Floor Speeches

Sens. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a joint resolution Wednesday in opposition to using a chained consumer price index (CPI) for Social Security payments.

“The time has come for the United States Senate to send a very loud and clear message to the American people,” Sanders said on the Senate floor. “We are not going to balance the budget on the backs of the elderly and disabled veterans. … That is morally unacceptable.”

The Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) said his committee would begin to mark up a comprehensive immigration reform bill on May 9.

“I think it’s a wise thing to give people that extra time,” Leahy said. "Then mark up the legislation in May. … Everyone will have a chance to see it before we vote on it.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Wednesday that President Obama’s party is abandoning him by proposing to replace sequestration with war savings rather than tax increases.

“The majority leader is clearly ditching the president on this issue,” McConnell said of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) bill to offset sequester cuts with war savings, which Reid tried to pass on Tuesday. “As you may recall, the president has said he’d only consider replacing the sequester with a tax hike. And whatever you want to say about OCO [Overseas Contingency Operations], it’s not a tax hike — it’s borrowed money that’ll have to be repaid later."

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) warned senators that they would work through the weekend if necessary to finish work on the online sales tax bill.

“I know this sounds like me crying wolf, but this might be the time the wolf is coming,” Reid said Wednesday. “If we have to be here Friday, Saturday, we’ve got to finish work on this bill.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) objected to proceeding to a plan from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) to replace the 2013 sequester cuts.

“What is happening in the Senate is phenomenal,” Coburn said Tuesday. “We’re going to discomfort and inconvenience thousands of America people for a political point because we cannot cut any spending in Washington.”

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) called President Obama’s healthcare law a “train wreck” on Tuesday.

“The only thing that this administration seems to care about is who’s going to take the blame for the train wreck that is coming,” Barrasso said on the Senate floor. “The public wanted a healthcare law and what they got was a train wreck.”

GOP Sens. John McCain (Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Kelly Ayotte (N.H.) said their libertarian colleagues who say the United States should not be considered part of the battlefield in the war on terror are “ignoring the recent events” in Boston.

“These tragic events bring home again that this fight is far from over,” McCain said on the Senate floor Tuesday. “The battlefield is the United States of America, and anyone who doesn’t believe that is ignoring the recent events that we will hopefully overcome.”

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that he would oppose the online sales tax bill being debated in the Senate.

“For me, the issue boils down to that fact that the legislation we’re considering would create an enormous compliance burden for a lot of small businesses out there, making them tax collectors for thousands of far-away jurisdictions,” McConnell said. “Just as importantly, this legislation would increase the tax burden on Kentuckians.”

The fight on who is to blame for sequestration continued on the Senate floor Tuesday.

Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) blamed President Obama and his administration for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) furloughs that will cause long delays for travelers at airports this summer.

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) suggested on Earth Day that the Senate should spend more time talking about climate change issues.

“I’m here to suggest we talk more about climate change so that we can agree on taking action to address it,” Franken said Monday. “The Senate cannot afford to ignore climate change, we need to talk about it.”