[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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