Volume 159, No. 135 covering the 1st Session of the 113th Congress (2013 - 2014) was published by the Congressional Record.
The Congressional Record is a unique source of public documentation. It started in 1873, documenting nearly all the major and minor policies being discussed and debated.
“UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.J. RES. 72” mentioning the Environmental Protection Agency was published in the Senate section on pages S7145-S7146 on Oct. 3, 2013.
The publication is reproduced in full below:
UNANIMOUS CONSENT REQUEST--H.J. RES. 72
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, many of us were stunned this week to see the administration blocking the World War II Memorial. It was a reminder to all of us how much we owe the ``greatest generation.'' Last week the Senate unanimously agreed to ensure our troops are paid during the shutdown, and the President correctly signed it into law immediately.
Today the House will pass a bill to ensure our veterans--in fact, they have done that--continue to get the services and benefits they so richly deserve. If Democrats are unwilling to fund other parts of the government, at the very least they can agree to support our veterans.
As the Senator from Texas and the majority leader were just discussing, I have the first of these unanimous consent requests to propound.
I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate receives H.J. Res. 72, making continuing appropriations for veterans' benefits for fiscal year 2014, the measure be read three times and passed, and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection?
Mr. REID. Reserving the right to object, Mr. President, my friend notes that no one wants to shut down the government. Obviously, he didn't listen to my statement. We have people who have been saying for days now--Republicans saying--they are glad the government has shut down; they have been waiting for this for years. I have quoted the Congresswoman from Minnesota who said that. Congressman Marlin Stutzman of Indiana tells us where the tea party is when he said: ``We're not going to be disrespected. We have to get something out of this. And I don't know what that even is.''
So Republicans are throwing one crazy idea or another at the wall in the hope one will stick. They throw out one idea, then come up with another one. And then, I repeat, they hope something will stick on that wall, and they do not even know which wall they are throwing it on.
The latest plan came from the junior Senator from Texas, which is to cherry-pick parts of the government he likes. House Republican Leader Cantor admitted this strategy. According to the New York Times, this is what he said when asked: What about those cancer patients who need some help; what about the disadvantaged kids who want to return to their Head Start classes?
That's coming as well. We are going to take every issue that has come up and put it on the floor.
He is following Senator Cruz's idea specifically. Senator Cruz is now joint Speaker. He lectures the House on occasion, as he does people over here.
We support veterans and parks and NIH and all these different elements of government that are closed, but we also are not going to choose between veterans, cancer research, disease control, highway safety, or the FBI, and we are not going to give a blank check to the junior Senator from Texas to pick his favorite parts of the government on a daily basis. Today it is parks, tomorrow it is NIH, maybe later it will be something else.
Mr. SCHUMER. Would the leader yield for a question?
Mr. REID. I am happy to yield.
Mr. SCHUMER. I simply wanted to follow up on what he said.
If we were to go along with these individual UC requests----
Mr. CORNYN. Regular order, Mr. President.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the request?
Mr. REID. Mr. President, reserving the right to object, here is the situation. The junior Senator from Texas wants to fund everything else, just not ObamaCare. Here is what one columnist said today--Dana Milbank from the Washington Post--and I will be quick; I know Senators have a lot to talk about here:
House Republicans continued what might be called the lifeboat strategy: deciding which government functions are worth saving. In: veterans, the troops and tourist attractions. Out: Poor children, pregnant women, and just about every government function that regulates business or requires people to pay taxes. Here are some of the functions not boarding--
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, is that an objection?
Mr. REID. I will use leader time then, Mr. President.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.
Mr. REID. So if they are afraid to listen to the things I have to say, they should listen, because the government is closed, and it is closed because they have helped close it. So let's not try to be technical here. I want to say something and I am going to say it.
Continuing the Milbank quote:
Here are some of the functions not boarding the GOP lifeboats: market regulation, chemical spill investigations, antitrust enforcement, work site immigration checks, workplace safety inspections, the Environmental Protection Agency . . . communications and trade regulation, nutrition for 9 million children and pregnant women, flu monitoring and other functions of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and housing rental assistance for the poor.
Here is what else he wrote:
And that's quite a list that the Tea Party is throwing out of the boat. We need to end the Government shutdown.
I say, without any reservation, that the key to opening the government still remains with the Senate-passed funding resolution that will open the government. We will talk about anything they want to talk about. We have said that.
I ask unanimous consent that their request be modified as follows: That an amendment, which is at the desk, be agreed to; that the joint resolution, as amended, be read a third time and passed and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate.
This amendment is the text that passed the Senate and is the clean continuing resolution for the entire government. It is something that is already over in the House and reportedly has the support of the majority of the Members of the House of Representatives, including at least 20 Republicans, and some report as many as 100.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Is there objection to the modified request?
Mr. McCONNELL. I object.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
Mr. REID. I object to the previous consent.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard.
The Republican leader.
Mr. McCONNELL. Mr. President, with all due respect to my good friend the majority leader, he was speaking about the junior Senator from Texas, whom I don't see on the floor at the moment. The request was made by the minority leader, the Republican leader of the Senate, and it dealt, quite appropriately, with veterans' benefits. That was the whole purpose of the consent request.
I would repeat that I was the one who requested consent that we provide relief for veterans during this shutdown, and the person to whom his speech seems to be directed I don't see on the floor at the moment. But with that, I know we are in the middle of a colloquy here, and the Republican whip has the podium now.
The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican whip.
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