[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 11]
[Senate]
[Page 15778]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           PRELIMINARY TALKS

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, as most know now--we did a press event so 
everybody knows, I guess, but I will say it again--I had a meeting with 
Senators McConnell, Alexander, and Schumer this morning to work on 
issues before us. The conversations are preliminary, but we are 
talking. I hope everyone understands how positive this is. It is the 
first discussions we have had here, period, during the whole pendency 
of this artificially driven government shutdown and not raising the 
debt limit when we should.
  I am confident Senator McConnell understands that defaulting on our 
debt would mean millions of jobs in the United States, not thousands, 
not hundreds of thousands but millions. It could halt Social Security 
checks, Medicare payments, and even paychecks for our men and women in 
uniform.
  Democratic Senators agree with President Obama and we share a simple 
goal. We want to reopen the government and pay our bills so we can move 
forward in good-faith negotiations for a long-term budget to protect 
jobs, the middle class, and the American economy. That is our goal.

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