[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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