Floor Speeches

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) chided senators holding up a bill that would allow states to collect online sales tax.

“The United States Senate operates by cooperation and consent, so I was disappointed that we weren’t able to reach agreement on amendments yesterday,” Reid said on the Senate floor Thursday. “The only way we get things done around here is when senators work together. We cannot let a few people stand in the way of fairness and that’s what this is all about.”

The Senate passed a resolution Thursday recognizing the heroism of the victims of the Boston Marathon bombings.

Nearly two weeks ago, three people were killed when two bombs went off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon. The suspected bombers later shot and killed another victim when stealing his car.

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) said he would introduce a bill this week that would make the child tax credit permanent and keep current levels on the earned income tax credit.

“We understand that comprehensive tax reform can put American on equal footing,” Brown said Wednesday. “What tax reform should not do is compromise the earned income tax credit and child tax credit."

Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) said Wednesday the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is not above U.S. immigration laws.

Sessions said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) sued Napolitano because they were being directed not to follow U.S. laws. He said the judge recently ruled that she didn’t have the right to do that.

Republican and Democratic senators objected to each other's proposals on how to stop sequestration on Wednesday.

Sens. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.) and James Inhofe (R-Okla.) tried to pass their bill to give President Obama flexibility in making sequester cuts.

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.”