[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 11262-11265]
[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, Senator 
Reed's student loan bill.
  The ACTING 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. Following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, 
the time until 12:30 today will be equally divided and controlled, with 
the Republicans controlling the first 30 minutes and the majority 
controlling the next 30 minutes.
  The Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for caucus meetings.


                              Senate Rules

  Last month, the Republican leader spent a great deal of time talking 
about the importance of keeping one's word.
  I agree without any question that Senators and everyone else should 
keep their word. I also believe a deal is a deal, a contract is a 
contract, an arrangement is an arrangement, a bargain is a bargain. As 
long as each party to such agreement holds up his end of the bargain, 
Senators should stick to their word.
  But agreement is a two-way street. If one party fails to uphold their 
end, the agreement, of course, is null and void. The Republican leader 
wants everyone to believe--he has made many statements on the floor to 
which I have not responded--that I have broken my word. He neglects to 
recall his own commitments and his own words. Remember, an agreement is 
a two-way street.
  Let's take a closer look at what the Republican leader committed to 
do. Let's look at the agreement we entered into together on the floor 
of this body, the Senate.
  In a colloquy at the beginning of this Congress, January 24 of this 
year, I committed not to amend the Standing Rules of the Senate except 
through regular order. During that colloquy, Senator McConnell also 
made a commitment. Senator McConnell committed to end the constant 
Republican obstruction and return the Senate to a time when nominations 
were processed more efficiently.
  This is what he said:

       On the subject of nominations, Senate Republicans will 
     continue to work with the majority to process nominations, 
     consistent with the norms and traditions of the Senate.

  I replied on the Senate floor:

       The two leaders will continue to work together to schedule 
     votes on nominees in a timely manner by unanimous consent, 
     except in extraordinary circumstances.

  Remember, an agreement is an agreement, a contract is a contract, and 
a bargain is a bargain.
  The Republican leader also pledged: This Congress should be more 
bipartisan than the last Congress. He promised ``to work with the 
majority to process nominations.'' He committed that ``the two leaders 
will continue to work together to schedule votes on nominees in a 
timely manner by unanimous consent, except in extraordinary 
circumstances.''
  Those were his words. Those were his commitments. Those were his 
promises. By any objective standard, they have been broken.
  Let's take a look at the record--part of the record at least. Exactly 
3 weeks after Senator McConnell committed to process nominees 
consistent with norms and traditions of the Senate--I repeat, 
consistent with the norms and traditions of the Senate--he led the 
Republicans on an unprecedented filibuster of the Secretary of Defense, 
a highly qualified nominee, someone with whom we served in this body.
  Nothing can be a starker violation of the commitment to a return to 
the norms and traditions of the Senate than launching a filibuster of 
the Secretary of Defense, the first ever in the history of our 
Republic. What is more, Republicans obstructed the nominee because of 
completely unrelated issues and despite the fact that nominee Chuck 
Hagel was a war hero of the Vietnam conflict and a former Republican 
Senator from Nebraska. Republicans were busy catering to the tea party 
by trying to inflate the Benghazi nonscandal, which was completely 
unrelated to Secretary Hagel. He wasn't there.

[[Page 11263]]

  Secretary Hagel's nomination was pending in the Senate for 34 days, a 
record for the Secretary of Defense. The average time is about 10 days.
  Confirmation of Cabinet Secretaries used to be free from obstruction. 
Once in a while there would be something, but not very often. But under 
President Obama, Cabinet nominees have faced unprecedented obstruction 
and significant delays in assuming their positions.
  Not a single Cabinet nominee was filibustered in President Carter's 
administration. Not a single Cabinet Secretary nominee was filibustered 
in President George H. W. Bush's administration. One Cabinet Secretary 
was filibustered in the Reagan administration, and only one Cabinet 
Secretary was filibustered in President George W. Bush's 
administration. But already, in the Obama administration, four Cabinet 
Secretaries have been filibustered and more filibusters are likely. 
Remember, he still has 3\1/2\ years to go in his term of office. Yet 
the Republican leader says there is no problem; the status quo is fine.
  Republicans were willing to risk national security for the sake of 
tea party politics when considering the Hagel nomination, and they were 
willing to risk it again when considering the nomination of John 
Brennan to lead the CIA, the Central Intelligence Agency. Now we have 
the Secretary of Defense, and we have the CIA Director. They 
filibustered the nomination of a man charged with leading one of the 
Nation's most vital national security agencies. Yet the Republican 
leader says there is no problem; the status quo is fine.
  In fact, Republican obstructionism has affected nearly every single 
one of President Obama's nominees. These obstructions continued at 
every level and through creative new methods.
  Even before President Obama's nominations reached the Senate floor, 
Senate Republicans bogged them down with unreasonable demands, which 
are terribly time consuming. They are designed to be, if not 
unattainable, hard and difficult.
  Tom Perez is a man who worked as a garbage man, who put himself 
through school. He hauled garbage. He is the President's nominee for 
Secretary of Labor. He received, after the public hearing, more than 
200 questions for the record. These are not easy questions. They are 
not single-line questions.
  Jack Lew, the President's nominee for Secretary of Treasury, was 
asked more than 700 questions before he was confirmed. Previously, 
Secretaries of the Treasury were just whipped through here with only a 
handful of questions. Now Jack Lew is being held up again for another 
position he wants with the International Monetary Fund. He is the 
Secretary of Treasury of our Nation.
  Gina McCarthy--after a full hearing which took quite a while to get 
arranged because the chairman of the committee wanted to make sure the 
ranking member was satisfied with the time, witnesses, and all of 
that--was asked to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.
  I know quite a bit about that committee. I was chairman of that 
committee twice. Now this is a World Series deal. This holds the 
record. She had more than 1,100 questions. It used to be common for 
nominees to be asked a handful of questions in writing after the 
hearing took place.
  My colleague in the minority wants to claim credit for letting some 
nominees proceed. The fact that he seeks credit for approving some 
nominees only highlights the extent of the problem. Confirming nominees 
should be the norm, not the exception.
  Remember the agreement he and I talked about on the Senate floor. The 
President deserves to have his or her team in place. I don't really 
care who is elected, whether it is Jeb Bush, Hillary Clinton, or Joe 
Biden. That person shouldn't have to go through what we have gone 
through in the last 4\1/2\ years. One look at the Senate's Executive 
Calendar shows that fundamentally nothing has changed since Senator 
McConnell and I entered into our supposed agreement.
  There are currently 15 executive branch nominees ready to be 
confirmed by the Senate after long stalling in many different ways. 
They have been waiting more than 260 days. Add it up, and that is about 
9 months per confirmation.
  At this point in President Bush's second term, the Senate had 
confirmed three times as many executives as for President Obama. By the 
Fourth of July of President Clinton's second term, the Senate had 
confirmed 80 of his executive nominees. By the Fourth of July of 
President Bush's second term, the Senate had confirmed 118. By the 
Fourth of July of this year for President Obama, 34. Remember, he has 
3\1/2\ years left.
  Through June of this year I have been forced to file cloture on 25 
Obama executive nominees--25. This is eating up so much time. By 
comparison, a cloture was rarely filed during the 8 years Bush was 
President.
  These procedural blockades are as obvious as they are unprecedented. 
Yet the Republican leader says there is no problem here; the status quo 
is fine.
  This leads me to wonder what exactly does my friend--and he is my 
friend--Senator McConnell consider an extraordinary circumstance? Is it 
an extraordinary circumstance when Republicans merely dislike an 
otherwise qualified nominee? Is it an extraordinary circumstance when 
Republicans simply dislike the agency the nominee will lead, 1,100 
questions? Is it an extraordinary circumstance when Republicans dislike 
the very laws a nominee will be bound to uphold?
  It is a disturbing trend when Republicans are willing to block 
executive branch nominees even if they have no objection about the 
qualification of the nominee.
  They don't like the law. They don't like the agency. Instead, they 
are blocking qualified nominees to circumvent the legislative process, 
forcing wholesale changes to laws or restructure of the entire 
executive branch departments. They are blocking qualified nominees 
because they refuse to accept the law of the land.
  A perfect example is Richard Cordray, former attorney general of the 
State of Ohio, who has been asked by President Obama to lead the 
Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. To give a little background, 
remember, this was part of the bill that was passed called Dodd-Frank. 
This consumer finance protection bill was the brainchild of Elizabeth 
Warren, who is now a Senator representing Massachusetts.
  The reason she is in the Senate is not by chance. Don't even put her 
there; the President for a long time wanted her to be there. No, he 
can't have her, so Cordray was a replacement. He was nominated in July 
of 2011. It is now July 2013.
  There is no doubt about his ability to do the job. He has won high 
praise from both Democrats and Republicans. He has a stellar track 
record. If Mr. Cordray received a fair up-or-down vote, he would be 
confirmed immediately. But the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau 
continues to operate without a leader because Republicans want to roll 
back a law that protects consumers from the greed of the big Wall 
Street banks that caused us to have the meltdown we had in the first 
place. Republicans refuse to confirm Richard Cordray's nomination 
because they refuse to accept the law of the land. They do not dislike 
him, they dislike the law that was passed. Yet the Republican leader 
says there is no problem here; the status quo is fine.
  This same type of blatant obstruction was applied to the nomination 
of Gina McCarthy to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. This is a 
woman who has wide-ranging support with Republicans. She served in 
State Republican administrations. She was nominated 130 days ago, or 
thereabouts, and although she has a proven track record of public 
service that will help her bring environmental and business groups 
together to tackle the serious environmental challenges facing our 
Nation, her nomination drags on. It just lingers. Why? Because 
Republicans fundamentally oppose the mission of the agency--the EPA--
she will lead to keep the air we breathe and the water we drink safe 
from dangerous

[[Page 11264]]

pollution. Once again, they refuse to accept the law of the land. Yet 
the Republican leader says there is no problem here; the status quo is 
just fine; nothing is wrong with the Senate and how it works.
  Republicans also made clear from the start they would never confirm 
Donald Berwick to lead the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, 
the agency tasked with implementing the landmark health care reform 
legislation. Talk about qualifications. This was a Harvard professor of 
medicine.
  This health care law is already saving seniors money in checkups and 
prescriptions. Millions of seniors now have wellness checkups. Being a 
woman can no longer be considered a preexisting disability, as 
insurance companies did before. They can't do that now. Because of 
health care reform, insurance companies can no longer deny coverage to 
sick children, such as those kids I had in my office yesterday, who had 
juvenile diabetes. Because of health care reform, there can be no more 
lifetime caps. A man who was a race car driver in Nevada got in an 
accident--not racing, an accident in a car--and was paralyzed. He got 
to the $100,000 limit and was all through; no more help from the 
insurance company. He went on welfare. Because of the health care 
reform law insurance companies can no longer discriminate against 
those, as I have indicated, with preexisting conditions.
  Since President Obama signed that law, insurance companies can no 
longer put profits ahead of people. It used to be there was no limit to 
what they could spend on the executives of the company, but now they 
are limited to 20 percent. That is why millions of people this year 
have gotten refunds, because the insurance company was gouging them. 
Republicans oppose this health care law. In the House they have 
scheduled another vote next week--to vote for I think the 41st time--to 
repeal it. Because Republicans oppose the health care law, they have 
done everything in their power to derail the law's implementation, 
including denying the CMS a leader.
  Despite Dr. Berwick's stellar credentials, Republicans defamed him 
and destroyed his chance at confirmation because they refused to accept 
the law of the land. They refused to confirm Berwick, so in 2010 
President Obama was forced to recess-appoint him. Berwick's term ended 
a year and a half later because that was done under a recess 
appointment, and at the end of that Congress the appointment expired. 
He was never confirmed to lead the CMS, although his nomination was 
pending for 593 days--more than a year and a half. Yet the Republican 
leader says there is no problem here; the status quo is just fine.
  The same type of politically motivated obstruction has hobbled the 
National Labor Relations Board. This isn't some brand new law that 
Democrats came up with. This came into being during the Great 
Depression--not this one, but the one in the 1930s. That is when the 
National Labor Relations Board originated. From January 2008 to March 
2010, the National Labor Relations Board has operated with just two 
members. Senate Republicans have refused to allow a vote on the 
President's nominees--refused.
  In June 2010, the Supreme Court invalidated much of the NLRB's work 
during this period, finding three members were necessary. There was no 
quorum unless you had an extra one, and we didn't have one because they 
wouldn't let us do it. Then the President recess-appointed a bipartisan 
group of three members to the board so it would function. The appeals 
court ruled those appointments were also unconstitutional. The case 
will soon go to the Supreme Court about recess appointments.
  As I mentioned, I had a meeting earlier with some of my Republican 
friends here this morning. We met in my office, and I reminded 
everybody when this issue came up in the past, we put people on that DC 
Circuit that we had to gag to vote for in an effort to avoid a problem 
here in the Senate, but we did. These are three we put on, the one who 
gave us this outrageous opinion that after 230 years as a country no 
longer could we have recess appointments. So it will go to the Supreme 
Court.
  In the meantime, the term of one of the three remaining NLRB members 
expires next month. So at the end of August the NLRB will continue to 
be nonfunctioning. Republicans consider that a victory. I am not making 
this up. Listen: In 2011, the senior Senator from South Carolina--and I 
care a great deal about this man, Lindsey Graham. He would say he is my 
friend and I am saying he is my friend, but listen to what he said: 
``The NLRB, as inoperable, could be considered progress.'' ``The NLRB, 
as inoperable, could be considered progress.''
  Because Republicans refuse to accept the law of the land, they have 
denied the NLRB the ability to safeguard workers' rights and monitor 
unions. Workers have been illegally terminated. They have no way to 
appeal. The results of contested union elections? It doesn't matter; 
nobody is there to look it over. Labor abuse and unfair labor practices 
go unchallenged. Yet the Republican leader says there is no problem 
here; the status quo is just fine.
  The Constitution gives the President, whomever that President might 
be, the right, the power to choose his team. It grants the Senate the 
right to advise and consent on those choices. But consistent and 
unprecedented obstruction by this Republican caucus has turned advise 
and consent into deny and obstruct. Republican obstruction has denied 
President Obama the ability to choose his team. Whether you are a 
Democrat, a Republican, or an Independent, we should all be able to 
agree that Presidents deserve the team members they want, and their 
nominations should be subject to simple up-or-down votes.
  No President can safeguard America's national economic security to 
the best of his or her ability without their chosen team in place. 
Let's see if we can come up with an example. Davey Johnson is the 
manager of the Washington Nationals--his team--we are so happy to have 
here in Washington. He is here as manager of that team to field a 
winning team. He was a starring second baseman for the Baltimore 
Orioles when they won four American League pennants, two World Series 
championships, and he has managed five different baseball teams. He has 
been a two-time manager of the year, he led the Mets to their 1986 
World Series as a manager, and last year he gave the Nats franchise 
their first division title since 1981.
  Major League Baseball season begins about April 1. Imagine the front 
office of Major League Baseball calling up Davey Johnson around the 1st 
of April and saying: Davey, I know that first baseman you signed a week 
or so ago, Adam LaRoche, is a good first baseman. He is swell--a Gold 
Glove winner, a classic power hitter--but I am sorry to tell you that 
you can't play him until maybe the middle of June. Then Davey Johnson 
is called again by the same man who says: That third baseman, Ryan 
Zimmerman, I know you like him, he is a man who has won the Silver 
Slugger Award, he has been a Gold Glove recipient, an All Star, but 
tell you what, you can play him as soon as the All Star break is over.
  If that were to happen, what would happen to that team? They would go 
on and perform, just as President Obama has done, but they would not 
play to their ability. And that is ridiculous. Yet that is where we 
are. That is exactly what Republicans are saying to President Obama: 
You can't have your team until we tell you everything is fine, and it 
is going to take a long time for us to tell you that. The gridlock the 
Republicans have created is not only bad for President Obama and bad 
for the Senate, it is bad for this country. We can have people come and 
give all the statistics in the world, but is there anybody out there in 
America who thinks this body is functioning well?
  Upon examination of this record I have outlined of obstruction--of 
delay and filibuster--it can hardly be said Senator McConnell has--to 
use his words--worked together to follow regular order and use his 
procedural options with discretion. It can hardly be said Senator 
McConnell has worked

[[Page 11265]]

with the majority to move nominations. It can hardly be said Senator 
McConnell has worked with the majority to schedule votes on nominees in 
a timely manner except in extraordinary circumstances. But it could be 
said Senator McConnell broke his word. That certainly could be said. 
The Republican leader has failed to live up to his commitments. He has 
failed to do what he said he would do--move nominations by regular 
order except in extraordinary circumstances. I refuse to unilaterally 
surrender my right to respond to this breach of faith. If Senator 
McConnell wants to continue to defend the status quo of gridlock in 
Washington, he has that right. If Senator McConnell wants to continue 
to believe there is no problem in the Senate, that is his choice. But 
the American people are fed up with gridlock, they are fed up with 
obstruction, and they are fed up with politics as usual. They want 
Washington to work again for American families.
  I try every day of my life to be on the side of the American people. 
I wait and I wait, but I am not going to wait another month, another 
few weeks, another year for Congress to take action on the things we 
have been doing for almost 240 years.

                          ____________________