Floor Statements

On behalf of the majority, I yield back 58 minutes.

Mr. President, if the President pro tempore could wait for just a minute, I wish to tell everyone what we are going to do this evening. We will have two more votes tonight.

I ask unanimous consent that if cloture is invoked on Executive Calendar No. 570, at 11:15 tomorrow, Tuesday, February 25, the Senate proceed to Executive Session and that all postcloture time with respect to Calendar No. 570 be dispensed with and the Senate proceed to vote on the confirmation; further, that following disposition of Calendar No. 570, the Senate proceed to vote on cloture on Calendar No. 566, and that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be dispensed with and the Senate proceed to vote on Calendar No. 566; further, that following disposition of Calendar No. 566, the Senate proceed to vote on cloture of Calendar No. 567, and that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be dispensed with and the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of Calendar No. 567; that all after the first vote on Tuesday be 10 minutes in length; that with respect to the above nominations the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

I express appreciation to my friend for yielding to me.

I ask unanimous consent that there be 2 minutes for debate equally divided in the usual form prior to the second rollcall vote tonight.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table and the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action.

Mr. President, it is encouraging that some of my Republican colleagues seem to be regaining their grip on sanity this week. Republicans have shown a willingness to compromise to restore veterans' hard-

earned pensions. A few reasonable Republicans were willing to join Democrats to avert a catastrophic default on our Nation's obligations-- a default that would have thrown our economy into a tailspin and damaged this Nation's standing in the world.

I commend Speaker Boehner for doing the right thing. He voted for this, and he had enough Republican votes to get it done. I have said often that he has a difficult job--if not the most difficult, certainly one of the most difficult jobs in Washington, especially when we look at the caucus he has to deal with. I am pleased he has come to the realization that the full faith and credit of this country is not a hostage to be held for political gain.

Unfortunately, Republicans on this side of the Capitol are forcing us to jump through procedural hoops to alleviate the threat of a default. I can't imagine that they are doing that, but they are.

Every reputable economist acknowledges that defaulting on our bills would devastate the economy and waste the past 5 years of recovery. The recovery is good, but it is not great. We can do a lot better.

According to a report by the nonpartisan Peterson Institute, when Republicans forced us to the brink of default 2 years ago, it cost our economy $150 billion in productivity and 750,000 jobs. This is not some leftwing blog that is saying this; this is a nonpartisan institute that is well respected--it will cost our economy $150 billion in productivity and 750,000 jobs. Scary.

The reason I am a little concerned is because it was just a few months ago that Republicans in the House, by a two-thirds majority, voted to keep the government closed after having been closed for 16 days and voted to default on our Nation's debt. So I hope the Senate is not going to follow that tea party-driven action that was done in the House just a short time ago.

Financial industry leaders have warned Congress again and again that even the threat of default ripples through the economy, and today there is the threat of a default. We have Republican Senators saying they are going to filibuster the debt ceiling. We can't default on our obligations. It is too bad that a few Senate Republicans would threaten a filibuster on this critical legislation. It is critical, and it is crucial. However, I am hopeful Senate Republicans won't force the economy to wait for weeks or even days for a resolution. We should wrap this up today.

So I hope we can vote and vote soon. The markets all over the world are watching to see what we do in the Senate. The House did the right thing. I believe many of my Republican colleagues would like to be reasonable--I really do believe that--if they weren't so beholden and afraid of the tea party overlords. I am hopeful that a more bipartisan, commonsense approach--one that favors collaboration over hostage taking--will prevail this year.

Congress should be striding from accomplishment to accomplishment, not staggering from crisis to crisis as they force us to do. If we spent more time working together and less time running out the clock on procedural hurdles and Republican filibusters, we might actually get legislation done in the Senate.

So I hope we can continue to cooperate and collaborate this year and to deliver results for Americans looking for action instead of the constant gridlock we have had.

Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, following my remarks and those of the Republican leader, we will be in a period of morning business until 11 o'clock this morning. Republicans will control the first half and Democrats the final half.

At 11 a.m. this morning the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider Executive Calendar Nos. 525, 595, 527, and 529. These are all extremely important nominations. At 11:30 this morning there will be up to four rollcall votes on the confirmation of these nominations.

We also hope to consider the debt limit legislation, military retirement pay, and, hopefully, additional nominations today.

Mr. President, as I just mentioned, today we hope we can act on two vital pieces of legislation. On this side of the aisle, as we say, we are ready to move. We want to move to a measure to restore earned retirement pay to our Nation's heroes--retirees of the U.S. armed services. Dozens of major veterans organizations have written us in support of this legislation which was passed by the House of Representatives yesterday.

I commend the sponsors of the Senate bill to restore veterans' pensions--Senators Pryor, Shaheen, Hagan, and Begich, among others-- forcing Republicans in the House and the Senate to take this issue very seriously and take it seriously now. Without their leadership we would never have reached a compromise that protects our Nation's heroic veterans and reached it so quickly. The Senate's unanimous vote on Monday to move forward with the bill to restore veterans' pensions forced the House to understand that we are serious about this and secured a resolution that protects veterans.

Mr. President, I very much appreciate Senator McCain's stunning delivery on this horrible situation going on in Syria.

Mr. President, I have a unanimous consent request just to get us through the day. I ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding lack of receipt of the papers if they have not arrived from the House, it be in order for the majority leader or his designee to move to concur in the House amendment to S. 25 at 1:30 p.m. today; if the message has arrived prior to 1:30 p.m., then the Chair lay before the body the message from the House at 1:30 p.m. and I then be recognized to move to concur in the House amendment to S. 25; that there be up to 30 minutes of debate equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that upon the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment; and the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with all of the above occurring with no intervening action or debate.

Mr. President, we are going to have up to four votes starting at 11:30 a.m., and then at 1:30 p.m. we will come back and finish some other business today. We hope to have a lot of votes today. I am aware, as I mentioned last night, we are following the storm on an hourly basis, and we should know within the next few hours how accurate the reports of the snowstorm--good or bad--will be.

Madam President, I now ask unanimous consent that following the series of votes scheduled for 11:30 this morning and the resumption of legislative session, notwithstanding the previous order, the time until 1:45 be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees; that at 1:45 this afternoon the Chair lay before the body the message from the House to accompany S. 540; that following reporting of that message the majority leader or his designee be recognized to move to concur in the House amendment to S. 540; that if a cloture motion is filed on the motion to concur, the Senate immediately proceed to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the

motion to concur; that if cloture is invoked, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate proceed to vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 540; that upon disposition of the House message to accompany S. 540, the Chair lay before the body the House message to accompany S. 25, with the remaining provisions of the previous order remaining in effect, with the debate time modified to be 2 minutes equally divided in the usual form prior to the vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 25; that if cloture is not invoked on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 540, the Chair lay before the body the House message to accompany S. 25, with the remaining provisions of the previous order remaining in effect with the exception of the debate time which will now be 2 minutes equally divided in the usual form prior to the vote on the motion to concur in the House amendment to S. 25.

The next vote will be the last in this series of votes. The next one we will do by voice vote, and then we will start a series of votes at 1:45. There could be as many as 11 votes, so everybody cinch up their vests, and we will see what happens.

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

I ask the Chair to lay before the Senate a message from the House with respect to S. 540.

I move to concur in the House amendment, and I have a cloture motion at the desk.

Cloture Motion

I ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum required under rule XXII be waived.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

The next vote will be the last rollcall vote in this series. The next vote after this vote--other than these we are going to try to do by consent--will be a week from Monday at 5:30. I wish you all well in your airplane rides today.

I move to concur in the House amendment to S. 25 and ask for the yeas and nays on that motion.

We yield back on this side.

I ask unanimous consent that S. 1963 be returned to the calendar.

Mr. President, I move to proceed to calendar No. 301, S. 1982.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that S. 1963 be returned to the calendar.

Are we in executive session?

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.