[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 160 (2014), Part 2]
[Senate]
[Pages 2195-2196]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       STATE OF THE UNION ADDRESS

  Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, last night President Obama laid out an 
optimistic vision for a great nation that must never stop working to 
become even greater.
  When the President gave his first State of the Union in February of 
2009, our economy was losing over 700,000 jobs a month. Wall Street 
firms had collapsed and taken Main Street businesses with them and 
economists were not sure how deep it would go or if it would tip from a 
great recession into a true depression.
  Families across the country were huddled around kitchen tables 
talking late into the night trying to figure out how they were going to 
stay in their homes or send their kids to college or even put food on 
their table. People who had gone to work every single day of their 
adult lives and had not had to update their resume in 20 years didn't 
know how they were going to pull their lives together if they got that 
pink slip. Workers who had jobs they thought were secure were panicking 
knowing that if things continued to go wrong, nobody was truly safe.
  A lot has changed in 5 years. It has not been perfect. It certainly 
has not been smooth. We were not able to do nearly enough, and we still 
need to do far more.
  Last night President Obama was able to talk about the progress we 
have made since he inherited the greatest economic crisis since the 
Great Depression. He was able to talk about the 46 months of straight 
private sector growth, about an unemployment rate that has come down 
from dangerous heights. He talked about the work that still remains to 
help millions of workers still trying to get back on the job.
  He articulated a vision not just for bolstering our still fragile 
economic recovery but also for continuing the great American tradition 
of leaving our children with a stronger nation than the one we 
inherited from our parents--a vision of a country that makes sure every 
child has an opportunity to work hard, contribute to their community, 
and succeed to the best of their ability. He spoke of a country that 
doesn't just have economic growth at the top that may or may not 
trickle down but that has broad-based prosperity built from the middle 
out and a vision of a country that offers workers and families the 
stability and security they expect when they put in a lifetime of hard 
work.
  President Obama talked about ways he is going to make this year a 
year of action, and I know that is what the American people are 
expecting. Some of that will come through executive action and public-
private partnerships, but a lot of what we need to do depends on us in 
Congress.
  Over the past few years Congress has been lurching, as we all know, 
from crisis to crisis, stumbling from one artificial deadline to the 
next, and too often engaging in petty partisan bickering instead of 
solving problems for the families we all represent.
  At the end of last year, House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan 
and I worked together to show the American people it didn't have to be 
this way. When we sat down together in a budget conference that 
Democrats had been trying to start for 7 months, we faced an awful lot 
of skepticism. Many people were hoping we could reach a deal and avoid 
another crisis. However, they were far more confident that this budget 
group would not succeed where so many others had failed.
  Chairman Ryan and I decided to listen to each other. We searched for 
common ground and we made some compromises. We knew we were never going 
to agree on everything, but we didn't think that should mean we 
couldn't agree on anything. We wanted a deal, not a fight, and we were 
able to put partisanship aside to do the right thing for the American 
people.
  Our 2-year budget deal was a step in the right direction. We proved 
that bipartisanship was possible in this divided government, that 
Democrats and Republicans could break through the bitterness and rancor 
and work together and reach an agreement. That deal rolled back the 
damaging across-the-board cuts and prevented a government shutdown. It 
moved our country forward, but we can't stop now because the vast 
majority of Americans understand our economy simply is not working the 
way it needs for people like them.
  We need to do more to expand economic opportunities for the families 
and small business owners and communities across the country who are 
looking to us to get this right. They see the wealthiest Americans and 
biggest corporations continue to take advantage of an unfair Tax Code 
filled with special interest loopholes and giveaways. They see fewer 
and fewer opportunities for workers to find a job or earn enough for a 
stable middle-class life or send their kids to college. They watch as 
their government cuts back on critical investments in long-term and 
broad-based economic growth, and they want more than partisan bickering 
from their elected representatives. They want real action.
  We will spend a lot of time over the next few months talking about 
many of the policies President Obama talked about last night, but I 
wish to focus on a few he mentioned that impact women and their 
economic opportunities in particular.
  We need to face the reality that working women across the country--
and working moms in particular--are struggling to find work that pays a 
living wage at a time when they are balancing being both the 
breadwinner and caretaker in so many families. When we talk about 
creating opportunity in America, we need to focus on the fact that 
women continue to be paid 77 cents for every $1 a man earns, and they 
make up two-thirds of all minimum-wage workers. We need policy changes 
that focus on all workers but also help women catch up if we are truly 
going to create economic opportunity that expands the middle class and 
strengthens all of our families.
  I was very glad to hear President Obama announce last night that he 
will be raising the minimum wage for Federal contractors. We need to 
build on that to give millions more women and men in this country 
access to a raise and make sure that working hard and having a job is 
rewarded. This is something we will be moving on in Congress in the 
near future, and I am hoping Republicans decide to put politics aside 
on this and work with us to get this done.
  I was also very glad to hear President Obama double down on his 
commitment to a national preschool initiative that would not only help 
our youngest children and pay dividends in future economic growth but 
would empower millions of women who would be able to go to work and 
give back to their communities. This is not just a policy for me, it is 
personal. It is what got me into politics in the first place, and it is 
something that has driven me ever since.
  As a former preschool teacher, I saw in my own classroom that when 
young children get the attention they need early, they will be miles 
ahead of their peers on the path to success. I saw the students I had 
who had been taught to simply raise their hand to ask a question or 
stand in line to go to recess; they were the ones who were more 
prepared to tackle a full curriculum when they got to school.
  It is not just my personal experience. Study after study after study 
has made it clear that beginning to educate our children at an early 
age means they will be less likely to be held back, less likely to 
require special education, less likely to engage in criminal activity, 
and ultimately they will be more likely to graduate from high school 
and earn more.

[[Page 2196]]

  Investing in preschool is overwhelmingly supported, and it is 
supported by the American people. In fact, the most recent polls show 
that over 80 percent of Americans believe we should pursue this across 
the country. It is strongly supported by the many people who truly 
understand the impact it will have on the ground.
  I have talked to law enforcement officials who said they believe that 
early education is the key to reducing crime. Business and innovation 
and education leaders have seen the long-term impact that investing in 
early education has on our children and on our communities. We have to 
make these investments in our children and our future and Congress 
needs to act. Every day we wait is another opportunity lost. These are 
just a few of the policies President Obama talked about that I am ready 
to get work on.
  The President also talked about the clear need to reform our 
immigration system, support our veterans and our wounded warriors, 
reform our bloated and unfair Tax Code, and invest in our Nation's 
infrastructure priorities. The American people are now expecting their 
elected officials to work together to tackle those issues, and many 
more, over the coming months and years.
  I am at the table. I am ready to build on that bipartisan foundation 
we laid with the budget deal, but I am very worried that while the 
President and many of us in Congress are talking about working together 
to move the country forward, we have some Republicans who are already 
talking about dragging us backward into another needless crisis. That 
is absurd. We went through this just a couple of months ago. There is 
no reason for Republicans to put this country through this again.
  Republican leaders proved at the end of last year that they were not 
going to actually follow the tea party off the cliff and let the 
government default. After a lot of drama and partisan posturing and 
economic pain for millions of families, Republicans dropped their 
demands and joined Democrats to reopen the government and avoid a 
default.
  Republican leaders have said they are not going to let the country 
default this time either, but they now seem unable to stop playing 
games with this issue to make the tea party happy.
  I will be very clear on the floor: Democrats are not going to 
negotiate over whether the government should pay its bills. If the 
Republicans continue down this path of empty threats and taking 
hostages and dangerous demands, they will get exactly what they got 
last time they tried to play politics with our economic recovery--
nothing.
  I call on my Republican colleagues to stop working on a wish list of 
debt limit demands and hostages and stop thinking about the new threats 
they are going to make to our economy and to the American people and 
join us at the table to work on the real issues we need to address.
  Democrats want to work with Republicans to tackle our challenges 
fairly and responsibly. That is what the President talked about last 
night. It is what we are here to talk about today. But as Chairman Ryan 
and I showed just a few months ago, the way for both sides to get what 
they want is through compromise and negotiation, not hostage-taking and 
not threats.
  The American people expect us to work together. They want more deals 
and fewer fights, and I know Democrats are ready to get to work. I am 
hopeful Republicans will work with us to make this year of action in 
Congress a reality.
  Thank you, Madam President. I yield the floor.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Iowa.

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