Debt Ceiling

Floor Speech

Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, it is not surprising that I have a little different take on what has been happening in the last few days than my colleague, the majority leader.

Let me explain what has been going on in Congress this week. The American people have been waiting on us to do something to prevent default. They want us to end this crisis right now. Over in the House of Representatives, we have the Speaker of the House doing his job. Speaker Boehner has been doing the hard work of governing, working day and night to put together a bill that can actually pass the House of Representatives and end this crisis now. He should be commended for his efforts.

What about over here in the Senate? The contrast could not be starker. Rather than working in the last few days toward a solution to the crisis the way the Republican majority in the House has, the Democratic majority in the Senate has been wasting precious time rounding up ``no'' votes to keep this crisis alive. Rather than being responsible and doing their duty and coming up with a bill that can actually pass, they have been busy signing up people for the ``not good enough'' caucus and ginning up opposition to everything else.

Lawmakers should be working a solution to the crisis, not a blocking strategy. Our Democratic friends in the Senate have offered no solutions to this crisis that could pass either Chamber--not one. Instead, all day long yesterday we got chest-thumping comments about how they are going to kill any piece of legislation that comes over from the House, that it is dead on arrival.

Democrats are out bragging about how they are going to prolong the crisis instead of doing the hard work of trying to solve it. That includes the President.

Look, if the President hadn't decided to blow up the bipartisan solution that Members of Congress worked so hard to produce last weekend, we would be voting to end this crisis today.

Instead, Democrats in Congress are still talking about blocking a solution to the crisis, and the President is rolling out new mileage standards today. Let me repeat that. Here we are a few days from when the Secretary of the Treasury says we will be in a default situation, and the President of the United States is rolling out new mileage standards today.

How about this: How about a plan from Democrats in Washington that can pass both Chambers, prevent the crisis, and protect Americans from a worsening economy?

I suggest to my friends on the other side this morning that they start taking their responsibilities as a majority party a little more seriously because at this point, the only people who are disregarding the consequences of default are Senate Democrats--not the Republicans in the House but Senate Democrats.

Republicans have been doing the hard work of governing this week. It is about time our Democratic friends join us.

I yield the floor.

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