Floor Speeches

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Thursday morning that there is still no agreement on which amendments to the farm bill to consider, but said the Senate will eventually find a way to whittle down the more than 200 amendments offered so far.

"We can't do all 250 amendments that are out there, but we can do a lot of them," Reid said on the Senate floor.

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) urged the Senate to pass his cybersecurity bill in a floor speech on Wednesday, warning that July could be the final opportunity to address the issue.

He predicted that the lame-duck session following the election will be consumed by budget and tax issues. 

"The truth is, if we don't take it up in July and see if we've got the votes … we're not going to be able to pass this legislation in a way that's timely and allows us to go to conference, reach an agreement and send the bill to the president," Lieberman said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said he agrees with former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R), who said this week that former President Ronald Reagan, as well as his own father, George H.W. Bush, would have a "hard time" fitting in with today's Republican Party.

"Ronald Reagan would not put up with what's going on here today, because there's no question with Ronald Reagan, country came first, not elections," Reid said Wednesday morning on the Senate floor. "The Republican [Party] no longer has room for moderates, or anyone unwilling to march in lockstep with the radical Tea Party."

Sen. Charles Grassley said he was not aware that Democrats were planning to ask for a speedy voice vote.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) explained his reasons for calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to appoint independent prosecutors to investigate a series of military and intelligence leaks.

Sen. Dan Coats (R-Ind.) on Tuesday said members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committees are working closely to develop legislation aimed at reducing the incidence of security leaks, and said he has several questions about the contacts Obama administration officials have had with various media outlets, and whether those contacts led to the leaks.

In remarks on the Senate floor, Coats said he takes the administration at its word that these leaks were not intentional, but said the leaks are nontheless "inexcusable" if former or current officials were involved in any way.

Senate Minority Whip Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) said President Obama was "wrong" when he said the private sector was "doing fine," citing several statistics as proof that the private sector is doing far worse than the public sector.

"So when the president says the real problem is with government employment, the private sector is doing just fine, I mean, the facts simply belie that," Kyl said on the Senate floor. "The president was wrong, he was incorrect."

Reid said Monday Republicans were again forcing the Senate to move at a snail's pace on jobs legislation.

House Democrats criticized House Republicans for taking next week off despite the fact that they have not taken up any of the key issues Congress will face this year, including the possibility of a tax increase, student loan interest rates and federal highway spending.

"Some of the most pressing issues weren't on the floor this week," House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said after the chamber took its last vote for the week.

A late-night debate over whether to drastically shrink federal highway spending in 2013 turned ugly just after 11 p.m., when a House Democrat accused a Republican and former U.S. Marine of hating America.

Members were debating a motion to instruct House conferees to push for a cap on federal highway spending of $37.5 billion for 2013, from Rep. Paul Broun (R-Ga.). That would take spending to a point well below what Senate Democrats have proposed in their bill — the Senate bill would spend $109 billion over two years.