[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 17 (Monday, February 2, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Page S678]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      WORKING FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as Senators, our work is measured by what we 
are able to accomplish for the middle class, what we are able to 
accomplish for the American people. I have watched very closely and 
been in touch, as we all know, having read all the stories, of what has 
gone on here in the last month. I am sorry to say that we spent 1 month 
on a bill calling for the importation of oil from a foreign country and 
then exporting that oil outside of America. I am glad we were able to 
work it out so that we had a number of amendments. That was really 
good. We felt very comfortable with that. I wish we could have done 
some more, but I am satisfied with what we were able to do. Of course 
now we await the action of the President, as we should be doing.
  The work of this Senate is based upon--should be based upon--what we 
are able to do for the middle class. We are a constructive minority, 
and we proved that the last month. To show how constructive we are, 
take for example TRIA, terrorism insurance. It is so important up and 
down the Las Vegas Strip, Times Square, everyplace in America. That is 
important to the business community. Yet that was held up in the last 
Congress by my Republican colleagues. To show our good faith, we were 
able to pass that in a matter of hours. That is the way it should be.
  We are going to vote tomorrow on the Clay Hunt bill. That is an 
important piece of legislation. I have worked hard on suicide 
prevention. We need to keep working on it. Each year in America 32,000 
Americans kill themselves. That does not take into consideration the 
car accidents that are not reported properly, hunting accidents. We 
have about 24 veterans who kill themselves every day in America. We 
believe that is important for America, and because of that, we are 
going to pass that in a matter of hours tomorrow. That is the way it 
should be.

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