Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I began my career as a preschool teacher back in my home State of Washington. That background has given me valuable insight into how important early childhood education is throughout a person's life. As a preschool teacher, I could tell from the first day which kids in my class had parents at home who read to them. At 4 years old, those kids were already ahead of their classmates because they had been introduced to words and books, and they were interested in learning. I have been proud to work here in the Senate to support education programs like Head Start that help more kids get an equal start in school. So I rise today to talk about two bills I reintroduced this week with my colleague on the other side of the aisle, Senator Bond, as well as Senator Clinton. The bills--the Education Begins at Home Act and the Ready to Learn Act--are a pair designed to help prepare children for school by focusing on their learning at home and at preschool and childcare programs. Both of these bills are based on research, and they expand on programs and efforts we already know work. They also have one component I especially like--they don't just focus on teachers--they support parents learning how to give their kids a healthy start. So I would like to spend a moment describing them. The first--the Education Begins at Home Act--would create the first Federal stream of money to help teach parents how to care for their kids, starting at birth. The bill would enable State and local governments to create programs that teach parents about healthy parent-child relationships, about boosting child development, about the demands and stress associated with caring for babies, about how to deal with difficult behavior, and about how to recognize postpartum depression. Most of us here know how difficult it is to be a new parent-- especially when you are under stress because of work or military service. The programs this bill would create will help prevent child abuse and teach parents about how their children grow and develop emotionally and intellectually. I know how important the Parents as Teachers Program is to families in Washington State with young children, and I believe we need to expand on the success of this program and others around the country. The second bill builds on the first by creating a competitive matching grant program within No Child Left Behind. It would fund high quality early childhood programs aimed at promoting school readiness for low-income children, particularly 4 year olds. And it would help reduce class sizes, increase teacher salaries, and require States to report regularly on the effectiveness of these programs. Research shows that children who get good prekindergarten education are less likely to fall behind or need special education services--and they are more likely to graduate from high school. To give you just one example, kids who learn the names and sounds of letters before they enter kindergarten are 20 times more likely to read simple words by the end of kindergarten. And children who don't learn the same skill before they start school often fail to catch up--ever. In other words, the early childhood education programs--like those we fund in this bill--are a great investment that will pay off in dividends later. They save money in the long run and help kids get the best possible start in life. As I said at the beginning of my remarks, I have been a strong supporter of early childhood education for my entire career. But given our economic crisis, investments like the ones I am talking about today are more important than ever before. I believe that strengthening our schools and making sure our kids are prepared for tomorrow's workplace are going to be the keys to economic recovery. We need to build a workforce that is the most competitive in the world so that we can recruit and hold onto good-paying jobs. And we can't do it unless all of our children get the strongest possible start in life. So I urge my colleagues to support these bills and help our kids get on a path to learn and succeed. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that I be allowed to speak as in morning business for 12 minutes, and that following my remarks the Senator from Georgia be recognized.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that my statement be printed in the Record prior to the previous vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, next week, we will inaugurate a new Commander in Chief. It is a time of hope and opportunity for people across this country. While many Americans are hopeful today, too many of them are hurting, and they cannot wait another day for the change they have been promised. People in my home State of Washington are feeling the pain. When I held an economic roundtable in Everett, WA, earlier in December, the room was filled to overflowing with people who came out in the middle of the day to express their concerns and to listen to business owners and families and community members talk about the struggles they are facing. Unemployment in my State, like States across the country, is at record highs. Businesses, big and small, are struggling to meet their payroll. And too many families are still wondering how they are going to stay in their homes or get a loan to pay for school for their kids. We stood here on this floor almost 3 months ago debating whether to approve the President's request for economic rescue funds. At that time, communities across my State were hurting. Families were struggling to pay for their groceries, to afford health care, and wondering how they were going to pay for college. My constituents were angry they were being asked to fork over their tax dollars to cover the consequences of years of reckless abandon on Wall Street and the failure of this administration to regulate or rein in their folly. Here we are today, 3 months later, and my communities and my families are still hurting. Many people are still struggling with health care and education and foreclosures. Just this week, the people of my State heard Boeing announce plans to lay off thousands of workers in the State of Washington. The Seattle PI--a newspaper that thousands have welcomed into their homes every day--was put up for sale. And today we learn that foreclosures in our most populated county have spiked by 88 percent over last year. My constituents live 2,500 miles away from here, and they are listening to our debate here today. They are asking why on Earth Congress would approve billions of dollars more after the way the last chunk was handled. The rescue funds we approved in October prevented economic collapse, but regular people are still struggling. They say they have not felt the impact of these funds on their job security, on their incomes, or their ability to stay in their homes. I have to say, I understand their frustration, and I share their concerns. I am angry too. I am angry about the lack of transparency into how banks are using these dollars. I, in fact, picked up the phone and called Secretary Paulson to express my outrage when I read stories of those lavish parties held by companies that received our precious rescue dollars. There has not been enough accountability or transparency to date. That must change. There has not been enough benefit to regular families and small business owners and homeowners. That must change. When I voted in favor of these funds in October, I said it was not a cure-all but an attempt to keep an already very bad situation from getting much worse. It takes both investment and honesty to get our economy back on track. Unfortunately, we have not had much of either. The disbursement of these funds was the current administration's entire plan to improve the economy. But their philosophy was like using a Band-Aid when the economy needed surgery. The administration will change next week, but the challenges facing our Nation will not. I spoke with President-elect Obama earlier this week, and I expressed my concerns about how the economic rescue funds had been used up to this point. He agreed. Today, I met with Timothy Geithner, the President-elect's nominee to head the Treasury Department. He gave me his assurances that transparency and accountability will be improved and that there will be more done to help responsible homeowners avoid foreclosure. With those assurances, I believe the American people are finally going to get the investment and the honesty they deserve. President- elect Obama is inheriting an economic crisis. That is a very tough place to start. But he told me, in order to move ahead and focus on America's families and businesses, we have to ensure the stability of our financial markets. The President-elect has assured me that while he believes these funds are important, they are only one part of his plan to get America back on track. So I said yes to those funds today because I believe we can move forward, and I want our new President to have the ability to focus on our economic recovery. The President-elect and Members of Congress are committed to ensuring a full and accurate accounting of how the Treasury Department has allocated the funds spent to date and going forward, and we will ensure that assistance does not just flow to large financial institutions, but will be available to our community banks and small businesses as well. We will take a hard look at the factors that brought us to this point and address them. Our new President has promised to work with Congress to pass and implement new regulatory measures to better protect consumers and businesses and investors and to ensure that our taxpayers are never again put in this terrible position. We will work with this new administration to quickly implement aggressive policies to reduce preventable foreclosures for responsible homeowners. This crisis started in the housing market, and we will not dig ourselves out without overhauling the system. I will not be done with this process until Americans who have lost their jobs and their homes are back on their feet. People of my State know what it will take to get America working again, and so do I. We have to value our workforce and find a way to make health care affordable and accessible. We have to invest in research and development and reward American innovation. We have to implement a smart forward-looking energy policy that ends our addiction to foreign oil once and for all. We have to invest in our roads and our bridges and our highways and the projects that will pave the way for further economic growth. We have to recognize that education is a priority. We cannot fill those great jobs of the future without an educated and skilled workforce. It is time to put America's families first. It is time to restore their faith that government works for, not against, them. Americans who are hurting today will not see a change overnight. There is a long, hard path ahead of us, but the American dream of owning a home or running a business or going to college is still alive in communities across this country. To pull back now and allow our credit markets to freeze would tie the hands of an incoming administration with plans to invest in America again and potentially cause lasting economic harm. This is just one step in the process. We will provide these rescue funds to stabilize our financial markets, but we will also implement strict regulatory reforms and pass an economic recovery package that invests in our communities and puts Americans back to work. I grew up in a country that was there for my family in very hard times. When my father got sick and could no longer work while raising seven kids, there were Pell grants and student loans and food stamps when my family needed them. I will always remember that. That is why I will always work to make sure our country is there now for today's American families. I supported this rescue package today because we have to keep our country moving forward, and our incoming President deserves the support of Congress to make that happen. Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I first thank Senator Enzi for his accommodation to allow me to follow Senator Mikulski. I thank the Senator from Maryland. She has been tireless on this issue and a champion for women and their families for many years. I am very proud to be with her today as she leads the Senate and the country in restoring the credibility and confidence of women across this country to be able to get what they should be getting when they go to work every day. So I thank her for that. This Senate has a very proud history of working across the aisle to pass civil rights laws. Those historic laws ensure that all people in our Nation have equal rights regardless of their race, their religion, gender, or national origin. I am very proud that because of those laws, my daughter now has the right to work in the same job and achieve the same success as my son. But despite all of the years of progress, we have not eliminated unfairness in the workplace. I believe we should all fight long and hard whenever Americans are denied the ability to fight for their rights, and that is why I have come to the floor today to speak. With its May 2007 decision, Ledbetter v. Goodyear, the Supreme Court reversed years of progress in the fight for fairness in the workplace. Their decision made it almost impossible for workers who suffer discrimination to seek justice. It went against congressional intent, and it set us back 40 years in the fight for equal opportunity in the workplace. The decision was wrong, and we here in this body need to take action before it weakens our civil rights even further. So today as we begin this new Congress and a new administration, I am urging all of our colleagues to support the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to reverse Ledbetter v. Goodyear and ensure that our workers again have a fair shot at fighting discrimination. Before I describe the bill that is before us today, I want to say a few words about Lilly Ledbetter and her Supreme Court case. As the Senator from Maryland talked about, Lilly Ledbetter worked for Goodyear Tire for 19 years before she found out that her male counterparts were being paid more for doing the exact same work. So she sued, charging her employers with pay discrimination. But, as you know now, the Court sided with Goodyear. It was not because the Court thought she was wrong. They, in fact, agreed she had been discriminated against. But the Court said she did not have the right to sue. That is right, that is what the Court said. They said she should have sued within 180 days of her very first unfair paycheck, even though she did not know about it until many years later. It made that ruling despite the fact that courts around this country had for years assumed the opposite, that the clock starts ticking after any discriminatory act, including every time a worker is paid unfairly. Now, I think that sounds an awful lot like our Supreme Court is asking workers everywhere to be mind readers. It is unfair and it is not what Congress intended when we created that law in the first place. Lilly Ledbetter has, to her credit, not let that decision go without a fight. She has been a tireless champion for her rights, and I truly want to thank her for everything she has done to raise awareness about her case. The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act before us today would reverse the Court's unfair decision. It will allow workers to file a claim within 180 days of any discriminatory paycheck, and it would again allow workers to discover the facts and to challenge ongoing discrimination as Congress always intended. Purely and simply, it restores a worker's right to fight for her rights. I also want to take a little bit of time to talk about why it is so important that we ensure our workers have all of the tools necessary to fight for their rights. As I said earlier, what we are talking about today is not just a philosophical issue of rights and discrimination. The truth is that although we have made tremendous progress in civil rights, there is a lot of work to be done yet. The pay gap is only one example. Women still make less than men even though they are doing the exact same work. On average today, women earn only 77 cents for every dollar that is paid to their male coworkers. That pay gap, by the way, is even wider for African-American and Latino women. African-American women earn 67 cents on a dollar, and Latino women earn only 56 cents for every dollar a white man makes. Pay discrimination like that has real and harmful impacts on our families and for our Nation as a whole. It hurts an individual's ability to earn a living or to care for their children or to contribute fully to society. Yet it is so deeply ingrained in our society today that many jobs dominated by women pay less than jobs dominated by men even when the work they do is almost the same. That disparity hurts millions of families. In almost 10 million households today, mothers are the breadwinners. In many of those cases, those women are also supporting their parents and other extended family members and, in far too many of those households, women have to struggle to pay for rent or heat or food or gas, much less send those kids to college. Think of how much better off our families and our country would be if women were paid a wage equal to men, especially, of course, as we face this deepening economic crisis and all of our expenses are rising every day. If women and men made an equal wage, single working women would have 17 percent more income every year. Ensuring that they have a fair paycheck would cut their poverty rate in half. That is to the benefit of this entire country. There is one other issue I want to raise. Although the Ledbetter case involves gender discrimination, the decision applies to all discrimination: religion, race, age, disability, national origin. I think it is only fitting that in the days before we honor the life and the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. we are considering this issue today. The truth is, all the laws we pass guaranteeing rights have little meaning if Americans do not have the ability to challenge the discrimination in court. This case could set a terrible precedent. We run the risk that antidiscrimination laws will grow weaker, not stronger, if we do not act here in the Senate. So I urge our colleagues to support this bill to reverse this unfair decision and restore congressional intent and to ensure the Senate's history of protecting civil rights will not be eroded. I again thank my colleague from Maryland, Senator Mikulski, for her tremendous fight over so many years to make sure that women have equal access in the workplace.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today on behalf of many citizens of Washington State who are friends of the Senator from Alaska. On their behalf today, I say thank you for all of the work that you have done for your neighbor to the South. Obviously, everyone here has listed the many accomplishments of the senior Senator from Alaska in his many decades of service. We are a State that considers Alaska a neighbor. He has been an ally of ours many times over, and throughout his long service in serving his own State, has also helped the citizens I represent. I thank him for that today. I thank him for his years of service on the Appropriations Committee where I watched him as the Chair and ranking member, where though he may be a strong adversary, he also understood that everyone had a right to speak and had a right to offer arguments and respected that. I think that is truly a lesson all of us should remember. But I want to share a lesson that the Senator from Alaska also taught me that I think is important for this time as well. Several years ago I was privileged to join the Senator from Alaska and the Senator from Hawaii on a delegation trip to China where we met with officials across the country to talk about the important issues facing our country and China. Senator Inouye was called away, and I was left as the senior Democrat on the trip. We met with leaders from China across the table from us. Senator Stevens led many of these meetings but on several occasions turned to me to ask me to lead those. As we were leaving China, I thanked him for that respect he gave me in front of our delegation and in front of theirs. He said to me he thought it was important that the people of China see that even though we have two different parties here with very strong opinions we respect each other and out of that respect are able to lead this country facing the challenges we have in front of us. He used that as a lesson to China, but it was a lesson to me as well, that we do have two strong parties, but in the end we serve the people of America, and we do it by respecting each other. So I stand today and join my colleagues in thanking the Senator from Alaska for being the leader he has been here, for the work he has done, and wish him the very best in his future. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time for morning business be extended until 2 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Finance be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, at 10 a.m., in room 215 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to hear testimony on ``Health Care Reform: An Economic Perspective''.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Helping Families Save Their Homes: The Role of Bankruptcy Law'' on Wednesday, November 19, 2008, at 10 a.m., in room SH-216 of the Hart Senate Office Building.

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 November 19, 2008 at 10 a.m.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, next week Americans across our country are going to be celebrating Thanksgiving. It is a time that we reflect and give thanks for our families and friends and all that we have. But far too many of our families across my State and across this country have far less than they did just a year ago. They lost their homes, their cars, their health care, their 401(k)s, and their jobs. Just this month, we learned that this country has lost a total of 1.2 million jobs this year. Over half of that decrease came in the last 3 months alone. Across this country, people are hurting, and some of the hardest hit have been our veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Thousands of our veterans are still recovering from physical or psychological injuries that make it very hard for them to pay their bills or to find a job, and too many find themselves sliding quickly into bankruptcy or foreclosure. Yesterday, in fact, the New York Times reported that advocacy groups have seen a huge increase in the number of veterans asking for financial help over the last year. Americans made it very clear on election day that they want a new direction in this country. They want action that will help pull us out of this economic crisis. President-elect Obama has already announced that his first priority will be an economic recovery plan that invests in our country's infrastructure. As chair of the Appropriations Transportation and Housing Subcommittee, I stand ready to help with that. But, as the latest jobless reports show, we can't afford to wait even until January, when we have a new President, to start providing the help Americans need today. That is why I have come to the floor. We need to take action that will create jobs, diversify and modernize our economy, and help our families cope with this economic downturn. This week, Senator Byrd and our majority leader, Senator Reid, proposed an economic stimulus bill that would do just that. Their bill is targeted at the biggest needs in our country today. It will create more than 635,000 jobs by investing in infrastructure and green energy development, and it would help our most vulnerable citizens put food on the table and keep a roof over their heads. Congress can make a real difference for millions of families across our country. If there was a mandate given on November 4, it was for Government to work for the people once again. America's working families want a government that will turn our economy around and end this war, and they want true progress on health care and on education. That is our mandate. We have an awful lot of work to do, and we need a bipartisan effort to do it. But we cannot just sit around waiting until we have a new administration and a new Congress. Americans are hurting today. We have the ability in this Congress to come together across party lines and pass a bill that will put Americans back to work and stabilize our communities across this country. I wish to take a couple of minutes this morning to outline how that package will help get our country moving again and help those most in need. First of all, it is critically important that we help families who have already lost their jobs and are drawing unemployment today. Especially with employers cutting jobs each month, there are hundreds of thousands of Americans who need help for basic needs while they look for work. This package reaches out to those families by extending unemployment benefits by 7 weeks across the country and 13 weeks in States where the jobless rate is the highest. It also brings relief to communities, since every dollar of unemployment benefits generates $1.64 in additional economic activity. This helps everyone. This bill also provides help for the millions of families who are struggling today to find safe and secure housing. Across the country, public housing is badly in need of repair and improvement. This bill will allow communities to rehabilitate vacant public housing units, improve energy efficiency, and jump-start construction of new projects that will serve those tenants. It will also help address a growing problem in our community: renters who lost their homes because their landlords were foreclosed on. This bill will help protect these innocent victims of the foreclosure crisis and help them find immediate shelter and long-term housing. One reason we need this bill badly is because it offers help to those who need it most, those who have lost their jobs and homes who are struggling to find housing today. But this bill will also help our communities and jump-start our economy by creating more than 635,000 jobs, investing in new technology and repairing our infrastructure. For example, this package would make investments in highway and bridge construction in every single State--all 50 States--by providing $10 billion to help fund projects that are ready to go today. We know that for every $1 billion we spend on highways, we create more than 34,500 good jobs. So this package will create more than 345,000 jobs. Additionally, it is important to note there are no earmarks in this bill, no special projects as part of the highway funding in this bill. All highway dollars will be spent according to the formula that has been established for the Surface Transportation Program in our SAFETEA- LU highway bonds. States would have to put this money to work in 180 days. We also know that roads are not the only area where communities need transportation dollars. Cities across our country are struggling to repair and expand their bus and rail systems as demand for mass transit and public transportation is skyrocketing. So this bill will improve and expand mass-transit systems so that millions of commuters can get to work smoothly and on time. It will help repair and improve our Nation's airports. It will make needed investments in our Nation's ferry transportation system and modernize our Nation's shipyards to make them competitive and efficient. While creating these jobs will help get our economy going again, we also need to work to make sure our workers are prepared to compete for the jobs of the future. So this package does that by helping 160,000 dislocated workers and youth get education, training, counseling, and job assistance. This is particularly important for young people who are disengaged from school and for disadvantaged teenagers who are often hurt the most when our unemployment rates are high. It is critical that we enable these young people to get work experience now because if they lose out, they are less likely to move successfully into a career later. We know teens without jobs are more likely to turn to crime or join gangs which cost our communities millions in law enforcement and lost productivity. Not only will the programs this bill supports pay off as the economy picks up over time, they will help stimulate the economy in the short term too, because, you know, teens spend immediately all the money they make. So that will help everyone. This package also recognizes that we need to start investing in new and healthy industries that will help create new, good-paying jobs and help strengthen our economy for the long term. I think one of the most promising fields is green technology. That is why this package would invest almost $7 billion in research and development that would help us create new energy sources and improved energy efficiency. Not only is the research and development absolutely vital in order to create the technology and the new jobs that come with it, but research and development and clean technologies are critical if we are going to become energy independent. So these are parts of the package which I believe will be a shot in the arm, that will help our economy for many years to come. Before I finish today, I do want to address the provisions in this bill that would help the country's struggling auto industry. I want the auto industry to remain viable and continue to support the millions of jobs across this country which depend on its success. But I cannot support any more funds without concrete assurance the automakers have a strategy to restructure and become viable, competitive companies. The auto industries cannot continue to follow a failed business model and then come here and ask for help. I supported the $25 billion with strong restructuring language for the auto industry in the continuing resolution we passed a month ago. I will need to be convinced that adding funding will not only save jobs but the industry leaders will take seriously the issue of restructuring and work to reinvigorate an industry that continues to teeter on the brink of failure. I am also, I have to say, very concerned about the blame being laid at the feet of the hard-working men and women in this industry. The auto industry's current financial industry crisis is the result of many financial factors, not the result of the cost of employee health care and negotiated contract benefits upon which numerous working families and retirees depend. If the Federal Government, funded by working and taxpaying families, is expected to explore financial aid to ailing corporations, then I expect to hear about sacrifices industry management will make during these tough times. I am very hopeful we can do that. A month ago this Congress came together and passed a bill to help restore stability in our financial markets. Well, we need this bill to provide stability for our communities and for our working families at home. We need it to help the most vulnerable among us to keep food on their table and a roof over their head. We need it to help unemployed workers pay the bills while they start another job search. We need it so that we can create jobs, invest in our communities, and support new developments in sustainable and emerging industries. We can start solving this economic crisis now. We can provide our families with the help they need for the holidays and before this economic situation gets worse. I hope our colleagues will join together, work across party lines, pass this stimulus bill, and offer hope this year to millions of struggling families across this country. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I would like to agree with the points made by my colleagues. The timber tax provisions are critically important to Washington and other States that rely on timber jobs, and the provisions must be extended promptly. I have discussed this matter with the chairman of the Finance Committee, and he has assured me that he will work to extend the provisions early next year.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies, I rise with my ranking member, Senator Bond, as well as the bipartisan leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee, to address an important issue pertaining to the Federal Aviation Administration, FAA. That issue is the agency's plans to engage in the practice of auctioning off landing and takeoff slots at slot-controlled airports. Controversial aviation issues do not always garner immediate agreement on the part of all committee and subcommittee leaders in the Senate. They often trigger disagreements fueled by regional interests or differing views on the appropriate role of the Department of Transportation, DOT, in regulating the market. But in this instance, it should be noted that all four Senators with authorizing and appropriating responsibilities for the FAA are in agreement that the FAA's plans are illegal. We do not come to that conclusion lightly. Just yesterday, the committee received an authoritative legal opinion from the General Counsel of the Government Accountability Office, GAO, that reached that same conclusion. GAO's legal opinion should not come as a surprise to the FAA. Indeed, the FAA, as recently as 2 years ago, was of the same view as GAO and stated in the Federal Register that it did not have the authority to proceed with such slot auctions. More recently, however, the General Counsel at the DOT concocted what, in my view, is a new far-fetched legal argument for the purpose of evading the clear limitations imposed by the authorizing statute and appropriations law. The GAO reviewed the Department's new interpretations of the law and found that they don't hold water. Indeed, the GAO concluded that, if the FAA were to proceed with these auctions, the agency would be engaging in a blatant violation of the Antideficiency Act. This legal opinion matters not simply because it corroborates our collective bipartisan interpretation of the authorizing and appropriations laws. It matters because the GAO is statutorily charged with making determinations regarding violations of Appropriations law including the Antideficiency Act. One would think that this opinion would bring an end to this debate. Since we now know, in advance, how the GAO would rule on this question, one would expect the DOT to abandon its interpretation and cancel its planned auctioning of slots. To do otherwise would signal the agency's intention to proceed with a process that will almost certainly be found to be illegal. Unfortunately, we are getting indications that this is precisely what the Department intends to do--proceed with these slot auctions whether they are legal or not. I find the Secretary's plans to be both startling and disappointing. In my view, agency heads should not be launching into actions that are likely to be found to be illegal. And equally important, political appointees should not be forcing nonpolitical officials in their departments to participate in such acts. So, Mr. President, I, along with my colleagues, am taking the time of the Senate to implore Secretary Peters to review the GAO's findings and abandon the Department's plans. To do otherwise will just subject the taxpayers to the costs both of litigating this matter while holding a losing hand. The taxpayers will also have to foot the bill for financing the operation of this slot auction process. This represents an expense potentially in the millions of dollars. Those funds would be much better spent addressing the long list of critical safety improvements that must be made by the FAA.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I very much want to thank my colleagues for engaging in this discussion today. I ask unanimous consent to have the legal opinion sent to us by the GAO General Counsel printed in the Record.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator for clarifying that point. The SECTORS Act models itself after many successful industry sector partnerships in our home States of Washington and Ohio, and elsewhere, such as Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. I look forward to continuing to work with the Senator to develop innovative workforce policies and programs that help our workers and communities stay competitive in this knowledge-based, technology-advanced, global economy.

Mrs. MURRAY. I thank the Senator. I appreciate the Senator's work on skills-training issues, and I am proud to cosponsor his legislation entitled, ``Strengthening Employment Clusters to Organize Regional Success--SECTORS--Act.'' Partnerships organized by industry sectors are an effective strategy to connect workers with thriving industries such as health care, emerging and transitioning industries like the energy industry, and manufacturing, which are vital to both the Ohio and Washington State economies. The strategies of both Promoting Innovations to 21st Century Careers Act and SECTORS Act are effective because they bring together the key stakeholders, including business, labor organizations, education at various levels, workforce boards, economic development entities, and other community organizations.

Mrs. MURRAY

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

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, before I speak, I ask unanimous consent that following my remarks on the Democratic side, Senator Baucus be allowed to speak, and following Senator Baucus, Senator Byrd.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as all of us are aware, J.P. Morgan has agreed to buy Washington Mutual, which is based in my home State of Washington. I have been in touch with J.P. Morgan and with WaMu about their plans, and I have been assured that the transition will go smoothly and that Washington Mutual's banking customers will not see any interruption in service. And that is good news. It is, of course, still too early to know the impact of the failure of WaMu, the Nation's largest thrift, will have on local jobs, but it is further evidence to me that the economic crisis has spilled over into our communities. I am very saddened that it is having an impact on families and our economy, and yet it is another sign that we must find a bipartisan solution now. We are working together quickly to reach an agreement. We have rejected the President's $700 billion blank check because it did not ensure oversight or protection for our taxpayers. But Democrats and Republicans in the Senate are working with the House Democrats, the Treasury, and the Fed to come up with a solution that keeps this crisis from hitting more communities. We are hopeful that the House Republicans will come to the table and work with us on a solution that protects American taxpayers. As we do this, I firmly believe we must also offer the American people a hand and help get our economy going in communities across this country. We now have an opportunity today to help millions of struggling families who are grasping for a lifeline as this economy sustains blow after blow. Long before this economic crisis rippled across our financial system, middle-class families were already reeling under the impact of failed policies that were implemented by President Bush and backed by John McCain, and it is critical that we act now to help those families, those small businesses, State and local governments get back on their feet. The bill I am hoping we will vote on shortly will do just that. This bill brings security to seniors who are facing a stack of medical bills they cannot afford to pay and offers help to families who have seen the value of their homes drop below the amount they owe. It ensures that the most vulnerable Americans can continue to put food on their table and keep a roof over their heads. It creates jobs at a time when billions of workers have been laid off and billions more are worried that their job is going to be next. The Bush-McCain economic philosophy of ``hands off'' has done its damage. It is time that we now put the interests of the American people first again. This bill I hope we will vote on shortly will do just that. I wish to take a few minutes this morning to underscore the importance of what that bill will do. First of all, dropping home values and dwindling business revenues have put our State governments under extraordinary financial stress at a time when they can least afford it. As a result of the White House's failed policies, Republican and Democratic Governors across the country are now facing drastic cuts in services from health care to education to law enforcement, and they are looking and asking for relief from Washington. Already, State-supported health clinics and hospitals are closing, schools are pushing more and more students on fewer teachers, and fully trained police officers are being asked to hand in their badges because their departments can no longer afford to keep them on the beat. This bill will allocate about $20 billion to help our States continue to provide the services on which our citizens depend. Next, this package puts workers on the job immediately by providing $8 billion for highway projects in every one of our States. As chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, I have been watching with dismay as the construction sector of our economy has endured hundreds of thousands of layoffs over the last several months. Construction jobs play a critical role in our economy. They provide a living wage that enables those families to keep food on their tables. But the construction industry is now facing its highest unemployment rate in 13 years. A couple of months ago, an estimated 783,000 jobless laborers, carpenters, plumbers, pipefitters, and other tradesmen were looking for work wherever they could find it. With that in mind and watching that happen, I helped to work to craft a transportation and housing infrastructure package that is in this bill that addresses our most critical needs. It requires that we spend the money fast so that we will see an immediate impact on our economy in every one of our communities. Every State across this Nation has a highway, transit, or airport maintenance project that is ready to go to construction, but they lack the money to buy the rebar or purchase the timber or order the concrete or even pay the workers. This bill we will be considering will allow those projects to get up and running right now when we desperately need those jobs. This funding will create more than 278,000 family-wage jobs in a sector that has taken it on the chin over the last year, and it does it fairly and it does it responsibly. This bill requires those highway dollars be spent according to the formula that was established in our SAFETEA-LU highway law. There are no earmarks, no special projects. States have to use these dollars within 90 days. Now, all of us have heard about the increasing demand for public transportation as gas prices have gone through the roof. For example, Amtrak, our Nation's railroad, continues to set records now for its ridership. Well, the bill we are considering makes urgently needed investments in Amtrak and mass transit. It provides $2.35 billion in funding to improve and expand our bus and rail systems, including $350 million to repair railcars and make other necessary improvements to the Amtrak network. Most importantly, that will put another 70,000 Americans back to work. The bill also includes $400 million for capital projects at our Nation's airports and $44 million to modernize our Nation's shipyards to make them competitive and efficient. It provides money to ensure that Americans who rely on public housing will continue to have a roof over their heads. It will help address a growing problem in our communities--renters who have lost their homes because their landlords were foreclosed on. This bill includes $200 million to help those tenants find immediate shelter and long-term housing. It includes $250 million so our public housing authorities can rebuild those vacant units and fill those units with needy tenants. Finally, this bill will increase benefits for those jobless Americans who, at a time when unemployment is at the highest since 2003, need to know they can keep food on their tables. Our economy has bled jobs every single month this year. Hundreds of thousands of workers are wondering how they are going to pay their mortgages or pay for their food or their heat. The jobless rate now stands at 6.1 percent across the country, and it is worse in those States where manufacturing and auto industries have been faltering for years. This bill reaches out to those families by extending unemployment benefits by just 7 weeks across the country and 13 weeks in States where the jobless rate is the highest. And it invests in our workforce by helping those laid-off workers search for a new job or earn skills so they can go back into the job market and be competitive. It also helps our teenagers get job experience and helps them find long-term employment. I want our colleagues to know teenagers are among the hardest hit by the economic crisis today. Almost 20 percent of our teenagers are unable to find a job, and the number is even higher among minorities. So it is critical that we enable these young people to get work experience now. Because if they lose out, they are less likely to move into a career later. Teens without jobs are more likely, as we all know, to turn to crime or gangs in these difficult times, and that is going to cost our communities millions in law enforcement and lost productivity. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for 3 additional minutes.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, this bill helps support part-time jobs after school, paid internships, and community service jobs for older youth. Those programs will pay off in the long run. I have talked about a few of the programs in this package which I believe are a critical shot in the arm to help our economy, and it is not going to come a moment too soon. The economic crisis we are facing is a direct result of failed policies by this President, this administration, in the long run. We are hearing now we need to bail out Wall Street. Well, this package before us will help the average citizen across our country get the security they need as they face this troubling crisis. I urge my colleagues to work with us to get to a vote and send a message across the country that we in the Senate and the Congress stand behind them, the working families in this country. I yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I rise today to recognize Bill Gates, Sr.'s contributions to civic programs and initiatives that have changed the lives of many in our home State of Washington and across the country. On Friday September 26, 2008, the University of Washington will be holding an event to honor Bill Gates, Sr. and it is my pleasure to share my sincere gratitude to Bill Gates, Sr. for his extensive civic engagement and accomplishments. Bill Gates, Sr. has a long history of serving others. First as an Eagle Scout and later serving in the U.S. Army during World War II, Bill Gates, Sr. made a conscious choice to lead by example. Bill Gates, Sr. has dedicated his time and efforts to numerous organizations that strive to improve the lives of individuals and families across the Nation and world. His active leadership roles in organizations such as the United Way of King County and the United Way of America; local and national boards of Planned Parenthood; and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are just a few examples of his passion and commitment to helping others. As a fellow education advocate, I appreciate the work Bill Gates, Sr. has done to increase the ability of our youth to access and afford a quality education. Bill Gates, Sr. clearly understands the importance of education and he has worked on this issue from many angles: as a chair of a Seattle Public School Levy Campaign, a member of the Board of Regents for the University of Washington, and as cochair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Sr. is an integral part of decisions made about influential education initiatives. Recently, Bill Gates, Sr. chaired a $2 billion capital campaign for the University of Washington that included funding for the Husky Promise, which supports an endowment to help lower income students access higher education and attend the University of Washington. Bill Gates, Sr. has also worked to advance projects that provide support for individuals and families in need around the world. As chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, Sr. has helped launch initiatives that tackle major health and poverty issues for the developing world. The initiatives have focused on practical solutions that empower international communities and help save lives. I would like to thank Bill Gates, Sr. for both his past activities and his current pursuits to help create healthier and happier communities. I am sure Bill Gates, Sr. will continue to embrace the opportunities and challenges of tomorrow through his work with many charitable organizations, and I am pleased he is being honored for his years of dedication to helping others.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote.