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Floor Speech
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Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, months of inaction by President Biden have left our Nation drifting toward economic disaster. His own administration says our Nation is only weeks away from a debt crisis, but there has been a total absence of Presidential leadership. President Biden has simply been MIA.
First, the President said he would not negotiate unless Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans passed their own bill. So they did. Our Republican colleagues in the House passed a responsible bill. It is the only legislation currently in existence that can pass even one Chamber of Congress, let alone both.
Let that sink in.
This is where we are. Senate Democrats and Leader Schumer can give all the angry speeches they want, but they have no bill. Leader Schumer has no plan that can earn 60 votes here in the Senate. He has no solution that can even pass his Chamber, let alone the House. Speaker McCarthy and House Republicans are the only people in Washington who have actually passed legislation to avoid default.
The Senate majority offers plenty of angry noises but zero plan. The only solution is Presidential leadership. President Biden has been sleepwalking toward this crisis.
It is time to wake up--time to wake up.
The President has two options. He can endorse the responsible bill the House Republicans have already passed and instruct Senate Republicans not to block it in this Chamber or he can finally sit down with Speaker McCarthy and reach an agreement. The Speaker of the House has been sitting at the grownup's table for months waiting for President Biden to act like a leader.
Whatever President Biden and Speaker McCarthy can both agree to will pass the Senate easily. Any bill that doesn't meet that description appears to have no chance.
So I am glad President Biden has begun backing down and finally advised the Speaker to begin negotiating. I accept his invitation to join the meeting myself, but I will continue to lend my support to the Speaker.
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