>>
in the
senate
rejected the
boehner
short-term plan clearly. we're seeing something we've seen a lot here in the
senate
, but this time the country's attention is focussed on it, a filibuster. a filibuster to prevent us from moving forward on this legislation. the proposal i put forward is a compromise. we changed it even more today. we would have changed it more, but as i indicated on the floor, we had no one to negotiate with. the republican
leader
said he wouldn't negotiate with me. i don't know whose that is. not mine.
>>
your pizza's ready. [ laughter ]
>>
it really is the worst possible time to be conducting a filibuster. they are forcing us to wait until
tomorrow morning
, until sunday morning at
1:00 a.m
. to have this vote. our economy hangs on the balance, and for the first time in the history of our country, unless there is a compromise or they accept my bill, we're headed for
economic disaster
. it's time for the
republicans
to
step forward
. there's been some movement today. we, as i indicated on the floor, i was supposed to have a meeting in my office this afternoon with some
republicans
and that fell through, but we're told that the press secretary, as they were walking into a conference, they had three republican senators said they were interested in my bill, interested in compromise. we hear a lot of
happy talk
about this, but they need to
step forward
.
republicans
are blocking their ability to compromise. they are refusing to negotiate with us and all they do is talk, and that is not enough to get it done. the
house
will hold an up or down vote, we're told, on my proposal. we should be allowed to do the same. that's all we're asking. it's time for us to be adults. that's what the
american people
want. it's time to come together and compromise. it's what the
american people
want, and that's what we need to do. senator durbin?
>>
i'm sure you recall the speech that was given to the
american people
on monday night by speaker
boehner
. he talked about his bipartisan bill and about the fact he was going to pass it in the
house of representatives
. we waited for that on tuesday, again on wednesday, then on thursday, and finally today passed it, but it wasn't bipartisan. all republican votes, not a single democratic vote, and a scant majority, 218 out of a 435 member
house
. when it came to the
united states senate
, it was
dead on arrival
on a bipartisan basis. a bipartisan majority of senators, 59, voted it table the
boehner
proposal. and now we have a chance to reopen this conversation. and i can tell you there is a growing sentiment among senators on both sides of the aisle to sit down and reach a reasonable compromise and to save our economy from the disaster that awaits us if we fail to extend this debt ceiling. what these senators on the
republican side
are waiting for is a permission slip from senator
mcconnell
. he told them to hold back until
boehner
had his chance. hold back until the
boehner
bill came to the floor. that's all history now. the
american people
want us to move forward. they want us to come up with a bipartisan approach that doesn't have us relive this scene that we've seen for the past week
over and over
and over again like the old
groundhog day movie
. we want to get this done in a way so we can say the economy's going to move forward with the certainty that we're going to have a debt ceiling extension and we are not going to jeopardize it with this problem of self-imposed political problems and wounds that can be avoided. it's a shame. we waited all day. this morning, senator
reid
went up to senator
mcconnell
on the floor and said let's talk, let's work this out. nothing, nothing, all day long, not a word. and later, at the
end of the day
, a call from senator
mcconnell
who said i'm not going to negotiate with you. that's unfortunate. the
american people
deserve better, and let me say one last thing, if senator
mcconnell
would give us the same vote standard in the
senate
that was given to speaker
boehner
in the
house
, we could pass senator
reid
's proposal, a proposal which includes major elements suggested by senator
mcconnell
, but no, they insist on a filibuster. he said 60 votes had become routine, routine because filibusters have become routine on the
republican side
of the aisle. it isn't what's necessary to enact this law that's so critical to the future of america. we're going to fight this filibuster, and i hope in the end some
republicans
will cross
over and join us and break this stalemate and come up with a bipartisan agreement.
>>
well, thank you, and, you know, this morning at
10:00 a.m
. on the floor of the
senate
,
leader
reid
asked senator
mcconnell
to come negotiate. the door was open all day, nobody knocked, nobody walked in. and some said well, speaker
mcconnell
wanted to wait until the
house
disposed of
boehner
, but after the
boehner
amendment was defeated, in a
telephone conversation
with
leader
reid
, i was sitting there, senator
mcconnell
still refused to negotiate. we will not solve this problem by standing there and folding our arms and saying i am not talking to anybody. and the nation's future is at risk. republican senators, i've talked to ten today, they want to come to an agreement. but until senator
mcconnell
gives them the
green light
, nothing is going to happen. and they get the vibes and, perhaps, the direct word, i don't know, from the republican
leader
, don't do anything. we all know in the
senate
we can't pass anything with about a bipartisan agreement. we all know the
senate
is the only way out of this mess. you've seen the huge difficulties in the
house
, their inability to even tie their own shoes, and so it's up to the
senate
, and that means it's up to senator
mcconnell
to either negotiate himself or give permission to others to negotiate so that we can finally come to a bipartisan agreement. the only game in town is the modified
reid
bill. it's a bill that has elements proposed by
republicans
and senator
mcconnell
. it's a bill that has elements proposed by democrats, but it meets the strictures that both parties have laid out on our side, that it must extend the debt ceiling beyond
2012
, no short-term extension, that too much roils the market. on their side, no revenues, and as many cuts as increases in the debt ceiling. if they don't like it, even though it seems to have been a prescription drawn from their needs, what do they want as an alternative? they are very good at saying no, they are not very good at laying out a plan that can actually pass. and, instead, what do they do, they just filibuster. they say you can't proceed to a bill and vote on it. they say that they are going to force us to delay and delay and delay until we get up to the deadline. the country's in crisis. this is not a time for politics as usual. i think we have shown that we are willing to give significantly in their direction. we're
still waiting
for speaker
mcconnell
,
leader
boehner
, sorry, we're
still waiting
for
leader
boehner
and speaker
mcconnell
to move a little bit in our direction.
>>
we'll take a few questions, not many tonight. we're all tired, have a long night, going to have a longer night tomorrow.
>> reporter:
you added in
mcconnell
's language, your bill, your own bill, enough cuts, two weeks ago he was willing to have his own bill with no cuts guaranteed. wondering if you, you know, if one thing you didn't do is add any triggers. there have been a lot of talk of -- significant weight that would force this deficit reduction committee, why did you do that?
>>
we have had -- we got a closet full of triggers that people have suggested, literally, dozens of them. even though they are good ideas, earlier this week, a few days ago, i was sitting talking to jack lew and rob neighbors, who we all know is such a good person, and we talked for an hour and a half about different triggers. i came to the conclusion we're negotiating with ourselves. we can't get
republicans
to agree with any trigger that involves revenue of the we cannot, the
american people
know this because they agree with us, we are not going to have cuts to more programs, more programs and more programs without some revenue. it is -- it is -- that is a line that we've drawn in the sand and we're going to stick with it. i've spoke a couple of times with
leader
pelosi, she agrees with me 100%.
>> reporter:
so the
house
passed two plans now and what's -- schumer said this is the only game in town now. what's the
contingency plan
if this doesn't get through the
senate
?
>>
i think senator schumer laid that out pretty clearly. the plan is to work off our bill. we have a message from the
house
, it's easy to, if there's an agreement that comes up, it's easy to amend that, and we send it back to the
house
. they only need one vote over there. to think with a straight face, to think with a straight face that they've sent us something that the
american people
would accept, the ryan budget, cap and cut, whatever that is, and then this thing? that's not legislation. that is -- that was an extravaganza over there that made them all look very foolish. yes?
>> reporter:
everyone's now wondering, friday night, going into the weekend, what is the
end game
? how is this going to end up? i know you're calling for
leader
mcconnell
to come to the table and negotiate, but what is the
way forward
from here?
>>
it's up to the
republicans
. right now we have a fine proposal, extends the debt ceiling until march of 19 --
2013
, yet reduces the debt by $2.4 trillion. it's a fine piece of legislation, sets up the
joint committee
to even make further cuts. it would be something that we believe and senator
mcconnell
will acknowledge this very strongly as does
leader
pelosi we could get something out of this. we are waiting for them to do something, anything, move toward us, but that fails, they should go for our bill, because it's basically -- that is things they've already voted on, things they agreed to. last question.
>> reporter:
reduced the debt ceiling increase to $2.4 and decreased savings -- use the january baseline, are all of your increase savings due --
>>
cbo has come up with those numbers and i've told you all before, we have laid out all of our numbers, you can dissect them, look at them, this is what the cbo has recommended and we've followed their advice. thank you.
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