mr. cardin: and with that, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, the senator from connecticut is recognized. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i would like to join others of my colleagues in thanking and commending the majority leader, senator reid, for his tireless and relentless work in extraordinarily difficult circumstances. he has been a model for me as a new member of the senate in leading this body, and many of my other democratic colleagues in the leadership, and some of our republican colleagues as well -- senator johnny isakson, for example, of georgia who spoke to this chamber yesterday morning and who demonstrated his determination, as others on the other side of the aisle have done to work together in reaching an agreement. as the majority leader said just moments

mr. cardin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak up to ten minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: we're getting dangerously close to the august 2 deadline. the august 2 deadline is the deadline for america to increase its debt limit or to face default on our obligations. we are -- we need to come together. we need to increase the debt lipt and this is an opportunity for us also to manage our debt. we've been talking about this for a while. and i understand -- i think my colleagues understand that the responsible thing for us to do is to use this opportunity to increase the debt limit, to also give us a game plan to manage our national debt and spending. we need to have a credible plan. our debt is not sustainable. we can't continue along this path. we understand that. and we have to have a credible plan to manage our deficit. quite frankly, mr. president, the democrats have come up with these plans. the proposal offered by senator conrad, t

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask for up to ten minutes to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. i take this time to point out the obvious, and that is we're 13 days away from august the 2nd, the date that secretary geithner that is indicated that if we do not raise the debt ceiling, america rungs the risk of defaulting on its debt and not paying our bills. i bring this up because this is an issue that we never should be this close to this deadline. it's been pointed out many times that the debt ceiles has very little -- creeling has very little to do with how much money we spend because we've already spent this money. the question is whether we're is going to pay our bills, whether the united states is going to live up to our obligations or whether we're going to default on our debt? the prospect of not making that deadline is basic lynn thinkable, that the -- is basically unthinkable, that the united states would give up its pree

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 the failure to pass a reauthorization of the federal aviation admin

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that capital michael k. lynch, u.s. army aviation officer whose currently serving as the defense legislative fellow for the majority leader, be granted floor privileges for the duration of s. 125, the military construction authorization act for fiscal year 2012. the presiding officer: officer without objection, so ordered. mr. cardin: i take this time to talk about the pending business, which dwells how we're going to deal with the deficit of this country and the debt ceiling limit that will be exceeded in august if we don't take any action in the congress. first, let me talk a little bit about the debt ceiling. there's been a lot of talk about the debt ceiling as to what is the responsible thing for congress to do. we all know that over the last 50 years or so, the debt ceiling has increased over 80 tiessments it's done after the fact. that means we've already incurred the liability. the decisions we've to make in regards to our fiscal policies need

mr. cardin: madam president, let me first thank our assistant democratic leader, majority leader, for hisincredible work on the subject, on the bowles-simpson commission, senator durbin, you were a real voice of reason and brought together diverse views. we need that this week. and then with the gang of six, with our colleagues on both sides of the aisle, you were able to bring us together achieving two goals. that's what we have to do. one is we need to raise the debt limit and secondly we need a credible plan to deal with the deficit. and i think you have added greatly to that -- accomplishing those goals, reaping across party lines, understanding it -- reaching across party lines, understanding that it cannot be what the republicans want, or what the democrats want, but we must work together. we have seven days away from the august 2 date. we have two goals. goal number one is to raise the debt limit so we don't default on america's obligations. raising the debt limit needs to be our goal number one. we've already incurred this debt. this is not about increasing america's spending. thi

mr. cardin: first let me thank the senator from ohio, senator brown, for his leadership for working families. we were colleagues in the house of representatives, there was "no" no more effective voice on behalf of working families. and then congressman brown, now senator brown. i want to thank him for bringing these issues to our attention. there's been an all-out assault on the dignity of working families in this country at all levels. i am going to talk a little bit about the budget deliberations because i believe here also we find an assault upon middle-income families and as president kennedy said, to governor is to choose. we've never had a clearer choice of two different visions of america. and i want to talk a little bit about that. because i know we're all working hard to reach a fair compromise, and i am you a one of those -- and i'm one of those who believe that the final agreement will not be what the democrats want or the rentes want. we'll have to do a compromise. i see the republicans who are -- heard some of the speeches just recently given on the floor, who are really trying

mr. mccutcheon. the pirates, they win, 5-2. >>> albert pujols and cardinals taking on the astros in the lou.ottom three, one on, one up. pujols, doubling down the right field line. jon jay, the founding father, he comes on home, cardinals out in front, it's 3-1. top six now, astros up 5-3. carlos lee, el caballo, he can hit, that's gone to left. astro, they go on to get the "w," 5-3 your final count. that'll do it for us. i'm cole wright, and don't forget, for the latest on the sports scene check out the highlight express. >>> the raiders will have a grandma cheering them on from the sidelines, but she's not related to any of them this. this is susie sanchez, the newest member of the team's cheerleading squad. >> sanchez is 37, a mother of three and grandmother of one, pretty good-looking grandmother and it's been her lifelong dream to make the squad. so she tried out year after year and finally this one, she made it. >> congrgrulations, i like to see that. age is a state of mind. >>> well up next, the stories we'll be following later including late night drama on capitol hill. will republic

cardin? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i feel very strongly that the war powers act has been triggered and that the president had obligation to come for authorization and we have an obligation to deal with this by resolution. and i'm going to support senator lugar's amendment because i think that clarifies the issue and makes it clear that the war powers act, in fact, was triggered. the president should respect that. i don't think we can by legislation resolve the conflict between the executive and legislative branch on this. i just don't think we can't do it. and there may be other options that the president believes other than the two that senator corker has listed in his options. i think senator corker, what you try to do is make it as crystal clear about the war powers but i don't think we can by legislation resolve this issue in this resolution. we may want to revisit the war powers act. maybe that's what we should be doing. but in this resolution dealing with the libya situation, we make it clear that the war powers

whitehouse boxer casey sanders lautenberg brown of ohio, reed of rhode island, feinstein merkley cardin, levin, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president i now move to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to proceed. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the under undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction the department of veterans affairs and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the reading of

cardinals go on to win it, 1-0. >>> to florida, vance worley, off his glorchlt gets worley at first. mr.verage 6'4" out. >> and finally, get ready for some rapid forced eating. the 96th national hot dog-eating contest. after ten minutes of inhaling dogs, joey chestnut is the wien wiener. he's the top dog. i'm sure he'll relish the moment for life. that's a look at sports. >>> for another look at the weather, here's nbc's meteorologist bill karins, who's always good with a hot dog pun. >> it's always difficult to add something with sauerkraut. let's take a look at this forecast. good morning, everyone. temperatures very warm. joining us in the washington area, down in virginia we had a lot of thunderstorms. this morning, everything is clearing out. you can see all the clouds, the white pushing off the coast. that means the front is-off shore. so it's less hue mitt, but it hasn't dropped the temperatures. with full sunshine, it's going to be a hot day in the sun. in the shade it will probably feel oklahoma. in d.c. and maryland, mostly clouds. in new england, sunny and bright. probably a g

mr. speaker, at this time i'm very happy to yield two minutes to a hardworking member of the committee on appropriations, one of our cardinals, the gentleman from savannah, georgia, mr. kingston. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kingston: i thank the gentleman for yielding and i must begin, mr. speaker, by asking, do you have the president's plan or perhaps do any of the democrats over there have the president's plan? i keep hearing that this plan is not a good one, it's not a compromise, hasn't been vetted. i'd like to see the president's plan. that way i can sit down with a sheet and compare the president's plan with the plan of senator reid, with the plan proposed by speaker boehner. there's nothing. nothing but silence. how long has he been president? nearly three years. he knew the debt crisis was looming out there, he knew that there would be a debate about the debt ceiling. indeed, as a senator in 2006 barack obama voted no to a debt ceiling increase citing lack of leadership. surely since that moment in 2006 he knew he would have to be dealing with the debt ceiling, he knew medicare needed re

reid of nevada, baucus, boxer, levin, harkin, cardin, schumer, durbin, leahy, warner, murray, coons, blumenthal, brown of ohio, conrad, begich, kerry, stabenow. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 590 to amendment numbered 589. mr. reid: i have a motion to refer the house message to the budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to refer the house message to the senate budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment numbered 591. mr. reid: ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the yeas and nays will be ordered. mr. reid: now, mr. president, i have an amendment to my that is also at the desk. -- to my instructions that is also at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. r

in the senate floor, ben cardin of the senate budget committee tacked about the need to raise the debt ceiling and the expectations of the budget released as senator conrad. >> mrere has been a lot of debt thg ceiling as to what is the responsible thing for congress to do? or now, we all know what the lastis 50 years or so: the debt ceiling has been increased over 80 times. it is done after the fact.dy we've incurred liability and the question is whether repair bill. the decisions we make in regards to our fiscal policies need to be down at the time we considery the budget. and raising the debt ceiling is not only a legal responsibility that we have to pay our bills,lt as well as ao moral responsibility and speaks to what they were willing to speak to our observations. would the filter raise the debt ceiling to be a responsible. it would jeopardize our nationa. security because it would cost taxpayers more money and they would say to the world that the u.s. bonds, which are the safest in the world are called into question. so i think we all should agreee that we need to make sure that we increase the debt ceiling ino time so that we do not cause this adverse ef