Senate Proceeding on Apr 29th, 2009 :: 1:21:35 to 2:00:05
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1:21:21 to 1:21:41( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: quorum call: mr. conrad: ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: i further ask that all time under morning business be yielded back. the pr time is yielded back. mr. conrad: mr. president, the senate will now begin consideration of the conference -- the presiding officer: morning business is closed. under the previous order, the

1:21:35 to 2:00:05( Edit History Discussion )
Speech By: Kent Conrad

1:21:42 to 1:22:02( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: senate will begin the debate of the conference report to accompany senate resolution 13. the senator mr. conrad: i thank the presiding officer, and i also want to recognize the excellent first speech that the senator from colorado just gave.

1:22:03 to 1:22:23( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: i had a chance to hear part of it here on the floor and part of it in the welcome you here, and if your first speech is any measure, you're going to make a significant contribution here. so we're somebody of your thoughtfulness and quality as part of this body.

1:22:24 to 1:22:44( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: mr. president, the senate will now begin consideration of the conference agreeme budget for 2010. budget in its context. we have administration has inherited

1:22:45 to 1:23:06( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: from the previous administration,nd to be clear, it is a colossal the worst recession since the great depression, a doubling debt under the administration and a more than tripling of foreign holdings of u.s. debt. you know, i try to suppress

1:23:07 to 1:23:27( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: partisanship in my discussions on the floor, but it is impossib to overlook the record of the previous administration. they have slammed this economy into and president obama is put in the position of the cleanup crew. and it's not pretty, and it's not easy, and it's going to be a

1:23:28 to 1:23:49( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: difficult challenge for this country to stew that's impossible to choke down. let me just be clear of my own view of how we got here. i believe we had an overly loose monetary policy under the control of

1:23:50 to 1:24:10( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: ever an overly loose fiscal policy under the control of the white record deficits, massive buildup of debt. when the strong and right before the baby-boom generation started to retire. remarkable.

1:24:11 to 1:24:31( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: if you look in history, it's rare to have at the same time an overly loose monetary policy, interest rates -- real rates about 1% when inflation is factored in, congress and the white house running an loose fiscal policy with record deficits, even at a time of

1:24:32 to 1:24:54( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: relative economic strength, on top of that a dysfunctional trade policy with record trade deficits, which meant we were shipping hundreds of billions of dollars to other countries to buy their what weere selling, and on top of it environment, administratively and in terms of the laws of this

1:24:55 to 1:25:15( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: country that allowed things the a.i.g. derivative fiasco to develop completely oversight. those elements created the seedbed for bubbles to form, and so w bubble, bubble.

1:25:16 to 1:25:36( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: wheat prices went to nearly $20 a bushel. we got an energy bubble. oil p historically, we see the formation of these bubbles, bubbles ultimately burst, and they create enormous economic wreckage, and that's indeed what

1:25:37 to 1:25:57( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: has occurred her and all of this was under the direction fundamentally of bush administration. this was their policy that was pursued for eight our friends on the other side controlled the house and the senate for six of those eight years. they put into place the policies that have been the guiding

1:25:58 to 1:26:20( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: principles of policy for this country for the last years. as a result, we saw a very dramatic deterioration of the budget picture under the bush administration. ey went from inheriting surpluses t putting us into record deficits, and for 2009, a

1:26:21 to 1:26:44( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: deficit of $1.7 trillion. in fairness to them, they're not responsible for that whole amount, beca the enacted. but, clearly, they're responsible for at least $1.3 trillion of the $1.7 trillion of deficit in 2009. this is the record on deficit --

1:26:45 to 1:27:08( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: or of debt in administration. after their first year in office, the trilli we typically do not hold first-year administrations responsible because they're working off the debt of the previous the debt has gone from $5.8

1:27:09 to 1:27:30( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: trillion to over $12 mr. president, that's not the only part think is mind. it took 42 presidents 224

1:27:31 to 1:27:51( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: dwreers ru foreign-held the previous administration ran up another u.s. debt held abroad. now, strength that people are willing to loan us all this money. i per sign of strength. i think it is a sign of vulnerability that

1:27:52 to 1:28:14( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: record budget deficits, meaning record borrowing, much of tha borrowing down abroad. last year -- done last year the debt that we had to financed by foreign entities. mr. president, this preside

1:28:15 to 1:28:35( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: walked into a set of circumstances, and here's what they are. record deficits, a doubling of the national debt under the previous administration; the worst recession since the great depression; financi housing crises -- every where you look, this president

1:28:36 to 1:28:56( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: add crisis -- a crisis in housing, a crisis in the financial sector, a crisis in the fiscal jobs lost in the last mofntses; and ongoing wars in iraq and afghanistan. so what do we do about it?

1:28:57 to 1:29:18( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: well, the budget is a document that outlines the fundamental priorities of the country. and in this document conference agreement, we have attempted to preserve the pr re foreign energy, critically important to future;

1:29:19 to 1:29:39( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: education, and fundamentally health care if we look ahead to the of america no single thing is important than reforming the health care system. already we are spending nearly 18% product on health care, one in

1:29:40 to 1:30:02( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: six dollars going on the way to gross domestic product to health care our economy going to health care. clearly that is at the current rate of 18% of our g.d.p. going to health care we're speing twice as much as industrialized country.

1:30:03 to 1:30:26( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: mr. president, we're on an president says we've got to alter that. we've get toes span health care coverage -- to expand health care coverage included so we can cost controls that are necessary. i me it is counterintuitive to think, how can it be we're going

1:30:27 to 1:30:48( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: to reduce costs if we're expanding coverage. the thing we know in our current system, people without coverage still get health care. but they' most expensive tting of our hospitals all across the country. we would b

1:30:49 to 1:31:12( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: having them have coverage and having them in a wellness syste to keep people from and if their illness in a way that prevents t outcomes. mr. president, this conference

1:31:13 to 1:31:34( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: report also billion in tax cuts. it is focused on the middle class. now i know talk in the press about tax increases for to make more than year, we will be expected to pay

1:31:35 to 1:31:57( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: a little more -- not a lot but a little bit more. if we are going to get fiscal house in order those of us who are most fortunate are going to have to pay a legal bit more. but on a in the tax i from those who fortunate with all of the oth tax

1:31:58 to 1:32:18( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: is to reduce taxes from law by next give years and those tax reductions are focused on the middle class we also cut the deficit in h by 2012 2014. we

1:32:19 to 1:32:41( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: domestic product by most economists say that is the key metric g.d.p. the debt is stabilized, we keep the debt from growing like it has been. spending level conference report below the president's proposal.

1:32:42 to 1:33:02( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: we have cut his spending plan by $10 billion. in addition, there are reconciliation instructions for health care they reqre at least $2 billion in i personally believe reconciliation, which is special process here of fast track, will not be used for

1:33:03 to 1:33:23( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: health get into it i think it's a very write major substantive legislation. so my prediction is reconciliation will not be used for health care. have until october report legislation in the regular order of business here

1:33:24 to 1:33:45( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: using the r i've talked to the chair the committee that has most of the responsibility for health care and of course finance committee and senator baucus says intention to proceed under the regular order not using the reconciliation instruction. but it policy.

1:33:46 to 1:34:06( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: we also have the minimum tax fixed for the so we will not see a big increase in the number of people affected by the alternative minimum tax. there are some three million or four million now paying if we did not take these million to pay tax.

1:34:07 to 1:34:28( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: nobody wants to see that happen. so we have got a fix for the next three years. we the next two years. we call it because it's an estimate of what disaster relief will cost for the next two years based on looking back over the last five years and doing an average and

1:34:29 to 1:34:49( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: this is a break from how we typically dealt funding here. typically we have done it through emergency designations. the president thought, look, we know we're going to have disasters, why don't we budget for it's a worthy experiment. and we'll see how it works even though none ofs can predict

1:34:50 to 1:35:10( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: what disasters might occur, we know the strong likelihood is that there will be certainly my state has experienced them. we have had flooding the state of mded i north dakota from one end to the other. i have been home three times in the last several weeks going all across north dakota from the red river valley in the series to

1:35:11 to 1:35:31( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: the valley in the center of the state and cheyenne -- all flooding that is unlikenything we have ever seen in recorded history so we know there are disasters that are going to have costs, hundreds of millions of dollars have already been experienced in

1:35:32 to 1:35:53( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: terms of losses -- roads and bridges devastated. and we have had dams significantly eroded by the weather evens. we necessity there are costs sorried with it and we tried to anticipate them in this budget. most important, this budget coming from

1:35:54 to 1:36:14( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: focuses on three key priorities: redu foreign energy; putting a focus on excellence in education; and fundamental health care reform. first, with respect to energy, it foreign energy, creates green jobs, helps protect the enviroent and helps with

1:36:15 to 1:36:35( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: high it does that i in creating a reserve fund to invest in clean energy and address global climate change. second it provides $500 million above th discretionary funding for energy

1:36:36 to 1:36:57( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: for fiscal year 2010. third, it builds on the economic recovery package investments in renewable energy, efficiency and conservation, localarbon coal grid. by the way, electric grid presents this opportunity to have a leap

1:36:58 to 1:37:19( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: forward because we're dealing almost with the horse and era that is not allowing us to shift power to places that need it. in addition, we have in this budget coming conference, a focus on excellence in education.

1:37:20 to 1:37:41( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: we generate economic growth in jobs. we prepare the work first to compete in this global economy. we make college more affdable. and we attempt student achievement. that is, at its heart, education is all about. we do it again in three providing a higher education

1:37:42 to 1:38:03( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: reserve fund to facilitate the president's student aid increases; education tax cuts to more affordable for our young people to go to college and other institutions of higher

1:38:04 to 1:38:24( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: president's requested $5,550 for pell fund his education priorities such as early the third key priority is fundamental health care reform and that is accommodated in the conference report.

1:38:25 to 1:38:45( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: we attempt to bend care cost curve, to improve health care outcomes for our nation's people, to expand coverage as we have mor million people, now, without any health care insurance. we increase research, especiall getted to those areas o highest opportunity to make meaningful progress. and we

1:38:46 to 1:39:08( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: safety. again, we do that in with a reserve fund to accommodate the president's initiati care system; by funding for a least two years a reserve fund that further physician payments; and t continue investments in

1:39:09 to 1:39:30( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: health care programs such as n.i.h. and the >> mr. president, a key staff is himself in the hospital. joel freedman, the deputy staff director for the budt committee, a remarkable person, truly gifted, somebody

1:39:31 to 1:39:52( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: the respect from people on both sides hospal and our thoughts and prayers family. why know if he's able to watch this. last week he wasn't able to because he didn't have c-span in his room. but i want he and his family to

1:39:53 to 1:40:13( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: know that the entire budget committee family -- and this guess foreign democrats -- are thinking of him d recovery. mr. president while we focus on

1:40:14 to 1:40:35( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: the the president, we a all in the context of dramatically reducing the deficit. and we cut the deficit by do thirds by by the gross domestic product which economists say measure, we do even better than that.

1:40:36 to 1:40:56( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: as measured by a share of the goes domestic product we are reducing the deficit by 75%, by g.d.p. this year to in 2014. that metric of 3% 2014 is especially important

1:40:57 to 1:41:17( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: because economists tell u that rate you have about stabilized the growth debt. in other words, the debt will not continue to grow continue deficits at 3% of g.d.p. my own view is we should do even better than that.

1:41:18 to 1:41:39( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: certainly in the years, i think it upon we do better than tha given the fact generation will be mr. president, in ter revenue changes in the resolution, i've indicated earlier that if you look at total tax changes in the budget

1:41:40 to 1:42:02( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: resolution and this is c.b.o. discovering; this is in th is in the my intention, taxes are cut by $764 billion over the five years. and here's where: middle class tax r that the marriage penalty relief, the

1:42:03 to 1:42:25( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: child care tax incentives and all of the other 2001 and 2003 tax affect those earning less than $250,000. all of those tax cuts are extended for the entire five years. in addition,e have provided for alternative minimum tax

1:42:26 to 1:42:51( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: of $214 billion. we have provide reform at a cost of $72 billion that will avoid any estate tax if they have less. let me just say that excludes

1:42:52 to 1:43:13( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: 99.8% of 99.8% of estates will pay noth zero. under the budget propo in addition, we provide extenders tax extenders are things like research and tax development credit. those have to be extended every

1:43:14 to 1:43:34( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: year or every other year depending on which one we're talking about and we bring those, as well. thos $861 billion what we're focused on here is the offshore tax havens, the

1:43:35 to 1:43:55( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: abusive tax we now know from the permanent committee on invtigations that we are losg over $100 a year to the havens, and billions of dollars mr. to i've shown onhe floor of the senate many times pictures of people have asked me, what does

1:43:56 to 1:44:17( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: that have to do with the of the united states? it has increas with the budget of the united spectacle of wealthy investors here and companies here european sewer systems, in the

1:44:18 to 1:44:39( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: because they are in the sewer business but because they want to depreciat those assets for tax purposes and they t around and lease the sewer systems back to the european cities that built them in the first place. i popcorned out sewer systems because that's most graphic. but it doesn't end there. we actually have companies

1:44:40 to 1:45:00( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: buying city halls in europe and depreciating on their books for u.s. tax purposes here, leasing that's city halls back european cities that built them in the first place. now, some say if that kind of scam, you're increasing somebody's taxes. i suppo but you know what? shame on the people who are

1:45:01 to 1:45:22( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: doing it. the vast majority of us pay what we owe, but, unfortunately, we got an increasing group of companies and individuals who are dodging what they legitimately owe here, and they're doing it in these offshore tax havens. i've shown on many occasions a picture of this

1:45:23 to 1:45:43( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: five-story building in the cayman islands that claims to be the home to 14,000 companies, 14,000 companies. they say they're all doing business out of this little five-story building in the cayman islands. they're not doing any business out of there. they're doing monkey business. the monk doing is to avoid their toxes in the united states.

1:45:44 to 1:46:06( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: mr. president, shame on us don't close that down. mr. president, some say, well, this is a big spending budget, big really? that can only be the statement of people budget because this budge takes domestic discretionary spending as a percentage of our gross

1:46:07 to 1:46:27( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: domestic product from 4.4% in 2010 so as a share of our national income, domestic discretionary spending is going down. mr. president, the stubborn things.

1:46:28 to 1:46:48( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: over the life of this budget, domestic discretionary spending, in dollar terms -- in dollar terms -- is being increased a year. that is inflation. that's why as a share of our economy, domestic discretionary spending is

1:46:49 to 1:47:10( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: so when you hear claims that this is it's not this budget. they may be talking about some other budget, but the budget before us is the budget rep by the conference committee, that budget is tough on spending, it is tough on deficits, it

1:47:11 to 1:47:33( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: our econom country back on some more sustainable course. mr. president, we have a of budget enforcement tools i this budget resolution that i am discretionary caps 2010, we maintain a strong pay-go rule, we have order against long-term deficit increases, a point of order against

1:47:34 to 1:47:54( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: increases, we reconciliation for deficit reduction only, and we provide a point of order against mandatory spending on an appropriations bill. this last one i especially important because what we've found is our friends on the have found a new way around the rules here.

1:47:55 to 1:48:15( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: and they've s mandatory spending discretionary spending bills. now, let me be clear. like medicare, for social security, if you're eligible, you qualify, so that is called mandatory

1:48:16 to 1:48:36( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: spending. we also have -- and that's m of the spending of the federal government. most of the spending is now mandatory spending -- medicare, social security -- they are eight bigge we also benefits, mandatory spending for discretionary.

1:48:37 to 1:48:57( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: discretionary means under discretion of process each that's why and discretionary spending, as i've indicated, is going under this budget as a share of our gross domestic product. but we don't want the mandatory spending to be increased in

1:48:58 to 1:49:19( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: discretionary spending bills, and that started to h couple years ago, and weut this provide a barrier, a hurdle against that bad practice. mr. president, we also have provisions long-term fiscal challenges.

1:49:20 to 1:49:43( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: i think everybody that health care is the 800-pound gorilla. health care accounts -- medicare, federal share of medicaid, and other aspects of health care spending -- and continuing to grow out of

1:49:44 to 1:50:04( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: so there is the health care reform reserve fund that previously described that is critically important to getting our fiscal future back we also provide program integrity initiatives to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse in social security, in medicare.

1:50:05 to 1:50:29( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: this is especially prevalent in medicare. under the previous administration, the previous secretary, secretary leavitt, who i have high regard for, to see me one day with him information about scams that wer the country to defraud

1:50:30 to 1:50:50( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: and he had pictures of phony options in florida that were in individual storefront was supposedly providing medicare services, each of them year in so-called services to medicare-eligible patients.

1:50:51 to 1:51:12( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: on what they found was, they weren't providing they were just doing billing. they were billing. they weren't providing any services. it was a complete scam and there were dozens of them. dozens of these storyfront options. the secretary himself went to many of them in the middle of

1:51:13 to 1:51:33( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: the day and they were closed. they were closed for the public. they were open for scams. and we have provided funds to go after those cieppedz kind of f operations. we've also

1:51:34 to 1:51:58( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: deficit point of order to prevent any increase in the long-term defendant without facing a order hurdle. let president obama because it is something i agree with very much. while i believe this budget has made good progress at getting our for the next five years, we have

1:51:59 to 1:52:19( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: to more. president obama said this, fiscal responsibility summit hosted at the white house at the end of the february. he said, and i quote, want to be very progress towards responsibility this y this budget, this is just beginning.

1:52:20 to 1:52:41( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: in the coming years, we'll be forced t choices and do address our long-term challenges." mr. president, tha we have got much more work to be done, especially in the second five years. this is a five-year budget because of the 34 budgets

1:52:42 to 1:53:03( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: written by the congress, 30 of the 34 have been five-year budget. the president sent us a 10-year budget. some have asked, why didn't we do a 10-year budget? very almost always has done five-year budgets because we know that the projections for the second five

1:53:04 to 1:53:24( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: years are highly unreliable. highly unreliable. frankly, a forecast for five years is a bit of a crapsho. you know, i used to have the responsibility of the revenue for my state. i had to do it for three years. i do f three years. five years is extraordinarily

1:53:25 to 1:53:46( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: difficult, especially at a time like this of dramatic economic changes and a very steep down draflt. mr. president, 10-year forecasts have very little reliability. that's the reality. so here.

1:53:47 to 1:54:09( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: that has been done 30 of the 34 times congress has written a budget under the budget act. 30 of the 34 times it's been five-year budget. mr. president, i just want to say to my colleagues, that i believe this budget is part of economic we are facing very tough winds.

1:54:10 to 1:54:31( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: we are facing a very tough economic environment, the steepest downturn since the great and we are going to have to be aggressive in terms of preventing a disee spiral -- a deflationary spiral that could suck this economy down. we saw in the great depression a failure of government to pact -- to

1:54:32 to 1:54:54( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: act effectively until tremendous damage had been 29% unemployment, the stock market fell by more than 90%, took me than 20 dwreer year stock market to recov. we had a circumstance where more than 25% of the people were unemployed.

1:54:55 to 1:55:15( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: staggering, staggering america. as historians look back -- for example, the chairman of the federal reserve, mr. bernanke, who has made his life's work a study of how to avoid another great depression and his analysis and others'

1:55:16 to 1:55:36( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: like it the conclusion was there was a failure of the government to it waited too long. it believed the markets would correct it believed that somehow everything would work out without intervention. that proved to be

1:55:37 to 1:55:58( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: mistake. mr. president, all of the -- all of the elements of the federal response direction in this downturn. and it started with the previous administration, to their credit. the federal reserve has done great deal to providery quidty

1:55:59 to 1:56:20( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: in this economy. instead of pulling back credit, it has extended credit. the federal government, of pulling back inrder to balance our budget in the sho term, has put forward hundreds of billions of dollars in a stimulus package to provide an increase in aggregate demand to provide stimulation to the economy, to provide liquidity.

1:56:21 to 1:56:42( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: without it, the collapse, i believe, would be far steeper, far more serious, far more threatening, and, rember what we are faced with is not national crisis; it is a global cris, with global economic activity falling very dramatically all around the world.

1:56:43 to 1:57:03( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: mr. president, the response of almost every industrialized country has been like ours: to provide liquidity to provide stimulus. china has a major stimulus program, japan, europe, virtually all the countries of europe, russia has announced a

1:57:04 to 1:57:24( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: major stimulus plan. mr. president, i believe those are the however imperfect and they that have been developed. i, myself, thought we could have done package.

1:57:25 to 1:57:45( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: i would h more funding for infrastructure because i personally believe that's a place where you gel get a but, look, there substantial infrastructure component. i would have liked to have seen it far big

1:57:46 to 1:58:07( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: but nonetheless we are moving in the right direction. mr. president, this budget moves in the right direction. it is a contribution to economic recovery. it does preserve the president's key priorities of dependence on foreign energy, which must be done. it focuses on excellence in

1:58:08 to 1:58:29( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: education, bus if we're not the d. because if we're not the best educated, we're not going to be the strongest country in the world for very long and it provides f care reform because that is the goril swamp this fiscal boat of the united states not to mention the boats phs every american family

1:58:30 to 1:58:50( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: and american companies that absolutely need cost containment, at the same time improving health care outcomes for the american people. and finally, yes, dramatically reducing the deficit, reducing it by two-thirds in dollar terms, by three-quarters as a share of the gross domestic product of the united states over

1:58:51 to 1:59:13( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: mr. president, this is not a perfect document. if i was able to write it just by myself, i think i could have improved it. i think every member here feels that way. that if they were able to write this document, it would be a better document. mr. president, that is not our option. that is not our option.

1:59:14 to 1:59:34( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: we have a senate of the united states. we representatives. we have a president. this is the work of all enties. the president of the united states, the senate of the united states, the house of representatives. and i

1:59:35 to 1:59:56( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: believe we have produced an important step in economic recovery. i urge my colleagues to support the conference i thank the chair and yield the the presiding officer: the senator from georgia

1:59:57 to 2:00:07( Edit History Discussion )

Kent Conrad: senator from georgia for his courtesy. i have 11 unanimous consent requests for c during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimouconsent that