[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 5]
[Senate]
[Page 6883]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           SOLVING CHALLENGES

  Mr. McCONNELL. Madam President, later today the President is expected 
to speak in El Paso about our Nation's immigration policy. Getting 
immigration policy right is one of the more difficult challenges we 
face as a nation, and Republicans are committed to meeting it. As with 
most serious challenges, however, the only way we will make progress is 
by working on a solution that is acceptable to both parties. For 
Republicans, that means the President will have to present a plan that 
takes amnesty off the table and focuses instead on making a real 
commitment to border and internal security. If the President does these 
two things, he will find strong bipartisan support. If he doesn't, he 
won't.
  Another difficult challenge we are solving only by working together 
is bringing down the Nation's debt. To that end, Members of both 
parties met with the Vice President last week at Blair House. The 
participants had what all sides agreed was a productive meeting, and 
they will meet again this afternoon. Unfortunately, there still seems 
to be a serious disconnect between the two parties on this issue. There 
are still those on the other side who think we can put off difficult 
decisions until after the next Presidential election or even beyond. 
Republicans strongly disagree. In our view, doing nothing about the 
debt would be far more dangerous in the long run than failing to raise 
the debt ceiling. I have said this before, and Speaker Boehner 
reiterated the point yesterday in New York. The warning bells are 
simply too loud to ignore this crisis any longer, and the debt limit 
debate presents us with a prime opportunity for meaningful, positive 
action.
  If the last financial crisis taught us anything, it is that we can't 
afford to play with fire when it comes to economic forces this great. 
We need to get serious now before the crisis we know is coming. That 
means entitlement reform needs to be on the table. This is a serious 
crisis. We must do something serious. Entitlement reform needs to be a 
part of it. That is the only way we will send a message to the world 
that we are actually willing to make the tough decisions needed to get 
our fiscal house in order. That is the only way the markets, the 
American people, and the rest of the world--especially those who hold 
so much of our debt--will believe we are on the right track.
  As we prepare for a second round of talks, I would renew the call to 
get serious about this looming crisis and do something serious. I renew 
my pledge this morning to do what it takes to make sure we avert it 
without raising taxes or building in automatic tax increases in the 
future which would only destroy jobs. We can avert this crisis without 
doing harm to the economy or slowing down any economic recovery. That 
means no tax hikes now, and it means not rewarding the failure of a 
future Congress with automatic access to more taxpayer dollars. Above 
all, it means serious reforms. We need to summon the courage to make 
some tough decisions right now.
  Madam President, I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.

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