johanns: well, let me thank senator hoeven. i notice we are joined by another former governor. this former governor is part of the class -- we were both collected to the senate at the same time, so we're both part of the same class. but senator rirks at one point in -- but senator risch, at one point in your career, you served as governor of the state of idaho. you had financial restrictions just like we did in terms of a balanced budget. how were you able to deal with important priorities while balancing the budget and bringing your legislative process along in accomplishing that? could you talk us to a little bit about that today. mr. risch: thank you very much. i am honored to be here with the other former governors. we -- there are a handful of us on each side who have had the honor and privilege of serving their states as the chief executive, and so it is a real honor to be heemplet and i bring that experience with me and i think every one of us brings that experience with us. i not only bring that experience but i did almost three decades in the idaho state senate balanci

you tal senator hoeven, could you talkbt to us a little about how thebale balanced budget provisions neard the constitution required you and the legislators to manage >> thank you, senator. it's an honor to be here with you and also the good senator from tennessee, lamar andgreat e alexander. great to be here with u.s. less cementer risch from idaho. we have a f common share experiences governors, and it'so wonderful to draw on that.xperie i also have to mention that thee presiding officer in the senates senator shaheen is former governor else will come and so exrience, we have tha at common share anperience here on both sides of the aisle, and it's an honor ane it's a pleasure to be here with you and talk about this matter that is very importantace the particularly as we face the neee ceiling.nc this issue of dealing with a par balanced budget is of paramountr importance for our entireex country coming in your lead isn't exactly right. we served together as governorsh as a matter of fact, the truth is i would call you because your were elected governor before ist was and ask you abo

that was kind of unusual and a tribute i think to what i like to consider the vision of jim hoeven who saw this kid who was eager and in some ways ignorant and said we see something here. let's do something with that. it is contracting particularly print is contracting radically and virtually every large 1i know of has and the future is jerry uncertain. so if i were advising -- and also, the road to journalism is a little bit different. more and more it's become the path of gentry has become getting a graduate degree from a school at northwestern or going to columbia and getting a degree from there. so you find more and more people of the large institutions of those kind of credentials. i think what i would say to a young person who wants to start on the career today is it could be a hell of a field is so much uncertainty have to be prepared to increase the uncertainty if you're going to embrace this career. >> i would invite you to come up to the microphone and i would be glad to take your questions. >> it's been a struggle to diversify newsrooms and we've now seen as those newsrooms

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 families the way they

rhode island, 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 s

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

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