Bill Nelson, U.S. Senator from Florida: Hot Topics

The economic downturn has jolted most Americans. But for those nearing retirement or living on fixed incomes and 401-Ks, the economic pain is growing more acute. This is why I strongly support a series of dramatic actions. We're facing some of the most challenging economic times, and need bold action to reinvigorate our economy and end the financial uncertainty we all are facing. First, we must pass a second economic stimulus package aimed at rebuilding our nation's infrastructure. Second, we need to extend unemployment insurance benefits for Americans unable to find work. Third, we should use some of the $700 billion in bailout money to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. And last but not least, we need to give retirees the ability to postpone mandatory distributions from retirement accounts.

Government loan to the auto industry

To borrow from President-elect Obama, we need to act with all deliberate haste - but with an emphasis on "deliberate." We cannot simply provide our automakers with enough cash to continue their current operations for another three months, or even another six. We must instead put them on a path that leads to global competitiveness. Any assistance we provide to the auto industry should include the following conditions: First, the automakers should not pay dividends to shareholders until they have returned to financial health. Second, the current senior management must be replaced. We need new leadership, and fresh thinking, to steer us out of this mess. We cannot reward the leaders whose poor decisions got us to where we are now. Third, we must place limits on executive compensation. Taxpayer money should not be used to reward individual executives unless and until the taxpayers have been repaid. Fourth, we must insist that the automakers increase average mileage per gallon to 40 MPG in ten years, or to 50 MPG by 2020. And last but not least, the automakers must increase production of FlexFuel, electric, and plug-in hybrid vehicles.

Government bailout of financial institutions

This is not the time for political rancor, but for casting aside partisanship. When Congress does that, I think most will see we shouldn't be bailing out banks that caused the problem in the first place - without guaranteeing that taxpayers don't get the short end of the stick. If we hand the administration seven-hundred billion dollars, then we also must assure there's tough oversight, profit-sharing for taxpayers, fair refinancing for homeowners facing foreclosure; and, we must make sure none of the money ends up back in the CEOs' pockets.

Iraq

Back in 2002 when we voted on the authorization for this war, I voted for it, as did most of the senators. The information we were given at the time was that there were weapons of mass destruction, certainly, chemical and biological weapons. And, we were led to believe Saddam Hussein had a very active nuclear program. But now we know none of that was true. And knowing what I know now - that none of that was true - would I have voted the same way? Of course I wouldn't have. But I voted for the war authorization on the basis of that information. We've been in Iraq almost four-and one-half years now, and the central questions before us today are: how do we keep a bad situation from getting worse; and, how do we achieve success from chaos? The Levin-Reed amendment recognizes the situation on the ground, and provides a practical way of getting our troops out of the crossfire of a civil war by redeploying them to go after al Qaeda, and to provide protection for U.S. personnel and assets and training for the Iraqi army. In the long-term, what we'll need is a political solution, instead of a military solution. This will take an aggressive diplomatic effort, as was advocated by the Iraq Study Group last year. This is what I support. Additionally, I am cosponsoring Sen. [ Joe ] Biden's plan for a political settlement to the violence in Iraq that allows power-sharing among the country's three warring factions. There would be a federalist system of government with autonomous states, and the limited central authority or national government would allocate the country's oil revenues.