The Day After

Floor Speech

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, if this weren't such a serious situation we face ourselves, it would be laughable.

Can anyone imagine saying we should defeat a bill we have already defeated? We voted on the proposal at the same time we voted to pass that protecting middle-class Americans. That passed the Senate--one to give the richest of the rich a continuation of the tax breaks they get. As I indicated, the proposal they had for about another $50,000 for each of them was defeated here. It was defeated in the Senate.

So my friend--and he is my friend--the Republican leader is struggling to find a way to blame Democrats, and it is a struggle, trying to blame us for the failure of the House to pass the Speaker's bill. The House is led by the Republicans. Their narrowed margin will be better for the country after the first of the year, but right now he controls the House by a wide margin.

I have served in the House. The Speaker is all powerful in the House. To blame us for the travesty that took place over there is pretty incredible. As I tried to say in my remarks, couldn't we at least protect the middle class?

My friend complains the President hasn't done enough. He put forward a proposal that has received criticism from Democrats because he was too generous with Speaker Boehner. But the President believes, as he said several times, both sides might have to make hard choices.

The President released a balanced $2.4 trillion program. That is pretty good. It would alleviate the fiscal cliff, it would allow the SGR to continue so doctors get paid and patients have a doctor to go to. It extended unemployment benefits for people who are desperate.

It is true that there is a crisis here, but it is because the House Republicans refuse to pass the Senate-passed tax bill. It is because the Republicans in the House are fighting among themselves.

The Republican leader seeks to pass the House-passed bill, but we have already turned that bill down. The real answer lies in the Speaker, who controls the House of Representatives, talking to the President and working things out.

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, I hope we can too, but this is really quite remarkable. I am told that Members from this body went and talked to the Republican caucus yesterday saying: Send us your plan B, and the Democrats will take care of it and send you back something you will like better.

We can all see what has happened in the press. I like John Boehner, but gee whiz, I mean, this is a pretty big political battering he is taking. What he should do is allow a vote in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan bill. It will pass. Democrats will vote for it. Some Republicans will vote for it. That is what we are supposed to do. But he is trying to pass everything with that majority he has that cannot agree on anything among themselves. Bring in the Democrats. That is what the country was set up for. Our Founding Fathers set it up that way. But he wants some other method where everything is done by the slim majority they have.

This is absolutely incredible. We believe the Speaker should be concerned. I am confident he is, but maybe he is more concerned, as some have said, about his election to be returned as Speaker. He should be more concerned about what is going to happen to the country. If he showed leadership and walked out there and said: This is the right thing for the country, we are all going to vote on this, Democrats will vote for it and enough Republicans will vote for it to pass something that will take us away from that fiscal cliff. But this brinkmanship and this silliness that is going on over there you would not do in an eighth grade government election.

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Mr. REID. Mr. President, I hope we can too, but this is really quite remarkable. I am told that Members from this body went and talked to the Republican caucus yesterday saying: Send us your plan B, and the Democrats will take care of it and send you back something you will like better.

We can all see what has happened in the press. I like John Boehner, but gee whiz, I mean, this is a pretty big political battering he is taking. What he should do is allow a vote in the House of Representatives on a bipartisan bill. It will pass. Democrats will vote for it. Some Republicans will vote for it. That is what we are supposed to do. But he is trying to pass everything with that majority he has that cannot agree on anything among themselves. Bring in the Democrats. That is what the country was set up for. Our Founding Fathers set it up that way. But he wants some other method where everything is done by the slim majority they have.

This is absolutely incredible. We believe the Speaker should be concerned. I am confident he is, but maybe he is more concerned, as some have said, about his election to be returned as Speaker. He should be more concerned about what is going to happen to the country. If he showed leadership and walked out there and said: This is the right thing for the country, we are all going to vote on this, Democrats will vote for it and enough Republicans will vote for it to pass something that will take us away from that fiscal cliff. But this brinkmanship and this silliness that is going on over there you would not do in an eighth grade government election.

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