[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 73 (Wednesday, May 22, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3701-S3702]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
IMMIGRATION AND THE BUDGET
Mr. REID. Mr. President, last night the Senate Judiciary Committee,
after some 24 hearings and several weeks of markup, advanced a
commonsense, bipartisan proposal to fix our broken immigration system.
No one can dispute that it is broken. No one can dispute that it needs
to be fixed. I commend the good work of the committee, and I am
grateful to everyone who worked those long hours. I will bring this
bill, which is a strong bipartisan bill, to the floor in June, sometime
soon after we return from the Memorial Day work period.
Although neither Republicans nor Democrats will support each and
every aspect of this legislation, it is gratifying to see the momentum
behind these reforms that will make our country safer and help 11
million undocumented immigrants get right with the law. I applaud
significantly the efforts of the Gang of 8--four Democrats and four
Republicans--who showed bravery as they set aside partisanship to
address the critical issues facing our Nation.
I am confident that for everyone in that Gang of 8, Democrats and
Republicans, there are parts of this bill they do not like. But that is
how we move legislation forward for the greater good--compromise. I
admire their legislative skills and appreciate very much their ability
to set aside these partisan differences and move this extremely
important bill to the floor.
There was other courage on display on the Senate floor yesterday when
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two Republican Senators bucked the majority of their party for the good
of the country. Senators McCain and Collins--two Senators I admire
deeply--came to the floor to call on their own party to stop blocking
bipartisan budget negotiations.
John McCain and I came to Congress together. In 1982 we were elected.
We spent two terms in the House together, and we have been in the
Senate together since then. Over these many years, more than three
decades, John McCain and I have disagreed on several things, but I have
never lost my admiration for this patriotic man. He is courageous in
battle--not only in the fights that take place in a war but legislative
battles. I am so appreciative that he decided the right thing to do was
to move forward and see what we could do to get this bipartisan
negotiation started.
Susan Collins and I have served together for a long time in this
body. We have worked together on some extremely important measures. I
don't need to run through all these, but there are parts of the law of
this country that would not be law but for her willingness to move
forward and move across the aisle. Susan Collins and I disagree on
quite a few things, but we agree on quite a few things.
The people of Arizona are very fortunate to have John McCain as a
Senator, and the people of Maine are fortunate to have Susan Collins as
a Senator. The reason they stepped forward is because it has now been
60 days--2 months--since the Senate passed its commonsense, progrowth
budget. The question everyone raises is, Why are Republicans standing
in the way? Not only are Democrats asking that question, Republicans
are asking that question now.
We passed a budget. Senators McCain and Collins do not think our
budget is the best. They think they could do a better job. But they
also understand the legislative process--that is, you have to work
together. Just as the Gang of 8 did to get the bill on immigration to
the floor, we need to work together to get a budget. The House has
passed one. We have passed one. Let's go to conference and work out our
differences.
For 60 days Republican leaders have objected to a conference with the
House of Representatives where we could work out our differences
between our budget and our priorities. The differences between our
budgets are there. We know that, but we need to work together on our
priorities. The House Republicans and House Democrats need to come up
with what they want, and we will come up with what we want, working
with the Republicans here. That is what a conference is all about. In a
conference it is not just the Democrats from the Senate on the
conference committee, Republicans will be on it also. And just like in
the House, it will not be all Republicans, it will be Democrats also.
The only explanation their Republican leaders have given for their
endless obstruction is this: They refuse to negotiate unless we agree
in advance to let them have their way. Yesterday the senior Senator
from Arizona and the Senator from Maine--both Republicans--condemned
that. They said it was hypocrisy. That is my word, not theirs; they can
define it any way they want. But the point is that they have been
calling for regular order for several years, and now they have the
chance for regular order and they are walking away from it.
Senator McCain called the obstruction by his fellow Republicans a
little bizarre. I used that word also to describe the gridlock here.
Senator Collins agreed that it was ironic at least. That is what she
said. The senior Senator from Maine went on to say:
We have called repeatedly for a return to the regular order
in this body. Regular order is going to conference.
We agree. We have a progrowth budget that we will proudly defend.
House Republicans should be ready to do the same with theirs. I don't
know why my Republican colleagues in the Senate are so afraid of an
open conference. The conference committee report will need both
Democratic and Republican votes to pass. Do my Senate Republican
colleagues not trust their House Republican colleagues to hold the line
on their priorities?
Congress must set sound, long-term fiscal policy through the regular
order of the budget process and through compromise, but Democrats and
Republicans will never find common ground if we never get to the
negotiating table.
Student Loans
On another subject, Congress has worked hard and compromised often
over the last 4 years in order to reduce the deficit and reverse the
trend of rising debt that began under President Bush. That work has
paid off. We have reduced the deficit by about $2.5 trillion.
But as our Nation has succeeded in setting a course for financial
responsibility, students across the country have struggled to do the
same. The rising price of higher education puts college out of reach
for many promising young people, and it saddles those who do get an
education with an unsustainable debt, a debt that causes them to delay
buying their first home, put off having children, or give up the goal
of starting a business.
Today Americans have more than $1 trillion in student loan debt.
There is more student loan debt than credit card debt, and the average
graduate owes more than $25,000 when they get out of school. I think a
college education should free young people to achieve their dreams, not
saddle them with crushing debt for the rest of their lives.
College is already unaffordable for too many young people, but if
Congress fails to act soon, that cost will go up again. On July 1,
interest rates on student loans are set to double, from 3.4 percent to
6.8 percent, effectively socking 7 million students with $1,000 a year
in additional loan costs. In Nevada alone this will cost 26,000
students more than $21 million next year. We should be removing the
obstacles keeping young people from getting an education, not raising
more barriers. Raising interest rates would put higher education even
further out of reach for many promising students.
Last week Senate Democrats introduced a proposal to freeze student
loan rates at current levels for 2 years without adding a penny to the
deficit. This is paid for by closing wasteful tax loopholes. The
legislation being pushed by House Republicans will take a different
route, sticking it to students instead of closing loopholes. Rather
than investing in the next generation of American workers, the House
bill would cost students as much as $6,500 more in interest than the
current rates. In fact, passing the House proposal would be worse than
doing nothing at all. We would be better off letting the rates go up to
6.8 percent than passing the House bill. Passing the House bill or
letting the rates go up to 6.8 percent is not the right thing to do. We
need to do what we suggest; that is, keep the interest rates where they
are.
Under the House bill, students would pay up to $2,000 more if we
allow the rates to double in July. But Democrats know an investment in
education is an investment in our economy, so we will keep student
rates low and hold back the rising price of education.
Last year, after months of obstruction, the Republicans eventually
conceded and helped us achieve that goal. After all, it was great
election-year politics for them. This is what Mitt Romney said about
the effort to keep loan rates low: ``I fully support the effort to
extend the low interest rate on student loans.'' Even my friend the
minority leader, Mitch McConnell, said there was not a soul in
Washington who thought student loan rates should go up. We agree. But
unlike Republicans, we don't abandon our commitment to students just
because the election is over. Can my Republican colleagues say the
same? I hope they still share our goal of keeping the American dream
affordable. If they do, there is an easy way to prove it: work with us
to quickly pass the proposal to protect American students.
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