[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 62 (Thursday, May 6, 2004)]
[Senate]
[Page S4941]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        THE PRICE OF OBSTRUCTION

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, I believe many in the press world and 
too many outside the beltway are observing the gridlock in the Senate 
and probably just dismissing it as ``politics as usual.''
  The truth is, it is not politics as usual. It is politics at its 
worst. The result is Americans are getting the worst, the very worst 
from the Senate, when they deserve the best.
  With gridlock jamming our Nation's highways, we get gridlock on the 
highway bill right here in the Senate. With our Nation's energy supply 
uncertain, the fate of the Energy bill in the Senate is equally 
uncertain. With a work-based welfare system doing wonders across 
America, we see no work allowed on welfare reform in the Senate. As 
backlogged as courtrooms are with lawsuits, so, too, is the Senate 
backlogged with sensible tort reform. As emergency room patients wait 
for a doctor's care, so, too, do emergency room doctors wait for 
medical lawsuit reform from the Senate.
  Gridlock, uncertainty, inaction, backlog, and delay; that is all the 
Senate is serving up these days. Gridlock, uncertainty, inaction, 
backlog, and delay is all that is on the menu in the Senate these days.
  There is a price for obstruction. It is real. It is painful and it is 
rising. Let me give a few examples.
  For decades, now, congestion has been rising. According to the 
committee report on the highway bill, the extra time needed for a rush-
hour commute has tripled over the past two decades. The resulting 
congestion costs every man, woman, and child in the United States $520 
a year. About a billion gallons of gasoline are wasted every 2 months 
on U.S. roads.
  Yet this highway bill we have could create hundreds of thousands of 
jobs in the next few years. This highway bill is being prevented from 
being written, right here in the Senate. This highway bill, which would 
prevent almost half a million accidents, save almost 2,000 lives over 
the next two decades, this bill is stalled on an open road to nowhere.
  Why? Because of Democratic obstruction. The House version and Senate 
version of the bill are blocked by Democrats from going to conference 
to resolve our differences. It is the way we legislate in the Congress.
  With gas prices rising this year, with wide-scale electrical 
blackouts last year, and with Middle East tensions every year, the 
Energy bill is again stalled, going well into its third year of delay. 
But a bill that will, according to the Senate Energy and Natural 
Resources Committee, create 650,000 new jobs, that will boost the 
economy and secure our energy supplies, is blocked by Democratic 
filibusters.
  Do we have to have another blackout before we are permitted to act? 
Do we have to have total shutdown of our freeways before the highway 
bill will be freed?
  The price of obstruction is real. It is rising. And there appears to 
be little relief in sight in our roads, at our pumps, in our 
courtrooms, our emergency rooms, and our employment offices across 
America, all due to obstruction by Democrats.
  I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, how much time is left on the majority side 
in morning business?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. On the majority side there are 2 minutes 49 
seconds remaining.
  Mr. REID. Will the Chair notify me when that time has expired?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Nevada.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, is the time for the Democrats to begin 
now?
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Thirty seconds remain on the majority side.

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