[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16819-16820]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                     ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND CHALLENGES

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I, of course, wish to welcome you and all my 
colleagues back after the July 4 recess. Now we are closer to the end 
of this year than the beginning of this year. We have much to be proud 
of, but our time is short and we have much to do in the coming weeks 
and months. So far this year we started to get our country back on 
track by passing bills that have already started to revive our economy. 
Have we revived it enough? Of course not. But what position would we be 
in, what kind of financial meltdown would the world be in, had we not 
moved forward? We have already started to strengthen our national 
security. We have started to protect our environment. We have started 
to demand accountability from government agencies and entities. We have 
started promoting equality and ensuring progress, as America returns to 
being positively viewed by the world community.
  Norman Ornstein, a resident scholar at the conservative American 
Enterprise Institute, calls this Congress ``as active and productive as 
any I can remember.'' He went on to say: ``The number of major bills 
passed and enacted into law--serious, sustained activities in areas of 
broad, complex and critical importance--are all truly impressive.''
  Some pundits have said the work we have done so far this year is 
unmatched except during the first year President Franklin Roosevelt was 
in office. I can assure Republicans that this serious, sustained 
activity will not stop. We will finish this year in the same active, 
productive way in which it started, and I encourage my Republican 
colleagues to join us. I am confident the steps we have taken in the 
first half of this year, and that we will continue to take, will 
certainly anchor our recovery. It has anchored our recovery and it will 
do even more so. But I also know we must keep going. We must do more, 
lots more.
  One of the most important steps we can take is reforming health care 
and doing so the right way. It has to wind up being health care reform 
that helps the middle class, that helps everyone, not just reform to 
take care of those who have none. It has to be a program that takes 
care of those who are afraid they are losing their insurance and those 
who have lost their insurance. That is why we will soon bring to the 
Senate floor a plan that lowers the high cost of health care. We will 
also make sure every American has access to quality, affordable care, 
and we will make sure people can still choose their own doctors, 
hospitals, and health plans.
  We will no longer let insurance companies use a patient's preexisting 
condition as an excuse to deny the needed coverage, and we will help 
small businesses give their employees health care while keeping costs 
as low as possible. We are committed to a plan that protects what 
works, fixes what is broken, and ensures that if you like the coverage 
you have, you will be able to keep it. We will lower costs by 
preventing disease in the first place, reducing health disparities, and 
encouraging early detection and effective treatments that save lives 
and money.
  This is the year we must act, and when we do we must act as partners, 
not partisans. Rising health care costs and the risk of losing one's 
health care is now greater than ever. The status quo is unacceptable. 
Doing nothing is not an option because the costs of inaction are too 
great.
  Americans are paying too much for health care. They can lose this 
health care they have with just one pink slip, one accident or one 
illness. Every day, more Americans go bankrupt or lose their homes 
trying to stay healthy, and every year we do not act health care costs 
increase by the billions of dollars. We must, and we will, pass health 
care reform.
  But health care is not the only issue on our agenda. We will also 
continue working on a number of appropriations bills to keep our 
government running, funding our government. With Republican 
cooperation, we can finish these bills, starting today by funding the 
legislative branch and tomorrow by doing

[[Page 16820]]

the same for the Department of Homeland Security. We will continue 
working to confirm President Obama's many nominees for critical 
positions, including his outstanding nominee for the Supreme Court, 
Judge Sotomayor. Those who have chosen to serve our country must be 
able get to work without delay. We have far too many nominees who have 
not moved forward because of Republican holds.
  The Independence Day holiday was one where all Americans observed the 
birth of our country. The Independence Day holiday was one that 
reminded us of the debt we owe to the first patriots who stood for 
liberty and the many who died for liberty. Brave Americans have never 
stopped sacrificing so we can now know the self-evident truths and 
exercise the inalienable rights Jefferson described.
  Keeping the Department of Defense strong is one of the ways we can 
support and thank those patriots. This work period we will do just that 
by passing the Department of Defense authorization bill.
  The revolutionary document Congress adopted on July 4, 1776, declared 
that power derives from the consent of the governed. In the 233 years 
since that day, we have also learned we must govern by consensus. 
Although we will discuss, debate and disagree, I urge my colleagues to 
remember that finding common ground is in our common interest. I ask 
them not to forget that the governed, those who sent each of us here, 
sent us with their hopes we will work with each other, not against each 
other.
  Finally, let me say that the long Senate race in the State of 
Minnesota is over. Al Franken will be sworn in as a Senator tomorrow 
before the weekly party caucuses. History will write about that race 
for generations to come. Three million votes were cast by hand. The 
recount was long, deliberate, and fair. Al Franken won by 312 votes.
  He is a good man. He is someone who is extremely smart--he is Harvard 
educated. He had chosen as his life's work the entertainment world. He 
has been on many USO caravans and trips. He has a great love for the 
American soldier. I met with him in my office today, and I was so 
impressed that his first piece of legislation is going to be one 
involving veterans--unique and very important.
  I want everyone within the sound of my voice to understand that we 
have 60 Senators on the Democratic side. That means that now more than 
ever we have to work together. We have no intention--I have no 
intention of running roughshod over the Republicans. I think we have 
proven that during this first 6 months. We want cooperation from the 
Republicans, we deserve cooperation from the Republicans as they do 
from us.
  I started my remarks by talking about what a terrific legislative 
session it has been so far. We have accomplished, I repeat, as much as 
any other legislative first 6 months, other than the first Roosevelt 
year. We have accomplished all that, and we needed Republican votes to 
get it done. We haven't gotten a lot of Republican votes--I wish we had 
gotten more--but we have gotten enough to get it done.
  I hope in the next few weeks we all realize we have so much important 
work to do. I laid that out with my remarks here today. We have to get 
as many appropriations bills done as we can; we have to finish the 
Defense Department bill; we have to do health care reform; we have to 
do Judge Sotomayor. We have a huge schedule. As I have said and we all 
know--everyone has been alerted, this is no message the people have not 
heard--this period is going to be a long hard slog.
  We have lots to do. We are going to be working in the evenings, 
Mondays and Friday--weekends, if necessary, to get all our work done.
  I say to my Republican colleagues I, of course, am very thankful for 
Al Franken. It is terrific that Minnesota now has two Senators. For 
over 8 months, they have gone with just one. But I repeat, this is not 
the time for people to be arrogant or attempt to throw their weight 
around. Things have not changed. We still need to work together. That 
is what the American people want and that is what the message is to my 
Republican colleagues.

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