S6242 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — SENATE September 12, 2012 

their lives yesterday exemplify the 

courage that happens every day in diplomatic posts around the globe. They 

learn the language, and they live with 

the people wherever they go. 

As I have indicated, I have traveled 

to many of the American Embassies 

abroad. I have always been so impressed and grateful for their leadership, and I communicate that to them 

every chance I get. We are so fortunate 

to have had Hillary Clinton leading the 

State Department for the last 31⁄2

years. 

I have indicated that Ambassador 

Stevens was not a political appointment; he was a Foreign Service officer. 

As I indicated, he served in the Peace 

Corps and spent his life giving his time 

and his talents to drum up democracy 

and American values around the world. 

I support President Obama’s directive to increase securing our diplomatic posts around the world and provide whatever resources are necessary 

to keep our personnel in Libya safe. I 

will continue to monitor the situation 

as we learn more about these terrible 

events. 

f 

JAMES BILLINGTON’S 25 YEARS OF 

SERVICE 

Mr. REID. Madam President, Henry 

Ward Beecher, the famous abolitionist, 

once said, ‘‘A library is not a luxury, 

but one of the necessities of life.’’ I 

agree. Our Founding Fathers also 

agreed, and that is why we have the Library of Congress. The Library of Congress was initially the library of Thomas Jefferson. That is what started the 

Library of Congress. It was established 

in 1800. It was this country’s first Federal cultural institution. It is the largest library in the world. There are 35 

million books and 838 miles of bookshelves. The numbers are staggering. 

Almost 10,000 new items are added 

every day. 

For 25 years the Librarian of Congress has been Dr. James Billington. 

He has been a faithful and effective 

leader. I first got to know Dr. 

Billington in 1986 when I came to the 

Senate. There was a little squabble between a couple of the more senior Senators, which was a wonderful opportunity for me because one of the very 

senior Senators thought that maybe he 

deserved more than being the chair of 

the Subcommittee on the Legislative 

Branch. I grabbed that. I was happy to 

do that. I loved that experience. I 

learned a lot about what goes on here 

and how we pay for things. At that 

time it was an effort to really hurt the 

Library of Congress, so I had that opportunity to stand for the Library of 

Congress. Every time we had a vote, we 

won and they were not able to damage 

the Library of Congress. 

I got to know Dr. Billington. I had 

the good fortune to travel once with 

him to Russia. Dr. Billington, before 

coming to the Library of Congress, was 

one of the foremost scholars on the 

former Soviet Union. He knew everything about that land. He still writes 

about the new Russia. He is a very stalwart academic. When he took over the 

Library of Congress in 1987, computers 

were a scarcity, but he had a vision of 

what the future should be, and he 

thought it would be important to 

digitize the Library’s collections and 

make them available on the Internet. 

There was a little pushback at first, 

but, of course, now that is history. 

That is what happened. 

I have such admiration for him as a 

person. He is a good person not only 

from an academic standing but as an 

administrator. I am glad they were unable to slash the Library’s budget as 

they tried, and as a result, people came 

to a better understanding of what the 

Library of Congress was all about. I am 

glad I was able to play a part in that. 

He has always ensured that the Library 

of Congress would remain an unmatched resource for knowledge and 

enlightenment. So it is with pleasure 

that I congratulate my friend Dr. 

Billington on 25 years—a quarter of a 

century—of dedicated service at the Library of Congress. 

f 

THE ECONOMY 

Mr. REID. Very quickly, Madam 

President, I was very disappointed to 

hear Speaker BOEHNER say yesterday 

that he was giving up on reaching a bipartisan agreement to avoid huge cuts 

to both domestic and defense programs. 

I don’t feel that way. I can assure everyone within the sound of my voice 

that I have not given up on finding a 

reasonable and balanced approach to 

reducing our debt and avoiding these 

difficult cuts. Democrats agree that 

across-the-board cuts are not the best 

way to solve the problems. Sequestration is a bitter pill, but we did that on 

purpose. That was no accident. That is 

why there was overwhelming support 

for the budget deficit reduction act to 

have sequestration. The sequestration 

was engineered to be hard to take, so it 

forced us to compromise. It was designed to be tough enough to force the 

two sides to reach a balanced deal. 

That is why there was widespread bipartisan support for this. 

I hope Speaker BOEHNER will reconsider. I believe it is much too early to 

give up. I urge my Republican colleagues not to give up on themselves 

because I am not going to give up on 

them. It is time for them to stop rooting for the economy to fail and root for 

Congress to succeed and reach common 

ground. Remember, the markets are 

watching our every move, with 

Moody’s saying yesterday that they 

were thinking of downgrading our debt 

standing credit rating. This is not the 

right time to say there is no hope in 

getting things done. I disagree. I say 

that the glass is half full, not half 

empty. 

The Speaker’s statement came an 

hour after that reminder from Moody’s 

came forward. We are willing to work. 

I say that to my friend JOHN BOEHNER

and to everyone else. We are willing to 

negotiate, we are willing to cooperate, 

we are willing to consider the difficult 

cuts to programs we hold dear, and I 

think the Republicans should do the 

same. So far they have refused. Due to 

the orders of their leader Grover 

Norquist, they have refused to raise 

even a penny of new revenue. They 

have refused to ask millionaires to 

contribute their fair share to help reduce the debt and the deficit. And 

Democrats won’t agree to a one-sided 

solution that lets the superwealthy off 

the hook while forcing the middle class 

and those in greatest need to bear all 

the hardship. I repeat, we are willing to 

consider difficult cuts to programs we 

believe are extremely important. 

The sequestration is not a perfect 

legislative tool, but rarely do we do 

anything legislatively that is perfect. 

That is the way it has been for generations. But at least it has the benefit of 

being a balanced approach, and it has 

the power of law. 

Republicans, including Vice Presidential candidate PAUL RYAN, would do 

well to remember that they voted for 

the sequestration. 

f 

RECOGNITION OF THE MINORITY 

LEADER 

The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Republican leader is recognized. 

f 

HONORING OUR FOREIGN 

SERVANTS 

Mr. MCCONNELL. Madam President, 

we learned yesterday, and are receiving 

reports this morning, of the attacks 

against the U.S. Embassy in Cairo and 

the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi, Libya. 

In Benghazi, our Ambassador Chris 

Stevens and three other Americans 

were killed in the service of our Nation. Our thoughts and sympathies 

today are with the families of these 

brave Americans. 

These attacks remind us of the sacrifices made on a daily basis by foreign 

service officers, diplomatic security 

personnel, and our marine security 

guards. I join my colleagues in strongly condemning the murder of these innocent Americans, and I support employing every available tool at our disposal to ensure the safety of Americans 

overseas and to hunt down those responsible for these attacks. 

Yesterday we commemorated the anniversary of the attacks of September 

11, and today we are reminded that 

brave Americans serve us every day at 

the risk of their own lives. We honor 

the Americans we lost in Libya and we 

will stand united in our response. 

Among the things we can agree on in 

Washington is that the attacks on the 

United States and its representatives 

will be met with resolve and that 

America’s presence and defense of our 

national interests across the globe will 

not be deterred by the acts of violent 

extremists. 

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