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[Pages S2503-S2504]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
Senate Legislative Agenda
Madam President, Leg Graveyard. Now, on another and related matter,
the three items I just mentioned are examples of the things that the
Senate could--could--be doing in a bipartisan way to address a serious
challenge. I hope the Republican leader sees the value in pursuing them
because so far this year the Republican leader has shown little
interest in pursuing meaningful bipartisan legislation.
With over a year and a half left in Congress, Leader McConnell has
turned this Chamber into a legislative graveyard, and without a shred
of irony, he has proudly bragged that he is the Senate's Grim Reaper.
Is that what the American people want? They urge us to work together in
a bipartisan way, but Leader McConnell takes all the bills that have
passed the House, puts them in his drawer, and spends his time simply
doing nominations.
We are one-quarter of the way through the year, so let's do a quick
[[Page S2504]]
quarterly review. Our colleagues in the House have been busy. In 4
months, over 100 pieces of legislation passed their Chamber. Here are
some of them: Legislation to oppose the lawsuit that would eliminate
protections for Americans with preexisting conditions. Who is opposed
to that? Leader McConnell is. Legislation to reform our democracy and
improve elections, restore voting rights, and get the money out of
politics; legislation on paycheck fairness so women are treated equally
to men; commonsense background checks for which 98 percent of Americans
support; upgrades to the Violence Against Women Act; legislation to
restore net neutrality; and despite the fact that the President shut
down the government for over a month, these bills have passed the
House, most every one of them, with bipartisan support. These aren't
partisan bills. They are commonsense proposals to help the middle class
solve our country's basic problems.
The Republican leader told the American people that under his
leadership, the Senate would debate and vote on issues of the day no
matter if his party supported them. Yet not one, not one of these bills
has come to the floor of the Senate--not one. Not one has been debated
in the Chamber. These are the bills. If the Republican leader doesn't
love every aspect of one of these House bills, fine, we are not saying
take them or leave them. Let's have a debate. Let's have amendments. At
least let's try to compromise on language that can get through both
Chambers.
What has the Senate been doing instead? Leader McConnell has wasted
precious time on basically two issues, ``gotcha'' votes like a stunt on
climate change and Republicans' cynical attempts to limit women's
reproductive health choices. The remainder has been spent on approval
of alarmingly unqualified nominees to executive agencies in the
judiciary.
What are we doing this week on the calendar? Not one piece of
legislation, just nominees. Next week could probably be more of the
same. So over the next 2 years, the Republican Senate is in danger of
becoming little more than a staffing agency to the administration's
radical nominees. That is a tragedy because at the start of this
Congress, the American people sent a clear message. They wanted us to
work together on legislation in a bipartisan way. The American people
voted for action: action on healthcare, action on prescription drugs,
action on climate change, and gun safety. Poll after poll shows that
these issues are on the minds of Americans. Substantial majorities,
Democrats and Republicans, supported them. We cannot, simply because we
have a divided government, allow this entire Congress to go by without
making meaningful progress on these issues. This is not good for the
country, certainly not good for the Senate or the Republican Party and
the incumbents in those Chambers. The American people cannot afford to
have Leader McConnell turn one Chamber of their government into a
legislative graveyard for 2 full years. We hope he will realize the
folly of this both substantively and politically, and maybe we will
start doing some real work.
