Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I would ask the Senator from Alaska which amendment she is sending.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with.

Mrs. MURRAY. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business with the time equally divided in the usual form.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank my colleague from California for yielding me time on this bill and thank her for her support as we move forward in a very critical time to cast a vote that is very important to all of our communities, and that is for the Omnibus appropriations bill from last year that is currently on the Senate floor. Let me start by commending our leadership, our new committee chairman, Senator Inouye, and our vice chairman, Senator Cochran, who have put this bill in front of us. This Omnibus appropriations bill before us that we are now debating is absolutely essential to every community in our country, especially as we work to address this economic crisis. Both of our Senators, Mr. Inouye and Mr. Cochran, have been very measured and evenhanded as we have brought this bill together, despite the many challenges we face. I thank them for their work. I chair the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation and Housing. I rise today to urge all of my colleagues to support this very important Omnibus appropriations bill. As I said, this bill is essential to families and communities across our country. It enables us, our Government, to meet the needs for health care, for housing, to make college more affordable, and to keep our communities safe. Just as important, our communities today are counting on us doing our job and passing this bill. With this bill, we are fulfilling our commitments we made to them back in June and July of last year when these bills were marked up in our appropriations committees. Senator Byrd, who was the Appropriations Committee chairman at the time, held four separate markup sessions. Almost every committee member attended those sessions to debate and vote those appropriations bills out of committee. While, of course, not every Senator agreed with every line in every bill, they were written with the cooperation of our Republican colleagues. All of us had to make compromises, but in the end each of these bills was reported out of the full committee either unanimously or with a very large bipartisan vote. That is because each of these bills represents a bipartisan consensus and stays within the budget resolution Congress passed earlier last year. Our Republican colleagues were full participants when we negotiated the final details of this with the House of Representatives. Therefore, the omnibus bill we are debating today reflects many of the same priorities Democrats and Republicans alike approved last July. Even so, our Federal agencies have now been operating under a continuing resolution for 5 months now, since this fiscal year began. We cannot delay sending them this bill any longer. On Friday night of this week, at midnight, if we do not pass this bill, funding for most of our Federal agencies will stop. It will stop and the money will be cut off. The Federal Government will come to a halt. I think about what that means. Millions of Americans depend on this funding. We cannot afford to let politics stand in the way and risk a government shutdown, especially not when we face the greatest economic challenge since the Great Depression, not with so many of our Federal agencies working day and night to make sure the economic recovery bill we adopted last month can meet the needs of our families across the country, and not when we know communities across the Nation are desperate for help to keep transportation and safety and housing and all the other programs moving forward. As chair of the Transportation and Housing Subcommittee, I want to take a little bit of time today to give some details about why this bill is so important to address the housing crisis and ensure the continued safety of our transportation system. First of all, this bill is an essential part of our efforts to restart the housing market. In the last several weeks, I have heard some of my colleagues talk about how they want to focus on housing as we repair this economy. We cannot fix the housing market without the provisions in this omnibus bill. Let me give just one example. Up until last year, the Federal Housing Administration's market share for guaranteeing mortgages had dropped to a low of 3 percent. But now that the mortgage industry is in crisis, lenders have turned back to the FHA in droves because they know it will be reliable. Yet, under the terms of the continuing resolution, the FHA is prevented from helping willing and qualified buyers get mortgages because that agency cannot guarantee more than $185 billion a year. If we do not pass the bill in front of us and raise that cap to a level above $300 billion, our effort to restart the real estate and housing industry is going to crash and burn. If any of us think it is hard to get a mortgage now, just watch that happen if we keep the FHA's loan volume cap at last year's level. If we fail to pass this bill, we are going to throw thousands of low- income families out of stable, affordable housing. In the last year alone, 3 million Americans lost their jobs. Communities across this country are struggling to meet those needs. This is absolutely the wrong time to unravel the safety net we have in place. The 2009 omnibus bill would provide enough additional money to keep up with inflation and keep the current tenant-based section 8 recipients in their homes. If we have to keep the funding for that program flat, the consequences will be severe. It is estimated that as many as 45,000 families will be turned out of their homes if we don't pass this bill; that is, 45,000 families who would lose their housing and be forced to turn to relatives, shelters--wherever they can--for help. So this bill is critical to help us address the Nation's housing needs. But the omnibus is also essential to the safety of our airlines, our railroads, our roads, and our bridges. All of us, I hope, are aware we face very serious challenges today because our air traffic controllers and our safety inspectors are retiring in very large numbers, leaving a lot of less-experienced people to fill their shoes. Those are the people who help us land or take off at our airports, who make sure our planes are safe. We have been working for several years to address this crisis. This bill is going to make sure we can keep hiring new air traffic controllers and safety inspectors so they can get the training and experience they need. This bill provides the money to fully fund some of the safety personnel we brought on last year. I hope it is very clear to everyone how important it is to keep up these efforts. If we do not pass this bill, not only will we be unable to hire new safety personnel, but we are going to have to fire some of the people we hired last year. We face a simple choice: We can hire and train new air traffic controllers and address that huge gap in experience levels between the workers who are retiring and the new employers who are at our towers across the Nation or we can just let those shortfalls get worse. I think that is an investment we cannot afford to not make. The same is true when it comes to the safety of the rest of our transportation system. This omnibus bill provides critical investments in rail safety inspectors, truck safety inspectors, and pipeline inspectors. Back in the fall, through the leadership of Senators Inouye and Lautenberg and many others, the Senate passed a comprehensive rail safety and Amtrak bill that was signed by President Bush. That bill laid out a very new vision for a modernized national rail network and a new safety system that requires adequate staffing at the Federal Railroad Administration. With this bill that is before us now, we begin to make those investments. It is not a moment too soon. In the last couple of years, a record number of commuters have parked their cars and started taking the train in response to the economic crisis and high gas prices. We have to expand and improve our rail transportation in America to meet that demand. But if we keep the funding levels flat, we could end up forcing Amtrak to shut down some of those routes instead. Additionally, we finally got a settlement for Amtrak's workers last year after they were forced to go almost 9 years without a wage increase. That settlement was recommended by President Bush's emergency board. It called for the Government--us--to make a lump-sum payment in backpay to Amtrak workers. The bill before us includes the funding for that long-awaited payment. Those workers earned that money, but if we do not pass this bill, they almost certainly will not get it. I give those as a couple of examples of what could happen if we do not approve this omnibus bill and get it to the President's desk by Friday. Those, by the way, are just the risks in transportation and housing. I know many of my fellow chairmen on the committee will be talking about what happens to health or agriculture or energy or law enforcement. Less than a month ago, we came together on this floor to pass a huge bill designed to give our economy the jump-start we need to get the Government working again and make investments that are going to create jobs and strengthen our communities. We are already seeing it begin to work. But the progress we are already making will be forced to a stop before it can get any momentum if we do not put the people in place to carry it out. That is why this bill is so important. This bill will keep the Government running at a time when we need Federal employees to put all of their efforts, every single day, into helping our economy recover. We need this bill to help ensure that our low-income families keep safe, affordable housing. We need this bill so that the FHA can help more people get loans and buy homes. And we need it to ensure that our transit system runs safely and smoothly. This bill is critical to every one of our communities, and we all have to work together and do what is right for the American people today. We all know our families are struggling and they are scared about what is ahead for our economy. They do not have time for us to play games. They need help now. I hope we can all join together this week and move this bill, the 2009 Omnibus appropriations bill, to the President's desk by Friday and get our country working again. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the previously ordered vote slated to occur at 11:45 now occur at 12 noon and that the additional time be divided as previously ordered and the remaining provisions under the agreement remain in effect.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary, Subcommittee on Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``The Ticketmaster/Live Nation Merger: What Does it Mean for Consumers and the Future of the Concert Business?'' on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, at 2:30 p.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 24, 2009 at 2:30 p.m.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, at 2:30 p.m.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Addressing Underinsurance in National Health Reform'' on Tuesday, February 24, 2009. The hearing will commence at 10 a.m. in room 430 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Veterans' Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Tuesday, February 24, 2009, at 2 p.m., in a Joint Hearing with the House Veterans' Affairs Committee to receive testimony from the Disabled American Veterans. The Committee will meet in room 345 of the Cannon Building beginning at 2 p.m.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on February 24, 2009, at 10 a.m.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senate is not in order.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the business before the Senate is now the nomination of President Obama's nominee as Secretary of Labor, U.S. Representative Hilda Solis. My colleagues on the Senate HELP Committee worked together to move forward Hilda Solis's nomination. I have come to the floor today to urge the full Senate to join me in supporting her confirmation so we can fill this critically important Cabinet position as soon as possible. Today, America's families are facing incredible challenges. They are struggling with record unemployment and a devastating economic crisis. They need and they deserve an advocate in the administration who is passionate about public service and committed to fighting for them. Representative Solis is that person. I want to share today a part of her HELP Committee testimony. If confirmed, Hilda Solis wrote that we have her solemn commitment to ``work hard every day to ensure that middle-class families do not lose hope.'' I thank Representative Solis for her willingness to answer President Obama's call to serve. She has been very responsive to the questions that were submitted to her by the HELP Committee. She has been a dedicated public servant, and she has an extensive public record of supporting working families. Moving forward on this nomination this afternoon will send a crucial message to working families that we understand their needs and that they are absolutely essential to our economic recovery efforts. We cannot afford to wait. For anyone who is unfamiliar with her background, I would like to share with you a little bit about Representative Solis. She was born in California and grew up as one of seven children. Her mother was an immigrant from Nicaragua. Her father worked as a farmworker, a railroad worker, and a Teamsters shop steward in a battery recycling plant. He raised his family to understand that joining a union had helped them secure a place in America's middle class. Her parents stressed values such as education and hard work, public service and commitment to family. Even though they could not afford to go to college themselves, her mother and father sacrificed to make sure their children would reach their full potential. With the support of her family and the help of Pell grants and student loans, Hilda Solis became the first in her family to graduate from college. Her sisters followed in her footsteps. One earned a Ph.D. in public health and two others became engineers. Thanks to the values she grew up with, Hilda Solis always worked to give back to her community. She has served as the director of the California Student Opportunity and Access Program, and as a college trustee, because she wanted to ensure that other students could have the same opportunity she did to get a college degree. In 1992 she expanded her service to the public arena and was elected to the California State Assembly. In 1994, she became the first Latino State senator in California. As a State lawmaker, she wrote a record 17 laws to protect victims of domestic violence. She championed worker rights. She helped small businesses, and she worked to strengthen the economy. Hilda Solis's achievements and service to students, to her State, and to the U.S. House of Representatives are proof that anything is possible in America, no matter what your background is. She is an example of why we have to ensure that every child and every family has a chance to succeed. Her experience is a quintessential example of the American dream. I should add I feel a very close connection to her because her background is not that different from my own. I too am one of seven children of loving, committed parents who taught us that with hard work anything is possible in America. My family faced very tough times when I was young. When my dad developed MS, we depended on food stamps for a while. My brothers, sisters, and I all were able to go on for college because of Pell grants and student loans. Like Hilda Solis, I grew up believing that everyone can succeed if we give them a fighting chance. That is part of the reason why I know she will join me in fighting day and night for our working families in our struggling economy today. Not only is Hilda Solis the right choice to serve as Labor Secretary, I want to emphasize how critical it is for us to move forward and fill this Cabinet position. For the last 8 years, working families have felt like an afterthought of the previous administration. I can tell you, as chair of the Employment and Workplace Safety Committee, it is long past time for a change. I am hopeful that the Department of Labor will soon have a leader who stands ready to help the Department fulfill its very core responsibilities to America's working men and women. For years, I have said, if you do not invest in the growth and development of America's workforce, our families, our communities and our Nation will suffer in the long run. Now, today, with the unemployment at 7.6 percent, with 3 million jobs lost over the past year, and literally thousands of more pink slips going out every month, with hundreds of thousands of new unemployment insurance claims being filed every week, workers need an advocate in the new administration who will stand up for them. They need someone who believes, as I do, that investing in them is investing in our future. They need someone who believes that their Government should work for them during the good times and help them succeed during the hard times. They need someone who will be their voice in every economic recovery discussion. As we all work very hard to help our economy recover and grow again, I believe three things are very clear: First, we need to create new jobs and help Americans who are out of work or underemployed find employment that ensures they are able to stay in the middle class. Secondly, we need to help low-skilled and low-earning workers get the skills they need to find family wage jobs in healthy industries, so they can become part of the middle class. And, third, we need to make smart investments that will create jobs, increase worker training, and make us more productive and competitive in the global economy. I am confident that as Labor Secretary, Hilda Solis will join me in working to reach those goals. Our working families deserve a workforce system that is innovative, that is modern, and can meet the needs of the millions of unemployed and underemployed American workers. I am confident she is committed to making the reauthorization of our Nation's workforce system a top priority of her first year. I look forward to working with her to help ensure families can balance the competing needs of work and home by expanding job-protected leave and other family-friendly work policies. To be fully productive, workers need to know that their employers and their Government are doing everything they can to ensure they are safe and they are healthy on the job. Finally, I look forward to working with her to make OSHA and MSHA proactive agencies again where the health and the safety of our workers is their first priority. We have a lot of big challenges ahead of us in this country, but we also have a very big opportunity. I know that together we can help our workers access training for 21st century careers, including the emerging green jobs we hear so much about; we can help our workers balance the needs of home and careers and help them keep safe on the job. We can work to protect their rights to organize and secure a better economic future for themselves; and, ultimately, we can help our working families improve their quality of life. Now, more than ever, workers deserve a leader who is dedicated to seeing them succeed. I look forward to working with Secretary Solis and the Department to do that. I encourage all of our colleagues to support this critical nomination. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I thank all of my colleagues for their remarks today, including the distinguished ranking member of our HELP Committee, the Senator from Wyoming, and the ranking member on my Subcommittee on Employment, the Senator from Georgia. We have all worked together on a number of issues that are important to the well- being of workers in this country, and today is no different as we consider the nomination of Hilda Solis to serve as President Obama's Labor Secretary. As a committee and as a body, we have done our due diligence in reviewing her nomination and materials. Now it is time to move forward. Working families across the country are facing the hardest of economic downturns. Most of them have never experienced anything like this. It is affecting everyone across our country. Earlier today, we learned that about 303,570 people in my home State of Washington were unemployed and looking for work in January. That is the largest number ever in my State. That is over 303,000 families who are now wondering how they are going to be able to pay their bills or keep their house or afford health care or even save for retirement. Workers in my State and across the country cannot afford to wait one more day for an advocate in this administration who will make their voice heard as we work to repair our country's economy. They cannot afford to wait any longer for a new leader at the agency that is responsible for unemployment insurance, job training, and placement services, protecting the health and safety of our workers on the job, and ensuring their rights in the workplace are protected. We have to have a Labor Department that can move into high gear to meet workers where they are. Hilda Solis stands ready to answer that call. Before I conclude, I want to take just a minute to thank a number of people who helped us to get to this point. In addition to the distinguished ranking member on the HELP Committee, Senator Enzi, and the ranking member on our subcommittee, Senator Isakson, and all of their staff members, I wish to recognize and thank Senator Kennedy who is the chairman of our Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. His dedication to America's working families is unmatched. And his staff, including Portia Wu and Lauren McFarren, have dedicated countless hours to moving this nomination forward. I also thank Senator Dodd, who chaired the HELP Committee executive session that reported Representative Solis out of committee, bringing us a step closer to today's confirmation. Let me also thank my staff who have worked so hard with me: Gerri Fiala, Crystal Bridgeman, Mike Waske, Mike Spahn, and Stacy Rich. I appreciate all of their joint efforts to getting us here today. Of course, I thank our great floor staff who worked tirelessly to help move this process forward. Finally, I want to particularly thank Representative Hilda Solis for, once again, answering the call to serve. We expect the final vote on her nomination shortly. I encourage all Senators and colleagues to support her confirmation on behalf of all the working families in our country who need a voice in Washington, DC. Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of time and ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. No. These Senators requested that time, and we will go back and forth in the usual fashion.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, we are on the Solis nomination this afternoon. I ask unanimous consent that the following Senators on our side be recognized to speak: Senator Menendez for 10 minutes, Senator Sanders for 15 minutes, Senator Dodd for 15 minutes, and Senator Boxer for 10 minutes.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to go to a period for morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for 10 minutes each.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, yes, the Senator from Pennsylvania's understanding is correct. The conference report does give the Secretary of Transportation authority to waive the minimum grant size under the discretionary grant program for the purpose of funding significant projects in smaller cities, regions or States. Additionally, funds provided for investment in highway infrastructure maybe be used for passenger and freight rail transportation and port infrastructure projects.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I recently received a letter from a woman in Sultan, WA, that I want to share with you today as we work to finalize the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. She wrote to me because her family is going through some very hard times and she doesn't know where else to turn. Her husband, who is a veteran who received a Purple Heart, lost his job in October. Her own wages have been cut and her daughter and her 3- year-old granddaughter had to move in with them because they can't afford rent and childcare. At the end of this month, they are going to lose their home to foreclosure. She said her family is living ``both literally and figuratively on the edge.'' As she put it: We are the textbook middle class . . . sliding into a jobless, homeless, and hopeless future. Mr. President, I come this afternoon to share her story with you because the pain she is going through is being felt by millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and their homes in the last couple of years. Families such as hers feel as though their lives are slipping out from under them, and they are looking to us for help. The House and the Senate have taken a critical step forward by passing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It is going to give our economy the jolt it needs to create jobs and help our country get back on track. But we are not done yet. We still need to get that bill to the President. Every day we wait, the economy gets worse. Every day, more jobs are cut, more small businesses close their doors, more homes are lost, and more families are forced to make new sacrifices just to make ends meet. That is why I have come to the floor this evening. The American people need action now. They need us to set aside our differences and put a final bill into President Obama's hands so we can start the real work of getting our country moving again. So I urge my colleagues in the House and the Senate to finish this job and give this bill final approval. We know the bill that is coming out of conference is not perfect, but it makes tried-and-true investments that will help create jobs and get our country back on track. It makes a downpayment on the future by rebuilding our roads and bridges, our water and sewer plants-- investments that will put people to work today and strengthen our economy for years to come. The bill expands our renewable energy options, creating good-paying jobs in a growing industry and helping to end our addiction to oil. It will also help improve health care and cut costs by computerizing health records and boosting research. It invests in education and job training that will help our laid-off workers learn new skills and find new jobs. Mr. President, our economy is not going to recover overnight. We still have very hard times ahead. But I am confident this is the urgent action we need to begin moving forward again. I want to take a few minutes this evening to talk about what it will mean for families in my home State of Washington. To begin with, this bill offers a helping hand to thousands of families in Washington State who are struggling to meet their basic needs. In the last couple of months, we have seen a demand for food stamps, Medicaid, and other programs rise dramatically. Food stamp applications are up 15 percent over last year. State workers have said they are having trouble keeping up with the demand. This bill is going to help us meet the needs of the most vulnerable families by extending unemployment insurance benefits, expanding food stamps, and increasing funding to help with Medicaid costs. This isn't just the moral thing to do, we would not be able to dig ourselves out of this economic crisis until people have money to spend. So this is the right decision economically as well. The money we spend on unemployment and food stamps will go right back into the economy as people use the benefits to pay for things they need. That is the same reason we are working to get money into the hands of working families and small business owners. Like families all across the country, people in my home State are scared, they are struggling to make ends meet, and they aren't spending. So we include in this bill an income tax cut that will give almost 2\1/2\ million Washington workers some extra money in their paychecks every week. Because this bill is about stabilizing our economy and getting our country back on track, we are also including funding to help struggling families pay for critical expenses, such as childcare or health care or college tuition. I was a working mom. I know that reliable childcare is what makes it possible for millions of parents to go to work every day. This bill increases the childcare development block grant so more parents can afford quality daycare for their kids. It increases Pell grants and higher education tax credits to help thousands of our students stay in college, get their degree, and then qualify for a good-paying job. Importantly, the bill also makes COBRA more affordable so people who have lost their jobs can keep their health insurance while they look for work. So we are helping working families pay for their basic expenses, stay in school, and keep their jobs and their health care. That is critical to getting our country back on track. But the biggest jolt to our economy will come from the millions of jobs we are creating in construction, in environmental cleanup, and in energy development. In my State, this bill will help put thousands of people to work fixing our roads and bridges and upgrading our mass transit and ferry systems. These are investments that will also make our communities stronger and more attractive to businesses in the long run. It will help us take a big step toward energy independence and lower energy costs for everyone. This bill expands the Bonneville Power Administration's existing borrowing authority, and it will help us take advantage of more renewable energy sources and hire hundreds of thousands of new employees who will be trained to update our energy transmission systems. That will allow the new energy we hope to produce, such as wind, get to our homes and our businesses and save all of us money in the future. This bill will also help create and preserve jobs at Hanford, and it will keep our legal and moral commitment to cleaning up nuclear waste in Washington State and across the country. It will also ensure that we can fulfill our responsibility to our Nation's veterans by making investments in badly needed construction and repair projects at our VA hospitals and medical facilities in Washington State and across the country. But we are not just creating construction jobs in this bill. We are helping our local and State governments keep critical employees on the job--our police and our firefighters, our teachers, our university employees. This economic crisis has hit State and local governments terribly hard. They have had to make cuts across the board, including in education and emergency response. Local officials have told me they are very worried about what that will mean for their communities. Police chiefs and sheriffs have been warning me that I.D. theft, burglary, bank robbery, fraud, and gang activity are going to increase as jobs vanish and people become more desperate. In this bill we provide money for Byrne and COPS grants to help keep our police on the beat and our families safe. Just as important, this bill will help our schools and our colleges and our universities keep their doors open and keep the teachers in the classroom. School board members from across my home State of Washington told me this week they are struggling to afford everything from salaries to their light bills. Several of them have already started laying off, and they are worried there is more to come. Universities in my home State are looking at hundreds of job cuts. Education is critical to our communities, especially when the economy is bad. We need strong schools and colleges to train the workforce of the future. We need to make sure they are strong so our current workforce can get the skills and training they need to qualify for better jobs as well. We can't afford to take a step backward. So we are sending billions of critically needed dollars to schools and colleges across the country to keep the lights on, the doors open, teachers on the job, and to make sure we can meet the needs of students who have been hurt by this economic crisis. Mr. President, let me add one other note. We aren't just helping to make up for State budget cuts. We are adding incentives that make sure schools keep working to increase standards and improve education for all of our students. Finally, we are also investing in our greatest resource--our workers--so that our communities can stay productive and competitive in the global economy. This bill includes $64 million for training and job research services that will help our laid-off workers in Washington State learn the skills they need so they can begin new careers and stay in the middle class. It also provides incentives to encourage businesses to hire homeless veterans and disadvantaged teenagers who are looking for jobs today. Mr. President, this isn't just going to help our teens and our veterans find jobs, it is good for the economy too. Teenagers, in particular, as we all know, are more likely to spend the money they earn in their own communities, and some of them also contribute to their families' incomes to help pay rent or put food on the table. So this is a smart investment. This bill we are going to consider in the next day or so is critical for my home State. In Washington alone it will create thousands of jobs and make investments that will strengthen our communities for years to come. It isn't perfect. It is not a silver bullet that will solve all of our problems, but it certainly is the first of many steps that we are going to have to take to get our country turned around. As President Obama has outlined, getting our economy back on track is going to take an aggressive three-pronged approach. The first step is to recover and reinvest. We also have to stabilize our financial institutions to fix the credit and banking system. We need to address the housing crisis. But I want to emphasize, we have to do all three if we are going to get this economy moving again. We are starting today with a bold recovery bill. While there are no guarantees with any of this, we can guarantee that if we do nothing, things are going to get worse. As hard as it has been to write and put this bill together, it does not even compare to the pain that is being felt by millions of Americans who are going to wake up tomorrow without a job. They are watching us now, and they are expecting us to make good on the promises we have made--to bring change to Washington and restore confidence and security in our country. They expect us to work together. They expect us to put our differences aside and make the difficult decisions that will move our country forward. They cannot afford to wait any longer. When I was growing up, my father was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and all of a sudden he couldn't work any longer. My family-- all seven kids, my mom--had to survive on food stamps. My brothers and sisters and I were able to go to college because of Pell grants and student loans. So I want you to know I understand what a lot of our families are going through today as they struggle in this economy. That is why I am working so hard with so many others to find ways that our Government and our country can help today. President Obama made it clear Monday night that if we do not act, the economic crisis we are in now could become an economic catastrophe. I urge my colleagues to help pass this bill out of the conference, through the Senate and House, get it signed, get Americans back to work, and get our country on the road to recovery. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator from Michigan is correct and makes an important point. Effective strategies for helping workers retool for jobs in viable industries should be informed by the critical stakeholders she noted. It is my hope that when distributing these funds, the Secretary of Labor gives due deference to those eligible entities with strategic partnerships among representatives from the affected industries, labor organizations, workforce investment boards, elected officials, and institutions of higher education, including community colleges and other training providers.