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Floor Speech

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Mr. WYDEN. Madam President and colleagues, I yield to no Senator in my support of this country's senior citizens. My background, colleagues, I was codirector of the Oregon Gray Panthers, the senior citizens group, for almost 7 years before I went into public life.

And I know that there is no Senator here who doesn't support senior citizens, farmers, the extraordinarily important Americans that my colleagues have been talking about.

But what really has not been explained here--because we all kind of talk this special lingo around here--is what my colleagues really seek to do in the Kennedy amendment.

What my colleague from Louisiana wishes to do is rip up an agreement reached between Democrats and Republicans. Specifically, colleagues, Senators Schumer and McConnell. So what they did is reach a bipartisan agreement to defuse an economic timebomb by creating a process to avoid default.

Senator Kennedy's proposal sticks a flame right back under that fuse. Now, the two parties obviously have different approaches when it comes to gamesmanship around this country's financial commitments. Setting all of that aside, the fact is our country is now way too close to default for the Senate to be playing games.

This debate is almost entirely about financial commitments made under past Presidents. It doesn't have anything to do with legislation that is still in the works. That is a fact. The reality is my colleague from Louisiana seeks to bring the country closer to default. The Senate ought to be clear on the consequences if that were to come to pass.

Default would be an economic disaster for our country as well as for individual families and businesses. And, again, colleagues, since senior citizens came up so frequently, this has been my particular passion. It is why I went into public service. Social Security stops going out. Military could stop getting paid. Interest rates go into the stratosphere, making existing Federal debt even more expensive, if you go forward with this proposal.

Costs go up for families who want to buy homes or buy cars. Getting a small business loan becomes more expensive. Jobs across the country are wiped out amid this turmoil. And all of that would happen right in the middle of the holidays, when Americans are simply trying to enjoy their time with families, go out and shop for presents, and enjoy their time together.

My view is, after almost 2 years of pandemic and economic chaos, people have had it hard enough. And two leaders--a Democrat and a Republican--have come together because they understand the Senate doesn't need to add another catastrophe to their financial challenges, the challenges I just described--one, by the way, that would be entirely self-made.

There is an agreement before the Senate, colleagues; an agreement between the Republican leader and the Democratic leader. That agreement brought the two sides together. My colleagues must not throw that agreement away. And I respect all my colleagues--all of them--but I just believe that this proposal from the Senator from Louisiana is misguided. It brings our country closer to default.

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