[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 174 (Tuesday, December 10, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S8597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       COMMENDING SENATOR MURRAY

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, a couple years ago I surprised everyone--but 
I didn't surprise myself--when I selected Patty Murray as chair of the 
supercommittee. At the time Patty was chairman of the Veterans' Affairs 
Committee, she was a member of the Budget Committee, and I thought she 
would do a remarkably good job because I had such faith in her 
integrity, her temperament, her wisdom, and her ability to get things 
done.
  The country should be so pleased with the work she was able to do on 
a bipartisan basis with Paul Ryan. It is really a kind of 
unconventional pair working together to come up with a budget that we 
can work on for 2 years. We have numbers now. I am very pleased that 
budget negotiators Murray and Ryan have come up with an agreement today 
that will roll back the painful arbitrary cuts of sequester and prevent 
another costly government shutdown. I again commend Budget Committee 
chairman Patty Murray for making this possible. But it is also fair--
and I hope this doesn't get him in trouble in the House--to say that 
Chairman Ryan also worked hard. It was a compromise. We didn't get what 
we wanted, they didn't get what they wanted, but that is what 
legislation is all about--working together. ``Compromise'' is not a bad 
word.
  We believed all along that Congress should set sound fiscal policy 
through the regular order of the budget process and not through 
hostage-taking or crisis-making. We will have a lot more to say about 
this in the days to come, but this is a good day for our country.

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