[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 10]
[Senate]
[Pages 15029-15030]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.J. RES. 72

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, many of us were stunned this week to 
see the administration blocking the World War II Memorial. It was a 
reminder to all of us how much we owe the ``greatest generation.'' Last 
week the Senate unanimously agreed to ensure our troops are paid during 
the shutdown, and the President correctly signed it into law 
immediately.
  Today the House will pass a bill to ensure our veterans--in fact, 
they have done that--continue to get the services and benefits they so 
richly deserve. If Democrats are unwilling to fund other parts of the 
government, at the very least they can agree to support our veterans.
  As the Senator from Texas and the majority leader were just 
discussing, I have the first of these unanimous consent requests to 
propound.
  I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives H.J. Res. 72, 
making continuing appropriations for veterans' benefits for fiscal year 
2014, the measure be read three times and passed, and the motion to 
reconsider be made and laid upon the table.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
  Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, my friend 
notes that no one wants to shut down the government. Obviously, he 
didn't listen to my statement. We have people who have been saying for 
days now--Republicans saying--they are glad the government has shut 
down; they have been waiting for this for years. I have quoted the 
Congresswoman from Minnesota who said that. Congressman Marlin Stutzman 
of Indiana tells us where the tea party is when he said: ``We're not 
going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I 
don't know what that even is.''
  So Republicans are throwing one crazy idea or another at the wall in 
the hope one will stick. They throw out one idea, then come up with 
another one. And then, I repeat, they hope something will stick on that 
wall, and they do not even know which wall they are throwing it on.
  The latest plan came from the junior Senator from Texas, which is to 
cherry-pick parts of the government he likes. House Republican Leader 
Cantor admitted this strategy. According to the New York Times, this is 
what he said when asked: What about those cancer patients who need some 
help; what about the disadvantaged kids who want to return to their 
Head Start classes?

       That's coming as well. We are going to take every issue 
     that has come up and put it on the floor.

  He is following Senator Cruz's idea specifically. Senator Cruz is now 
joint Speaker. He lectures the House on occasion, as he does people 
over here.
  We support veterans and parks and NIH and all these different 
elements of government that are closed, but we also are not going to 
choose between veterans, cancer research, disease control, highway 
safety, or the FBI, and we are not going to give a blank check to the 
junior Senator from Texas to pick his favorite parts of the government 
on a daily basis. Today it is parks, tomorrow it is NIH, maybe later it 
will be something else.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Would the leader yield for a question?
  Mr. REID. I am happy to yield.
  Mr. SCHUMER. I simply wanted to follow up on what he said.
  If we were to go along with these individual UC requests----
  Mr. CORNYN. Regular order, Mr. President.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the request?
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, here is the 
situation. The junior Senator from Texas wants to fund everything else, 
just not ObamaCare. Here is what one columnist said today--Dana Milbank 
from the Washington Post--and I will be quick; I know Senators have a 
lot to talk about here:

       House Republicans continued what might be called the 
     lifeboat strategy: deciding which government functions are 
     worth saving. In: veterans, the troops and tourist 
     attractions. Out: Poor children, pregnant

[[Page 15030]]

     women, and just about every government function that 
     regulates business or requires people to pay taxes. Here are 
     some of the functions not boarding--

  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, is that an objection?
  Mr. REID. I will use leader time then, Mr. President.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  Mr. REID. So if they are afraid to listen to the things I have to 
say, they should listen, because the government is closed, and it is 
closed because they have helped close it. So let's not try to be 
technical here. I want to say something and I am going to say it.
  Continuing the Milbank quote:

       Here are some of the functions not boarding the GOP 
     lifeboats: market regulation, chemical spill investigations, 
     antitrust enforcement, work site immigration checks, 
     workplace safety inspections, the Environmental Protection 
     Agency . . . communications and trade regulation, nutrition 
     for 9 million children and pregnant women, flu monitoring and 
     other functions of the Centers for Disease Control and 
     Prevention, and housing rental assistance for the poor.

  Here is what else he wrote:

       And that's quite a list that the Tea Party is throwing out 
     of the boat. We need to end the Government shutdown.

  I say, without any reservation, that the key to opening the 
government still remains with the Senate-passed funding resolution that 
will open the government. We will talk about anything they want to talk 
about. We have said that.
  I ask unanimous consent that their request be modified as follows: 
That an amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the joint 
resolution, as amended, be read a third time and passed and the motion 
to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no 
intervening action or debate.
  This amendment is the text that passed the Senate and is the clean 
continuing resolution for the entire government. It is something that 
is already over in the House and reportedly has the support of the 
majority of the Members of the House of Representatives, including at 
least 20 Republicans, and some report as many as 100.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the modified 
request?
  Mr. McCONNELL. I object.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  Mr. REID. I object to the previous consent.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
  The Republican leader.
  Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, with all due respect to my good friend 
the majority leader, he was speaking about the junior Senator from 
Texas, whom I don't see on the floor at the moment. The request was 
made by the minority leader, the Republican leader of the Senate, and 
it dealt, quite appropriately, with veterans' benefits. That was the 
whole purpose of the consent request.
  I would repeat that I was the one who requested consent that we 
provide relief for veterans during this shutdown, and the person to 
whom his speech seems to be directed I don't see on the floor at the 
moment. But with that, I know we are in the middle of a colloquy here, 
and the Republican whip has the podium now.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.

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