REID. Madam President, it is my pleasure to convene the 113th
Congress. I welcome back all my colleagues to a place that we love, the
U.S. Senate.
But in particular, I would like to welcome Illinois Senator Mark
Kirk. He has been away from us for a year recovering from an illness.
We are all grateful for his recovery. He has been an inspiration to us.
Today, on the east front of the Capitol, to see him walk up those steps
said it all. So we are very proud of him and glad he is back with us.
I also offer a special welcome to the 13 new Members of the Senate. I
am confident that each Senator will treasure their memories in this
historic legislative body, and that each will serve their State and our
Nation with distinction.
All of the Members of this freshman class are accomplished in their
own right. I can remember many years ago--30 years ago, Madam
President--being a new Member of the House. Speaker O'Neill called us
in, in small groups, to talk to us. And he said to each of us: All of
you are accomplished or you would not be here. You are all politicians.
It is not a bad word. And I say that to all our Senators--the new
Senators--that they are all accomplished or they would not be here, and
they should all understand that. They should have confidence in moving
into this body because they are just as experienced as the rest of us.
I trust that serving in the Senate will be the most rewarding
experience of their lives. In this Chamber the 113th Congress will face
the most significant challenges of our careers--not just the new
Members, all of us.
To turn those challenges into triumphs, I urge all Senators--new and
experienced--to draw not only on our varied experience at every level
of government and public service, but also on each other's experience,
regardless of political party.
Daniel Webster said: ``We are all agents of the same supreme power,
the people.''
Today, as we begin a new Congress, we are afforded the opportunity to
reflect upon the successes and failures of past Congresses.
It has been said that the 112th Congress was characterized by some of
the sharpest political divisions in memory. But during the last
Congress, there were also many commendable examples of compromise. The
recent effort to avert the fiscal cliff was an example of both the
divisions and the collaborations that mark a moment in history--and it
was a moment in history.
Although the process of resolving some of the fiscal issues facing
this country was extremely difficult and protracted, in the end our two
parties came together to protect America's middle class. That is
something of which we should all be proud.
As we advance the debate over the best way to strengthen our economy
and reduce our deficit during this Congress, the 113th, Democrats will
continue to stand strong for the principle of balance. I am hopeful and
confident my Republican colleagues will do the same.
Any future budget agreements must balance the need for thoughtful
spending reductions with revenue from the wealthiest among us and
closing wasteful tax loopholes.
The 112th Congress, unfortunately, showed that we had some political
differences, and these differences prevented us from accomplishing as
much as we had hoped during the Congress that was just completed. But
we also passed very important legislation, such as the transportation
jobs bill. This was important because it kept 2 million people working,
and we began the restoration, with that legislation, of our crumbling
infrastructure.
We made strides to reduce the Nation's deficit and prevented a tax
increase for 98 percent of American families and 97 percent of small
businesses. I guess I should have started, Madam President, by telling
everyone that the marks that people see on my face--that has nothing to
do with the fiscal cliff or the disagreements that Speaker Boehner and
I had. It is from being very pale and living in the desert most of my
life.
We were able to accomplish, as I indicated, many things to reduce the
deficit and prevent a tax increase for American families and small
businesses.
We reformed our patent system for the first time in six decades, gave
small business owners access to the capital they need to compete, and
reauthorized the Federal Aviation Administration, keeping 300,000
workers employed. Not a single piece of that legislation became law
without the votes of both Democrats and Republicans. All those
legislative initiatives I just talked about were bipartisan.
Unfortunately, many other worthy measures that passed the Senate with
strong, bipartisan support then languished, awaiting action by the
House of Representatives. In the 113th Congress, it will be incumbent
upon the House Republican leadership to allow bipartisan bills passed
by the Senate to come to a vote before the full House of
Representatives--not before the Republican Members only but before
Democrats and Republicans, all 435 Members of the House. Too many good
pieces of legislation died over the last 2 years because House
Republican leaders insisted on passing legislation with a majority of
the majority; that is, only Republicans. Democrats were ignored most of
the time. For example, postal reform, the Violence Against Women Act,
the farm bill, and relief for the victims of Hurricane Sandy all passed
the Senate on a bipartisan basis after extensive deliberation and
debate. Yet the House failed to act on all four of these measures, and
there were others.
As Speaker Boehner saw on New Year's Day, when he allows every Member
of the House to vote and not only Republican Members of the House to
vote, Congress can enact bills into law. No legislation can pass the
Senate without both Democrats and Republicans. During the 113th
Congress, the Speaker should strive to make that the rule of the House
of Representatives as well.
Still, it is true that the 112th Congress left much undone. That is
why we resolve to pick up where we left off in just a few weeks. The
first crucial matter we will address will be the long-overdue aid to
victims of Hurricane Sandy. I am hopeful that the House will act, as
they said, on the 15th. Then when we get back here, we will move on it
very quickly.
We need to strive to be more productive, and we will do little if we
don't address a major reason for our inefficiency. Simply, the Senate
is not working as it should. That is why in the last Congress I made
plain that Democrats would do something to fix those issues.
The beginning of a new Congress is customarily a time that the Senate
addresses changes to its rules. In the last Congress, Democratic
Senators Jeff Merkley, Tom Udall, Tom Harkin, and Sheldon Whitehouse
made the majority's case for change. I commend these passionate
leaders. They have made compelling arguments for reform.
In recent months, Senators on both sides of the aisle set about
trying to broker a compromise. This group was led by two of the
greatest Senators who ever served in this body, the finest and the
best, Democratic Senator Levin of Michigan and Republican Senator
McCain of Arizona. They worked many hours with a group of six other
Senators to come up with something they thought would work better, and
I so appreciate their work. But in the waning weeks of the last
Congress, Senators were justifiably occupied with other matters,
including the fiscal cliff. But I believe this matter warrants
additional debate during the 113th Congress, which just started.
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Senators deserve additional notice before voting to change Senate
rules, so today I will follow the precedents set in 2005 and again in
2011. We will reserve the right of all Senators to propose changes to
the Senate rules, and we will explicitly not acquiesce in the carrying
over of all the old rules from the last Congress. It is my intention
that the Senate will recess today, rather than adjourn, to continue the
same legislative day and allow this important rules discussion to
continue later this month.
I am confident that the Republican leader and I can come to an
agreement that will allow the Senate to work more efficiently. We are
going to talk again today. We just haven't had time, with the other
things we have been dealing with, to spend enough time together to do
this, but we definitely want to move forward to try to make this place
work better. I appreciate his willingness to work on this. I will do my
very utmost, as I know he will.
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