Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Thank you, Mr. President. I move to instruct the Sergeant at Arms to request the attendance of absent Senators, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, may we have order.

I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a message from the House with respect to S. 627.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to that legislative matter, and I move to table the motion to concur and ask for the yeas and nays.

Yes, without losing my right to the floor.

Yes.

Mr. President, through the Chair, I say to my friend, the distinguished Republican leader, let's hope they are more timely on their 1 o'clock vote than they have been in the last few days.

I would say this very directly: We would be happy to have a vote on the Reid amendment just like the House did today, a majority vote. We have gotten into a situation that is untoward. Everything that moves is a supermajority. That isn't the way it should be. So we are happy to have a vote anytime. But it should be a majority vote just like the House had. They had a majority vote today, and they had an overwhelming extra vote of none. So we would be happy to have a simple majority vote on the Democratic proposal that we are putting forward.

That is a consent that we will be happy to have a vote if it is a simple majority vote.

Let's have order. Let the Republican leader be heard.

So it is obvious to the world that in the Senate this is now another filibuster. That is what this is; it is a filibuster to stop us from moving forward on legislation. This is a filibuster in any name that you want.

I am disappointed. I asked for a rollcall vote on the tabling motion. I ask that we move forward.

Mr. President, I move to concur in the House amendment to S. 627 with an amendment.

I ask for the yeas and nays on the motion.

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

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk.

Mr. President, I have a motion to refer the House message to the Budget Committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment.

I ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

Mr. President, I have an amendment to my instructions, which is also at the desk.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. President, I have a second-degree amendment to my instructions, which is at the desk.

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

If my friend the Republican leader wishes to speak, I, of course, would withhold.

Mr. President, it is very obvious there should be a vote on my amendment and it should be with a simple majority. That is the way it has traditionally been in this body until the Republicans have tried to establish a supermajority, which doesn't work. This is a filibuster. This is something that should not be filibustered. They should back off the filibuster and let us vote. Let us vote. That is where we are. We feel very strongly on this side that if the House can pass something with a simple majority, so can we.

I object.

Mr. President, we know that if the legislation in the House of Representatives had required a supermajority, we would not be dealing with the Boehner--I am trying to say a nice word--the Boehner legislation. We wouldn't be doing that.

We are here now. We have tried our utmost to come up with a fair proposal that deserves an up-or-down vote. It is fair. It reduces the debt by $2.4 trillion. In fact, most every bit of it includes material that the House has voted on before, the Senators have voted on before. It is something we should do. It is fair.

We have tried to compromise. That is not a bad word. I had a tentative meeting set with some Republican Senators this afternoon. The meeting didn't come to be. I have asked my friend the Republican leader to negotiate, and he has chosen not to do that. That is too bad.

I want to move forward. And if my friend wants to negotiate with others, fine. My door has been open all day. But we are doing the right thing. We will not agree to a 6-month extension, putting our country in jeopardy in just a few weeks. The Ryan budget has been out there whacking Medicare, whacking Medicare fraud. The cut, cap, and whatever it was does the same thing.

What I have put forward is a fair proposal. It is something we should do. It would get rid of the disaster that is facing us. It is the right thing to do.

The American people want us to work this out, and we have tried. We have given. We have compromised. There has just been no give on the other side. In fact, Mr. President, it has been quite the opposite.

We had a wonderful agreement set up here between the two people who ran the Budget Committee for years, Senators Conrad and Gregg, a wonderful proposal to move forward expedited procedures. What happened? When we moved to it, seven Republicans who sponsored the legislation didn't vote for it. Then we moved forward with the Biden group. What happened with that? The Republicans walked out of that meeting. We had a situation where meetings were going on with the President. Leader Cantor from the House walked out on that meeting. Speaker Boehner walked out on the President twice. The Gang of 6, trying to work something out, one of the leaders--the most vocal leader of that group took a sabbatical leave and stepped back in just a few days ago.

We have tried our utmost to negotiate something in fairness. We are where we are. We want an up-or-down vote on my proposal.

If the Republicans continue to filibuster this, they are going to have to show at 1 o'clock Sunday morning or thereabouts that they are going to continue the filibuster. We are not going to give up on this.

Finally, the Republican leader said we don't need to carry this on forever. I agree with my friend. This legislation is of utmost importance. It has great significance, as he said. All the more reason there should not be a filibuster being conducted on this legislation. Our country is in the throes of an economic disaster. To think that they would filibuster this, they are not negotiating, and that is why we are at the last--we waited as long as we could to come forward with something that we would try to get through here. But we have not been able to do it because they have not negotiated in good faith. All the negotiation has been with ourselves.

Mr. President, following any leader remarks, the Senate will be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half.

Following morning business, I will be recognized.

Mr. President, H.R. 1938 is due for a second reading, I am told.

Mr. President, I would object to any further proceedings at this time.

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

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

Mr. President, we have 5 days remaining until a few extremist Republicans--and note I say ``a few''--drive our economy off a cliff because they are too radical and inexperienced to compromise. Financial experts are begging Congress to come to an agreement that averts a first-ever default on this Nation's financial obligations.

This is what one financial analyst said yesterday about the need to avert a default crisis which would spark a global economic depression.

The market is saying we need a deal. Default is starting to seep into the marketplace.

It will not be long, they say, before our financial markets severely react to continued stubbornness by the tea party Republicans, tanking our economy. Wall Street had a very bad day yesterday--its worst in months--largely based on the news that Congress still has not found a path forward.

That does not only affect big investment banks or wealthy investors; all around the country, ordinary Americans with 401(k)s and college savings accounts lost money yesterday. Their life savings took a hit because a small group of radical Republicans who do not represent mainstream Americans have refused to move even 1 inch toward compromise.

Yesterday's bad economic news should be a sign to those Republicans who deny reality. Default will rock our financial system to its core. Many reasonable Republicans realize time is running out. They have urged their colleagues to compromise.

Yesterday on the Senate floor, John McCain, the Republican senior Senator from Arizona and President Obama's opponent in the last Presidential election, asked his own party to return to reality. It ``is not fair to the American people to hold out and say we won't agree to raising the debt limit. . . . ''

He called the radical Republican approach--saying up is down and denying

the sky is blue--``unfair'' and ``bizarro.'' Those are quotes from John McCain. He further said:

It's time we listened to the markets. It's time we listened

to the American people and sit down and seriously negotiate.

He was talking to his fellow Republicans and, in particular, to a tea party that does not seem to realize Republicans control only one-half of one branch of government. That faction of the Republican Party is holding our economy hostage. That is an understatement.

My counterpart, Senator McConnell, also urged a return to reason.

We cannot get a perfect solution, from my point of view,

controlling only the House of Representatives. So I'm

prepared to accept something less than perfect because

perfect is not achievable.

That is from Senator Mitch McConnell. Both sides know neither side will get everything it wants. That does not mean we should not come together to find a compromise that gives each side something it needs. Republicans have drawn the line at ending wasteful tax breaks for corporate jet owners and oil companies making record profits. They have vowed to protect corporate welfare at taxpayer expense. Democrats have vowed to protect senior citizens who rely on Social Security and Medicare benefits. We will not allow them to suffer while Republicans protect tax breaks for billionaires.

The compromise plan we are considering in the Senate protects both of these priorities--both parties' priorities. Whether one agrees with the priorities, the legislation I have on the floor in the form of an amendment protects those priorities--Democratic priorities and Republican priorities.

Unfortunately, in a concession to Republicans, we did not ask millionaires and billionaires to contribute their fair share. We would have loved to have done it. But the line has been drawn by the Republicans and we followed that. But it does protect seniors who Republicans insist should feel the pain.

It would also avert a default crisis while cutting $2.5 trillion from the deficit. That is twice as much as the Boehner plan. Yet House Republicans refuse to support the Senate compromise. I am happy to talk to any of my Republican colleagues--I have talked to several of them, I am happy to continue that--to listen to reasonable suggestions to make the Senate compromise legislation even better. That would require tea party Republicans to admit ``compromise'' is not a bad word.

Legislation is the art of compromise, and they need to learn that. A significant number of House Republicans said their party would rather see this Nation default on its financial obligations than cooperate with Democrats. That says it all. It is hard to comprehend that, but there has been a spate of these Members of the House of Representatives who have said they would rather see the Nation default on its financial obligations than cooperate.

This kind of thinking has been roundly rejected by the American people. Nearly three-quarters of Americans want Congress to compromise, even if neither side gets everything it wants. The American people know we cannot get everything we want.

This thinking has also been rejected by reasonable Republicans. I had the good fortune of serving with the very famous American, Fred Thompson from Tennessee. He was famous before he got here. He is a movie actor. He served in the Senate admirably and went back to do his acting. Former Senator Fred Thompson--by the way, he is a Republican-- urged members of his own party in an open letter to the House GOP to recognize a good deal when they see it. That is what he said. ``I respectfully suggest that you rake in your chips, stuff them in your pockets, and go home.''

The proposal on the table would cut the deficit by $2.5 trillion. If their goal is to rein in spending, they already won. That is what Fred Thompson said: ``If their goal is to rein in spending, they've already won.'' Declare victory and leave. Republicans should know--this is Fred Thompson--``when to take their chips and walk away.''

American writer Elbert Hubbard said, ``It is easy to get everything you want, provided you first learn to do without the things you cannot get.'' That is what this is all about. ``It is easy to get everything you want, provided you first learn to do without the things you cannot get.''

There are things that either side cannot get. Accept that and move on. Republicans cannot get the short-term Band-Aid they will vote on in the House today. It will not get one Democratic vote in the Senate. All 53 members of the Senate Democratic caucus wrote to the Speaker last night--the letter was hand-delivered to him--to tell him why we will not vote for it.

The economy needs more certainty than the Speaker's proposal would provide. We must not be back in 6 weeks doing the same thing I have been involved in for 7 or 8 months. We do not need to do that. Washington has been locked down with this debt crisis debate. The White House is not doing all they need to do. We are not doing the things we need to do. We cannot come back to this in just a few short weeks. That is what would happen.

We must not be back here in 6 weeks or 6 months debating whether to allow our Nation to default on its financial obligations for the Republican rightwing that seems to be controlling so much of what they are doing in the House.

It would be easy for Republicans to get nearly everything they want if only they embraced the Senate's true compromise plan and stop, as Senator McCain put it, deceiving the American people--his words not mine.

The question remains, will my Republican colleagues be wise enough to end this stalemate?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of H.R. 2608.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that a Landrieu substitute amendment which is at the desk be agreed to, the bill, as amended, be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the period of morning business be extended until 5 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; further, that at 5 p.m. I be recognized.

Madam President, we are not in a quorum call?

It is a rare occasion.

Madam President, today the House of Representatives will vote on Speaker Boehner's short-term plan to raise the debt ceiling. As soon as the House completes its vote tonight, or this afternoon, the Senate will move to take up the message they send to us. It will be defeated. They know that, and the American people now should understand that clearly.

No Democrat will vote for a short-term bandaid approach that will put our economy at risk and put the Nation back in the untenable situation we are in today in just a few short months from now. Economists have said a short-term arrangement holds many of the same risks as a technical default. Democrats are not willing to put our economy on the line for something such as that. It is something we cannot do for the good of the country. Our economy and the financial markets desperately need stability. Speaker Boehner's bill does not provide either. It does not provide stability, and it certainly doesn't help our economy in any way.

I believe it is time for the tea party Republicans to stop resisting compromise. They must join Democrats and Republicans of good will to put the economy ahead of politics.

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that morning business be extended until 7 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each during that time; and further, that I be recognized at 7 p.m.

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

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the period of morning business be extended until 8:30 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each and, further, that at 8:30 I be recognized.

The reason we are extending morning business is the House is having trouble passing the bill, I understand, and so we are waiting until action is taken. They started at 4:30, and it is taking longer than they anticipated. As I understand, they have another caucus in which they are now engaged. It is 7 o'clock, so that is why I thought that at 8:30 we would have a better idea whether they are going to take action tonight.

Again, I would suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent, on behalf of Senator Bingaman, that three interns in his office, Shannon Simpson, Brooke Jordy, and Trey Debrine, be granted floor privileges during today's business.

Mr. President, we are awaiting action of the House of Representatives on their bill. For that reason, I will ask unanimous consent that we recess subject to the call of the Chair, and I will make that motion in just a minute.

For the information of all Senators, I don't expect or anticipate any action here before 9 o'clock, so I doubt we would reconvene before 9 p.m. tonight.

So I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.

There being no objections the Senate, at 7:43 p.m., recessed subject to the call of the Chair and reassembled at 10:45 p.m. when called to order by the Presiding Officer (Mr. Durbin).

Mr. President, thank you very much. I apologize to everyone for the late hour. We have been waiting for the House to conduct their business and they are having trouble conducting it. As a result of their not sending us the material we need, we are going to have to wait until tomorrow to do our work.