[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 185 (Wednesday, December 5, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S14752-S14753]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                           ORDER OF PROCEDURE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the time 
Senator McConnell and I have used not be counted against the hour for 
morning business.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I have been in the minority; I understand 
how that works. But the record is very clear that on rare occasions did 
we oppose motions to proceed. We did but on rare occasions.
  Keep in mind, as I have said, during this period of time--not even 1 
year yet--records for filibusters will be broken for a 2-year session.
  We have involved the minority. We did it on the minimum wage. We did 
it on ethics and lobbying reform. We have done it on U.S. attorneys 
independence. When we passed a supplemental appropriations bill, there 
was total involvement of House Republicans and Senate Republicans. That 
was good. We were able to finally get money for Katrina and wildfire 
relief. We have worked together on veterans legislation we have done. 
It has been a bipartisan move forward.
  One of the rewarding things for me is the work we have been able to 
get out of the HELP Committee. Two diametrically opposed political 
minds, Kennedy and Enzi, have worked together and produced a lot of 
good things on which we have been able to move forward--mental health 
parity, the Head Start Program, a number of other items.
  We have passed legislation that has paid for our troops. The only 
words of disagreement Senator McConnell and I have had on a private 
basis has been over the Energy bill; that was a misunderstanding. Those 
things happen, and I have forgotten about that. Other than that, we do 
our best to represent our caucus and our country. I have no personal 
animosity toward my friend.
  On the Energy bill, I do want to say this before we leave that. To 
frame this issue, understand we are in the middle of a debate on the 
Energy bill. The issue was whether we would have a $32 billion tax on 
the Energy bill. There was objection from my Republican friends. Before 
votes were taken, one of my friends, a Democratic Senator, stood and 
said: It doesn't matter what you do here. We will take care of it in 
conference.
  I stood and said: This will not take place in conference. We will not 
have this matter in conference.
  The problem is, we have never been able to get to conference. We 
tried numerous times to have a conference on the Energy bill, and they 
wouldn't let us do it. So now we are going to get from the House 
tomorrow something they have done. Republicans have been involved, 
Republicans in the House and in the Senate. But, remember, in the House 
they have a little different procedure. Because the power is with the 
party that has the most votes, they can do most anything they want.
  I have kept my word. There is nothing that has been added in 
conference. We haven't had a conference. I can't control Speaker 
Pelosi. I hope everybody understands that. She is a strong, independent 
woman. She runs the House with an iron hand. I support what she does, 
but no one needs to come and tell me I didn't keep my word. You check 
the record, which we have. I said this matter would not be added in 
conference, and it has not been added in conference. We haven't had a 
conference.
  I have spoken to Senator Domenici. He is my friend, and I have great 
respect for him. He has served his State and the country well. Senator 
Domenici and I have worked as the two leaders of the Energy and Water 
Subcommittee on Appropriations for a long time. He was either the 
chairman or I was. We get along very well. I talked to him last night. 
I explained to him the situation. I think he understands what took 
place. We have not had a conference. If that bill comes to us and those 
tax provisions are in it, we will take a look at it.
  I do know this: As I have been told, the tax portion of that, if it 
is tied on to the Energy bill, would be $12 billion less than the one 
proposed in the Senate. I hope we can get some cooperation on the 
Energy bill. That would be great. It is something this country needs.
  A couple of other things I want to say. On the farm bill, I say with 
the most genuine respect I can that my friend is not being fair in his 
description of why we don't move forward on the farm bill. Remember, 
the last bill

[[Page S14753]]

we had to move forward on was Amtrak, a bill that had been in the 
Republican leadership for years not moving forward. We decided we would 
move forward on it, and we passed it. What was the first amendment 
offered? A tax amendment. It had absolutely nothing to do with Amtrak. 
We can't have these bills in the waning weeks of this Congress, when 
people are waiting around for all kinds of things they want to do on 
Iraq and Afghanistan and the military and immigration.
  I guess the Republicans think they have a good issue on immigration, 
to bash immigrants. They have all kinds of issues they want on 
immigration. They are waiting in the wings to offer these amendments. 
We can see that on the farm bill. A number of the 287 amendments filed 
have been dealing with immigration. We can't open the farm bill during 
the time we are trying to pass FISA, trying to pass the farm bill, AMT, 
do our spending bills.
  How much more reasonable could I be in trying to shorten the time? I 
said: Republicans take 10; we will take 5. No. So Senator Harkin comes 
to me and Senator Chambliss. They have it down to less than 40. I said: 
Take the deal; we will agree to it. We don't even want time agreements 
on the amendments. How much more reasonable can we be? We can't be. 
Whatever we come up with, the Republicans would not agree to it because 
they do not want us to have a farm bill. So why don't they just 
acknowledge that. They are acknowledging it by their stopping us from 
having any kind of agreement.

  I agree with the Republican leader, once we got on the bill, we could 
move forward with these amendments quickly. But that is where we are.
  According to my friend--and I think these are the words he said--it 
is offensive to pay for these tax cuts. Let's follow this. It is 
offensive to pay for the tax cuts? That has been the Republican mantra 
for 7 years. And where are we? When President Bush took office, there 
was a $7 trillion surplus over 10 years. Where are we now? We are 
approaching a $10 trillion debt. Everything the Republicans have done 
with their spending has not been paid for, and their tax cuts have not 
been paid for.
  As with the Clinton administration, we adopted pay-go. That is in our 
budget. If we have a program that is new, we have to pay for it. That 
doesn't sound unreasonable. That is what the American people want. If 
they buy a new car, a new refrigerator, they have to pay for it. There 
is only so much credit in the world. This Government has exceeded its 
credit limit. The credit card no longer works.
  We also believe the tax cuts, which have given us red ink as far as 
you can see, created by the Republicans, should come to an end. If 
there are going to be further tax cuts, we should pay for them. That is 
the right thing to do. That is all we are saying with the AMT. Pay for 
these tax cuts. This is a tax cut. It should be paid for. I don't know 
what is offensive about that.
  I would further say we are willing to meet the minority more than 
halfway--halfway, of course, but more than halfway. We have proven that 
as we have worked through legislation this year. It has been hard. It 
has been a slog. I understand how disappointed the Republicans are that 
we are in the majority. It was a surprise to a lot of people when last 
November we took the majority of the Senate. We won seats that no one 
expected us to win. But we are in the majority, no matter how slim. We 
have had some accomplishments, and we are proud of those. But more 
importantly, we believe in change. We believe we are agents of change 
for America. The Republicans are agents of the status quo. The American 
people will have to judge whom they want to support. Do they want to 
support those who want to keep things the way they are in Iraq and 
every other bad situation we find ourselves in as a country or do they 
want to move forward with us and work for change? That is where we are.
  I think we are on the right side. I hope during these next couple of 
weeks we can work together and do some good things for the country. We 
are willing to go more than halfway. Take AMT, for example. Let's go 
over that again. I have tried everything I can, offering unanimous 
consent requests which have been objected to. Vote on the House bill. 
No. Vote on what we have in the Senate. No. Vote on what Senator Lott 
wants: just to repeal it and have another trillion dollars of red ink. 
No. Not willing to do that.
  So today I said: OK, let's vote on not even paying for it. How about 
that? I have heard no clamor from the Republicans, yes, that sounds 
like a good idea. What more could we do?
  The word is that there are people--and how big the number is we don't 
know, but we know in the Senate it doesn't take a big majority to cause 
problems--there are many Republican Senators who don't want us to put 
the patch for AMT so they can go around, as I told Senator McConnell 
this morning, pointing fingers at each other about whose fault it is 
that these people in America with $75,000 to $500,000 in income are 
going to get a tax increase. How much more reasonable could we be? Have 
we gone more than halfway? The answer is obviously yes. We want to 
legislate. We do not want to block things from happening.
  If someone can show me how I am unreasonable with my proposal on AMT, 
I would be happy to sit down and talk to them. I don't know how I could 
be more reasonable.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Menendez). The Republican leader is 
recognized.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, others have been waiting patiently to 
speak. Let me say with regard to AMT, this is existing law we are 
trying to extend. With regard to the extenders, there is existing law 
we are trying to extend. We should not use that as an excuse to raise 
taxes on a whole lot of other Americans. That is something that 
virtually every member of my conference feels strongly about. We are 
going to continue to talk about it. I am still optimistic we are going 
to be able to get this worked out. The majority leader and I are good 
friends, and we are going to continue to work on all these issues in 
the hope that we can go forward in the few weeks remaining before 
Christmas.
  I yield the floor.

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