12288 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 157, Pt. 9 July 28, 2011 watch their 401(k), their precious sav- the achievements in the Sundlun ad- great sardonic smile—that he would ings maybe dwindling as a result of a ministration were directly attributed find unusual ways to get around. He negative change in the marketplace— to Senator WHITEHOUSE’s extraordinary would go into the village at market saying to young people and their fami- efforts. time when the ladies of the village lies, sons and daughters who have the Today, I am here, first, as a Rhode Is- parked their bicycles, and he would capacity to learn: I wish that I could lander to say on behalf of the people of take one of them and pedal as fast as afford—says dad or mom—to send you my State how much we appreciate the he could to the next village where he to the right kind of a school that your leadership, vision, and determination could find another bike. So he covered ability suggests you can handle, but we of Governor Bruce Sundlun. He was the route through occupied Europe, fi- cannot afford it—we do a disservice to elected in the middle of the worst fi- nally making his way into Switzerland. that family. We do a disservice to nancial crisis in the history of our That was a remarkable bit of courage. country when those things happen. So I State since the Great Depression—a After the war Bruce continued to dis- do not understand why those who have collapse of the private credit union sys- tinguish himself in business, and in so so much, made not by their own inge- tem. He got through that crisis as only many ways. But one thing is that he nuity exclusively but made by the fact he could. Then he went on to recon- left a legacy not just to the people of that we have a foundation in this soci- struct our airport, to reform our work- Rhode Island, not just a public record, ety of people who want to go to work ers’ compensation system, and to make but he was part of the ‘‘greatest gen- every day and do the right thing. That lasting contributions to the people of eration’’ that left an indelible image on is what holds up this facility of ours. I Rhode Island. the soldiers, sailors, aviators, and ma- am not talking about the building, I So I come to salute an extraordinary rines who serve today, a fidelity to am talking about the facility this Governor. I also come as a colleague in duty, of courage, and of determination country has. government. When Governor Sundlun to serve and sacrifice on behalf of your You cannot build a house from the was elected to the statehouse in 1990, I comrades and your country. That ceiling down, from the chimney down, was elected to my first term in the image continues to sustain our forces and you cannot build a society from Congress. I was there to observe his ex- in the field and this great Nation. the top down. You need the traordinary intellect, determination, To Governor Sundlun, to his family, underpinnings. You need those people skill, and his relentless commitment to as a Rhode Islander, I thank you. As a who bring their skills daily to work doing his best to help the people of colleague in government, I thank you. and hold out hope for their children to Rhode Island. I saw it firsthand. As someone who was inspired by your succeed. That is what we need. We need Truly, without Bruce’s leadership, we service to this country, I thank you. a regeneration of the spirit in this would not have weathered the financial May you rest in peace. country of ours. crisis of 1991 in Rhode Island. His ex- I yield the floor. traordinary grasp of the financial de- But it is not going to happen when The PRESIDING OFFICER. The jun- tails, his unwavering determination to the Republicans’ dominant view is: No, ior Senator from Rhode Island. let’s get Obama. That is what we have do the right thing, not the popular Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I to do. Foul play. It is almost like de- thing, and his ability to withstand am very pleased to follow Rhode Is- sertion. I wore the country’s uniform withering criticism from all quarters land’s distinguished senior Senator proudly, and that is what we are talk- resulted not only in the restitution of with remarks about our friend and our ing about, loyalty to country. It says the savings of thousands of Rhode Is- former Governor, Bruce Sundlun. As we need everybody to participate. We landers, but essentially the repayment Governor, he served with some of our are not going to get it with the foul of the moneys that had to be borrowed colleagues who are in the Senate schemes that are being proposed. to take care of the crisis. It was ex- today, including BEN NELSON, who was I yield the floor and suggest the ab- traordinary work. Frankly, I think ev- Governor of Nebraska, and TOM CARPER sence of a quorum. erybody in Rhode Island rapidly con- who was Governor of Delaware. They The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. ceded that only Bruce Sundlun could served with Bruce, and he was one of SANDERS.) The clerk will call the roll. have done it. those irrepressible characters they re- The bill clerk proceeded to call the I also come here, like Bruce, as a vet- member very distinctly to this day. roll. eran of our Armed Forces, but unlike Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I ask unanimous Bruce, who was a combat veteran. Bruce Sundlun had a remarkable consent that the order for the quorum Bruce joined the U.S. Army and quali- Rhode Island life. He was the son of a call be rescinded. fied as a pilot in the Air Corps in World jewelry store owner, who was the son of The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without War II. He was brave. He was tough. He an immigrant watchmaker. It turns objection, it is so ordered. led his crew with great distinction on out that he had real athletic talent. He Mr. WHITEHOUSE. I am about to numerous bombing raids over occupied was a track star, breaking record after yield the floor to my distinguished sen- Europe. In one of those raids, he was record around Rhode Island. It was as a ior Senator JACK REED. I ask unani- shot down. Of course, he had the pres- competitor in that era that he first felt mous consent at the conclusion of his ence of mind to keep the aircraft as the sting of discrimination over being remarks I be granted recognition. steady as he could to let crewmen es- Jewish, and that gave him a lasting The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without cape. characteristic to stick up for the un- objection, it is so ordered. Finally, at the last moment, he him- derdog. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- self parachuted to Earth. He was be- As I mentioned at his funeral service, ator from Rhode Island is recognized. hind enemy lines without any weapons he was the opposite of a fair-weather friend. He became a better friend the f except his determination, his courage, and his determination, again, not only stormier the weather got around you. TRIBUTE TO GOVERNOR SUNDLUN to survive but to return to the fight. He went on, with his great genera- Mr. REED. Mr. President, Senator Through an amazing series of breath- tion, to defend our country and fight WHITEHOUSE and I have come to the taking episodes that read like a novel, for freedom around the globe in World floor today to pay tribute to Governor Bruce would go from village to village War II. He was a pilot of a B–17, the Bruce Sundlun. He passed away last and seek out the priests in the French Damn Yankee, at a time when the life Thursday. He was an extraordinary village, or Belgian village. He would expectancy for bomber crews over Eu- gentleman. say in fluent French that he was an rope was not very long. Unfortunately, I think it is particularly appropriate American flier and needed their help. his aircraft was shot down and crashed that my colleague is here along with He always received their help. He in Belgium. He was able to survive the me because he was the director of pol- would be given assistance and would be crash, although, as the pilot, he was icy for Governor Sundlun, and many of hid for a while. He told me with his the last living person out. When he

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He hid in plain COMSAT, a public-private partnership accomplishment on top of solving all sight as troops swept the area looking that helped open the skies to the space those underlying problems. He had con- for the survivors of the bomber crash. age. His business career was remark- fidence in Rhode Island and in Amer- He laid out in the middle of the field in able. He took a foundering airline, ica, and we were in a terrible recession. a deep place in the plowed furrow called Executive Jet, and turned it into So he went to work and got things where you could only see him if you the largest private and charter airline done. He built a new airport terminal, got down at the end of the furrow and in the country. He took a department he got a new mall started that would looked. store in downtown urban Providence, be built, he built a new hotel that al- As the Nazi’s were poking through at a time when New England cities lowed for the convention center to go the hay bales and prowling through the were in decline, at a time when cities forward and so he built a new conven- sheds and looking under whatever they across the country were losing ground tion center. He changed the skyline of could find, there he lay more or less in to the suburbs that were sprouting up Providence. He moved one of our uni- plain sight. But still, he was shot down around them—he took this dying busi- versities to a downtown campus. He on December 1, 1943. You can imagine ness, I guess you would say, and he saw understood that in times of economic how cold it was lying in that field in in that downtown department store a distress, activity was good and positive Belgium while the search went on media empire. He went off and began activity that brought jobs was better still. around him for hours. For the rest of buying radio stations and TV stations In his personal characteristics, he his life, he hated the cold. There was and created this remarkable company, no weather that was too warm for him. was a remarkable individual. He was the Outlet Corporation, as a media em- relentless, determined, and decisive I remember when First Lady Hillary pire. He also turned it into a refuge Clinton came to speak in Rhode Island when issues were presented to him. from time to time. With his staff, he was demanding and when he was Governor, he was wearing In the blizzard of 1978, the State of abrupt and terse. I asked him once why this enormous black sheepskin coat— Rhode Island was clobbered by snow. very thick and warm—as he prepared he didn’t bother to say hello. When a People were trapped downtown for person got a phone call from him, he to step outside of the statehouse and hours and hours, in some cases days. go out on the stone deck looking out just started talking at them, and when He saw to it that the Outlet Company the conversation was over, he hung up over downtown on a cold winter after- stayed open, that the cafeteria kept noon. Mrs. Clinton started needling without saying goodbye or any pleas- serving, and that the department store antries. I said: Don’t you think it him and saying how Jack Kennedy that sold clothing gave clothing to didn’t need a coat and it was not really would go a little further if you said whoever needed it. The part of the very fashionable and people would hello and goodbye in your telephone store that sold bedding was spread all question how tough he was if he went conversations? He said: How much time over the store so people could sleep on out with this big coat on. do you think I would waste in my en- So he ended up taking off the coat. the bedding. He responded to a crisis tire life? Add up all the times you have He went outside into the bitter cold, better than anybody I know. It brought wasted saying hello and goodbye. made the introduction of the First out his best characteristics, which Doesn’t do anything that is productive. Lady, turned to welcome her to the po- were certainly necessary when he was He had that kind of attitude. But he dium, and out she came with a smile elected Governor, because on the very was bold and he was willing to take big from ear to ear wearing his coat. He first day of his administration, he was leaps. I guess, back to his early days as loved that kind of exchange with peo- obliged to close more than 30 different a broad jumper, he was willing to take ple. I think he immensely loved the lending institutions across Rhode Is- big, big leaps. Clintons. He was one of the first Gov- land, serving more than 300,000 of As a staff person, he was extraor- ernors—if not the first—to endorse Rhode Island’s 1 million population. dinary to work for. I have told the President Clinton, and the Clintons He went from being sworn in, to the story of opening day. A few of us were never forgot it. receiving line where he greeted all his in on that news, but it had to be very Bruce did not get to Switzerland happy supporters and all the wel- closely held because it would have cre- until May 5, 1944. He spent 156 days as coming officials and the well-wishers ated a run on all those banks if word an American Jewish bomber pilot be- who came from Rhode Island, and had leaked. So even many of his staff hind Nazi lines in Belgium and France. rolled immediately from that into a people had no idea this was going on No greater testament to this man’s re- press conference in which he an- until he announced it. So that was sourcefulness and drive could be imag- nounced they had to close these insti- kind of a shocker and made for an in- ined than succeeding for that long in tutions because the deposit insurance teresting time to be a staff person. that circumstance. provider ended up having been crooked On another occasion, he had a couple When he came back from the war, he and had failed and they could not oper- of raccoons on his property and they went to Harvard Law School and be- ate without deposit insurance. So they were bothering a den of baby foxes. He came an attorney at the Department of had to be closed. That was a heck of a didn’t want the baby foxes to be killed Justice. He was an assistant to a Rhode way to start a governorship. by the raccoons, so he took out a shot- Islander who became Attorney General, He also found out that he had inher- gun, went down to the end of his prop- J. Howard McGrath. He began a suc- ited the biggest budget deficit the erty and shot the two raccoons. He cessful career in the law. It was also at State had ever seen, and we could then climbed in the car with his State a time when President Kennedy came never find a State with a bigger per- trooper and headed off to work and, of to office representing that ‘‘greatest centage deficit than he inherited. The course, he described the exciting epi- generation’’—then a new generation— compensation system melted down, and sode of his morning and the trooper and he trusted Bruce Sundlun to run every worker’s compensation insurer said to him: Governor, don’t you real- his inaugural parade, which was the said: I am leaving the State. ize it is against the law to fire off a kind of logistics feat that Governor A lesser person might have failed weapon in the city of Newport? In his Sundlun loved. under all that pressure. Not only did customarily brusque and decisive way, The fact that it snowed like crazy Bruce meet all of those exigencies of he said: Well, take me to the court- the night before didn’t phase him a bit. the moment, he also worked very hard house.

VerDate Mar 15 2010 12:48 Aug 13, 2014 Jkt 099102 PO 00000 Frm 00022 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR11\S28JY1.000 S28JY1 pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD 12290 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 157, Pt. 9 July 28, 2011 A trial was going on in the Newport as he worked and as much as he chal- moving what was then the business commu- County Courthouse, but into the trial lenged everyone around him, he always nity’s worst problem completely off the walks the Governor and he interrupts had the purpose of making America problem list for now going on 20 years. As a problem solver, he had no peer. the trial and tells the judge: I would better, making America stronger, mak- And that alone would be pretty extraor- like to plead guilty. The judge, thank- ing Rhode Island better, making Rhode dinary. But there was that ethics gap. So fully, said: I am not going to accept Island stronger, and building toward Bruce wrote Executive Order 91-One, the eth- your plea, I am doing something else the future. He had incredible con- ics executive order that succeeding gov- right now. Plus, you don’t have the fidence. The notion of holding an econ- ernors renewed virtually unchanged. He re- benefit of counsel. To which he tartly omy hostage and threatening the well- formed our Ethics Commission. He changed responded: I am as good a lawyer as being of people to force down their the way we appoint judges, to reduce the pol- there is in Rhode Island. The judge re- throats something they would not want itics. He changed the way we fund elections, with a public finance plan and donor limits. sponded: Well, a lawyer who is rep- would be completely alien to his patri- Through an intense storm of legal and polit- resenting himself has a fool for a cli- otic character, and it makes me miss ical opposition, he opened up the pension ent, and on your client’s behalf, I tell him a lot as we are trapped in this day. records; putting an end forever to backroom you I will not accept that plea. The other party appears to be, in special pension bills. He got our State Police So there is the Governor’s staff. The large part, acquiescing to this. Gov- nationally accredited. phone rings and the message is: Your ernor Sundlun’s streak of willfulness He even cleaned up the Capitol literally! boss is in court trying to plead guilty and determination to do the right All that was extraordinary—but still not enough. to a criminal offense. One can imagine thing, I think, is missed on the other In the worst economic times the state had how that lights up a staff’s day. So side of the aisle as much as his patriot- seen since the Depression, with a shrinking down we went to help take care of that. ism and desire to put the well-being of budget, he decided to extend universal health Another day saw the arrival of his people first is missed on the first. So he care to children—and started the program daughter. When he was elected Gov- was a man whose life and accomplish- that became Rite Care. Against immense op- ernor, Sundlun had three sons—Tracy, ments made a great difference in position, he built our new airport terminal. Stuart, and Peter. It turned out there Rhode Island and have great relevance He embarked on the Westin Hotel, the Con- was also a daughter, and at age 16—in and resonance as we stand here today. vention Center, and the Providence Place midterm—Kara arrived and was recog- Mall. He finished the Jamestown Bridge and As I said, I miss him very much. He built the Expressway. And even that’s not nized as Bruce’s daughter from a rela- was very important to me, and I wish the end of it. tionship he had years before. She was we had his forceful, patriotic, buoyant, It was an amazing burst of activity. I will taken into the family and is now—and and determined spirit with us today. bet that almost every Rhode Islander, al- was to the end of his days—as beloved Mr. President, I mentioned in my re- most every day, is somehow touched by as any of his sons. marks the speech I gave on behalf of something Governor Sundlun did. But that was an exciting day for staff Governor Sundlun, which was delivered And through it all, he drove his staff crazy. members, when suddenly the boss turns at his funeral service. I ask unanimous He was irrepressible, impatient, imperial, unscriptable, combative, frustrating, willful, up with a brandnew 16-year-old daugh- consent to have printed in the RECORD constantly threw caution to the winds, im- ter nobody knew about before. those remarks. possible to keep up with—he drove us nuts. He had five wives, in addition to There being no objection, the mate- And we loved him. those four children. He led a rich, full, rial was ordered to be printed in the We loved him because he was bold and exciting, passionate life, and I miss RECORD, as follows: brave, and was warm-hearted and trusting and generous, and because he was willing to him very much. He died on Thursday. EULOGY FOR GOVERNOR BRUCE SUNDLUN AS throw caution to the winds to do what was He died very peacefully, with his fam- DELIVERED BY U.S. SENATOR SHELDON right. We loved him because he never once ily around him. He was 91 years old. I WHITEHOUSE, SUNDAY, JULY 24, 2011 had us make excuses or try to shift the think he probably put about 151 years What a man. What a life. blame. of living into those 91 years, and he left Bruce Sundlun’s accomplishments—as a That was not his style. ‘‘Never complain; a family who loved him, a State he had record-breaking athlete, as a resourceful war never explain.’’ served incredibly well, and staff mem- hero, as a superb lawyer, as a successful We all remember his Bruce-isms: bers who had their lives changed by business entrepreneur, and as political leader ‘‘Always touch base with those concerned of our state—would each on their own be sig- their exposure to this remarkable, before taking action.’’ nificant. You could probably write a book ‘‘How fast would you get it done if the Rus- hard-driving, affectionate, bold man. about each. Together, packed all into one en- sians were in South Attleboro?’’ We are in Washington, as I close, and ergetic life, it makes Bruce Sundlun one of ‘‘When you’ve won, stop talking, close we are in a situation in which one the most accomplished and remarkable men your briefcase and leave.’’ party is holding the economic future of in our state’s history. ‘‘Message to Garcia.’’ the country hostage in order to force And that’s not even counting five mar- ‘‘Who, what, where, when; don’t bother me changes the American public doesn’t riages, four children, three unsuccessful runs with why.’’ want, wouldn’t vote for, and wouldn’t for governor, two dead raccoons, and one The phone calls, at all hours, that began long escape on the loose, behind enemy lines. with no ‘‘hello’’ and ended with dial tone. accept if they were consulted on them. There’s really just no way to fit it all in. The road shows known to his staff as But by virtue of having, in effect, a gun Let me step into my role as a Sundlun ‘‘Dome on the Roam,’’ or more precisely, to the head of the economy, they want staffer, and ask you to think just of his brief ‘‘Bruce on the Loose.’’ to force these things, such as killing four years as governor. Hit (on Day One of And sometimes just that big foxy grin. off the Medicare Program. his administration) by an unprecedented We saw that his qualities of friendship and Americans are wildly opposed to that bank failure affecting 300,000 Rhode Island- loyalty had an almost physical force; that he in huge numbers, and when they found ers, and by the worst budget deficit in state had your back even if you made mistakes (no out that was in the House Republican history, and by an implosion of the state’s one ever was thrown under the bus); and that entire worker’s compensation system, and he was a better friend the more the chips budget, they rejected it by 4-to-1 mar- with the urgent need to restore ethics in were down. gins. The response to that was to bring government, Bruce was the man for that mo- Politics is full of fair weather friends; back something called cut, cap, and ment, and swung into his customary decisive Bruce Sundlun was your stormy weather balance, which had hidden beneath the action. friend. Politics is full of people who take slogan an even worse cut to Medicare. The budget was promptly and fairly bal- tiny cautious steps with their finger up con- They didn’t learn their lesson the pub- anced and the whole budget process im- stantly testing the winds; Bruce stepped lic didn’t want this, so they insisted on proved. boldly down the path he thought was right, doing even worse and doing it by hold- Inventive solutions to repay the depositors even if that meant stepping right in it. and clean up the RISDIC mess were found People wonder what lives on after they die. ing the economy hostage. and implemented, and those at fault were Well, Bruce, we do. And every one of us has That is the kind of thing Governor made to pay—over a hundred million dollars. been changed: made better, and stronger, Sundlun would not accept. He was, His worker’s compensation reform moved harder-working and more resourceful, by first and foremost, a patriot. As hard the state from an embarrassment to a model, your vibrant elemental force in our lives.

VerDate Mar 15 2010 12:48 Aug 13, 2014 Jkt 099102 PO 00000 Frm 00023 Fmt 0686 Sfmt 0634 E:\BR11\S28JY1.000 S28JY1 pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with BOUND RECORD July 28, 2011 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD—SENATE, Vol. 157, Pt. 9 12291 We’ve gone on to be judges and lawyers, to spending. The spenders get an advan- each year, and each Chamber is re- run state and federal agencies, to become tage since the spending reductions quired to pass one separately and then Senators and councilmen and Lieutenant occur over 10 years, whereas the debt agree on one together. Governors, banking leaders and senior part- ceiling would increase immediately. If the year had begun with a serious ners in national accounting firms, but none of us ever will be more proud of anything But that is the principle on which we budget proposal from the President, we than the simple title: ‘‘I was a Sundlun staff- have been operating. wouldn’t be in this mess today. But he er.’’ Senator REID’s bill is a hoax. It uses submitted a budget that would double Soozie and Marjorie, Tracey and Stuart Washington gimmicks designed to our debt in 10 years, while he claimed and Peter and Kara: Thank you. Thank you make it look three times as large as it it would not add to the debt and he for sharing your husband and father with our is. In reality, it hikes the debt ceiling claimed it would cause us to live with- state. For those who loved and were changed $3 for every $1 in spending cuts over 10 in our means. Indeed, he had a substan- by him, I thank you. For those who knew years. The House bill is 1 to 1, the Sen- tial tax increase, very real tax in- and were touched by him, I thank you. And for those who never knew him directly, but ate bill is 3 to 1. We have demonstrated creases of significant amounts, but his whose lives are better today because of what this exhaustively in a Budget Com- spending increased even more than he did, I thank you. mittee analysis that I don’t think peo- that. So the net total of the Presi- As I close, I want to take you back to a ple would dispute. And the House ap- dent’s budget was to make the debt scene from that wonderful movie I saw as a proach—one of the primary ways this trajectory we are on not better but kid, ‘‘To Kill A Mockingbird.’’ As you’ll re- is accomplished is to count the reduc- worse, even with the tax increase. In- call, Atticus Finch takes on the courageous tion in spending over the war in Iraq deed, his budget next year that he sub- but unpopular defense of a black man wrong- and Afghanistan that is projected to mitted proposed increases for the Edu- fully accused of rape. At the end of the trial, Atticus’s daughter Scout—proper name Jean occur and has already been projected to cation Department, the Energy Depart- Louise—is up in the gallery of the court- occur and count that as a spending cut. ment, the State Department, and the room, with the black townspeople, who Speaker BOEHNER didn’t do that. His Transportation Department—those aren’t allowed down on the regular court- would look $1 trillion better also if he double-digit increases at a time when room floor. The courtroom floor empties, but used those numbers. we are running the biggest deficit the they remain, and slowly stand. As Atticus The House approach is honest, it is Nation has ever sustained. packs his papers together, closes his bag, and straightforward, and it achieves $1 in Senate Democrats have refused to walks out, an elderly man leans down to the cuts for every $1 in debt ceiling in- pass, meanwhile, in this body—pass or little girl and says, ‘‘Stand up, Miss Jean Louise. Your father’s passing.’’ crease. It allows us to return to the bring up a budget for 820 days, 2 years. At the end of this service, as Bruce is table in a few months to assess our The majority leader said it would be taken to his gravesite after 91 years of a life progress, see what is happening in the foolish to pass a budget. Foolish to not well and fully lived, we will all stand up. And economy, and begin working toward pass a budget? rightly so. A governor will be passing. the greater cuts that are needed. So these are facts. Our colleagues Mr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I Senator REID’s bill relies on account- who run the Senate here have defied yield the floor, and I suggest the ab- ing tricks, takes the debt limit off the the law and sound policy all year long, sence of a quorum. table until after the election, and ex- and now we are paying the price—a The PRESIDING OFFICER. The changes a record $3 trillion in debt last-minute, take-it-or-leave-it, panic clerk will call the roll. hike for only one-third as much in debt vote. Nobody yet knows what is going The legislative clerk proceeded to cuts. to be in the legislation finally because call the roll. My colleagues on the other side of of the rejection of any bill that seems The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Sen- the aisle signed a letter vowing to de- to be out there at this time. ator from Alabama. feat the Boehner plan. I find this a lit- If the White House or Senate Demo- Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, I ask tle shocking, frankly, and surprising. crats had taken the budget process se- unanimous consent that the order for Is it the position of the Senate Demo- riously last year and if they had pre- the quorum call be rescinded. cratic majority that $1 trillion in cuts sented a single credible plan to cut The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without over 10 years is all we need to achieve spending, we wouldn’t be here at this objection, it is so ordered. between now and 2013? Is it their view eleventh hour. Indeed, our Democratic f that $1 in cuts for every $1 in debt colleagues have insisted on secret limit increase is too steep or is it a po- meetings that shielded them from THE DEBT CEILING litical effort to protect the President making any of their budget plans pub- Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. President, there by pushing the debt limit ceiling past lic, that shielded them from any real are currently two bills headed for a the next election, creating the highest votes on spending and debt, and it ap- vote to raise the debt ceiling and to re- increase in debt ceiling, I think, in his- pears those meetings have failed. duce spending. One of those two bills tory, except for perhaps the one that Democrats have campaigned and from the House, Speaker BOEHNER’s, the super Democratic majority in the sought control and a majority in the cuts about $1 trillion in spending and Senate slipped through during the pas- Senate, and they chose, in this time of raises the debt ceiling by $1 trillion sage of the health care bill? Is it this fiscal crisis, not to engage in the budg- until the end of the year, approxi- election issue that Democrats would et process in a serious way. In fact, mately. That is about how long it turn down an agreement on and put us they are apparently so determined to would take to run up another $1 tril- at risk of financial disruption of our avoid the public budget process that lion in debt. The other bill from Senate economy? the Reid bill even includes language Majority Leader REID cuts about $1 So let’s step back for a moment and designed to circumvent the process for trillion and raises the debt ceiling look at the wider context. Washington 2 more years. about $3 trillion—or past the 2012 elec- is often consumed by political fights So you will forgive me if I am a little tion. This is because the President said and blame games. It can be hard to dif- concerned by all these attacks on the emphatically just a few days ago at a ferentiate between facts and talking tea party. They didn’t start this fire; press conference: points. But I would like to provide as they sounded the alarm. Before the last The only bottom line I have is that we honest an assessment as I can as to election, when Democrats controlled have to extend this debt ceiling through the why we find ourselves in this unfortu- both Chambers of Congress by substan- next election, into 2013. nate situation at the eleventh hour. tial majorities, every conversation was So it is really quite simple. Speaker We have a process, a statutory and about increasing spending, more, more, BOEHNER’s bill lives up to the principle legal process to arrive at a budget deal more. Congress passed a stimulus bill— that I thought we had all agreed to: every single year. It is written into the the largest single onetime expenditure that every $1 in debt ceiling increase law of the United States. The President ever passed by any Congress or any na- should be tied to a $1 reduction in is required to submit a budget, by law, tion in history, every penny of that

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