mr. bennet: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. bennet: thank you, mr.president, and thank you for recognizing me. i'm pleased to be here today with my senior senator from colorado to talk about these important issues, and the first thing i wanted to talk about was the debt ceiling itself because people at home have -- have -- are asking me constantly, michael, what in the world is going on back there? we're dealing with our budget at the local level, we're dealing with our budget at the state level, we're making choices that aren't popular and that aren't easy to make, but we're moving ahead, we're making decisions in our businesses, we're making decisions at home, we're moving ahead. what's wrong with washington, d.c.? part of the problem in this place is that people aren't just entitled, it seems, to their own opinions. they are also entitled to their own set of facts, and i think when you're getting paid by the taxpayer, you have an obligation to actually not play with your own set of facts but to come out here and say, you know, what the facts reall

mr. bennet: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from colorado is recognized. mr. bennet: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to implore my colleagues and implore the negotiators that are working on this budget issue to come to a comprehensive solution that meaningfully addresses our deficit and our debt. mr. president, if you -- if all you knew about our politics was what you see on the television at night, you would think that we were committed to an endless stream of invective, of name calling, of division, that we had absolutely no interest or desire to solve the nation's problems or solve the nation's challenges, and you would be right sort of to give up all hope that we could actually honor the heritage of our parents and our grandparents and make sure that we are not the first generation of americans to leave less opportunity, not more to our kids and our grandkids. that's what you might think if all you knew about our country was what you saw on the tv at night. fortunately, i have had the privilege, as has everybody in this body, to travel my state and t

hereby appoint the honorable michael bennet, a senator from the state of colorado, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will be in morning business until 11:00 a.m. today. the republicans will control the first half, the majority controlling the final half. i would ask at this time, mr. president, that the morning business hour be a full hour, not stop at 11:00. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: the filing deadline for second-degree amendments is s. 2 s 782, the e.d.a. bill is at 11:00 a.m. this morning. following morning business, the senate will be in executive session to consider the nomination of michael simon to be united states district judge in oregon. at noon, there will be a vote on confirmatio