[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Page 13940]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              THE ECONOMY

  Mr. REID. Very quickly, Madam President, I was very disappointed to 
hear Speaker Boehner say yesterday that he was giving up on reaching a 
bipartisan agreement to avoid huge cuts to both domestic and defense 
programs. I don't feel that way. I can assure everyone within the sound 
of my voice that I have not given up on finding a reasonable and 
balanced approach to reducing our debt and avoiding these difficult 
cuts. Democrats agree that across-the-board cuts are not the best way 
to solve the problems. Sequestration is a bitter pill, but we did that 
on purpose. That was no accident. That is why there was overwhelming 
support for the budget deficit reduction act to have sequestration. The 
sequestration was engineered to be hard to take, so it forced us to 
compromise. It was designed to be tough enough to force the two sides 
to reach a balanced deal. That is why there was widespread bipartisan 
support for this.
  I hope Speaker Boehner will reconsider. I believe it is much too 
early to give up. I urge my Republican colleagues not to give up on 
themselves because I am not going to give up on them. It is time for 
them to stop rooting for the economy to fail and root for Congress to 
succeed and reach common ground. Remember, the markets are watching our 
every move, with Moody's saying yesterday that they were thinking of 
downgrading our debt standing credit rating. This is not the right time 
to say there is no hope in getting things done. I disagree. I say that 
the glass is half full, not half empty.
  The Speaker's statement came an hour after that reminder from Moody's 
came forward. We are willing to work. I say that to my friend John 
Boehner and to everyone else. We are willing to negotiate, we are 
willing to cooperate, we are willing to consider the difficult cuts to 
programs we hold dear, and I think the Republicans should do the same. 
So far they have refused. Due to the orders of their leader Grover 
Norquist, they have refused to raise even a penny of new revenue. They 
have refused to ask millionaires to contribute their fair share to help 
reduce the debt and the deficit. And Democrats won't agree to a one-
sided solution that lets the superwealthy off the hook while forcing 
the middle class and those in greatest need to bear all the hardship. I 
repeat, we are willing to consider difficult cuts to programs we 
believe are extremely important.
  The sequestration is not a perfect legislative tool, but rarely do we 
do anything legislatively that is perfect. That is the way it has been 
for generations. But at least it has the benefit of being a balanced 
approach, and it has the power of law.
  Republicans, including Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan, would 
do well to remember that they voted for the sequestration.

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