E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 112 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 157 WASHINGTON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2011 No. 195 House of Representatives The House was not in session today. Its next meeting will be held on Monday, December 19, 2011, at 10 a.m. Senate SATURDAY, DECEMBER 17, 2011 The Senate met at 9 a.m. and was The assistant legislative clerk read VOTE COMPROMISES called to order by the Honorable RICH- the following letter: Mr. REID. Mr. President, as happens ARD BLUMENTHAL, a Senator from the U.S. SENATE, once in a while here, we do not have a State of Connecticut. PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE, final score on part of the payroll tax Washington, DC, December 17, 2011. issue that we have, the legislation. PRAYER To the Senate: Joint Tax, CBO said they will have the The Chaplain, Dr. Barry C. Black, of- Under the provisions of rule I, paragraph 3, of the Standing Rules of the Senate, I hereby score by 10 o’clock today. Therefore, fered the following prayer: appoint the Honorable RICHARD we are going to reverse the order of Let us pray. BLUMENTHAL, a Senator from the State of what we are doing. We are going to Today, O God, we magnify Your Connecticut, to perform the duties of the vote on the matters relating to the om- Name for Your purity, holiness, and Chair. nibus first. However, I ask unanimous justice as the Judge of the universe. DANIEL K. INOUYE, consent that if the Reid-McConnell Let Your purity, holiness, and justice President pro tempore. substitute amendment is not agreed be seen on Capitol Hill today. Bind our Mr. BLUMENTHAL thereupon as- to—that is the payroll tax issue—the lawmakers together in the oneness of a sumed the chair as Acting President Senate’s action with respect to the shared commitment to You, a pas- pro tempore. conference report to accompany H.R. sionate patriotism, and a loyal dedica- 2055 and H.R. 3672 be vitiated and the tion to find Your solutions for the con- f majority leader be recognized. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- cerns that confront and often divide us. RESERVATION OF LEADER TIME May the words of our Senators and the pore. Is there objection? meditations of their hearts be accept- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The Senator from Tennessee. able to You. Use their labors so that pore. Under the previous order, the Mr. CORKER. Mr. President, what justice will roll down like waters and leadership time is reserved. was the parliamentary procedure the righteousness like a mighty stream. Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a leader just referred to? We pray in Your merciful Name. quorum. Mr. REID. We do not have a final Amen. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- score on the payroll tax matter. There is something dealing with SGR that is f pore. The clerk will call the roll. The assistant legislative clerk pro- not quite right, so we want to make PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ceeded to call the roll. sure everything is totally paid for. We The Honorable RICHARD BLUMENTHAL Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- are going to get a score in just a few led the Pledge of Allegiance, as follows: imous consent that the order for the minutes, probably by 10 o’clock for I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the quorum call be rescinded. sure, and we want to reverse the order. United States of America, and to the Repub- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- We are going to do all the omnibus lic for which it stands, one nation under God, pore. Without objection, it is so or- stuff because people have things to do indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. dered. and want to leave. But if by some hap- f penchance the payroll tax does not f APPOINTMENT OF ACTING pass, then all this stuff, the votes on PRESIDENT PRO TEMPORE RECOGNITION OF THE MAJORITY the omnibus, would be vitiated. Mr. CORKER. I object. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The LEADER The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- clerk will please read a communication The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- pore. Objection is heard. to the Senate from the President pro pore. The majority leader is recog- Mr. REID. I suggest the absence of a tempore (Mr. INOUYE). nized. quorum. ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. S8745 . VerDate Mar 15 2010 07:28 Jan 22, 2013 Jkt 099060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0637 Sfmt 0634 E:\RECORD11\RECFILES\DECEMBER\S17DE1.REC S17DE1 bjneal on DSK2TWX8P1PROD with S8746 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE December 17, 2011 The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- The omnibus is much better than it in working out the Nebraska aspects of pore. The clerk will call the roll. was previously. We were able to actu- this to the satisfaction of his Governor The legislative clerk proceeded to ally pass individual appropriations and his State legislature. call the roll. bills this year. The goal of the Repub- So why were Republicans fighting for Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unan- lican leader and me is to pass them all the pipeline? We knew the whole rea- imous consent that the order for the next year. We are going to try. It is son we were even talking about tem- quorum call be rescinded. going to be one of our important issues porary tax relief and extending unem- The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tem- we have to deal with, to try to get our ployment benefits is because 3 years pore. Without objection, it is so or- appropriations bills back together. into this administration the private dered. I, when I first came to the Senate, sector is still gasping, literally gasping Mr. REID. Mr. President, in the Sen- became an appropriator. I think that for air. So we said let’s also do some- ate we work on an adversarial basis committee is so integral to how this thing that would help create private lots of times because that is the way body works, and it has not been work- sector jobs. Let’s start to change the the Founding Fathers set up our coun- ing well; that is, the appropriations equation and do something that will try. I am not going to give a long lec- process. actually get at the heart of the prob- ture on this because I know people So people may be disturbed about lem. have a lot to do. some of the stuff that is on the floor, Keystone was an obvious choice. Ev- This little Constitution was very but it was true legislation because it erybody in Washington says they want hard to come by. It was very hard to was compromise. The omnibus—there more American jobs right now. Well, come by. We tried the Articles of Con- are lots of things in that I do not like, here is the single largest shovel-ready federation. They did not work at all. and I will bet you every Senator has project in America. It is literally ready We had the State of Rhode Island, a lit- something in it that they do not like. to go awaiting the permission of the tle, tiny place, with not many people in With the package we have dealing President of the United States. it; we had the big State of New York, with unemployment, the package with Some of the news outlets are calling with lots of territory and lots of peo- the payroll tax and SGR, there are this pipeline controversial. I have no ple. things in there I would rather not have idea why it could be called controver- How were they going to work that sial. The labor unions like it, many out? They could not—until a man from in either one of those, but we are here because that is the way we were able to Democrats want it, it strengthens our Connecticut, Elbridge Gerry, came as national security by decreasing the one of the delegates, in June of 1787, to bring this and lead to what I think is an accomplishment that is important amount of oil we get from unfriendly Philadelphia, who said: I have a great countries, and it would not cost the idea. It was an idea that had never for the American people. I appreciate the ability of the Repub- taxpayers a dime—not a dime. It is a been tried before. It was a stunningly private sector project ready to go. interesting idea that he had. He sug- lican leader and myself to sit down and talk, as we do, often, away from all of All we are doing is saying the Presi- gested to the Founding Fathers a bi- dent has 60 days to decide whether the cameral legislature, having a legisla- you, away from everybody. We started this conversation alone, and we ended project is in the national interest—60 ture made up of two bodies, two legis- days for the President to make a deci- it alone, working on these measures we lative bodies, the House and the Sen- sion one way or the other. Since most have here. I know members of my cau- ate. That is the reason we are able to of us have not heard a good reason cus say: Why couldn’t I have been in on have a constitution. from the White House as to why they doing all this stuff? We involved as But in the process, built into our would block it, I am very hopeful the Constitution is constant vying for many people as we could.