[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 9 (Thursday, January 15, 2009)]
[Senate]
[Pages S401-S402]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            WORKING TOGETHER

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, just a couple of brief remarks.
  With all the challenges our country faces, I think we all agree on 
the importance of this Congress getting off to a fast and effective 
start. In many ways, I believe we are on that track.
  Today, we will likely pass a major wilderness bill that will preserve 
our environment for the enjoyment of generations to come. The press 
reports it is the most significant environmental bill that will be 
passed in more than a quarter century.
  We are making progress on confirmation hearings so President Obama 
will have his team hit the ground running on January 20. We have seated 
new Members and announced new committee assignments for the 111th 
Congress.

[[Page S402]]

  Today, we vote on stopping a filibuster on a motion to proceed to the 
Lilly Ledbetter legislation--legislation that ensures pay fairness in 
the workplace. This should not be necessary. It is really a waste of 
time--our country's time. After at least 2 legislative days to get the 
bill before the Senate to have this vote today, we must wait another 30 
hours until we can start offering amendments on the bill. That is a 
waste of time. That is 4 days at least of wasted time and unnecessary 
delay. I hope in the future we can just go to the bill, avoid the 
cloture filing on a motion to proceed. Instead of forcing cloture 
motions that only waste time and delay progress, I urge my Republican 
colleagues to offer amendments. If they object to parts of this bill, 
the Lilly Ledbetter bill, then let's work on a list of amendments and 
get through them. I do not approve the amendments. The Republican 
leader does not approve them. Senators will have that opportunity to 
vote on amendments, up or down, and it does not get any fairer than 
that. There may be motions to table, but at least they will have the 
right to offer those amendments.
  I think we have the opportunity to get this Congress off on the right 
foot. I want all to know there is no attempt by Democrats to jam 
legislation through without Republican involvement. So I ask my 
Republican colleagues to accept my offer to work with us rather than 
revert to the old path of obstruction that served neither party nor the 
American people well.
  So I would hope that as soon as this vote takes place today, we would 
not have to wait 30 hours or 5 hours or any amount of hours. Let's just 
start legislating on the bill. People could offer amendments today, 
after we get these votes out of the way. We could offer amendments 
tomorrow. I hope we can do that. As we have done in the past, if there 
is a series of amendments, we can always stack those votes to vote at a 
more convenient time for everyone. But I hope we can do that.

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