Senate Proceeding on Feb 13th, 2009 :: 0:05:40 to 0:47:29
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0:05:40 to 0:47:29( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: John McCain
Bill: H.R. 1: American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009

0:05:47 to 0:06:11( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: consent that further proceedings suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: mr. president, while the leaders are on the floor, i would like to mention i hope that we will continue to observe the one side speaking and then the other side that we've been going through in the last few day i think that a lot of people

0:06:12 to 0:06:33( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: have been able to voice their views on this very important issue before the senate, and i would also, again, reiterate that if my colleagues who would like to speak on this would call the cloakroom and to

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John McCain: also indicate how long they plan to speak, would be helpful in

0:06:42 to 0:07:01( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: helping us arriv a vote i note -- the presiding officer: would the senator suspend? under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to a period of transaction of morning business until 5:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak therein for up to ten minutes each and the time equally divided between the two leaders

0:07:02 to 0:07:24( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: or their designees. mr. mccain: mr. president, i object to the ten-minute time restraint. this is a very difficult issue. we're talking aut hundreds of billions of dollars of stimulus.

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John McCain: i would hope that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle would understand that more ten minutes may be required for

0:07:32 to 0:07:52( Edit History Discussion )

Richard Durbin: some statements. mr. durbin: would the senator yield? this is a very important matter, complex, and we are not limit the senator from arizona. we would like to have rough parity in terms of the time that's given to both sides of the aisle to explain this matter. but we're not going to limit or even try to limit under standing rules any speech by the

0:07:35 to 0:07:55( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Richard Durbin

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John McCain: other side. mr. mccain: i thank my friend.

0:07:57 to 0:08:17( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: i hope that the clerk would- i would ask that the clerk keep track of the timing on both sides as both sides talk so we can try to make sure that there is parity on timing throughout the day. obviously it will be dictated by a number of speakers that want speak on either side. but we should try to preserve

0:08:18 to 0:08:40( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: parity throughout the day. i thank the senator from illinois. mr. president? mr. durbin: senator mccain, i'm sorry to interrupt you again, but consent to thatffect, that we will divide the tim mr. mccain: i would agree with the senator from illinois, but i think it's pretty clear there's going to be more speakers on

0:08:41 to 0:09:05( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: this side than that side. i'd like to have our leader, republican leader, agree to that before i mr. durbin: i'm informed by the senate staff that already part of the agreement. mr. mccain: thank you. i thank the senator from illinois. mr. president, today the senate

0:09:08 to 0:09:29( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: will pass a 89 billion, .1 trillion with interest added in, and cost of these appropriations bills, count in the interest. it's the so-called stimulus bill, and it's under the guise of a bipartisan compromise.

0:09:30 to 0:09:50( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: let me reiterate, what i've so often stated during the past two weeks, the nation needs a stimulus bill. the nation expects the congress and president to act in a truly bipartisan manner to address this crisis. but, unfortunately, this measure is not bipartisan.

0:09:51 to 0:10:12( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: it contains much that is not stimulative, and is nothing short -- nothing short -- of generation times of great challenge, history tells us that our nation will work collectively to remedy the problems we face. working on this measure ther was that opportunity. republicans offered a good-faith alternative to the measure

0:10:13 to 0:10:33( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: that's before us. our alternative provided the american taxpayers with a stimulus bill devoid of pork-barrel projects, excessive spending and programs that fail to create jobs. our bill wasn't to simply advocate policies w otherwise pass. our bill in fact was a real

0:10:34 to 0:10:56( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: stimulus prosal. instead, partisan legislation was pushed sadly, when we could be unifying to assist hurting americans, we've exacerbated our differences and burdened our children and grandchildren with a have never been seen before. mr. president, before i go to

0:10:57 to 0:11:17( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: much further here, because the bill is 1,071 pages. we got it last night. i believe at that was the first moment that a copy was made available. it wasn't numbered correctly.

0:11:18 to 0:11:39( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: at 11:00 p.m., we received notification it had just become available on the house web site. now compare the process that we have been through with the web site that is from the campaign. the web site of the obama

0:11:40 to 0:12:00( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: campaign stated -- and i will quote here in a second -- that the web site -- i quote -- "mr. president -- this is a quote from the obama web site -- quote -- "in the practice of writing legislation behind

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John McCain: cled doors, as president barack obama will restore the american people's trust in their government by making government more open and transparent. obama will work to reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee markups and conference committees, to be conducted in

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John McCain: mr. president, what happened in the last few days, laws and sausages, is certainly a long way from the obama web site which said that "reform congressional rules to require all legislative sessions, including committee markups and conference committees, to be

0:12:43 to 0:13:05( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: conducted in public." all day yesterday the media reported, made different about the process that was going on, which, by the way, there was no republican leadership anywhere in the vicinity. so, i recognize that this will

0:13:06 to 0:13:26( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: be greeted as a victory for the administration and the democrats today. and i recognize that, and it is a victory. but kind of victory. i think that words which will haunt us for a lon period of time were uttered by the speaker of the house.

0:13:27 to 0:13:47( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: quote -- "we won. we write the bill. we write the bill." mr. president, i think on both sides of there was a commitment not to use those words -- "we won. we wrote the bill." that commitment was to sit down together in a bipartisan fashion

0:13:48 to 0:14:08( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and work together to come up with solutions to the enormous domestic and foreign policy and national security challenges we faced. and i understand who won. i think i understand it about as well as anybody in this body.

0:14:09 to 0:14:29( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: but -- and i also often said elections have consequences. this is one of the consequences of my side of the aisle losing. but it wasn't the promise that was made to the american people. now, i understand that on the other side of the aisle, and many in the media will say, well, republicansre recalcitrant.

0:14:30 to 0:14:51( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: republicans are trying to block it. republicans don't want anything. we had a provision. we had a proposal of over 20 billion. we had a proposal that got votes for a trigger that once our economy begins to recover

0:14:52 to 0:15:13( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and is in recovery, that this spending stops. one thing milton freedman said, among many others, that i've always appreciated, he said there is nhing so permanent as a temporary government program. mr. president, there's also nothing more permanent than a temporary government spending program.

0:15:14 to 0:15:36( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: so i think we had an opportunity here and, hopefully there will be opportunities in the future, to sit down, republican and democrat, together, and at the beginning, not at if you're not in on takeoff, then you're certainly not going to be in on the landing.

0:15:37 to 0:15:57( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and this bill took off with the speaker of the house saying, we won, we write the bill. and that was repeated on several occasions by the president of the united states. now, i want to say again, mr. president, my side of the for eight years did not include

0:15:58 to 0:16:18( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: the other side of the aisle. we were guilty. we were guilty of not observing the -- the rights and privileges of the minority party. and i rationalize it.

0:16:19 to 0:16:39( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: but i do believe that one -- some members did work in a bipartisan fashion and the times are different. the times are different. the american people spoke. so yesterday, not the republican leadership, not the majority of

0:16:40 to 0:17:00( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: my colleagues, sat by while the bill was finally written. and that's why final legislation here will have three votes probably out of all t republicans in the united states house of representatives and united states senate.

0:17:01 to 0:17:23( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: it may pick up a couple in the house. but to call this bipartisan is clearly a -- an inaccurate and false description of the legislation that will pass some time this evening. so we passed up an opportunity. i hope we will in future, since there will be tarp 3, somewhere

0:17:24 to 0:17:45( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: -- some some estimates, trillion. no one knows. the secretary of the tasury testified yesterday before the united states senate said he had no idea. he could give us no clue as to how much the next tarp is going to be. but i hope that would then present us with another opportunity to work together

0:17:46 to 0:18:07( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: from the beginning not at the end. again, i -- this side of the aisle is not blameless on partisanship but this was an opportunity for all of us to join together. "u.s.a. today" stated in an editorial -- quote -- "it seems

0:18:08 to 0:18:28( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: more like partisan positioning than a sincere effort to reach a compromise with the white house at a time of severe economic distress." i can't speak for all of my colleagues, but i speak for the majority of them. that's a false statement. that's a false statement. nothing could be further frer the truth. every senator here wants a

0:18:29 to 0:18:49( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: reasonable, workable stimulus bill that will help turn our economy around and put people to work. that's why 40 republican senators voted for alternative that sought to fix our housing crisis. and, rember, it was housing first and it is housing that is going to restore our economy. the stimulus package has not a

0:18:50 to 0:18:56( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: lot of it to start with and comes out of the -- quote --

0:18:57 to 0:19:18( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: "conference" with less. invest in our nation's infrastructure and restrained money back immediately in the hands of all americans through a payroll tax holiday, allow businesses to coop more of their profits to hire new employees, invest in capital or expand their businesses, finally begin

0:19:19 to 0:19:39( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: focusing our attention on entitlement reform halt to the spending once our economy turns around. and the total cost of the alternative proposal half the cost of report. there is a couple of cautionary tales. one was a study by john taylor of stanford and hoover institution that showed that the

0:19:40 to 0:20:01( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: last time we gave americans a paycheck, and that's the -- one of the big starts of this stimulus package, checks of 00 to 00, it had no effect on the economy. i think it's also a cautionary tale as to what the japanese did over the last decade and i'm afraid that some of this

0:20:02 to 0:20:24( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: stimulus package repeats that. we missed an enormous opportunity to reign in -- rein excessive spending despite the effort of 44 senators to get our fiscal house in the money returned to the taxpayer upon two consecutive

0:20:25 to 0:20:49( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: quarters of economic growth. now, mr. president, we have seen time after time stimulus packages at other times when we financial difficulty not to the degree of this one, but much of th spending has taken place after the economy recovered and contributed enormously to the

0:20:50 to 0:21:12( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: deficit and burdens on future generations of americans. why would we not agree that once the economy is recovered that we should proceed on a path to a balanced budget and stop some of these spending programs that are going to be adopted tonight in the way why wo

0:21:13 to 0:21:35( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: why wouldn't we bring them to a op? could it be -- could it be that some want these spending programs to be permanent? and i repeat, again, militariton frredman said that there is nothing so permanent as a temporary government program and i'm sure we will see many of these programs in the stimulus

0:21:36 to 0:21:57( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: live a long, long life. mr. "washington post" op-ed entitled "00 billion mistake," an economics professor at harvard wrote, and i quote -- "a fiscal package now before congress needs to be thoroughly revised

0:21:58 to 0:22:19( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: in its current form it does too little to raise national spending an employment. it would be better for the senate to delay legislation for a month or even two if that's what it takes to produce a much better bill. we cannot make 00 billion mistake." obviously it is a .1 trillion mistake.

0:22:20 to 0:22:40( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: mr. president, we can't make that mistake. by passing this conference report, we are essentially engaging in an act of generational theft. how can anyone ignore the cold, hard facts. the current national deb is 0.7 trillion.

0:22:41 to 0:23:02( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: the 2009 projected deficit is .2 trillion. the cost is .124 trillion. that's 89 billion plus interest. the expected omnibus spending bill to fund the federal government through september 30th of 2009 is 00 billion.

0:23:03 to 0:23:24( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: the expected war supplemental request for the wars in iraq and afghanistan, the armed forces staff committee project projects 0 billion. the unaccounted is untold billions.

0:23:25 to 0:23:46( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: tarp 1 and tarp 2 is 00 billion. tarp 3 of .5 trillion. these numbers are staggering. these numbers are staggering. we have never dealt with numbers. not in the great depression, not in any other era time of our country.

0:23:47 to 0:24:07( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: every dollar of the extenting in -- spe report will be added to our national debt which now stands, as i said, at 0.2 trillion or 70% of g.d.p. according to the center for data analysis. if congress boreos the funds for its economic -- borrows the funds for the economic stimulus

0:24:08 to 0:24:31( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: package, which, of course, it will do, the total debt could grow to 3 trillion in fiscal year 2009 or 92% of our gross domestic product. by 2010, total debt could grow to 4 trillion or 95% of our g.d.p. and the center further finds that the stimulus package

0:24:32 to 0:24:53( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: will add about 0,000 in new federal debt per american household. remarkably while we're on the debt -- on the brink of saddling our children, grandchildren, and great grandch enormous debt load, the conference repor before us does little to address the core issue

0:24:54 to 0:25:14( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: that brought us to the point of needing a stimulus bill in the first place and that's the housing crisis. and i would remind my colleagues that history shows us that if you run up enough debt the answer to it is to print more money, which the -- debases the currency and leads to inflation

0:25:15 to 0:25:36( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: which is greatest enemy of the middle class in america. i see my colleague from new york on the floor who is going to talk on many things, but including the terrible tragedy that's taking place in the crash of that airliner in new york. but i also on the floor strongly disagree with his comnt that the

0:25:37 to 0:26:00( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: american people don't care about little porky projects. americans re -- i can only speak for arizona who have flood my office with calls. they care about little, porky projects that are to the tune of millions of the tax dollars. just yesterday the natiol association of realtors reported

0:26:01 to 0:26:22( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: the largest drop in home prices 12.4% since the association started gathering such data in 1979. prices declined in almost out of every 10 cities. despite the fact that this extremely sobering statist released yesterday, this bill cuts almost half, the only

0:26:23 to 0:26:43( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: significant housing provision in the conference report. this provision written by senator isakson, a former real estate agent and approved by all republican and democrat senators, would have allowed any homeowner to take a nonrepayable tax credit of 5,000 or 10% of the purchase price of a house

0:26:44 to 0:27:04( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: used as a principal residence. senator isakson argued that such a generous tax credit would help the market recover swiftly as a real estate agent during the economic crisis of the 1970's, he saw a tax credit spur the sale of many homes would would allow home values to stablize. the housing inventory to drop

0:27:05 to 0:27:26( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and the market recover. we could have achieved a similar result here, i believe. but instead it was cut -- the only housing provision in this report, roundly supported by both, by republicans, democrats and millions of home buyers. they decided to cut the tax

0:27:27 to 0:27:47( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: break to ,000 and limit it to only first-time buyers. many believe this will not produce any real change to our sagging housing market. congressional budget office has estimated that the stimulus bill would create anywhere from .3 million to --

0:27:48 to 0:28:10( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: 1.3 million to 3.9 million jobs at 89 billion, 1.3 million jobs would work out to cos cost 20,902 for the jobs. and for 2.9 it would be 02,308 for each job. if you add the cost of interest

0:28:11 to 0:28:32( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: to to trillion. every economist estimates -- every economic estimate that i have seen lately falls within the cattery of 1.3 to 3.9 million jobs. the administrationays it could be four or more. in a new letter from c.b.o.

0:28:33 to 0:28:55( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: dated february 11th, providing a year-by year analysis of the economic effects of pending stimulus legislation, c.b.o. find and i quote -- "beyond 2004 the legislation is estimated to reduce g.d.p. by between zero and 0.2%.

0:28:56 to 0:29:16( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: the reduction in g.d.p. is therefore estimated to be reflected in lower wages rather than lower employment. the increased debt would tend to reduce the private capital it would crowd out the -- it would crowd out private investment.

0:29:17 to 0:29:37( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: workers would be less productiv because the capital stock is smaller, the legislation's long-run input -- output would depend on whether it permanently changed incentives to work or save. the legislation would not have any significant, permanent effects on those incentives." now, mr. president, i -- i know

0:29:38 to 0:30:00( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: that my colleagues are going to say that we are going to do other things, and we need to do her things, reform entitlements. we should have in this legislation put ourselves on a path to entitlement reform by setting up commissions for both social security and medicare reforms. but we didn't.

0:30:01 to 0:30:21( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: it's just as we should have had a trigger to stop spending and put us on a path to a balanced budget once our economy recovers. it's unfortunate that even if these members of congress couldn't resist the temptation to lard up this bill with billions of dollars in unnecessary spending that will do nothing to

0:30:22 to 0:30:43( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: stimulate the economy. and what makes this most disturbing, that in order to include these questionable provisions in the final measure, conferees cut some of the few truly important spending provisions that had been included in the house and senate bills. for example, i don't understand how on the one hand the

0:30:44 to 0:31:06( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: conferees can cut close to billion from the senate bill for department of defense and veterans hospital and medical facilities and on the other hand add funding above either house or senate-passed bills for state department information t-pblg upgrades -- information

0:31:07 to 0:31:28( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: technology upgrades totaling 09 billion. information technology may be worthwhile but i'm dumb fonded for adding -- dumbfounded about cutting for veterans. certainly v.a. hospital and

0:31:29 to 0:31:49( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: medical facilities are badly need as we found out in scandal of walter reed. just as egregious, the conference report provides billion for prevention and wellness programs that were previously struck by the senate and reported to be for smoking

0:31:50 to 0:32:11( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: cessation programs and s.t.d. prevention. why is this added back in, even thou it may be worthy, at the expense of our military members' families and veterans whose funding was cut? in fact, the conference report provides more funding for grants to provide high-speed internet to americans, .2 billion, than

0:32:12 to 0:32:32( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: it does for military and v.a. and veterans affairs construction. again, at the expense of our nation's bravest and most worthy, the conference report falls short in aressing the needs of our military and veterans who have given so much in support of this country and our democratic values.

0:32:33 to 0:32:54( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and, again, these are not tiny -- yes, porky -- amendments. and the american people do care that we're talking about it. if the american people don't really care,han on behalf of the american people, we should take out these little, tiny, porky items that will provide questionable stimulative effects. mr. president, i have a

0:32:55 to 0:33:16( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: list i would ask to be made part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: among these are -- and we are 00 million to consolidate the d.h.s. headquarters in washington, d.c. 5 million for historic preservation grants for historically black colleges and universities.

0:33:17 to 0:33:38( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: 5 milli for the smithsonian. 0 million for the national .55 billion for the federal buildings fund, including 50 million for federal housing and -- the 00 million for new energy-efficient vehicles for the federal government.

0:33:39 to 0:33:59( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: 00 million for grants to small shipyards. .2 billion to accelerate broadband deployment in unserved and underserved areas and to strategic institutions. by the way, certainly the president and the chair knows within the next year or two .2

0:34:00 to 0:34:06( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: billion or anything accelerate broadband deployment just because of the nature of the challenge.

0:34:07 to 0:34:28( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: 0 million to upgrade the computer system at the farm service agency. 0 million for aqua cultural producers. 00 million in grants for diesel emission reduction program. 0 million to build biomass plants. 50

0:34:29 to 0:34:49( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and volcano monitoring systems. 00 million to repair leaking underground storage tanks under the leaking underground storage tank trust fund. billion for the bureau of the census. and, by the way, mr. president, we're going to be talking more about this issue. we can't have the census taken from the department of commerce and put in the white

0:34:50 to 0:35:11( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: we can't politicize the process of the system. we'll be talking more about that later on. 30 million research and facilities at the national oceanic and atmospheric administration. you can make arguments for all of these spending programs as worthwhile.

0:35:12 to 0:35:34( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: you cannot make arguments that they stimulate the economy in a short period of time. 50 million for aeronautics at nasa. .5 billion for the national science foundation of which 00 million is for the major research instrumentation program and 00 million for

0:35:35 to 0:35:56( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: research facilities modern ization. 75 million for mississippi river and tributaries. 0 million for program direction funding in the fossil energy research and development.

0:35:57 to 0:36:19( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: .6 billion for d.o.e. science program. .25 billion to install new windows and furnaces of h.u.d. homes. billion for high-speed rail. and, by the way, mr. president. high-speed rail program interesting, because it started out at

0:36:20 to 0:36:43( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: been raised to billion. a remarkable increase in funding when you think about it. there are media reports that state that this could possibly be angeles high-speed rail.

0:36:44 to 0:37:06( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: so, the list goes on and on. and, mr. president, the fact is that there are also policy provisions, buy america provisions. the conference report still includes are the protectionist provisions that will damage the ability of u.s. corporations to

0:37:07 to 0:37:27( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: export and create jobs at home. if passage of this bill triggers retaliatory trade action by foreign countries against the united states, congress will have seeded in deepening one of the worst recessions of our time. mr. president, there is an article in this week's "economist" magazine entitled

0:37:28 to 0:37:49( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: "the return of economic nationalism: the specter is rising to bury it again. barack obama needs to take the lead." it goes on and talks about the provision, the buy america provisions, and at the end it states "once again, the task of saving the world economy falls to america. mr. obama must show that he is ready for it.

0:37:50 to 0:37:50( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: if he is, he should kill any buy

0:37:51 to 0:38:13( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: america provisions. if he isn't, america and the> rest of the world are in deep trouble." mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the article from the printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: of course we know about davis-bacon, that will inflate the construction costs of this bill by 7 billion.

0:38:14 to 0:38:34( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: section 604 requires that only domestic apparel and textile products may be procured by the department of homeland security, unless the secretary of determines that the quality and quantity cannot be procured in the u.s. at market prices, whatever market prices means. a provision which states that

0:38:35 to 0:38:57( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: within 45 days after enactment, the governor of each state shall certify that they will request and use taxpayer funds provided in the bill. it goes on to say that if any of the money provided by this bill is not accepted by the government -- by the governor, then that state's legislature

0:38:58 to 0:39:18( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: can simply pass a resolution to bypass the governor and receive those funds. i have to say, mr. president, i have never seen a pvision like that ever in the united states congress. i want to repeat it again that if the governor of the state says that his state

0:39:19 to 0:39:39( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: doesn't need the money and use it, then the state's legislature can simply pass a resolution to bypass the elected governor the state and receive the funds. what does that say about the states' ri electing their governor to be -- to leadhose states? it's remarkable.

0:39:40 to 0:40:00( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: it's remarkable. so, every governor in america be on notice that we may have established a precedent you don't like -- if you don't want to take the taxpayers money, then you can be bypassed by your legislatu. i think it's unconstitutional and should be challenged in court.

0:40:01 to 0:40:21( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: it adds a new far-reaching policy with respect to unemployment compensation entitled "unemployment compensation modernization." interesting description. the new policy would allow a person to collect unemployment insurance for leaving his job to care for an immediate family member's illness, any illness or

0:40:22 to 0:40:42( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: disability as defined by the secretary of labor. this provision stems from legislation introduced in the senate during the 110th congress that was not approved. each state would need to amend their unemployment insurance in order to receive a portion of the billion added to this bill for this additional

0:40:43 to 0:41:03( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: unemployment compensation program. provides a total waiver of cost-sharing related to inland waterways projects. 50% of the cost is supposed to be carried by private companies that utilize the waterways. the report establishes the federal coordinating council for comparative effectiveness research.

0:41:04 to 0:41:24( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: the bill text does not use the term clinical when referring to comparative effectiveness research, leading to the possibility that the bill does not protect against the researc being used to make coverage decisions based on cost effectiveness rather than clinical effectiveness. it includes the health information technology for

0:41:25 to 0:41:48( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: economic and clinical health act. a massive overhaul of our health i.t. infrastructure that deserves more consideration. as i said, it's 1,071 pages, and it's a -- and 41-page statement

0:41:54 to 0:42:15( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: of the managers, a total of 1, 1,492 pages, negotiated behind closed doors contradiction to president obama's commitments during the campaign. and i understand that his spokesman yesterday was -- quote -- "an emergency." well, it may have been an

0:42:16 to 0:42:38( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: emergency, but that was not mentioned during the commitments made by then-candidate obama. the amtrak -- among other things, by the way, i might mention -- i won't talk about all of them. the conference report contains 50 million for amtrak security grants through the department of transportation t. wasn't in the

0:42:39 to 0:43:03( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: house bill, wasn't in the senate bill. and it duplicates a program that already exists. mr. president, i would urge my colleagues when they have a few spare moments to look at the history of amtrak, a railroad that was taken over by the federal government with the intent to turn over to the private sector on a short piod of time, and we have propped it up with billions and billions

0:43:04 to 0:43:27( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: and billions of taxpayers' dollars and funding roots that will never become profitable. the provision recreates the slush fund that was unanimously rejected by house and senate. the slush fund allows agency heads to move money around programs as they see fit without any real oversight by congress.

0:43:28 to 0:43:49( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: i mentioned the high-speed rail. spending apparen would like to point it's billion. the senate included for these programs, house in the conference now, we've added billion. i mentioned earlier that the veterans and military

0:43:50 to 0:44:11( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: construction spending has been cut by over billion below both the house and senate bills. and, of report, among many others, contains 0 million for n.e.a., a worthy -- a worthwhile, a worthwhile endeavor, but i don't

0:44:12 to 0:44:32( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: see how you can make the argument that it would create jobs. now, the commitment was that the spending would be done quickly. the conference agreement drops provisions that requires all funds in the bill to be rewarded -- awarded within 30 to 120 days of enactment.

0:44:33 to 0:44:54( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: instead the report allows numerous programs to have three years or more to actually tkpweupbl spending the funding -- to actually tkpweupbl spending the funding. i know many of my colleagues, including the senator from illinois is here. and i don't want to

0:44:55 to 0:45:17( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: much time from any of my colleagues that want to discuss this bill. mr. president, i want to mention there's billion for neighborhood stabilization program which could go to for groups like acorn. i don't -- you can make arguments whether acorn should be funded or not. i don't see how that possibly

0:45:18 to 0:45:38( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: creates jobs. so, mr. president, i ask that my entire statement be made part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: i thank you, mr. president. and i understand that this bill will be p i hope that the next time,be

0:45:39 to 0:46:01( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: with tarp, because they're -- there are going to be other issues of enormous consequence that the congress and the president of the united states will face in the coming weeks and months. i don't believe that things are going to get better in the world real soon. we see activities around the world from the behavior of the russians to iranian testing of a

0:46:02 to 0:46:23( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: missile to renewed aggressive rhetoric by north korea to others including developing a strategy for afghanistan. but there's also enormous economic challenges here at home. the american people would like us and the message they've sent us, they want to sit down and work together.

0:46:24 to 0:46:45( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: as i said, this bill began with a statement by the speaker of the house, we won, we write the bill. we need to sit down together before the bill is written, outline the principles, turns those principles into concrete legislation and work together and i hope we

0:46:46 to 0:47:06( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: never again have a repetition of a bill with such enormous consequence that would pass through both bodies with literally no republican support, three senators out house and 40 here in the united states senate. that's not bipartisanship.

0:47:07 to 0:47:29( Edit History Discussion )

John McCain: i hope -- i think we passed up an opportunity this time. i hope the american people will respond again by sending u the message. they want us to address the economic woes we face, but they want us to a togeth. this legislation in my view, is