quorum call: mr. kyl: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. throughout this day, a lot of our constituents back home have been watching the debate, and i wonder maybe if they're a little frustrated. i talked early this morning about flowing rotten apples at each other. there's been a lot of that here today. i suggested this morning that one of the things we could do while we're waiting to see whether or not an agreement can be reached to fund the government through the end of this fiscal year was to try to shed some light on the process, which undoubtedly is a bit confusing to people. what exactly is it that we're arguing about? how did we get here and what do we have in the future? we talk add little bit about what we are talking about today and hoping to achieve tonight is an agreement that would determine how much we will spend to fund the federal government for the

mr. kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: thank you, mr.nt. i want to compliment my colleague from oklahoma for the leadership that he's exercised with respect to the rogue environmental protection agency attempting to regulate in effect what we breathe and the job-killing program that would result from the regulations that would be prohibited from being adopted were the inhofe-mcconnell amendment to be adopted by this body. and i share his desire that we be able to vote on that and stop these onerous regulations from being put into effect. mr. president, the other thing i'd like to talk about -- may i ask unanimous consent to speak -- not to exceed 15 minutes in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: thank you. i want to address two things but starting with health care. i recall that during the debate over health care -- and we celebrated the one-year anniversary of the signing of the health care legislation a little over a week ago -- but i recall the then-speaker of the house, nancy pelosi, saying that we'll

mr. kyl: mr. president, at this very critical time in our country's history, a time when we have over a $14 trillion debt and we are desperately trying to find ways to reduce government spending and lose the possibility of a government shutdown, i think we would be best served to try to provide some information to our constituents. and as politicians resist the temptation to throw rotten apples at each other. i think also it would be wise for media to not hype or overhype a situation regarding government shutdown but try to put things into perspective. and so let me try to do that here for a moment this morning. in the first place, obviously we're trying to reach agreement. i compliment the majority leader, senator reid, who just spoke; the speaker of the house, john boehner, for their efforts to get together, bridge the differences between the two parties, the two bodies and to reach an agreement. in the last two or three days the president has also weighed in on the issue, and he too, i think, i

mr. kyl: mr. president, in just a few minutes we're going to be voting on the continuing resolution which our house colleagues are voting on literally as we speak here. and i wish to address that very briefly. but first, i must comment on at least one thing that my colleague from pennsylvania just said. he was critical of the ryan budget but does not appear to have read the ryan budget. i -- i believe that because i know he wouldn't deliberately mischaracterize it. but he's wrong in several respects and i'll just cite one example. he said that the ryan budget would end medicare as we know it and that millions of seniors would be directly affected. that's simply not true unless you count as a senior somebody that's 50 or 53 or 54 years old. the ryan budget does not affect anyone above the age of 54 with respect to medicare. it says if you have medicare and you're 55 or older, nothing changes for you. all we do is provide premium support for those age 54 and below. so it's simply incorrect to say th

mr. chairman. >> thank you, senator kyl. i would like to ask consent to added to the record the list of hearings held in both the house and the senate relating to discrimination against specific religious groups, including jews and christians and know that this is the first hearing relating to any discrimination against the muslim religion. i think it is obvious that we condemn bigotry against all religious groups. >> thank you for conducting this hearing, which i think is, by no means, as i understand comings and it -- intended to exhaust the subject. i think that it really is designed to raise awareness and show our own commitment to fighting biggity, hatred, prejudice, and tolerance -- wherever it may exist. the united states is involved in the war against terror. in this very building, two floors below is, there is an ongoing hearing that springs from the war against terror. in that hearing, there is discussion about the service and sacrifice made by men and women wearing the uniform in places around the globe that we ca