[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 9]
[Senate]
[Pages 12403-12404]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT CEILING

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is not surprising that I have a 
little different take on what has been happening in the last few days 
than my colleague, the majority leader.
  Let me explain what has been going on in Congress this week. The 
American people have been waiting on us to do something to prevent 
default. They want us to end this crisis right now. Over in the House 
of Representatives, we have the Speaker of the House doing his job. 
Speaker Boehner has been doing the hard work of governing, working day 
and night to put together a bill that can actually pass the House of 
Representatives and end this crisis now. He should be commended for his 
efforts.
  What about over here in the Senate? The contrast could not be 
starker. Rather than working in the last few days toward a solution to 
the crisis the way the Republican majority in the House has, the 
Democratic majority in the Senate has been wasting precious time 
rounding up ``no'' votes to keep this crisis alive. Rather than being 
responsible and doing their duty and coming up with a bill that can 
actually pass, they have been busy signing up people for the ``not good 
enough'' caucus and ginning up opposition to everything else.
  Lawmakers should be working a solution to the crisis, not a blocking 
strategy. Our Democratic friends in the Senate have offered no 
solutions to this crisis that could pass either Chamber--not one. 
Instead, all day long yesterday we got chest-thumping comments about 
how they are going to kill any piece of legislation that comes over 
from the House, that it is dead on arrival.
  Democrats are out bragging about how they are going to prolong the 
crisis instead of doing the hard work of trying to solve it. That 
includes the President.
  Look, if the President hadn't decided to blow up the bipartisan 
solution that Members of Congress worked so hard to produce last 
weekend, we would be voting to end this crisis today.
  Instead, Democrats in Congress are still talking about blocking a 
solution to the crisis, and the President is rolling out new mileage 
standards today. Let me repeat that. Here we are a few days from when 
the Secretary of the Treasury says we will be in a default situation, 
and the President of the United States is rolling out new mileage 
standards today.
  How about this: How about a plan from Democrats in Washington that 
can pass both Chambers, prevent the crisis, and protect Americans from 
a worsening economy?
  I suggest to my friends on the other side this morning that they 
start taking their responsibilities as a majority party a little more 
seriously because at this point, the only people who are disregarding 
the consequences of default are Senate Democrats--not the Republicans 
in the House but Senate Democrats.
  Republicans have been doing the hard work of governing this week. It 
is about time our Democratic friends join us.
  I yield the floor.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I appreciate my friend's statement. I didn't 
hear it all, but I certainly heard the context of the statement. We are 
willing to work with him and his staff, as we have, to try to come up 
with a solution. I want the record to reflect very clearly, as I said 
in my remarks this morning, for my friends who didn't have the 
opportunity to hear it, we cannot have in this country a 6-month 
extension because a 6-month extension is no extension. A 6-month 
extension of what we are dealing with would put us back, in a matter of 
weeks, in the same fiscal extravaganza trying to move forward with the 
work of the country.
  The country is locked down. Congress is inoperable. The White House 
is unable to do very much because they are focused on this huge 
problem. I want the record to be spread with the fact that I will work 
as closely as I can on any suggestions they have, as I have indicated. 
But, please, everyone, don't come to me with a 6-month extension.
  The proposal I am moving forward with--and Fred Thompson said take 
your chips, my Republican friends, and put them in your pocket and walk 
away--gives the Republicans everything they have asked for: no 
revenues, $2.4 trillion in cuts. That is a pretty good deal. That is 
not a 6-month deal; it is a solution that takes us until 2013, in the 
month of March.
  Help me work through this. I have no pride of authorship. If somebody 
can figure out another way to improve that suggestion, I will work with 
them. I am willing to work with them. As I have said on the floor 
before--and I don't want anybody to consider this as a sign of 
weakness--I have compromised my whole life. When I practiced law, that 
is what I did in trying to represent people and get a result. I 
believed many times that I was a failure when I had to go to court. But 
I went to court over 100 times to try cases to juries.
  I always believed that compromise was the right thing to do, even in 
the law. As a legislator, it is a sign of integrity and confidence when 
you say you will compromise. Legislation is the art of compromise.
  Again, I am here indicating to the world that I have spent my whole 
adult life trying to compromise and build consensus.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee is 
recognized.
  Mr. ALEXANDER. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent for up to 5 
minutes.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as long as it is in morning business, no.

[[Page 12404]]

  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Tennessee is 
recognized.

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