Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. We will take this on a voice vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I would ask that the Senator accommodate us. We are willing to give it to him.

Mrs. MURRAY. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I wish to thank Ranking Member Sessions once again for another good day of vigorous debate. There are clearly some differences between us in the Senate, but all our constituents benefit from having those views laid out and expressed clearly. I appreciate all he is doing to help us move along as well as have the good debate we are having. Yesterday, the Senate did vote to reject the idea that balancing the budget by an arbitrary date should come before middle-class families and broad-based economic growth. Last night, the Senate voted to continue down the path toward a truly balanced approach to tackling our economic and fiscal challenges. It is the kind of approach that cuts spending responsibly and calls on the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations to pay their fair share. We voted on an approach that puts our economy first and foremost and makes sure we are protecting, not threatening, our fragile economic recovery. That is the kind of approach that is supported by the vast majority of the American people, and the Senate stood strongly behind that. The Senate strongly rejected the budget that passed the House of Representatives yesterday. Their budget would meet the goal by balancing the budget with an arbitrary date but would do it in a way that would be devastating for our families and the economy. It would dismantle Medicare and end up cutting taxes for the rich while raising them on the middle class; not only that, but it did rely on gimmicks and tricks to hit that arbitrary date. There is nothing balanced about that kind of approach. I am very glad every Member of the Senate had an opportunity to be clear about where we stand on that. The Senate also voted yesterday to specifically reject the idea that Medicare should be dismantled or voucherized. I am glad we had strong bipartisan support on that amendment. We also voted clearly for the idea that while both sides favor closing tax loopholes and ending wasteful deductions that favor the wealthiest Americans and biggest corporations, the Senate thinks some of that revenue should be used to tackle the deficit and invest in the middle class, not to be used to simply cut tax rates for the rich the way the House budget did. We have a few more hours of debate this morning between now and 11 a.m., followed by some votes, and then we will close out the debate and move on to all the rest of the votes we will take before final passage late tonight or early tomorrow morning. As the majority leader said, we have hundreds of amendments. If we were to vote on all of them, we would be here every single hour voting between Monday and Tuesday. I think every Member knows that is probably not going to happen. I encourage every Member of the Senate to work with the manager on their side so we can get the amendments up sooner rather than later and vote on the ones each side wants us to. I urge all my colleagues to work with us and our staff to make sure we know where the priorities are, how to proceed, and we will work with everyone to combine similar amendments. Obviously, among those 400 amendments, there are a number that are similar. We will clear as many noncontroversial amendments by voice vote as we can, and we will get through as many votes as possible in a fair and reasonable manner. We look forward to working with Senator Sessions to make sure we can do that. I encourage our colleagues--there is a bit more time for them to have their say before we vote. If anyone would like to have their say, make sure our staffs know before making any statements. With that, I yield to my colleague, Senator Sessions.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am very proud of the balance we have put forward in our budget that makes sure all Americans in this country participate in solving the great crisis in front of us in terms of managing our debt and deficit. We are doing exactly what the American people have asked us to do--making sure that everyone participates. To me, as someone who has been involved for a long time in taking care of my own family and my community, balance is an important word, and I am very proud of the balance we put into this in terms of the American public. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from Iowa.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I am happy to yield 3 additional minutes to the Senator from Iowa.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Iowa for his long-time passion for young people in this country. As chair of the Education and Health Committee, he has committed his time to making sure those who are least among us have opportunity in this country. That is so important. He has spoken eloquently against the Cruz amendment, reminding all of us that amendment isn't just about repealing health care but actually taking away the ability for students to be able to go to college on Pell grants and student loans. I would not be standing in front of us today if our country hadn't invested in me way back to give me the ability to go to college on student loans and Pell grants. So I want to thank him, on behalf of a very grateful country, for his long-time work on this. And as we all know, the Senator will be retiring. We will miss his voice, but his passion will always remain here. With that, Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY. I withhold my request. I thank the Chair.

Mrs. MURRAY. I want to thank my friend from New Jersey on his previous work to highlight how our budget impacts children and on his efforts to do so again today. I agree with him that it is important that we have a full accounting of how the Federal Government serves children throughout our Nation. However, my friend is correct, and due to the strict procedural guidelines of the budget resolution an amendment that is primarily focused on executive branch agencies falls outside the scope of a concurrent resolution such as the one we are debating today. However, I want to assure my friend that I will work closely with him to find a path forward on the children's budget and achieve our shared goal of ensuring that the government is doing its best to efficiently and effectively serve our Nation's children.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, how much time remains on both sides?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I yield 5 minutes to the Senator from New Hampshire and 7 minutes to the Senator from Minnesota.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senator from Minnesota has requested 10 minutes, and I yield to him 10 minutes.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I wish to thank the Senator from Minnesota, as we prepare to go through a series of votes, for reminding us that a budget is not just numbers on a piece of paper. It really is a statement of our values and what we care about and how we are going to invest in our country so we have strong jobs in the future and a strong economy. We really base this budget on those principles, and the Senator from Minnesota reminded us all of that so well today, and I thank him for his statement. We are within a minute of beginning the vote, so I would remind my colleagues we have a busy day ahead of us. We on our side are very proud of the budget we have put forward that focuses on jobs and the economy, in this fragile time getting people back to work, getting them the resources they need to have a strong future, whether it is education or infrastructure or the research and development that creates the kind of jobs that the Senator from Minnesota has focused on. We on this side do deeply understand the need to manage our debt and deficit responsibly. It is why we have put forward a credible approach, a balanced approach, that makes sure we are cutting, in many programs the Presiding Officer and I care deeply about, but understanding this is the time we are in, where we have to relook at these programs and manage them effectively, and we have done that in our budget. There are many tough choices we have in front of us, but the tough choices we have put forward in this budget reflect the balance the American people have asked us to make in our budget approach. I look forward to having it passed sometime, I am sure, in the wee hours of the morning. This budget moves us toward a place where we can work with colleagues on both sides of the aisle and both sides of this city to come together in a way that gets us back on a path so we are not managing this country from crisis to crisis, but are working effectively together to move forward in this country. So with that, Mr. President, I yield back the remainder of our time. Amendment No. 431

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Mikulski, the first amendment she has offered is a very important one. We all know pay discrimination in the workplace is very real. We know women are nearly half of our workforce, but they still only earn about 77 percent of what men earn, and women of color are much worse off. African-American women make 70 cents on the dollar. Hispanic women make only 60 cents on the dollar. We want to make sure all of our families are strong and stable in the future, and pay discrimination is something that is holding women and families and communities back. So a ``no'' vote on this means you are actually OK with women earning less pay than men--women not being able to contribute to their families in a strong way so their children can be taken care of and they can pay their mortgage or their rent and put food on the table. A ``yes'' vote on this amendment means you acknowledge this as a problem and agree that women must receive equal pay for equal work. I want to thank the Senator from Maryland for her long-time advocacy on behalf of women in many ways, but particularly on making sure they have equal pay.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, on our side I believe we are happy to have a voice vote on this amendment. And I urge a strong yes. It sets a great tone, by the way, for the rest of the day.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, as I have said many times, this budget asks the wealthiest Americans and our biggest corporations to pay just a little bit more, both to get our fiscal house in order and to make critical investments that will help drive broad-based economic growth. Economists across the political spectrum will tell you that raising revenues from those who can afford it most will not hurt our economy. In fact, our experience during the 1990s proves that fact. In fact, raising revenues by closing loopholes and cutting inefficient spending in the Tax Code for the wealthiest Americans, as our budget proposes, actually stands to boost the economy by removing tax breaks that distort the allocation of capital. This amendment that is being offered would effectively end the privileged status of a balanced and fair budget plan, such as this one, that calls on the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share in order to address our deficits and get our economy going again. I strongly encourage my colleagues to oppose this amendment, and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. I yield to the Senator from Iowa.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, for the information of all Senators, we are going to have a lot of amendments, so if we have a lot of floor discussion, this is only going to delay it. I would encourage Senators throughout the day to please take their conversations off the floor after the votes so Senators who are speaking on the amendments on both sides of the aisle have the consideration of being heard. I will take my 1 minute on this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the Senate budget already includes a deficit-neutral reserve fund for tax relief. This amendment would make that relief for low- and middle-income Americans explicit, but it would do it in a way that preserves the health care benefits in the Affordable Health Care Act. Unfortunately, the amendment that follows this one will gut the ACA and leave millions of Americans back in a position where they have to worry about a preexisting condition or a health illness that could bankrupt their household. We have to make sure taxes do not hit low-and middle-income families, but we should do it in a responsible way that doesn't take away health care for millions of Americans. I urge my colleagues to support this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, it is ironic that a number of those taxes are in the Ryan budget that our colleagues voted for last night. But let me say this. The ACA is going to extend health care coverage to nearly 30 million people. They are mostly low- and middle-income people who don't have access to affordable coverage. The law also fully pays for the costs of expanding health insurance coverage and does it without increasing taxes on our middle class. I believe expanding health care insurance coverage is one of the most important things we can do for our country and for our economy. The amendment that is being offered would undermine the effort under way to bring health insurance to millions of currently uninsured people in a fiscally responsible fashion. I urge our colleagues to oppose this amendment and I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote and lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 438

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask for the yeas and nays.