[Congressional Record Volume 157, Number 36 (Thursday, March 10, 2011)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1515-S1516]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    ACTING TO STRENGTHEN THE ECONOMY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is time once again for us to get down to 
business. Yesterday's budget votes didn't bring us any closer to a 
conclusion, but it did bring to our minds a lesson, and it does that 
very clearly. That lesson is that one party alone will not reach a 
resolution without the other's cooperation and consent.
  We voted on the Republican budget proposal and on the Democratic 
budget proposal. Neither plan came close to the 60 votes needed to pass 
or even the 51 votes which would represent a majority of the Senate. 
But the exercise wasn't in vain. We have demonstrated publicly and on 
the record that we know the answer lies somewhere in the middle. Now it 
is time to find that answer in a budget that will reflect our values, 
keep the country running, and create jobs.
  I can speak only for my caucus when I say we accept the lessons of 
yesterday's vote. We know we will have to make sacrifices to reach 
consensus, and we are willing to do that. Republicans have to be 
willing to move their position also. Perhaps they are willing to 
finally acknowledge that, given our deep debt, we can't afford 
government giveaways to millionaires and oil companies making record 
profits. Both acknowledgments would help close the deficit gap. Both 
would be big pieces to the puzzle.
  Perhaps Republicans are willing to offer more reasonable cuts that 
the Democratic caucus can support. By reasonable cuts, I mean cuts that 
don't

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arbitrarily kick Head Start students out of class or rob college 
students of their Pell grants--both cuts resoundingly rejected 
yesterday--and I mean cuts that don't pull the plug on renewable energy 
jobs or cuts that fire thousands of workers at community health centers 
across the country. Republicans should be willing to look at our 
country's substantial budget and find cuts more worthy than those that 
would weaken law enforcement and border security to keep us safe. I 
hope they will.
  I hope they will join Democrats in saving money by attacking waste, 
fraud, and abuse. I hope they will join us in making tough choices and 
avoiding the temptation to make counterproductive cuts. Let's come 
together to cut in a way that strengthens our economy and doesn't 
weaken our economy. Let's cut in a way that makes our neighborhoods, 
our schools, and our borders stronger, not weaker.
  As the negotiation process begins anew, I remind my Republican 
friends that time is short. I also remind them that the deadline we 
face--a week from tomorrow--is the deadline they set. We didn't set it. 
Democrats warned from the start that the process would take a month. 
Republicans would agree only to a period half as long as that--2 weeks. 
Those 2 weeks are up, as I said, next Friday.
  So my message is this to my Republican colleagues: You set the 
deadline, and the responsibility of meeting it is as much yours as it 
is ours. Both parties also share a responsibility to be reasonable. So 
let's get to work. We cannot negotiate this in the media. We cannot 
negotiate this if we are unwilling to give any ground. We cannot be 
stubborn and expect a solution. It is time to negotiate in good faith, 
it is time for all political posturing to end, and it is time for 
pragmatism, which is long overdue.
  I would also say to my friends in the House that the Senate has 
produced two very strong jobs bills. One is the FAA reauthorization, 
which is long overdue. That was a bipartisan bill. It passed 
overwhelmingly here in the Senate and would save or create 280,000 
jobs--a pretty good step in the right direction. Just in the last 24 
hours, we passed the patent reform bill. That will create 300,000 jobs. 
These two jobs bills need to be completed by the House of 
Representatives so we can send them to the President. These two jobs 
bills are important. The House should focus on jobs, not these 
arbitrary cuts they have been making. So I hope the House would right 
away work on the jobs bills that have already passed the Senate--
patents and, of course, the FAA bill.

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