[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 7 (Tuesday, January 22, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S26]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             NEW BEGINNINGS

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I wish to start by congratulating 
President Obama on his inauguration. Presidential inaugurations are 
always a time for the country to come together. We all feel a certain 
pride in the event, and we are reminded of how fortunate we are to live 
in a Nation where we have the ability to choose our leaders freely and 
resolve our differences in peace. Inauguration Day is also a time for 
new beginnings, a chance to learn from the mistakes and missed 
opportunities of the past as we reengage in some vitally important 
debates about our future.
  Too often over the past 4 years, political considerations have 
trumped the need to put our country on a sound financial footing and a 
path to prosperity. Today we should recommit ourselves to the task of 
facing up to our problems head-on. I understand that the passions of an 
election can sometimes overshadow the business of governing, but the 
Presidential campaign is now behind us, and so it is my hope that the 
President will finally be willing to do what Republicans have been 
asking him to do since his first inauguration 4 years ago, and that is 
to work with us on identifying durable solutions to the problems we can 
only solve together, to put aside those things we know we can't agree 
on and focus on what we can.
  We should start with spending and debt because if we don't get a 
handle on that, nothing else matters. If we don't work together to 
strengthen our entitlement programs, they will go bankrupt. Automatic 
cuts will be forced on seniors already receiving benefits, rendering 
worthless the promises they have built their retirements around. It is 
nice to say, as the President did yesterday, that these programs free 
us to take the risks that make our country great, but if we don't act 
to strengthen and protect them now, in a few years they simply won't be 
there in their current form. And if we don't work together to control 
the debt, then the cost of our interest payments alone will eventually 
crowd out funding for things we all agree on--from defense, to 
infrastructure, and assistance for those who need it most. In short, 
the debate we are now engaged in over the growing Federal debt is about 
much more than numbers on a page; it is about the cost of inaction in 
terms of promises broken, jobs lost, and dreams deferred. That is why 
there is simply no more time to waste.
  Over the past 4 years, while the President focused on reelection and 
too many Senate Democrats focused on avoiding tough decisions, the debt 
grew by more than $6 trillion. We saw the President blast House 
Republicans for doing their job and passing a budget while Senate 
Democrats didn't even propose one. Rather than work with us to save 
existing entitlements, we saw the President team up with Democrats in 
Congress to force through a brandnew entitlement that will make it even 
harder to cover the cost of programs we already have. In short, 
Democrats have put off the hard stuff until now, and our problems have 
only gotten worse.
  But that was the first term. A second term presents the opportunity 
to do things differently, and in the Senate that means a return to 
regular order. Later this week the House plans to send the Senate a 
bill to address the debt limit in a timely manner. Once we get it, the 
Senate should quickly respond. If the Senate version is different from 
the one the House sends over, send it to conference. That is how things 
are supposed to work around here. We used to call it legislating.
  I know a lot of Democrats are afraid of a process that exposes their 
priorities, particularly on spending and debt. After nearly 4 years of 
refusing to pass a budget, they have only now reluctantly agreed to 
develop a spending plan for the coming fiscal year. All I would say to 
that is since the revenue question has been settled, I am sure the 
American people are eager to see what other ideas Democrats might have 
to bring down our ruinous deficits.
  Let me just say that one thing Americans will no longer tolerate is 
an attitude that says we can put off our work until the very last 
minute. They are tired of eleventh-hour deals. They are tired of 
careening from crisis to crisis, and so am I.
  The good news is that a return to regular order is the surest way to 
solve the problems we face. And I hope some of my friends on the other 
side will agree that there is value in this body actually functioning 
the way it was intended to. Let's face it. The status quo isn't 
working. The Senate isn't functioning as it should. It has nothing to 
do with the process that has served us well for a very long time. But 
if we work together and strive to avoid some of the bad habits that 
have developed around here, I truly believe we will be able to achieve 
the kinds of solutions that have eluded us for the past 4 years and 
deliver some positive results for the people who sent us here, with 
time to spare.
  We can do better. I know my constituents expect better than what they 
have been getting from Congress in recent years, and so should we.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor.

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