the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: mr. president, i have two unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous coent these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: mr. president, i rise today to discuss the agreement that has been reached between leaders in the senate and the house, republicans and democrats, and the president of the united states with resct to an extension of the debt limit and certain deficit-reduction steps to be taken in conjunction with that action. mr. president, i want to remind colleagues that if we fail to act, most economists believe we would face an interest rate spike and for everyon percentable point increase in interest rates, we would add $1.3 trillion to deficits and debt over ten years. mr. president, if there was only a 200 basis point increase, that would wipe out all of the ficit reduction that i

mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri is recognized. mr. blunt: mr. president, i rise in support of the bill. i would say that for the second time in about a week i've come to the floor to speak after one of my friends on the other side who was talking about what we ought to be talking about, and both times they were right. they said we should be talking about private-sector job creation. but, mr. president, i'll just say where are the bills to do that with? we've been here the week of the 4th of july we were here, and we had two votes that week. one was to compel the senators who didn't show up to show up. and the other one was on some motion to proceed to cloture on something that had nothing to do with job creation or any of the other things that we should be talking about. you know, we could talk about what we ought to be talking about, and that would be one thing. but of course what we are talking about today is the moment we have arrived at, the date that was set by th

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, i have not wanted to pursue this issue because the debt ceiling issue has absorbed all of the air in the room and in the united states, as it should. it's a huge priority. but i have to set the record straight a little bit about how this came about. first of all, let me say, i agree with the house position. i would reverse the n.m.b. decision because i think it's wrong. however, what happened here is that after 20 extensions of the f.a.a. bill because of disagreements on several issues, the house decided to put this one -- well, actually, to be honest, the house didn't even bring up n.m.b., they put another issue on the extension language and it's the essential air service language, which we have been trying to negotiate but have not yet come to a full agreement among all of the parties. but it's really the n.m.b. issue that is causing the house to shut down the f.a.a. so the entire f.a.a. -- not the air traffic controllers, thank goodness, but 3,492 employees of the f.a.a.

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: first of all, u.a.e.ppreciate your patience in presiding over the senate at this late hour. and i want to extend my appreciation to this staff. everybody here for all their work -- about the last month it has been very, very difficult. i appreciate very, very much the professionalism that's shown here in the senate and the efforts they go to to make all of us look good. and sometimes they takes a lot of -- that takes a lost effort. i do appreciate their working so hard together. here at the desk here, that is -- if there's anything that's ever bipartisan, it's right here, republicans, democrats, and here there is no partisanship on the senate floor. step back a little bit and there is when you're away from the professional staff. but i appreciate very much your hard work. mr. president, we've tried for days now to change what the republicans and the house have tried to do to the american people. in fact it appears they're going to be able to do it. we have the extension of the fe

mr. president. then the bill comes due and they say to president obama, sorry, mr. president, we're not going to cooperate with you. they walked out on him. at least three times. we finally got a deal because some of us -- and i say harry reid, strong. vice president biden, strong. mitch mcconnell, strong. nancy pelosi, strong. the president made sure that at the end of the day we didn't default. but what a spectacle in the world. the world can't even believe this, mr. president, and i know your hard work to get what we call a big deal, a major deal, a $4 trillion deficit reduction that was fair. that asked the millionaires and the billionaires and the multinational corporations to do something. but no, that wasn't to be. and we wasted time. a lot of time. and what happened? we almost brought the country to its knees and thank god it didn't happen is all i can say. and i felt strongly if we hadn't gotten an agreement, the president would have had to invoke the 14th amendment in order to save our country from this hostage taking. so that was a made-up crisis, never ha

mr. president. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri is recognized. mr. blunt: mr. president, i rise in support of the bill. i would say that for the second time in about a week i've come to the floor to speak after one of my friends on the other side who was talking about what we ought to be talking about, and both times they were right. they said we should be talking about private-sector job creation. but, mr. president, i'll just say where are the bills to do that with? we've been here the week of the 4th of july we were here, and we had two votes that week. one was to compel the senators who didn't show up to show up. and the other one was on some motion to proceed to cloture on something that had nothing to do with job creation or any of the other things that we should be talking about. you know, we could talk about what we ought to be talking about, and that would be one thing. but of course what we are talking about today is the moment we have arrived at, the date that was set by th

mr. reid: ask unanimous consent that the quorum call being termed. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the the senator from kentucky. mr. mcconnell: over the past few weeks congress has been engaged in a very important debate. it may have been messy, it might have appeared to some like their government wasn't working, but in fact the opposite was true. the push and pull americans saw in washington these past few weeks was not gridlock. it was the will of the people working itself out and a political system that was never meant to be pretty. you see, one reason america isn't already facing the kind of crisis we see in europe is that presidents and majority parties here can't just bring about change on a dime. as much as they might like to from time to time. that's what checks and balances is all about. and that's the kind of balance americans voted for in november. the american people sent a wave of new lawmakers to congress in last november's election with a very clear mandate: to put our natio

mr. president, i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller. i just wanted to hear you say it. the presiding officer: the senior senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: we are entering the second week of a partial shutdown of the federal aviation administration. i know that the congress, the president, and the american people have been focused on the debt, deficit crisis, but behind that and not in the shadows to those of us who care about aviation i want people to understand that what has been happening to the f.a.a. is causing enormous pain. throughout the country. and the pain will only grow because of an apparent shutdown of the attempts to pass the federal aviation administration bill, primarily because of the house. the -- because congress has failed to pass a 21st short-term extension of the f.a.a. -- do you understand what that means? in other words it's simply saying i'd like to have a clean bill of extension. that's all. no policy, just a clean bill to give us

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas is recognized. mr. moran: mr. president, thank you for recognizing me. i'm honored to be once again on the senate tphraofrplt i've spoken many -- senate floor. i've spoken many times on the issue that is before us for a vote in a few minutes. this is a significant point in our country's financial history, a time in which politics has played its course and decisions have to be made. i come here at this moment with no real joy. we put the american people through a lot, certainly over the last several months as we asked them to follow us along as we discussed this idea of raising the debt ceiling. there was some thought by many of us that we could use this moment of raising the debt ceiling to make some significant changes in the way that we do business in washington, d.c. and in fact, on march 22 of this year, i wrote president obama a letter indicating that i could not vote to raise the debt ceiling unless i saw substantial reductions in spending and structural changes in the way that we do business in the united st

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. mr. vitter: thank you, madam president. madam president, i'm happy to be the first to take the distinguished majority leader up on his offer and be here on the floor to talk about this very important matter. madam president, i plan on voting "no" on this proposal. it is a very important matter. its in many ways the greatest challenge we face as a nation, so i don't come to this decision lightly. but i do come to it firmly for three primary reasons. first of all, the most important, this bill, this so-called solution, doesn't fundamentally change our spending and debt picture. it plays around the marine in, doesn't make any big change whatsoever. to put it differently, i don't want to default under any circumstances but i don't want a downgrade of our credit rating, either. and from everything, the markets and the credit rating agencies, moody's and standard & poor's have said for months, this would result in a downgrade. this would result in higher interest rates, first for the government

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, i stand to address this body to honor -- to honor the life of one of utah's great citizens, a good friend of mine, former utah governor norman bangeter who announced on saturday that his beloved wife of 58 years had passed away after a long-time battle with alzheimer's disease. colleen swanson bangeter having been born in 1935 was the mother of six children, the mother also of one foster son, and in many respects was the friend to all of utah's three million residents. she served faithfully in many capacities including as p.t.a. president and other offices within the p.t.a. she also served faithfully in a variety of positions as a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. just a few years ago, she and her husband, former governor bangeter pre?rieded over the church of jesus christ of latter day saints mission in south africa. they worked hand in hand in raising their children, in running the governor's campaigns and in running the state throughout his time a

the presiding officer: we're not. mr. harkin: i ask that two members of my staff be granted floor privileges for the duration of today's proceedings. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: mr. president, the debt ceiling agreement that will soon come before the senate is a clear and present danger to the fragile, indeed faltering economic recovery. to say that this is the wrong policy at the wrong time is a gross understatement. you have to ask the question is anyone paying attention? we just learned that economic growth fell to a 1.3% annual rate in the second quarter and the first quarter growth was revised downward sharply to .4%, virtually flat. the economy created a meager 15,000 jobs in the month of june, again flat, barely even keeping up with population growth. last month, nearly 25 million americans could not find full-time employment. let me repeat that. 25 million americans are effectively out of work. state and local governments continue to slash funding and jobs at a stunning pace, destroying an

the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. schumer: mr. president, first, i know you care a lot about dr. agnes faris as well, so as soon as i speak i will take the chair so you may say a few words about her as well. i would like to say some words about a great american, a wonderful new yorker, a

mr. president. >> if we could go to our consent agenda, items one through eight. these items will be acted on by a single role call vote. if a member requests discussion of a matter, it shall be removed and considered separately. >> colleagues, would anyone like to receiver any items? role cahill vote? >> on items 1-8. mirkarimi aye, wiener, aye. avalos aye. campos aye. president chiu, eye. supervisor chu. aye. supervisor cohen aye. yell aye. farrell aye. kim, aye. mar, aye. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: these ordinances are passed and approved. >> item number is the ordinance limiting the amount of over time work to 20% and to require written reports to be submitted by the departments implementing this ordinance. >> i want to thank the members of the various labor unions that have met with me for a second time to confer. we had a number of questions that we need to receive from city staff. i would like to ask to continue this item to the first meeting in september. september 6th. supervisor c

mr. president, whoever the next president is will be back asking to raise the debt ceiling again. it will provide another opportunity for us to focus on the subject raised by the request to raise the debt ceiling. so we'll be back at it probably in the early part of 2013, trying to continue to make progress toward reducing the size and scope of government and reducing our spending. this kind of discussion isn't something to dread. it's something to welcome. and while the president may not have particularly enjoyed this debate we've just been through, it was a debate that washington very much needed to have. as for the particulars, this legislation caps spending over the next ten years with a mechanism that ensures that these cuts actually stick. it protects the american people from government default that would have affected every single one of them in one way or another. it puts in place a powerful joint committee that will recommend further cuts and much-needed reforms. it doesn't include a dime, not a dime in job-killing tax hikes at a moment when our economy can least afford t

mr. president. >> mr. president. >> senator from arizona. >> i will support this legislation with very seriousmie reservations. et cetera the premisepiece of ls debt ceiling extension is not the one piece of legislation that will change everythingus wrong in washington. road it is at best a reversal of previous tax and policy, with i, some movement down the route to fiscal t responsibility. debt, the bill sets us on a course that if we adhere to it will eventually enable us to balance a budget, track downnd our debtc put entitlement programs on a t sustainable path and create the conditions for strong economic hoe growth, but it could've been tad better is absolutely true as a substantive matter. but politically, the white house and attacks democrats in congress would not agree to mors and they control this chamber and the executive branch of invs government. a second premise of republican leadership is that the united i. government must pay its bills, not just to investors in u.s.e bonds, but to fulfill co

i said mr president thank you very much for agreeing to answer our questions let us go back to the events of two thousand and eight back then you met with the georgian president mikheil saakashvili and there was an impression at that point he was in the east and the moscow that he had arrived at some sort of an accord and the dispute would not be allowed to boil all into an armed conflict which is what you tell us whether you manage to agree on an ascent with the georgian president. says. the question you know catherine i had the same impression of the time when i can still recall meeting president saakashvili for the first time it was in some petersburg we met in the constantine palace and mr secretary arrived i told him literally you know there are many problems in the region of the moment georgia isn't obs with these unrecognized states but i can assure you that as a newly elected president of russia i should do everything in my capacity to help him find some compromise solution that would accommodate everyone i would eventually facilitate a reintegration of georgian territory if that'

the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. lee: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. lee: mr. president, i stand today to explain my reasons for voting against the debt limit increase that we will be voting on in just about a half an hour from now. this is a crisis that america faces. it's an ongoing crisis that will neither be created nor eliminated with today's vote. this is a crisis that has been building gradually over the course of years. decades, in fact. it's a crisis that we have certainly known about ever since this congress was sworn in in january of this year. this is a crisis that threatens potentially every federal program from defense to entitlements, because as we continue to borrow more money as a nation, adding to the already almost $15 trillion that we have accumulated in national debt, roughly $50,000 for every man, woman and child in america, roughly every $ -- $150,000 for every taxpayer in america. as we continue to add to that enorm

mr. president. once upon a time, when you were a young man, all you had to do was show up. >> the next president of the united states! >> and teeming throngs of people would gather to cheer you on. ♪ nothing's standing in the way ♪ >> reporter: they even wrote songs about you. >> yes, we can. >> reporter: as a young person yourself, you were convinced anything was possible. but here you were this week, all by yourself in the oval office, signing the debt ceiling bill, looking for all the world like a guy who is chagrinned, resigned, fatigued. with all due respect, you look like a guy who is turning 50. >> you'll never be cool again. >> reporter: dave barry is the author of "i'll mature when i'm dead." he has sobering news and a tip. >> please, mr. president, whatever you do, keep your pants low. i don't mean -- not too low, the way kids do, but don't get them too high. they seem like they keep going up, up, up, when you're 90, they're up to your neck. you don't want to get to that. >> reporter: the c

mr president am i correct to assume that the way you see it that visit by the u.s. secretary of state was meant to urge president saakashvili. do you think the united states was deliberately encouraging georgia to pursue a conflict with almost no i don't think so the united states is a very large country headed by pragmatic people but in politics connotations a nuance is a very important as it is i don't believe the americans have heard georgia's president to reinvade but i do believe that there were certain subtleties and certain hints made statements like it's time to restore constitutional order or it's time to be more assertive which could effectively feed saakashvili as a parent hopes that the americans would back him in any conflict that they would stand up for georgia and even go to war with the russians therefore i do see a relation between ms rice's visit to georgia and the events that followed just as i see a link in my further discussions with the u.s. president our phone conversation and then also from the meetings at that. there was no green light from t

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i ask unanimous consent that the period for morning business be extended until 6:00 p.m. with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you, mr. president. i appreciate the senator from minnesota being willing to stay in the chair for a few more minutes before i have to preside so that i can take this time to express my concern about what's happened with the failure to reauthorize the federal aviation administration. the authorization for that administration has expired and it's led to a partial shutdown of that agency and to 4,000 workers being placed on unpaid furlough. a number of those workers are from new hampshire. and while i know that all of us here are glad that we were able to come together to reach a bipartisan agreement on raising the debt ceiling and avoiding a financial crisis, i am deeply disappointed that bipartisanship has failed us when it comes to reauthorizing the f.a.a. i understan

mr. president, can we have order please? want to make it clear think disturbance or manifestation of approval or disapproval is prohibited under the senate rules. the majority leader may proceed. mr. reid: i appreciate the kind words that my counterpart mr. mcconnell has stated on the floor, i've gotten to know him and speaker boehner a lot better this past month or two. especially the speaker. even though i disagree vehemently with the direction the speaker's legislation took with no bipartisan support at all, it is not the product we have here. the product we have here is one of compromise. the winners, without trying to the winners, without trying to to the winners are especiallyroh one winner through all this is the americanties we sold for less than we wantedo so did my friend, the leader, the republican senator, but they that's the way legislation works and compromise works. but i can't let go without bo responding to my friend who boasted about the new senators and members of congress who came here. all i welcome, them

mr president am i correct to assume that the way you see it that visit by the u.s. secretary of state was meant to urge president saakashvili into war. no i don't think so the united states is a very large country headed by pragmatic people but in politics connotations a nuance is a very important there was a time once back when i was head of the presidential administration when i paid a visit to the white house and met with none other than condi rice and the then head of the president's executive office and at some point we were joined by george w. bush he simply walked in in a common casual manner like hey hello and the first thing he told me was you know misha really is a great guy i said to him mr president i don't know i've never met him maybe i will one day. unfortunately his words have proved to be darkly prophetic mind you know those were the very first words i heard from george bush during our personal meeting. as it is i don't believe the american said georgia's president to invade but i do believe that there were certain subtleties and certain hints made s

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: mr. president, we just passed legislation that would raise the debt ceiling and as a part of that was an effort to reverse the debt trajectory we are on, but it can only be called at best a first step. i think pretty much we could all agree on that. indeed, there was an article in the "financial times" about professors rogoff and reinhart who've written a book that's gotten a great deal of attention. it's widely respected. describing and analyzing sovereign debt, national countries who've gone -- which have gone bankrupt around the world. and their comments were it's -- much of what occurred in our debate is like those other nations. we -- the other nations scramble around when the pressure's on with something like a debt ceiling and they don't really change anything significantly but they meet the crisis and tell everybody everything's okay. and they say in this article in the "financial times" everything's not okay. indeed, the debt will increase over the next ten years app

mr. president, look at your hair.air gets any whiter, the tea party is going to endorse it. >> reporter: the office does seem to age its occupants quickly. lincoln, going in and shortly before his death at 56, four years and look at the change. fdr going in and then at the end, and yes, it was 12 years but he was only 63 years old. indeed, a doctor at the cleveland clinic who has made a study of presidential aging has done some calculations. >> every president from roosevelt through obama, for every year they're in office, they age two years, or they age twice as fast as the typical person in the population. >> reporter: that's based on looking back how long presidents survive once they're elected. their vital signs coming in and going out. so, ronald reagan, starting out, loloing like this, left after his two terms at a calendar 77 but a presidential accelerated age of 85. george w. bush, add two terms, that makes him calendar 62 but age accelerated 70. >> what they have that they don't take care of well is stress. >

mr president, we have to work both sides of this equation. if we go back and reconstruct how did we get in this ditch, historian may 1st, 2011, in the washington post is instructed. here's what they found. the biggest culprit by far has been an erosion of tax revenue triggered largely by two recessions and multiple rounds of tax cuts. the economy and tax bills that former president george w. bush and lesser extent by president obama wiped out $6.3 trillion in anticipated revenue. that is nearly half of the $12.7 trillion swing from projected surpluses to real debt. federal tax collections now stand at their lowest level as a percentage of the economy in 60 years. confirming the point i just made. in addition if one examines our history going back to 1969 and look at the five times we balance the budget, each of those times revenue was almost 20% of gdp. right now remember what i just said? revenue is 14.5% of gdp. five times in 1969 we balance the budget, revenue was 19.7% of gdp in 69. in 1998 it was 19.9. in 1999 it was 19.8. in 2000 it was

mr. president? president mazzucco: that's a good question. whenever we calendar it. that wasn't necessarily the end of the calendar year or end of the fiscal year. just whenever we calendar it and i don't remember it happening -- i think we have done that off more than on. >> yes. >> and you tend to submit yours. >> i submit mine president mazzucco: >> yes. >> i do. >> director hicks, do you have a particular date or month that you -- that you have calendared that you typically do that? >> in the next few months you are due one from me. started in november of 2007, seems that within about a year, you reviewed my performance. so you have reviewed my performance twice as a commission. >> well, for consistency, why doesn't the commission decide what month each year, what week, whether it's the second weekend

mr. president? president mazzucco: that's a good question. whenever we calendar it. that wasn't necessarily the end of the calendar year or end of the fiscal year. just whenever we calendar it and i don't remember it happening -- i think we have done that off more than on. >> yes. >> and you tend to submit yours. >> i submit mine president mazzucco: >> yes. >> i do. >> director hicks, do you have