Debt Ceiling

Floor Speech

Mr. REID. Mr. President, it is encouraging that some of my Republican colleagues seem to be regaining their grip on sanity this week. Republicans have shown a willingness to compromise to restore veterans' hard- earned pensions. A few reasonable Republicans were willing to join Democrats to avert a catastrophic default on our Nation's obligations--a default that would have thrown our economy into a tailspin and damaged this Nation's standing in the world.

I commend Speaker Boehner for doing the right thing. He voted for this, and he had enough Republican votes to get it done. I have said often that he has a difficult job--if not the most difficult, certainly one of the most difficult jobs in Washington, especially when we look at the caucus he has to deal with. I am pleased he has come to the realization that the full faith and credit of this country is not a hostage to be held for political gain.

Unfortunately, Republicans on this side of the Capitol are forcing us to jump through procedural hoops to alleviate the threat of a default. I can't imagine that they are doing that, but they are.

Every reputable economist acknowledges that defaulting on our bills would devastate the economy and waste the past 5 years of recovery. The recovery is good, but it is not great. We can do a lot better.

According to a report by the nonpartisan Peterson Institute, when Republicans forced us to the brink of default 2 years ago, it cost our economy $150 billion in productivity and 750,000 jobs. This is not some leftwing blog that is saying this; this is a nonpartisan institute that is well respected--it will cost our economy $150 billion in productivity and 750,000 jobs. Scary.

The reason I am a little concerned is because it was just a few months ago that Republicans in the House, by a two-thirds majority, voted to keep the government closed after having been closed for 16 days and voted to default on our Nation's debt. So I hope the Senate is not going to follow that tea party-driven action that was done in the House just a short time ago.

Financial industry leaders have warned Congress again and again that even the threat of default ripples through the economy, and today there is the threat of a default. We have Republican Senators saying they are going to filibuster the debt ceiling. We can't default on our obligations. It is too bad that a few Senate Republicans would threaten a filibuster on this critical legislation. It is critical, and it is crucial. However, I am hopeful Senate Republicans won't force the economy to wait for weeks or even days for a resolution. We should wrap this up today.

So I hope we can vote and vote soon. The markets all over the world are watching to see what we do in the Senate. The House did the right thing. I believe many of my Republican colleagues would like to be reasonable--I really do believe that--if they weren't so beholden and afraid of the tea party overlords. I am hopeful that a more bipartisan, commonsense approach--one that favors collaboration over hostage taking--will prevail this year.

Congress should be striding from accomplishment to accomplishment, not staggering from crisis to crisis as they force us to do. If we spent more time working together and less time running out the clock on procedural hurdles and Republican filibusters, we might actually get legislation done in the Senate.

So I hope we can continue to cooperate and collaborate this year and to deliver results for Americans looking for action instead of the constant gridlock we have had.

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