[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 4]
[Senate]
[Page 5611]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                               THE BUDGET

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, when I first came to the Senate and when I 
served in the House, conference committees were an important part of 
the business we did here in Congress. But in recent years--very recent 
years--going to conference hasn't been what it used to be.
  Going to conference on a piece of legislation used to mean there 
would be serious discussions and compromises that generally produced a 
product that could be supported by Members of both parties. It was a 
real conference. Democrats sat down with Republicans and in a public 
forum determined what should happen on that bill.
  I can remember going to those conferences. They were tough, they were 
long, and there were a lot of compromises made. But that is what 
legislation is--the art of compromise. When we finished, we had a 
product that was supported by both parties.
  That is why we used to do appropriations bills like that. Why? As an 
example, Senator Domenici and I for many years were the chairman and 
ranking member of a very important subcommittee, energy and water. It 
was very important, billions and billions of dollars. We did our work 
as a subcommittee, but then we were able to meet and work these out in 
conference. That is why we came to the floor. We did the bill in a few 
hours because everyone had had their input.
  Sadly, under a Republican House and a Republican Senate, that is no 
longer the case. Here is an example: the budget conference resolution. 
There is all the chest-beating and flexing of muscles in the press. The 
Republicans have a budget. They worked and worked and got it done. They 
finished the conference.
  The Republican majorities in the House and the Senate don't even 
bother to show that there is a bipartisan consensus building; they just 
do it. Any meetings that have been had on this bill with Democrats have 
been strictly for show.
  There is no discussion. There is no public debate. There is nothing 
done. It is Republicans in the House and Republicans in the Senate 
meeting together. I would bet that the conferences even between the 
House and the Senate were done mainly by the two chairs of the 
committees. Not a word of input on this bill--not a word of input on 
this bill from Democrats. It is no conference. The party already knows 
what they want; they are not interested in our ideas.
  Forbes magazine--I don't quote Forbes magazine very often for obvious 
reasons. It is a very conservative news outlet, but listen to what they 
said, and I quote verbatim:

       This will not be the start of a period of bipartisanship 
     when it comes to budget issues. To the contrary, the budget 
     resolution conference report that will likely be voted on 
     this week will solely become a product of what the Republican 
     majorities in the House and Senate wanted to do. There was 
     little-to-no effort to involve Democrats in the negotiations 
     because the leadership would risk losing GOP votes in both 
     houses by doing so. They also would have risked alienating 
     the GOP base, much of which continues to believe a compromise 
     with congressional Democrats and the Obama administration is 
     the political equivalent of collaborating with the enemy.

  How about that; every word of this is true. It is so sad for our 
country when working across party lines is considered collaborating 
with the enemy.
  I have said here on the floor many times, and I will say it again: 
When Obama was elected the first time, Republicans gathered here in 
Washington--a couple of days the meeting took, and it has been written 
up a lot of times--and they made two conclusions. They came to two 
conclusions: No. 1, we are not going to have Obama reelected. They 
failed miserably with that. But on the second thing they have been 
successful; that is, they would oppose anything and everything 
President Obama wanted. They have done that now for 6\1/2\ years.
  What a sad day for our country.

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