Small Business Program Extension and Reform Act of 2011

Floor Speech

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Mr. McCONNELL. Reserving the right to object and with the indulgence of my friend the majority leader, let me make some brief remarks about where we are.

For anyone who is confused about what is going on in Congress right now, let me make it easy. In order to keep the government running beyond next week, Congress needs to pass a short-term bill that funds government operations at a spending level to which both parties can agree. The good news is, we have already agreed on a spending level. That has already been done. Last night, the House of Representatives passed a bill that meets that figure we agreed on a couple of months ago.

Here is the holdup. Because of some of the horrible weather we have had over the past several weeks, we have all agreed to add emergency funds we didn't originally plan in this bill, and Republicans have identified a couple of cuts to make sure we don't make the deficit any bigger than it is already, including an offset Leader Pelosi has used in the past. The rest is from a cut to a loan guarantee program that gave us the Solyndra scandal. I think we can all agree this program should be put on hold until we get more answers, but our friends on the other side don't like the idea. They would rather just add these funds to the deficit. Why? Because, they say, that is the way we have always done things around here. Well, I think there is a lesson we can draw from the debates we have been having here over the last 6 months; that is, the American people won't accept that excuse any longer. The whole ``that is the way we have always done it'' argument is the reason we have a $14 trillion debt right now.

If we pass this bill, FEMA will have the funds they need--have the funds they need--to respond to these emergencies. That is not the issue. What is at issue is whether we are going to add to the debt.

We have a path forward to get disaster funding done right here, today. There is absolutely no reason, in my judgment, to delay funding for disasters until Monday, as my friend the majority leader is now asking us to do. I don't think we ought to delay at all. We just received the amendment a few minutes ago, but we are aware of what it does, and I think it is important for us to try to resolve this issue sooner rather than later.

Let's just walk through the next few days. If we don't have this vote until Monday, that leaves 24 hours or so before the Jewish holidays begin and then several days before the end of the fiscal year. It strikes me that we would be better off going ahead and having this vote now and entering into the discussions that will probably now be delayed until sometime Monday night to see how we can resolve this impasse between the House and Senate.

We would be happy to have the cloture vote on the proposal of my friend the majority leader right now rather than Monday night so we can get a clear sense of where we stand. It is my view that we ought to have the vote today rather than wait until Monday and basically squander the next few days toward getting an agreement we know we have to reach. Therefore, Mr. President--and I thank my friend the majority leader for letting me explain my position--I object.

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