[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 128 (Thursday, September 20, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6476-S6482]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
SENATE LEADERSHIP
Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, some say the reason for a do-nothing
Senate--or the cure for it--is that we need to change the rules. I say
we need a change in behavior, and I wish to offer a single example.
We have a big spending and borrowing problem: 42 cents out of every
dollar we are borrowing. We are headed off a fiscal cliff. The minority
leader has described that.
The Australian Foreign Minister has said the United States of America
is
[[Page S6477]]
one budget deal away from restoring its global preeminence, so one
would think we would have a budget. Then one would think we would deal
with the appropriations bills which are the basic work of the Senate.
I and others on both sides of the aisle came to the floor earlier
this year to compliment the majority and minority leaders for their
decision to bring all 12 appropriations bills to the floor. The
committee did its work; 11 of the 12 have been reported to the floor.
The House did its work; 11 of the 12 were reported to the floor, and 6
were passed. But the majority leader said we are not going to consider
any appropriations bills--no appropriations bills.
Being elected to the Senate and not being allowed to vote on
appropriations bills is like being invited to join the Grand Ole Opry
and not being allowed to sing. We need a Republican majority. If we
have one we can have a budget, and if we have one we will bring
appropriations bills to the floor. We will debate them, we will amend
them, we will vote on them, and we will do our jobs.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, there is no question that the premier issue
for most Americans is jobs and the economy. It is the issue that is on
the minds of all Americans. They are pocketbook issues that impact
middle-class Americans all across the country.
For the past 3\1/2\ years, the President and the Democrats here in
the Senate have failed to provide the leadership America needs to make
a stronger middle class. Middle-class Americans continue to face a
bleak economic picture on this President's watch. We have seen gas
prices more than double--the highest level in September that we have
ever seen for the month of September. Middle-class income is down by
nearly $4,000 since the President took office. Just last week, a Kaiser
Family Foundation study came out indicating worker health insurance
costs have increased by 29 percent since the President took office. The
President promised to lower health care costs by $2,500 per family.
Instead, average family premiums have increased by over $3,000 since he
took office.
Republicans have solutions to grow the economy and to help the middle
class, strengthen the middle class. We support commonsense solutions
such as increasing domestic energy, reforming our Tax Code, and
stopping the job-killing regulations that are killing our small
businesses. We hope to have the opportunity to work on those solutions
for America's future.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. ENZI. Mr. President, the President, the administration, and the
Senate majority have failed to govern during a crucial time for our
Nation. There is a willingness to kick our problems down the road, with
the hopes that the next election will suddenly inspire action. Rome
burned while Nero fiddled. We have had enough fiddling.
The President's answer to jobs and the economy was to have his failed
budget. Three times it was voted on without a single vote in favor--not
even a single Democrat in favor.
Over 23 million Americans are unemployed or underemployed. Government
regulations and redtape stunt business growth. That is not leadership,
that is being asleep at the wheel. Their answer to jobs is a bill with
a good title and a poison pill that comes right to the floor, and it is
set up so the poison pill cannot be amended out, and then they wonder
why the bill does not pass. That is politics. That is not legislating.
What is their plan for America? We have yet to see one. The lack of a
budget shows they do not have a plan, and inaction remains the status
quo. Republicans are prepared to lead today and in the future.
I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maine.
Ms. COLLINS. Mr. President, when I talk to employers in my State
about what Washington could do to get people back to work, they
inevitably point to the flood of excessive regulation as a major
barrier. Many of us have offered proposals to reform the regulatory
process. Even the President's own Jobs Council has put forth ideas such
as strengthening cost-benefit analysis. This just makes common sense.
But, regrettably, the Senate has failed to act. Meanwhile, the burden
of Federal regulation grows ever larger. Right now, Federal agencies
are at work on 2,700 new rules. These rules will go on top of a pile of
regulations measuring millions of pages. If we want to put people back
to work, we have to cut the redtape that is strangling our job
creators.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arkansas.
Mr. BOOZMAN. Mr. President, if you look at any objective measure,
whether it is unemployment numbers, gas prices, middle-class income,
college tuition, manufacturing production, home values, and the list
goes on and on, we are clearly not headed in the right direction. So
what is the cause of this? The primary cause is lack of leadership
coming from the administration and from the leadership in the Senate.
The administration's policies have led to the worst recovery since
World War II.
Over 23 million people are unemployed or underemployed. One of the
main reasons they cannot find work is the economic uncertainty
Washington has created, stopping the hiring process. Our businesses are
frozen. As a former small business owner, I understand firsthand how
economic uncertainty hampers business growth. If you do not know what
your taxes are going to be, if you do not know what your energy costs
are going to be, if you do not know what your health costs are going to
be, the last thing in the world you are going to do is hire a bunch of
people.
Thank you, Mr. President.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Missouri.
Mr. BLUNT. Mr. President, the No. 1 job of this Congress domestically
should have been more private sector jobs. The President's long-held
view of redistribution as a goal for the government is not going to
accomplish that. What is going to accomplish that is more opportunity,
more independence, as my friend from Arkansas just said, more
certainty, more American energy.
These problems are big, but they are not necessarily that
complicated. We just have to have the willpower to deal with them. This
Congress has not done that. This Senate, more importantly, has not done
that. The House has passed bills. The House has passed a budget. The
House has passed appropriations bills. The House has passed bills to
get regulation under control. The Senate has not.
I hope when we get back here--we should stay and do those things, but
when we get back, we need to be focused on the No. 1 job for the
country today, which is more American jobs.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. DeMINT. Mr. President, President Obama, when you took office
almost 4 years ago, you promised to create jobs and reduce our deficit.
Yet 4 years later we have fewer Americans working than in the last 30
years and we have historic debt and deficits. Now you say raising taxes
will solve our problems. But those who create jobs disagree.
Yesterday a businessman from South Carolina came to Washington to
present a very simple proposition. He had built his business from his
garage to 150 workers, putting every dime he could back into his
business. His plan was to add 25 workers next year if we keep taxes the
same but to do nothing if we follow your plan to raise taxes.
Mr. President, if you really want to create jobs, help our economy,
and reduce our deficit, stop threatening to raise taxes.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Ohio.
Mr. PORTMAN. Mr. President, we have just heard from a number of my
colleagues about issues with our jobs and the economy. We have heard
about the $16 trillion deficit. Unemployment has been over 8 percent
for over 43 months. These are unprecedented problems. We have again
learned a lesson we have learned time and time again in America: You
cannot tax and regulate your way to prosperity.
Republicans in the Senate have provided an alternative. As this chart
shows, this is the Republican Senate jobs plan. All 47 Republican
Senators have supported it. We have introduced legislation that
incorporates these
[[Page S6478]]
ideas, and yet we have not gotten a hearing on the Senate floor.
It is pretty simple. We believe we ought to live within our means.
Fiscal discipline is part of getting the economy back on track.
Reforming the Tax Code to spur economic growth--we know we can create
millions of new jobs in this country by getting the Tax Code
straightened out. The economic situation will not be improved in this
country until we deal with regulatory relief. My colleagues have talked
about that. Our ideas include having a more competitive force, changing
the worker retraining program in this country, improving education to
have a competitive workforce, increasing exports to create more jobs
but also to level the playing field, powering America's economy by
using the energy in the ground in America, and, finally, commonsense
approaches to health care to get the costs down. These are the
solutions that Republicans have offered that have not gotten a fair
hearing on this floor for us to begin to turn this economy around and
get America back on track.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. HATCH. Mr. President, today I join my colleagues in expressing my
disappointment in President Obama, in his failure to provide real
leadership when our Nation needed it the most. While his failures can
be observed across the board, when it comes to taxes and the impending
fiscal cliff, the President has put our entire economy in jeopardy in
order to serve his own political interests.
At the end of this year, the bipartisan tax relief signed into law
not only by President Bush but by President Obama as well is set to
expire. Virtually every taxpayer in America will see their taxes go up
if Congress and the President do not act to steer us away from this
fiscal cliff. Objective analysts, including the CBO, have stated that
if we were to let the tax relief expire under current economic
conditions, it would likely lead to another recession. Yet, rather than
working with the Republicans to extend the tax relief and to aid our
recovery, the President has once again sought to divide the American
people by using the top marginal tax rate as political football.
In 2010 the President acknowledged that raising taxes in the midst of
a weak economic recovery was bad policy. That is why at that time he
signed into law the full extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax relief.
Aside from the fact that the economy is in worse shape now than it was
then, the only thing that has changed between 2010 and 2012 is that the
President is now facing the voters, and that means appealing to his
base, which is committed to raising taxes. The President has put class
warfare and his own political future ahead of the immediate and long-
term interests of our economy. This is the high-water mark of failed
leadership for this administration. Our country is at a moment of deep
economic uncertainty, and America's citizens and taxpayers deserve more
than the President's decision to prioritize electoral politics over
sound fiscal policy.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alabama.
Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, as the Chairs of the debt commission--
Simpson and Bowles--told the Budget Committee, this Nation has never
faced a more predictable financial crisis. I would say this Nation has
never faced a more difficult financial challenge. We have deep,
systemic demographic problems. They need to be addressed. Yet today
marks the 1,240th day since the Democratic leadership in the Senate
adopted a budget. For 3 years, in a time of financial crisis, the
Senate's Democratic majority has failed to comply with the U.S. Code
that requires us to bring up a budget and bring it to the floor of the
U.S. Senate.
Politico observed on May 15:
Democratic leaders have defiantly refused to lay out their
own vision for how to deal with federal debt and spending.
I believe that is a colossal failure of leadership, a failure of
fundamental responsibility, and puts them in a position, in my opinion,
of being unable to ask to be returned to leadership in this Senate.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Texas.
Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, as the distinguished ranking member of the
Budget Committee pointed out, it has been more than 3 years since the
democratically controlled Senate has passed a budget. That should be a
national scandal. During the same time, we have considered the
President's proposed budgets, which have been voted down unanimously--
that is, Republicans and Democrats both realize that the President's
proposed budgets are unserious attempts to solve some of our most
serious challenges. The President could not get a single vote from his
own political party for his own plan because it does not include
serious efforts to preserve and protect Social Security and Medicare
and put us on a sound fiscal path without job-killing tax increases.
When Republicans regain the majority in the Senate, we will pass a
budget, we will reduce the deficit, we will tackle our long-term debt,
and we will help grow the American economy by getting our boot off the
neck of the small businesses and the job creators in our country.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee.
Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, this year we will spend over $3.5
trillion, 60 percent of which is taxpayer money, 40 percent is
borrowed. Over the next 10 years we will spend $45 trillion. We have
not had a budget in this body for 1,240 days. Not only is this
dysfunctional--and America looks at us as a dysfunctional body--it is
an embarrassment. The fact is that we are one fiscal reform package
away from being able to focus on being a great nation again. Yet many
around the world look at us as a nation in decline, which affects
everything from people hiring and producing jobs in this country to the
activities we see overseas as they relate to our foreign relations.
What we need in this Nation is new leadership in November that has
the courage and the will to address the most major issue this Nation
faces, which is fiscal reform. With that, we will put this malaise in
the rearview mirror and again be able to focus on being a great nation.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. ISAKSON. Mr. President, for 3 consecutive fiscal years, the
leadership in the Senate majority party has consciously decided not to
bring a budget to the floor of the Senate. Do you know what the result
has been? We have spent $10.6 trillion and increased our debt over $4
trillion, while the American people have cut their debt, cut their
spending, and gotten their house in order during our worst recession
since the Great Depression.
It is time that the leadership of the Senate took a lesson from the
American people. Let's get back to the business of America. Let's get a
budget to the floor. Let's balance our budget.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Nebraska.
Mr. JOHANNS. Mr. President, think about it--$5 trillion of new debt
under this President. So when he submits a budget plan, what happens to
it? On the floor of this Senate, the President's budget plan did not
get a single vote. No Republican, no Democrat, no Independent supported
the President. What happened on the House side? The same identical
thing--no Republican, no Democrat, no Independent supported the
President's plan. Many are working on this. Simpson-Bowles is a good
example. Many of my colleagues have been working to find a way forward
on our budget issues. And what happens on the floor of the Senate? No
budget. Four years, no budget.
When Republicans come to the majority, we will pass a budget, we will
work to balance our budget. That is where we are headed.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wisconsin.
Mr. JOHNSON of Wisconsin. Mr. President, in 1987, our total Federal
debt stood at $2.3 trillion. It took us 200 years as a Nation to incur
$2.3 trillion in debt. Last year, with the debt ceiling debate, we
increased our debt limit by a little more than $2 trillion. We will
blow through that limit in less than 2 years. The President of the
United States has put forward four budgets. He has yet to submit any
proposals to save either Social Security or Medicare. We are facing the
most predictable financial crisis in our Nation and our President
refuses to lead, this Senate refuses to lead. America hungers for
leadership.
[[Page S6479]]
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Utah.
Mr. LEE. Mr. President, it is bad enough that this Senate's
Leadership, led by the Democrats, has not passed a budget in 3\1/2\
years. What is even worse than that is the fact they have not offered a
budget in this Congress. They have not voted for or supported a single
budget in this Congress. We have had, of course, one budget voted on in
the Senate during this Congress, written by a Democrat. That was the
President's plan, which received zero votes from his own party, zero
votes from the Republican Party last year and this year.
If we are able to come to the table, if we are to come to a
compromise, we have to have offers on both sides. We have to have a
plan on both sides. So all the calls for civility, all the calls for a
compromise fall on deaf ears unless or until we have two willing
parties at the table with proposals they are willing to offer.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. KYL. Mr. President, the American people are asking two big
questions: Why has the Senate not acted to stop the $4\1/2\ trillion
tax hike that will occur on January 12 unless we act; and, second, why
has the Senate not voted to replace the across-the-board defense cuts
that will devastate our national security? The unfortunate answer is
because Senate Democrats and the Obama administration are too afraid to
tackle, let alone vote on, the tough issues in an election year.
For Americans outside the Beltway, the consequences are very serious.
The Congressional Budget Office tells us that failure to avoid this
fiscal cliff will shrink the economy next year and push unemployment
above 9 percent. That means 2 million jobs will be lost and we will be
back in recession.
The House has acted. Election year or not, there is no excuse for the
Senate to not follow the House's action, its lead, to avoid the job-
killing consequence of this fiscal cliff.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Maine.
Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, it is astounding to me that after putting
the Nation through the self-inflicted travesty of last year's debt
ceiling debacle that we are facing another manufactured crisis this
year. With a fiscal cliff that never would have existed if the Senate
had remained in session, had fewer recesses, and maximized every
legislative day, based on the job we were elected to do, as I have
argued virtually throughout this entire Congress.
According to a recent study, illustrated by this chart, deferring
last year's debt ceiling to the eleventh hour in August produced the
highest level of policy uncertainty of any event that occurred over the
last 20 years. That includes 9/11, the financial crisis, the fall of
Lehman, and the Iraq war.
We have now heard from CBO as well as Fed Chairman Bernanke. Both
have indicated we could trigger another recession next year if we fail
to address the fiscal cliff. Yet here we are in the Senate in September
scheduled to adjourn sometime this week for nearly 2 months after just
returning from a 5-week break. When I was running for reelection in
2000 when the Republicans were in the majority, we had our last vote on
November 1 and did not adjourn until November 3, a few days before the
election.
I call on the majority leader to have us remain in session to lay the
groundwork for a bipartisan solutions on these monumental issues. I
have urged this in a letter I sent last April, because it is absolutely
pivotal for this country. If we had not had the policy uncertainty of
2006 through 2011, we would have 2\1/2\ million more jobs in America
today.
The Senate has wasted years, 2 precious years in the life of America
with intransigence and inaction. America deserves better.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Oklahoma.
Mr. COBURN. Mr. President, the problems in front of our country are
not unsolvable. As a matter of fact, every one of them is solvable. Our
country has a history of doing hard things. What we lack is leadership
to call us to do those hard things. We find ourselves at a point in
time when the greatest threat to our Nation is our debt and our
economy. We are risking our future, not only our future economically,
but our future of liberty. What we have had, I would remind my
colleagues, is a history in the Senate of doing hard things. Under the
leadership of Senator Reid, the Senate has not attempted to do hard
things. What it has attempted to do is abandon the tasks that should be
in front of us.
America deserves better. It deserves better leadership. It deserves
leadership based on bringing this country together rather than dividing
this country. Not having a fiscal plan to solve the greatest issues in
front of our country is an absolute failure of leadership. Where is the
Senate majority leader's, where is the President's plan to solve our
problems?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Pennsylvania.
Mr. TOOMEY. Mr. President, the fact is our economy could be booming
right now, should be booming right now. The history of this country is
that after a serious recession, the economy comes roaring back. That is
exactly what should be happening right now. In fact, our economy should
be creating more jobs than there are people to fill them. But that is
not what is happening because of the failed leadership of the
Democratic majority in control of this body and the President of the
United States.
Our economy cannot come back the way it should as long as the threat
of a complete fiscal disaster looms over it. As long as everybody who
might even be contemplating launching a new business or expanding an
existing business knows this government is running trillion dollar
deficits as far as the eye can see with no willingness to address this,
then people will not make that investment. They will not expand their
business. They will not hire that next worker.
It is long past time that the Democratic leadership in this body
accepts its responsibility to address this problem, pass a budget, get
our fiscal house in order so this economy can grow again and Americans
can get back to work.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Carolina.
Mr. BURR. Mr. President, 2 years ago we extended the 2010 tax rates.
Over a year ago, we passed the Budget Control Act, which will trigger
sequestration unless we pass a budget reduction plan. The point is we
have known about the fiscal cliff for a long time, and there has been
no shortage of warnings about the dire economic consequences of doing
nothing. But that is, in fact, what this body has done, nothing. So let
me say this. There is a reason President Obama and my colleagues on the
other side of the aisle are targeting the Romney plan and the Ryan plan
and the Republican plan. It is because they do not have a plan. They do
not even have an excuse for what this body has not done.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. MORAN. Mr. President, we talk about plans and budgets. The
reality is these bigger concepts that we discuss in our Nation's
capital have real consequences on the everyday lives of Americans. I
spoke a few weeks ago to a Rotary club in Junction City, KS, and the
local CPA was in the audience. We got to questions and answers, and he
said: Senator, I have a question for you. This is a softball. What is
the estate tax rate going to be next year?
It is embarrassing not to be able to answer the simple questions
about what is going to happen in people's lives. People are having to
make decisions. That certified public accountant, that lawyer, that
financial planner needs to be able to explain to that farmer in Kansas,
to that rancher, to that small business owner what the Tax Code is
going to look like.
We are facing a point in time in which we have no opportunities to
tell someone what the Tax Code is going to be in 3 months. That is
embarrassing. When people ask me what is necessary to get Washington,
DC, to work together for us to solve the country's problems and move
forward, the answer is we desperately need leadership, someone who
shows us the way, encourages us to come together. It has been lacking.
It is embarrassing to me for the nearly 2 years I have been a Member of
the Senate not to see that leadership exhibited in the United States of
America.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Mississippi.
[[Page S6480]]
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, this week my home State of Mississippi
received the sobering news that its economy had slipped back into
recession. Frankly, I'm concerned that my State might be a harbinger
for the rest of the country.
Despite national efforts to create new jobs and opportunities, our
economy is not getting significantly better. It is a problem in most
States. Unemployment has remained over 8 percent for more than 3 years
despite spending nearly a trillion dollars with the President's 2009
stimulus package.
Investments and small business growth have languished with a weak
economy and with tax policies and Federal regulations that seem to have
made matters worse. The course we are on is simply not good enough. We
urge the Senate to make a strong stand. Let's get together. Let's push
a simple, easy-to-follow game plan for economic recovery.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Arizona.
Mr. McCAIN. Mr. President, last night I came to the floor to object
to a 1-hour debate on a measure that would have had Draconian effects
on our relations with countries in the Middle East. I am not opposed to
that measure or debating it. But I said I would think it would be
important to have an amendment. The majority leader of the Senate said:
The day of amendments here is over. The majority leader of the Senate
said: The day of amendments in this body is over.
Is there a more telling description of how this body has deteriorated
and degenerated over the years?
I see my friend from Maine here. It is a far cry from the day we
first came, when other majority leaders would allow debate, amendments,
and carry out the functions the people ask us to, and that is with
vigorous debate and discussion. The day of amendments in this body is
over.
So as we debated a bill for veterans jobs programs, of which six are
already existing, the majority leader, for the first time in 50 years--
for the first time in 50 years in this body--we are not taking up the
Defense authorization bill. We are in a war. We continue to have
attacks on American citizens. America's national security is at risk.
And we cannot even do enough for the men and women who are serving to
pass legislation that is so vital to their future and their ability to
defend this Nation? Shameful.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from New Hampshire.
Ms. AYOTTE. Mr. President, our troops are fighting and being attacked
in Afghanistan. Iran marches toward the capability of having a nuclear
weapon. Terrorists have been murdering our diplomats. Innocent
civilians are being murdered in Syria by a despotic regime. The world
is a dangerous place.
President Obama, stop leading from behind. President Obama, lead this
effort. Right now our military faces devastating cuts about which your
own Secretary of Defense has said we would be shooting ourselves in the
head, that we would be undermining our national security for
generations. We have heard what is happening in the world. Lead. Be the
Commander in Chief. Your leadership has been absent. You have been AWOL
on this critical issue and our troops and our Nation deserve better.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Carolina.
Mr. GRAHAM. Mr. President, lucky you to be presiding today.
We live in interesting times. You can receive a Nobel Peace Prize for
not being somebody else. Now, 4 years later almost after the Nobel
Peace Prize has been awarded, where do we stand as a Nation? In case
you have not heard, bin Laden is dead. That is good. That is a great
accomplishment. The President should take pride in that. We should all
celebrate the death of that evil man. But that is not foreign policy.
Is anybody deterred from attacking America's interest in the Middle
East because bin Laden is dead? Is anybody saying: I better not go over
the wall of that Embassy in Egypt because we killed bin Laden? There is
no coherent foreign policy at a time when we need one.
Four years later, after a charm offensive and an apology tour that
has not worked, our enemies are on steroids and our friends are unsure
about who we are. I will make a prediction: If this continues, the
world is going to devolve into chaos, because at a time when we need to
be certain, we are unsure. The Iranians are not taking anything we say
seriously and the Russians and the Chinese have corrupted the U.N. So
much for restarting.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Georgia.
Mr. CHAMBLISS. Mr. President, I rise to state the Senate's lack of
leadership in addressing sequestration will have long-term effects on
our Nation's robust intelligence community which had to be rebuilt
after 9/11. These budget cuts will make it very difficult for the
intelligence community to keep Americans safe in future years.
America hungers for leadership and, unfortunately, the Senate lacks
leadership from the majority on these issues that affect the safety of
all Americans.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Kansas.
Mr. ROBERTS. Mr. President, I rise to urge the Senate to fully
investigate the circumstances regarding the attack upon our U.S.
consulate in Benghazi and the torture and killing of our Ambassador,
the deaths of three American patriots and the following attacks and
deaths involving marines in Afghanistan.
Americans are watching a conflagration of an estimated one-half
million jihadists in over 30 countries, burning portraits of our
President, American flags, and threatening attacks upon our consulates
and embassies while shouting ``Death to America.'' No, Mr. President
and my colleagues, the war against terrorism is not over. We find out
now, 10 days later, that al-Qaida was involved in the planned attack in
Benghazi, and dangerous protests continue in Pakistan and throughout
the Muslim world.
This morning, the Commandant of our Marine Corps informed the Capitol
Hill marines there are 153 marine units at the ready to protect U.S.
consulates and embassies at the direction of the State Department. They
should be deployed, and he believes the current danger may well last
decades.
The sobering truth hurts. Was there actionable intelligence prior to
this attack? If there was not, why not, especially given recent
intelligence reports, press reports and testimony by Matthew Olsen,
National Counterterrorism Center Director.
We are on a merry-go-round of excuses with this administration. There
is no strong horse or weak horse. It is a merry-go-round that has to
stop.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Idaho.
Mr. RISCH. Mr. President, today we have heard a lot about the
financial condition of this country, and certainly that is foremost on
the minds of everyone. It is in the forefront. But in addition, there
are national security issues in the world, and, unfortunately, they
have been pushed to the back page because of the condition of this
country. But I wish to talk for a minute about the national security of
the United States. It is something we need to focus on no matter what
is happening domestically.
I wish to focus on one small part of our national security.
Certainly, we have issues going on in 30 different countries, and a
number of those have our embassies under siege. We have had an
ambassador killed in recent weeks. This is a foreign policy that is in
shambles. In the Middle East, it is a foreign policy of apology, it is
a foreign policy of appeasement, it is a foreign policy of dithering
and looking the other way. This cannot go on.
Iran continues down a course which is going to force a confrontation
with Israel. Israel is the most reliable ally America has--certainly in
the region and perhaps in the world. We need a President who will stand
and be clear and be firm about what is going to happen if Iran keeps
going down the road it is going. That is not happening. It needs to
happen.
We need to change foreign policy from a policy of apology to a policy
of leadership.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alaska.
Ms. MURKOWSKI. Mr. President, the events of this past week are a very
clear and direct reminder to us of the need to choose to end our
Nation's dependence on imported oil. I will remind my colleagues this
is our choice. It is
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within our power to free ourselves from reliance on OPEC oil.
In these past few months, I have had an opportunity to visit our oil
resources in the Gulf of Mexico, in North Dakota with Bakken shale, up
in Alaska with the offshore as well as ANWR, and National Petroleum
Reserve out in the Marcellus shale. We have learned one thing for sure:
There is no scarcity of resources in this country. Technological
breakthroughs allow us to access these resources in a safe and reliable
manner.
This administration may talk a good game on oil production, but words
and actions are entirely different. Our problems result from a federal
government that has actions and inactions that indefinitely delay, if
not prohibit, in many cases, access to our energy resources.
We are not running out of energy. What we are running out of are
excuses for continued reliance on OPEC.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Wyoming.
Mr. BARRASSO. Mr. President, just yesterday, the White House went out
and applauded the fact that Saudi Arabia is producing more oil. The
President goes to Brazil and tells the President of Brazil we want to
be their No. 1 customer. This is at the same time this White House is
blocking American energy projects and American energy jobs.
Held hostage by environmental extremists, this President continues to
block and cause people to lose jobs in the United States. Earlier this
week, the No. 3 coal producer in the country announced the layoff of
1,200 workers. So not only are Americans who are working in American
energy losing their jobs, the President's policies continue to block
new jobs from being created. The President continues to stand in
blockade of the Keystone XL Pipeline, which would bring back thousands
of good-paying, family-wage jobs. Yet the President says no.
Harry Reid, the majority leader, stands at that desk and he blocks
over a dozen bills passed by the House of Representatives that are good
American energy jobs that will put people back to work.
Republicans stand ready to produce more American energy, which will
put people back to work, will stimulate our economy, and will help
lower energy costs for American families. The American people deserve
better than they are getting from the Democratic majority in the Senate
and from the Democratic President of the United States.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Louisiana.
Mr. VITTER. Mr. President, the price of gasoline at the pump is
double what it was 4 years ago. The majority in this Senate has done
nothing to address that problem, and this administration has done
nothing to address that problem. In fact, we are moving in the wrong
direction.
The President's 5-year lease plan for offshore leases is half what
the previous plan was. Production in the gulf is down following his
imposed moratorium and it is beginning to go down further. It has gone
from 1.55 million barrels a day in 2010 to 1.32 in 2011, and it is
still headed down to 1.23 in this year. Two years before the
moratorium, the Energy Information Administration, where all these
numbers come from, said it would be 1.76 million barrels a day this
year.
We are the most energy rich country in the world, but this Senate
majority, this administration will not allow us to access our own
resources for our own good.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from North Dakota.
Mr. HOEVEN. Mr. President, look at what is going on in the Middle
East. We have more than 20 countries demonstrating with anti-American
protests. Look at countries such as Egypt, Libya, Syria, and Yemen.
Look at what is going on in Iraq. Yet at the same time we continue to
import our energy from the Middle East. So look at what is going on in
the Middle East at the same time we are dependent on them for our
energy, when we can produce that energy right here at home and work
with our closest friend and ally in the world--Canada--and when we can
create American jobs.
This is an opportunity. We can produce more energy in this country.
We can create jobs. We can get this economy going, and we don't have to
be dependent on the Middle East. It just takes the will to move forward
with the energy plan we have proposed, but we need an administration
that will work with us to advance that energy plan.
Gas prices, which affect every working person, every consumer, every
family, every business in this country, for the month of September are
the highest they have ever been for any month of September. What does
that do to American pocketbooks?
This is an opportunity. This is an opportunity we need to reach out
and grab with both hands. The only question I can ask is: Why aren't
we? Why isn't this Senate acting on that right now and why isn't this
administration working with us? Why do veterans have to come back from
the Middle East and go to Canada to get a job to work on something such
as the Keystone Pipeline? Because the administration is blocking it in
this country. The question I have is: Why?
We need to get going on this right now. The American people deserve
that.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Indiana.
Mr. COATS. Mr. President, Americans have endured 4 years of the worst
recession in the last 70 years in this country. We have 23 million
Americans either unemployed or underemployed, and millions more have
simply given up finding a job. What is the President's response in the
face of all this? Reject every plan presented by Republicans and,
instead, spend $5 trillion of borrowed money leading--so-called
leading--our country into decline and ultimately into bankruptcy.
What is the Democratically led Senate's response? Avoid all efforts
to formulate a plan to address this problem and to vote and debate on
that plan on one of the most critical--if not the most critical--issues
facing this country in its history. The American public is desperate
for new leadership, both from the White House and from the Senate--
leadership that is absolutely necessary if we are to restore our Nation
to growth and prosperity and get our people back to work.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Mississippi.
Mr. WICKER. Mr. President, yesterday the New York Times said this:
``The 112th Congress is set to enter the Congressional record books as
the least productive body in a generation.''
This is true, and the responsibility falls squarely at the feet of
the Democratic Senate leadership. The Senate has taken just 193
recorded votes this year. The Senate has been more than 3 years since
passing a budget. The majority leader has shut off the right to amend a
record number of times. The majority leader has filled the amendment
tree a record 66 times--more than his 6 predecessors in the Senate who
did it a total of 40 times. The majority leader has shut off the right
to debate. He calls up a bill, he files cloture on it, and then he has
the audacity to call that a filibuster.
In short, the Democrats have failed to pass a budget, have failed to
do a single appropriations bill, and have failed to consider a Defense
authorization bill when we have troops in harm's way. America needs new
leadership.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, a number of our colleagues have already
spoken about the huge problems we face and the President's complete
failure to lead. We have a $16 trillion debt, millions out of work, the
biggest tax hike in history looming, and our military faces crippling
across-the-board cuts.
The Nation and the world need strong American leadership and robust
political institutions to meet these challenges. But the President,
with a lot of help from the Democratically controlled Senate, has
deliberately chosen inaction. Why?
Over the past 2 years, the Democratic Senate has seen itself as an
extension of the President's reelection campaign rather than a forum
for solving the Nation's problems. Everything it has and hasn't done is
meant to help the President, not the American people. So our problems
have only gotten worse. And the Senate has of course completely broken
down as an institution, as described by the Senator from Mississippi.
[[Page S6482]]
Democrats haven't passed a budget in more than 3 years despite the
fact that, as Senator Sessions pointed out, the law literally requires
it. It doesn't say, Don't pass a budget if it is hard; don't pass a
budget if you have to negotiate with the House; don't pass a budget if
you have to vote. It says, Pass a budget.
We haven't passed a single appropriations bill, I say to my friend,
the senior Senator from Mississippi. Apparently all these people on the
Appropriations Committee are completely irrelevant. Senator Alexander
pointed out they did their work but are never going to bring up a
single bill.
By the way, it is not just the Appropriations Committee. All Senators
are on committees. Does any Senator remember the last time they
actually marked up a bill? Most committees are not marking up bills and
not offering amendments. So I guess the new rule is: No amendments in
committee and no amendments on the floor.
There are a lot of Senators around here of both parties wondering
what their job is. I was elected by the people of my State. What is
this job I have? I am on committees that don't do anything. Nobody
votes on amendments. All the legislation we have, if we have any, is
written in the majority leader's office.
Senator Isakson or Senator Enzi pointed out that all we do is vote on
bills that have fancy titles and a poison pill and, of course, only one
vote. Because you know, if you get on the bill, there won't be any
amendments. So a lot of Members wonder why they are here. They fought
hard for these jobs, defeated intelligent, well-funded opponents, got
here ready to go to work, and nothing happens. And it is not just 1
week or a month or 6 months, but 2 years.
As Senator McCain pointed out, no Defense authorization bill. We had
managed to get around to doing that, no matter what our differences
were, for half a century. This Democratically controlled Senate gives
do-nothing Congresses a bad name. It is a complete disgrace. Never
before has a Senate and a President done less to address such great
challenges that we have.
I know I can speak for every single member of the Republican
Conference in the Senate. Regardless of our philosophical differences
with our friends on the other side, we take our jobs seriously. We
think the people who sent us here expected us to function, and we
intend to do so.
So if the American people decide they want to make a change, the
commitment I make to them is the Republican Conference is going to pass
a budget. It may be hard; we may have to twist a few arms; there may be
some people who don't want to do it. We may have to do it on a partisan
basis if our friends on the other side don't want to join with us. But
the law doesn't say, Don't do it if it is hard. It says, Do it.
The Appropriations Committee deals with the discretionary budget of
the U.S. Government. It ought to be allowed to do its job. Not
everybody is going to vote for every bill, but we are going to
function.
We owe it to the American people to do, at the very least, the basic
work of government. Of course, we have problems beyond the basic work
of government. Certainly we were going to have differences after the
2010 election--which could best be described as a national restraining
order.
The American people took a look at what this government did under
this President's leadership over the first 2 years, and they said, We
have had enough of that. They flipped the House of Representatives and
made us a more robust minority in the Senate. They understood we
weren't going to do any more of what we did the first 2 years. They
were not interested in any more of that. But that is not an excuse for
not doing anything. They said, We don't want to do any more of all this
new stuff that was done in 2009 and 2010, the massive spending and debt
and the takeover of health care and the nationalization of the student
loan bills.
But they didn't send us here to do nothing. They assumed we would at
least do the things we ought to be able to agree on--the basic work of
government. It is embarrassing.
For the sake of this institution and for the sake of our country, we
need to straighten out this place. We need an attitude change. This is
not about the rules. The rules have remained largely the same over the
years. This is about us. And this problem can be fixed. All we have to
do is decide to operate differently. No matter who is up or who is
down, there are basic things this institution owes the American people;
that is, to get the basic work of government done.
So the pledge we make to the American people, if they decide they
want to try new leadership in the Senate, is we will do these things
even if they are hard.
Beyond the basics, let me say to our friends on the other side, we
have big problems we are never going to be able to solve without some
bipartisan commitment to do it. We are drowning in a sea of debt. We
know we cannot save this country unless we make the entitlement
programs fit the demographics of our country.
We have a lot of other problems. We have taxes, we have sequester.
But the way I tend to think of that is those are the chairs on the
Titanic. You can rearrange the chairs--figure out the tax problems,
figure out the sequester problems--but the ship is still going down
unless we make our entitlement programs meet and fit the demographics
of our country. We probably won't be able to do that one party only. It
is time for some statesmen to show up.
We have had an election every 2 years since 1788, right on schedule.
At any point in American history, people could have said, Oh, we can't
do that; there is an election coming up. There is always an election
coming up in America. That is what we do. The fact that we have an
election coming up is not an excuse for not tackling the tough
problems.
So no matter what the American people decide this November, no matter
what they decide, the problems are there. And our commitment to the
American people is, if we are in the majority, we will do the basic
work of government; and our hand will be out to our colleagues on the
other side and whoever the President of the United States is.
It is time to tackle the biggest problems in the country, the most
predictable crisis in American history.
Mr. President, I yield the floor.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, has the Republicans' time expired?
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republicans have 3 minutes
remaining.
Mr. McCONNELL. I will yield back the remainder of our time.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
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