Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. Finally, Mr. President, I have a cloture motion on the bill which is at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Landrieu, I have a substitute amendment at the desk I wish to have reported.

Mr. REID. On that, Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I now have a first-degree perfecting amendment which is also at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that.

Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have an amendment at the desk to the language proposed to be stricken.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays on that amendment.

Mr. REID. I have a second-degree amendment at the desk.

Mr. REID. I have a motion to commit the bill with instructions. The clerk has that.

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum requirement under rule XXII be waived for the cloture motions just filed.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, what is the matter now before the Senate?

Mr. REID. Madam President, the next hour will be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. The Republicans will control the first half, the majority will control the final half. We are hopeful we will be able to agree to the motion to proceed to S. 2237, the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act, today. Measure Placed on the Calendar--S. 3369

Mr. REID. Madam President, I am told that S. 3369 is at the desk and due for a second reading.

Mr. REID. I object to any further proceedings with respect to this bill at this time.

Mr. REID. Madam President, over the last few years Americans who are very wealthy have taken home a greater share of the Nation's income since the 1920s. That is 90 years. A larger percentage of what is out there the rich are getting. The rich are getting richer and the poor are being squeezed, as are the middle class. The rich are doing well. But while the bank accounts of a few fortunate Americans have grown, their tax bills have not. The wealthiest Americans now pay the lowest tax rates in more than 50 years. While this generous Tax Code has been good for their bottom lines, it hasn't been good for America's bottom line. Hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts--some say more than $1 trillion--have been handed out disproportionately to the rich by the previous administration, fueling skyrocketing deficits and a growing national debt. Democrats and Republicans alike agree that we have to reduce the deficit and rein in the debt. Unfortunately, the same Republicans who say we have to get our fiscal house in order also claim millionaires and billionaires cannot afford to contribute even a tiny bit more and share the effort that is before this country. These same Republicans say multimillionaires such as Mitt Romney need lower taxes--even lower than the only tax return we have been able to see of Governor Romney, which showed his rate at 16 percent. We don't know what is in the other tax returns he should have made public. Tax returns were made public by his father, who started it, and everyone who has run for President since then has followed him. George Romney set an example that his son should follow. We want to know what is in those tax returns he refuses to show the American public. Did he pay any taxes? Well, I suggest to everybody that Mitt Romney doesn't need another tax break. In fact, he has so much money that he doesn't even know where it is all located--Switzerland, Cayman Islands, Bermuda? No wonder he doesn't want America to see his tax returns. Mitt Romney is doing fine, and so are the other millionaires and billionaires. It is the middle class I am worried about, not the very wealthy. We all know times have been tough the last few years for ordinary Americans who are struggling to keep a roof over their head and food on the table. That is the literal truth. The last thing they can afford now is a tax increase. That is why Democrats want to keep taxes low for 98 percent of Americans, including almost 98 percent of small businesses--everyone making less than $250,000 a year. But while Democrats are focused on how we can help 98 percent of Americans, Republicans are focused on how they can help Mitt Romney and the rest of the top 2 percent. They are willing to hold tax cuts for everyone hostage to protect tax breaks for that top 2 percent. Democrats don't agree the top 2 percent of wage earners can't afford to pay the same tax rate they paid when Bill Clinton was President. Remember, that was when the budget was balanced and we were paying down the debt. Some claimed they were paying down the debt too quickly. The years of the Bush administration took care of that, when the $7 trillion surplus over 10 years was wiped out. Still we are willing to debate that with our Republican colleagues, and we are willing to discuss it reasonably. But we don't believe middle-class families should wait and wonder, watch and worry whether their taxes are about to go up while Congress has that conversation. We should not wait until the last second to act. Here is what one major newspaper wrote yesterday about the need to act: The majority of Americans, and the broader economy, should not be held hostage again to another debate over the merits of tax cuts for the wealthy. . . . There will never be consensus for solving our nation's budget problems without first ending the lavish tax breaks at the top. I call on my Republican colleagues to help us give 98 percent of American families the certainty and the security they need, and to do it now, right away. I call on them to help us pass a tax cut that will benefit the middle class without bankrupting our Nation. It is time we faced facts. If we are serious about reducing the deficit, we cannot keep handing out more tax breaks to the richest of the rich. We will have to make difficult decisions about where to cut and invest to keep our Nation strong. But whether we keep taxes low for middle-class families should not be one of the difficult decisions we make. I haven't heard one person-- Democrat, Republican, or Independent--say we should raise taxes on middle-class families. This is an area where we can easily find common ground. So what is stopping us from doing what is right and doing it now? I hope it won't be more Republican hostage-taking on behalf of the top 2 percent. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. REID. Madam President, reserving the right to object, we have been here before. We try to legislate here, and the program of the Republicans in the Senate has been to divert, deny, and obstruct. I asked the Chair when we started what we were doing here, and we are on a small business jobs bill. It is extremely important legislation. It would give small businesses across America--small businesses with less than 500 employees--and that is where most jobs are created--a 10- percent tax credit for hiring more people, and it would also give them the ability, this year, to purchase equipment and write that off. It would be great for the economy. We are told by outside experts that it would create about a million jobs. What we have before us is something that the Republicans in the House have sent us. It is their version of this. It is the ``help Paris Hilton'' legislation. It would give people like her a tax break for doing nothing--$46 billion of the American people's money to help Paris Hilton and others. It would give people a tax break for doing nothing-- nothing. And for my friend the Republican leader to talk about small businesses being hurt with the proposal of the President--that is not true. As I said in my opening statement, 98 percent of the American people would have the benefit of that tax benefit, and 97\1/2\ percent of small businesses would benefit. So we are in the situation where my friend talks about the fact that we have not had enough job creation, and I acknowledge that. Certainly that is true, and the President acknowledges that. But you see, we have kind of a hole to pull ourselves out of. During the prior 8 years, 8 million-plus jobs were lost, and we have filled that hole more than halfway, with 4\1/2\ million new jobs being created. We have had 28 months of private sector job growth--28 months in a row. So we are making progress, but we have a long way to go. Madam President, I object.

Mr. REID. Madam President, the American people are seeing again-- again and again and again--the scores of times during the last 18 months that we have engaged in a filibuster. As I said earlier, it is a way to divert attention from what we are doing today--to obstruct. As is indicated in the Oxford English Dictionary, a filibuster is an act which obstructs progress in a legislative assembly; to practice obstruction. That is what is going on today. Now, why shouldn't we pass this bill that is before the body today? It would create 1 million jobs and give small businesses--not Paris Hilton but small businesses--across America today a tax credit for hiring more people and allow them to write off what they purchase, which would create more jobs. So we have here a big Las Vegas neon sign flashing on and off saying: Grover Norquist has won again. To the people out there watching who might be wondering who Grover Norquist is, remember, he is this guy who goes to the Republicans and asks if they would be kind enough to sign a pledge for him that does what he wants them to do and not what the American people want, which is that they will not tax the rich at all, not even a tiny bit. He says: Sign this pledge, will you? Of course they all sign. But the American people--Democrats, Independents, and Republicans--agree that the richest of the rich should pay a little bit more. But we are now involved in a filibuster to divert attention away from an important piece of legislation. Let's pass this legislation. We will have this tax debate. We will be happy to do that, but let's get this done first. As most people know, I appreciate my friend the Republican leader. I know he has a job to do. But let's get away from this pledge, and let's start legislating and not have to break filibusters on virtually everything we do.

Mr. REID. Madam President, when I came here this morning--I repeat for the third time--I asked what the business was before this body. It is the small business jobs bill. Of course, there has been a direct attack on that legislation by saying: Let's do something else. Let's not do this right now. Let's do something else. I understand the definition of a filibuster. I understand it very clearly--from the Dutch, a ``free booter,'' one of a class of piratical adventurers who pillaged the Spanish colonies in the West Indies during the 17th century; one who engages in unauthorized and irregular warfare against a foreign state. They go on to say, in the United States, to obstruct progress in a legislative assembly; to practice obstructionism. Yes, they are trying to, as the ``free booters'' here, steal legislation and move to something else. They will do anything they can, as my friend the Republican leader said at the beginning of this Congress, to divert attention from the fact that President Obama should be reelected. Madam President, I will end this debate soon. There will be other times to do this. But if Governor Romney came before this body to be a Cabinet officer, he couldn't get approved. He won't show anybody his income tax returns. So if he doesn't qualify to be a Cabinet officer, how could he qualify to be President? So let's debate the issues before us. We will get to the tax issues, and that way we will be able to talk in more detail about Governor Romney's taxes. But right now, before this body is the small business jobs bill. Reservation of Leader Time

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that all remaining time postcloture be yielded back and the Senate adopt the motion to proceed to S. 2237.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 442, S. 3364.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

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