Floor Statements

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m., August 2; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day.

Mr. President, the majority leader--that is me--will lay before the Senate the House message with respect to the debt limit compromise upon convening tomorrow. The rollcall vote on the compromise will be at noon 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, following any leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur in the House message to accompany S. 627, which is the legislative vehicle for the debt limit increase, with the time until 1 p.m. equally divided. At about 1 p.m., the Senate will vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the House message with the Reid amendment.

No matter the outcome of this vote, the message will still be before this body. If there is an agreement that can be met, this is the vehicle that will be used to send it back to the House.

Mr. President, as the clock ticks down to August 2, I want to remind everyone within the sound of my voice what is at stake. At this very moment, millions of seniors across this great country worry that their next Social Security check might not come to them on Wednesday. Middle-class families wonder whether their retirement accounts will be wiped out by an economic collapse brought about by default on this Nation's debt. Active military personnel, including many who are risking their lives for our great Nation, worry whether they will receive their paychecks.

The Associated Press reported that ADM Mike Mullen, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, visited with troops serving in Afghanistan yesterday. The soldiers Admiral Mullen talked with were not asking about military strategy or how our troop drawdown in Afghanistan would affect them. No, they asked whether they would be paid if Republicans forced the U.S. Government to stop paying its bills. In a region that has been rocked by violence and plagued by suicide bombers this month, they wondered how they would take care of their families if their checks stopped coming next month.

Let me read a little bit of that United Press story that came out yesterday:

A half a world away from Capitol Hill deadlock, the economy

and debt crisis are weighing heavily on U.S. troops in

Afghanistan. And the top question on their minds Saturday

even as bombing rocked the city around them, was one the top

U.S. military officer couldn't answer. Will we get paid?

Admiral Mullen went on to say: I don't know the answer to that question.

But either way to those soldiers he said: All of you must continue to work every day.

This is unacceptable. A country as rich and powerful as ours, men and women with bombs going off around them should not worry whether this country will leave them high and dry. This afternoon I ask those who have said they will never compromise on any terms to think about who their stubbornness will hurt: seniors, soldiers, and others.

I have spoken to the Vice President this morning--in fact, a couple of times. He is hopeful--of course, we have to be hopeful--that we are close to an agreement with Republican leaders. The framework of this agreement is based on new ideas and some old ideas. After speaking to Republican Leader Mitch McConnell this morning, we are cautiously optimistic.

There are a number of issues yet to be resolved, and we must understand that. There is no agreement that has been made. We are optimistic that one

can be reached, but we are not there yet. Optimism in the days past has been stomped on at various times. These major issues still to be resolved in these ongoing discussions is something we have to resolve in the next few hours if they are going to be resolved. Each of them must be resolved before we have a final agreement. And as we know, one problem can stop the whole agreement from going forward. But we want to get something done as quickly as possible. I believe all sides are aware of this urgency. It is unfortunate that the House of Representatives wasted all last week on legislation they knew would never pass the Senate and, in fact, barely passed the House. It passed the House with only Republican votes, not a single Democratic vote.

Democrats have said all along that we would never agree to a short- term arrangement that would put our economy at risk and force Congress into another debt ceiling showdown in a few weeks. We have to move on. The House measure put off the debt ceiling for 5 months--August, September, October, November, and December--5 months. We would be back in this same debate in a matter of weeks. We cannot allow that to happen. So any agreement has to have a long-term approach. The long- term approach we have forged here in the Senate is absolutely necessary. We must give the financial markets the confidence this country will not shirk its obligations now or in the future.

I know the compromise being discussed at the White House adopts the Senate's long-term approach, which will give the economy the certainty it needs, take us past January 2013. That has to be done. That will be done if an agreement is reached. It is also crucial that the agreement being crafted set us on the path to fiscal restraint. There are still elements to be resolved. We are watching them very closely.

The settlement must include thoughtful constraints on spending, we know that. The 12-member commission I conceived to recommend additional deficit reduction measures this year will be a key to that effort. I say to my friend the Republican leader, I appreciate his wrapping his arms around this and being such a cheerleader for this idea. It is a good idea. It is an idea that Congress itself will solve the problem. It would be a joint committee that would move forward. There would be a trigger that if they did not resolve this, then something else would happen. Based on past experiences, I think there would be tremendous incentive not to let that certain thing happen when the trigger kicked in. So Senator McConnell and I agreed the commission owns the responsibility to set this country on the path to fiscal accountability. The joint committee--there are no constraints--can look at any program we have in government--any program. It has the ability to look at everything. That is what needs to be done. The commission will assure we undertake that responsibility.

When I thought of this idea about the commission, I knew it was important that it achieve real results. It will be essential to choose Members with open minds willing to consider every option, even when the options are tough pills to swallow for both parties. So cooperation is the only way forward. Compromise is the only way forward. This is what Andrew Carnegie said about the virtue of compromise:

I shall argue that strong men . . .--

And since the Senate has changed so dramatically--and strong women-- that is me. I stuck that in.

I shall argue that strong men . . . know when to compromise

and that all principles can be compromised to serve a greater

principle.

Andrew Carnegie. But perhaps President Abraham Lincoln said it best when he said this: ``Determine that the thing can and shall be done, and that we shall find the way.''

That is where we are today. We must determine that the thing can and shall be done, and then we need to find that way. That is President Abraham Lincoln.

I enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time until 4 p.m. be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each during that period of time.

Mr. President, the matter now before the Senate is still the pending matter we have been working on for several days. It is extremely important that everyone understands we have a message from the House, and if we are going to work something out, which we are hopeful we can do, that

we have a piece of legislation by which we can do that and not require a bunch of cloture votes. So that is where we are now. We are seeing if something can be worked out.

I have had, for the information of Senators, a number of conversations in the last hour with people downtown, and the arrangement that is being worked on with the Republican leader and the administration and others is not there yet. We are hopeful and confident it can be done. As soon as it is done, I will let my caucus know.

I have had conversations with the Republican leader and other Senators. Senators should be aware that further rollcall votes are possible today. We will do everything we can to give Members adequate notice before additional rollcall votes are scheduled.

I would be happy to yield.

I would say to my friend that is an appropriate thing to do. I would not suggest a ball game, though; maybe closer than that.

We will give everyone adequate notice. As I indicated, we will do everything we can to give Members plenty of notice. As I indicated, we will have, on this side of the aisle, a caucus later today, whenever we are able to do that.

I note the absence of a quorum.

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

Mr. President, I now ask unanimous consent the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.

Madam President, for the last few weeks Congress has been locked in partisan gridlock. Today, I am relieved to say leaders from both parties have come together for the sake of our economy to reach a historic, bipartisan compromise that ends this dangerous standoff.

The compromise we have agreed to is remarkable for a number of reasons, not only because of what it does but because of what it prevents: a first ever default on the full faith and credit of the United States.

Sometimes it seems our two sides disagree on almost everything, but in the end reasonable people were able to agree: the United States could not take the chance of defaulting on our debt, risking a United States financial collapse and a worldwide depression.

America and the world have been watching our democracy expectantly. My message to the world tonight is that this Nation and this Congress are moving forward, and we are moving forward together.

Reaching a long-term accord that would give our economy the certainty it needs was not easy. But our work is not done. Leaders from both parties and in both Chambers will present this agreement to our caucuses tomorrow. Senate Democrats will meet at 11 a.m.

To pass this settlement, we will need the support of Democrats and Republicans in both the House and the Senate. There is no way either party--either Chamber--can do this alone.

As President Lyndon Johnson said:

There are no problems we cannot solve together, and very

few that we can solve by ourselves.

Democrats and Republicans have rarely needed to come together more than today. I know this agreement will not make every Republican happy. It certainly will not make every Democrat happy either. But both parties gave more ground than they wanted to, and neither side got as much as it had hoped. But that is the essence of compromise, of consensus building. And the American people demanded compromise this week, and they got it.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:30 a.m. tomorrow, Monday, August 1; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, 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 the motion to concur in the House message to accompany S. 627, the legislative vehicle for the debt limit increase; that the Senate recess from 11 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.; further, that at 12:30 p.m., the Senate resume consideration of the motion to concur with respect to the House message to S. 627, with the time until 2 o'clock p.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.

Madam President, there will be a Democrat caucus at 11 a.m. tomorrow.

Madam 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, just as a side note, I am happy to see the second ranking Member of the Senate presiding. The people of Vermont are so fortunate to have the Senator and his wisdom.

Well, I thought it would be nice to comment on the fact that is reserved for more junior Members. It is nice that my friend from Vermont would be here.

Mr. President, following any leader remarks, the Senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur in the House message to accompany S. 626, the legislative vehicle for the debt limit increase. The time from 1:30 to 8 p.m. will be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees.

Mr. President, Republican leaders in the House of Representatives wasted this week pursuing a rightwing proposal they knew from the start could not pass the Senate. From the very beginning, Speaker Boehner's Band-Aid approach was fatally flawed. It would have put us back in this incredible position we are in today--debating whether the debt limit should be increased, something that was increased I don't know really how many times but about 19 or 20 times during the Presidency of Ronald Reagan.

I had a little whisper to my left that said 18 times, so 19 or 20 was not too bad. The Band-Aid approach the Speaker came up with was totally flawed. It would have put us back in this incredible position of fighting to increase the debt limit--something we did 18 times during Ronald Reagan's administration. We would be fighting the clock to prevent financial collapse. We would start that again in just a few weeks.

The Speaker's legislation was a concession to tea party extremists. Yet it barely passed the House yesterday with only Republican votes. It failed on a bipartisan basis last night in the Senate.

There was an excellent article in the New York Times yesterday. The headline was ``The Centrist Cop-Out.''

The facts of the crisis over the debt aren't complicated.

Republicans have, in effect, taken America hostage,

threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the

essential business of government unless they get policy

concessions they would never have been able to enact through

legislation.

That is the way it is. It could not be said more clearly. But knowing all along that this radical legislation, which was neither balanced nor bipartisan, would not and could not pass in our Chamber, Democrats have been working on a true compromise in the Senate. We have solicited ideas from our Republican friends and colleagues.

Let it never be said that Democrats in the Senate were afraid to compromise. We would welcome compromise. As recently as yesterday, I asked my friend the Senate minority leader to help make this Senate compromise more palatable. But we have heard very little from the Republicans.

I am satisfied that in the conversations I have had with a couple of Republicans this morning--I hope it bears fruit. I spoke to the chairman of the Budget Committee a short time ago. One of the proposals propounded by a Republican--my friend Senator Conrad is working on it to see if he can work it out so it is language we can all live with. Senator Conrad is an expert with

budget matters. I thought it was important that he take a look at that.

I would have hoped, though, that someone would come to us, come to the bargaining table on behalf of the Republican caucus with ideas to improve a proposal already cut from the Republican cloth. Democrats are still willing to sit down and negotiate. My door is still open. I say again that I appreciate that several of my Republican colleagues have reached out to me in the last few hours hoping to reach a compromise. Senate Democrats welcome their input and look forward to working with them on a path forward.

My friend the Republican leader must generate some more action on behalf of his Republicans. The two parties must work together to forge an agreement that preserves this Nation's economy. We will need input from reasonable Republicans, including my friend the Republican leader, to get this done. But, unbelievably, another filibuster stands in our path. Republican filibusters have become routine. From the smallest measure to the greatest measure of national importance, they stall and delay and use every procedural trick in the book to keep this body from doing its job. But a filibuster at this late hour and when so much is at risk is irresponsible; it puts our economy at risk.

A majority vote was good enough for the Speaker's proposal in the House yesterday, but Republicans believe it is not good enough for the Senate today. And I have heard from my friends on the House side, to show how they are gaming the system over there, that they are going to have a vote on my proposal on suspensions. For those of us who served in the House, this is for naming courthouses and little measures that are of little importance. But this important matter, this matter dealing with the debt limit of this country, will take a two-thirds vote to pass. So they have gamed this system from the very beginning.

As I said earlier from the New York Times article:

The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren't

complicated. Republicans have, in effect, taken America

hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and disrupt the

essential business of government unless they get policy

concessions they would never have been able to enact through

legislation.

So they are going through, as I understand, on the House side, an effort to vote on our legislation, setting up a two-thirds standard to get this done, recognizing, of course, as I will outline here in a minute that a filibuster at this late hour here in the Senate and when so much is at risk is really irresponsible, and to say it puts our economy at risk is an understatement, and that is for sure. A majority vote was good enough for the Speaker's proposal in the House, but Republicans believe it is not good enough for the Senate today.

Rather than filibuster, I ask my Republican colleagues to work with Democrats to make our proposal better. We have offered a reasonable, rational way for Republicans to help us avert default.

But let me tell you about the legislation at issue, how we believe how reasonable our legislation is.

This legislation was written by Democrats with both parties' principles in mind. It would avert default while cutting $2.5 trillion from the deficit over a decade. It includes no revenues--a concession to House Republicans and Senate Republicans. It establishes a joint congressional committee to find additional savings this year and guarantees that the committee's recommendations will see an up-or-down vote on the Senate floor. It takes into consideration that--that committee must take into consideration proposals like the Gang of 6. Literally every single spending cut has been voted on or endorsed by Republicans in both Houses. That is the gist of the legislation: $2.5 trillion and extending the debt ceiling until March of 2013--a pretty fair deal.

We have made some changes to this proposition. We hope it becomes more amenable to Republicans. We have improved the program integrity language to allow for more savings by combatting government waste and fraud.

We have removed a measure that would have raised revenue by selling the spectrum--some $15 billion--which will be done, and we should do it now, but it caused what is called a blue slip problem, which says if you have any revenue measures, according to our Constitution, they have to originate in the House. So it presents a so-called blue slip problem. I just eliminated it from this bill. It was $15 billion out of $2.5 trillion.

We also added a process conceived by my friend Senator McConnell to allow two additional votes over the next year and a half, two motions of disapproval before the President can raise the debt ceiling.

This proposal also protects Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits.

As you can see, this legislation was designed to appeal to our Republican colleagues as well as to our Democratic colleagues. We are willing to listen to ideas--I have said this several times--from Republican Senators to make this proposal better. But to say the time is short is an understatement. We can amend the underlying legislation that is here before us in the so-called message to the House. We still have time to do that. We could do it tonight and we could still meet the deadline on Tuesday. But we need to do it soon. That is why, at 1:10 in the afternoon this Saturday, I hope I have more Republicans contact me to see if they can work out something to work with us.

Already the economy has gone from bad to worse. Stocks continued a weeklong slide yesterday. I know my Republican colleagues love this country, every single one of them. I believe they want to do what is best for our economy, every single one of them. But I have to say--and I say this for the third time:

The facts of the crisis over the debt ceiling aren't

complicated at all. Republicans have, in effect, taken

America hostage, threatening to undermine the economy and

disrupt the essential business of government unless they get

policy concessions they would never have been able to enact

through legislation.

That is why together we must avert a default that would jeopardize veterans' benefits, senior citizens' benefits, Social Security payments, and checks for troops, even troops on the front line. It would also effectively raise taxes on every American family: Vermont, Illinois, Kentucky, Idaho, Nevada, all over this country. Oregon. All of the Senators on the floor. Even Wyoming, which does not pay much in the way of taxes. We could do that. It would effectively raise taxes on every American family. And businesses would also suffer by the increase in the cost of everything from groceries to their mortgages.

So I urge my Republican friends to join me and move forward with the only compromise plan that is left--in fact, the only option left at all--to save this country from default.

Mr. President, I believe my distinguished Republican friend must be a little bit confused because he is usually totally logical. He tells the American people this morning he was called to the White House last week and said: Mr. President, let us do the deal, and now he is telling the President he wants the President to do the deal. That is somewhat illogical.

I wish to make sure everybody in the Senate understands clearly that when negotiations took place last Sunday, in a meeting between Leader Pelosi, me, the Speaker, and Senator McConnell, we tried very hard to work something out. But everyone should understand, when we left that meeting, we did not have anything worked out. We had nothing worked out. They were focusing on a 6-month extension, trying to come up with a trigger for the joint committee, which we have never been able to accomplish.

It is OK they keep talking about an agreement the President overruled, but the President cannot overrule an agreement we don't have.

Yes, I am happy to.

Mr. President, the President of the United States, in the presence of Senator McConnell, Senator

Durbin, Senator Kyl, and the House leaders, said to all of us: No President in history has spent as much time as I have on a compliant basis--meaning with leaders--trying to come up with some effort on this budget problem we are having today. The President has spent hours, days, and weeks of his time working on this. As we know, he believed he had--as I understand it--two tentative agreements with the Speaker. The Speaker backed out of both of those.

The President--and I have not spoken to him this morning, but I did several times yesterday--is willing to work with anybody who can give him a proposal. That is my point today. As I said earlier--a letter is coming, terrific--I have not received it yet, but I am sure it is coming. The Republicans say they will not vote for my legislation. What will they vote for? Do they have any ideas? Let me know. I will be happy to work it in. We have gone so far as to even accept the Republican bill we got from the House as a shell. Nobody has to worry about it being my bill. If we work something out, it will be the Boehner bill, if that makes everyone happy.

Mr. President, we are here dealing with reality, not a world of fantasy. We are dealing with reality. The reality is, the debt ceiling is fast approaching, and we have to raise it or default on our debt. We have a matter before this body that would increase the debt ceiling until March of 2013. It would reduce the debt by $2.4 trillion on basically issues that the Republicans voted on. They talk about, I don't think we need to do the overseas contingency fund because the wars that were started--and still going on--by President Bush cost a lot of money, trillions of dollars. The Congressional Budget Office and the Office of Management and Budget have said those wars are winding down. As a result of that, we will save $1 trillion. They have scored it. That is a reduction in our debt.

I also think that if the Republicans have some way they want to improve my legislation, please let somebody know. If they don't want to call me, call the President of the United States. But we have to work forward. Mine is the only proposal we have. If mine passes, we will continue to push this because it should pass because it is the only proposal we have left.

My friend says let us vote. We say the same thing. Let us vote. We want to vote. Why in the world, on something as important as this, can't we have an up-or-down vote as they had in the House? To underline my point, my friend, the assistant Democratic leader, the whip, served in the House longer than I did. They are taking up over there today, as I understand it, what we call a consent calendar, which are issues that are of minor importance, no controversy whatsoever. They are taking up extending the debt ceiling on that calendar. I think that is unheard of.

We are willing to vote right now, but 60 votes we are not willing to take because this should not be filibustered. We are not going to agree to the 6-month proposal because, as I indicated in my prepared remarks, that would mean we would be back in this mess in a matter of weeks. We want to be fully engaged.

I repeat to the people who are supposedly sending me this letter, what do you want? What do I say to my caucus because my Republican colleagues haven't come up with any alternative. It is easy to do. We can amend my legislation. In the meantime, that will not happen, and we are going to proceed forward and do the best we can to overcome this filibuster.

Mr. President, a filibuster is known all over America as a way to stall, prevent votes. That is all this is about. If my Republican colleagues are so anxious to vote, let us have a vote. We would move this matter down the field very quickly.

Finally, the matter that is now known as the Reid amendment, is that the President's first choice? No. He wanted to do what he called the grand deal. He thought he had that worked out with the Speaker. But the President knows what I have put forward is good for the country. It extends the debt ceiling and reduces the debt.

I say to my friend the Republican leader the President will sign my legislation. My friend says he wants something the President will sign. He will sign this. We can pass it tonight and get it through the House and he would sign it tomorrow.

So, Mr. President, I would hope the world understands, our country understands--because all Senators understand--this is another filibuster being conducted in an effort to prevent our moving forward to handle the debt situation we have in our country.