[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 32 (Wednesday, February 26, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Page S1134]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                             GROUNDHOG YEAR

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I said I would talk about what we are doing 
here today. You talk about ``Groundhog Day.'' This is groundhog year. 
The Republicans in the Senate refuse to allow anything to take place.
  Prior to our noon break yesterday--every Tuesday Republicans meet and 
Democrats meet--one of the senior Republicans came to me and said: 
Harry, are you going to have amendments? I said: Of course we are going 
to have amendments. We have talked about amendments on the veterans 
bill. I have had Republicans come to me and say: Let's try relevant 
amendments. So I said: Fine. Come up with some. They said: How many? I 
said: I don't care.
  The first amendment is what they have been doing all along. They 
offer an amendment that has nothing to do with this bill, the veterans 
bill. It is partisanship at its best. It is obstruction at its best.
  We got cloture on this bill. Virtually everybody voted to allow us to 
start debate on this bill. But that is only a subterfuge. The 
Republicans obviously have no intent of doing anything for the veterans 
as outlined in this bill.
  The chairman of the Veterans' Affairs Committee has worked for months 
coming up with a bill that is good--a bipartisan proposal. Republican 
proposals are in this bill.
  One of the Republican Senators here came and talked for some length 
yesterday about ways he would like to improve the bill. Offer 
amendments. He is not going to be allowed to do that.
  The bill advanced yesterday should be bipartisan--a measure that 
would help the veterans who have given so much to defend our country. 
As I indicated to my friend, the Republican Senator, before their 
lunch: Sure, let's look at relevant amendments. Why not? It is the 
right thing to do. But the first amendment the Republicans demand is an 
unrelated issue on Iran.
  Everyone knows that there are negotiations taking place between the 
United States, the European Union, and others to prevent Iran from 
having a nuclear capacity. I have said many times--I will repeat it 
here today--we will not let Iran have nuclear capabilities. The 
sanctions that we have put in place have brought them to the bargaining 
table.
  You would think that if there was any validity to what the 
Republicans are trying to do, the organization that is more supportive 
of Israel than any organization I know--AIPAC--said publicly they do 
not want a vote on this now--publicly. They do not always put stuff out 
in the press, but that is what they said.
  The audacity of what they are doing is an effort to stall, obstruct, 
as they have done. This is, I repeat, not ``Groundhog Day,'' not 
groundhog month--groundhog year. The Republicans have been doing this 
on every issue. It does not matter if it is an issue that 90 percent of 
the American people support.
  Republicans say they want to help veterans--a strange way of showing 
it. We introduced a bill that would do just that. Republicans 
immediately inject partisan politics into the mix, insisting on 
amendments that have nothing to do with helping veterans.
  So I am terribly disappointed again--not surprised. What are we doing 
here today? Nothing, nothing.
  Under the rules, they have 30 hours postcloture and they can sit 
around and do nothing. That is what they do all the time. We have spent 
months and months sitting around doing nothing because of procedural 
roadblocks put up by the Republicans.

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