Amy Klobuchar: “I thank the Senator from Arizona--he brought a very experienced voice to our group--and especially I thank Senator…”

“I thank the Senator from Arizona--he brought a very experienced voice to our group--and especially I thank Senator Collins for bringing this group together. I think it shows what courage is going to be in the next year in this Chamber and in the Congress. It is not going to be just standing here by yourself making a speech with no one there. Courage is going to be whether you are willing to stand next to someone you do not always agree with for the betterment of this country. This was very close to another default--to seeing what we saw in 2011 with the Dow down 2000 points, household wealth down over $2 trillion. That cannot happen again. Thanks to our leader Senator Reid, thanks to his work with Senator McConnell, we averted it this time. I think you will find a strong bipartisan vote in the Senate for this compromise, for this idea of paying our bills, opening the government again, and making sure we have a reasonable time period to work out a solution long term. That is our challenge. Yes, we have averted this crisis, but we need to stop having these crises. We need to actually come up with a long-term solution in a balanced way that brings down our debt while at the same time doing it in a way that will not start another financial crisis. I thank my colleagues for their amazing work, for their good humor during a very difficult time, and for the fact that we are finally moving forward and ending the brinkmanship.…”