[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11845-11846]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          BUDGET NEGOTIATIONS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, some of those dedicated police officers 
stood guard Saturday and Sunday as we worked to reach an agreement to 
avert a default on our national debt. Leaders in both parties were here 
throughout the weekend. Differences still separate our two sides, but 
work toward an agreement continues.
  This afternoon I will put on the floor a proposal that I hope will 
break that impasse. This legislation would put to rest the specter of 
default. It would cut $2.7 trillion from the deficit over the next 
decade. It would not raise any new revenue or make any cuts to 
Medicare, Medicaid, or Social Security. All the cuts included in this 
package have previously been supported by Republicans. The proposal 
provides everything the House Republicans have said they needed from an 
agreement to avert default and cut the deficit. I hope my colleagues on 
the other side will still know a good deal when they see it. I hope 
they will remember how to say yes.
  The tea-party-led House of Representatives has held up a resolution 
of these negotiations for weeks because they did not want oil 
companies, corporations that ship jobs overseas, and millionaires and 
billionaires in their corporate jets to pay their fair share. If they 
now oppose an agreement that meets every one of their demands, it will 
be because they have put politics first and the good of this Nation and 
the economy last.
  I hope they will not continue to insist on the kind of short-term fix 
they opposed a few short weeks ago, and they know Democrats in the 
Senate

[[Page 11846]]

will not pass and President Obama will not sign.
  Economists have already said a short-term solution is no solution at 
all. It will not give the markets the certainty they need. The credit 
rating agencies have said a short-term Band-Aid could have many of the 
same effects of default: downgrade of U.S. debt, soaring interest 
rates, and an effective tax increase for every American family and 
business.
  The financial markets do not trust the rightwing tea-party-led House 
of Representatives. They do not believe they should hold this process 
hostage, and they do not want them to do it again in 6 months. We need 
to make the right decision now, and we need to do it because the 
economy is on the line.
  This is what one market analyst said about a plan to avert for only a 
few months. ``From the markets' point of view, a two-stage plan is a 
nonstarter because we now know it is amateur hour on Capitol Hill and 
we don't want to be painted in this corner again.''
  The markets need certainty; America needs certainty; the world needs 
certainty; and an agreement that provides that certainty is within our 
grasp. Democrats have done more than just meet Republicans in the 
middle. We have met them all the way. Now we will see whether 
Republicans are against any agreement at all or whether they remember 
how to say yes when the compromise on the table gives them everything 
they have demanded.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum 
call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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