. So I appreciate the majority leader making that point. We will stay as late as possible to have Members come by with their amendments, to meet with staff and others to see if we can't move forward with the bill. We have an opportunity this week to do something for millions and millions of our fellow constituents and citizens around this country. There is nothing that plagues our constituents more than these outrageous fees and rates that are being increased on their accounts, and we can make a difference this week in that matter. But we need to know the amendments. Senator Shelby and I put together a good bill, but we always know our colleagues can offer ideas as well to improve it. So we would like that opportunity, and I appreciate the majority leader making that point.

Mr. DODD. I thank the majority leader, and I would say that we are open for business, Senator Shelby and I are. So if there are amendments, let us hear them. Bring them over and we will try to move things along.

Mr. DODD

Mr. DODD. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate to conduct a hearing on Tuesday, May 12, 2009, at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-336 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.