Congressional Record, Volume 159 Issue 126 (Monday, September 23, 2013)

[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 126 (Monday, September 23, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6673-S6674]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

MAKING CONTINUING APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2014--MOTION TO
PROCEED

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I move to proceed to Calendar No. 195, H.J.
Res. 59, which is the continuing resolution.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the
resolution.
The legislative clerk read as follows:

Motion to proceed to Calendar No. 195, a joint resolution
(H.J. Res. 59) making continuing appropriations for fiscal
year 2014, and for other purposes.

SCHEDULE

Mr. REID. Mr. President, there will be no rollcall votes today. It
was unnecessary to have any because we are in a procedural situation
here dealing with the CR. The first vote of the week will be tomorrow
at 11:45 a.m. on confirmation of a judge, a Federal circuit court judge
by the name of Hughes.

Order of Procedure

I ask unanimous consent that between now and 6 p.m. Senators be
permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.

Unanimous Consent Request--Executive Calendar

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to
executive session to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos.
338, 339, 341, and 343.
Mr. CRUZ. Mr. President, does the Senator yield?
Mr. REID. No.
Mr. CRUZ. Well, I object. The majority leader asked for consent, and
I object.
Mr. REID. OK.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senate majority leader.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, inside the House Republican bubble, the
crowd cheered a plan to deny health insurance to tens of millions of
Americans or else shut down the government. Outside the House
Republican bubble, the reaction was altogether different. The radical
tea party plan to shut down the government unless Democrats agree to
deny funding to implement ObamaCare--passed by the House of
Representatives on Friday--has been called ``the dumbest idea ever'' by
one Republican Senator. It has been called a ``box canyon''--a morass
from which Republicans will not escape unscathed--by a second
Republican Senator. It has been called ``dishonest'' by one Republican
Senator and a ``suicide note'' by another Republican Senator. So, Mr.
President, the reviews are in, and they are universal: The ransom
demanded by House Republicans in exchange for keeping the government
open is unworkable and unrealistic.
President Obama has been clear, and I have been clear: Any bill that
defunds ObamaCare is dead on arrival in the Senate. The Affordable Care
Act has been the law of the land for 4 years now. Democrats are willing
to work with reasonable Republicans to improve this law. But we now
understand that there is an anarchy movement that is afoot. A lead
editorial in the New York Times of Wednesday of last week said that.
But we are not going to bow to tea party anarchists who deny the mere
fact that ObamaCare is the law. We will not bow to tea party anarchists
who refuse to accept that the Supreme Court ruled ObamaCare to be
constitutional. And we will not bow to

[[Page S6674]]

tea party anarchists in the House or in the Senate who ignore the fact
that President Obama was overwhelmingly reelected a few months ago.
These fanatics really point to disapproval for ObamaCare as
justification for taking the Federal Government and our economy hostage
to their demands. What they fail to mention to the American people and
to the Senate and to the House is that 59 percent of Americans either
support the law or wish it were even more far-reaching and
transformative of our health care delivery system, according to a CNN
poll. The vast majority of Americans--including those who disapprove of
the health care law--want Congress to work to improve it, not to tear
it down. And according to a new CNBC poll, Americans overwhelmingly
oppose defunding ObamaCare, especially if it means shutting down the
government to do so.
So the facts are that the vast majority of the American people are
satisfied with ObamaCare. The simple fact remains that ObamaCare is the
law of the land and it will remain the law of the land as long as
Barack Obama is President of the United States and as long as I am the
Senate majority leader. The latest gamble by Republicans in the House
of Representatives--made with the backing of their radical allies in
the Senate--only postpones the inevitable.
This week the Senate will act as quickly as tea party Republicans
will allow. Once the Senate has acted, House Republicans will face a
choice--whether to pass a clean continuing resolution or shut down the
Federal Government. So the question is, Are extremist Republicans
really willing to shut down the government? Time will only tell. But
the world looks to America for leadership. Is this lack of respect for
the rule of law truly the example we wish to set for others? Are
Republicans so intent on undermining both President Obama and his
signature health care law that they are willing to inflict severe
damage to our economy in the process? America will know exactly whom to
blame--Republican fanatics in the House and the Senate.
I urge those Republicans to listen to the more reasonable Republicans
in the Senate. I have read some of their commentary on what is
contemplated and how dumb they think it is. I repeat, one Republican
Senator said: It is the dumbest idea I have ever heard. Two dozen
Senate Republicans have spoken against this foolhardy plan to drive the
economy off a cliff--two dozen. This ``Thelma and Louise'' style is not
getting the attention of the American people in a positive tone. If
Democrats do not bow to every demand they have, they want to go right
over the cliff. We are not going to go with them.
I am glad to see more and more of my moderate Republican colleagues
stepping up to speak sense to an extremist element of their own party.
Maureen Dowd wrote in the New York Times on Saturday:

Speaker John Boehner, trapped under the thumb of Tea Party
anarchists, called Friday's vote to defund Obamacare and
invite a government shutdown, ``a victory for common sense.''

She said:

More like a triumph of nonsense [not common sense].

So a few reasonable Republicans are wise enough to know that risking
the Nation's economic recovery for the sake of a Pyrrhic ideological
victory would be another step toward a death knell for the Republican
Party.
Mr. President, every one of these Senators whose comments I read to
everyone listening, plus the 20 or so others whose comments I did not
mention specifically, are conservative people, conservative
Republicans, they are just not radical.
So I say to House and Senate Republicans who continue to deny a
reality and risk America's economy: Listen to the chorus all around
you. Listen to what they are saying. Your conservative Senate
colleagues have urged you off this reckless course. The Nation's
largest business group, the chamber of commerce, has urged you off this
reckless course. American families, who are weary both of these foolish
partisan fights and of these difficult economic times, have urged you
off this reckless course. And on behalf of Democrats, who long for the
days when we legislated through cooperation--we did it instead of
hostage-taking--I personally urge you off this reckless course.
What remains to be seen is whether my Republican colleagues on both
sides of the Capitol are wise enough to listen.
Mr. President, we have a number of people we are trying to get
approved, confirming nominations. They have been approved by everyone,
as far as I know, and I will again, unless my friend from Texas objects
to these people getting confirmed--does my friend object?
Mr. CRUZ. Reserving the right to object, I am happy to discuss it
with the majority leader, but at this point, yes, I object.
Mr. REID. Fine. I will make my request, and the Senator can grab his
reservation, and we will talk about it.
I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to executive session
to consider the following nominations: Calendar Nos. 338, 339, 341, and
343; that the nominations be confirmed en bloc; the motions to
reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table; that there be no
intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order to
any of the nominations; that any related statements be printed in the
Record; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's
action and the Senate then resume legislative session.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. CRUZ. I object.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. There is objection.
Objection is heard.
Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
The legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call
be rescinded.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so
ordered.

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