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Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is good to be back.

I want to thank all of my colleagues for their warm wishes shared over the past few weeks. Suffice it to say, this wasn't the first time that being hardheaded has served me very well.

We are truly lucky and blessed to get to serve in this remarkable institution, represent our home States, and serve our country. Needless to say, I am very happy to be back.

There is important business for Congress to tackle. We should be working to undo this administration's mistakes. We need to secure the border, reduce crime, fight inflation, and invest in America's strength and our security.

On an even more basic level, President Biden and his administration are literally ``on the clock'' to negotiate a debt ceiling solution with Speaker McCarthy and the Republican majority over in the House. The President's economic advisers say the deadline for a solution is not far off, but his political advisers apparently think the White House's position should be--listen to this--no talks and no reforms.

This extreme position is not even holding up in their own party. Even Washington Democrats are breaking ranks from the administration's position of no talks and no reforms.

One of our Senate Democratic colleagues wrote an entire Washington Post op-ed calling on the President to sit down with Congress and reform spending. Reports indicate that a whole group of House Democrats are already talking about negotiations and about compromise.

Just a few years ago, the Democratic leader, Leader Schumer, said this about the debt ceiling:

[It] gives another ample opportunity for bipartisanship, not for one party jamming its choices down the throats of the other.

So President Biden does not get to stick his fingers in his ears and refuse to listen, talk, or negotiate, and the American people know that. The White House needs to stop wasting time and start negotiating with the Speaker of the House.

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