Establishing the Commission on Freedom of Information Act Processing Delays

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, those who are following this debate--and I think many across America are--should understand what just happened. There was a discussion about the filibuster. A filibuster is a Senate rule that does two things: It says you cannot move an item to a vote, and you have to wait a period of time to have what is called a cloture vote. In order to pass a cloture vote, you need 60 votes, not a majority. So I would just correct, if I can, the record. A filibuster does more than delay the vote; it establishes a higher vote requirement--60 votes, not a majority.

Yesterday, the Speaker of the House brought before his body of 435 Members the proposal to end this deadline. He received 218 votes--one more than half of the membership. He had a majority vote--not one more but a majority vote. We are asking for the same opportunity. Let us bring our proposal forward for a majority vote. The Republicans have refused. They have put us into a filibuster. They have said: No, we will require 60 votes, and we will delay the vote until possibly 1 a.m. Sunday morning. That is where we are.

Let me say a word about the underlying issue. This morning, as many Members of the Senate, I wanted to get away from this place and spend a few minutes reflecting on something other than the give-and-take of the political debate. I got up early, walked over to Eastern Market, bought a cup of coffee, and sat on a bench for about 3 hours just watching people walk by and trying to clear my mind. While sitting there, I got an e-mail from a buddy of mine from high school. Now, that goes back a few years. His name is Eddie Renollet, and he lives in Florida. I would like to read into the Record what my buddy from high school wrote to me this morning. He said:

I sent this e-mail to our Republican Senator from Florida, too. I have rode out the storms of many high seas in the last 20 or so years, but this one has me worried. Let's get the ship on the right course and get this fixed. You all need to get past being Democrats and Republicans. Many mistakes have been made over the past years. Compromise and get this squared away. I am in the later years of my life, and I will be damned, if I want to see it go down the drain because you all can't agree on the debt issue. I am neither a Democrat, Republican, or Tea Party person. I'm an American. And I believe that you both have my best interest at heart.

Eddie Renollet from Florida. I would just say, under these circumstances, he expresses the views of many people across America. This is not a crisis which we couldn't control. This isn't an earthquake or a tornado or a hurricane. It isn't a war. It is a created political crisis.

The extension of the debt ceiling has been done routinely 89 times since 1939--55 times by Republican Presidents, 34 times by Democratic Presidents, and President Ronald Reagan holds the record having extended the debt ceiling 18 times in 8 years, without confrontation, without the American economy threatening a collapse. This is a manufactured political crisis, and it is time for both parties to rise and come up with a solution.

What the majority leader has put on the table--half of it--was a proposal by Senator McConnell, the Republican leader. Some people didn't like it. Majority Leader Reid said it will be bipartisan; I am putting MCCONNELL's proposal on the table. I will put a proposal, as well, on the table from our side, make it bipartisan, and move it forward. Now 43 Republican Senators have said they are not voting for it, so we are at a standoff.

A word about the President's role in this: President Obama--and I know this because I attended the meetings as a member of the leadership--spent more time on this issue than any President I can recall. He met at least six or seven times for 2 and 3 hours at a time with the leadership of the House and Senate--Democrats and Republicans--and tried to work out differences. He proposed the creation, under Vice President Biden's leadership, of the group that would negotiate. It sat and met for months, and then, finally, the Republican leader in the House, Eric Cantor, walked out. He made quite a noise as he left the room, and said: I don't want to be part of this anymore.

Then the President started working with Speaker Boehner directly to get something worked out, and twice Speaker Boehner walked away from that.

So to fault the President in this is not fair. He has engaged all the leaders time and time again. Last Saturday, Senator McConnell said: We no longer need the President in this picture. We are going to do it ourselves.

Well, we spent a week at it, and we have not achieved that. I am sure the President is ready and willing to do everything in his power to get this back on track.

What is at stake in this debate is the fate of the American economy at a point when we are recovering from a recession with millions of Americans out of work. Those who are showing great bravado and giving great political speeches are calling bluffs with other people's chips. What will happen at the end of the day, regardless of what the politicians say back and forth, is that ordinary people are going to be affected--their lives, their businesses, their savings are going to be affected by what we decide to do in the next few days.

I think what we need to do is clear, and Senator Reid's proposal addresses it: No. 1, reduce spending. Let's get this deficit under control. Senator Reid's proposal does just that--$2.4 trillion in spending reductions--all of which have been voted for by Republicans already. So there is no controversy there. It is bipartisan.

Secondly, we cannot lurch into another round of this debate every few months. The President is right, and this bill reflects it, that we need to move this debate until after next year so our economy is strong again, and the next debt ceiling vote will be in 2013. Let's not face this again and again. America doesn't want to see this movie over and over.

I would also say the provision in Senator Reid's bill, proposed by Senator McConnell, that would, in fact, say the President has to personally ask to extend the debt ceiling, is a responsibility the President will accept, and he should accept it.

I think what Senator Reid last offered is a balanced approach, a bipartisan approach, and it should be the basis for a compromise. But I certainly hope one thing comes out of this exchange on the floor this morning. I hope Senator McConnell will finally agree to sit down with Senator Reid, on a bipartisan basis, work with the House leaders and the President, and get this done. The American people are running out of patience, if they haven't already run out of it, and we are running out of excuses.

We have a limited amount of time left to avert a crisis that will affect a lot of innocent people across America. It is time for us to roll up our sleeves, on a bipartisan basis, and get this job done.

Mr. LEVIN. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. DURBIN. I will be happy to yield for a question.

Mr. LEVIN. The Republican leader, a few moments ago, said this happens around here from time to time--that 60 votes are required. Is it not true the reason 60 votes are required from time to time is because there is the threat of a filibuster unless the opponents succeed in getting an agreement that there be 60 votes?

It is the short way to find out whether the debate will be had. Is it not true, though, that it is the threat of a filibuster the opponents make which produces an agreement to get 60 votes?

Mr. DURBIN. The Senator from Michigan has been here longer than I have. He knows this better than I do. But he is right. This threat of a filibuster has raised the vote requirement from a majority to 60, and that is the issue that was being discussed on the Senate floor.

Mr. LEVIN. Is it not true--if I may ask my friend--whether the threat is carried out, we will know tonight at 1 a.m.? Because at 1 a.m. tomorrow morning, we will vote not on the Reid measure but on a motion which 18 Senators signed which reads as follows: That we, the undersigned Senators, in accordance with rule XXII, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the Reid motion. Is that not true?

Mr. DURBIN. That is what the vote will be at 1 in the morning.

Mr. LEVIN. So what we will be voting on is not, as the Republican leader characterized it--which he says he is willing to vote on right away--the Reid motion but a vote on whether we will end debate on the Reid motion?

And is it not further true that people who vote no tonight are voting to filibuster the Reid motion?

Mr. DURBIN. The Senator from Michigan is correct. Those who say they want to bring this to a vote will have an opportunity to join us in doing so by producing at least 60 votes when we vote at 1 in the morning.

Mr. LEVIN. Finally, would the Senator from Illinois agree, if tonight Republicans refuse to bring this debate to a halt and to allow a vote on the Reid motion, would the Senator from Illinois not agree there will be a strong negative public reaction to a filibuster on a measure in the face of an economic calamity which would avoid that calamity?

Mr. DURBIN. I would agree with the Senator from Michigan. Time is of the essence. Any delay at this point jeopardizes any possibility of a compromise to avert this economic crisis.

Mr. LEVIN. I thank my friend.

Mr. DURBIN. I yield the floor.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Thank you. I see Senator Coburn is on the floor. I assume he is the first speaker on the Republican side.

I wish to thank the Senator from Minnesota for his comments on our budget situation. For the many who have gathered here and are watching this at home and listening to this debate, this is a historic weekend where we have an opportunity--in fact, a challenge--to come forward and craft a bipartisan solution which is good for this country and avoids--avoids--the disaster that would happen Tuesday night if we fail to extend our debt ceiling.

The United States of America has never failed to extend its debt, not once. In the last 72 years, since we enacted this law, we have had requests from Presidents on both sides of the aisle to extend the debt ceiling 89 times--55 times by Republicans, 34 times by Democrats. The President who holds the record for extending a debt ceiling--is President Ronald Reagan, 18 times in 8 years, tripling the national debt.

Not once, not one time, did he face what we are facing here, a threat from the other side of the aisle that if we do not give in to their requests, we will default on our national debt. That would be a catastrophe. It is one thing to call a bluff. It is another to call a bluff with someone else's chips, because the victims--if we default on this debt--will not be Members of Congress. The victims will be families and businesses all across the United States.

If we watch interest rates go up as we are in the midst of an economic recovery, people will be laid off. More people will be unemployed. That is exactly the wrong thing to do. We need to come to an agreement. We need to come to our senses. What the American people have told us across the board is we need to reduce spending, we need to reduce our deficit, we need to do it in a sensible way, as the Senator from Minnesota said, to carefully choose these areas of waste and inefficiency and unnecessary spending but not to cut the essential benefits that people need.

You will hear those come to the floor and say, oh, we are just spending more money. Well, the obvious answer is, in some respects we are. But keep in mind this one statistic. On January 1 of this year, 10,000 Americans reached the age of 65. On January 2, another 10,000. On January 3, again. Every day since January 1 and every day for the next 19 1/2 years, the baby boomers are now reaching retirement age. Having paid into Social Security and Medicare for a lifetime, they fully expect and deserve the legal benefits they have been promised. That is a new obligation of government, but one that we accepted when we enrolled them in the system. Now we can find ways to make sure those benefits are going to be guaranteed into the future with sensible changes in entitlement programs and with sensible changes in our spending.

I find it hard to believe that many on the other side are arguing they cannot find 1 penny--1 penny--that can be saved in the Pentagon. I think we can save money there without endangering our security.

I find it also difficult to understand the argument that we cannot raise 1 penny in taxes on the wealthiest people in America if we are asking everyone else across the board to sacrifice. We have got to have a balanced approach. The Presiding Officer from Virginia was part of a group of six Senators, three Democrats and three Republicans--we have been joined in our effort by the Senator from Colorado, Mr. Bennet--trying to find a bipartisan way to deal with this deficit situation.

I am heartened to say that some 36 Senators have come forward, on both sides of the aisle, saying we can deal with this as adults. We can deal with it in a comprehensive and balanced way. We can keep our promise to people when it comes to the basic programs such as Social Security and Medicare, and we can do it in a fashion that reduces our deficit and avoids the crisis which we are facing.

So I hope that--I see the Senator from Oklahoma here. He was part of that gang. It seems as though we have all gathered here on the floor at this moment--many of us have. I would hope in that spirit we can come to a bipartisan agreement to resolve the current crisis.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source