Congressional Record, Volume 159 Issue 63 (Tuesday, May 7, 2013)

[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 63 (Tuesday, May 7, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3108-S3109]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H. CON. RES. 25

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I just wish to talk for a moment. I
have heard a lot from my constituents that they are very tired of the
dysfunction in Washington, DC. They are tired of political gridlock
that impacts their businesses, their children's schools, and their
paychecks. After spending last week with families and businesses that
are impacted by sequestration in my home State of Washington, I know
this is especially true right now.
When I became chair of the Senate Budget Committee, I said I hoped
Democrats and Republicans would be able to work together to end the
cycle of governing from crisis to crisis and the attempts to negotiate
budget policy through brinkmanship, which we have seen far too much of
in recent years.
I believe this goal is just as important today--and is, in fact, more
attainable--but we need Republicans to meet us at the table and proceed
to conference under regular order.

We are at a unique moment in our debate about the country's fiscal
and economic challenges. Following the 2 years that the bipartisan
Budget Control Act took the place of a congressional budget, the Senate
returned to regular order this year and we passed a budget resolution.
The House has also passed their budget, and the President weighed in
with a proposal for his path going forward.
We now have an opportunity to move through regular order to try to
get a bipartisan budget agreement, and we should seize it.
Democrats and Republicans have different perspectives on a wide
variety of issues. But just a few months ago, it seemed that Democrats
and Republicans did agree on at least one thing: the budget debate
should proceed through regular order.
Democrats chose to move forward with a budget resolution through
committee and said that an open process through regular order was the
best way to reach a bipartisan agreement. And Republicans agreed. They
said once the Senate and the House passed budgets ``the work of
conferencing must begin.'' They said a conference was--and I quote--the
``best vehicle'' for the budget debate ``because we're doing it in
plain sight.'' They said we needed the open public debate that regular
order requires.
In fact, Senator McConnell said Senate Democrats should ``return to
regular order and transparency in the legislative process.'' The Obama
administration has also said regular order is the way to proceed. But
Senate Republicans have now blocked our efforts to move to conference,
not once but twice.
Some Republicans said they want to negotiate a ``framework'' behind
closed doors before going to conference. But that is what a budget is;
it is a framework that lays out our values and our priorities and helps
us plan for the country's future. I think that framework is exactly
what we ought to be debating in a formal and public conference, and
there is no reason to wait.
Now, I know this is not going to be easy. There are vast differences
between the Senate and House budgets and the visions we each present.
But I believe we will be most effective at resolving these differences
if we have time for open debate and discussion and opportunities to
identify common ground.
Waiting until the last minute is not a good option. The uncertainty
that is caused in the lead-up to every manufactured crisis over the
past 2 years has hurt our businesses, it has hurt our economy, and it
is threatening our fragile economic recovery. It keeps us from planning
and investing in our future, and it makes Americans question whether
their government is capable of solving any problems that confront us.
I know--and we all know--there are extreme elements in our political
system that think ``compromise'' is a dirty word. I know some
Republicans think they do not have the political space to make a
bipartisan deal until the very last minute of a crisis. But I believe
many of our colleagues on both sides of the aisle want to return to
regular order and move us away from the constant crises.
I am hoping the voices of reason win because American families and
our businesses expect us to do better than running down the clock.
So I urge my Republican colleagues to join us now in proceeding to
conference through regular order, as they have said we should. That is
the best way to reach a deal that is the best and most responsible path
for our country to move forward on.

[[Page S3109]]

So, Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed
to the consideration of Calendar No. 33, H. Con. Res. 25; that the
amendment which is at the desk, the text of S. Con. Res. 8, the budget
resolution passed by the Senate, be inserted in lieu thereof; that H.
Con. Res. 25, as amended, be agreed to; the motion to reconsider be
considered made and laid upon the table; that the Senate insist on its
amendment, request a conference with the House on the disagreeing votes
of the two Houses, and the Chair be authorized to appoint conferees on
the part of the Senate, all with no intervening action or debate.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, would the Senator yield for a
question? Is a question in order?
Mrs. MURRAY. There is a UC before the Senate. If no one objects, I
would be happy to answer a question.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Reserving the right to object--which I am not going to
do, but I just want to clarify the Senator's motion--the Senator is
simply asking us to move the budget which she passed after a heroic
effort on the part of many to pass a budget so we could move to regular
order. The Senator's consent is only asking us to move with all due
speed to a conference to resolve the differences between the House
budget and the Senate budget. Is that the Senator's understanding?
Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator from Louisiana is correct. The UC I am
requesting simply takes us to conference so the House and the Senate
Members can agree--Republicans and Democrats alike--to work toward a
bipartisan solution.
Ms. LANDRIEU. One more question: Are not there Republicans
represented on that committee? In fact, would the Republicans have the
majority representation from the House?
Mrs. MURRAY. The Senator is correct.
Mr. McCONNELL. Parliamentary inquiry: Are we making a speech?
Ms. LANDRIEU. No. I am asking a question.
Mr. McCONNELL. Or are we considering objecting to a consent request?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection to the request?
Mr. McCONNELL. Reserving the right to object, I would ask consent
that the Senator modify her request so that it not be in order for the
Senate to consider a conference report that includes tax increases or
reconciliation instructions to increase taxes or raise the debt
ceiling.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, reserving the right to object, and I
will in a moment, we considered over 100 amendments on the Senate
floor. All of those kinds of amendments were brought up, debated, and
considered as part of the resolution, as we do on any debate. So there
is no need to go back and redo all of our amendments again. So I object
and ask simply again our UC to move forward to conference so we can
discuss all of these issues in regular order.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is noted.
Is there objection to the original request?
Mr. McCONNELL. I object.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Objection is heard.
The Senator from Louisiana.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, can I be heard for 3 minutes on this
subject?
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Ms. LANDRIEU. Madam President, this is very disturbing that the
minority leader has objected to taking the budget to conference because
the only way to get a compromise on the budget is to take it to
conference, as the chair of the Budget Committee has asked us to do, to
work out the differences between the Republican version of the budget
and the Democratic version of the budget.
Right now, President Obama has some ideas about what his budget would
look like. The Democrats and Republicans passed a budget here. The
Republicans have passed a budget on the House side. The only way to
work that out is following the leadership of the chairman of the Budget
Committee, who is a senior Member now of this body, who understands
regular order, understands the art of compromise, understands that
there is a Democratic-controlled Senate, a Republican-controlled House,
and a Democratic President--all who have legitimate but varying views
about how the budget should be worked out may I say, a very important
subject for the people of the United States because we are running
deficits as far as the eye can see. While we have made some progress in
cutting substantially--and we have raised some revenues--it is
important to get our budget better in balance so we can grow this
economy, keep this recovery going, stop throwing cold water on the
recovery that is underway, and help Americans get jobs and create
business.
I am flabbergasted to hear that the minority leader has just said no
to that plan--said no, we are not going to conference. We object unless
you do X, Y, and Z.
It is always an objection, a ``but.'' Democrats could come to this
floor and say the same thing: I do not want to go to conference unless
we decide we cannot, under any circumstance, even talk about Medicaid
or Social Security or cutting education or health care; we will not go
to conference unless we put that on the table.
We will never get to conference if both sides dig in before the
discussions can even begin. That is where we are. I can understand the
majority leader's frustration, and I most certainly appreciate the
leadership of the Budget Committee chair. I am just so sorry to see
that the chairman of the Budget Committee cannot even get the budget to
conference to begin the debate on compromise because of this nonregular
order status, because of the Republican minority, led by the Senator
from Texas, of course, but reiterated by the Senator from Kentucky.
Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, I thank the Senator from Louisiana. I
just have to say I am frustrated and shocked at the reaction of our
Republican counterparts who have repeatedly--repeatedly--said to the
Senate: You need to pass a budget. We did so under regular order.
Everyone will remember the night we spent here until 5 a.m. going
through hundreds of amendments--the ones the minority leader just
objected to that he wanted guarantees on before we went to conference.
We voted on all those amendments. That is what this process is all
about.
How can I, as Budget chairman, now do what the country is asking us
to do, which is to compromise, move forward, and solve our problems
rather than managing by crisis? If we cannot go to conference, how are
we going to get a budget agreement moving forward? Everyone in this
country knows this debate. It has gone on for several years. It went
through the supercommittee. It went through an election where people's
voices were heard. Now, after just berating us for not having a budget,
the Senate Republicans are saying: Well, that did not matter. We do not
care if you have a budget. We are just going to sit here.
That kind of chaos is exactly what this country does not need when it
comes to our fragile economy today and people are trying to get back on
their feet. I am ready to go to work. I am ready to sit down with the
Republican leadership from the Budget Committee in the House and their
conferees, to put our ideas on the table, and to make some tough
choices. But I cannot do it until the Senate Republicans quit objecting
to us moving to conference to get that done.
So this is the third time we have asked, the third time we have been
turned down. We are going to keep trying to get this done. I am
committed to solving one of the biggest problems facing our country--
give us certainty, get us back on track--but I cannot do it when the
Republicans are objecting to allowing us to go to conference. So I am
very disappointed.
I yield the floor.

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