Floor Statements

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 73, S. 954.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that on Monday, May 20, at a time to be determined by me, after consultation with Senator McConnell, the Senate proceed to the consideration of Calendar No. 73,

Madam President, the Republican leader and I follow very closely the Washington Nationals, and we talk often about how they fare on any given day. We just spent a minute commiserating about a young man from Las Vegas, Bryce Harper. We talk about him often because he is a phenomenon in baseball. Yesterday, while playing in Los Angeles--a late game--he got two walks, a hit, and, as he does all the time--well, not like this--he was chasing a ball full speed and he ran into the wall full speed. I told the Republican leader I am going to talk to his family later. It is too early in the West, but I told him I will talk to his mom or dad and find out how he is doing. But he crashed into that wall, and he has 11 stitches in his chin, he was knocked out, and he hurt one of his shoulders. So we will see how he is.

I would be glad to yield.

And the manager said, when asked afterwards about him, I don't want him to change anything because he is such a competitor.

But I think he will maybe have to watch those walls in the future.

Yes, we are wearing the same suit. We try to match wardrobes.

Madam President, following leader remarks the Senate will be in a period of morning business until 11 a.m. this morning. The majority will control the first half, the Republicans the final half.

Following morning business the Senate will resume consideration of S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act.

Order of Procedure

I ask unanimous consent that the full time, the full 1 hour, be given to the Democrats, their half hour, and the Republicans, their half- hour, and if the vote has to come a little later, we just need to get that out of the way before our caucuses. And we could probably terminate that at noon. That will be fine. So I ask unanimous consent that the Democrats have their full half hour and the Republicans their full half hour.

Following morning business, as I indicated, the Senate will resume consideration of the Water Resources Development Act.

Madam President, I was in a meeting a few minutes ago. This is an important bill, and it shows that one of the most liberal Members of the Senate and one of the most conservative Members of the Senate-- Boxer and Vitter--can work extremely well together, as they have on this bill. I hope we can have a finite list of amendments and not have to invoke cloture because we would invoke cloture and I would rather not do that. The filing deadline for all second-degree amendments to the bill is 11:15 a.m. today. The managers continue to work to

complete action on the bill. If no agreement is reached, there will be a cloture vote at noon today.

Madam President, on Thursday Speaker Boehner said a remarkable thing. He said: We can't cut our way to prosperity. It was good to hear him speaking candidly, for that is what Democrats have been saying for years--we cannot cut our way to prosperity. It is important that we have done some cutting. That is very important. And we are proud of the work we have done. To this point, we have cut more than $2\1/2\ trillion.

But it will take more than meat-ax budget cuts to keep our economy on the path to full recovery. To protect our economic growth, it will take a balanced approach, one that couples smart spending cuts with investments in our future and some new revenue from closing these wasteful loopholes I have spoken about to members of the Finance Committee in my caucus on many occasions. Nothing could be further from that balanced policy than the so-called sequester. As long as the sequester's harmful across-the-board cuts remain in effect, our economy is in jeopardy. And as long as Republicans refuse to go to conference on the budget and work out our differences, the sequester will remain in effect.

It has now been 52 days since the Senate passed its budget. Why are Republicans standing in the way? We have talked about that for weeks. We need to move forward and pass a budget that encourages economic expansion by investing in what makes America strong while cutting the deficit.

After years--years--of calling for regular order, after years of demanding the Senate pass a budget, I expected Republicans to embrace this process, but I couldn't have been more wrong. Republicans have objected to a conference half a dozen times and counting. It is obvious they are delaying for one nakedly partisan reason: They hope to delay compromise long enough to create another manufactured crisis, as the Nation once again approaches the debt limit.

The debt ceiling is something we used to just move past. The elephant never forgets, but Republicans obviously don't follow their mascot--the elephant--as they have a very short memory. Elephants don't, but the Republican Party does. They should remember the political pain they inflicted upon themselves--the Republicans--and our country over the last 2 years, in part by driving the country from one manufactured crisis to the next.

It is astonishing that Republicans would once again--as they did in the House last week--pass a bill to hold the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government hostage, if only because it is so bad for their political brand. But it is also bad for our country. The last time Republicans drove us to the brink of default, it cost the United States its pristine credit rating, and it cost the economy billions of dollars.

When I talk about Republicans, I am not speaking about Republicans generically--that is, Republicans around the country--because many Republicans, if not most, agree these manufactured crises are a waste of time and not good for our country. I am talking about and directing my attention to the Republicans in the Congress because they do not, obviously, agree with the Republicans around the country.

I hope my Republican colleagues will not take their partisan ploy as far as they did in the past. It is time to embrace regular order. It is time to get away from last-minute negotiations and short-term fixes. It is time to engage in a responsible budget process. The budget process is the only way to work through our differences without bringing the country to the verge of another artificial crisis.

Americans are tired of bitter battles over whether the Federal Government should pay the bills it has incurred. That is what we have done. We have incurred these bills, and we have to pay them. We have made purchases on credit. Americans know, as Democrats do, that Congress won't set sound fiscal policy during last-minute negotiations and Congress won't set sound fiscal policy through extortion or hostage-taking.

The Secretary of Defense is going to announce later today that 800,000 civilian employees at the Defense Department are going to get furloughs. The decision is how long it is going to be. He hopes he can make it 11 days, but probably it will be 2 weeks. That may not sound like much, but for somebody who is on a budget, a personal budget, depending on their wages, to suddenly hear that during the time until September 1 they are going to be furloughed, that they are not going to get paid for 14 days, that is a significant amount of money and can wreak havoc with their personal budget.

What this sequestration is doing is setting bad fiscal policy. It can't happen. We have to compromise. We won't set sound fiscal policy without sitting down and finding common ground between the Republican priorities and the Democratic priorities in this Congress. Passing the budget would clarify each side's values. We did that. We had a vote- athon here determining what Republicans wanted to do and what Democrats wanted to do. We finished at 5 o'clock in the morning. We thought that was a good step toward compromise, but we were wrong.

Republicans will not move forward. We have waited 52 days. The next step is to name conferees, and that will only be a first step. After conferees are named, we have to make sure they meet and work things out. Right now, Republicans are the only party standing in the way of progress in getting rid of this sequestration. If my Republican colleagues are serious about reducing the deficit and charting a course for economic growth, they should stop waiting around for another crisis and start working with Democrats today.

Finally, again, it has been 52 days since the Senate passed this bill. We need Republicans to follow regular order and move to a conference.

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

Mr. President, Senators Boxer and Vitter have worked hard for days now to come up with a finite list of amendments to complete work on this very important bill, the Water Resources Development Act. In just a minute I am going to ask consent that we postpone the vote scheduled for 12 today until 2:30. We will come back in session, I hope, at 2:15 today. When we come back in session I want Chairman Boxer to report to the Senate if they have been able to work out an agreement between the two of them. If they have, I want her to ask the consent and when she asks that consent, if there is an agreement, we will work through a number of amendments they have come up with to complete work on this bill.

If there is no agreement at 2:15 when she comes in, then we will vote at 2:30 on cloture. I hope that is not necessary. But I am not going to have any ``I'm objecting on behalf of somebody else.'' If it is not done, I don't care who objects, we are going to move to cloture. That is what I believe should be done.

It is a lot of work to get this agreement. I think tentatively it has been done. We know how things work; one Senator can block all this. I hope that is not the case. I know the block will not come from our side. Senator Boxer has the complete confidence of all members of our conference. They recognize that she has worked hard on this and has done the right thing--as she always does.

I ask unanimous consent that the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 601 be moved to 2:30 p.m.

I will ask, while she is on the floor, the Senator from California, the chairman of the committee, is there anything I have missed in my statement?

I ask unanimous consent the vote on the motion to invoke cloture on S. 601 be moved to 2:30 p.m. this afternoon; that if cloture is invoked, it will be considered as having been invoked at 12 noon.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to S. Res. 141.

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, and that there be no intervening action or debate.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to S. Res. 140.

I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate.

I understand S. 953 introduced earlier today by Senator Reed is at the desk, and I ask for its first reading.

I now ask for its second reading and object to my own request.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Wednesday, May 15, 2013; 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 be in a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m., with Senators permitted to speak therein 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 controlling the final half; further, that following morning business the Senate resume consideration of S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act, under the previous order.

There will be a series of up to seven rollcall votes beginning around 10:30 a.m. tomorrow in order to complete action on

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it stand adjourned under the previous order.

Mr. President, we are not in a quorum call?

I apologize to the Chair for being a little tardy. I try not to be, especially when the President pro tempore is presiding.

Mr. President, following leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business and Senators during that period of time will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

The filing deadline for all first-degree amendments to S. 601, the Water Resources Development Act, is 4 p.m. today.

I had a conversation with Senator Vitter on Friday and Senator Boxer today, and I think we are very close to a universal agreement on that legislation to wrap it up as early as tomorrow. I hope that, in fact, is true.

As previously announced, there will be no rollcall votes today. The first vote of the week will be on cloture at noon tomorrow unless we work out an agreement.

Mr. President, I have been following very closely reports on irregularities in the Internal Revenue Service's scrutiny of applications for nonprofit status. These allegations, of course, are very troubling, and I intend to take a close look at the inspector general's report when it is released.

Concerns such as these are why we have inspectors general. They are tasked with finding and preventing waste, fraud, and abuse, identifying breaches of law and protocol, and promoting efficiency in government. Our inspectors general have an excellent record of responsibility, and specifically Russell George, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, has an exceptionally strong reputation as a watchdog at the IRS. Of course, watching the IRS is also watching the IRS for the American people. I am confident he is examining this issue and doing it very well, as he has done in the past. I look forward to his report.

The alleged actions of IRS employees in the Cincinnati field office would be a terrible breach of the public's trust. Whether they are investigating conservative groups or liberal groups, they should not be involved. Targeting any group based on its political status is completely inappropriate. We need to get to the bottom of what happened, and the inspector general will get to the bottom of this. In the meantime no one should jump to conclusions, but we should all rest assured as soon as we have the inspector general's report the Senate will quickly take appropriate action.

I have spoken today to the senior Senator from Montana, the chairman of the Finance Committee, Max Baucus, and he is looking into this matter in his role as chairman of the Finance Committee. If the inspector general's report indicates further investigation is needed, I have full confidence in the ability of Senator Baucus and the Finance Committee to get to the bottom of this matter and recommend appropriate action.