[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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