[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 70 (Wednesday, May 16, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3181-S3183]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




STOP THE STUDENT LOAN INTEREST RATE HIKE ACT OF 2012--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I now move to proceed to Calendar No. 365, 
S. 2343.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the motion.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       Motion to proceed to calendar No. 365, S. 2343, a bill to 
     amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 to extend the reduced 
     interest rate for Federal Direct Stafford Loans, and for 
     other purposes.

  Mr. REID. Madam President, following my remarks and those, if any, of 
the Republican leader, the Senate will begin debate on several motions 
to proceed to Republican budget resolutions. Consent was asked last 
night, I am quite sure, that the first hour be equally divided between 
the two leaders, with the majority controlling the first half and 
Republicans the final half. That is already done?
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is correct.
  Mr. REID. There will be up to 6 hours of debate on the motions to 
proceed to the budget resolutions. Senators should expect five rollcall 
votes around 4 p.m. if all time is used, and it probably will be.


                       Measure Placed on Calendar

  Mr. REID. Madam President, S. 3187 is at the desk and due for a 
second reading.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will read the bill by 
title for the second time.
  The assistant legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 3187) to amend the Federal Food, Drug, and 
     Cosmetic Act to revise and extend the user-fee programs for 
     prescription drugs and medical devices, to establish user-fee 
     programs for generic drugs and biosimilars, and for other 
     purposes.

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I would object to any further proceedings 
with respect to this legislation at this time.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection having been heard, the 
bill shall be placed on the calendar.


                             Obstructionism

  Mr. REID. Madam President, it is almost universally acknowledged that 
Republican obstructionism has reached new heights in the Senate. There 
are separate articles written about it. There are even now books 
written about it. Democrats would have to break a filibuster, I guess, 
to declare the sky blue or the Earth round, and passing the most 
commonsense and consensus legislation could take weeks or months. So 
with a mile-long list to do, we can't afford to waste any time. Yet 
today Republicans will force the Senate to waste a day on a series of 
political show votes. We will spend hours debating and voting on a 
handful of nonbinding budget resolutions even though we already have a 
legally binding budget. If one of the Republicans' budgets passed--
which it won't--by law, it is nonbinding. We have a binding budget 
resolution.
  The Senate could spend the day passing tax cuts for small businesses 
that grow and hire people or even legislation to keep the Food and Drug 
Administration running. We could be considering the Paycheck Fairness 
Act, ensuring American women receive equal pay for equal work. We could 
be debating cybersecurity legislation, and the Pentagon says the No. 1 
issue facing this country today is cyber-insecurity. We could be 
working on a farm bill. Senators Stabenow and Roberts have done such an 
outstanding job saving the country $23 billion and reducing the debt by 
that much. We should be on that bill. We could be protecting 7 million 
students from rate hikes on their Federal loans. We could even move a

[[Page S3182]]

series of appropriations bills to implement the budget we have already 
enacted. Instead, we will debate and vote on a series of stunt budgets.
  Republicans aren't interested in getting anything done this year. 
They have said so from the very beginning. Their leader, my friend from 
Kentucky, has said the No. 1 issue is to defeat President Obama. So 
they don't mind wasting a day of the Senate's time on useless political 
show votes.
  Republicans can say over and over that they are only forcing votes on 
four Republican budgets today because Democrats failed to pass their 
own budget. That couldn't be further from the truth. In August Congress 
passed and President Obama signed a budget that reduces the deficit by 
more than $2 trillion. It is called the Budget Control Act. Twenty-
eight Republican Senators, including my friend the minority leader, 
voted for that last legally binding budget. But since August those 
Republicans have developed a case of amnesia. Why else would they walk 
around Washington claiming we don't have a budget? And unlike the 
hollow Republican budget resolutions the Senate will waste the day 
debating, the Budget Control Act actually has the force of law. If 
Republicans were serious about reducing the deficit, they wouldn't be 
working so hard to undo that August law, which cuts more than $2 
trillion from the deficit.

  Democrats agree that the across-the-board cuts to domestic spending 
and defense programs--agreed to in the Budget Control Act--aren't the 
ideal way to solve our Nation's fiscal problems. But the cuts were 
designed to be tough so lawmakers were forced to reach a balanced deal. 
Unfortunately, Republicans refuse to be reasonable. They refuse to 
raise even a penny of new revenue or ask millionaires to contribute 
their fair share to help reduce our deficit. And Democrats won't agree 
to a one-sided solution that lets the superwealthy off the hook while 
forcing the middle class to bear all the hardship. The American people 
agree with this.
  These four stunt budgets all take that one-sided approach, which 
protects wealthy special interests at the expense of ordinary 
Americans, and they clearly illuminate the Republicans' priorities--to 
shower the wealthy with tax breaks paid for by the middle class. All 
four of the Republican plans cut investments that help middle-class 
families get back on their feet in order to increase tax breaks for 
businesses that ship jobs overseas. All four plans would double the 
student loan rate. It would put colleges out of reach for many students 
in order to protect tax loopholes for special interests. All four plans 
end Medicare as we know it, gutting seniors' health benefits to lavish 
more tax breaks on millionaires and billionaires.
  Yesterday the Senate showed it is possible to advance policies that 
improve our economy and put Americans back to work as long as Democrats 
and Republicans work together. On an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote 
yesterday, we passed the Export-Import Bank reauthorization that will 
support 300,000 jobs during the next year, and these jobs will help 
American companies sell their products overseas. But every moment we 
waste refighting old battles or revisiting Republicans' failed economic 
policies is time that could be better spent creating jobs. The time for 
show votes is over. Now it is time for the Senate to get back to work 
putting Americans back to work.


                   Recognition of the Minority Leader

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is 
recognized.


                               The Budget

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, before I was Republican leader, I was 
probably best known as a lonely warrior against campaign finance reform 
on the grounds that it violates the first amendment right to free 
speech. Before that, I was probably best known--at least in some 
quarters--for an ad that I ran in my first Senate campaign that 
featured a pack of bloodhounds running around looking for my opponent, 
who had missed so many votes giving paid speeches around the country 
that we thought we should call him out on it. Well, I can't help but 
think back on that ad when it comes to Senate Democrats and the Federal 
budget. Where in the world is it? Where is the budget?
  We have a nearly $16 trillion debt. We are borrowing more than 40 
cents of every dollar we spend. Entitlements are going broke. Millions 
are out of work. And Senate Democrats can't even put a plan on a piece 
of paper so we can have a vote. What are they doing over there? What 
are they doing?
  Isn't anybody over there embarrassed by the fact that they haven't 
offered a budget in 3 years? It has been 3 years since the Democrat-led 
Senate felt it needed to put a budget together so the American people 
can see what their priorities are and what they plan to do to fix this 
mess, 3 years in which they have completely abdicated their 
responsibility as the majority party to show the American people what 
they stand for, to put their vision in black and white for all the 
world to see. The fact is they don't have it. They don't have a budget.
  As far as I can tell, their only plan is to take shots at our plans 
and hope nobody notices that they don't have one of their own. They are 
so unserious, they won't even vote for a budget that was written by a 
President of their own party. It doesn't get more irresponsible than 
that.
  I think Treasury Secretary Geithner summed it up pretty well when he 
was asked a few months ago what the administration planned to do to 
address entitlements--the single biggest driver of the national debt. 
Here is what the Secretary of the Treasury had to say:

       We're not coming before you today to say we have a definite 
     solution to that long-term problem. What we do know is, we 
     don't like yours.

  You have to give the guy points for candor--no plan of his own, but 
he doesn't like ours. What breathtaking disregard for the problems we 
face.
  So if you are looking for a simple three-word description of the 
Democratic approach to the problems we face, it is this: Duck and 
cover. Duck and cover. They don't have a budget of their own. They are 
going to vote against their own President's budget later today, in all 
likelihood, and they are going to vote against every budget Republicans 
put up.
  Now, the majority leader has tried to get around all this by 
suggesting that the Budget Control Act we negotiated last fall should 
count as a budget since it sets the top-line amount we are going to 
spend. But he knows as well as I do that is not a budget. A budget is a 
list of priorities. It reflects your values as a party. It shows the 
tough choices you are willing to make. It is not just dollar figures, 
it is a vision. It is the responsibility of any majority party to put 
one together, to stand and be counted. But since Democrats refuse to do 
their duty by the Nation, Republicans will attempt to do it for them.
  Later today we will vote on five different budget proposals: the 
President's, Congressman Paul Ryan's, Senator Pat Toomey's, Senator 
Paul's, and Senator Mike Lee's. We will give Democrats a choice and see 
if they have the courage to get behind any of these proposals--or none 
of them--and we will learn a lot in the process.
  By the end of the day we will know whether there is a budget that 
Washington Democrats support, and the American people will know without 
a doubt who is voting for solutions in this town and who isn't. They 
will know who has a plan to fix the mess we are in and who doesn't. 
They will know who would rather spend their time criticizing others 
than doing the hard work of setting priorities and making choices.
  Senate Democrats do not want to explain how they will fix the fiscal 
mess we are in. They do not want to say how they will preserve and 
strengthen entitlements. What they want to do is complain about others. 
They are putting their desire for campaign material ahead of their 
responsibility to govern.
  The tragedy is every year they do so, the problems we face only get 
worse. The debt gets bigger, entitlements get closer to insolvency, and 
the American people have to go another year wondering when things will 
ever change.
  Some people up here think it is time to do something now and we will 
know who those people are by their votes.
  Madam President, I now ask the Chair execute the order with respect 
to the five motions to proceed to the budget resolutions provided for 
under the order.


                       Reservation of Leader Time

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, 
leadership time is reserved.

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