Cloture Motion

Floor Speech

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Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I respect my colleague from Texas, the majority whip. I disagree with his conclusion. I am vice chairman of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee. The chairman is Senator Cochran of Mississippi. The two of us and our staffs worked night and day to put together a good Defense appropriations bill. I think we did a good job.

The problem is, there is a difference between the Democrats and the Republicans about the total amount to be spent on the defense budget. The Republicans suggest that we should take $38 billion and put it into the defense budget but not to add a similar amount to the nondefense budget. I could go onto the arcane language of OCO and all of the sequestration. I am going to try to avoid that and keep this at a level where most people understand what we are talking about.

Our concern is not about funding the military on the Democratic side. We wholeheartedly support that, all of us. Not a single Democrat dissents from what I have just said, but the question is whether or not the money that is going to be invested in nondefense agencies is also going to be protected in this appropriations process. That is all we have asked for.

We are willing to put $38 billion more into defense, let's put the same amount in nondefense. What is nondefense? Nondefense, frankly, includes a lot of appropriations programs that are critically important to middle-income families across America. Are we going to continue to fund educational programs so that the kids of working families have a shot at college? That is nondefense spending.

Are we going to make sure that we make the basic processes of government be protected when it comes to investing in nondefense? May I give you an example? Medical research. Is that worth putting money into? From the Republican side, that is nondefense, that is not really that important. I think it is critically important. Once every 67 seconds in America, one of our citizens is diagnosed with Alzheimer's--once every 67 seconds.

It is a tragedy. It is an expensive tragedy. It cost us over $200 billion last year just to care for Alzheimer's patients in America under Medicare and Medicaid. That does not even come close to calculating the sacrifices made by family members on behalf of those who are suffering from Alzheimer's. So should we invest more money in Alzheimer's research? Should we put more money into an effort to delay the onset of Alzheimer's or, God willing, find a cure? Of course we should. That is nondefense spending. That is not a priority of the other side of the aisle.

What we have said to them is: We need to sit down and work this out. Be fair to defense to keep us strong and safe as a nation, but make those critical investments in programs that make a difference to middle-income families across America. What we are asking for today is nothing new. As the Senator from Texas reminded us, we took a vote on this issue. It was over 3 months ago--the same vote. We took the same vote we are about to take at noon today as to whether or not we should have this lopsided appropriation, money to the defense budget but not to the nondefense budget. We said no. Balance it. Be fair. Be as concerned about middle-income families in America as you are about the defense of our Nation. Let the budget reflect that.

But they said no. So we are back again. It was on June 18 when the leadership on the Democratic side of the aisle, aided by others who felt the same way, sent a letter to the Republicans and said: Let's not waste any time shouting at one another and giving speeches on the floor. Let's sit down in closed, bipartisan negotiations and work out the budget, bring the President in. He is critical. We need his participation. But let's work it out.

We wrote that letter on June 18. Here we are more than 3 months later in the same predicament. We should have taken the time before now--days before the end of the fiscal year, at the end of September--to sit down and work this out by budget negotiation. But they refused. They don't want to sit down.

Instead, they want us to go through these show votes. Last week--last week we had five unnecessary separate votes on the Iran agreement. We had already established, by public announcement of every Senator and by an open public vote, where we stood. Senator McConnell insisted on spending another week and five more votes on exactly the same thing with exactly the same outcome. What a waste of Senate time.

Look at this week. This week is a challenge because of the visit of the Pope and the Jewish holy day, but instead of dealing with substantive issues, this week we have allowed two Republican Presidential candidates who are Senators to have their day on the floor. I think we should be rolling up our sleeves and tackling this issue. I don't want to see a government shutdown. We allowed the Senator from Texas to do that a few years ago, and we paid a heavy price for it. He has now threatened to do it again. He likes shutting down our government, thinks that is a great expression of his effectiveness as a leader. So be it. Maybe it is to some, but not to most.

Instead we should be involved in real budget negotiations. I want to tell you, this idea of a continuing resolution--what is a continuing resolution? It says: Spend the money this year the same way you spent it last year. What if your family had that charge? What if we said: Spend the same amount for groceries and utilities that you did last year, spend it this year. You would say: Wait a minute, that does not reflect the things that have changed in my family. My son is off to college. We are changing the place where we live and such.

That is not the kind of thing that you would respect. That is what a continuing resolution does. It continues to spend money the same way. It wastes taxpayers' money. Senator Cochran and I, on a bipartisan basis, came up with a better approach. It is an appropriations bill which we think keeps us safe and spends our defense dollars wisely. So let's not get comfortable with a continuing resolution. It is not good for the Department of Defense, not good for the men and women in uniform who risk their lives for us every single day.

It is important for us to do the responsible thing and move forward. Let's not waste any more time with repeat votes and show-boat votes; let's instead focus our time on negotiating a sound budget.

On June 18, we sent an invitation to the Republicans to sit down and negotiate a budget. The invitation is still open, but we are running out of time. It is important that the President be in that negotiation. It has been 96 days since the last vote we had on this issue. We are going to face it again in just a few moments.

There has not been any progress made on budget negotiations. I ask the Republican leadership of the House and Senate: What are you waiting for? When are you going to sit down and govern? When are you going to sit down and work out problems instead of dreaming up new ways to shut down the Government of the United States of America?

There are signs we are headed back to the same old process that was used before. By the end of the week, they are talking about filibusters on the Republican side, and staying in all night, and maybe we will hear another Dr. Seuss book read to us in the middle of the night by the Texas Senator.

I am not sure what lies ahead, but what the American people are sick and tired of is what they see on the Senate floor today. They want us to do our work. They want us to compromise, to agree, to do what is best for this Nation.

Having one show vote after another does not accomplish that. I ask my colleagues: Work together. I ask the leaders on the Republican side: Instead of one more monotonous, predicable vote after another, should we not sit down and work out a budget negotiation that serves our Nation, not only the defense budget, but all of America, including middle-income families.

I yield the floor.

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