[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 35 (Tuesday, March 12, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1703-S1704]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS

  Mr. REID. Madam President, I hope the record is very clear that I do 
not criticize Senator Shelby. He has done his best. He was a tremendous 
advocate for what he thought should be in this bill. But we are going 
to have Senators stand up and talk about what is wrong with this place 
when, after all the work that goes into a bipartisan bill, we are 
stymied from going to that bill and offering amendments.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, a question for the majority leader.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. This is tough, but the leader has to govern the Senate 
and move the bill. But a question for the people who watch us and don't 
know what all these parliamentary maneuvers mean. If there is an 
agreement to move forward with amendments, is it possible that tomorrow 
we could vitiate it?
  Mr. REID. With the tremendous work Senator Coburn has to put into 
this so he can finish it in the next 12 hours, maybe we can move to the 
bill tomorrow. But I know he has a lot of work to do on the bill, so we 
will have to see how he feels about it tomorrow.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I really want to thank my vice 
chairman, Senator Shelby, for being on the floor all day today in 
anticipation that we would have already voted on two amendments. I 
think he and I both regret the present situation.
  I would hope the Senator who has grave concerns and waited to read 
the bill could really finish it overnight. We worked every night, I 
must say, not only my staff, but in talking to the Senator, and we were 
available to each other by phone. I was talking to Congressman Rogers, 
our House counterpart, and we were working. I know that Saturday night 
we didn't close out until 9 o'clock at night; Sunday, not until 11 
o'clock at night. That is why we wanted to get this over, so they could 
look at it.
  So I say to those holding up the bill, I would like you to work 
through the evening the way we worked through the evening. If you want 
to see if there are other issues--and we acknowledge the Senator's 
right to do that, but, really, we do not want to face a shutdown, and 
there is this other issue of the Budget Committee that we would like to 
get on the floor. What a great message to the American people that with 
good will and sensibility and give-and-take--and there was a lot of 
give-and-take--we can govern.
  My hope is that by the time we get to the end of next week--actually, 
the end of this week--we will have passed the continuing funding 
resolution and we will have passed a budget, with ample debate.
  The Senator and I, House Members, Senate Members--we welcome 
amendments. We welcome debate. But what is frustrating to me is that we 
have had a very interesting day, but we had two amendments pending, two 
different viewpoints on health care and human services. We could have 
debated and been able to dispose of them in a way that would have 
brought honor to the institution and moved our legislation forward.
  So let's show we can govern. Let's really show we can govern. And I 
hope we can get to our bill tomorrow and not necessarily go through the 
whole usual filibuster rules.
  Again, I thank the vice chairman, Senator Shelby. I thank Senator 
McConnell for the way he helped and conferred on many issues.
  I yield the floor.
  Mr. REID. Madam President, I want everyone to hear what I am saying 
now. If somebody comes to me and says: You can get on the bill if you 
give me these amendments, I won't agree. We will have cloture on it on 
Thursday.
  We are through the dealmaking stage. We have been dealmaking on this 
bill--an important piece of legislation--for more than a week, and if a 
Senator comes to me and says: You can go to the bill tomorrow, but I 
want to make sure I have all these amendments, the answer is no.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Alabama.
  Mr. SHELBY. Madam President, had we been able to move to this bill, 
we could have probably debated already and voted on a number of 
amendments because this is very essential legislation. There is a lot 
in this bill, a lot of good in this proposed legislation.
  I hope that reason will prevail and that people, even if they have 
some amendments, will come to the floor, as I said earlier, and offer 
them. Let's debate them, and let's get to regular order, up or down. 
That is what it is about. But I think the essentials of this bill are 
solid and good. We have gone into this, and we will go into it more and 
more. We want the process to work, but the process is not going to work 
if we don't get the bill up so we can go to the regular order.
  So I hope tonight that things will work out and we will get going. 
This is important legislation.
  I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from New Hampshire.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. Madam President, I came to the floor to speak on an 
entirely different issue, but before I do that, I would like to commend 
Appropriations Chair Mikulski--and I do like saying that, 
Appropriations Chair Mikulski--and Ranking Member Shelby for all of the 
work they and their staffs and the other Senators on the Appropriations 
Committee have done to try to put together a continuing resolution that 
is going to keep this government open.
  I share the frustration and the concern we have heard expressed on 
the floor tonight about the hold-up when we thought there was agreement 
to get this done.
  So I appreciate all the work that has been done, and hopefully we can 
get past this and get this bill done.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Maryland.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. The Senator from New Hampshire is a member of the 
Appropriations Committee; is that correct?
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. That is correct.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Is this her first year on the committee?

  Mrs. SHAHEEN. It is.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Does the Senator from New Hampshire know what regular 
order is? This is not a quiz.
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. I was hoping to learn that this session because 
unfortunately we have not had a lot of regular order in terms of moving 
appropriations bills and the budget through the Senate. As I talk to my 
constituents,

[[Page S1704]]

they really want to see us do that. They want to see us work together 
to move the agenda forward for this country, just as the chairwoman and 
Senator Shelby have done in the last week.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. The Senator is exactly right. What we are trying to do 
is to run a rescue operation to keep the continuing funding going on--
really, the President will submit his budget next week, and the Budget 
Committee will be off and running. We will actually hold hearings on 
every subcommittee, and it will be an open and transparent process. 
Members will be able to participate, and we will return to that bill by 
bill. When you are dealing with a bill that has all 12 subcommittees in 
it and it is $1 trillion, they think, wow. But we are going to do that 
regular order.
  I thank the Senator. I am so happy she is on the committee. I look 
forward to showing her what regular order is.
  I know the Senator is going to stand up, as she has done on so many 
occasions, to champion the cause of women; is that correct?
  Mrs. SHAHEEN. That is correct. And I appreciate the leadership the 
Senator has shown.
  Ms. MIKULSKI. Well, in the dignified way of the Senate and the way we 
talk, go for it.

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