position to provide that to be successful. >> with regard to command-and-control there is a difference between the role of traditional shia elements with the larger capability. . . is a

vote on a brown amendment that's pending? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. there are two minutes of debate prior to a vote on brown

amendment 994. mr. mcconnell: mr. president let me first ask -- the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: -- i ask unanimous consent that following the disposition of the brown amendment, which we were just discussing number 994 the next amendments in order be the following: and that the senate vote on the amendments in the order listed with no second-degree amendments in order prior to the votes. vitter number 811 warren number 1094 lee number 855 cardin number 367 rubio number 552 kaine number 104 as modified. i further ask consent that there be two minutes equally divided between the mearption or their designees prior to each vote and that all votes in the series be ten minutes in length, an let me just say parenthetically if everyone will stay in their seats, the clerk tells me it takes seven minutes to call the

roll. so if everyone will stay in their seats we'll go straight through, and they tell me it takes seven minutes to do it. this should take us about an hour if we get started. following the disposition of the listed amendments and any cleared amendments agreed to by both mearption and both leaders the remaining pending a.m. be withdrawn and the senate proceed to vote on the adoption of the resolution as amended. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the senator from ohio. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent -- i ask to call up amendment number 994. the presiding officer: it's pending. mr. brown: 18 years ago the six biggest u.s. banks had assets equal to 18% of g.d.p. today those six banks combined assets are about 63% of g.d.p., more than -- the average of six banks, more than 5,000 legal entities operating in 57

different countries. explaining the bank's plans for its own mapping and orderly resolution through the bankruptcy process in any event of material financial distress or failure. the brown-vitter amendment sthais if banks cannot credibly explain how they can fail safely then they're considered too big to fail. they need to have more capital or being restructured until they go bankrupt without a government bailout. as chairman shelby told the senate banking committee on tuesday, if a bank is too big to fail it's probably too big to exist. i ask support for the brown-vitter amendment. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president, there is no objection on other side. we would hope for a voice vote. the presiding officer: all those in favor say aye. all those opposed say nay. the ayes appear to have it.

the ayes have it. the amendment is adopted. there are two minutes of debate prior to the vitter amendment number 811. mr. vitter: during the obamacare debate on the senate floor, the senate passed an amendment onto the obamacare bill saying that all members of congress need to go to the exchange for our health care, just like other americans go on to the exchange. no special deal, no special exemption, no special subsidy. after that was passed into law a the love folks didn't like it and a special rule was applied by the obama administration to change some of that situation. this amendment would say no, we're going to live by that statute. we're going to go to the exchange for our health care, no special subsidy no special deal and it would also apply to the president the vice president, and their political appointees. this amendment would not change anything at all with regard to

congressional staff. i urge support for my amendment. the presiding officer: time has expired. the senator from california. box bsm colleagues, this is really -- mrs. boxer: colleagues, this is really important. today every single senator is treated like every single person in the country who works for a large employer. those large employers all make a contribution to their employees' health care. we don't get any subsidies. we don't qualify for subsidies. we are treated like everyone else in the country where we have an employer contribution to our health care. now, colleagues, you do not have to take that employer contribution. if you don't want it, give it back. you don't need this amendment to give it back. if you feel as strongly as senator vitter does that your family and you don't want or need this employer contribution, then give it back to the treasury as i assume senator

vitter does. again, we don't need this amendment. if you don't want your employer contribution you vote "yes." the presiding officer: all time has expired. mrs. boxer: if you believe we should be treated like everyone else in the country vote "no." that's how i'm voting. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: the presiding officer: on this vote the yeas are 52, the nays are 46. the amendment is adopted. the presiding officer: the senator from massachusetts. mrs. warren: mr. president i ask unanimous consent to call up my amendment with the changes modified at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from massachusetts, ms. warren, for herself and others, proposes an amendment numbered 1094, as

modified. the presiding officer: there are two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the warren amendment number 1094. the senator from massachusetts. ms. warren: more than ever, our seniors depend on the safety and reliability of social security. for 15 million seniors, social security is the only thing that stands between them and poverty. for too long in washington, social security has been under assault. republicans have long argued that we have to gut the program to save it. well they're wrong. we shouldn't be talking about gutting social security. we should be talking about strengthening social security. we should be talking about protecting social security. we should be talking about expanding social security. this amendment supports those goals. we acknowledge the need to make certain that the program is solvent, something that people can depend on. but we reject the false choice that too many republicans have put forward to scare our seniors

into believing they must absorb drastic cuts in the benefits they depend on. and we believe that when two-thirds of -- the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. ms. warren: two minutes? that's right. thank you mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: mr. president this would -- at the present time, social security has an unfunded liability of $25 trillion over the infinite horizon. there is a problem. it's not to scare seniors it's to see that it needs to be made sustainable. when president clinton was in office, he and rick santorum held a day's seminar then we broke up into republican-democrat, house and senate groups. the next day we came up with a blueprint for saving it. to do it, it took all kinds of different options, not just one option. and one option won't -- won't do it. and no one party should be able

to do it. and we're prohibited from making changes under the budget to social security and that's probably a good thing. so i urge a "no" vote on this amendment. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the warren amendment. ms. warren: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

>> vote:

the presiding officer: anyone wishing to vote or change their vote? if not on this vote, the yeas are 42, the nays are 56. the amendment as modified, is not agreed to. there are two minutes -- mr. reid: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: democratic leader. mr. reid: it's my understanding that the reason the clerks read the names is so that the public and the press can determine how we vote. would the chair indicate whether that's true or false? the presiding officer: for the benefit of the senate as a bodymentbody.mr. reid: pardon me? the presiding officer: it is for the benefit of the senate as a body. there are two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the lee amendment number 855. mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator fr mr. lee: i --

the presiding officer: the democratic leader. mr. reid: we do, however have the right if we, by consent agree to do -- waive the reading of the names is that right? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. reid: would the senator from new york renew his request. mr. schumer: thank you. i request that we for the rest of the votes this evening except on final passage of the budget that we waive the reading of the names. the presiding officer: the readings of the names will be waived. [cheering] the presiding officer: there are two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the lee amendment number 855. mr. lee: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, this amendment amendment number 855 would create a budget point of order. it would create a point of order making clear that it's not in order to consider a debt ceiling increase using reconciliation instructions under this budget.

while the language in this budget does not itself expressly authorize the use of reconciliation for this purpose it does nothing to prohibit such language from being added in conference. so the point of order at issue here would impact only legislation that attempts to use reconciliation instructions to pass a debt limit increase. and it would require an affirmative vote of two-thirds of the members duly sworn and chosen. this is something that the american people deserve to have debated and discussed independently. it's also something that ought to require an enhanced threshold, and i encourage my colleagues to support amendment number 855. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: deciding whether or not to increase the debt limit is like putting purchases on your credit card and then deciding whether or not to pay the bill. increasing the debt limit is not

a license to take on more debt. it simply makes it possible to pay the bills that we've already incurred. recent history shows that leaving this to the last minute and even coming close to hitting the debt limit is extremely dangerous for our country and in fact, the entire world. even the remote possibility of default by the u.s. government is enough to throw markets into turmoil and has resulted in credit rating agencies downgrading our creditworthiness. unfortunately in recent years some of my republican colleagues have used raising the debt limit as a way to extract policy concessions that invariably include draconian cuts to programs that are important to working families and the middle class. this amendment continues that trend by making it even harder to raise the debt limit and thus easier to default and easier to cause an international financial panic. the presiding officer: all time has expired. mr. sanders: i urge colleagues

to oppose this amendment. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the lee amendment. mr. lee: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

the presiding officer: the ayes are 44, the nays are 54. the amendment is agreed to.

there are two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the cardin amendment number 367. mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: thank you mr. president. mr. president, there's an estimated 5.85 million citizens who can't vote as a result of criminal convictions and nearly 4.4 million of those have already been released from prison. one out of every 13 african-americans of voting age have lost their right to vote. this amendment creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund in order to consider voter re enfranchisement initiatives. it's not descriptive as to the type. senator paul has introduced legislation on this subject. i have been introduced legislation on this subject. i would hope this would be accepted by voice vote. it spells out in the amendment that we would like the u.s. attorney to inform during plea agreements the impact on defendants on their rights to vote and that we'd like to have

data concerning the impact on the minority populations. i would hope that we could move forward on this and i'd be willing to accept this on a voice vote. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i'm going to have to recommend a "no" vote because of states' rights. 48 states and the district of columbia prohibit voting while incarcerated for a felony offense. i was fascinated to find that only two states, maine and vermont, permit persons in prison to vote. an estimated 5.85 million americans, one in 40 adults, has currently or permanently lost their voting rights as a result of a felony conviction but each state has its own process for restoring voting rights to ex-offenders right now making the best judgment the one closest to their citizens. so i would ask for a states' right vote of "no." mr. cardin: mr. president any time remaining? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: any time remaining?

the presiding officer: no time remaining on the democratic side. the question occurs on the amendment. mr. cardin: ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote: the presiding officer: anyone wishing to vote or change their vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 47, the nays are 51 and the

amendment is not agreed to. there are two minutes of debate prior to a vote on the rubio amendment number 552. mr. rubio: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from florida. mr. rubio: jerusalem is the capital of israel and that's where the united states should have its embassy. however, a waiver has been used over the last 20 years to avoid this move. this amendment would allow funding to achieve what is already in the u.s. code, and i would yield the balance of mile time to the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: as all of you know, the knesset meets in jerusalem. every political party in israel recognizes jerusalem as their gallon capital -- their capital, both political parties of the united states should do the same, that's where our embassy should be.

mr. sanders: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i suggest a voice vote on that. the presiding officer: is there any further debate? hearing none, all those in favor say aye. those opposed say no. the ayes appear to have it. the ayes do have it. the amendment is agreed to. there will now be two minutes of debate on the kaine amendment number 1047. mr. kaine: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that my amendment be modified with the changes at the desk. the presiding officer: the gentleman from virginia. is there objection? without objection. mr. kaine: thank you mr. president. the key budget issue we are grappling with is what will we

do about sequester and the budget caps. all of us since march of 2013 have heard in our various committees about the effect these caps are having on our national defense our law enforcement, medical research, education, and every other priority. this amendment does two simple things it creates a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow us to look for a sequester replacement that can analyze mandatory programs other than social security, discretionary programs and tax expenditures, and second, it creates a mechanism if touch such a bill is enacted to adjust the budget caps. if we are serious about lifting sequester, we should vote for this bill. thank you mr. president. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: one of the things the republicans on the budget committee have suggested was that as soon as we finish the budget which we hope to finish by april 15, that we could

begin a look at the budget control act itself. the budget resolution already provides for sequester replacement, there's a reserve fund in place for the sequester to use if the circumstances permit. additionally, this amendment would increase taxes to increase spending. at a time our national debt exceeds $18 trillion, when our debt is bigger than our economy we need to talk about cutting spending and taxes not increasing them. on the last recorded vote for the fy 2016 budget resolution i urge my colleagues to vote no. the presiding officer: the question occurs on the kaine amendment as modified. is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll.

the presiding officer: on this vote the ayes are 50, the nays are 48, the amendment is agreed to.

mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i send a list of amendments to the desk that has been cleared by both managers and both leaders. i ask that they be considered en bloc and agreed to. the presiding officer: is there objection? no objection so ordered. the amendments are agreed to en bloc. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: very briefly i want to thank all members of the senate for their cooperation. i know it's been a trying day. and we appreciate everybody's cooperation and getting this important measure to the finish line. it will be a good day for the senate. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order the pending amendments are withdrawn and the question occurs on passage of s. con. res. 11 as amended.

mr. reid: i too want to express my appreciation to everyone for their work today. the thing i enjoyed most of all was the recess subject to the call of the chair. [laughter] mr. president, one thing that we all acknowledge that we need to do is to prevent automatic cuts to the doctors under medicare because it's not only important to the doctors but also the patients. the so-called sustainable growth rate or s.g.r. and we need to reauthorize the children's health insurance program a lot of stuff that's in that bill that passed the house 392 they got on that, that's a rare vote over there. and i'm pleased that they did that. we're willing over here to proceed with this matter tonight. it is a i've indicated to the leader earlier -- early on today, we would hope we could get this done but i understand it's late.

whatever day it is. and it's a bill that's 362 pages long. we're willing to move forward. i'm disappointed that we may not be able to get it done tonight. i sure wish we could. i hope if we can't i hope the majority leader will move to this matter as soon as we get back here after the recess. it's a very important piece of legislation. we all acknowledge we need to do and i understand weeped to help -- we want to help the physicians i acknowledge that but remember those medicare physicians take care of people who are badly in need of health care. it's on only for the doctors we need to do this, we need to do it for their patients. mr. mcconnell: i'd just add to reassure my colleagues, the center -- kidnaps c.m.s. indicates they can handle this up to two weeks. it's encouraging this passed the house with such a large bipartisan majority and i want to assure we'll move to it very

quickly when we get back, early consideration. as i indicated once again, they can handled a two-week gap here. we'll turn to this legislation very quickly when we get back. i think there is every reason to believe it's going to pass the senate by a very large majority. mr. reid: finally it's my understanding that if when we come back if we could have a very limited number of amendments to try to dispose of this. mr. mcconnell: i'm sorry. i isn't hear --. mr. reid: i said when we come back after two weeks the majority leader would consider a very limited number of amendments with time agreements on them. mr. mcconnell: yeah, we're going to discussing and you and i will be discussing the way forward but i wanted to reassure everyone this two-week delay will not impact and i think we'll be able to figure a way to go forward very quickly on something that is so overwhelmingly popular on a bipartisan basis.

the presiding officer: the competent occurs on s. con. res. 11 as amended. is there a sufficient second? there is. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

the presiding officer: any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 52, the nays are 46. the concurrent resolution is agreed to.

the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i'd ask unanimous consent that the senate be in a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak therein for ten minutes each after i finish. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: thank you mr. president. as president teddy roosevelt once noted one of life's great prize says to work hard at work worth doing. well mr. president, i believe the work we've done this week to boost our nation's economy support our national defense and expand opportunity for hardworking families is truly work worth doing. the budget we've been debating in the senate this week will boost the nation's economic growth by more than $500 billion over the next ten years according to the nonpartisan congressional budget office. it will also balance the budget in ten years with no tax hikes protect the nation's most vulnerable citizens, strengthen america's national defense and

improve economic growth and opportunity for hardworking families. the budget's economic growth dividend means that more jobs will be created across the country in all 50 states. in fact, the senate budget committee estimates that nationwide there will be more than 1.3 million additional jobs in 2025. this is only the spending reductions included in the budget. if the senate adds recommended tax and regulatory reforms the economic and job benefits will be even bigger. this balanced budget is an important first step to help washington live within its means, just like hardworking families have to do every day. a balanced budget means real accountability in washington and ensures that programs actually accomplish what they set out to deliver. i want to thank my colleagues for their consideration cooperation, and patience to bring this to this point and i want to particularly thank

senate majority leader mitch mcconnell for allowing the senate and senators to actually do our job both in committee and on the floor of the senate. under majority leader mcconnell, we've received support and backing from the senate republican leadership, an that's been a great leadership team. it's because of this leadership that we can come to this result. the first senate republican budget resolution since 2006. this commitment to an open, honest and transparent legislative process is crucial to helping congress restore the trust of american people. i also owe thanks to the outstanding republican members of the senate budget committee who worked long, fought so hard and tenaciously to outline plan that can balance the budget over the next ten fiscal years. thanks as well are due to the many years on this side who came and spoke on the budget's behalf offered amendments to make it better -- well, almost always to make it better -- and worked with us and each other to

move through the resolutions debate and the vote process together. i've enjoyed my partnership with senator sanders since we both tooktook on our new roles just a few months ago we've known each other a long time, served on some of the same senate committees a to understand have him across the aisle managing this bill with me has been an enjoyable part of acting on my first budget resolution. i also appreciate the staff that worked with him so diligently. i a also like to focus for a minute on some of the staff who helped lead us here. i want to thank the republican staff of the senate budget committee including the director eric uland dan co-wail lee, chief economist bill beach director of budget review, matt gerou, peter warren and steve robinson budget analyst gregg de-aing angelo, andrew herther

indicate lynn vote, gregg dean and assistant counsel clint brown, editor elizabeth keystone x.l. joe brinkle and staff assistant katie wuchou. without all their work which began last year we would not be here this evening standing on the verge of passing the senate's fiscal year 2016 budget resolution. i got to mention that they didn't even change offices when we got the majority so that they could be working on this budget, knowing that since it was our first opportunity in the majority that we had a lot of work to do. as well, thanks are due to my personal staff including my legislative director tera a shaw and the legislative team, graph is becky renee kristin chaplin and elizabeth swartz. i particularly have to mention my chief of staff flip mc

mcconahey. the we have been assisted by elizabeth mcdone owe and her team. colloquy staff leaders leaders from senator mc connell's office have been very helpful including his chief of staff his policy director and his budget and appropriations policy advisor john burkes. i also want to thank monica pop and johnny sulrod from senator cornyn's whip office. after five days of consideration and 50 hours of debate, our budget resolution, truly everything that can be said has probably been said by everybody who can say it. but, mr. president, i don't think anybody has said this yet: i want to thank the people that voted for the final passage of s. con. resolution 11 for the fiscal year 2016 budget resolution and we now move on to conferencing.

mr. whitehouse: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: the ranking member of the budget committee is not on the floor so let me take the opportunity on behalf of the democratic members of the budget committee to express appreciation to our chairman. we obviously disagree on the substance of this budget, as votes reflect. indeed we think it is an awful budget. but we are -- i think i speak for all of us when i say how impressed we have been by the calm and civil and courteous and patient manner in which the chain h'schairman has led us through the issue. and i would like to join him on behalf of the democrats on the budget committee in thanking all of the relevant staff the parliamentary staff the committee staff the floor staff who have helped support us through this process and our chairman is a very courteous gentleman.

mr. enzi: i'd suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call: