mr. isakson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: i ask unanimous consent to vitiate the quorum. the presiding officer: sure, without objection. mr. isakson: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to be recognized as if in morning business and following my speech, for the senator from utah to be recognized, senator lee. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. isakson: mr. president, all of us know back in our home state,day today and every day there are men and women working hard to work the fields, manufacture the products, run the chambers of commerce, sell the groceries, cut the lawns and make our state and economy work. we also know as politicians serving in the united states senate, there's not a one of us that doesn't owe our community leadercommunity-- our jobsto co. back in georgia there is one person who meets that criteria. his name is woody woodsite, president of the golden chamber of commerce in brunswick, georgia. he is going to be honored for

mr. isakson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, i rise reluctantly to acknowledge that i'm going to vote in opposition to moving to cloture on this energy and water appropriations bill. reluctant because i have supported every single movement to go to appropriations acts because that's what the united states senate should be doing. but i will not reluctantly but will passionately forbe the following reason: including in this energy and water report is language that was to take place in the bill that would disadvantage my state of georgia and show a preference to other states that surround us. it is not our job as members of the senate to write language into a bill that directs what policy in country's agencies should follow. my state, florida, and alabama have been in litigation for 30 years over what's called the water wars in the a.c.f. and a.t.c. basin. they have been litigated in the courts. we have settled law with respect to the corps of engineers. it is my responsibility as a representative of my state to do what'

mr. isakson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: last night, the national defense authorization act arrived at the desk of the president of the united states. president obama has said he's going to veto it or he has threatened to veto it. i rise on the floor of the senate today to beg him to rethink his position and cause him before he moves too swiftly to send a message to the rest of the world that america is disengaged. if he vetoes the national defense authorization act, he is convincing and con confirming for vladimir putin, kim junk yun and the rest of the world that america is relegating itself to a spectator on the sideline of world affairs rather than a beacon of hope for the oppressed, those in search of democracy and those who are at the foot of dictators. it is time we've made our military was authorized and funded to the levels necessary. i've just returned from the mediterranean where i was on the u.s.s. winston churchill, a destroyer, that's dealing with many soft problems of migration, people flowing totalita

mr. isakson: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from georgia. mr. isakson: mr. president, i want to commend the distinguished senator from maine. she has articulately splaingdz d why we need to move forward. for six years now the united states senate has abdicated its responsibility to appropriate. we have left the prioritization of spending to faceless bureaucrats in faceless buildings in washington. the needs of our soldiers and our country have gone unneeded while we in here have argued about things that were actually impossible. came into this chamber today and listened to the distinguished senator from nevada, the minority leader, make the following statement: "he can't understand why the leader would bring forward a piece of not-pass legislation and not go to something more important." i want the senator to go to the claremont hospital and tell those soldiers who have sacrificed and risked their lives for us that their needs for health care are not more important or to tell jim webb, who passed the g.i. bill expansion a few years ago, that the educational

mr. rubin: no, sir. it tor isakson: i do, sir mr. martin: i do business. senator isakson: she's 9 p years old. she started out as n independent contractor and built one of the most successful businesses in america based on the model of incentive, compensation through sales and commissions, and independent contractor model. if you take one -- one of the things i have concern about, if you construe the indirect responsibility, indirect control too liberally to business you'll do awith small business, would you agree? mr. martin: yes. senator isakson: stealing the american dream of business ownership is exactly an appropriate title because abby holiday could not have done in dallas what she did if that law was in place in its application today. there are thousands of others in sales business, construction businesses, agricultural businesses, that operate under an interpent contractor. there is an application about stealing the opportunity for ownership that pays exactly to what we talked about today. i appreciate the time, mr. chairman. i yield back. senator e

mr. isakson: mr. president, i want to take a minute to acknowledge the presence of our chaplain today charles smith and his lovely wife jennifer and family members who traveled from georgia to be here today as he serves as our chaplain for today. charles has his doctrine of ministry from the southern baptist theological seminary. his wife is an ordained minister. meghan his niece serves us in the republican cloakroom and does so with joy to all of us. we want to welcome charles smith, his family and thank him for his witness and ministry today and thank you for his niece meghan who does such a great job for us. and i yield back. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. mcconnell: ask most americans to name two of the most basic duties of a senator, and you're likely to hear some combination of the following: number one, protect the country. that means working with us to pass the national defense authorization act. number two, fund the government. that means working

isakson. >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. martin, you've been in business 83 years and you have 140 employees. is that right? and 140 employee court reporter contractors average 15 employees. >> yes. >> if the indirect standard were aplayed by has been portend by some of the testimony today that means you go from 140 people to 4,305. is that about right? >> if all of them were considered employees. >> you'd be doing no more business, the same business. >> right. >> could you stay in business adding that many employees to your responsibility? >> the biggest problem -- there's all sorts of froproblem with it. we schedule subcontractor to work on our jobs. if we had to schedule subcontractors and their workers, the logistics of that statewide would be unsurmountable. would have to gear up my high man resources department to such a degree that would quadruple our costs in trying to manage or employees. so i would be very concerned about staying in business with doing the same amount of homes with 4,000 or even -- even if you were

isakson? >> thank you, mr. chairman. mr. martin, if i got your numbers right, you've been in business 83 years and you have 140 employees, is that right? you have 287 contractors with whom you do business to construct houses. >> yes. >> and they average 15 employees or independent contractors? >> approximately. >> if the indirect standard were applied, that means you'd go prom employer responsibility from 140 people to 4,305, is that about right? >> if all of them were considered employees. >> you'd be doing no more business. you'd be doing the same bils. could you stay in business adds that many employees to your responsibility? >> the biggest problem -- there's all sorts of problems with it. one of the biggest problems is we schedule subcontractors to work on our jobs. if we had to schedule subcontractors and their work s workers, the logistics of that doing it over statewide would be unsurmountable. the other problem is i would have to gear up my human resources department to such a degree that would, you know, quadruple

mr. norris? >> i would like to start off this afternoon by thanking committee chairman johnny isakson and rankingber richard blumenthal for allowing me the opportunity to testify on s-2013. i would also like to thank senator dianne feinstein and senator barbara boxer for sponsoring this bill. i'm here today along with nick guest who is our national chaplain and the veterans of foreign wars state of california adjuvant quartermaster he uses the l.a. va's facilities. we are here representing the over 88,000 vfw members from the state of california who are all in complete support of s-2013 which lays the groundwork to return the west l.a. campus to where it belongs, veterans. while this bill specifically addresses the property located in los angeles, the larger issue of va doing the right thing is important to all veterans. i am also the student veteran of america chairman for the veterans of foreign war in california. and as i travel to the different college campuses, i hear the same questions from our young veterans as i have for years from our older veterans -- what is the va doing to help those