[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Pages 15524-15525]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              DEBT DEFAULT

  Mr. REID. Madam President, it is very hard to find, on occasion, 
common ground in Washington. Of late, it has been hard all the time.
  There is one thing on which Republicans and Democrats should be able 
to agree: there is no more important issue before Congress than to 
prevent a catastrophic default on our debt. Default would put our 
economy in grave danger, and that is a gross understatement. I have 
said it, so many of my Republican colleagues have said it, and the 
business community is shouting it from the rooftops.
  Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein said this about averting default--
he is not known as a great liberal or outstanding Democrat, but he is 
known as a great businessman. He said:

       While the current government shutdown is unfortunate, the 
     impacts of a debt default would be magnitudes worse and 
     should not even be considered a viable option. The economic 
     damage associated with default or near default would be 
     severe and have serious consequences for the recovery of the 
     U.S. and global economy.

  That was amplified the last couple of days by Christine Lagarde, head 
of IMF, who says this is just awful for the world economy.
  The world economy affects us. We affect it. No country in the world 
affects the world economy more than we do. We are going to affect it in 
a very negative fashion, which will have tremendous negative 
consequences for us.
  There are some Republicans in Congress threatening default, even 
elated that we are going to have one, saying it doesn't really matter.
  Warren Buffett said that using the threat of default to extract 
political payment ``ought to be banned as a weapon. . . . It should be 
like nuclear bombs, basically too horrible to use.'' Warren Buffett 
said this, and his father was a Republican Member of Congress.
  Business leaders are begging us to do the right thing and to do it 
now, quickly. In addition to America's reputation in the world, the 
bedrock of the global economy is at stake, as I have already stated.
  Yesterday a bill was introduced that would remove the specter of 
default and allow the United States to pay its bills with no 
preconditions or strings attached. Republicans and Democrats may have 
our differences, but neither side should hold the full faith and credit 
of the United States hostage while we resolve them.
  Let's reopen the government. Speaker Boehner could end this 
government shutdown today, an hour from now, by letting the House--the 
entire House--vote on the Senate's clean bill and reopen the 
government. When the Speaker is on national TV and other places saying: 
We don't have the votes, he will never know that because he won't let 
the measure come to the floor. Of course it has enough votes.
  Let's reopen the government and pay our bills. There is no reason for 
Republicans to drag out this process and force the Nation's economy 
ever closer to an economically catastrophic default. Then let's 
negotiate. Two hundred days ago to the day, Senate Democrats passed a 
budget, led by Senator Murray, that reflects our priorities. Since then 
we have asked 20 times to negotiate a compromise within our budget and 
the one passed by Republicans in the House. We are not afraid to 
negotiate, but we need someone to negotiate with. We need a dancing 
partner. If Republicans end this irresponsible, as it appears now, 
government shutdown, remove the threat of a cataclysmic default, and 
stop objecting to a budget conference, we could start negotiating now.
  Republicans have already been so harsh on rhetoric. Republicans have 
already done enough harm to our economy with a reckless shutdown 
designed to undermine the law of the land, ObamaCare. But the 
consequences of a first-in-history default on the debt would be far 
worse--even worse than the 2008 financial crisis from which we are 
still recovering. Two years ago, the

[[Page 15525]]

last time the Republicans flirted with this terrible idea, America's 
credit rating was downgraded for the first time in the history of our 
great country. The stock market dropped 2,000 points. It has already 
dropped 7 or 8 percent over the last few weeks.
  Raising the debt limit doesn't cost taxpayers a single dime, and 
Republicans shouldn't claim it does because it doesn't. That is 
certainly not what they claimed when George W. Bush raised the debt 
ceiling seven times. Congress has raised the debt limit more than 90 
times since it was created in 1939, the majority of those times with 
Republican Presidents. Ronald Reagan asked Congress to raise the limit 
18 times--twice as many as any other President. He, being the great 
orator he was, said that to do what is being done now, to use an 
example of why someone should never do that, he called it 
``outrageous.''
  Raising the debt ceiling simply allows payment of bills we have 
already incurred--bills for wars and tax breaks paid for with borrowed 
money--and basically the simple operation of our government.
  I heard one Republican Senator today--I read about it--he said: Well, 
we have enough money coming in to pay the interest.
  Social Security payments would not go forward, and that is only the 
beginning.
  To even consider defaulting on these obligations or to use the threat 
of default to extract concessions is terribly irresponsible in a 
negative fashion.
  Republican Governor Jon Huntsman, Governor of Utah, an extremely 
liberal State, said this about the current Republican brinkmanship over 
default:

       It's pretty sad, pretty pathetic for the greatest economy 
     on Earth to be experiencing this . . . Russian roulette with 
     our . . . economy.

  He continued:

       We have to see it as an economic issue. . . . If you think 
     the government shutdown is a big deal, that's a hand grenade 
     compared to a thermonuclear weapon that would be hitting the 
     debt ceiling.

  Yesterday the minority leader suggested that the only way to disarm 
this weapon is for me to engage in one-on-one talks with the Speaker of 
the House. I am happy to talk to John Boehner anytime. We have talked. 
But it is obvious to me that no amount of talking will make Speaker 
Boehner either willing or able to end this shutdown and prevent a 
catastrophic default.
  In fact, as my friend the senior Senator from Arizona said yesterday, 
it is time for the Senate to deal and to lead. He is right. We have an 
issue coming before us momentarily--the debt ceiling. We have to be the 
Senate, lead, get that passed, and send it over to the House of 
Representatives. We have already passed a bill to reopen the 
government. We have already done that. We are going to go a step 
further. Senate Democrats have introduced legislation to avert a 
default on this Nation's obligations.
  I say to my Republican colleagues in the Senate, the time for 
misleading rhetoric is through, and the time for responsible leadership 
is here. We are happy to work with our Republican colleagues, open the 
government, pay our bills, and negotiate anything--anything they wish 
to talk about.

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