Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of Calendar No. 13, S. 252.

I ask unanimous consent the Alexander amendment at the desk be agreed to.

Mr. President, I know of no further debate on this measure.

I ask unanimous consent the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table.

I ask to lay before the Senate the message from the House on S. 793.

I move the Senate concur in the House amendment, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration en bloc of the following resolutions, which were submitted earlier today: S. Res. 255, S. Res. 256, S. Res. 257, S. Res. 258, S. Res. 259, and S. Res. 260.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolutions be agreed to, the preambles be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table en bloc, with no intervening action or debate.

Finally, Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Thursday, September 26, 2013, and that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate resume consideration of H.J. Res. 59, the continuing resolution, with the time beginning at 10:30 a.m. controlled in 1-hour increments, with the majority controlling the first hour and alternating thereafter.

Mr. President, the staff has worked so hard over the last couple of days, and I want to acknowledge that. Everyone has worked hard. We tried to space it out, and the staff has done a remarkably good job, but some people spent the night here, and there was one group who worked so very, very hard.

We only have eight reporters who cover the proceedings here, so think about what they have had to go through. They have to prepare their notes immediately, and they have been working, as I said, for 2 days. I am confident that they are exhausted. I hope they rest well, and I hope everyone rests well tonight.

We will be back tomorrow, and I hope we can speed things up a little bit more than what the rules require. As I said before, I would like to move this as quickly as we can.

Mr. President, if no agreement is reached under rule XXII, the cloture vote on the continuing resolution will occur 1 hour after the Senate convenes on Friday. The filing deadline for germane first- degree amendments to H.J. Res. 59 will be 1 p.m. tomorrow.

Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 195, H.J. Res. 59, which is the continuing resolution.

Mr. President, there will be no rollcall votes today. It was unnecessary to have any because we are in a procedural situation here dealing with the CR. The first vote of the week will be tomorrow at 11:45 a.m. on confirmation of a judge, a Federal circuit court judge by the name of Hughes.

Order of Procedure

I ask unanimous consent that between now and 6 p.m. Senators be permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 338, 339, 341, and 343.

No.

OK.

Mr. President, inside the House Republican bubble, the crowd cheered a plan to deny health insurance to tens of millions of Americans or else shut down the government. Outside the House Republican bubble, the reaction was altogether different. The radical tea party plan to shut down the government unless Democrats agree to deny funding to implement ObamaCare--passed by the House of Representatives on Friday--has been called ``the dumbest idea ever'' by one Republican Senator. It has been called a ``box canyon''--a morass from which Republicans will not escape unscathed--by a second Republican Senator. It has been called ``dishonest'' by one Republican Senator and a ``suicide note'' by another Republican Senator. So, Mr. President, the reviews are in, and they are universal: The ransom demanded by House Republicans in exchange for keeping the government open is unworkable and unrealistic.

President Obama has been clear, and I have been clear: Any bill that defunds ObamaCare is dead on arrival in the Senate. The Affordable Care Act has been the law of the land for 4 years now. Democrats are willing to work with reasonable Republicans to improve this law. But we now understand that there is an anarchy movement that is afoot. A lead editorial in the New York Times of Wednesday of last week said that. But we are not going to bow to tea party anarchists who deny the mere fact that ObamaCare is the law. We will not bow to tea party anarchists who refuse to accept that the Supreme Court ruled ObamaCare to be constitutional. And we will not bow to

tea party anarchists in the House or in the Senate who ignore the fact that President Obama was overwhelmingly reelected a few months ago.

These fanatics really point to disapproval for ObamaCare as justification for taking the Federal Government and our economy hostage to their demands. What they fail to mention to the American people and to the Senate and to the House is that 59 percent of Americans either support the law or wish it were even more far-reaching and transformative of our health care delivery system, according to a CNN poll. The vast majority of Americans--including those who disapprove of the health care law--want Congress to work to improve it, not to tear it down. And according to a new CNBC poll, Americans overwhelmingly oppose defunding ObamaCare, especially if it means shutting down the government to do so.

So the facts are that the vast majority of the American people are satisfied with ObamaCare. The simple fact remains that ObamaCare is the law of the land and it will remain the law of the land as long as Barack Obama is President of the United States and as long as I am the Senate majority leader. The latest gamble by Republicans in the House of Representatives--made with the backing of their radical allies in the Senate--only postpones the inevitable.

This week the Senate will act as quickly as tea party Republicans will allow. Once the Senate has acted, House Republicans will face a choice--whether to pass a clean continuing resolution or shut down the Federal Government. So the question is, Are extremist Republicans really willing to shut down the government? Time will only tell. But the world looks to America for leadership. Is this lack of respect for the rule of law truly the example we wish to set for others? Are Republicans so intent on undermining both President Obama and his signature health care law that they are willing to inflict severe damage to our economy in the process? America will know exactly whom to blame--Republican fanatics in the House and the Senate.

I urge those Republicans to listen to the more reasonable Republicans in the Senate. I have read some of their commentary on what is contemplated and how dumb they think it is. I repeat, one Republican Senator said: It is the dumbest idea I have ever heard. Two dozen Senate Republicans have spoken against this foolhardy plan to drive the economy off a cliff--two dozen. This ``Thelma and Louise'' style is not getting the attention of the American people in a positive tone. If Democrats do not bow to every demand they have, they want to go right over the cliff. We are not going to go with them.

I am glad to see more and more of my moderate Republican colleagues stepping up to speak sense to an extremist element of their own party.

Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times on Saturday:

Speaker John Boehner, trapped under the thumb of Tea Party

anarchists, called Friday's vote to defund Obamacare and

invite a government shutdown, ``a victory for common sense.''

She said:

More like a triumph of nonsense [not common sense].

So a few reasonable Republicans are wise enough to know that risking the Nation's economic recovery for the sake of a Pyrrhic ideological victory would be another step toward a death knell for the Republican Party.

Mr. President, every one of these Senators whose comments I read to everyone listening, plus the 20 or so others whose comments I did not mention specifically, are conservative people, conservative Republicans, they are just not radical.

So I say to House and Senate Republicans who continue to deny a reality and risk America's economy: Listen to the chorus all around you. Listen to what they are saying. Your conservative Senate colleagues have urged you off this reckless course. The Nation's largest business group, the chamber of commerce, has urged you off this reckless course. American families, who are weary both of these foolish partisan fights and of these difficult economic times, have urged you off this reckless course. And on behalf of Democrats, who long for the days when we legislated through cooperation--we did it instead of hostage-taking--I personally urge you off this reckless course.

What remains to be seen is whether my Republican colleagues on both sides of the Capitol are wise enough to listen.

Mr. President, we have a number of people we are trying to get approved, confirming nominations. They have been approved by everyone, as far as I know, and I will again, unless my friend from Texas objects to these people getting confirmed--does my friend object?

Fine. I will make my request, and the Senator can grab his reservation, and we will talk about it.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 338, 339, 341, and 343; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that there be no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to any of the nominations; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nominations--I stated the request earlier. I would re-engage in that and ask unanimous consent that be the case.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I have no objection whatsoever to the Senator speaking, but it was my understanding he was going to ask some consent requests. I understand he has great persuasive talents in speaking, but I am not going to be able to do that. I interrupted my schedule today, which I was happy to do, at the convenience of the Senator from Texas. So I will be back in 20 minutes, and the Senator can ask his unanimous consent requests at that time. Is that OK?

OK. And if the Senator would do that, I would really appreciate it. And he has my word that I will watch what I can, and if I cannot, I will read every word of it tonight.

My friend is always persuasive.

Yes. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, my friend went right to the point, and I appreciate that. I understand that the junior Senator from Texas asks consent to pass the House- passed continuing resolution by consent without any amendments. I understand that. As I said, he came right to the point.

The House-passed resolution, as we know now, would defund ObamaCare. It would block not only the administration of the program but all related benefits as well, and that is untoward.

Second, it includes so-called debt prioritization language, or what has been called the ``pay China first'' policy. This would leave us vulnerable to default on our obligations to everyone else besides bondholders and Social Security--everyone from veterans, to small businesses, to Federal employees and contractors, to doctors and hospitals and Medicare patients generally.

Mr. President, the President would veto this continuing resolution, so it is not going to become law anyway, and I object.

Mr. President, reserving the right to object I again understand the Senator from Texas in his request, which would create a new 60-vote hurdle where the Senate rules do not require one at the present time. I really try to follow the Senate rules. Sometimes they are obnoxious and I wish they were different, but I try my best, in leading us in this difficult Senate sometimes, to live up to all the rules as they exist. The Senate rules set up a lot of hurdles. That is the way the precedents have been developed over the years, and I understand that. Sometimes Senators like these, sometimes they do not. I would guess that most would say the Senate has enough--enough--60- vote hurdles, that the Senate has enough of these really arbitrary hurdles as it is, that we do not need to add even more barriers to getting things done.

We should be careful about adding new barriers. The American people are really fed up. I travel the country, and it is rare that I go someplace where they do not say: What are you going to do to change the rules? They know what the rules are and how difficult they are. I would bet the vast majority of Senators--Democrats and Republicans--would like them changed. The problem is that we have tried that recently. We were able to make a little headway but not a lot. So I think most Americans would rather we work in ways to agree to work together rather than disagree. I almost would bet, although I am not a betting man, that most Americans would rather we avoid shutting down the government.

Mr. President, I know the sincerity of the Senator from Texas. I understand that. I disagree with him I hope as sincerely as he disagrees with me, but I do not take away from his sincerity. But having said that, I am in a position now to object, and I must do that.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived.

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators allowed to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Veterans' Affairs Committee be discharged from further consideration of H.R. 1412 and the Senate proceed to its consideration.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Sanders substitute amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; the bill, as amended, be read three times and passed; the Sanders title amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, tomorrow we are going to come in--I will ask consent in a little bit. We will come in at 10 o'clock tomorrow morning. There will be a speech by me and Senator McConnell. Then we have a vote at a quarter to 12, if I recall.

Tomorrow afternoon Senator Mikulski is going to--after we have our caucus--come in and be recognized for 20 minutes. Following her remarks, Senator Cruz will be recognized. I am happy to listen to those two Senators.

The place I am in now is that we are on automatic pilot. I filed the cloture motion. Cloture will occur Wednesday. The latest will be at noon. With some agreement we can move it up an hour or two. People can talk all they want. There is no way we can be prevented from having that vote. So we will have conversation, but there will not be any filibusters, because under the rules the time is for talking. But it does not delay anything.

As I indicated today earlier in a conversation I had with the Republican Senator, we follow the rules. Whatever the rules are, we follow them and do the best we can to make sure they are as fair to everyone as possible.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes it business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Tuesday, September 24, 2013; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business until 11:15 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority the final half; that following morning business, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider Calendar No. 203, the nomination of Todd Hughes to be U.S. circuit judge for the Federal Circuit, under the previous order; that following the disposition of the Hughes nomination, the Senate recess until 2:15 to allow for the weekly caucus meetings; that at 2:15 Senator Mikulski be recognized for up to 20 minutes; that at 2:30 Senator Cruz be recognized.

There will be a rollcall vote as I indicated at 11:15 on the confirmation of Hughes.