Harry Reid to GOP Senators: "Quit Whining and Get to Work"
Now that he has six years, I guess he’s got more latitude to hit them harder, which he is. Here’s the transcript: In just a few minutes we’re going to proceed to the START treaty. I’m told the Republicans are going to make us read the entire treaty in an effort to stall us from passing it. Isn’t that wonderful? That piece of — that treaty has been here since April or May {14:10:49} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } of this year. Plenty of time to read it. These are additional days of wasted time we could be using to pass legislation to get home for the holidays. Yet some of my Republican colleagues have the nerve to whine about having to stay and actually do the work of the American people. We make large salaries, madam president. We could work as most Americans do during the holidays. Perhaps Senators Kyl and DeMint have been in {14:11:22} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } Washington too long because in my state, Nevadans employed in casinos and hotels and throughout the state of nevada and on ranches, basically every place have to work hard on holidays, including Christmas, to support their families. The mines don’t shut down in nevada on Christmas. People work. They get paid double time a lot of times when they have good contracts, but they work on Christmas holidays. Most people don’t get two weeks off on any time, let alone Christmas week. And these {14:11:54} (Mr. Reid { not an official transcript } people who are lucky enough to have a job in these trying times need to work extra hours to make ends meet. So it’s offensive to me and millions of working Americans across this country for any senator to suggest that working through the Christmas holidays is somehow sacrilegious. They decide to work with us, we can all have a {14:12:30} (Mr. Reid) { not an official transcript } happy holiday. If they don’t, we’re going to continue until we finish the people’s business. Madam President, i move to proceed to executive session to calendar number 7, the START treaty. I ask for the yeas and nays. Shortly thereafter, it was announced that a full reading of the START treaty would not be necessary.
Harry Reid to GOP Senators: "Quit Whining and Get to Work"
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on December 15, 2010. Filed under