[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 61 (Thursday, April 17, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3136-S3137]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                         REPUBLICAN FILIBUSTERS

  Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, today the Senate had a historic moment. We 
passed a bill that has been long awaited across America--one that was 
read about and heard about. It finally passed this afternoon. It was a 
bill called the technical corrections bill.
  It was a bill that changed and corrected the punctuation and 
references in a highway bill we enacted several years ago. It was not 
that historic. In fact, it is fairly routine. You see, after you pass a 
bill that affects the whole United States and billions of dollars, 
sometimes, on reflection, you find some of the facts were wrong, some 
of the words were wrong; and you have to clean it up. And so a 
technical corrections bill is very common around here. It happens to 
correct mistakes, to make sure things are done well and done 
accurately. It is the kind of bill that historically would pass without 
any debate whatsoever. Many times it would pass by a voice vote late at 
night when no one is here because there is so little controversy 
attached to it.
  So despite what I said at the outset, it is not that historic. But 
what made this process historic, and we are researching this, but we 
believe for the first time in the history of the Senate, the 
Republicans initiated not one but two filibusters on our effort to pass 
this technical corrections bill.
  We brought this bill to the floor a week ago today, asked that it 
pass, and then faced a filibuster from the Republicans. That filibuster 
was broken on Monday, with a 93-to-1 vote, and then a second filibuster 
had to be initiated by the Republicans before we could finally pass the 
bill today.
  For those following this from the outside, I am afraid I might have 
lost some of them. But what it boiled down to was that the Republican 
minority was determined that we would burn 1 week of Senate activity on 
a bill that should have taken 5 minutes. They were determined that we 
would have a succession of rollcall votes on a bill which by and large 
had no controversy. There was one little issue that could have been 
resolved quickly, perhaps in an hour, in a good-faith debate with a 
vote. They stretched it out for a week.
  Why are we in this stall? Why do the Republicans want to slow us 
down? It is part of a strategy. Republican filibusters this Congress, 
as of today, went up to 66; 66 Republican filibusters this Congress and 
still counting. Is that a lot? Historically, the Senate has never had 
more than 57 filibusters in any 2-year period. We have had 66 in a 
matter of a year and 3 or 4 months. So they are about to break all 
records with filibusters in an attempt to slow down the Senate. They 
can't even come to a bipartisan agreement on a technical corrections 
bill. The Republicans insist on these filibuster rollcalls on a 
technical corrections bill. Why?
  First, they want to slow the Senate down as much as possible so we 
don't act on issues that really count. They don't want us to take up an 
energy bill to talk about energy tax credits so that we can expand 
renewable sources of energy. They don't want us to take up a bill to 
deal with children's health insurance, a bill vetoed twice by President 
Bush, which would provide health care protection for many children not 
poor enough to qualify for Medicaid, not fortunate enough to have 
parents with health insurance. They don't want us to take up important 
legislation dealing with the state of our economy, legislation to 
extend unemployment benefits to the millions of Americans who are out 
of work. Those numbers are reaching modern records. We know many of 
these families are struggling to find a job. We want to extend benefits 
so these people can feed their families while they are looking for 
work. Republicans don't want us to take up that legislation. So they 
keep throwing filibusters in our path, slowing down the Senate, making 
sure the Senate never gets to the issues that are critically important. 
Whether it is funding our schools or paying for health care, taking 
care of unemployed workers, providing money for medical research, 
trying to bring down the high cost of gasoline, the high cost of health 
care and college, they continue to throw filibusters in our path.
  GOP is shorthand for the Republican Party. It technically used to 
stand for Grand Old Party. The Republicans in the Senate have created a 
new GOP.

[[Page S3137]]

They want the Senate to be a ``Graveyard of Progress.'' They don't want 
us to take up this legislation. They don't want us to take up these 
issues. They don't want to see any change. They don't want to see any 
progress. That is why their message at this point is so empty. All they 
can do is say no, no to the issues that really count with American 
families.
  Eventually the American people will speak, in November, in an 
election. They will decide whether this Republican approach of 
filibusters and stopping progress and stopping change is what they want 
to see or whether they want to bring to the Senate new people who can 
start moving this country forward. Eventually the American people have 
the last word. I am sorry we have virtually wasted a week and the time 
of this great institution with more Republican filibusters. But it is 
their strategy; it is their plan. It is the way they address the 
serious issues facing America.

                          ____________________