merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: mr. quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the senate will observe a moment of silence in memory of officer jacob j. chestnut and detective john mammogram gibson, united states capitol police. mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. thank you for leading the moment of silence that we just had for officer jacob chestnut and detective john gibson of the united states capitol police. it's important to recognize that each and every day that the citizens of the united states come to the capitol, they are able to visit this chamber, visit the offices of their elected senators and across the building the ousts of the -- ths of the members of the house of representatives. they're able to do so because the capitol police have maintained a form of security that gives citizens access and at the same time protects the functioning of democracy from the very real threats in a

merkley: this weekend i was out in oregon holding town halls. and at each gathering citizens asked me how important is august 2, and are the members of the senate going to be able to come together and make sure that our nation doesn't default? and so i rise today to address that question: how important is august 2? and how important is it that we work together to avoid a default? indeed it would be historic, for the first time in the history of the u.s. that we refuse to pay our bills. now, some of my colleagues have called into question the significance of such an event. one of my colleagues said -- and i quote -- "i'm a little bit cynical about the scare mongering and putting america's back up against an august 2 deadline to get an increase in the american credit card." i've heard some of my colleagues talk about the situation in which they view paying the interest on treasury bills as equivalent to a family holding a mortgage. and the fact that the united states has other bills to pay, such as checks to write to our veterans and to our senior

merkley: thank you. and, madam president, i ask unanimous consent for my intern, connor meyers, to be -- have the privileges of the floor for the balance of the day. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. merkley: thank you, madam president. i rise today to talk about the significant financial challenges that our nation faces. it will come as a surprise to no one that the topic of greatest concern is jobs, jobs in partnership with how we manage our deficit and debt so as to put america on a firm financial footing down the road, to put american families back on a firm financial footing. my mailbox is full of families that have a lot of concerns about the republican plan for cutting programs that serve working americans. now, it's a host of programs that are affected but i pulled a couple letters to bring with me. one is linda writing from canby, oregon. she is a disabled young adult. she writes, "my daughter nicole has cerebral palsy and other medical issues. she is dependent on my husb

senators blumenthal sanders senator sherrod brown, you are servings the presiding officer, senator merkley, and senator franken for their support in cosponsoring this resolution, and i hope that my colleagues will join us in protecting the promise we have made to our nation's seniors through social security and medicare. in closing mr. president the challenge before us is a formidable one but i truly believe we can reach an agreement on the deficit and debt ceiling without compromising the security and well-being of our seniors. i thank the chair, and i yield the floor. mr. president, on the pending mexico, 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: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not on this motion, we have 69 yeas, 27 nays. the motion to proceed is passed. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: could we've order in the senate, please. the presiding officer: order in the sen

merkley: mr. president, thank you very much. i rise to address this issue of the debt limit and how we are going to go forward, and i think it's important, given the conversation that i have been hearing this morning, to understand some of the key features that are under discussion. the first is that the -- the plan that came from the house last night, the boehner plan, it requires the second half of the debt ceiling to be lifted only if a balanced budget amendment is passed and sent out to the states. in other words, it puts a two-thirds vote of each chamber basically on the process six months from now. what that does is it says to our nation that we are going to be in continuous debate over this issue the next six months, facing a two-thirds vote that's very unlikely to happen, so this crisis is going to not end, not on august 2, not on august 3, not on august 4, not for six months into the future, and then it's not going to end because we're not going to have a two-thirds vote. it sends exactly the wrong message to our busine

senator merkley from oregon. senator mikulski from maryland. senator murray from washington. they had the courage to not have this debated on the senate floor. they had the courage to say, we are not going to allow debate. we're not going to allow the chance that you might get this bill passed that could save america from future generations, further courageous senators, senator nelson from florida. senator nelson from nebraska. senator pryor from arkansas. senator reed from rhode island. senator reid from nevada. senator rockefeller from west virginia. senator schumer from new york. senator shaheen from new hampshire. senator stabenow from michigan. senator udall from colorado. senator udall from new mexico. senator warner from virginia. senator webb from virginia. senator whitehouse from rhode island. senator wyden from oregon. it took a stand to vote in the senate that we will not allow debate on this floor over a balanced budget amendment. we're not going to allow it. despite the vast majority of americans knowing that we have to get our fiscal house in order, knowing that

my amendment which i offer on behalf of myself and my colleague, senator merkley, would allow the pentagon to follow the brac commission's report and close the umatilla depo under brac. mr. president, with that, i would yield the floor. mr. mccain: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: mr. president, can i say, first of all, i want to thank the senator from oregon. this is an issue that needs to be resolved. it's been a pleasure working with him in not only behalf of the people of oregon, but also on behalf of the department of defense. mr. president, i join the senator from oklahoma in supporting the amendment which senator coburn had intended to propose. the amendment would have amended public law 102-4, the agent orange act of 1991 which i cosponsored to provide clarity on the factual basis required of the secretary of veterans affairs to make future determinations on the presumption of connection of military service in vietnam with diseases associated with exposure to the herbicide commonly known as agent orange. now, mr. president, agent orange wa

senator jeff merkley, who a eliminates the tax breaks for the wealthy to generate more revenue, he is joined by bernie sanders, the president, ending tax breaks and cut spending on entitlement program, john cornyn and john mccain consider new revenue without raising taxes, the house speaker, cut spending and consider tax overhaul without raising taxes, senator mcconnell, trim federal spending, eric cantor, consider closing tax loopholes without raising new revenue, and jim demint, tom coburn, paul rand, mike lee and others, raised the debt ceiling only if a balanced budget amendment is passed. the search for a so-called grand bargain. from "the new york times" coverage. president obama plans to meet privately with nancy pelosi, suggesting the white house is turning its attention to sitting democrats. that laid the later on it says mr. obama and mr. boehner seem united to pursue as big a deal as possible. next is a call from clinton, new jersey. jean, a republican. caller: i think a great way to trim the budget would be the $1 trillion we spend on the war on drugs in the past 40 years,

merkley: thank you, mr. president. today i rise to address an issue of fairness for our national guard soldiers. our national guard troops serve with honor and bravery at home and abroad. they have earned the respect and admiration of an entire nation with their incredible sacrifices over the last decade. we must not forget that they have also, in addition to our respect and admiration, earned their compensation and their benefits. to take back a veterans' compensation after she or he has fulfilled the requirements is unthinkable, yet that is exactly what is happening around the country in regard to national guard bonuses. let me share with you the story of private first clas class chea wells. this is emblematic of the many stories that they're facing today. and i would like to thank congressman waldon to bringing this to the public's attention and to my attention. i add my voice to his to call for fairness for private first class chelsea wells and for all other members of the national guard. first private class wells

recused from a number of cases and that i would have an impact and we now know from the data and merkley to make that case she did recuse from a large number of cases roughly one-third of the cases, 28 cases, but they didn't really according to the numbers matter. 15 of those cases in which the justices were unanimous, 11 came in cases in which the decision was either six to two or five to three, so the two cases in which it made a difference were the ones in which the court affirmed the judgment by an equally divided vote. one was the kosko case involving the first sale doctrine and copyright law and the other considered the constitutionality of the statute of about citizenship and whether out of wedlock mothers and fathers had different standards and the equal protection clause. justice kagan route seven opinions from the term from a majority opinions on par with what the recent predecessors did. she agreed most frequently with justice so my or roughly 90% of the time and disagreed the most with justice thomas. their agreement rate was only about 62%. one of the dynamic that the number

charlie valeo anderson have the privileges of the floor for the balance of the day from senator merkley's office. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i would also ask unanimous consent that i would speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, we all know that on tuesday, we're running against the deadline on raising the debt of our nation, and there is a real risk that if we don't make that deadline on tuesday, there will be checks from the federal government that will not be able to go out. the 70 million number is used, the number of checks that are written each month by the federal government that go to employees, that go to contractors, that go to recipients of certain benefits. let me talk about 4,000 federal workers who already have been furloughed, and it doesn't have to do with raising the debt ceiling. it has to do with the failure of the house of representatives to send a clean extension of the federal aviation administration, f.a.a. reauthorization bill for us to consider. as a result of t

lautenberg, franken, rockefeller, reed of rhode island, whitehouse, brown of ohio, sanders, kerry, merkley, stabenow, inouye, leahy and cardin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i withdraw my motion to proceed to s. 123. the presiding officer: the motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: i move to proceed to s.j. res. 20. the presiding officer: the motion is before the senate. mr. reid: i ask consent that the time until 5:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, that any time spent in quorum call be equally divided, and there is already an order in effect that republicans will be limited to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president. rhett the -- the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: mr. president, international trade is one of the best ways to create good-paying jobs for our people. as long

presiding, and i was -- i was supposed to preside last week, and three senators, senator durbin, senator merkley and my cousin mark udall stepped up to help me with presiding time. i had an amendment that was on the floor when we were dealing with the rules package, and senator harkin helped me with that proposal. so there was a real team effort within our democratic caucus to help me to be able to work on the wildfire issue out in new mexico and be able to stay there and have my capable staff and the other senators help out. and i just want to thank everybody for that team effort. now, the wildfires that are raging across new mexico are not only in new mexico. a number of states have been hit. texas, arizona, florida, and generally -- and my home state of new mexico. generally what we see in this country is the fire season starts at the southern part and moves up to the north as we go through the summer season, and in the southwest, we have had an extraordinary fire season. i was just briefed by secretary vilsack when i was out there. he talked in the southwest region about 1,600-plus fires bur

merkley: thank you, madam president. i rise to address senator wyden's amendment number 570 regarding the closure of the umatilla chemical depot. it is a measure i'm proud to partner with him in. this is a very important issue to my home state of oregon. we have a situation where at this depot, 20 years of planning have gone forward to arrange for the final transition of this chemical depot based on the base realignment and closing commission's recommendations. indeed, the bracc commission as it is known noted that -- quote -- "on completion of the chemical demille tarrization mission in accordance with treaty obligations, close the umatilla chemical depot in oregon." unquote. and this was language that was specifically done to recognize that the chemical depot had to complete its work dismantling the chemical weapons stored there, according to the chemical weapons convention treaty, and that that treaty had a deadline of april 29, 2012, and thus it wasn't clear that the work would be done within the six years outlined f

, with that, i would ask unanimous consent that carlos algara, an intern in the office of senator merkley shall, be granted floor privileges for the remainder of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coats: and, with that, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from alaska. mr. begich: mr. president, i rise to speak briefly about the progress in the nation of croatia, which i was honored to visit recently. at the invitation of the croatian minister of defense, i participated in what is known as the croatian summit, a gathering of leaders from eastern europe. the theme of this year's summit was "a new decade for southeast europe: finalizing the transition." less than 15 years ago after a terrible ethnic -- less than 15 years after a terrible ethnic war had devastated croatia, the nation is making enormous progress. it is rapidly making a transition to a market-based economy and its government leaders are committed to a strong and lasting partnership with the united states. they are a great partner of ours in afghanistan and