mr. heller: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nevada. mr. heller: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to ten minuteminutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. heller: thank you, madam president. i rise today to recognize the great state of nevada, as we celebrate 150 years of statehood. it is a remarkable opportunity to speak on the floor of this chamber about this milestone, given the role that congress played in the formation of the silver state. the movement to make the nevada territory a state began within the territory, but the first attempt to formulate a constitution failed. shortly affirmation the 38th congress passed an enabling act for nevada statehood, signed by president abraham lincoln on march 21, 1864, this bill made it possible for nevada to eventually adopt a state constitution. lincoln proclaimed nevada a state on october 31, 1864. the guarantee of statehood was given to us by abraham lincoln, who with our assistance would go on to pass a 13th amendment, win the civil war and heal a b

mr. heller: madam president, i'd like to begin by thanking my friend from rhode island for his continued work to help the american people by temporarily extending unemployment insurance benefits. this is something that he and i have been working on together since this past december. pleased to have finally reached a bipartisan agreement that can pass this chamber. i admire my colleague's dedication and i'm greatly pleased we're here this week to support our efforts to keep american families on their feet during this tough economy. i also want to thank senators collins, portman, murkowski and kirk for their continued willingness to come to the table to craft a bill that could garner enough support to pass in this chamber. i'd also like to recognize some of my other colleagues, senator coats, senator ayotte, who, though not cosponsors on this bill today, were instrumental in these negotiations from the beginning. i understand their concerns and i also share their desire to see additional reforms to these programs. regardless, i am grateful for their contribution over the past few months. i

mr. heller: thank you, madam president. i'd first like to thank senators gillibrand, mccaskill, ayotte, and fisher for their hard work on this issue, and my friend from south carolina, who has worked passionately and hard on this issue also. as someone who strongly believes in bipartisanship, i'm glad to see the senate moving forward today on debating and voting on this particular issue. while we may not all agree thousand best solve this particular issue, we can all agree that it's too important not to debate and ultimately vote on ways to address it. madam president, our military is the greatest fighting force in the world -- that the world has ever known. the freedoms we enjoy as americans are because men and women continue to volunteer to serve and to protect our nation. the vast majority of these men and women serve with honor and integrity. however, there are a few bad actors in our military who commit crimes against their fellow service members. the question the senate faces is whether or not the military justice sys

mr. chairman, for allowing me to ask that question. if i have to leave, i hope you will forgive me. thank you. >> senator heller. >> thank you for your testimony. it is good to see you here. afternoon, i have a secretary coming into my office. i am going to ask a lot of questions. this earns backlog issue and progress, if any are being made. the issue of the lack of communication between my office and -- in reno. questions that you might think i should ask him. -- whate any questions question would you ask and i will take notes. this is your chance to advocate. to tellldn't presume you what to ask the secretary. is an airborne ranger, so he is my friend. he has told me that he will reduce the backlog by 2015. i would defer to members of my staff for any additional information they may want to share. >> i would love to hear from them. the v.a. is making progress on the backlog. advanced appropriations is necessary because every year thee is a lapse between start of the fiscal year and when the budget is finally approved. that causes all kinds of problems and training, and getting things accomplished in a busines

mr. president, i rise today to urge my colleagues to support the bipartisan agreement that i have reached with five of our colleagues from across the aisle. senators heller, collins, portman, murkowski and kirk, to provide emergency unemployment insurance to 2.7 million americans. this commonsense bipartisan agreement is one of the main things the senate should do to help create jobs and strengthen our economic recovery so that it works for every american, so everyone has a fair shot. so i hope my colleagues will join with us and pass this bill quickly so it can be taken up for a vote in the house. the individual and economic consequences from the lapse of these unemployment insurance funds are very clear. i have described many times, my colleagues have come to the floor many times and indicated the individual cases where people who have worked for years find themselves without a job through no fault of their own, desperately needing some modest assistance, and these benefits are about $300 or $350 a week just to keep going, to keep looking for work, to keep trying to be part of the work force, which they desperately want to do. we share these stories an

mr. reid: i ask that the senate finance committee be discharged from further consideration of 1821 and the snad proceed to its immediate consideration and a heller amendment be agreed to, the motion -- that i will the bill as amend be read a third time and passed, upon passage of the bill, it be held at the desk and that the senate receives a bill from the house, the text of which has been identical, as passed by the senate, the senate proceed to its immediate consideration, the bill be read a third time, passed, with no intervening action or debate, the senate will be indefinitely post -- the senate bill will being indefinitely postponed, all motions to reconsider be made laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: h.r. 3370 is due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk will report the title -- read the title of the bill for the second tievment. the clerk: an act to delay the implementation of certain provisions of the biggert-waters flood insurance act of 2012 and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, i would object to any further proceedings at this time. the presiding o

heller. this agreement will restore benefits to millions of long-term unemployed americans looking for work. so, mr. president, i urge all my colleagues to put philosophical differences aside in helping struggling families get the support they need and deserve. all we have to do is work together, democrats and republicans, to do what is right for our constituents in their hour of need. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: here on the senate floor, we often speak about numbers of great magnitude , whether we are speaking of the national debt, jobs or tax dollars, the numbers can be in the thousands, millions or even billions. sometimes these numbers are enough to numb even the most policy-minded to the sheer volume of the amount of people and resources that go into running the nation's capital city. but today as i bid farewell to rochelle eubanks, a diligent, beloved and loyal staffer for 25 years, there is one number in particular i want to bring to my colleagues' attention. that number is 1,807, 181. for a quarter of a century, rochelle has bee