Harry Reid

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I object to any further proceedings at this time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Commerce Committee be discharged from further consideration of PN799, Michael P. O'Rielly, and that the nomination be placed on the Executive Calendar.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the upcoming recess or adjournment of the Senate, the President of the Senate, the President pro tempore, and the majority and minority leaders be authorized to make appointments to commissions, committees, boards, conferences or interparliamentary conferences authorized by law, by concurrent action of the two Houses or by order of the Senate.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order of the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate stand in recess subject to the call of the Chair.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I ask unanimous consent that during the adjournment or recess of the Senate from Wednesday, October 16, through Monday, October 28, the majority leader and Senators Kaine and Rockefeller be authorized to sign bills or joint resolutions.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 211, S. 1569, the debt limit bill.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, the Senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 to allow for weekly caucus meetings. There are productive negotiations going on with the Republican leader. I am confident we will be able to reach a compromise agreement this week in time to avert a catastrophic default on the Nation's bills. The Republican leader and I will keep our Members informed as to how negotiations are going. I express my appreciation to everyone for their patience. Reservation of Leadership Time

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. REID. I appreciate my friend's always courteous attitude. I appreciate it very much. The House Republican leadership plan that is now out--and people may look at it--is a plan to advance an extreme piece of legislation and is nothing more than a blatant attack on bipartisanship. The past several days we have been engaged in productive bipartisan negotiations in the Senate. Everyone knows this. We have been working across party lines and making steady progress to achieve an agreement that reopens the government, protects the full faith and credit of our country, and opens talks to put this country on a firm fiscal footing. Everyone needs to know that the measure under discussion in the House is no part of what we have negotiated in the Senate. The debt is here. The deadline is looming. Rating agencies are talking about downgrading us as early as tonight, again. I know I speak for many of us. We have been working in good faith when I say that we felt blindsided by news from the House, but this isn't the first time. Extremist Republicans in the House of Representatives are attempting to torpedo the Senate's bipartisan progress with a bill that can't pass the Senate--can't pass the Senate and won't pass the Senate. The House measure would take away the President's fundamental authority that has been in existence for as long as political science can remember. It has been in place for decade after decade after decade to prevent a catastrophic default on the Nation's bills. Out of spite, tea party Republicans are trying to take authority away from President Obama. They would never, ever consider doing this if it were President Romney, President Bush, President Bush, or President Reagan. Never. As they have said--and they have cheered on the other side--the government is closed. We don't mind defaulting on the debt. It is good for the country. That is what they have said. Their legislation would also make unacceptable major changes to ObamaCare. The House legislation doesn't even include a process for bipartisan negotiation on a sensible long-term budget. They throw out these numbers, think magic is going to happen, and somehow when January 15 arrives, everything will be hunky-dory. There are still processes we have to follow. They set no pattern, no schedule, no routine to do that. For weeks Republicans have claimed they want to negotiate, but their legislation completely ignores the need to work together, craft a budget, and put our country on a fiscally sustainable path. For years they have complained about why don't we have regular order here. They complained about lack of a budget. Now they don't even want us to negotiate a budget. It is hard to comprehend this logic, but the tea-party-driven part of the Republican Party doesn't follow logic. Why would they want to close the government for 15 days, have us default on our debt? Introduction of this measure by House Republican leadership is unproductive and a waste of time. Let us be clear: The House legislation will not pass the Senate. This is what the White House said only a few minutes ago: The President has said repeatedly that members of Congress don't get to demand ransom for fulfilling their basic responsibilities to pass a budget and pay the nation's bills. Unfortunately, the latest proposal from House Republicans does just that in a partisan attempt to appease a small group of Tea Party Republicans who forced the government shutdown in the first place. I am very disappointed with John Boehner, who once again would try to preserve his role at the expense of the country. I have worked hard to rise above bipartisanship and find common ground in the Senate. We have done that together for the good of the Nation. This is much bigger than the presiding Senator, who is from the State of Hawaii, or the assistant leader, who is at my side. This is much bigger than that. It is much bigger than me, it is much bigger than the two Senators on the floor who are from Connecticut. We have Senator Murray, who is chairman of the Budget Committee. It is bigger than her. It is bigger than the senior Senator from New York, Senator Schumer, who is on the floor. We have to start working together as a country. This is what we have been trying to do. This is so disappointing. On the eve of financial destruction for this great country, this is what it is--to appease a small group of people over there. I am so disappointed.

Mr. REID. I yield to the Senator.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, to my friend, the senior Senator from Illinois, we have seen what has gone on these last few months, through this whole year, with a group of people who are giving press conferences, holding demonstrations. They want the government to stay closed. They wanted it closed in the first place. The hardship we have over this country is awful. If that is not good enough, they are boasting they want the country to fail its obligations to pay its bills. These are not new programs. These are obligations we have. That is one of the problems. The proposal they have would not allow--for example, my friend is the chair of what some say is the most important part of the Federal Government, to protect the safety and security of the United States, the subcommittee dealing with defense that was led many decades by Senator Dan Inouye. The proposal they have sent gives the President of the United States, the Chairman of the Chiefs of Staff, no flexibility whatsoever when sequestration kicks in on the 15th. We are not asking to change those numbers. We agreed to those numbers. We voted to approve those numbers, but they won't even allow flexibility to allow the Department of Defense to shift that money around. I do not know how the defense of this country can go forward if they don't have flexibility with losing $22 billion beginning January 15. They don't even give authority for that. The bill they are sending over is doomed to failure. It is doomed to failure legislatively and it is so awful for our country.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 211, S. 1569.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, at 5 o'clock today the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of Andrea Wood to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Illinois and the nomination of Madeline Haikala to be United States District Judge for the Northern District of Alabama. At 5:30 there will be a rollcall vote on the Haikala nomination. The Wood nomination is expected to be confirmed in another way. Leadership Negotiations Mr. President, constructive good-faith negotiations continue between the Republican leader and me. I am very optimistic that we will reach an agreement that is reasonable in nature this week to reopen the government, pay the Nation's bills, and begin long-term negotiations to put our country on sound fiscal footing. I deeply appreciate my friend the minority leader for his diligent efforts to come to an agreement. The Republican leader and I will keep Members informed as negotiations continue. Recognition of the Minority Leader

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Mr. President, we know this has been a difficult time for everyone, and Senator McConnell and I have been working diligently over the last few days trying to arrive at the culmination of efforts that have been ongoing for quite some time now. We have made tremendous progress. We are not there yet, but tremendous progress, and everyone just needs to be patient. We will have no more votes tonight. We hope, with good fortune and the support of all of you, recognizing how hard this is for everybody, that perhaps tomorrow will be a bright day. We are not there yet, but we hope we will be.

Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would just close by saying this: We are doing our best to make everybody happy, but everyone knows we are not going to be able to do that. So, everybody understand that we are doing the very best we can with all of the frailties we have as people and legislators.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. I move to proceed to Calendar No. 211, S. 1569, the debt limit bill.

Mr. REID. We have some speakers throughout the day's session with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. We will have more information at a subsequent time how late we will be in. Yesterday Republicans voted to stop the Senate from even debating legislation to avert a catastrophic default of the Nation's debt. They stopped this body from even discussing the single most important issue facing this Nation: the loss of the full faith and credit of our country. They did so under the pretext that refusing to pay the country's bills would somehow make those bills disappear. No one denies that this Nation has work to do to reduce this debt. But Republicans who say this country should default on its debt today are the same Republicans who ran up the debt only a few short years ago. These same Republicans charged more than $4 trillion in tax breaks for the rich on the American taxpayers' credit card. They paid for two wars costing about $2 trillion with borrowed money, and they rang up a $400 million tab for a Medicare prescription drug plan. They ran up the Nation's credit card for years and years on many things. There was one conversation on one of the Sunday shows today that said we were trying to break the caps set in the Budget Control Act. We know that on January 15, the second year of sequestration, we voted differently than that. We voted to extend the CR until November 15, not a word about breaking the caps. We are happy to go forward with the CR, as we have already voted for in this body. Any talk about breaking caps is not anything that comes from us. Yet every single Republican refused yesterday to even talk about paying the bill now that is due. The Presiding Officer and everyone in this body knows--and I think the American people know--that I met yesterday with Senator McConnell. We are in a conversation today. I am confident the Republicans will allow the government to open and extend the ability of this country to pay its bills. I am going to do everything I can throughout the day to accomplish just this. It is important we do this, and we must do this. It is the height of hypocrisy to not pay our bills. Americans want Congress to compromise. They want Congress to give economic certainty and security, not more indecision and doubt. Americans want Congress to do its job. That is all they are asking us to do. Americans want Congress to reopen the government, take the threat of default off the table, and sit down and talk about a long-term budget deal that creates jobs and strengthens the middle class. I am confident and hopeful that will be accomplished. Reservation of Leader Time

Mr. REID. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have been told that H.J. Res. 76 is due for a second reading.

Mr. REID. Madam President, I object to any further proceedings on this matter at this time.

Mr. REID

Mr. REID. Madam President, I have had a productive conversation with the Republican leader this afternoon. Our discussions were substantive, and we will continue those discussions. I am optimistic about the prospects for a positive conclusion to the issues before this country today.