Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to strongly support the legislation called the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act. With all we have seen in the gulf coast over the past several weeks, I have to say I am more committed than ever in moving forward on three fronts to protect our taxpayers, our families, and all of our workers across the country. First of all, I am going to keep working to hold BP accountable and make sure taxpayers in Washington State and across the country are not left holding the bag for this devastation. This is exactly what the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act is going to do. Secondly, I am going to fight to guarantee that what we are seeing in the gulf coast is never allowed to happen on the west coast. Third, I am going to make sure BP, Transocean, and all industry owners and operators are doing everything possible to protect their workers and make sure tragedies like this do not ever happen again. Here are the facts: On April 20, 2010, there was a massive blowout and explosion on a BP oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven workers are still missing and presumed dead, and 17 more were injured. That explosion caused a gushing spill that has now poured hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf and threatens still to spill millions more. It has, as we all know, created an environmental and economic tragedy the magnitude of which we are only just beginning to comprehend. It is threatening entire communities and industry, and now the oil and chemical dispersants that are being sprayed into the gulf have the potential to kill underwater wildlife and create underwater ``dead zones'' for decades to come. Those are the facts. Now, the questions are: Who should be responsible for this cleanup? Who should bear the burden for big oil's mistakes? Should it be the taxpayers, families, and small business owners who are already being asked to bear so much today or should it be the companies responsible for this spill, including BP--a company, by the way, that made $6.1 billion in profit in the first 3 months of 2010 alone. I cosponsored the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act because, to me, the answer is pretty clear: I believe BP needs to be held accountable for the environmental and economic damage of this spill. I am going to fight to make sure taxpayers do not end up losing a single dime to pay for the mess this big oil company created. To me, this is an issue of fundamental fairness. If an oil company causes a spill, they should be the one to clean it up and pay for it-- not taxpayers. This bill I am talking about this evening eliminates the current $75 million cap on oil company liability so taxpayers will never be left holding the bag for big oil's mistakes. This is straightforward, it is common sense, and it is fair. I have to say, I am extremely disappointed this commonsense bill continues to be blocked by some Republicans every time we bring it up. But I want you to know, I am going to keep fighting for the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act to pass, and I am going to keep fighting so families and taxpayers in Washington State and across the country do not end up holding the bag. The bottom line is this: If oil companies are going to make billions of dollars in profits when times are good, they should not be allowed to leave taxpayers hanging when they create a problem. The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act writes this commonsense policy into law, and I urge every Senator to side with our taxpayers and support this important legislation. But I do not think that is enough. I have always been opposed to drilling off the coast of my home State of Washington, and this tragedy is just one more very painful reminder of the potential consequences of opening up our west coast to drilling. The economic and environmental devastation that was caused by the Exxon Valdez disaster 20 years ago is now still impacting industry in my home State of Washington. Our coastal region supports over 150,000 jobs, and it generates almost $10 billion in economic activity, all of which would be threatened if drilling were to happen off our west coast. That is why I am going to keep fighting for legislation that bans drilling off the west coast and makes sure big oil companies are never allowed to roll the dice with Washington State's economy and our environment. We need to hold big oil accountable and we need to make sure that disasters such as this never happen again, but we also have to remember the workers who were killed and injured in this horrible tragedy. We cannot forget this is an issue that is larger than this one tragedy. The entire oil and gas industry has a deplorable record of worker and workplace safety. We have to make sure every worker is treated properly and protected, and that companies that mistreat their workers are held accountable. We know the oil industry is able to operate under stricter safety standards and regulations because they are already doing just that in Europe and in Australia, and even in Contra Costa County, CA, where the county has a set of stricter guidelines that have now reduced injuries and fatality rates. But we also know that worker safety should not be measured just by injury rates. We should be looking at reducing dangerous conditions--conditions such as fires or hazardous spills or releases of toxic gases. Then when accidents do happen, we have to record them, we need to learn from them, and we need to build on a program to prevent them from ever happening again; and we need to make sure our workers are treated with respect and their rights are protected. That is exactly why I am so concerned about the recent reports of very callous and unacceptable treatment of Transocean workers in the hours following that April 20 explosion. Those reports suggest that Transocean put their bottom line above safety standards, above environmental impact, and the well-being of their workers. I have called on the company to release copies of legal waivers that surviving crew members of the Deepwater Horizon were reportedly forced to sign following that oil rig explosion. I am going to stay on top of this to make sure that Transocean produces those requested documents so we can get to the bottom of exactly how this situation was handled. Workers everywhere ought to be confident that their employers are putting their safety first, and companies that betray that trust have to be held accountable. So I am going to work to make sure that happens, and I am going to continue fighting to keep drilling away from the Washington State coastline. I am going to keep pushing for this bill to make sure taxpayers don't have to pay for big oil's mistakes. Anyone deciding whether to support this legislation ought to ask themselves a few simple questions: Who are you fighting for? Who are you trying to help? Are you here to protect and shield big oil companies or are you going to fight for our families and our taxpayers? I support this legislation because, to me, the answer is pretty clear. I urge all of our colleagues to allow this bill to pass so our taxpayers in my home State of Washington and across the country can be protected. Mr. President, I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I see the Senator from New Jersey is on the floor, and I am happy to follow him or precede him, whichever he chooses.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from New Jersey because I, too, come to the floor to strongly support the Big Oil Bailout Provision Act and to ask some simple questions of the Senators who are objecting to this bill being passed. For whom are you fighting? Whom are you trying to help? Are you here to protect and shield the big oil companies or to fight for families and taxpayers? I know where I stand. I came to the Senate to fight for families and small business owners in my home State of Washington, and those are the people I work for every single day--moms and dads who are working hard, paying their taxes, doing their best but who have watched, over the last 2 years, as Wall Street executives and big banks derailed our economy and then held out their hands for a bailout from the rest of us, men and women who have seen their friends, family, and neighbors lose their jobs, who have driven by neighborhood shops they have known for decades that are now sitting empty and boarded up. They have seen all this, and they have also seen Wall Street and big banks go right back to their ``bonus as usual'' mentality, acting as though nothing ever happened, handing out millions of taxpayer dollars to their executives, and shamelessly sending lobbyists to Washington, DC, to try and water down reform. Families in Washington State and across the country have seen all this and they are angry about it and they have good reason to be. Those families need to know that now we are fighting for them in the Senate. The debate we are having today demonstrates clearly who is standing for them and who is not. Here are the facts: On April 20, 2010, there was a massive blowout and explosion on a BP oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico. Eleven workers are missing, presumed dead; 17 more injured. The explosion, as we know, caused a gushing spill that has poured hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil into the gulf and threatens to spill millions more. It has created an environmental and economic tragedy the magnitude of which we are only now beginning to comprehend. It is threatening entire communities and businesses. The oil and chemical dispersants being sprayed into the gulf have the potential now to kill underwater wildlife and create underwater dead zones for years and years to come. Those are the facts. The questions are: Who should be responsible for this cleanup? Who should bear the burden for big oil's mistakes? Should it be the taxpayers, the families and small business owners who are already being asked to bear so much today or should it be BP, the company that is responsible for this spill and that made $6.1 billion in profits in the first 3 months of this year alone? I cosponsored the Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act because, to me, the answer is pretty clear. I believe BP needs to be held accountable for the environmental and economic damage of this spill. I am going to continue to fight to make sure our taxpayers do not end up losing a single dime to pay for the mess this big oil company created. To me, this is an issue of fundamental fairness. If an oil company causes a spill, they should be the ones to pay to clean it up, not the taxpayers. The bill raises the cap on oil company liability from the current limit of only $75 million--that is a pittance considering this spill's potential damage--to $10 billion. So taxpayers will not be left holding the bag for big oil's mistakes. This is straightforward common sense, and it is fair. It hits particularly close for families in the Northwest--my area--who saw firsthand the devastation caused by the Exxon Valdez disaster and the long and arduous battle over cleanup costs. Mr. President, I was disappointed when this bill was blocked by Republicans last week. We are going to keep fighting because we want this bill to pass. I am going to keep fighting for our families and taxpayers in Washington State and across the country. The bottom line is, if oil companies are going to make billions in profits when times are good, they should not be allowed to leave taxpayers hanging when times are tough. The Big Oil Bailout Prevention Act writes this commonsense policy into law. I urge every Senator to side with the taxpayers and support this important legislation. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent for 8 minutes equally divided between myself and Senator Cantwell in morning business.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to commemorate and celebrate the lives of seven police officers from my home State of Washington who lost their lives in service to their communities last year. I am proud to join today with Senator Cantwell during National Police Week to introduce the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial resolution to extend the condolences of the Senate to the families, loved ones, and communities of our State's fallen heroes. This week tens of thousands of people from across the country are going to be gathering at the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, DC--friends and families of fallen officers, ordinary citizens, elected officials, and fellow police officers. They will be joining together in the heart of our city in a tree-lined park splashed with daffodils and lined with two curving blue-gray marble walls. On those walls--the ``Pathways of Remembrance''--are engraved the names of Federal, State, and local law enforcement officers who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the safety and protection of our Nation and its people--18,600 of them, dating back to the 18th century. Among those crowds at that memorial this week will be men and women from the State of Washington who have flown all the way across the country to be here as seven new names are unveiled and carved into the marble and preserved for our Nation to honor. The seven officers from Washington State who lost their lives last year in the line of duty are: Deputy Sheriff Stephen Michael Gallagher, Jr. of the Lewis County Sheriff's office; Officer Timothy Brenton of the Seattle Police Department; Officer Tina Griswold of the Lakewood Police Department; Officer Ronald Wilbur Owens II of the Lakewood Police Department; Sergeant Mark Joseph Renninger of the Lakewood Police Department; Officer Gregory James Richards of the Lakewood Police Department; and Deputy Sheriff Walter Kent Mundell, Jr. of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department. These seven remarkable and selfless officers represented the best of their communities. They were seven heroes who served proudly as a brave boundary between civil society and the worst elements of lawlessness and unrest; seven husbands, wives, fathers, and mothers whose losses have devastated families and torn apart communities and whose deaths have weighed heavily on every member of our State's law enforcement community. Each of these tragedies sheds new light on the enormity of the sacrifice police officers make every day in Washington State and across the country. I know our officers feel this weight, but I have no doubt they will never let it stop them from continuing to put themselves in harm's way in order to serve our communities. That is a testament to the commitment they make to serve and protect us. It is an oath they honor each day, and it is a reminder to all of us that these brave men and women deserve every ounce of support we can provide to keep them safe. It is with great pride that I introduce the Washington State Law Enforcement Memorial resolution to commemorate and celebrate the lives of those seven officers. My thoughts and prayers continue to be with their families, and I join their communities, Washington State, and the entire Nation in gratitude for their service. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank the Senators from Connecticut and Alabama for all their hard work on this issue. I am delighted that after three votes and 3 full days of pressuring those on the other side of the aisle to allow us to at least begin debating this critical bill, it appears they have relented. Finally, it appears they are willing to listen to not only what Democrats have been saying about the importance of a strong new reform bill for Wall Street but what the American people have been saying. What we have been saying is it is time to hold Wall Street accountable. It is time to pass strong reforms that cannot be ignored or sidestepped. It is time to end bailouts and give Wall Street the responsibility of cleaning up their own mess. It is time credit card statements are in plain English, in loan terms that are spelled out. It is time for Wall Street to come out of the shadows and into the light of day. It is time for negotiations to come out of the back room and on to the Senate floor. It is time to put an end to obstruction and begin working for American families. I am glad we are finally now on this bill. For most American families, this debate is not complex; it is simple. It is not about derivatives or credit default swaps. It is about fundamental fairness. It is a debate about when they walk into a bank to sign a mortgage or apply for a credit card or start a retirement plan, are the rules on their side? Are they with the big banks or Wall Street? For far too long, the financial rules of the road have not favored the American people. Instead, they favored big banks and credit card companies and Wall Street. For too long they have abused those rules. Whether it was gambling with the money in our pension funds or making bets they could never cover or peddling mortgages to people they knew could never pay them, Wall Street made expensive choices that came at the expense of working families. That is exactly the reason we have all fought so hard to move forward now with a strong bill. It is why we have refused to back down or sit by while it was watered down, and it is why we were ready to stay up all night or vote to move forward with this bill all week long. It is why we have insisted on a bill that includes the strongest protection for consumers ever enacted, an end to taxpayer bailouts, and tools to give individuals the resources they need to make smart financial decisions because each of us knows what the ``anything goes'' rules on Wall Street have meant for our States and our constituents. Each one of us has talked to people who have been hurt through no fault of their own. We have all seen the tremendous cost of Wall Street's excesses. In my home State of Washington, it has cost us over 150,000 jobs. It has cost small businesses access to credit they need to grow and hire. It has cost workers their retirement accounts they were counting on to carry them through their golden years. It has cost students their college savings that would help launch their careers. It has cost homeowners the value of their most important asset, as neighborhoods have been decimated by foreclosures. It has cost our schoolteachers, our police officers, and our communities. It has cost young people such as David Corrado of Seattle, whose mother, since he was very young, would take $400 out of her paycheck and put it toward David's education fund. It was a long-term, smart investment she knew would pay off for David's future. When the financial crisis occurred, he lost one-third of his college fund, $10,000. It has also cost older people such as Edward Diaz, who is also from Washington State. He was not only laid off from his job of 21 years due to the recession, he also lost $100,000 from his 401(k) account. On the verge of retirement, Edward tells me he now scours the classifieds every day searching for any way to get back to work. In the days ahead, as we debate this bill, those are the people we have to remember constantly. We have to keep them in mind as we work to protect against this happening ever again; the people who, through no fault of their own, paid the price for the risks and irresponsible behavior of Wall Street. There are people in my State and across the country who scrimped and saved and made right decisions and were left holding the bag. Now is not the time for half measures. The American people are looking to us now for real reform and to put progress before politics. We have to put people before Wall Street. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, yesterday afternoon, we attempted to bring a bill to the floor that finally holds Wall Street accountable. It is a bill that includes the strongest protection for consumers that has ever been enacted. It is an end to taxpayer bailouts, and it gives tools to individuals, the resources they need to make smart financial decisions. It is a bill that ends Wall Street's ``anything goes'' rules that have meant everybody else pays. Unfortunately, the ``no'' vote from the other side yesterday told us they don't want strong new protections that can't be ignored. It appears they don't want to hold Wall Street accountable for years of irresponsibility and taxpayer-funded bailouts. Instead of fundamentally changing the financial rules of the road, the other side wants to build a speed bump and pass a bill that neither reforms Wall Street nor protects Main Street. I fear that the obstruction and unwillingness to allow us to bring a bill to the floor is simply their push to get a watered-down bill that big banks can simply step aside from and ignore. It has been rubberstamped by Wall Street lobbyists and special interests. This is just an effort to figure out how they can preserve the status quo and talk their way out of change. I fear the delay is about allowing special interests in Washington and bankers on Wall Street and big money donors to write a compromise bill. I worry that just about everybody has been invited to the table to write that bill--except the American people. That is because the vast majority of Americans want to see the strong Wall Street reforms we have put forward pass. In fact, just yesterday, the Washington Post released a poll that shows 63 percent of Americans want to see stronger regulations of Wall Street enacted. But do you know what. There is still a widely held view on Wall Street--as yesterday's vote shows--with many in this Chamber that the voices of the people can be drowned out by big money and twisting words about the truth about what is in this bill. Wall Street thinks they can get away with highway robbery because, unfortunately, they have. They think they can pull a fast one on Main Street. I am here to tell you they cannot. They are flatout wrong. I know because I got my values from Main Street. I grew up in Bothell, a small town of 1,000 people. The values we learned on Main Street are good ones that are also good for your business and for your customers. We learned that an honest business is a successful one. We learned that our customers are not prey and businesses not predators. We learned that personal responsibility means owning up to mistakes and making them right. We believe these values are strong throughout our country today. Those values exist in such small towns as the one I grew up in and big cities in every State. Everyone who voted against moving forward with this bill yesterday is going to hear from people who hold those values today. I am sure they will tell you in no uncertain terms that it is time to pass a bill with strong reforms for a system that is out of control. It is time to protect our consumers, time to end bailouts, and time to restore personal responsibility and bring back accountability. I am very hopeful in the coming few days all of those who voted no will move forward and listen to the hard-working men and women in this country so we can put forward a strong reform bill on Wall Street and protect the American people and the millions of people who have lost their jobs and their security and homes in the last few years from ever having this happen again. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. As we prepare to consider legislation that includes some of the strongest reforms of Wall Street ever, it is important that we not lose sight of exactly what is on the line for the American people; that we will not allow complicated financial products and terminology to distract from the fact that this is a debate about fairness, about family finances, and protecting against another economic collapse; that we remember for Wall Street lobbyists, this may be complex, but for the American people it is pretty simple. For them this is a debate about whether they can walk into a bank and sign up for a mortgage or apply for a credit card or start a retirement plan. Are the rules on their side when they do that, or are they with the big banks on Wall Street? For far too long, the financial rules of the road have favored big banks and credit card companies and Wall Street. For far too long they have abused those rules. Whether it was gambling with the money in our pension funds or making bets they could not cover or peddling mortgages to people they knew could never pay, Wall Street made expensive choices that came at the expense of working families. Wall Street used its ``anything goes'' rules to create a situation where everybody else paid, and Wall Street created a system that put their own short-term profits before the long-term interests of this country. The simple truth is, it is time to end this system that puts Wall Street before Main Street. It is time to put families back in control of their own finances. It is time to focus on making sure the rules protect those sitting around the dinner table, not those sitting around the board room table. To do that, we have to pass strong Wall Street reform that cannot be ignored. Those reforms, I believe, have to include three core principles: a strong, independent consumer protection agency; an end to taxpayer bailouts; and tools to ensure that Americans have the financial know-how that empowers them to make smart choices about their own finances and helps them avoid making the same poor decisions that helped create this crisis. First and foremost, Wall Street needs a watchdog. Right now what we have is a patchwork of Federal agencies, none of which are tasked with focusing solely on consumer protection. What we have is confusion and duplication and an abdication of responsibility. What we have, quite simply, is not working. What we need is a single, strong, independent agency, a cop on the beat whose sole function is to protect consumers, a cop on the street who will expose big bank ripoffs and end unfair fees and curb out-of-control credit card and mortgage rates. We need a cop on the street that ensures when one makes important financial decisions, the terms are clear. The risks are laid out on the table, and the banks and other financial companies offering them are being upfront. What we need is one agency with one mission looking out for one group of people, and that is American families. Secondly, Wall Street reform must spell an end to the taxpayer- financed bailout. There is nothing that makes me or my constituents in Washington State angrier than the fact that Wall Street ran up this huge bill, and we had to pick up the tab. Wall Street reform has to end that once and for all. It has to be a death sentence for banks that engage in reckless practices, and it must make them pay for their funeral arrangements, if they do. Third, reform has to address the fact that Wall Street is not alone in deserving blame for this crisis. Therefore, it must not be the only target of reform. We cannot ignore the fact that millions of Americans walked into sometimes predatory home loan agencies all across the country, unprepared to make big, important financial decisions. We have to acknowledge that too many Americans put too little thought into signing on the dotted line. Those bad decisions had a huge impact. That is why I have been working so hard to pass a bill I introduced called the Financial and Economic Literacy Improvement Act. That legislation would change the way we approach educating Americans about managing their own finances and making good decisions about housing and employment and retirement. We add a fourth R to the basics of reading and writing and arithmetic. That is resource management. It gives Americans, young and old, the basic financial skills to heed warnings in the fine print they are signing and avoid mounting debt. I believe if we are going to avoid many of the mistakes that led to this crisis, we need a similar component in the bill we work on next week. We all know the old adage that sunlight is the best disinfectant. With all of the reforms I have been talking about today, we have the potential to bring a whole lot of sunlight to Wall Street. But as we have seen in the lead up to this crisis and with Wall Street's response now to our reform effort so far, they don't like to do their work in the sunlight. They like to do it in back rooms. I have heard they have had some company recently in those back rooms. I have heard that over the last several days, some of our colleagues on the other side have been huddling with Wall Street lobbyists to figure out how they can kill this bill that is coming to us. They want to figure out how they can preserve the status quo and what they have today. They want to talk their way out of change. They have been calling out to special interests in Washington and bankers back on Wall Street and big money donors. In fact, just about everyone has been invited to those meetings except, of course, the American people. That is because the vast majority of Americans, including the hard-working families in my State who were hurt by this crisis through no fault of their own, want to see the strong Wall Street reforms I have talked about today passed. They want to hold Wall Street accountable for years of irresponsibility and taxpayer-funded bailouts. And more than anything, they want to make sure we never go through this again. There is still a widely held view on Wall Street--and with too many still in DC--that the voices of the people can somehow be drowned out with big money and even bigger fabrications. Wall Street still thinks they can get away with highway robbery because, for all too long, they have. They think they can get away with telling the American people that more regulation is bad, when the absence of regulation is largely what got us into this mess. They think people will be satisfied with watered-down rules that Wall Street can then simply step aside or go around or ignore. They think they can pull a fast one on Main Street. They are flatout wrong. I know that because I grew up literally on Main Street in Bothell, WA, working for my dad's 5-and-10-cent store with my six brothers and sisters. I know they are wrong because Main Street is where I got my values, values such as the product of your work is what you can actually show in the till at the end of the day; that if that money was short, you dealt with the consequences. If it was more than you expected, you knew that more difficult days could lie ahead; values like a good transaction was one that was good for your business and for your customer; that personal responsibility meant owning up to your mistakes and making them right; that one business relied on all the others on the same street; and, importantly, that our customers were not prey and businesses were not predators, and an honest business was a successful one. Those are the values I learned on Main Street growing up. Believe me, those same values are still strong for our country today. They exist in small towns such as the one in which I grew up and in big cities in every one of our States. Next week, when we bring a strong Wall Street reform bill to the floor, everyone in the Senate is going to hear from people who still hold values like that very dear. I am sure they will tell us in no uncertain terms: It is time to end Wall Street's excesses. It is time to bring some sanity back into the system, to protect our consumers, to end bailouts and back-room deals, to restore personal responsibility and bring back accountability. I am hopeful we will all listen because there certainly is a lot on the line for the American people. They deserve all of our support. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, last Sunday at midnight thousands of people in my home State of Washington, who have lost their jobs through no fault of their own, had the rug pulled out from underneath them. That is because these men and women, who wake up each day to scan the classified ads and send out resumes and travel to interview after interview, had the unemployment benefits they count on suddenly cut off. In losing that critical support, they lost an important source of security they need to help them stay in their homes or make rent and the stability that allows them to continue to afford to look for work. Over the last 2 weeks, I have traveled throughout my State, talking to my constituents and discussing our economy and working to support job-creation efforts, and I have to say the frustration is very clear. It is written on the faces of so many in my State who just cannot seem to get a break, who have come close to being hired but have been told the time is just not right, they should come back next month or next year. These are people who are struggling job seekers, and they do not hold back when describing what they continue to face. It is an emergency. It is an emergency that affects their ability to pay their bills, their ability to put food on the table, and their ability to keep their job search going. It is an emergency that time and again we have worked hard here to respond to, but time and again we have faced opposition to do that. Before we left for the recess, we had an opportunity to pass an extension of the unemployment benefits, to respond to that emergency in our job market, and to avoid the uncertainty job seekers across the country now face. Democrats put an unemployment extension out on the table. It was a proposal that was similar to extensions we have done routinely in difficult times, and, as we all know, times have seldom been more difficult. But it has become an all too familiar story now: Those on the other side of the aisle said no and put obstruction before assistance, politics before people, and point-scoring before the needs of those who have lost their jobs. This week, we have a chance to make things right. The legislation we are trying so hard now to pass this week is very straightforward. This bill will get unemployment insurance to millions of struggling families who rely on it to meet their basic needs, to pay their mortgage, and afford school. It will restore the safety net that is critical to keeping our economy stable. It will give those people who are looking for jobs the means to afford to keep looking for them. And it will keep our economic turnaround on course. It is aimed at helping real families with the real problems they face every day. But make no mistake, the consequences of not reaching a compromise and passing this bill are just as real. Today, families in every single one of our States are sitting around their kitchen table trying to figure out how they are going to make it through the weeks and months ahead without these payments. Oftentimes, they have spent their day calling employers and going to job fairs with long lines and very few opportunities, filling out more job applications. These families are now looking to us for the help they need in a time of crisis. But every evening these families are turning on the nightly news to hear another story about gridlock in our Nation's Capital. They see this Senate being forced to jump through procedural hoops and endure endless delay tactics to get even emergency legislation passed. They see politics clouding policy, obstruction impeding process, and, do you know what, they are really getting sick of it. So today I urge all of us to come together and move forward with the same urgency those who have lost their unemployment have, that we join together the way we did to pass the Children's Health Insurance Program or fair pay for women in the workplace or small business tax cuts. We need to restore the faith of the American people and pass this critical extension. But for those who are fighting to get back to work and support their families once again, unemployment obviously is not enough. We need to be taking every step we can to improve the job market unemployed workers wake up to face every morning because while there certainly have been signs of improvement, we have a lot of work left to do. I certainly believe that work starts with helping our small businesses, which are the heart and soul of our economy. Growing up, my dad ran a five-and-ten-cent store on Main Street-- actually Main Street--in Bothell, WA. All six of my brothers and sisters and I worked there. From an early age, we swept floors, we stocked the shelves, we worked the register. And when small businesses like ours struggled, we all knew the consequences. We saw it in the till at the end of the day. We saw it in the families who were coming to buy things from my dad. Small businesses really were the economic engine of Main Street then, and, do you know what, they still are today. But what I hear time and again today is that while Wall Street is doing a whole lot better, Main Street is still really struggling and that the small community banks, which are a major source of capital in all of our communities, are not lending. When small banks, which are the lifelines of our small businesses, do not lend, then credit is not flowing, businesses are not hiring, and recovery is not coming to Main Street. That is exactly why I have introduced legislation that would redirect TARP dollars to buy toxic assets such as bad mortgages off the books of our community banks at home to help free up their credit and get them lending to our small businesses again. We have done enough for Wall Street. It is past time we concentrate on helping our small businesses and local employers. Another way to help improve local job markets and all those who are looking for work is to, of course, lessen the tax burden on our small businesses so they can afford to hire new workers. Over the recess, I had the opportunity to talk to owners of local bakeries and motels and marketing companies and a lot more throughout my entire State, and, do you know what, they all told me the same thing. They want to hire and they want to expand. They even see new opportunities. But the risks for them now are just too great. What they need from us is certainty and security. I told them we are working to provide them with just that. I told them the health care reform bill we just passed includes a 35- percent tax credit that small business owners can receive immediately to help them cover their workers. I encouraged them to hire unemployed workers who have been out of work for more than 60 days because we now are giving them an exemption from their payroll taxes for those new employees. I told them now is the time to make big purchases they want because we have worked to pass legislation that will allow them to write those purchases off immediately. I told them we have worked to ensure that the Small Business Administration is increasing its local lending efforts. But I also told them, of course, that we have more to accomplish and they, the small businesses, need to be the focus of recovery efforts from this point on. Another central tenet of improving the job market is included in the historic health care reform legislation we passed into law last month. As we all know, that bill greatly expands access to care in communities across the Nation, but what has gone less noticed is that the bill also greatly expands access to health care careers to help meet that new demand. I was the Senator in the HELP Committee who was responsible for the health care workforce section of the bill we passed, and I worked to make sure we made numerous investments to create and sustain good- paying health care jobs. Our bill that is now signed into law includes incentives such as loan repayment programs, scholarships, and grants, all to help encourage students to go into high-need fields and to work in underserved areas. It invests in education, training, and retention efforts, not just for new health care workers but for those who are already working to provide quality care in our country. Investments in our health care workforce create jobs. They ease the strain on overworked health care professionals. And it is going to keep Americans healthy so they can be productive on the job. Finally, I believe we need to pay particular attention to our efforts to hire our Nation's heroes, and they, of course, are our veterans. Right now, the unemployment rate for veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan is over 21 percent. More than one in five of the men and women who went and fought for our country are returning home only to have to fight to find work. These are disciplined, technically skilled, determined workers who nonetheless have been left to stand at the back of the line or have their resumes lost in a stack somewhere. Over the last 2 weeks, I talked to many unemployed veterans in my home State of Washington about just what it is that is keeping them from finding work, and, frankly, what they told me was shocking. Many veterans told me they sometimes leave off the fact they are veterans from their resume because employers are looking at it as a negative rather than a positive because of the stigma of the invisible wounds of war. National Guard members talked of coming home to find they have been laid off because their job no longer existed at the company they left behind when they went to serve our country. Other veterans told me the Pentagon and VA transition programs just are not working for today. And they struggle to have employers understand how the technical skills they learned in the military will translate to help them in the civilian working world. What I heard is unacceptable, and it has to change immediately. So next week I am going to be introducing a bill on the Senate floor that will take a look at why our military skills are not translating into skills that get them jobs when they come home. It will help our veterans get into apprenticeship programs and careers where I know they will excel. It will improve the military and civilian transition process. And we are going to set up a veterans business center within the Small Business Administration to help our veterans get the skills and resources to start their own businesses. This week on the Senate floor, we have a chance to keep our unemployed workers afloat. It is an unemployment extension that is a lifeline. It is a lifeline that will help allow unemployed workers to continue looking for every job opportunity and to support their families in that process. But ultimately we need to get these workers into the boat. We need them to get good, stable jobs. That means supporting our community banks, reducing the tax burden on small businesses, and expanding opportunities for health care workers and our returning heroes--our veterans. As I said earlier, the American people are watching us. They want us to have the same urgency they feel in their lives every day. They want to know their dinner table debates are our floor debates. They want to know that creating jobs is our No. 1 priority and that we will be at the back of those who are trying so hard to get back to work. So I come to the floor to urge everyone to come together to pass this important extension of unemployment benefits, put politics aside for a couple weeks and months, and help us all work together to create job opportunities and get Americans back to work. Thank you. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak under morning business on the Democratic side.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Thank you, Mr. President.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I would like to take a moment today to recognize Mrs. Frankie Manning of the VA Puget Sound Health Care System in Seattle, WA. After over 40 years of service in the U.S. Army and the Department of Veterans Affairs, Mrs. Manning is retiring from government service. A pioneer in championing the needs of women veterans, she helped create the Women Veterans' Program for the Western Region in the 1980s. This program developed standards of care for women in the VA system and is still in place today. She was also instrumental in ensuring that the rural areas of our State received equal access and care from the VA system. My office worked closely with Mrs. Manning to establish the Veteran-Virtual Clinic in Port Angeles, a project that allows 3,000 veterans living on the Olympic Peninsula to access specialty care at the VA in Seattle. Mrs. Manning has filled many roles within the VA system and served most recently as the nurse executive, overseeing the nursing operations at the Seattle and Tacoma facilities. Mrs. Manning also had a distinguished career in the U.S. Army Nurse Corps, spanning 23 years that included a deployment to Saudi Arabia during the gulf war. Mrs. Manning retired from the Army with the rank of lieutenant colonel. These decades of service to our country demonstrate a dedication to public service matched by few. Mrs. Manning worked tirelessly to ensure the men and women serving in our armed services received the best health care possible and that this care continued for the rest of their lives. I would like to thank Mrs. Manning for her years of service to our country and to the people of Washington State. Her career is a tremendous example of public service, and her commitment to our veterans is truly appreciated. I wish her all the best in her future endeavors and know that her many talents will be missed at the VA Puget Sound Health Care System.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider and to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3553

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3577

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3651

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to table.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 3638

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask for the yeas and nays.