Bill Frist

Mr. FRIST

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. I will be happy to yield.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will briefly respond on a couple of issues. Things have moved very quickly and, as the Democratic leader knows, not as anticipated exactly as of midpoint last week for all sorts of different reasons--in part because of the House departure--and things have changed. I am very certain at this juncture the choices laid out before the Senate are appropriate choices, that each Senator will be able to come to the Senate and express in what direction they want to go. The distinguished Democratic leader says that extenders were stripped out of the pension bill. Let's be very clear that the pension bill that passed the House of Representatives did not have tax policy extenders in it; the pension bill that passed the Senate did not have the tax extenders policy in it. So it is a little bit hard to strip out extenders from a pension bill that did not exist in a Senate or House bill. My distinguished colleague mentioned the pension bill. Things are going well in conference on the pension bill. I argue that on the pension bill they continue, even through all the other disagreements on the pension issue itself, to go very well. The decisions were made on the substance of the pension bill, with Democratic Senators in the room and Republican Senators in the room, both in discussion throughout. I am very comfortable with the pension bill in the nature of the conference. But where the conference broke down is on the other issues, the tax extenders that were not in either pension bill. Repealing the death tax, the third issue that the distinguished leader mentioned, I make it clear it is an important issue. I think the tax is wrong, it is unsafe, it discourages savings and investment, it punishes farmers and small business people in this country. We have legitimate disagreement about that. I feel strongly about that. Yes, I think the whole tax should be thrown away. It should be buried forever. However, we came to the Senate floor and could not get 60 votes. We got 55 votes, including the ranking member on the Committee on Finance who said it is important to bury that death tax forever. But in the best spirit of compromise, we understand that right now this Senate will not repeal it forever and, therefore, after a lot of discussion between both sides of the aisle, we have come back with a compromise that basically is not a total repeal, but it does prevent the death tax rate from rising, after it disappears 1 year, from up to 55 percent in 1 year with the exemption dropping down to $1 million. It gives a permanent solution. The details of that, as mentioned yesterday--and I am sure people will talk about it today--it is a fair compromise, and a permanent solution with some certainty for people, for the farmers, for the small business people out there today.

Mr. FRIST. Let me finish responding to my distinguished colleague. The minimum wage that he called ``a joke,'' that we put in the trifecta bill, or the House put in the trifecta bill, which we will be voting on on Friday, to call a minimum wage that, it is their No. 1 issue. I have made it clear, again and again, going to the other side, What are your issues? The No. 1 issue from that side of the aisle is to increase the minimum wage, again and again and again. To have this opportunity now to take their No. 1 issue, with the issue that is very important to us, that focuses on small business and farms, and take their No. 1 issue and put them together, to me is in the best spirit of this Senate. I would not call it a joke when you increase the minimum wage today from $5.15 per hour to $7.25 an hour. Yes, it is over 36 months. Yes, we do include the minimum wage tip credit which we feel is very important to small businesses. Yes, there is relief for small businesses who might say out there, we cannot afford this increase in minimum wage in the tax extenders package where we have a 15-year depreciation to give some help to those people who might be affected by increasing the minimum wage in a detrimental way, but I would not call it a joke. It is their No. 1 issue. To put it together in one bill that we can take forward, to me, is in the great spirit of coming together in this Senate. We come to the fifth item the Democratic leader mentioned, ``other issues'' that we are not concentrating on. Again, if you look at this month, we look at the infrastructure in this country, we passed the Water Resources Development Act, a bill very important to our waterways and support of the infrastructure to promote economic growth. The Energy bill we will be voting on today we have spent a lot of time on, but it has the potential for putting a billion barrels of oil not available today out on the markets, 5.6 trillion cubic feet of natural gas which is not available today. If you talk to farmers, the high price of natural gas today drives up that cost of fertilizer, so it is important that we will deliver on that today. I mentioned earlier issues I know the other side diminishes in importance, but that child custody bill that does address issues around, yes, the sanctity of life, but what State laws say in people trying to circumvent the State laws with regard to parental consent and abortion passed this Senate. The Adam Walsh Sex Offenders National Registry bill addressed a real problem in this country. We have 100,000 sex offenders circulating and we do not know where they are today. We addressed that in the Senate last week. We continue to address the issues important to real people right now with regard to their cost of living, to hopefully lower natural gas prices in the Senate today, to address the values they care about when you talk about parental consent for abortion, people trying to circumvent those laws, and sexual predators; or when you talk about the infrastructure of our waterways and our waterway development, again, which promotes economic growth. I would be hard pressed to say we are not addressing the issues that mean something to the average, hard-working taxpayer out there today.

Mr. FRIST. I am happy to.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I think the misrepresentation of the issue we are going to be voting on, on Friday, that has just been made by the assistant Democratic leader needs to be addressed. Right now, the bill, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is around--the cost of this death tax permanent fix--is around $267 billion; again, not the $1 trillion that has been laid out. And the issues of the dollars and the cents we can argue. What we start with, though, is the individual out there, who is running that farm, who is running that small business, who has been taxed again and again and again, is actually taxed on their death for a second time, a third time, a fourth time, and it is just wrong. I would argue it is wrong whatever the price is, although the price is about a quarter of the figure he put forward. It is important for us to act on what is right and what is wrong. That is why, on this Friday, we will be doing just that.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is absolutely true. And I think as we enter this debate over the course of the week, with a lot of these straw men that are being thrown out, we will have the opportunity to talk about and address the reality of what the costs would be. I think that is important. We have to address that. Our fiscal responsibility has to be there--but ultimately how it affects that individual farmer, who is out there, who dies, and has saved, has invested, has grown that farm or that small business, and has already paid taxes on what they produced, and to be able to pass that on to their children--again, not totally free because we have certain limits. Although I would argue we ought to repeal it totally, that is not what is on the floor. The compromise is on the floor.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, that is exactly right. What is important is the permanent solution. Right now, it is absurd to think we almost have to have three types of planning for when you die: over the next 3 years, as these prices come down; and then total elimination for a year; and then jump back up to a rate of, as my distinguished colleague from New Hampshire said, as high as 60 percent in 1 year, with that exemption falling back down to $1 million. So what we propose, what we will be voting on now--and then that is it, that is it for this year--is a permanent solution to give certainty so people will know what the laws are, what the taxes will be, and clearly relieve most of the incentive that discourages savings and investment.

Mr. FRIST. It is not. It is either a percentage or the amount $2.10 for every hour you are working if we pass it this week. It is the law of the land, by the way, if we pass it this week as it is written. We are talking about a 2.10 absolute. But also it is a percentage increase. It is huge. Everybody needs to realize, right now this is going to be the law of the land. The House has already passed it. If we pass it, it is. That will go up, as both that percentage as well as that amount, $2.10. For every hour you are working, you are going to be getting more money.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, absolutely. And this has been very carefully crafted to make sure we do meet those criteria. The real beauty of what is on the table--again, it is three different bills, but each has been addressed very carefully, such as pay-go, such as addressing the No. 1 issue from the Democrats on the minimum wage, adding the tax extenders. We have not talked very much about those, but it includes everything from State and local sales tax deductions to the research and development tax credit, which is simplified and extended-- absolutely critical, as we hear from the high-tech people across this country in terms of investing for the future to create jobs. The college tuition deduction is in there; the work opportunity tax credit; the welfare-to-work tax credit; the depreciation for restaurants in 15 years; the timber capital gains; the mine safety tax incentives; the teachers' classroom expenses deduction; combat pay applies to EITC; the gulf opportunity zone--that is, the Katrina tax credits. That is what we will be voting on today: the permanent death tax relief, the extension of the tax relief, and the minimum wage increase.

Mr. FRIST. I will be happy to.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I would just very briefly respond that my distinguished colleague from Kentucky really captures the point. Not only is it bipartisan support, but it is bipartisan majority support for each of these. Remember, for a total repeal, we got, in essence, 55 votes--for total repeal--and we are coming back with the compromise. The extension of the tax relief and the long list I went through are issues we have addressed before, and we are extending them because they are so popular in terms of bipartisan support. And the minimum wage increase is an issue that has bipartisan majority support. Each of these issues has been addressed in some shape or form. I am sure some people would come back and say we need to spend more time and let's put it off until September and let's delay. Each of these issues we have addressed. And there has been an appropriate compromise that is being brought forth that people will be voting on this Friday. So I think it does capture, potentially, if we continue to work in a bipartisan way, the very best of what this body is all about. And it is compromise. It is vote. It is action. It is addressing the concerns of the everyday people out there today who do scratch their heads at times and say: Now is the time for us to act.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I will be very brief. Our agenda has been very clear. It has been clearly articulated and, as people look back, as they look forward, they will see how all the pieces come together because each time we take a bill to the floor there is a complaint. On child custody, there is obstruction; we are going to stop it. But it is clear to the American people. When we go back to our States and talk to the people, they get it. The Democratic leader is right in many ways. He says Iraq and dead Americans--the words he used--$3 billion, all of which I look at as securing America's homeland and those enduring values of freedom and liberty that we know are so important to our generation and that next generation. That is what this war on terror is about. It is the No. 1 issue, securing America's homeland. I will come back to that in a second. I hope we can address supporting our troops overseas in the Department of Defense appropriations bill, this week. We need to do that this week as well. We could go to that tonight. I will talk to Chairman Stevens as soon as I finish here to see if we can take that to the floor tonight and address it over the next couple of days. Securing America's homeland, we addressed in part through our border security bill, and addressing immigration, we did spend several weeks on the floor of the Senate. The second thematic is securing America's prosperity. By prosperity, the other side wants to talk about rich people because they know it has connotations to it and the sound bites work. But if you look at what we are doing, we are talking about people at the lowest rung of the economic ladder. We are talking about small businesspeople. We are talking about people who feel the squeeze that we know they feel because of energy prices and because of health care. Although they can say we are not addressing those, at 5 o'clock today we are voting on the bill that can have the single greatest impact since our last Energy bill a year ago, which was very successful, a bill which has the potential for reducing that squeeze that people are feeling today when they fill their tractors with fuel. We are addressing it on this floor. We addressed health information technology, which I think is the single most incremental variable that can transform health care today in terms of improved quality, improved availability, and reduced cost, by getting rid of the waste and the abuse and even the fraud and the medical errors that do typify our health care sector. We addressed that in the Senate. We passed it in the Senate, and the House passed it last week. Now we can go to conference and pass it. So when we talk prosperity, too often the other side just talks about rich people. We too often talk about the 5.4 million jobs created--very, very important--the 4.7 percent unemployment rate, the lowest of the average of the 1960s, 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s--all very important. We are addressing what the average person, the typical taxpayer is feeling-- energy prices--on the floor of the Senate today. We are addressing health care costs through health information technology by trying to take small business health plans to the floor but having it stopped from consideration by the other side of the aisle. People feel those health care costs. The third thematic is securing America's values. We have securing America's homeland, No. 1; securing prosperity, No. 2; and securing America's values, No. 3. Last week, on child custody protection, it is being stopped by the other side of the aisle. This body has spoken, but it is being obstructed. The Adam Walsh child protection bill, passed, signed by the President. We are going to continue to fight for America's values. I will close by saying, there is a lot we will be talking about over the course of the week. I restate once again that vote will be Friday. Are we ready to address a permanent solution to the death tax this Friday? We are going to say yes or no. If it is no, we are not going to do it this year. Extension of tax relief, the issues and the policies that I outlined before, we are going to do them now, this week, or we are not going to do it, as well as the minimum wage. Remember, if we pass it this week, or if we demonstrate that we are going to pass it this week, people across this country who are making the minimum wage will have that minimum wage go. It has already passed the House, from $5.15 to $7.25, a $2.10 increase, if we vote correctly on this Friday. I yield the floor.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, this morning we will immediately return to debate on S. 3711, the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security bill. Yesterday, the Senate by a bipartisan vote of 72 to 23 invoked cloture on the bill. Under last night's order, we will proceed to vote on passage of the bill at 5 o'clock today. Senators will be able to deliver their comments on the bill throughout the day, and the time will be equally divided until 5 p.m. As I stated yesterday, we have other important issues to consider this week before leaving. With respect to that, a lot of colleagues on both sides of the aisle have come up and asked about how I plan to proceed this week on the pensions bill and the so-called trifecta bill, both of which came over from the House Friday night. I talked to the distinguished minority leader about the best way to proceed over the next few days, given everyone's curiosity. I will have more to say about that schedule later today. As we talk more about these bills in our various caucuses, when it comes to these two items, I should take a couple of minutes to lay out a few things. As I have said consistently since Saturday morning, my priorities are simple. We are going to complete action on a very important retirement security bill which protects the pensions of literally millions of Americans before we leave. Second, to test the Senate's views on the so-called trifecta bill, a package which includes a final resolution of the death tax issue, as well as extension of various tax policies critical to Americans who are trying to create businesses, to start a business, to raise a family, to get that first job, and to invest and save for the future; this package also addresses the minimum wage increase. It is what we are calling-- the press started calling and now we are referring to it as the trifecta package. I want to be crystal clear--and my colleagues know this because a lot of them are making plans for the recess--that this week will be the time and the floor will be the place for the Senate to decide once and for all whether to act on this trifecta bill or to kill it. First things first. The pensions bill itself is an important bill which, as I mentioned, affects the lives of millions of Americans. It is a must-pass bill. It must pass this week. If we fail to act, billions of dollars of new debt will be thrown onto the Federal Treasury, and that would be irresponsible. I think everyone recognizes that. I know there are those in the minority who argue that the best thing to do is stop the pensions bill and then to try to put the tax extenders on it. But that would put the retirement future of millions at risk, and that is unacceptable. Others in the minority are arguing that they can return to conference on pensions to haggle further on pensions and change this or that or to talk about the taxes. I didn't know exactly what we would do if we went back to conference with that; arguments such as where is the best place to have a clam bake. For the record, I would like to have my clam bakes in New Hampshire. Going back to the conference means waiting until at least September, and that type of ``kick the can down the road'' mentality won't work. It is what happens too much around here--another hearing, another negotiation, another delay. That is going to have to stop, and the Senate must clear the pensions bill clean so the President can sign it this month. We will act on pensions. We will get it done without amendment. Senators are elected to debate, yes, but also to decide and to vote and to act. So we will also vote this week on whether to stop a filibuster on what I referred to as the trifecta bill. I don't want anybody to be mistaken. If the Senate kills the trifecta bill, we will not return to it this year. That means we would have no permanent death tax reform, no tax policy extenders, and no minimum wage increase. It is now or never. It is this week. Members need to understand that, especially Members who think we can delay and put off and try to divide. We will be addressing it this week. That is why it will be a very important vote on Friday. There are not going to be second chances. There are not going to be last-minute side deals or new unanimous consent agreements or other motions to proceed--nothing. This is going to be it. The House has acted on a bipartisan basis to pass this bill, and now we have to decide as a body on whether to act as well. We will make that decision this week. It will be decided in that vote on Friday. In the Senate, we have a bipartisan majority that supports fixing the death tax--a permanent solution for the death tax, fixing it forever. We have a bipartisan majority that supports the tax policy extenders. We have a bipartisan majority that supports handling the minimum wage. Now let us see that bipartisan majority stand up, express themselves, and act this week. It is our time to choose. Let's pass pensions without amendment, but stop the filibuster on the trifecta bill. Nothing more and nothing less will honor the heritage of the Senate which has been handed to us by those before us and those who will one day hold our seats. More importantly, acting now will resolve retirement security for millions of Americans. It will help those take that first step on the lowest rung of the economic ladder. It will keep tax policy focused on growing our economy and creating new jobs. And it will finally bring fairness to that wrongful tax on death. It is going to be a very important week with the vote we will have this afternoon. It started with the vote yesterday. I believe it will be a very productive week for all of us on the Senate floor addressing concerns, both economic concerns as well as other concerns, that the American people feel in their everyday lives. Before closing, there is an issue that we finished with last week on the floor of the Senate but which we have not fully addressed until we get this bill to conference, so that we can join the child custody bill we passed last week, so that we have expressed the will of the floor of the Senate, and so we can address in conference marrying our bill to the House bill so this important bill will become the law of the land. We attempted to go to conference last week. There was objection on the other side of the aisle. Unanimous-Consent Request--H.R. 748 At this point, I once again ask unanimous consent that the Senate immediately proceed to consideration of H.R. 748; provided that all after the enacting clause be stricken and the text of S. 403, as amended, be inserted in lieu thereof; the bill then be read a third time and passed, and the Senate then insist on its amendment, request a conference with the House and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees with the ratio of 7 to 5.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, let me point out on this objection we heard that this bill did pass this body last week by a vote of 65 to 34. It has the overwhelming support of the American people. Over 80 percent of Americans clearly support this bill. It passed with strong bipartisan support in the House of Representatives in I guess April of last year. So now is the time with the House having expressed its will for the Senate to express its will to go to conference, and then we can work out the disagreements that have been expressed between the two. Now is not the time to go back. It is a modest piece of legislation, very balanced, and it simply prohibits transporting a minor child across State lines for an abortion to get around a State law requiring parental notification or consent of that child for that child's abortion. It does not change any State law or policy but helps ensure that those State laws are honored. I am deeply disappointed that the Democrats are objecting to what would be the normal course of events in taking this bill to conference.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Are you filibustering me right now?

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I do thank my distinguished colleague, who about 2 months ago said, we can do this, we can do it for the American people. It was at a time where it looked as though this Senate could not come together to address one of the more fundamental issues that the taxpayer, the American consumer, sees every day; that is, the price of gas, the price of consumer products that go up because of the natural gas required to make that product. We have addressed it in a bipartisan way: Senator Domenici, Senator Landrieu, Senator Martinez, Senator Vitter--the Gulf State Senators--my distinguished colleague, the assistant majority leader, who was there every second of the way, through meeting after meeting, as we worked through the many, many details in what was really pioneering work in many ways, opening up the deep sea energy exploration, with the sharing of revenues coming in and what the appropriate amount should be. So I do thank all of them. I have to come back to Senator Domenici and him just looking them in the eye and saying: It can get done. I know elections are coming, and I know there is partisanship, people want to slow the place down, but we are going to do it. To have it done means a lot. ``The increase in energy prices is clearly making the economy worse off. . . .'' If oil prices continue to rise, there will be ``significant consequences'' for the economy. That was the testimony delivered by Federal Reserve Bank Chairman Ben Bernanke earlier this month before the House Committee on Financial Services. When I look at the evidence, I cannot help but agree. Right now, Americans are paying, on average, $3 per gallon for regular unleaded gasoline. Right now, 60 percent of the oil we consume comes from overseas, from foreign countries. Right now, we are on track to a future where the demand for petroleum more than doubles our supply here at home--more than doubles our domestic supply. And right now, the price of natural gas for American consumers and industries, as of this morning, is $8.05 per million Btu, and that is six times as much as the price in countries competing for American jobs. What do all these numbers mean? We hear the numbers a lot on the floor. What it translates into for that average consumer, that typical consumer, is higher cooling bills for their homes, higher heating bills in other seasons, higher prices for products made with natural gas, and higher prices for farm produce. They mean manufacturing jobs lost in America. When U.S. companies have to pay more for the energy they need, it makes it harder for them to compete in the global marketplace, and it results in jobs being lost to overseas, facilities being shipped overseas. The National Association of Manufacturers estimates that more than 3.1 million high- wage manufacturing jobs have been lost just in the last 6 years, largely as a result of high energy prices. Of more than 120 world-scale chemical plants under construction across the globe, only one is being built here at home. The high cost of natural gas is hurting farmers. Over the last 3 days, over the weekend, I spent a lot of time with farmers, actually, in North Carolina, in Tennessee, and in Iowa, and the No. 1 issue from the farmers was the high price of fertilizer because of the natural gas to make that fertilizer. It is hurting the forest and paper products industry. Mr. President, 267 mills have closed and 189,000 jobs have been lost since this runup in natural gas prices over the last 6 years. You put all those numbers together, and they point to a clear conclusion. It is the exact same conclusion of Ben Bernanke, Chairman Bernanke: America is dangerously dependent on foreign sources of energy, and it is hurting our economy. It hurts our consumers. Last year, Congress began to address this problem, under the leadership of Pete Domenici, once again, by passing a comprehensive energy bill. I do not think anybody realized at the time how comprehensive that bill was, how important, how timely that bill was. Again and again it had been obstructed from the other side of the aisle, but under his leadership we passed it. What has happened just in the last 12 months? Because of that Energy bill, 27 new ethanol plants have broken ground, and 150 more are in the works. Because of that Energy bill, the amount of ethanol and biodiesel we use in our gasoline will more than double over the next 6 years, and that will save 80,000 barrels a day. Because of the Energy bill we passed, 401 new E-85 pumps have been installed. Because of that Energy bill we passed a year ago, the nuclear industry is planning to build 25 new reactors in the United States, and that is enough to boost 15 million households with power with that clean, emission-free energy. Because of that Energy bill, 120 clean-coal facilities are in the planning stages--enough to replace 2 million barrels of oil a day by the year 2025. And because of the Energy bill--as I was flying across the country, I looked out and saw those windmills out there--wind power, solar power, and hydrogen fuel cells all got a shot in the arm. The Energy bill we passed a year ago was only part of the solution. The bill we will pass here shortly is that next critical step. And there will be other steps, as so many of my colleagues who have said ``I have a great idea'' have demonstrated. But the bill we have today will reduce our dependence on foreign oil and natural gas by opening 8 million acres in the gulf for domestic exploration. The area opened under this bill is estimated to contain 1.26 billion barrels of oil and over 5.8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. As has been said, that is roughly the same amount of oil as the proven reserves of Wyoming and Oklahoma combined, and more than six times our current imports of liquefied natural gas each year. This bill will substantially reduce our dependence on foreign sources of oil and gas. It increases our energy independence. It strengthens our national security. And it helps to reduce the cost of living for every American consumer. It will have a direct impact on the prices consumers pay at the pump and on their power bills each month. Mr. President, now more than ever America needs American energy. That is what the bill before us does. It brings more American energy to American consumers. Let me just close once again in thanking Chairman Domenici, Senator Martinez, Senator Landrieu, Senator Vitter--all the Senators from the gulf coast--and, as I said earlier, especially the assistant majority leader, Senator McConnell, for his leadership. I know this bill will receive broad bipartisan support. And when we begin that vote here shortly, it will move us one step closer to lowering energy prices for all Americans. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Foreign Relations Committee be discharged from further consideration of S. Con. Res. 113, and the Senate proceed to its immediate consideration.

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

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 541, S. 707.

Mr. FRIST. I ask unanimous consent that the committee-reported amendment be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be added as a cosponsor to this bill.

Mr. FRIST. I congratulate my distinguished colleague from Tennessee, who is occupying the Chair, for that very important bill.

Mr. FRIST

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of H.R. 5683, which was received from the House.

Mr. FRIST. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that any statements relating to the bill be printed in the Record.