Recess
Floor Speech
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Mr. DURBIN. Madam President, before I make a few remarks about the underlying bill, I want to say that those following this debate on the floor are witnessing a piece of history. Senator Dan Inouye of Hawaii has made such amazing contributions to this country. As a young man, his service in World War II led to his being honored with the Congressional Medal for his bravery in battle. He has carried the wounds of that battle now for many years. He used his time in the service to inspire him to higher levels of public service in our Government and beyond the military, serving in Congress and as a U.S. Senator from the State of Hawaii. He is, in fact, a legend in the history of the Senate. I am honored to call him a colleague. Parenthetically, 6 years ago, when I was sworn in to my second term, I chose Senator Inouye to escort me for that swearing-in ceremony because of my great respect for him and all he has meant to our country, his State of Hawaii, and to me personally.
What you just heard in his comments about Native Hawaiians you could have heard as well about his commitment to Native Americans. From the beginning, Danny Inouye has been there to fight for those who oftentimes were not given the same treatment, same respect, and same rights as other Americans. His voice has made a difference time and time again. When he comes to us and talks about this underlying Omnibus appropriations bill and some of the programs that will help Native Hawaiians and Native Americans, it is with a commitment from the heart. He really believes in helping these people, many of whom have been treated badly by the United States in our founding years.
I wanted to preface my remarks by saying, for those looking for a reason to support this bill, Senator Danny Inouye, our chairman, has given a good, solid reason, so that we can balance the books and right the wrongs that occurred in previous generations.
I want to come down to practical considerations. The pending amendment would dramatically cut this bill. Some of the cuts would make a big difference. I look back and remember what happened not that long ago, over two holiday seasons, when parents and families across America were frightened that the toys they were buying were dangerous. The paint contained lead that could have a negative physical impact on a child. We traced many of the toys back to China and found that not only were they careless in their manufacture, but we were careless, as a government, in our inspection.
The agency responsible for it, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, was one of the small agencies that most people never heard of. When it became a scare and concern for parents in America, we started to pay attention. In my subcommittee, we had this particular Commission. I decided to make a substantial change in the funding and staffing so that this Commission could protect Americans not just from dangerous toys but dangerous products all around. So what we did in the bill was provide $105 million for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, an increase of $25 million over last year's spending, and $10 million above the committee's report. The idea is to put the people and resources there and overseas to make sure we protect American families and consumers from dangerous products. I think most people would agree that is money well spent. When any of us go into a store and buy a product, we assume some agency of the Government took a look at it. It turns out that, in many cases, this small Commission could not keep up with that challenge. If the pending amendment by Senator Hutchison prevails, that money won't be there. This agency will be cut back again, and families will be vulnerable again. I don't want that to happen.
We also put in $943 million for the Securities and Exchange Commission. It is an increase of $37 million over the previously enacted level. The additional money we are putting into the SEC is a direct result of reports of dereliction of duty and their failure to respond to serious challenges. We all know about the Bernard Madoff scandal, where that man created a Ponzi scheme that went undetected and unpunished until there were innocent victims all across the United States of this man's chicanery. The SEC, it turns out, had been warned years before and didn't follow through.
The SEC has an important role in our free market economy to make certain that stocks and other financial instruments are done in a transparent and honest way. That is why we are increasing the size of the appropriation for this agency. The pending amendment would cut that back at a time when we are in such economic turmoil. We need to have certainty as Americans that we are safe when we invest and that somebody in the Government is keeping an eye on those transactions and those companies.
The same is true for the Commodity Futures Trading Commission. It is an important Commission that deals with financial instruments, such as futures, and those instruments that relate to things such as the cost of oil. We paid close attention to that when gasoline was $4.50 a gallon. I provide $146 million through my committee to the CFTC. That is a 31-percent increase over last year's appropriation. Why? So they can buy the computers to keep up with the hundreds of thousands and millions of transactions, so they can detect wrongdoing and correct it before innocent people lose their life savings, and before people who count on the integrity of the American financial institutions are defrauded. I think that is money well spent, and it is money we should spend in this instance.
I say to those who are cutting back and say: We are just making across-the-board cuts, it is not really going to touch us, there are three specific examples where money is included in this appropriations bill to protect American families and consumers, money that is small in comparison to larger appropriations but can make a significant difference in the role of Government and, I guess, the fact that the function of Government to help the helpless and protect those who need it is honored. I hope everybody will come to the floor and think long and hard about this bill.
I will add one closing fact. Many people remember the flooding that occurred in Cedar Rapids, IA, last year. It was devastating. One of the buildings devastated was the courthouse in Cedar Rapids. As a result, I had a request from Senators Charles Grassley and Tom Harkin to come up with emergency funds to rebuild this courthouse in the right way, so that it could be safe and functional after the flooding. We had $182 million in the 2009 Consolidated Security, Disaster Assistance, and Continuing Appropriations bill for that purpose. It is an earmark, make no mistake about it. We earmarked the funds for that courthouse that was devastated by floodwaters at the request of Senators Grassley and Harkin. I believe this was the right expenditure. It is an earmark that we can justify as being important not just to Iowa but to the Nation. I hope both Senators know we listen carefully to them in our subcommittee. With Senator Brownback of Kansas, we work to be responsive to the real needs of our colleagues across America. This is a responsible bill. I commend it to my colleagues. I hope we can enact it soon because on Friday our temporary spending measures will expire, and we need a long-term Omnibus appropriations bill so that we can get to work on the next fiscal year in an orderly manner, under the leadership of Chairman Inouye.
I yield the floor.
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