On the recordDecember 27, 2012
I thank Leader Reid for the honor of being able to open this morning's debate. I also wish to particularly identify with a point the leader made. There is an old saying that most of life is just showing up. I think what the American people want--I heard this at checkout lines in our local stores, for example, this week--they want everybody back in Washington and going to work on this issue, just as the leader suggested. I think Senators know I am a charter member of what I guess you could call the optimist caucus in the Senate. As improbable as some of these talking heads say on TV that it is, I still think we ought to be here, just as the leader said, working on this issue because of the consequences.
