[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 12]
[Senate]
[Pages 16683-16684]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                            BUDGET AGREEMENT

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, our goals regarding the budget agreement 
were to make sure that we got rid of sequestration--we did that for 2 
years--and that we had a treatment in this legislation where defense, 
which is so important to our country, is treated no better or no worse 
than nondefense. We accomplished that.
  We are months behind in the appropriations process because the 
Republican leader decided he was going to push forward and not take 
care of the middle class. I was stunned--I shouldn't say that. That is 
not appropriate. I was not surprised when the Republican leader laid 
out his goals for his budget agreement--not a single word about the 
middle class.
  I compliment the negotiators for coming up with something that is 
really good. It is a 2-year deal that allows more money to be spent for 
defense and nondefense, and it doesn't affect the deficit in any way. 
It is a good agreement.
  Before we start the backslapping and congratulations, let's make sure 
that we, first of all, pass the budget agreement. I think we will. I 
was happy to see the new Speaker-to-be came out for the budget 
agreement today. He complained about it yesterday, and when he was 
reminded that it was the same pattern he and Senator Murray came up 
with 2 years ago, I guess he changed his mind. He said now he is in 
favor of this. I think that is good, that Congressman Ryan said that.
  After we pass the budget framework by December 11, we have to make 
sure the appropriators are able to move forward on legislation that 
takes into consideration the budget agreement we have. I am certain 
that can be done, but it is not a given based on all of the finger-
pointing by the Republicans.
  This is a significant agreement. I repeat: We have relief from the 
vexatious sequestration. We have dollar-for-dollar help for the middle 
class as well as defense. There are no destructive riders in this.
  When we work together, as we are supposed to do--as the Republican 
leader just mentioned--on legislation, it works out well.
  I would suggest this. We had the House of Representatives yesterday, 
after years of refusing to move forward on an important piece of 
legislation--

[[Page 16684]]

that is, to reestablish the Import-Export Bank. It only came about as a 
result of courageous Republicans saying: We have had enough of this.
  This is one of the most important business-directed initiatives we 
have here, and it has been held up for years in the House of 
Representatives. It was because of these courageous Republicans who 
said: We have had enough of this. And they joined with Democrats to do 
what is rarely done in the House of Representatives. They signed a 
discharge petition--getting more than 218 votes--to say: We have had 
enough of this stalling; we want to move forward. And they did. 
Yesterday, that passed by a vote of 313 votes. That is a tremendous 
push.
  I hope that over here the Republican leader will move forward on this 
now. There are stories coming out every day about American companies 
that are moving their businesses overseas because the Export-Import 
Bank is gone. It creates 160,000 jobs for people to work in this 
industry. It is important to our country. Right now, businesses are 
moving out of the United States because this legislation never came 
forward. The Bank had to close. It is basically closed right now.
  I hope that we are not going to wait for some package deal with the 
highway bill. The highway bill should stand or fall on its own merits.
  We are pleading with the Republicans to allow us to have a vote on 
this. We have Republicans who will vote with us. Virtually every 
Democrat will vote for it. We should get it done this week. Every day 
it is held up is a bad day for the American business community.
  I ask the Chair to announce the business for today.

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