[Congressional Record Volume 161, Number 185 (Friday, December 18, 2015)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8840-S8841]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROPER OPERATION OF THE SENATE
Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I rise to discuss the state of the U.S.
Senate. My 39 years of service in this body have given me an
increasingly unique vantage point to reflect upon this institution.
Over the years, I have seen the Senate both at its best--rising to meet
the lofty expectations of the Framers--and, unfortunately, I have seen
it at its worst.
Last year I came to the floor repeatedly to speak out against what I
viewed as the abuse of the Senate by the previous majority, under which
this great body fell into great dysfunction. In addition to identifying
these abuses, I did my best to lay out a vision for how the Senate
ought to function--how we could best live up to the best traditions of
our forebearers.
Over the past year, since my selection as President pro tempore, I
have endeavored to continue to offer what lessons I have learned and
what accumulated knowledge I have acquired over my nearly four decades
here to help our new Republican majority to get the Senate working
again. After a year of hard work, I can report a significant degree of
success. Under the leadership of our new majority leader and his team,
the Senate is back to work for the American people.
By the end of last Congress, these best traditions of the Senate that
have allowed it to serve the Republic for so well for so long were
left, in my opinion, in severe disrepair. The then-majority leadership
curtailed debate on an unprecedented scale, moving to cut off debate
before this body could even begin considering legislation. The leader
also used the so-called nuclear option to permanently weaken the
opportunity to debate nominations, including crucial lifetime
nominations to the Federal court. In all of last year, the Senate voted
on only 15 amendments, with the majority leadership refusing to
countenance any amendment it did not support. The 113th Congress set a
record for bills that bypassed committees--this institution's
incubators of consensus. Instead of adhering to the committee process,
the legislation was crafted in the back rooms of leadership offices and
brought directly to the floor.
Thanks to this institutional degradation, the Senate became a
wasteland of partisan warfare. Much of the time spent in session was
wasted on voting on the previous majority's messaging bills. This
legislation had no chance of passing the Senate and was designed simply
to buttress the majority's election-year arguments. The time that was
not spent on this political gamesmanship was otherwise wasted largely
on rushing through President Obama's nominees at a breakneck pace.
Our new majority has thus faced the daunting task of restoring the
Senate to its proper function so this body can resume its rightful role
as the source of wise legislation. These efforts have produced some
impressive statistics.
This year, the Senate has held almost 200 votes on amendments of
individual Senators. That figure is nearly 9 times as many as last
year. Earlier this year, the Senate brought up more amendments in a
single week than all of last year.
Debate has also flourished. The Senate spent over 25 percent more
days in session than last year. The majority leader has greatly
curtailed the practice of filing cloture as soon as debate begins,
restricting it to rare occasions that involve time-sensitive measures
and, particularly, sensitive bipartisan legislation.
Furthermore, our committees are all back to work. With only a few
exceptions, the legislation passed by the Senate has been crafted by
the committee rather than by leadership. The close, collaborative
environment that the committees foster helps build bipartisan
consensus, even in these polarizing times. In fact, many of our
committees posted impressive statistics of bipartisan legislating. The
Finance Committee--the accomplishments of which I spoke on yesterday--
has passed 37 bills, all bipartisan. The Homeland Security and
Governmental Affairs Committee has passed 71 bills, all bipartisan. The
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee has passed 10 pieces
of legislation, and all but one was bipartisan.
[[Page S8841]]
According to the Resume of Congressional Activity, as of December 1,
the Senate had passed 391 measures as compared to 290 in 2014 and 246
in 2013. While this year's number compares favorably to the two
previous years, the Senate's productivity is best measured not by a
simple count of measures passed, in which a post office naming counts
the same as a comprehensive budget for the entire Federal Government,
but instead by the sort and substance of measures passed. This measure
paints by far the best picture of the good work done by the Senate in
the first year of our new Republican Senate majority.
Instead of wasting the Senate's precious time on political show
votes, the new majority leadership has focused the Senate's
consideration on measures that can actually pass, which almost always
require bipartisan support. We have also made sure to fulfill
Congress's most basic fiscal management responsibilities. We passed the
first bicameral budget since 2009 and the first budget that balances in
14 years. Based on that budget blueprint, the Appropriations Committee
passed all 12 appropriations bills for the first time since 2009. While
the minority unfortunately chose to block numerous attempts we made to
pass these bills on the floor through regular order, we struck a
multiyear bipartisan budget deal to last through the rest of the Obama
administration. Passing this legislation warded off the threat of
another shutdown or a disastrous default on our debt. We have also
struck a deal on an omnibus spending bill for next year that, while
imperfect, makes important progress in a number of areas, such as
repealing the antiquated oil export ban to create jobs at home and ward
off the influences of Vladimir Putin and other dangerous rogues abroad,
increasing resources for our military at a time of great threat,
strengthening the Visa Waiver Program to protect against terrorists,
and provisions to bar the transfer of Guantanamo detainees to American
soil.
As we look forward to next year, our leadership has built a pathway
to return to regular order in the appropriations process, allowing
Congress to fulfill our constitutional duty to oversee the executive
branch through the power of the purse.
The Senate also overcame a bitter partisan dispute to pass the annual
National Defense Authorization Act to further our most basic
responsibility to provide for the common defense. Under the leadership
of our Armed Services Committee, with colleagues on both sides, we
passed into law a bill that contains a wide variety of critical defense
items, from acquisition reform to aid to Ukraine. Moreover, among the
most important accomplishments of the year have been the long-term
challenges tackled by the Senate. Over the past few years, Congress
earned a well-deserved reputation for kicking the can down the road on
a number of key issues that affect Americans' lives in crucial ways--
from our commutes to our health care to our children's education. This
year Congress has taken a number of crucial steps to end this cycle of
irresponsible delays. Instead of passing yet another patch to the
highway trust fund, we passed the first long-term highway bill in a
decade; instead of leaving seniors in a lurch with yet another doc fix,
we permanently fixed how Medicare reimburses physicians and passed a
real down payment on real entitlement reform; instead of consigning
ourselves to a backseat role in shaping the international economy of
the future, we passed the first trade promotion authority legislation
since 2002; instead of waiting until the last minute to pass another
extension of critical tax breaks, we have struck a deal to make much
important tax relief permanent and provide multiyear extensions of
others, providing vital certainty to business and family budgets; and
instead of leaving our schools webbed in by No Child Left Behind and
the Obama administration's conditioned waivers, we passed the Every
Student Succeeds Act, which the Wall Street Journal called the greatest
devolution of power to the States in a quarter century.
Moreover, we pushed against the Obama administration's most egregious
overreach, preparing the way to reverse them under a future President.
We passed Congressional Review Act resolutions to repeal the
President's most onerous and job-killing labor and environmental
regulations, and most importantly, we passed the Senate's first repeal
of ObamaCare.
Finally, after the turmoil in the confirmation process in recent
years, we have moved at a deliberate pace in examining the President's
nominees. Despite the spurious claims of some on the other side, our
record on confirmations fits favorably within historical norms. As of
December 10, 316 of President Obama's judicial nominees have been
confirmed, constituting more than 37 percent of the actual active
Federal bench.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator's time has expired.
Mr. HATCH. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent to finish my
statement.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. HATCH. I thank the Presiding Officer.
By comparison, only 292 of President George W. Bush's nominees had
been confirmed at the same point in his tenure, constituting less than
35 percent of the active judiciary. There are only 65 judicial
vacancies today. Vacancies have been lower in only 13 of the 83 months,
or less than 16 percent of the time, that this President has held
office. During 2015, the average number of judicial vacancies has been
58, the lowest average for any year of the Obama Presidency.
This is a record of achievement that speaks for itself, one that
easily shows why PoltiFact awarded the minority leader three Pinocchios
for his accusations that the Senate, under our new Republican majority,
has been unproductive by historical standards. While there have been,
no doubt, many bumps in the road--and we still need more mutual
restraint of both the minority and the majority--there should be no
doubt that our new Republican majority has the Senate back to work for
the American people.
I thank the Presiding Officer for the extra time.
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