Below are rough notes of comments from Senator Tom Harkin on the Senate Floor earlier today:
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SENATE FLOOR
SEN. TOM HARKIN, D-IOWA
17:12:08 I oppose this misbegotten..deal that they have conjured up (hands wavign in air)
17:12:24 I dont oppose raising debt ceiling…make good
17:12:33 What i’m objecting to is the deal that’s put together in order to permit us to perform our constitutional obligations
17:12:52 This deal w/ destroy milions of jobs in pub and priv sector
17:13:02 Could easily plunge amer bk into recession. Pls read your history…1937-38…comign out of Depression…Cong decided to tighten screws and plunged
17:13:29 I’ve always advocated balanced appraoch
17:13:35 But this deal…rejects a balanced appraoch. Rejects any sense fo equity and fairness
17:13:48 Menendez said this is not fair. are we concerned about fairness? Or is that just sort of…soemthing we shoudlnt be concerned about ?
17:15:02 We cant, we just simply cant ask for one more dollar from m’aires and b’aires..who
17:15:23 IT is not fair. THis deal is not fair.
17:15:32 This deal i oppose for same reason i oppose paying ransom to hostage takers
17:15:53 Did Dems hold econ hostage? Did we say – oh no, we’re not goin to raise debt til this, this, and this?
17:16:47 This time, congressional Rs are holding our nation, our nation hostage
17:16:57 threatening to default..plunge amer into an abyss that we dont even know what possibly happen that would affect our bond rating..a.ffect student loans, car loans..unless their demands
17:17:23 Let’s be clear – this is not a negotiating tactic. This is blackmail. This is blackmail.
17:18:31 There’ll be R pres in future – hope not too soon — but Dems will use this as precedent..Do want that?
