[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 88 (Wednesday, June 3, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S3635-S3636]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       THE REPUBLICAN-LED SENATE

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, over the past several years, we have seen a 
very disturbing practice which is becoming commonplace in the 
Republican-dominated U.S. Congress. Governing by brinkmanship, 
manufactured crisis, flirting with deadlines, a game of chicken--we can 
call it whatever we want, but Republicans are doing it. Governing by 
crisis is a modus operandi of the modern Republican Party. We saw it in 
2011, as the newly elected Republican majority in the House pushed the 
U.S. Government to the threshold of shutdown and default, and again 
with the so-called fiscal cliff in 2012--financial brinkmanship for our 
whole country--and then, of course, the infamous government shutdown 
that actually did occur in 2013, and it occurred over a period of 
several weeks and was devastating to our economy.
  But since the Republicans assumed control of the Senate earlier this 
year, the brinkmanship in the Halls of the Capitol has become 
unbearable. Recall what happened this past February. ISIS had just 
burned a man alive in a cage. We saw that. The world saw that. The 
tragic Charlie Hebdo shooting had just occurred a month earlier in 
France, and that spilled over into Belgium, where more people were 
killed. Belgium authorities were making sweeping arrests of terror 
cells, and ISIS was threatening us in our homeland. Three Brooklyn men 
were arrested for trying to join ISIS here in our homeland. Yet, in 
this tumultuous environment, Senate Republicans brought the American 
Government within hours of a shutdown of the Department of Homeland 
Security. This is a Cabinet-level office that was created during the 
Bush administration, the Agency responsible for the safety of each 
American in our homeland. It was stunning.
  But even more stunning is the fact that they keep doing it over and 
over again. This past week, it happened with the expiration of the 
important PATRIOT Act provisions. A few Senators wanted to offer some 
amendments on that legislation. That is all it was--amendments. In 
fact, on the Friday night of the debate, one Senator said: I will take 
two amendments. We on this side agreed--two amendments. Nope. Can't do 
that. And so, again, brinkmanship. The PATRIOT Act is a law that helps 
keep terrorists from attacking America. Would it have been asking too 
much to have a little bit of time to debate this issue? We were not 
given that time.
  The Republican leadership knew for years that these programs were 
scheduled to expire on June 1, 2015. People who didn't like this act--
and there were a number of them--gave speeches all over the country 
talking about the act. It was no secret that the act was not that 
popular in some people's minds.
  Last year, Senator McConnell knew this deadline was looming when he 
prevented the Senate from debating another version of the USA FREEDOM 
Act by conducting one of their hundreds of filibusters stopping 
President Obama's efforts. And the majority leader knew a month ago 
that the deadline was coming and chose to prioritize other legislation 
over these critical programs. So what happened? The authority for these 
sensitive programs expired.
  Yesterday, we passed the USA FREEDOM Act, reestablishing these 
important terror-fighting provisions with some improvements in them. 
But for 2 days, America had its guard down. Every minute that passed 
from that lapse to passage of the USA FREEDOM Act was an unnecessary 
gamble with our national security. And for what? What did the 
Republicans achieve by letting these provisions lapse?
  This is no way to govern--using legislative deadlines as some kind of 
ransom, staggering from one catastrophe to another.
  Now on the horizon are two more important deadlines for legislation 
that is important to the American people--the Export-Import Bank and 
the Federal highway program. And what are we

[[Page S3636]]

doing? We are not doing these measures; we are on a bill that the 
President said he is going to veto. The Export-Import Bank expires at 
the end of this month, which is just a few weeks from now.
  The Bank creates jobs by providing loans and loan guarantees to 
foreign customers who purchase American exports. This year alone, the 
Export-Import Bank supported 165,000 American jobs--165,000 jobs. What 
does it cost the American taxpayer? Zero. Nothing. In fact, it makes 
money for our country. Over the last 10 years, the Bank has returned 
more than $7 billion to the Treasury.
  The majority leader should bring the Bank's reauthorization to the 
Senate floor for a vote before the charter expires at the end of this 
month, but it appears that is not going to happen. The senior Senator 
from Texas is already saying the Republicans have no intention of 
meeting that deadline. Instead, the American people will have to endure 
another manufactured crisis at the hands of Senate Republicans. Should 
we also assume the majority leader will do the same with the Federal 
highway program, which expires at the end of July? The Senate also 
faces a looming deadline for that program. It is critical that we craft 
a long-term solution to America's crumbling roads, highways, bridges, 
and rail systems.
  Just a few miles from here, we have the Memorial Bridge. It is a 
beautiful bridge. It was built in the 1930s. The Memorial Bridge 
connects the Arlington National Cemetery to the Lincoln Memorial and 
the Mall. It is one of the busiest bridges in the whole DC area. Each 
day, 68,000 cars and buses cross that bridge, along with countless 
pedestrians and bicyclists.
  Last week, Federal officials announced they will be shutting down two 
lanes of the bridge to repair the bridge, which is structurally 
deficient, which was caused by a number of problems, not the least of 
which is corrosion due to all of the moisture we have here. That is a 
problem we have with everything. And the problems, just minutes from 
the Capitol, are a daily reality for millions of Americans.
  The Memorial Bridge is just one of the 64,000 structurally deficient 
bridges throughout our country. The people in Minnesota understand what 
this means. They had a bridge collapse, and 30-some people died as a 
result of that. That happened recently.
  How long will we wait to fix these problems? What will it take before 
Republicans get serious about a solution to our crumbling highways, 
railroads, and bridges?
  We understand. Democrats understand the urgency of the crisis facing 
our country, and we are ready to work with Republicans to rebuild our 
bridges, roads, and railway systems. We understand that investing in 
our surface transportation, including rail, can be a job creator and 
economy booster. For every $1 billion we spend on these roads, bridges, 
and rail systems, we employ 47,500 high-paying jobs and many other 
lesser paying jobs.

  Before we left for recess a couple of weeks ago, we passed a short-
term extension for the surface transportation programs. That is the 
33rd time we have done that. Now that we are back in session, there 
appears to be no urgency from the Senate Republicans to schedule 
committee hearings, mark up the bill or to make the highway trust fund 
solvent.
  Once again it seems the majority leader is content to let another 
vital program lapse, regardless of the harm it does or the American 
jobs he puts at risk.
  How many more of these manufactured crises must the American people 
endure? How many more times would the majority leader let another vital 
program lapse regardless of the harm it does? It is imperative that 
Republicans not continue their assault on job creation in America. We 
should not let the Export-Import Bank or the Federal highway program 
expire, losing the millions of American jobs they create and sustain. 
It is beyond belief that on these two important legislative matters, 
Republicans will not help the American people with instant job 
creation. In the past, these two issues were never handled this way. 
The Export-Import Bank had three of its biggest cheerleaders: Reagan, 
Bush, and Bush. That is not the way it is anymore. The highway bill 
used to pass every 5 or 6 years, and it would be extended for 5 or 6 
years. Until the Republicans changed the way the Senate operates, we 
used to pass these bills easily--but not now. We are having to address 
multiple short-term extensions each year and it seems every few months. 
This will be, as I indicated earlier, the 33rd short-term extension for 
the Federal highway program. This is not legislating. This is 
Republican procrastination.

                          ____________________