Default Prevention Act of 2013-- Motion to Proceed--

Floor Speech

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. I am very pleased to follow my colleague from Connecticut in recounting to this body some of the voices we have been hearing from across our State, some of the individuals whose stories make very compelling evidence for the need of this body to heed the bipartisan spirit--indeed, nonpartisan spirit that so animates and moves this country--to demand that we get the job done yesterday. I used exactly that expression to tell this body how important action is to move forward.

I am on the floor today with thanks to our majority leader Senator Reid, who has come to the floor and has so ably and courageously led us, not only on the Democratic side but also on the minority side as well. I hope we will demonstrate in this body the profile in courage the country expects and needs from us at this time.

I yield to the majority leader at this time if he has a message to bring to us.

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. Mr. President, let me add my voice to the eloquent and powerful remarks made by our majority leader and the Senator from New York, who have rightly deemed this House proposal an obstacle--indeed, an obstructionist move--designed to perpetuate and not end the shutdown, and to block and not enable our efforts to reach a bipartisan compromise which would allow America to continue paying its bills on time.

Those two goals--ending the shutdown and enabling America to pay its bills on time--are the predominant objectives we must have as a bipartisan effort goes forward here in the Senate. This House proposal is doomed to failure. It would be a failure not just for the legislative process, not for the political actors here, but a failure for America.

I am reminded of the remarks so well made more than 10 days ago by the majority leader about one aspect of the effects of this shutdown on an industry very important to his State of Nevada and very important to the Presiding Officer's State of Hawaii--the tourism, lodging, and hotel industry. That impact is devastating.

As their Senator, I have heard this morning from staff and employees of the Starwood Hotels based in Stamford, CT, who have written to Members of Congress about the effects they see to their company and to others like theirs in this industry--hotel and tourism--which is vital to the State of Connecticut. In fact, we invest constructively and positively in promoting our State's tourism industry.

I will read from a letter from Amy Kilbury, associate director of IT finance at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide:

The current impasse, now in its third week, is having a negative impact both on the economy in general, and specifically on the travel and tourism industry, which depends on the confidence of business and individuals on the future stability of the economy. The shutdown is having ripple effects; as federal agencies have reduced their operations so have private government contractors, and in turn, this is affecting both business and leisure travel.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record this letter, and a letter written by the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

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Mr. BLUMENTHAL. These Starwood employees are writing to their Senators and Members of Congress because they see firsthand the effects on their livelihood and their lives. The stories recounted earlier by my colleague from Connecticut and those I recited yesterday on the floor are real effects in the lives of real people, negative and painful--indeed, devastating effects on people who depend on the economic flow of certain and stable work by the government, contractors, and small and large businesses like Starwood that are affected.

There is no question the future health of the American economy depends on the policies we need to adopt and advance to sustain economic growth--indeed, to make it more robust to preserve job creation and, in fact, heighten and enhance it, and to make sure that these employees of Starwood are well served, not impeded, by the government they supported with their taxes and they elected with their votes. We have an obligation to them to do better than we have.

I was deeply moved by the story recounted by Senator Durbin a short time ago on the floor about a young Iraq veteran more severely wounded than the ones I recounted yesterday. But he is a veteran like the individuals whose stories I told yesterday. They deserve better from our government. Indeed, they deserve an end to the kind of obstructionism we saw just a short time ago on the other side of this Congress, in the other branch of this legislative body, from Members of the House of Representatives who know the proposal they are making has no chance of adoption by the deadline we need to meet to make sure that the greatest Nation in the history of the world avoids default and continues to pay its bills on time.

The CEO of the American Hotel and Lodging Association, which represents Starwood, Katherine Lugar, said: Hotels are a major economic driver and job creator across the country, and the industry's ability to continue its growth is hamstrung by inaction from our policy members. The administration, the House of Representatives, and the Senate need to act swiftly in the best interests of the entire Nation and end this shutdown. Pay our bills on time.

That has been the objective of my colleagues on this side of the aisle and on the other side, like Senator McCain who has just come to the floor. That bipartisan effort has to be our objective. We need to do better for the American people and meet the obligations we now have.

As chairman of the subcommittee which has jurisdiction over the hotel and lodging industry, the commerce committee, we are hearing about how States such as Arizona, Hawaii, and Nevada, as well as Connecticut, are losing millions of dollars every day in economic activity. In fact, the Weir Farm National Historic Site in Connecticut is harmed, along with the Grand Canyon, and all the communities and industries associated with it. These issues are real and tangible. The harm is now and urgent.

I urge my colleagues to come together and resist the pressures and demonstrate the kinds of profiles of courage we have seen on both sides of the aisle--standing strong, speaking out, resisting partisanship--and coming together for the good of the country.

I yield the floor.

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