Floor Statement of Senator Max Baucus (D-Mont.) Regarding the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act of 2010

(as prepared for delivery)

Mr. President, the Senate has returned to the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act.

I want to remind my colleagues that this bill is about jobs.  And this bill is about helping the 15 million Americans who have lost their jobs.

I want to remind my colleagues that we are talking about people who have worked, who want to work, and who will work again. These are our neighbors. And they need our help. 

The Labor Department just reported that, although things are getting better, there are still five unemployed Americans for every job opening available.  For comparison, throughout 2007, there were fewer than two unemployed workers for every job opening.

We need to do more to help create jobs.  And we need to continue to help those who do not have jobs, to get by.

And let me remind my colleagues that hundreds of thousands of unemployed Americans need the assistance in this bill, just to get by.  The Senate needs to pass this bill.  And we need to do so soon.

As I have noted, this bill is about jobs.  And this bill is about helping the 15 million Americans who have lost their jobs.

I want to remind my colleagues about that, because so far, aside from the substitute, none of the amendments offered is about jobs, or about helping the 15 million Americans who have lost their jobs.

Many of the pending amendments are worthy efforts.  But I encourage my colleagues to stick to the task, to address the subject at hand, and to pass this bill.

Right now, we have five amendments pending.

There are: this Senator’s amendment in the nature of a substitute, the Sessions amendment to cap appropriations, the Cardin amendment to provide for dependent coverage under the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program, the Franken amendment to create a Homeowner Advocate in the Home Affordable Modification Program and the Cornyn amendment for more reports on government debt.

The Majority Leader has requested that the Senate address the backlog of pending amendments before we allow more amendments to become pending.  And so I serve notice that, until we have voted on some of the pending amendments, I will be obliged to object to setting aside any of the pending amendments to allow further amendments to become pending.

Thus, we would like to line up some votes.  If possible, we would like to have votes at the noon hour, or at 2 p.m. 

We hope that we can make some progress on this important legislation today.  We hope that we can further this bill to create jobs.  And we hope that we can further this bill to help the 15 million Americans who have lost their jobs, in this Great Recession.

###

• Print
• Email
• Tweet