Mary Landrieu

Ms. LANDRIEU

Ms. LANDRIEU. I will yield to the Senator from Florida and then the Senator from Oklahoma, after one more question from the Senator from Florida.

Ms. LANDRIEU. No, I will not. So that is my issue at this moment. I am hoping to put a package together. I don't expect this bill to be amended. But I have asked the leadership to allow a unanimous vote--not even on the record--to put this Paycheck Protection Act on the IRA. How do you have an IRA without money to put in it? I don't know. So it makes sense to put my paycheck bill with the IRA bill, so then they could actually have an IRA to take the 10-percent credit if they had money in it. You can't get the 10-percent credit unless you have money in your IRA, so this matches pretty perfectly. You get the paycheck, put the money in your IRA, take the IRA out, and you don't have to pay your 10-percent penalty. That would be terrific. Then on that bill, also an amendment, there is a possibility there could be some hurricane relief. But I want to be clear about one thing. I didn't ask for that although my State will benefit from it. The Senators from Florida, Senator Graham and Senator Nelson, rightly led that. I am a cosponsor of that. That would fit nicely on that amendment. We have to give help to the hurricane victims as well. So we have the Paycheck Protection Act. We have the hurricane help. Right now, as I speak, I have flooding in my State. I woke up this morning and turned on the television and, besides seeing Donald Rumsfeld in Afghanistan, the next I saw was a levee break in Louisiana. So there is money in this tax bill that I am talking about to help Florida, Mississippi, Alabama, and everybody who is flooding, help this paycheck protection, and do this IRA provision which, again, was not my idea but I support it. I think it was a good one. All I need is for 100 Senators to say it is OK. Evidently I don't have 100 Senators. I might have 98, 99, 89. We don't have a rollcall so I don't know. All I know is I don't have 100, because if I had 100 this filibuster would be over. So that is where we are.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator and will respond to his question by saying: Yes, in this amendment, besides what I have described, there is a portion of the amendment--that was actually led by Senator Boxer-- that would allow this tax credit to be applied by local governments to try to keep the paychecks whole for firefighters and police officers who have gone to the front line. Think of the irony. The Senator from Florida understands this issue well. In the case he described, a firefighter who fought the fire in New York on 9/11, maybe one who went up into the building, put his life on the line or her life on the line on that day--and we know what happened. We don't have to go back and replay that memory in our head. Then he is in the Guard or Reserve and he signs up to go to Iraq to fight, to take the bullets. Because we left this amendment out, he has to send his family back half a paycheck, and we can't find the money in this bill, $137 billion, to help them keep that paycheck whole? It is a disgrace. It is shameful. It is unjust. It is unconscionable. That is why I am going to stay here until Thursday. I understand it may not work. I understand the session may adjourn. But it is going to adjourn with me speaking about this, and I hope all of us, saying the Senate has already spoken on this. Our leadership, Republican and Democratic, said if we are going to have a tax bill, a tax cut, a tax break, the Guard and Reserve should be a part of it. If we could find other things to help, I am happy to do that as well. I put this particular thing together with some of us. There are many other items I am sure could be put in a comprehensive package. In fact, I have spoken to many of the colleagues who have said to me: Senator, we could put together a more comprehensive package. I am working on that with them as well. However, there is no reason and no excuse and nothing anyone can say to me to convince me that before we adjourn we should not take the action, with not a rollcall vote but a unanimous consent, and at least send this bill back to the House. Then we will have all the time in the world--October, November, December, all next year. I am going to be here at least 4 more years unless I get recalled. My election is not up for 4 more years. I will work on it with anybody who wants to for the next 4 years and come up with a comprehensive package. I know that. But I want the Senator from Florida and the Senator from Mississippi to know, we don't have to wait for a comprehensive package. We don't have to have it all neat and pretty. We don't have to have a commission that could decide let's do this and let's do this. This is what is before me right now. This is what is before me--$137 billion of tax cuts, and not one page, not one paragraph, not one tittle, not one scribble for the Guard and Reserve.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I will yield to the Senator from Florida and then perhaps to the Senator from Oklahoma at a later time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. No, I will not yield. I am sorry. That is what the argument is about. Again, I am not asking for a rollcall vote. I know this bill cannot be amended. It is against the rules. There is nothing I can do to amend it. But the bill that is right now before the Senate, I am asking our leadership--I am asking my colleagues to please join with me; I know many do, but I need everybody, I need 100 percent--to agree to amend this bill and send it back to the House and give the House time to reconsider this position. I am fairly certain they did not know the specifics of it. I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt. I do not know that they specifically looked at this and said: These people do not deserve it. I do not think that happened. All I know that happened is that it came back without it in it, and we have time to fix it. We cannot fix it today, we cannot fix it tomorrow, but if we send a bill back to the House, whenever the House comes back, in October, November, December, or January, they could fix it. How much time do I have remaining?

Ms. LANDRIEU. The Senator from Florida raises a very good question to me, and the way I would like to answer that question is with an e-mail. It is wonderful that I received this e-mail this morning. I have received hundreds of e-mails from families all over the United States who have been keeping up with this issue, but because this answers the Senator's question--this is from Bossier City, LA, and he writes: First, I would like to give you a little background on myself. I was raised as a military brat. My father served in the Air Force for 28 years, and we were stationed at Barksdale Air Force base three times. He and my mother retired in Bossier City. We had a good life growing up in the military, and in my opinion it brought us closer together as a family, but there were many, many, many times when things were tough financially for a family of five. I watched you today on C- SPAN, and I was proud that you have represented us and our State and our military families. I think it is extremely important for funding to compensate our military families, especially now when there are no clear answers on how long our troops will be required to be in Afghanistan and Iraq. I have many friends whose spouses have lost significant amounts of income due to activism. Not only do they worry about their spouses on the front lines, they have to worry about how to make ends meet here in the States. Please keep fighting for their cause. By the way, this should not be a Republican versus Democratic issue. My parents are conservatives and I am a liberal, but we consider this matter a matter of patriotism. I say to the Senator from Florida and other Senators, I have received hundreds of e-mails just like this, and so I want to make one more point. I do not think this is a Democrat versus Republican issue. As I said, the amendment we are fighting for already passed the Senate by 100 votes. The Senator was a cosponsor. The Senator from Arkansas was a cosponsor. I see other Senators in the Chamber who were cosponsors. We wanted this amendment in the bill, and it was in the bill. It went over to the House, and in the negotiations it was dropped. My question is, why? How could we afford to give a tax credit to everybody else but not the Guard and Reserve? I thank the Senator for his question. I will yield for another question in a minute but to the point in answering the question: This is a page out of the handbook that the Guard and Reserve receive from our Government. This is the handbook they receive, ``Family Readiness Paradigm.'' The center of this says ``self-reliant families.'' ``Self- reliance'' is a powerful word. I like to think I am self-reliant. I like to encourage my children to be self-reliant, self-sufficient, independent, hard working. So we send out a memo just to sort of reinforce to our Guard and Reserve that we expect them to be self- reliant. We provide reunions for them. We help them with their deployment, tell them what is going to happen. We try to help them set up health care plans. We arrange telephone calls. We do the training and mission. The only thing we do not do is send a paycheck. Then we have the President saying: The National Guard and Reserves are a vital part of America's national defense. [They] display values that are central to our Nation: character, courage and sacrifice, [and demonstrate] the highest form of citizenship. And while you may not be full-time soldiers, you are full- time patriots. Evidently, they do not deserve a full paycheck?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Yes, I would.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator from Florida for his comments, and I would be happy to answer his question because he is exactly correct. All members of this Chamber are aware that since 9/11, 640,000 guardsmen and reservists have been called up from Florida--and I see the Senator from Arkansas--from her State, other Senators who are here this morning and will be here through the debate--from all of our States. The Senator is absolutely right. The large measure of the burden has been placed on them and their families. The Senator from Florida knows they do not ask for much. These guys and gals are used to sacrifice. They do not ask for much and they really do not like to complain. They are the last ones to stand in line and come ask to be included in this bill, but we should ask on their behalf. That is why this amendment is so important. If we were not passing a tax cut bill and we did not have any money to give anybody credits or tax cuts, then they would be the first to say: Please do not include us. But how can we, in good faith, stand here and pass a $137 billion bill and leave them out and leave out their employers, small businesses from Florida, Arkansas, and Louisiana that are digging deep, sending that paycheck to the front line even though the man or woman is not in the office or in the manufacturing plant, trying to help their families? Surely we could have found some room in this budget for them. I thank the Senator for the question.

Ms. LANDRIEU. He is asking a question.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, I think the Senator from Florida might have a question.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Section 245, a credit for maintenance of railroad tracks, establishes a business tax credit equal to 50 percent of qualified expenditures for railroad track maintenance, capped at $3,500 per mile. Maybe there is a staffer or somebody who can calculate how many miles of railroad tracks we have and multiply it by 3,500 because that is a tax credit that is in this bill. We may need to do that. I have tons of railroads running through Louisiana, but not one railroad company in this country thinks their tax credit should come before making the paychecks of the Guard and Reserve whole. Biodiesel income tax credit: Provides a 50-cent-a-gallon income tax credit similar to the present law ethanol benefits for each gallon of biodiesel used in the production of a qualified biodiesel mixture used or sold as fuel. I am fine with that, but you would think the tax credit some of us had and thought was important, which gave them a paycheck so they could buy gas, is equally important to this. Section 339, credit for production of low sulfur diesel fuel; section 341, oil and gas for marginal wells--I know in Oklahoma they have a lot of marginal wells. I have some in Louisiana myself. I am very aware, as a member of the Energy Committee, of the importance of this tax credit, but again, not before the men and women taking 100 percent of the bullets. Expansion of credits for electricity produced from certain renewable sources and then certain business credits allowed against regular minimum tax. This is what I was given this morning. Perhaps there are more. I know these are nine tax credits in the bill. The rest of this bill has to be something else that they don't call tax credits. But it is tax benefits. I am not sure I know the title of it. Maybe I am not exactly correct. But these are the tax credits, which is the same thing I asked to be in this bill, and many of us asked, and it was left out by the House Republican leadership. So, again, I am prepared to stay here until Thursday. I am not going anywhere. I am only asking for a voice vote--not a rollcall vote--on a bill that is already over here, that is already in our Finance Committee, to put this amendment on and send it back to the House. Then we can all go home and talk about it and we can say we supported it, which we did, and we did a great job, and then people can talk to House Members about are they going to accept this bill or amend this bill or kill this bill. Let the House Members answer that question. All we can do here is take care of the Senate's business. This is the Senate's business, Mr. President. If we don't stand up for these guys and gals, if we don't fight for their families, who is going to fight for them? Let me ask the Chair how much time I have remaining?

Ms. LANDRIEU. No, I will not.

Ms. LANDRIEU. No, I will not yield. So we have this bill that is over here. All I have asked my colleagues is this. As the leader knows, I am not even asking for a record vote. Even though I think our guardsmen and reservists deserve a recorded vote, because I think we should go on record, but I am not even asking for that. I am asking for a voice vote--a voice vote, not a recorded vote--to take that IRA bill, put this amendment on it and simply send it back to the House. This filibuster will be over. That is all I am asking. Let me say one other thing. I am not opposed to one item in this bill--not FDA, not the pork issue. I have tried to be respectful of other Members. I would ask that same consideration. I am not opposed to any provision in this bill. There is $137 billion in this bill. This bill was supposed to be about $50 billion. Of course, when you open a tax bill, everyone in America would like to be in it. They have done a good job because everybody is in here. The only people who are not in here are the men and women taking the bullets on the front line. Six hundred and forty-three thousand Americans on the front line, and we couldn't find one page, not one line, not one paragraph for them. This is disgraceful. It is not our fault. The Senate did not do that. But somewhere between the Senate and the House, the papers got lost. I don't know why they get lost. I don't know why we can't remember them in the tax bill because we sure remember them in photographs. We sure remember them in the parades. We sure have them all over our ads for those running for office. I am not up for reelection now. I will be up for reelection in 4 years, and I am certain I will hear from every industry in here about how I didn't help them with their tax credits. I will say it again. I am not opposed to any tax credit in this bill, not one. What I am objecting to is how we could, in the middle of the war, with no end in sight, no real plan for the peace, no understanding of when our troops might get home, no understanding of how long they are going to have to be there, we cannot keep the paychecks going to their families. When is somebody going to tell me we don't have enough money? What is this? This issue is not complicated. This is very simple. That is why people are responding because it is not complicated. I am trying to explain to my colleagues that it is very simple. I am not even asking for a record vote. I didn't want people to stay here until Thursday. I have 2 children; one is 12 and one is 7. I have had to make arrangements for the next 4 days for them and for my husband. I understand that. I have canceled everything on my schedule. I am not looking for awards or sympathy. I am not asking for anything unreasonable. If these guys can go to the front lines and leave their families for a year or 2 years, can't I stand here for a few days? Can we not work for a few hours to try to voice vote, in the air- conditioning of this building, and send this bill back over to the House and mark it up as they just were not clear about what they were doing? They just didn't realize what they were doing? When they come back in November, they can fix it. That is all I am asking. One more thing about the tax credit, and then others may have questions. Maybe I haven't been clear. Here is the list of the tax credits. The only arguments I have heard against what I am trying to do are two. One was given by one of the House Ways and Means Committee members when I called to let them know ahead of time I was going to do this. I tried not to surprise anyone. I called them as soon as this bill was printed and came here Wednesday. I called members of the Ways and Means Committee and asked them: What could have possibly happened? The only comment they gave back that was reported in the newspaper was the House did not like our offset. Forgive me, I am not a member of the Finance Committee. I don't know all of the details about offsets. I don't think our Guard and Reserve know about offsets. I don't think the people we represent know about offsets. But I will tell you, somebody in this Chamber knows about offsets because there is $137 billion worth of offsets right here. Did anybody think we could find $2 billion for them? So I am sorry I am not an expert in offsets. The only other argument I have heard from anybody--maybe there are others and I haven't heard them, and I have been here 3 days--is I don't think we should have tax credits in this bill. Somebody might object philosophically to tax credits. That surprises me because, from the day I got to the Senate, all I have heard from the Republican leadership is tax credits, tax cuts, tax relief. If they don't say it a thousand times every day, it is amazing. Just tax credits, tax relief for everybody, whether we have money in the Treasury or not. That is all I hear about. So it is amazing to me that someone could say we don't like it because, technically, it is a tax credit. Let me read the nine tax credits that are in the bill. I want the Guard and Reserve to listen; they got left out. I will tell you the ones in this bill. Section 221: There is a modification of targeted areas of low-income communities for new market tax credits. That is probably very good. It is for new markets. I am sure it will help everybody in low-income areas. I think that is great. Section 245, credit for maintenance of railroad tracks: It establishes a business tax credit equal to 50 percent--Mr. President, I am losing my voice having to speak over the conversations.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. President. I know that tempers are short because it has been a difficult process, and I am trying to be as cooperative as I can. I do not mean any disrespect to anyone in this Chamber, and I do not mean any disrespect for the managers of this bill, who have done a magnificent job under very difficult circumstances, but I have, since Wednesday, been trying to make this point. When this bill left the Senate, there was a provision that gave a tax credit to the men and women on the front line in Iraq and Afghanistan, wherever they serve, to keep their paychecks whole by giving a 50- percent tax credit to the thousands of employers, large companies and small companies, who send their civilian paychecks to the front line, not so much for the benefit of the soldiers. Many of these men and women who are fighting on the front line understand sacrifice. That is why they joined. If we understood sacrifice a little bit more in this Chamber--and I include myself. I don't understand the sacrifice, but I can tell you the men and women in uniform understand it. But this is not really all for them. It is for their families, their spouses and children, to keep that one paycheck whole. For some reason, we passed a bill out of the House of Representatives, crafted in large measure by Chairman Thomas, that left them out. They couldn't find $2 billion in $137 billion to put in for our troops. We have ceiling fan importers in the bill. We have the gambling industry in the bill. We have the oil and gas industry in the bill. There are many industries in this bill that are important to me. But I have confidence--complete confidence--that not one business in Louisiana, not one industry in Louisiana thinks they deserve to be in line before the Guard and Reserve and the employers that are keeping their paychecks whole--not one. If there is a company in Louisiana, if there is a company anywhere that thinks the tax credit in this bill is more important than the paychecks going to the men and women on the front line, please contact me, because I don't understand it, and maybe it is something I have missed. I want my colleagues to know that I am only going to speak for the first few minutes, and I have an hour reserved. I am going to speak throughout the 30 hours, use a little bit of my time as we go on. It is really not that complicated. My colleagues understand this issue. I don't think I have to go into any more detail about the amendment, what it did, how much it cost, and the fact there were 100 percent of the Senators, Republicans and Democrats, who supported the issue. It was moved over to the House. I think they understand it was the House Republican leadership primarily that crafted this bill and evidently did not think it should be included. Let me spend a few minutes about what I am going to do so we can be clear about the schedule. I do not take this move lightly. I understand we are at the end of the session. I understand people have commitments. I understand there are elections going on. I know there is a Presidential election going on and elections for many of our colleagues in the Senate. But I am going to use all the parliamentary procedures available to me as a Senator to fight for the 5,000 men and women in the State of Louisiana who are currently activated and have gone to the front lines and don't get a whole paycheck. They get their Army or their Navy or their Reserve paycheck, but they leave a lot of pay on the table because they don't get their civilian paycheck. Here is a tax bill that could have allowed their employer to get a 50-percent tax break, thereby encouraging them to continue that paycheck. I am going to stand here and fight for them. I can't extend this debate past Thursday. I don't think there is anything in my power to do that. But I can and intend to use all the parliamentary procedures available to me until the end of this debate. If I have to stay on the floor for the next 4 days, I am prepared to do that. It is with the greatest amount of respect that I let my colleagues know this. The solution is something I have offered to my colleagues which I want them to consider. I know this bill cannot be amended. I understand that. I am not asking for that. There is a bill, H.R. 1779, that is in the Finance Committee now. Amazingly, because I didn't have anything to do with this bill, I can't believe the bill addresses exactly the same subject that I am discussing. It is a House bill that came over here from the House from the Committee on Ways and Means, the same committee that cut them out of this bill. There is another bill that came over from the Ways and Means Committee that is in the Finance Committee now. So by unanimous consent of the Senate, without even a rollcall vote, just if all the Senators in this body would agree, we could amend this provision into that bill and simply send it back to the House. I understand I am only one Senator. I know the Senate can do its will, and we can't force the House of Representatives, but we can go on record to say, this bill is important. We can amend the bill. I would like to spend a moment just to say what the bill is because there is a little bit of irony about the underlying bill. There is an interesting irony about the underlying bill. I will tell you who the author is in a minute. But it is an interesting bill that came over here to give the Guard and Reserve a tax benefit. The tax benefit described in that bill is to waive the 10-percent penalty for the Guard and Reserve taking money out of their IRAs so, presumably, they could pay a house note or a car note. In other words, there is a bill that came over to us from the Committee on Ways and Means to give a tax benefit to Guard and Reserve members to allow them to waive the 10- percent penalty so they could take money out of their retirement account to make ends meet while they are taking the bullets for us. I have to hear objection for our amendment supported by many Senators, Republicans and Democrats, that would actually keep their paychecks whole so they could put some money in their IRA. What do you put in your IRA if you don't have a paycheck to put in your IRA? If anybody can explain to me what goes in an IRA other than money from a paycheck, maybe if somebody is lucky to have a dividend check or some passive investments or some capital gains, but most people I know take their paychecks and out of their paychecks, after they have paid their rent, after they have paid their car note, after they pay health insurance for their family, after they pay their food bill, after they pay their insurance bill and everything else they have to pay for, if there is anything left, they put it in their IRA. Because most Americans I know try to do their very best to manage their money. So I have to have the insult of having the House send us a bill saying they want to waive the 10-percent penalty for the Guard and Reserve, but they won't help put an amendment on to give them a full paycheck so they have money to put in it. This Senator finds that quite obnoxious. The irony of it is unbelievable. I asked the staff, go find me any bill, any Finance Committee bill that wouldn't get blue-slipped. They came back and said: Senator, you will not believe it; it is a bill about the IRA.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I am sorry, Mr. President, no, I won't. Maybe in a few minutes but not at this point. As my colleagues know, we have been working toward this point, actually on this particular bill, for over 2 years, so there have been many meetings, many votes, many debates, many conferences. I understand that. I know we are to the very end of this discussion, and we have a bill before us with $137 billion worth of tax cuts. This is a bill that started out 2 years ago because of a decision by the World Trade Organization that called to our attention that our Tax Code was not in order and that if we did not straighten some things out in our Tax Code, some of our businesses could be penalized. So 2 years ago, an effort was undertaken to correct that. Some of us, knowing that effort was going to be undertaken, crafted a provision to give tax relief to the Guard and Reserve and their families, to the members of the Guard and Reserve who are on the front line, by saying to all the patriotic companies in America, large and small: As you continue to give that paycheck to the men and women on the front line, we thank you, we appreciate that effort. We know it is difficult for you. We know it is tough for you. And we want to provide a 50-percent tax credit to you to help your Guard and Reserve to keep their paychecks whole. Because a lot of paychecks in America are going to get fattened, a lot of dividend checks are going to be improved, and a lot of benefits are in this bill, some of us thought, and the whole Senate voted, Democrats and Republicans, that one of the paychecks we should make sure was complete and whole was for the men and women taking the bullets on the front line. Mr. President, 640,000 men and women have been called up since 9/11, and when we called them up, they have gone. Mr. President, may I have order, please?

Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. President. I am not going to speak until we have more order.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Thank you, Mr. President. May I have order, please?

Ms. LANDRIEU. So the last minute and 16 seconds that I have this morning before we vote on cloture, which I will not be voting for, I want to ask my colleagues, whatever they can do in the next 4 days to help this I would appreciate it. I understand schedules are tough, and I am not going to make a comment if no one else says anything or shows up or signs a letter because I understand we have a lot of things going on, very important things, and I would not be the least bit disrespectful to my colleagues in this Chamber. But I want them to know, my colleagues, that that is why I am here, and I am not leaving. I am not leaving this Chamber. So I want to apologize ahead of time to anyone I inconvenience. I hope they understand. I yield back my time.

Ms. LANDRIEU. The third argument that I have heard from some people about why I should sit down and stop talking is because some people are opposed to tax credits. Some people don't like tax credits. Some people think it is an inefficient way to operate the Government. I am not on the Finance Committee. All I know is when I run for the Senate and when I talk to people at home, everybody likes tax credits. I have tried to provide as many tax credits and some relief for a variety of different individuals, and all I hear every day from this administration is tax cuts, tax relief, tax credits. I hear that all the time whether we have a surplus or deficit, whether we are at peace or war, whether we need to spur the economy or slow it down. All I hear from the administration is about tax cuts and tax credits. But there are Senators who come to the floor, might come to the floor and say they are going to oppose them because they don't believe in tax credits. So I want to put nine of the tax credits that are in this bill in the Record. Section 221. Modification of targeted areas in low-income communities for new markets tax credits is in this bill--$1$7 billion. Section 245. Credit for maintenance of railroad tracks. Establishes a business tax credit equal to 50 percent of qualified expenditures for railroad track maintenance, capped at $3,500 per mile. So we have a credit in here for railroads as they maintain their tracks, and we cap it at $3,500 per mile. Now some good staff person could calculate how many miles of railroads we have and figure up how much that costs the taxpayers. Maybe it is a good thing, Mr. President. I don't know. But I will tell you what would be a higher priority for the constituents in my State--to send 1 mile, 1 mile of the railroad tax credit to one family so they could pay their house note. No. 5. Appointment of small ethanol producer credit. Provision clarifies that the small producers' tax credit flows through a member of a cooperative. No. 6. Section 339. Credit for production of low-sulfur diesel fuel. Provides that a small business refiner may claim a credit equal to 5 cents per gallon for costs paid to comply with the EPA sulfur regulations. The total production credit is limited to 25 percent of the capital costs to come from compliance with EPA requirements. No. 7. Section 341. Oil and gas from marginal wells. Some of these are in the State of Oklahoma, some in my State of Louisiana. It adds the marginal well production tax credit. The credit is $3 a barrel of oil or .50 percent per thousand cubic feet of gas. The credit is not available if the reference price of oil exceeds $18 a barrel. The last I checked it was $50 a barrel. So we can give tax credits to oil companies and gallons. We can't give a paycheck to the Guard and Reserve to put fuel in their car. Now, I am obviously upset, but I am going to try to be respectful, but I have to tell the truth, and that is the ugly, unvarnished, unedited, uncensored truth about this bill, and so we are going to stay here till Thursday. I am prepared to stay here morning, noon, and night. I am going to be respectful. I am not going to get into any arguments and I am not going to raise my voice above this level. I am not going to be talked down. I am not going to be spoken down to because I am not speaking for myself. I am speaking for the 5,000 men and women who left Louisiana and are overseas, and if I don't speak for them on this floor, they don't have anyone to speak for them, so I am not leaving. How much time do I have remaining?

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Senator from South Carolina. I thank him for his help and support. I work on many issues with him, and he is, as a member of the Guard and Reserve, most certainly aware of these situations. I know the Senator from South Carolina is not asking this for himself because the situation with his family is probably stable and steady. I know the Senator understands that many of the men and women he serves with don't have that same kind of security. So we are asking them to provide security for us, and we can't find the time for a page or paragraph or a letter to find security for their families. I don't understand it and my constituents don't understand it. Most certainly the men and women in the Guard and Reserve in Louisiana, 12,000 families, do not understand it. And so I frankly do not want to go home. I don't know what I would tell them when I do go home, how we could pass a $137 billion tax cut bill and forget them. How could we possibly forget them? I got something from Senator Dorgan which is extremely upsetting to me I will speak about later today because I plan to speak and I am going to connect these dots for people. Maybe one reason we forget them is because there are corporate network executives demanding affiliates take the name of the dying soldiers off the reports at night. That is one way Americans could forget them. We don't want to take pictures of the funerals. We don't want to put their names on the screen, so we just forget they are dying. I understand that. Maybe there are good reasons. I don't want to get into that debate because it gets us into, well, some of the families want it, some of the families don't. I understand that. But still, even if they are not being scrolled on the television, if that is not the right thing to do, surely the Senators and elected leaders who represent them do not need to be reminded by the scrolls on television of those who died. Many of us have been over to Walter Reed Hospital and visited them personally. Do we need to be reminded? I don't think I had to go stand at the conference committee and tell Chairman Thomas. And I am going to speak later today about Chairman Thomas's district and about what his district is like, and I am sure he knows that. I have done a little research myself about that, so maybe people in his district could get word to our colleague because while it is important what we say to colleagues, what is most important, as you know, is what our constituents say to us. How much time do I have remaining?

Ms. LANDRIEU. I do believe that.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I am aware.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I will be pleased to.

Ms. LANDRIEU. Mr. President, in all of our States this is the number of the National Guard on active duty or alerted. You can see here that it is a very high percentage in many places in the country. In Louisiana I have almost 40 percent of our Guard and Reserve who have been called up and activated. In Washington State, 46 percent, almost half of their Guard and Reserve, have been activated. In the State of Texas, 28 percent have been activated. We can see this in every part of this Nation from the east to the west. In Hawaii, 57 percent--57 percent, almost 60 percent of the Guard and Reserve from Hawaii have been called up to serve. These numbers may fluctuate as the needs of our military and the decisions made by the executive branch, the President and the Pentagon, change about where to shift these forces. But every one of these percentages represents thousands and thousands of families who are taking the direct burden of this. I know we have tried to help them with pay increases. I know we have tried in other bills to help them improve their pensions. I have been part of most of those fights. I am proud to say in most of those fights we have been successful--but not always. My question is, Why do we only have to help the Guard and Reserve or the Active Forces in the military bills, in the Defense bills? Why can't we help them in our health care bills, in our tax cut bills, in any way we can? If we can afford it, we should step up to the plate. We should step up to the plate and do it. I think I heard the chairman of the Finance Committee say earlier this morning that he was very proud that the Vice President himself could step in, and did step in--the Vice President of the United States. I think he said he stepped in to help the negotiations on a Transportation bill so we could get highways built in this country. I hope the Vice President and the President himself would step in and say, ``We made a mistake,'' or ``We just missed the issue,'' or ``We just missed the item,'' or ``We just didn't focus on it as we should,'' or ``The House leadership didn't focus, and let us make it up. Let us put it in this bill. Let us put it in another bill to help our Guard and Reserve.'' There are many ways that this could be corrected.

Ms. LANDRIEU. I thank the Chair. I want to talk about a couple of arguments I have heard the last couple of days, directly and indirectly, about why some Senators would object. I want to be very clear. I know, as sure as I am standing here, at some later date I am going to have some sort of critic of mine, and I have my share of critics, standing up saying: There goes Senator Landrieu again. She's against tax cuts. She's trying to slow up our transportation bill. She's trying to slow up the highway bill. She never supports tax credits. I am going to keep saying for the record the only reason I stand here, the only reason, is to try to get this Senate to do what it did a couple of weeks ago, which was to send over to the House of Representatives a bill that would include the Guard and Reserve. There is nothing I can do as a Senator to make the House Republican leadership respond other than to bring this to light, to urge my colleagues to stand with me, Republicans and Democrats together, over here in the Senate, and send the bill back to the House and ask for them to consider it again. Maybe they made a mistake. Maybe they didn't realize this was one of the items. I don't know. I am not on the Finance Committee. I sent a letter. Twenty-one of us signed it. I put it in the Record before so I won't read the letter, but it is addressed to Chairman Grassley; to Ranking Member Baucus; to Bill Thomas, chairman of the Ways and Means Committee; and to Charlie Rangel, the ranking member. I see Senator Baucus has come to the floor. I know he supports this provision, I know Senator Grassley supports this provision, and I know Charlie Rangel supports this provision. What I am not sure about is the chairman, Bill Thomas. I don't know, maybe he didn't realize it was part of the request. There were over 2,000 requests, as you can see. I don't know how many items are in this bill, but it has to be thousands of items. I know it is difficult, so I am assuming he didn't know about it. That is why I am spending some time talking, so maybe the word will get there. Twenty-one Senators signed this: Kit Bond of Missouri, a leading advocate for the Guard and Reserve signed this letter, along with Mark Pryor, Chris Dodd, Danny Akaka, Byron Dorgan and Senator Mikulski and Senator Lautenberg, Senator Murray, Senator Corzine, Senator Cantwell, Senator Schumer, Senator Nelson, Senator Tim Johnson, Senator Feingold, Senator Dayton, Senator Sarbanes, Senator Durbin, Senator Wyden, Senator Levin, and Senator Leahy. I am sure there will be other Senators on both sides who will let their views be known to the House Republican leadership. How in the name of heaven could the House Republican leadership put a bill together and leave out the Guard and Reserve? Tax cuts for fan importers? I want the fan importers to know that I am not picking on them. But I think this picture speaks a thousand words. For some reason--we could find a reason, and it may be a good one. I am sorry I don't know the details of it. I can't talk about it. I understand there is a good reason. Maybe someone could explain it, about the fans. But they are in the bill. The fans are in the bill, but the guys in Iraq or Afghanistan, where it is 105 degrees most of the time, in tents that are hot, carrying 50, 60 pounds of equipment and armor, who could use these fans, can't even get a paycheck to buy the fans. When they go to Iraq they leave their civilian paycheck at home. They leave the comfort of their families at home. The GAO report is that most of them take a 41-percent pay cut. We couldn't find time to acknowledge that and say: My goodness, we are passing a tax bill, maybe we can fit them in. We can't fit them in the tax bill. We can't fit them in the Transportation bill. We can't fit them in the Homeland Security bill. We can't fit them in the intelligence reorganization bill because, obviously, we don't think they have anything to do with our security. Whether you think the front line, as I said, is in Iraq in the war on terror--which is an issue of debate, and I actually could debate that. Maybe it is not exactly the front line. But regardless of whether you think it is the front line, the second line, the third line or the back line or whether you think it is in Afghanistan, the fact is, we sent them there. We sent them there with half a paycheck, or 75 percent of their paycheck, so their families at home can lose their houses and lose their cars? If anybody doesn't think that is true, please go to my Web site or talk to me. I will most certainly give the information to you. You know it yourself. You have seen the reports about the sacrifices families are making. There are some other arguments that were made about this. One of them was Senator Landrieu and others are just complaining. They want to slow the process down. I hope I have answered that argument. I hope my colleagues and the leadership know I am not trying to be uncooperative. I understand people's schedules. I have two children, 12 and 7; I understand schedules. But my family supports it. They understand what I am doing, and I told them if it takes 4 days or 5 days or 3 days or 2 days, it is going to take it. I am sorry. But I think I owe it to the 5,000 men and women from my State who are serving in Iraq and Afghanistan because I just went home 3 weeks ago and waved goodbye to a lot of them. I have been to Fort Hood and Fort Polk, telling them I am with them, taking pictures with them, and I'll be darned if I will take the pictures with them and not stay in the Senate and fight for them. One of the Senators came to the floor this morning to argue we had eliminated the haircut provision--whatever that is. We support, in this bill, contributions of our industry. What about the contributions of the employers, small businesses and large businesses, that are carrying the extra burden of our defense by making those paychecks whole, sometimes at great difficulty to those businesses? What about these companies? I am going to provide a list in just a minute of some of those companies, which I have for the Record, but hundreds of companies, thousands of companies are trying their best, in some difficult times, to make those paychecks whole. Why should we be giving tax credits to every other company? Some of them may overlap, but there is no mention of that in this bill. There is no direct support to the many companies that are being patriotic, that are doing the right thing. Let me say something about these companies that are the beneficiaries in this bill. Again, many could be in shipbuilding, could be other manufacturers--I don't think there is one company that benefits from this bill, small or large, with 5 employees or 50,000 employees, that would say to the Members of the Senate: Please put me ahead of the Guard and Reserve. I don't believe it. That is why I have confidence I can stand here and I can talk about this. I do not think one industry in my State believes that in any way I am trying to take a penny away from them. But for our Guard and Reserve, and their employers, in a time of war, at a time of great sacrifice, to ask to be included in the bill, I think they will find it very difficult to explain why they are not. I know the third argument people have made, and I think I heard the chairman talk about it, is this is a jobs bill. I know jobs are important. I would like to make more happen in my State to create private sector jobs, high-paying jobs, good jobs. I do believe there are some provisions of this $137 billion bill that will create jobs. But what job could be more important to our security than the job of our men and women in uniform and their service to our country? Again, let me put up a chart that shows how many have gone, how many are serving, and to ask what we might do for them. There is a total of 690,000 Guard and Reserve who are, right now, on the front line. Each of them, I presume, has some outside employment. Maybe some of them are working two jobs in their civilian life. These are doctors, lawyers, architects, truck drivers, policemen, firemen, nurses. There are 90,000 of them on the front line doing the work, but they are not in the bill. Mr. President, how much time do I have remaining?