president gerald r. ford was a distinguished member and minority leader of this chamber, a man of the house. he was vice president of the united states and our 38th president. a proud citizen of the great state of michigan, president ford served this nation at a time of great national pain and turmoil. he ablely served and held us heal our wounds. this resolution allows that the direction of the people of michigan, the rotunda be used for a ceremony for president ford's honor this year. it allows for the statue to be permanently displayed as part of the national staff wear hall collection. this bill, introduced by mr. upton, and our colleagues of the michigan delegation, should garner overwhelming bipartisan support. so i thank mr. upton for introducing it and i urge all my colleagues to support h.con.res 27. and i reserve the balance of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from california reserves. the lady from california is recognized. ms. woolsey: mr. speaker, i yield myself such time as i may

res. 27, providing for the acceptance of a statue of gerald r. ford from the people of michigan for placement in the united states capitol. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table with no entire veeng action or debate and nay statements related to the measure be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. res. 94 and the senate proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 94, to express the sense of the senate in support of reducing its budget by at least 5%. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsi

he's an award winning writing winning the gerald r. ford award three times on national defense. i believe that's a record. james has twice won the military reporters and editors award as well as in the diehl school of journalism for excellence in reporting for his first-hand coverage of the war in afghanistan and the surge in iraq. he's an author of "war and destiny," and prodigal soldiers" please welcome james and deputy commissioner aguilar of the borders protection. [applause] [applause] >> good to meet you. gerald f. ford was a good man. i miss him dearly. i've been covering this beat for a long time. as we've been watching what's unfolding in japan, the middle east, i forget there's a very serious crisis with the country much closer to us, which is in mexico, which is fighting really a life and death struggle i think for the future of that country with these very poweful drug traffic and organization. 30,000 mexicans have lost their lives in that struggle. we are intimately involved in this. the country's veracious appetite for drugs that is fueling that war, basically, goi

. >> thank you, it is great to be here at the gerald r. ford museum and library. i was born and raised on this side of town. to have the opportunity as a high-school student to actually work on a presidential campaign, it was not until i was older it that i appreciated what i had with that opportunity. i started out wanting to be a teacher. afterwards, on the campaign, i decided i wanted to do this. which was how you run for office and had you get elected, how you make decisions, what you can do. i am up here being the practical person, not a lawyer. even though i was a court clerk for kent county and served on the grievance commission, i understand how lawyers work. but i think what i will bring to this is the practical part of this. that comes in with how you make decisions and how you get this information. as county clerk, i talked to anybody. if you want to have a cup of coffee with me, we could talk. nobody was buying lunch, nobody was paying for a conference, but we do need to talk to everybody. i believe in government to make good decisions, you need to hav