it's really forcing this shutdown on the american people. i got to tell you that some people who are standing their ground think that they're doing something about our deficits. i'm often the one that is highlighting how disturbing our long-range fiscal picture has become, but what's equally frustrating is the disservice that's being done to the american public by this current debate that we're in. not only will we be taken off the beat from addressing our real fiscal imbalances, which would be the budget debate we need to have on the 2012 budget or on the longer term challenge that the simpson-bowles commission pointed out, but we're now being asked to litigate women's health issues. we ought to be focusing on supporting economic development and job growth. i don't understand it. we have a tentative agreement to cut billions from current spending levels, but the speaker

of the house seems to continue to demand that we ought to focus on nonbudget issues. these are hot button issues. why would we insert them into an unrelated budget debate when there is so much at stake, it's beyond me. i understand we want to show the american people we're serious about deficit reduction. i am. i know you are. i know the american people are, but in colorado, people see straight through this latest ploy to inject nonbudgettary issues into the debate. it's politics as usual. mr. president, i know we have felt a little better recently. we have had 13 straight months of private sector growth. we have added 1 pointal million -- 1.8 million jobs during that time frame. but our economy is really fragile. way many americans, way too many west virginians, way too many coloradans are struggling, and i have no doubt that a government shutdown at this time would have a counterproductive effect on our recovery. you don't just have to take my

word for it. i'm a senator from colorado. but listen to what top business leaders of all political persuasions are saying. the business roundtable president, john engler, former governor of michigan, republican governor, said businesses would face the dangerous unintended consequences. interest rates could rise because of a shutdown and you would have turmoil in our financial markets. forecasters at goldman sachs have warned that a shutdown could shave off growth in our g.d.p. every single week. c.e.o.'s of all stripes, all over the country have warned about a shutdown's impact on confidence in the u.s. economic recovery. the presiding officer and i know and senators from all across the country is that confidence is what we need. that's what's really lacking in many respects. and a shutdown would actually prevent the growth we tangibly need to address our long-term growth and fiscal balance. in other words, when we get the economy growing again, we would have more tax revenues and we

would see that gap between what we're spending and bringing in narrow. and i can't help but think in the context of this debate about my uncle, stewart udall. i know i have talked to the presiding officer about the important role his father and men like his father played in his upbringing and his values and his public service commitment, but stewart udall, my uncle, father of my cousin, senator tom udall from new mexico, he wrote a book called "the forgotten founders" that focused on the settling of the west. i bet it would apply as well to west virginia. the theme of the book was on how the west was settled, how it was built, and he made a strong case in his book that the people that came out west were not looking to get into gunfights or range wars, regardless of what the hollywood movies would suggest. they were wanting to start a new life in a new country, pursue what we now call the american

dream. my uncle stewart pointed out when you watched those hollywood movies, it was the people standing on the board sidewalks, watching the mythical gunfight that were really the people that built the west. they were looking to work together. they weren't looking to get into fights. they were looking out for each other. it didn't matter what your political party was. and it feels to me like the american people today are standing on those board sidewalks, watching the same senseless gunfights and range wars or our equivalent of them right now here in washington, d.c. but these are the people that matter. these are the people that ultimately will be hurt and affected by a shutdown. now, i know i was hired by the people of colorado and sent to the united states senate. i was hired to come here and work together and solve some very difficult challenges facing this country, and that's why today i introduced the

preventing a government shutdown act of 2011. now, this bill was originally a republican idea, and it's meant to ensure that the american people are not unfairly subjected to the effects of a government shutdown simply because some members of congress want to make a political point and pursue a persistent squabbling over the budget. the bill would ensure that federal appropriations continue at last year's funding levels as a bridge to keep the government running until a compromise could be reached for the remainder of a fiscal year. and then once congress is able to reach a bipartisan agreement to fund the government for that fiscal year, then the automatic funding under my proposal would stop and it would be replaced by the enacted bill. i know there are some who would say, wait a minute, the congress is charged with passing appropriations bills that reflect strategic planning, current functional needs and

create stability. what i'm suggesting the preventing the government shutdown act would do is create a safety valve that will ensure that partisan shutdown politics don't punish the american people and destabilize our economy going forward. it seems like a vocal minority wants to be combative, almost for the sake of being combative. let's just fight for the sake of fighting, but in this case, in these delicate and fragile economic times, that's not a helpful thing to do, to put it mildly. i think the mature thing to do would would be to have a piece of legislation in place to eliminate that kind of irresponsible behavior moving forward. now, mr. president, as i come to close, i just have to think the american people are amazed at this. if they have time because they are busy providing for their

families. and we have got to settle down here. we have got to act like adults. we need to work collaboratively toward a real budget solution. we need to reduce our deficits. the presiding officer has been on the point as well on this. but nobody could find anybody more committed than me to that cause. but let's reach it in a way that protects our senior citizens, our veterans, our students, our border security. i could go on with a long, long list of important functions the federal government provides, but let's do it in a way that slashes spending but doesn't harm our fragile economic recovery or divert our attention on the divisive social issues. we can't afford a government shutdown. we can't just flat-out afford a government shutdown. i will be disappointed to say the least if the bipartisan deal that's before us, it's in our hands, sunday cut by contentious, unrelated issues that only serve to divide us rather than bring us together. i know one thing we can agree on

is that our military personnel deserve better than this. we have young people fighting in two wars as i speak. we have young men and women serving all over the globe in over 50 countries. you and i know that. we serve on the armed services committee. and the last thing our soldiers, our sailors, our airmen, marines need to worry about is whether they will be able to pay their bills. military families have already done more than their share, and now we're asking them to do even more, and that's simply unacceptable, mr. president. i know we can find a solution to this particular situation. we work together in the senate with senator hutchison and a bipartisan group of senators to introduce the bipartisan ensuring pay for our military act. this bill, senate bill 724, would ensure that our military service members would not have interrupted pay in the event of a shutdown, and we need to pass that bill if we don't get the job done tonight. three days ago, i wrote a letter

and was joined by 18 of my colleagues, including the presiding officer, to mr. boehner. i know speaker boehner well. he and i served in the house together. and i urged him to work with all of us to avoid a shutdown. i'll stay here all the rest of this day, all night, whatever it takes. i'm here to urge all of us, both chambers, let's sit down together, let's reason together, let's use common sense together, let's find a compromise. that's the american way. i know that's why i was elected to the senate. people in colorado know i work across party lines. the senate of the united states could set that example right here tonight. we have numerous examples of us working together across party lines. so i just -- i had to come to the floor tonight. i know the night is growing on, but i just had to come down here

and urge senators in this great body, the world's greatest deliberative body to find a commonsense compromise to keep our government funded, keep our economy focused upon and move our country forward. that's job one. mr. president, thank you for your attention, thank you for your willingness to work with me and the spirit in which you serve west virginia. mr. president, i yield the floor, and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

objection. mr. manchin: when i was governor of west virginia, we used to grapple over the budget like every state, every governor and every legislature, every senator and every delegate, but when the deadline arrived, people came

together and we did our job. democrats and republicans, business and labor, progressives and conservatives, and we enacted a balanced budget every year without failure. it's part of our constitution. it's who we are. i've only been in the u.s. senate for five months and i have never seen anything quite like this. never could have imagined anything quite like this. but i see so much opportunity if we'll just start talking and working together. we're outspending our revenues by hundreds of billions of dollars every month. hundred dollarhundreds of billions every month. they tell us that our revenue estimates will be about $2.2 billion this year but our expenditures are expected to be over $3.7 billion. now, i believe everybody that we speak to and everyone that's listening to us can understand that we've got a problem, but yet we're grappling over this tonight of a budget that should have been done six months ago.

this is a budget crisis, it's not a social crisis. and to put all of this into the mix right now is wrong. instead of all of us coming together, really republicans and democrats, with a commonsense budget compromise, we face a shutdown of the government, not over how much to cut but over what social issues we agree or disagree on. on many of these social issues, i would be the first to admit that i'm probably more conservative than most on my side of the aisle. i'm pro-life and i'm proud of it. but this is a budget crisis and i've said that. this is not the place or the time for that. there will be a time and a place to vote on these issues but not when they jeopardize the paychecks of our brave men and women in uniform, which you just so eloquently explained what was at risk. and that is wrong. you know it's wrong and we all know it's wrong, no matter what

side of the aisle. our dear friend, our senator from arkansas was speaking about the cooperation that we all should have reaching out across the aisle, not putting blame and -- and -- because we're all at fault and we'll all be looked at as the cull polices. the bottom line is that we need to come together and fix this. the american people expect that from us. the people back home in colorado and also in west virginia expect that from you and i, and it's what's right for the nation. that's one of the reasons that i and so many of my colleagues here have said that we're going to give up our salary. we call it the no work, no pay pledge. that no work, no pay pledge is pretty much universally understood.

in west virginia, when you don't have a good day's work, you shouldn't expect a payday. now, i could say it's not my fault and you can say it's not your fault and everybody else could, but we're all part of this and we've got to put the pressure o. but i ca -- pressure on. but i can tell you, as my father would tell me all the time, he would say, joe, whatever your problems are, try it without a paycheck and you'll compound them rapidly. i'm going to be sending my paycheck back to the u.s. treasury to pay down our debt. many others will be donating them to charity. we'll be standing with the american people, our military men and women who will pay a heavy price for their elected government's failure to finish a budget unless a commonsense agreement is reached tonight, and i believe it will be. we have a few hours, precious hours yet, and i still am a very optimistic person. and with that, i think that there is some of our colleagues sit up tonight about passing a piece of legislation even if we don't come to agreement that our brave men and women who are serving all over the world to protect us to live in freedom

will be paid. and my friends on the republican side of the aisle, i want to say that there are many instances where we might agree on social issues and some where we might disagree. that's the healthy part of our democracy. it's really what makes us so unique. i assure you, there is a time and a place for everything. there is a time and a place for those votes but not tonight. today is not that time and our deadline is here and rapidly approaching, as you can see. my hope and sprayer that tonight we will -- my hope and prayer is that tonight we will do what's right, we'll come together as americans and we'll agree to a commonsense budget that is the first step to putting our fiscal house back in order. that's what the people of west virginia who sent me here -- and i took that oath of office not just to represent the democrats on my side of the party or the democrats in west virginia, i took an oath of office to represent everybody in west virginia, democrats,

republicans, all different walks of life. and i'm going to do everything i can to make sure they understand i'm here for them. and i thank you. and i would say the absence of a quorum at this time, sir. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

ms. stabenow: thank you, mr. president. i would ask unanimous consent that the period for morning business for debate only be extended until 10:30 p.m. with senators permitted 0 speak up to 10 minutes each with the majority leader to be recognized at 10:30 p.m. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. ms. stabenow: thank you.

mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas is recognized. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: we are not in a quorum call. but the senator is recognized. mrs. hutchison: thank you.

mr. president, i do unanimous consent to add senators leahy, america lirgs and boxer to -- merkley and boxer to senate bill 724. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, this brings to 77 out of 100 senators who are now sponsoring this bill. our bill, senate bill 724, is very simple. it just says that if there is a government shutdown, our military will be paid on time their full pay. and this bill is what i think is the very least that we can do to assure every military family that they do not have to worry for one minute that their mortgage is going to be paid, that their car payments will be paid, that they will be able to get over this hump just without thinking that there might be a

haling of their pay or it -- a haling of their pay or it might be -- a having of their pay or it might be delayed. i am concerned about those who are overseas and their families are at home because if the mom or dad is overseas and there is a glitch somewhere they're not here to help. and i think it would be unthinkable that we would go to midnight and not have taken care of these families and assured them that everything is going to be fine. now, i want to say that i hope that there is an agreement, and i have heard the rumor that there is an agreement. and if there is one, i know that it will include military pay. i believe that. if, for any reason, that agreement does not happen in the

next three hours or if the agreement doesn't include military pay -- which i don't think would happen; i think both houses of congress want to serve our soldiers and their families -- but i'm going to be here until midnight, and i'm going to make sure that whatever happens, either senate bill 724 with 77 sponsors in the united states senate is passed or that we have an agreement that both houses have before them that will assure that the military pay is handled in that other agreement. so we're going to be here for three more hours and we're going to make sure that the will of the senate, which is very clear with 77 sponsors, is met. i want to just mention again that there is a web site that was put up early this morning by

just one woman who was very concerned about this issue and heard about my bill in the news. and her name is hope gwen bradley. she's from hawaii. i do not know her. but she has started a social media network that i have never witnessed in my life. we now have over 1 million support hits on her web site called "ensuring pay for our military act of 2011." in one day, she has accumulated 1 million support sentences or messages for what she's doing. and if you would go to that web site and do nothing else but read those comments by just

people who are supporting our military and who are clear in the support of our military, you know, i'd like for the military people to see it just so they understand how much america appreciates them and what they do, because they're saying to the people right here in washington, d.c., you take care of our young men and women who are fighting for us. you better do it or there will be consequences. and are they right? absolutely. now, i have spoken a couple of times today, and i want to make sure that we do have the letters from the military organizations that have written in this support of senate bill 724. there is the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america that wrote a wonderful letter that i want to assure is in the record. so i'm going to ask unanimous consent that three letters be

made a part of this record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: the iraq and afghanistan veterans of america, of course, understand better than anyone what it's like to serve there and to not have any other stresses that would add to what they're already doing for our country. and they say, pass senate bill 724. the national association for uniformed services with more thank 180,000 -- with more than 180,000 members has cent letter in support -- has sent a letter with support and the military officers association of america has also added its support with 377,000 members. so we have the grass-roots support. everyone understands this. and i just will read a couple of the messages that have been on this wonderful web site. "dear senator hutchison:

my husband serves as a capital in the united states army." actually, this one came to my web sierkts not to the web site that i just mentioned. i am going to read a couple from there as we will. this one came to mine because it was to meevment "as the wife i have a currently deployed soldier and mother to our 2-year-old son, i find it outrageous that our government is debating whether or not to continue to pay our troops. while my husband and i are very fiscally responsible, many of his junior soldiers simply cannot handle the implications of what it would mean to not receive their paychecks. we worry for these soldiers' families. how will they afford groceries, diapers? will they be able to pay their rent or mortgages? these are not questions that we should have to ask. money should not be a worry on these soldiers h's minds. my husband and the soldiers in his unit do incredibly dangerous missions and, quite frankly, it

frightens me that this could split their focus in a very negative way. my husband and his fellow soldiers risk their lives on daily basis. they miss holidays and their children's brnlg days. they deserve to know that the same government that sent them over to fight is looking out for them. they deserve to know that our government would not send them over to a war zone and then deny them their pay. my husband does not have the luxury to walk off the job. he stays there until the mission is complete and the senate has a mission as we will: to pass the ensuring pay for our military act of 2011, senate bill 724." here is another hit that was found on the web site -- the ensuring pay for our military act of 2011 web site. "as a military wife who is expecting our first child in

june, my husband and i recently p.c.s.ed overseas and are already on a tight budget to pay our new bills euros and our new bills stateside in dollars. now we worry we will not have enough money to pay our bills and our credit might be harmed. there is no safety net to help catch us when we fall behind, no interest on the back pay that we will be missing or the late fees waived when we can't pay all of our bills. we would have to tell our german landlords that we cannot afford to give them money. how are they supposed to understand? they're not in this situation. we, as americans, are. i'm not complaining of being a military spouse. i chose this life. i knew of the hardships of deployments. my husband has served in both afghanistan and iraq. i love what my family does. i hope and pray that this issue will be resolved soon."

mr. president, really ..., i mean, really? we've three hours until midnight. can we tell these people that they might get half their paycheck on april 15? we can't. here's another letter. i'm obviously not reading the names, although their on here, because i don't want to in any way harm 24e78ment. "as a vent o.e.f., operation enduring freedom, i stand behind you 100% and so do many others. this will tear morale from the troops and their families which can be a dangerous thing. the mental and financial balance soldiers and their families are on as it is is a delicate one. they live month to month. most are enlisted and make scratch as it is. cutting more pay will put these families on the chopping block

and when a soldiers's family is put in that position, that soldier is no longer fighting for his country but is now fighting for his family against this country. this would destroy the basic foundation of all our forces from the corps." mr. president, there are a million hits on this web web si. and so many of them are touching. many are pleading. some are angry. i just want to say that i do have faith that in the next three hours, we will assure that these people are taken care of. i do have that faith. but we only have three more hours. and i just want to assure that we're going to be here if it starts getting to 11:00 and we have got one more hour to assure that not one more hour passes

after midnight that this can't be taken care of. i'm going to be here and we're going to do it, and i am so proud that so far we have 77 cosponsors of this bill, and i think we will have unanimous support for it, i do. but 77 people have made sure that they call to be a cosponsor of this bill, and i'm proud that we have something very bipartisan in a very partisan atmosphere, and i think that is maybe a ray of hope that this is going to be done in the right way, but i want the people of this country and i want it to be in the congressional record the overwhelming support that has now come because of the debate and what people are seeing and this support for the military. and i will say that,

mr. president, as a cosponsor of the bill, the senator who is taking his place right now is also a supporter of this bill, senator merkley, senator udall and senator durbin, senator kerry. we -- we do have a very strong bipartisan support here, and it is my faith that we are going to do what is right for our military because we can do no less. thank you, mr. president, and i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, let me thank the senator from texas and her cosponsor, the senator from pennsylvania, senator casey. they expressed the deep-felt sentiments of all of us. i'm happy to be a cosponsor of this legislation. i can assure the senator from texas that we have discussed this at length in our caucus, and there will be ample opportunity for all members to join in an effort to make certain that our men and women

in uniform who are risking their lives will not be in any way disadvantaged by what's going on here on capitol hill. i share your frustration and your anxiety. i have been listening and watching these negotiations now for weeks. and i cannot believe we have reached this point, less than three hours from a government shutdown when the differences are so minor, when there are so few things in disagreement. it is time literally for the speaker of the house to come forward and accept the dollar amount that he agreed to last night in the white house oval office. to accept that amount which dramatically cuts spending to help reduce our deficit. i don't know why we have literally wasted this entire day in negotiations back and forth. part of it was wasted, i'm afraid, on this whole question

of funding the access of women and families across america to health care. i understand that's been worked out now. during the course of the day, the speaker has considered a different approach to it, thank goodness. but now's the time to close the deal. now's the time to get our job done. now's the time to not only stand up to the men and women in uniform, and they should be our first obligation, but beyond that to stand up to so many others who are deserving of our help, too. they are not covered by this bill, but right now there are f.b.i. agents in america risking their lives, tracking drug dealers and terrorists who are about to learn at midnight that their jobs are in jeopardy if not closed down until congress relents. the same thing is true about those in our intelligence community around the world. they may not wear a uniform, but they are literally risking their lives as well for the security of the united states in countries far and wide across this globe.

the list just goes on and on and on. we first think of our military, as we should, but they aren't the only ones who are making great sacrifice for the safety of this country. when i think of their valor and courage, i wonder whether or not our leaders can summon the courage, particularly at this point i hope the speaker can summon the courage to bring his caucus together and to vote, to avert this embarrassing, embarrassing shutdown which will occur in less than three hours unless something happens. i still believe it will, i still believe we have that chance, and i hope that senator hutchison who has been a leader on this issue doesn't have to come to the floor again. i can assure her before anything happens that would disadvantage our troops, we will stand together in a bipartisan way -- it may be on her bill, it may be on another bill -- but we will stand together in a bipartisan way to protect these troops. i thank her again for her leadership.

it is an evidence between her and senator casey that there is strong bipartisan feeling that we need to get this job done before this government shuts down. mr. president, i yield the floor and i suggest the absence of a quorum. mrs. hutchison: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: i ask unanimous consent to lift the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: i just wanted to say i appreciate very much what the leader has said because i know that this has been arduous and i know that the negotiations have been arduous, and i -- that's why i believe in the next three hours that we will do the right thing in this issue. i hope that we do the right thing for all of our country. you know, i have to say we haven't talked about the other federal employees who are essential and those who are going to be furloughed. there are so many people in this country who are going to be affected in so many ways if there's a government shutdown.

so i -- i'm focusing on the ones who can't help themselves right now because they are overseas protecting our freedom, but -- but there are many people who are going to have hardships that are unnecessary, and i -- i do appreciate what senator durbin has said, and there is one other person i just want to mention, and that's congressman louie gomert. he started on the house side with the same bill that i have introduced on the senate side and he has gained large support on the house side for this. i want to commend congressman gomert for assuring as we were watching this week and the very spirited debate that has gone on on the possibility of having a government shutdown, louie gomert stepped up first, and i want to give him credit for

saying there's one group that we can't leave behind no matter what happens, and our bills are virtually the same, and whichever house can pass it first is fine with me because whatever we do, we have to do it together and we have to do it before midnight. thank you, mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from indiana. mr. coats: mr. president, i just wandered onto the floor here hoping that we were coming to some type of an agreement. i very much regret that we have to careen from week to week, period to period funding our government on a temporary basis. i think all of us were hoping we could get this resolved, and i still hold out some hope. there are some 2 hours and 50 minutes of negotiations to go. but i want to commend the senator from texas, senator hutchison, for her efforts, she has been relentless in reminding

us for several days, if not more, that our troops in the field and those who are wearing the uniform, serving our country, we literally -- we cannot leave them in a situation where they are not paid. this, of course, affects drug enforcement agents and many others across the federal spectrum, but these troops overseas are bearing hardship enough to not be caught up in a debate here which is necessary, a debate that needs to be resolved. as i said earlier when i spoke this morning or early afternoon, this is just a small little brush fire, as dramatic as the press has made it, and does have consequences, serious consequences, but compared to the size of the problem that our nation faces from a fiscal standpoint relative to what we need to do and what we need to be debating, this is a small

part. just talking about funding for the next six months to fill a gap that was left when no budget was passed and no action was taken on it in the last congress and the last fiscal year to put us in a position where we can move into and debate the real issue that's before us, and that is how do we make decisions that will affect the long-term spending of this country, affect our budget and our deficit and bring us back to a fiscally responsible place? so i would hope that as negotiations continue to go forward, we can resolve this today so that we can begin that important debate, but if we can't, at the very least, it's important, i believe, that we extend this for a small amount of time. i regret that we have to do it, so that we can bring it to its final conclusion. but the most important thing is that before midnight, we have to make sure that we pass

legislation which will ensure that our people in uniform are paid their rightful due for the service that they're providing. and again, i commend the senator from texas for reminding us for that and for being vigilant in terms of making sure that we actually address that before this time runs out. mr. president, with that, i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: -- nor landrieu --

i ask unanimous consent to lift the quorum call. i ask unanimous consent to add senator landrieu as a cosponsor of senate bill 724. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, that makes 78 now members of the united states senate who are sponsoring this bill for our military. thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

1:15 -- the presiding officer: senator, we are in a quorum call. mr. blumenthal: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. please proceed. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that the period for morning business for debate only be extended until 11:15 p.m., with senators permitted for up to ten minutes each, with the majority leader to be recognized at 11:15 p.m. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president.

mr. plume that will: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. -- mr. blumenthal: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: