[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 8]
[Senate]
[Pages 10898-10899]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           DEADLINES IGNORED

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, one of the legendary Senators who recently 
retired from the Senate after many years in the House and the Senate, 
Tom Harkin, if he were here, would be on the floor taking issue with 
what the Republican leader just said.
  Tom Harkin tried very hard to have a reauthorization of the 
elementary and secondary education bill. Why didn't he get it? Because 
Republicans blocked us from doing it. So it is nice that my friend the 
Republican leader comes and talks about all the great things being done 
in Congress now, but the fact is it could have been done many years ago 
had we had a little bit of cooperation from the Republicans.
  The new Republican majority has ignored upcoming deadlines and 
neglected to address urgent problems facing our great country. I am 
saying that--and that is just an understatement. Instead, they have 
governed through a series of last-minute, manufactured crises that 
increase uncertainty and impose unnecessary and wasteful costs on our 
country. In just a few minutes, we are going to debate the education 
matter, as we should.
  But as important as that is, it is extremely important we don't take 
our eye off the prize. And what is that? Because in just a few months, 
the government is going to run out of money. Unless we can reach a 
bipartisan budget agreement, our Nation will be faced with yet another 
ridiculous and damaging government shutdown.
  Now, my Republican colleagues understand what I just said because 
they are the ones who created the last government shutdown. It was a 
crushing blow to our economy. Sadly, the only

[[Page 10899]]

reason we were able to reopen the government is because Democrats voted 
almost unanimously to reopen the government. Sadly, to just take one 
example, well over half of the Republicans, about two-thirds of the 
Republicans in the House, voted to keep the government closed. How 
about that.
  So another government shutdown would be unacceptable. But remember, 
it has been done before--with joy--by my Republican colleagues. 
Sequestration is another thing they seem to like.
  So having had that as a historical background, we ought to be able to 
get together, compromise, and reach a bipartisan solution for our 
country in a timely, responsible way. You would think so.
  As happened here before we left for the July 4th recess, there was an 
effort made to move to the Defense appropriations bill, and that was 
stopped because we believe that what we need to fund more than defense 
is we need to fund the whole government. We stand ready to work with 
Republicans to reach a bipartisan solution. Unfortunately, it seems as 
if Republican leadership shows no interest in compromise. Democrats 
have urged them to come to the table now, and they have refused.
  Unless we act now, we will be faced with another Republican-imposed 
crisis at the end of this fiscal year. This should be avoided, and it 
can be avoided. Don't just take my word for it. There are Republicans 
in the House who believe the time for games and brinkmanship should be 
over. The New York Times today reports that high-ranking Republicans in 
the House are calling for negotiations again now:

       Senior House Appropriations Committee members, including 
     the panel's chairman, Representative Harold Rogers of 
     Kentucky, have already told Republican leaders that the time 
     to negotiate a way out of the impasse is now, not in the 
     shadow of a papal visit or a government shutdown on October 
     1.

  There is also in this same article, in the last paragraph, something 
that is quite important.

       ``The reality is we still live in a divided government,'' 
     Mr. Cole said.

  He is one of the senior Members of the House Republican caucus.

       ``It's not as if the Democrats can be shut out. . . .''

  And we proved that with a vote on the Democratic response to the 
efforts to move to Defense appropriations. Continuing:

       ``It's not as if the Democrats can be shut out, but they 
     can't dictate to us any more than we can dictate to them. 
     It's time to sit down and see if we can make a deal.''

  We can reach a deal.
  So I urge Republicans to follow the leadership of Chairman Rogers and 
long-time Representative Cole and work to get this process going now. 
Let's not wait yet another week. Certainly we shouldn't wait any 
longer. Let's move forward. Let's not wait until the last minute. Let's 
not risk another shutdown. Let's sit down and talk to each other and 
reach a bipartisan budget agreement on behalf of the American people. 
The President and his people would be happy to be engaged any time on 
this.
  I certainly hope we can move forward and not have another repeat of 
what the Republicans did to this country just a short time ago and 
close it down.

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