mr. hoeven: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hoeven: thank you. i rise this morning to speak to the need to come to an agreement, a need to come to an agreement on how we handle the debt ceiling. we need to come to agreement on addressing our nation's deficit and the debt. let's just review where we are right now. if you look at our fiscal situation, right now the federal government takes in revenues on an annual basis of $2.2 trillion. $2.2 trillion a year. but, at the same time, we're spending $3.7 trillion. that's a shortfall for a deficit of more than $1.5 trillion a year. lookality these young people here in this chamber, these great pages, from all over the country. i think about what that means not only for us today, for our economy, for our standing in the world, for the security of our country, but i think about what it means for future generations. what is it we leave them? do we leave them a country that was founded on the concept of freedom and liberty, that people could pursue life on their own terms, raise their fam

mr. hoeven: i rise today along with my fellow colleagues to again address the need to reduce our deficit and our debt. the united states is the strongest country in the world in the history of the world, but that won't be the case for long if we don't solve our deficit and our debt crisis. it's vital that we solve it now for our generation but it's vital that we solve it for future generations as well. now, the wealth, the economic activity of this country is created by the private sector, by hard-working men and women, not by the government. government creates the forum, the environment, if you will, that fosters or allows economic activity. but the key is, government shouldn't just allow economic activity. the government needs to create an environment that truly empowers, that promotes economic activity, that encourages private investment, that encourages entrepreneurship, business expansion and job growth, innovation. the very entrepreneurial activity that has built this country. that's the success of america. that's the strength of our country. that is how america has become the grea

nelson of nebraska, pryor, tester, leahy, kirk, hutchison, mcconnell, murkowski, blunt, hoeven, coats, cochran. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: first of all, i want to express my appreciation to the chairman of the committee, the ranking member of the committee, subcommittee, for the work they did on this bill. it took a little longer than we wanted but we got it done and they have been excellent managers of this most important piece of legislation. it's our first appropriation bill. senator mcconnell and i want to do other appropriation bills. it would be a new day here to get these bills rather than having some big omnibus bill. so this is a step in the right direction. again, i express my appreciation to the two managers of this legislation. as indicated, there will be no roll call votes today. more roll call votes today. tomorrow i'm going to move to proceed to the bill that we call the cut, cap bill received from the house today. under the rules of the senate, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill will occur on saturday. i expect a

mr. johanns: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that i be permitted to enter into a colloquy with my republican colleagues for up to 30 minutes. senator alexander of tennessee, senator hoeven of north dakota, and senator risch of idaho will participate with me in this colloquy. the presiding officer: without objection. january january i would like -- mr. johanns: i would like today to speak to an issue that i believe has all the potential in the world to define the future this have great country, and it's an issue that all of us who are participating in this colloquy are very familiar with, and that is a balanced budget. all of us are former governors of the states where we come from. in my state, the state of nebraska, our nebraska constitution requires a balanced budget, not a mutual. i believe 49 out of 50 states have this requirement in their constitution. it's not theater. it's the way we do business at the state level. in addition to that provision, however, our state constitution also says that the total amount of money that the state of nebraska can borrow is $100,000. $100,000. so what does that mean? we must balance the budget on 0 an annual basis, and we can't g

mr. hoeven: i rise today to urge my colleagues to come together and tracy this debt ceiling and find a way to reduce our deficit and our debt. we're at the 12th hour and it's vitally important to the american people that we move forward. and i believe there's opportunity to do that. i think it's important that we move forward in a way that makes sure that we address the root problem. and the problem is we have a deficit and a debt that is out of control. and so as we work together to reach agreement on this very important debt ceiling issue we need to be mindful that we've got to take a big step forward, a big step forward in reducing the deficit and the debt that our country faces. let's start by taking just a minute to look at the numbers. today, this country has in total revenues coming into the federal government about $2.2 trillion. but at the same time, we have expenses of $3.7 trillion, leaving a deficit, an annual deficit of more than $1.5 trillion. and our debt is now in the range of $14.5 trillion. it's hard to even imagine what $1 trillion is let alone $14.5 trillion. we are bor