Posted on 07/21/2011 3:36:23 PM PDT by mdittmar
Washington, D.C. – Nevada Senator Harry Reid made the following remarks today on the Senate floor about averting a default crisis. Below are his remarks as prepared for delivery:
We have 12 days left before our nation does the unthinkable: forever undermines the full faith and credit of our great country.
As members of Congress, we come from 50 states, but we serve one nation.
The American people deserve better than leaders who each stake out their own radical positions, forsaking the good of that nation. The American people expect us to find common ground no matter how difficult it may seem.
Every reasonable voice in America has warned us that defaulting on this nation’s financial obligations would not only be a blight on our reputation, but precipitate a global economic crisis.
Those warnings have come from the banking industry and the business community. They have come from our finest economists and shrewdest investors. They have come from former legislators and past policy makers from both sides of the aisle.
And they have come from reasonable people right here, in the United States Congress.
“It’s clear to me that we have to increase the debt ceiling.” That’s what John Boehner, the Republican Speaker of the House, said this spring.
He also said this:
“Not raising the debt limit would have serious, very serious, implications for the worldwide economy and jobs here in America.”
His deputy, Eric Cantor agrees. Last week he said this about the need to avert the impending crisis:
“We want to make sure that we avoid default. We want to make sure that we avoid going past August 2nd without raising the debt ceiling.”
And my Republican counterpart here in the Senate, the senior Senator from Kentucky, said he would support raising the debt limit as long as Congress used the opportunity to do “something really important” about the national deficit.
Democrats are willing to join together with our colleagues from the other side of the aisle to do, as my Republican counterpart said, “something really important.”
We have already shown our willingness to make tough decisions for the sake of finding common ground – even when it means drawing the ire of our own political party.
Unfortunately, the loudest voices from the Republican Party are not reasonable leaders, but Tea Party extremists.
Congress has days, not weeks, to reassure the markets that when this great nation issues an IOU we stand by it – that we don’t turn into deadbeats when the bills come due.
If you want to know how important this issue is, listen to the words of Ronald Reagan. This is why he said about the importance of averting this kind of default:
“The United States has a special responsibility to itself and the world to meet its obligations. It means we have a well-earned reputation for reliability and credibility – two things that set us apart from much of the world.”
President Reagan took the threat of default seriously. So do reasonable Republicans in Congress today.
Yet I fear the closer we get to disaster, the further we get from a deal.
Democrats have shown they are willing to work with Republicans on any serious, reasonable plan that averts default and cuts the deficit in a balanced way.
Now it’s time for House Republicans to show they are also willing to get serious, too.
A plan that would decimate Social Security, Medicare and every other federal benefit while protecting hundreds of billions of dollars in special interest tax breaks is not a serious plan. Republicans’ so-called Cut, Cap and Balance plan doesn’t have one chance in a million of passing the Senate.
The moment for partisan games is long since passed. It is time patriots on both sides of the aisle joined hands to actually govern.
I ask, will reasonable Republicans to join us in forging a compromise that is good for the county?
Oh wow. Unbelievable. Thanks. I will use that.
Oh, you’re welcome.
People here have posted it elsewhere. In the time honored tradition of FReeping, I use these things as improvised electronic data sets. (ieds. with small letters).
great list!
We’ve been compromising forever....
NoH MoH!!!
Republicans have offered a plan that includes raising the debt ceiling. That IS a compromise.
I think more Americans are well aware that the Democrats are at fault here than MSM polls are letting on. We don’t want our children and future generations indebted for unaccountable spending that hardly even benefits this country today.
No more RINOs in 2012!
We can’t cut those /s
A new government should prohibit congress people from voting largesse for their own districts. Well, that wouldn’t work. They’d just trade votes like they do now. And suggestions?
Hey Harry those “Reasonable Republicans” are RINO’s=traitors.
It's YOUR bag to hold NOW harry!
Recognize the source, ignore the message.
Gee. Maybe people can use this list then, too(Note: I would like a list of the programs in the Dodd-Frank bill. Even The Brat, Jamie Dimon, has complained of 300 new regs for financial institutions.....):
These are all the programs that the new Republican House has proposed cutting.
Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
Save America ‘s Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
International Fund for Ireland . $17 million annual savings.
Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
Hope VI Program.. $250 million annual savings.
Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
. Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.
Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
Exchange Programs for Alaska Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts . $9 million annual savings.
What the hell is this anyway…?(are we trading Alaskans for Hawaiians?) – Guess so… I think we should trade those two groups for their Hysterical Trading Partners in Massachusetts and throw in the entire population of Vermont to sweeten the pot. (You know what pot I’m talkin about.)
Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt . $250 million annually.
U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
General Assistance to District of Columbia . $210 million annual savings.
Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services. Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing payments to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings. WHAT THE HELL…!
Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years. HUH?
Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.(What are they? If it’s Yosemite, no.)
Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings. MOHAIR? REALLY?
Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.(Hell yes!)
Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings. NEVER NEW THE GOV’T WAS PROMOTING SUGAR.
Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).$93 million annual savings. THIS MUST HAVE BEEN WRITTEN IN BRITAIN. NOTICE THE SPELLING ON ORGANIZATION? NASTY BRITS, ALWAYS MEDALING IN OUR POLITICS.
Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings. ABSOLUTELY! ALLEHLUIA!
Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.
Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress. WHAT’S THIS, TO HELP PAY BURIAL FEES? DO THEY HAVE TO BE DEAD?
HUD Ph.D.. Program.
Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act
TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years
My question, what THE Devil is all this doing in the budget in the first place…?
Is there anything listed you cannot do without?
My question, why do we have to wait 10 years? I say get rid of it all now! Makes a person wonder what kind of people have we been electing to office who allow such greed and corruption to fester and grow to this intensity? I bet for every program listed, there’s probably fifty others still out of control.
Thomas J. Jackson
Here something which can be added!
Do away with this agency and save over 20 billion! Them let the states manage its fossil fuel in their boards
and off their coast. This act would increase supply and lower your cost!
History The Department of Energy was formed after the oil crisis on August 8, 1977 by President Jimmy Carter’s signing of legislation,
The Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-91, 91 Stat. 565).
Department overview
Formed August 4, 1977
Preceding agencies Energy Research and Development
Administration
Federal Energy Administration
Employees 16,000 federal (2009)[1]
93,094 contract (2008)
Annual budget $24.1 billion (2009)
Department executives Steven Chu, Secretary
Daniel Poneman, Deputy Secretary.
Website
energy.gov
Department of Energy - Fossil Fuels
Fossil Fuels
Fossil fuels - coal, oil and natural gas — provide more than 85% of all the energy used in the United States. They are also used to create nearly two-thirds of our electricity and almost all of our transportation fuels. It is likely that our reliance on fossil fuels will increase over the next two decades, even with aggressive development and use of new renewable and nuclear technologies. DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) has a key role in helping America meet its growing need for secure, fairly priced, and environmentally sound fossil energy supplies. FE’s main goal is to ensure the U.S. can continue to rely on fossil fuels for clean, affordable energy. This is accomplished through two major efforts: Emergency stockpiles of crude oil and heating oil
The Department is in charge of maintaining the Strategic Petroleum Reserve and the Northeast Home Heating Oil Reserve. In the event of a major supply interruption, the President can release oil from these reserves into the market.
Research and development of future fossil energy technologies
New technologies can make the future production and use of fossil fuels more efficient and environmentally cleaner. Coal-based power plants, due to FE’s cutting edge R&D, can now produce electricity while creating almost no emissions. Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) reduces carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from both existing and new coal-based power plants. The U.S. is now the world’s leader in CCS science. FE is also working to diversify domestic natural gas supplies to meet the needs of American consumers. This includes making it safer and cleaner to produce gas from methane hydrate, shale, as well as from deepwater regions. For statistical information relating to oil, natural gas, coal, and the electricity it produces, visit the Energy Information Administration
Definitely never spend a dime in Harrah’s.
This should be on the GOP website - then direct voters to it. It will soon squash barry and the media’s lies.
Hey Harry? Harry? Harry?
EFF YOU.
Harry Reid is a punk. Really ... a little punk (he’s not big enough in stature to be a bully).
harry and the “Reasonable Republicans”
Is that a rock group?
A quote not heard from any Republican member of congress.
Neither Zero or Dingy have put a proposal on the table.
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