Barbara Boxer: “Will the Senator yield for a question? And I thank him so much. Listen, let's cut through what is happening and tell me…”

“Will the Senator yield for a question? And I thank him so much. Listen, let's cut through what is happening and tell me where I am wrong, and I would respect the Senator's answer. The Senator represents a lot of folks, I represent 38 million, so we are two big States and we owe a lot to our people. That is for sure. What is happening here today is very clear. The Republicans, except for Senator McCain and Senator Collins, who were here, are stopping us--this Nation--from having a budget, and they are saying their reason is that something might happen in the conference. Well, that is not the way we work in a democracy. Anything can happen at any moment. Let's get into that conference. Paul Ryan has a budget that I think is apocalyptic and that the Senator from Texas may well support. Patty Murray has a budget that the Senator probably thinks is apocalyptic. They want to get into that conference and they want to work together. That is called democracy. I will close with this and ask my friend to respond. Ronald Reagan supported raising the debt ceiling about 18 times. He put out a number of statements that were totally counter to my friend's. Ronald Reagan said--and I am paraphrasing, and I will get the exact quote and put it in the Record, as I have done in the past--even thinking about defaulting on the government's bills is enough to send shock waves through the country. The last time the Republicans played that game it cost us $19 billion. We cannot afford that.…”