Floor Statements

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 President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate recess until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings and that the time during the recess be counted postcloture, with the time charged equally to both sides.

Mr. President, even though I disagree with my three friends, I appreciate their sincerity, their advocacy. They are all three very intelligent men, good Senators. But I am going to move on to another subject.

I ask unanimous consent that following Senator Coburn's remarks, which are 15 minutes as I understand it, that all postcloture time on Calendar No. 223 be yielded back, and the

Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate; further that following disposition of Calendar No. 223, the Senate proceed to consider the following nominations en bloc: 224, 104, 102, and 103; further that there be 2 minutes of debate equally divided in the usual form prior to cloture votes on Calendar Nos. 224 and 104; that if cloture is invoked on the nominations, all postcloture time be yielded back and the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination with no intervening action or debate; further that if Calendar Nos. 223, 224, and 104 are confirmed, the Senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on Calendar No. 102 and 103, in that order; that if cloture is not invoked on Calendar Nos. 224 or 104, Calendar Nos. 102 and 103 be returned to the calendar; further, that if a nomination is confirmed, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, with no intervening action or debate and no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action; further, that upon confirmation of Calendar No. 103, the Senate resume legislative session and that all after the first vote be 10 minutes in duration.

Mr. President, finally one last unanimous consent. I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate resumes its consideration of S. 1243 on Wednesday, July 31, the pending amendments be set aside and Senator Paul be recognized to offer amendment No. 1739; that there be 60 minutes of debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents; that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the Senate proceed to vote in relation to the Paul amendment; further, that no points of order or second-degree amendments be in order to the Paul amendment prior to the vote.

If we are not able to get it done today, we will do it in wrap-up tonight.

Madam President, we have three 10-minute votes. We have a 5-minute penalty time, and we need to start wrapping up these votes. The first vote took 30 minutes, so let's try to stick to what we said we would do. There are Senators who wait around here, so it is not fair to them. As soon as we get enough votes, we will move on. We are moving on whether everyone is here or not.

Madam President, I ask for the yeas and nays.

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

Madam President, S. 1243 is now pending?

I have a cloture motion which is at the desk. With the Chair's permission, I ask that it be reported.

Madam President, before I go further, I want the Senator from Washington and the Senator from Maine to hear what I am saying; that is, I wish to process amendments. We are going to do one in the morning, which has held up things for some time.

There are other amendments pending. We are going to be voting on those. I have no problem with that. This is a piece of legislation we should pass.

I heard the ranking member speak on the floor yesterday, but I was so impressed because she said what is true. This is what we are, legislators. When we pass this, everyone knows what the number is if we pass it.

We go to conference. What happens in conference? The numbers change. This

is the way things should happen around here.

I would hope we don't have these lines drawn in the sand and we can start being appropriators again. When I came here many years ago, I was so fortunate, only two freshmen were on the Appropriations Committee. I was on it and also Senator Mikulski.

I loved that committee all these years. It was so much fun.

It hasn't been much fun lately because we haven't had an Appropriations Committee that has been functioning decently. Senator Mikulski and Senator Shelby are legislators. They wish to do legislation as the two managers of this bill do. I would hope we could move forward.

I have no problem with the Coburn amendments and Paul amendment. Let's vote on them and move on.

The time has come when we have to try to get it passed. The week is coming to a close. We have other nominations. We have to move to things when we get back. We know all the problems we have when we get back. I wish to do some more work on appropriations bills when we get back.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion be withdrawn and that at a time to be determined by the majority leader, notwithstanding rule XXII, in consultation with Senator McConnell, the Senate proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination: Calendar No. 220; that there be 2 hours for debate equally divided between the proponents and opponents; that following the use or yielding back of time, the Senate proceed to vote, with no intervening action or debate on the nomination; that the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that any related statements be printed in the Record; and that President Obama be immediately notified of the Senate's action and the Senate then resume legislative session.

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to morning business, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each.

Mr. President, following leader remarks there will be a period of morning business until 4:15 today. Following that morning business the Senate will resume consideration of S. 1243, the Transportation bill.

At 4:30 the Senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of James Comey to be Director of the FBI. I am sorry to report there will be a cloture vote on him at 5:30 today. Our chief law enforcement officer and we had to file cloture.

Every respectable economist has said that the shortsighted arbitrary cuts known as sequester will cost American jobs. Medical researchers say these painful cuts will set medical research in this country back decades, potentially costing the world a cure for cancer, flu, AIDS, and many other diseases against which we are on the cusp of making great headway. The sequester we know will cost us investments in education that give children a shot at success and keep American workers competitive. We also know the sequester will slash the safety net that keeps millions of senior citizens, children and veterans and low-income families from descending into poverty.

I know the sequester is as bad for national security as it is for the economy. These cuts have grounded one-third of U.S. combat aircraft, slashed troop training budgets, and kept an aircraft carrier that should have been headed to the Persian Gulf and other places stranded in port instead. Meanwhile, hundreds of thousands of civilian employees of the Department of Defense, employees who support military missions carried out by servicemembers overseas, have been furloughed.

It is not too late to reverse these hard-hearted cuts, cuts that were never supposed to take effect in the first place. The sequester was designed to be so painful it would force Democrats and Republicans to compromise and find a smart, responsible way to reduce the deficit. There was compromise on one side with the Democrats and, of course, none, as usual, with Republicans on the other side.

But we have not given up on reversing these cuts and choosing that responsible path. We have cut the deficit in half over the last 3 years, by more than $2.6 trillion. While there is more work to be done, we should be making targeted cuts while investing in that which makes America grow.

It is clear we have reduced the debt by $2.6 trillion and the yearly deficit has been cut in half over the last 3 years.

The way to pursue this type of sound fiscal policy is through regular order--regular order of the budget process. While there is more work to be done in the cuts I have talked about, we should be making targeted cuts while investing in what makes America grow. The American economy is poised to grow. It is growing now--not strong enough, not fast enough, but it is growing. All we have to do is get out of the way.

According to a report released last week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, reversing the sequester would create an additional 900,000 jobs. It would increase gross domestic product by one percentage point. That is 1

million jobs right there. The United States just dug its way out of the great recession. We have seen 40 straight months of job growth, with private sector employers adding more than 7.2 million jobs. But we cannot afford to reject almost 1 million new jobs. Congress must reverse the sequester and stop manufacturing crises.

If Republicans force us to the brink of another shutdown for ideological reasons, the economy will suffer. I suggest to any of my Republican colleagues who have this idea, give a call to Newt Gingrich. He will return your phone calls. Ask him how it worked. It was disastrous for Newt Gingrich, the Republicans, and the country. It didn't work then and it will not work now. If Republicans threaten catastrophic default on the Nation's bills, the economy will suffer, and that is an understatement.

If Republicans refuse to work with Democrats to negotiate a reasonable budget to reverse these deep cuts, the economy will suffer. It is time to remove the stumbling blocks that are preventing the American economy from recovering and expanding.

It has been 129 days since the Senate passed its reasonable, progrowth budget.

Remember, the Republicans said: We want regular order. We want a budget.

We passed the budget. Now they will not follow regular order. They will not let us even go to conference. We have asked consent to go to conference with the House 17 different times. As long as Senate Republicans refuse to allow Budget Committee chairwoman Patty Murray to negotiate a budget compromise with her House Republican counterparts, the economy is at risk. It is time to set aside partisan differences and work to find common ground.

Passing the Senate Transportation appropriations bill that is on the floor now would be a good step toward restoring regular order. This measure, the Transportation bill, would create jobs rebuilding America's deficient infrastructure and renew the Nation's commitment to make affordable housing available to low-income families.

I commend the appropriations committee, led by Barbara Mikulski. The subcommittee, whose work is now before the Senate, is led by Patty Murray. They have done wonderful work. I believe some of my Republican colleagues are as eager to return to regular order, passing an appropriations bill, as I am. I do believe that. They have to break away from the pack. I hope these reasonable Republicans will continue to work with us to advance this important bipartisan measure.

Will the Chair announce the business of the day.

I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent the Senate proceed to executive session and it be in order to file cloture on Executive Calendar Nos. 201 and 220; further, that the mandatory quorum under rule XXII be waived; finally, that if this request is granted, the Senate resume legislative session after the final cloture motion is reported pursuant to this order.

I send a cloture motion to the desk.

Mr. President, before I proceed, I would just note it is coincidental that the Senator from Minnesota is on the floor. I have heard her often speak about what a wonderful job this man has done as U.S. attorney in the State of Minnesota, in addition to his other duties. I am glad she is on the Senate floor to understand we are moving forward on this nomination.

Mr. President, there is another matter to be reported.

I send a cloture motion to the desk on Calendar No. 220.

With my friend's permission, I suggest the absence of a quorum. I need to talk to him about something that deals with the consent agreement I have here.

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

Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that cloture on Calendar No. 208 be withdrawn and that the Senate proceed to vote on confirmation of the nomination at 5:35 p.m.; the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate; that no further motions be in order; that the President be immediately notified of the Senate's action, and the Senate then resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business, with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each; further, that the vote on cloture on Calendar No. 223 occur on Tuesday, July 30, 2013, following leader remarks.