On the recordJanuary 17, 2018
first, before I get into the substance of my remarks, let me just answer the majority leader. What leads to problems in this place? What leads to a government shutdown? It is one side deciding everything and then saying to the other side: You must go along. The proposal has been sent over--here is what it doesn't do. It does not give help needed for our veterans who wait in line for service. It doesn't fight opioid addiction, the scourge of America. It doesn't help our pensioners. I would say to my friends on the other side of the aisle and our defense hawks over in the other body, it doesn't give defense what it needs either. It is a loser in terms of the things this country needs. We could easily sit down and come to an agreement that would get the support of a majority of both sides, and it is the intransigence, frankly, of so many who say don't talk, don't negotiate, just do it our way or no way that has led to gridlock, that has led to the fact that the first year has been largely unsuccessful and leads to the partisanship America decries. Democrats have shown, time and time again, we want to work in a bipartisan way, most recently illustrated by the proposal put together by my friend from Illinois, my friend from South Carolina, my friend from Arizona who is on the floor. We eagerly await his remarks, and I will try to be brief. Leader McConnell, in this instance, as in many others, says: Our way or no way. That is wrong.…
