[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10915-10916]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




      KEEP STUDENT LOANS AFFORDABLE ACT OF 2013--MOTION TO PROCEED

  Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 124, S. 1238, the student 
loan bill offered by Senator Reed of Rhode Island.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will report the bill by title.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (S. 1238) to amend the Higher Education Act of 1965 
     to extend the current reduced interest rate for undergraduate 
     Federal Direct Stafford Loans for 1 year, to modify required 
     distribution rules for pension plans, and for other purposes.


                                Schedule

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, at 5 p.m. the Senate will proceed to 
executive session to consider the nomination of Gregory Phillips of 
Wyoming to be U.S. circuit judge for the Tenth Circuit. At 5:30 p.m. 
this evening there will be a rollcall vote on confirmation of the 
Phillips nomination.


                     Passing Bipartisan Legislation

  Mr. REID. I welcome back the Presiding Officer, the President pro 
tempore of the Senate. I hope he and all of my colleagues had a restful 
and productive week with the instate work that was done during the 10 
days we were gone.
  It was a pleasure to meet and spend time with my constituents in 
Nevada over the break and with my family. I had a wonderful time with 
my family. Four of my children were there--actually, five were there 
for a short period of time, all five of them. We had a wonderful Fourth 
of July at my son's home. Everyone was there--neighbors. There was a 
great party. My grandson set off the fireworks. I am not going to ask 
where he got them, but there were a lot of fireworks and there was a 
lot of fun. It was a real celebration.
  Everywhere I went I saw immense enthusiasm for this historic 
bipartisan immigration reform bill we passed before the Fourth of July. 
Often I heard how pleased Nevadans were to finally see bipartisanship 
in the Senate. They saw bipartisanship blossom. This has happened far 
too rarely in recent years. Americans of all political stripes are 
united behind the need for commonsense reform. Even a large majority of 
Republicans believes immigration reform will be good for the economy 
and good for national security.
  As everyone here knows, I don't often tout the accomplishments of 
President Bush--Bush No. 2--but I really appreciate what he did at the 
first public event at his new library in Texas. It was an event 
honoring into our country new immigrants to become citizens. After the 
event, the President spoke about the need for passing the Senate bill. 
When he was President, to his credit, he did everything he could to try 
to get it done, but Republicans would not follow the direction he felt 
we should go. Senate Republicans did follow that in the last vote. We 
had 68 votes, and 14 of my Republican colleagues voted with us. I 
appreciate that, and I appreciate what President Bush did to focus his 
attention on this again.
  I appreciate all the groups around the country, from the chamber of 
commerce to other conservative groups, who are running paid 
advertisements on television saying they--the Republicans here in the 
House--should pass the legislation we passed here. The only Republicans 
who aren't yet convinced are in Washington in the House of 
Representatives. Republicans around the country believe it is important 
that we do this immigration reform legislation. As I indicated, 68 
Senators voted for this historic reform, but our responsibility didn't 
end with that vote. It is our duty to convince our colleagues in the 
House that, yes, they should vote with us.
  Bipartisan immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship 
makes economic sense as well as political sense. Unfortunately, over 
the last few weeks Speaker Boehner has taken a different route that is 
one of ignoring the needs of the American people. Rather than moving to 
the center and advancing a bill that would appeal to moderates on both 
sides of the Capitol, Speaker Boehner has repeatedly tried to pass 
legislation with only Republican votes.
  The Hastert rule, named after a recent Republican Speaker--passing 
only bills that have the support of the majority of the majority, the 
only thing they are going to let happen--doesn't work, and it is bad 
for the country. Any major legislation passed by the House of 
Representatives with only Republican votes has no hope of advancing 
here or being signed into law by the President.
  I hope the Speaker has learned his lesson from recent high-profile 
failures of his shortsighted Hastert rule--post office, farm bill, 
online sales tax, immigration. Eventually he will be forced to take up 
the bill we passed here or the country will be left with no immigration 
reform at all, which will be a bad outcome.
  The Speaker should dispense with the posturing and delay and do the 
right thing, and he should do it now. He should take up the Senate farm 
bill on which Chairman Stabenow worked so hard. They should pass that 
bill. They should take it up over there and pass it. Farmers are 
waiting, and all the nutrition groups around the country are waiting. 
He should do that right now.
  He should take up the Senate immigration bill. I say that for the 
second or third time today. This measure--a farm bill that passed 
overwhelmingly on bipartisan votes in this Chamber--the passing of the 
farm bill would create jobs and reduce the debt by some $23 billion. 
And it is important to note that there are reforms both in the farm and 
food stamp programs without balancing the budget on the backs of hungry 
Americans. In fact, it goes a long way toward reducing our debt.
  Passing the immigration bill would help 11 million people who are 
already contributing to our economy and our society to get right with 
the law. It would boost our economy and make

[[Page 10916]]

our country safer, all the while reducing the deficit by about $1 
trillion over the next two decades.
  I remind the Speaker that there is no shame in passing bills that 
moderates from both parties can support. Americans want their elected 
officials to work together to fix the Nation's problems. This is what 
we did in the Senate. I promise the formula will work in the House of 
Representatives as well. The Speaker should try that.
  Sticking to the Hastert rule has prevented the House from passing 
legislation to reform the ailing Postal Service. Postal reform passed 
over here on an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote. The Speaker refused to 
even consider it last Congress, didn't even take it up.
  Sticking to the Hastert rule prevented the House from passing a 
measure that would give brick-and-mortar stores parity with online 
competitors. We passed that on a bipartisan vote. It is heartbreaking 
all over America. I see it in Nevada when I go by these strip malls and 
see places that, if they had the advantage of not having to pay sales 
tax--which is what happens online--they would be in business. They 
would go back into business if the sales tax would have to be paid by 
the people who sell their goods over the Internet. It is unfair. Why 
the Speaker doesn't take that up I don't know.
  We already know that sticking to the Hastert rule prevented the House 
from passing a farm bill last month and last year.
  This month sticking to the Hastert rule prevented the House from 
passing immigration reform that would become law.
  Insisting on the Hastert rule also prevented Speaker Boehner from 
reaching across the aisle to find a sensible solution to our rising 
student loan interest rates. Right now, what they have done on the 
other side is worse for students than doing nothing at all. The 
legislation passed by the House would balance the budget on the backs 
of struggling students--would attempt to balance it, at least. The 
House legislation is worse for students than doing nothing at all. 
Under the House plan, as interest rates start to rise, student loan 
rates will rise with them. Soon loan rates will be more than double. I 
met with the White House, one of the President's assistants. I said: 
Tell me what happens in 3 years. He had to acknowledge that the rates 
would be well over 6.8 percent.
  To find a responsible solution to the student loan issue and every 
other major issue facing this Congress, the Speaker should work with us 
and his Democratic colleagues in the House instead of against them. He 
should remember that the only way to pass meaningful legislation in 
either Chamber is to do so with votes from both reasonable Democrats 
and reasonable Republicans.
  I am told the Speaker is going to come out with a statement today 
saying: We passed our student loan legislation. Now why can't the 
Senate pass it?
  I repeat, the Speaker's student loan legislation that passed the 
House is worse than doing nothing. The Hastert rule has been bad for 
this country, and Speaker Boehner should get away from it.

                          ____________________