mr. kyl: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: i ask that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: i'd like to speak for a moment about some comments the distinguished majority leader gave this morning in his opening comments, and then talk a little bit about the general issue that we're faced here, frankly in an effort to see if we can come to common ground. let me start with a couple of things that the majority leader said this morning. he has talked more than once about the fact that in his view the republican leaders have wasted time by pursuing a proposal that they knew the senate wouldn't pass. i think there are two things to say about that. one can say the same thing about the majority leader's proposal. he knows that the senate will not pass that either, so you have two proposals, one by speaker boehner that passed the house of representatives but senator reid declared dead on arr

mr. kyl: and, mr. president, i'll speak as if in morning business unless we are in morning business. the presiding officer: we are in morning business. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. you know, occasionally, mr. president, political people say things that they probably wish they hadn't said because they're quite foolish and it's with great disappointment that i focus on something that our president recently said and i do so not out of disrespect for the president but because what was said is so fundamentally wrong that it deserves to be put out into the public for discussion and, frankly, to get some response from the president if he would like to do that. but according to "national journal," an acial by rebecca -- article by rebecca kaplan dated july 21, the president said this. he said, "i think" -- and i'm quoting now -- "i think what's absolutely true is that core commitments that we make to the most vulnerable have to be maintained. a lot of the spending cuts that we're making sure around areas

mr. kyl: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. i've heard a lot of talk on the senate floor, including from the last speaker and certainly from the president of the united states, about shared sacrifice. the white house spin is that the democrats in the negotiations about extending the debt ceiling have conceded hundreds of billions of dollars in savings and republicans have conceded nothing, and, therefore, republicans need to be willing to raise taxes. that's -- that's the mantra, that's the spin. there are two things wrong with this spin. first, it's wrong as a matter of fact, as i will point out, and second it would result in very bad policy. as senator rubio said a moment ago, the only thing that should be off the table is bad policy, and certainly anything that would hurt our economy and job creation at this time is bad policy. first, with regard to the assertion from some in the white house that democrats have made all of the concessions and so it's republicans' turn. the last speaker, as a matter of fact, said,

quorum call: mr. kyl: mr. president, excuse me, before the clerk calls the roll, could i also ask unanimous consent that the time be equally divided during the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: and i note absence of - and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: m oregon. mr. wyden: i would ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, last week the house speaker, speaker boehner, and president obama and his administration were both calling for comprehensive tax reform as part of a large budget deal. now obviously today that seems to have lost some momentum, and i just wanted to start this afternoon by saying that tax reform is too important to abandon after 48 hours worth of discussion. and to his credit, chairman conrad recognizes that and certainly that's what i heard this weekend when, like the distinguished president of the senate, i was home, had a

mr. kyl: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: thank you, madam president. first let me reassure my friend and colleague, the leader of the senate, that it is our view that the debt ceiling will be extended, and leader mcconnell wanted to make that crystal clear in his discussions with leader reid so that the two of them could work together on a plan that the senate could pass, send over to the house to ensure that our debt ceiling would be increased and, thus, assure the markets that they need not be concerned about that fact. as i've said many times, the republicans are not going to be the ones that would throw us into default. yesterday i spoke on the floor about the reason why republicans are opposed to raising taxes. the president himself last december said that raising taxes in a time of economic downturn would be a mistake, would be the wrong thing to do. and we're still in that economic downturn. in fact things are worse now than they were then. and it's like a doctor treating a patient. when you diagnose what's wrong,

mr. kyl: thank you. and let me quote from just a piece of this. the editorial starts by noting that the president inherited a recession and responded -- i'm quoting now -- "by blowing up the u.s. balance sheet. spending as a share of g.d.p. in the last three years is higher than at any time since 1946. in three years, the debt has increased by more than than $4 trillion, thanks to stimulus, cash for clunkers, mortgage modification programs, 99 weeks of jobless benefits, record expansions in medicaid and more. the forecast is for $8 trillion to $10 trillion more in red ink through 2021. mr. obama hinted in a press conference earlier this month that if it weren't for republicans, he would want another stimulus." "the wall street journal" says scary thought. none of this includes the obamacare entitlement that will place 30 million more americans on government health rolls. and then they conclude this is the road to fiscal perdition. the looming debt downgrade only confirms what everyone knows. congress has made so many promises to so many americans

mr. kyl: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. i want to speak on behalf of the resolution before us, this so-called cut, cap and balance resolution, and explain briefly why it represents a better approach to resolving the financial crisis that our country is faced with than the alternative which seems to be myopiccally focused on raising taxes. as if our problem in this country were taxes. our problem is spending, and that's why the reference to cutting spending, capping future spending and ensuring that we never go back to our errant ways by passing a balanced budget amendment to the constitution which would forever prevent us from getting into the same position we are now where we have to keep coming back to increase the nation's debt ceiling. that's why the emphasis on spending. now, some of our friends on the other side of the aisle and certainly the president of the united states says i will not agree to anything unless you raise taxes. why are republicans so opposed to the president's approach? why are we focused

mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent that at the conclusion of my remarks, that two publications be inserted, one from the "weekly standard," dated july 18 by max boot and the other a piece by james fly posted on july 8 on national review on-line. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: and i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, we have a group of british parliamentarians meeting with us and so i see the distinguished republican leader on the floor, senator cochran, and i are leading a delegation to meet with them and i'm going to, for the notice of everyone, i'm about to ask to put the senate in recess subject to the call of the chair, which will only be a matter of minutes, i assure my colleagues, and so we can bring t

mr. kyl: thank you. of the american enterprise institute and has written frequently on the subject of happiness in our country and how we get there. his most recent book is called "the battle: how the fight between free enterprise and big government will shape america's future." his theme in this op-ed was similar to the theme in the book which is we have the system we have because americans have found that it is the system which most leads us to the pursuit of happiness, to the achievement of success and things that are really important in our lives. so he talks about the fight that we're engaged in now about extending the debt ceiling as being a fight against 50-year trends towards statism, which he identifies as a state which would be very disappointing to americans where we would not have the ability to pursue our dreams, the same opportunity that we have today, to be successful if we take risks and to really utilize the full potential of the free-market system. he says consider a few facts, and this

mr. kyl: thank you. mr. president, i wanted to speak for just a moment here about the status of the discussions that the members of congress have been having with the president and others regarding the debt ceiling, the extending of the debt ceiling and how we can solve the problem that confronts our country. obviously, in ten minutes, i'm just going to be very brief and hit some of the highlights, but the first question that was asked on a program that i was involved in was, well, why wouldn't republicans be supportive of raising taxes? and i wanted to answer that there are three answers to that question. the first is if you go to the doctor and he's going to treat you for what's wrong with you, he needs to figure out what's wrong with you first and then treat that condition rather than something totally different, and the reason that we're not going to want to raise taxes here is because it has nothing to do with the problem we have. i meant to have this chart actually blown up, but i wasn't able to do tha

kyl. well, senator, what do you make about what mr. daly just said? he said, you know, no way in two steps. >> now who's saying my way or the highway? the house of representatives has twice now passed budgets. the second time this "cut, cap and balance" would have extended the debt ceiling. twice the senate democrats voted no. so the question is what can we do now? i think given the fact that the president did move the goal posts, they've acknowledged that they demanded another $400 billion in taxes-- and that's when speaker boehner said it's like negotiating with jell-o down there. we're not going to do that. so this weekend, he and the other congressional leaders are working on a plan which would provide for a temporary extension of the debt ceiling. daly is right that nobody wants the credit of the united states to be called into question. i'm confident that that will not occur, that we will pass an extension of the debt ceiling. the only question is for how long. it's interesting that, since 1972, congress has raised the debt ceiling for six month

mr. president, the president of the united states, in the presence of senator mcconnell, senator durbin, senator kyl, and the house leaders said to all of us, no president in history has spent as much time as i have in a complying basis meeting with leaders trying to come up with some effort on this budget problem we're having today. the president has spent hours of his time, days of his time, weeks of his time working on this. as we know, he believed that he had, as as i understand it, two tentative agreements with the speaker. the speaker backed out of both of those. the president, i haven't spoken to him this morning but i talked to him several times yesterday, he's willing to work with anybody that will give him a proposal. and that's my point today, mr. president, as i've said earlier. the letters coming, terrific, saying -- i haven't received it yet but i'm sure it's coming that the republicans say they will vote for my piece of legislation -- they won't vote for my piece of legislation. what will they vote for? do they have any ideas? let me know. we have gone so far as even to accept the rep

kyl said overt weekend. >> what if it won't pass the senate? mr. reid said it won't pass the senate. what do you do then?esident will have to answer a tough question, is my re-election more important to me than the default of the ooh neated states. as the leader of the united states he has to be first and foremost concerned with our creditworthiness. i can't imagine he would sacrifice the credit worth these necessary of the united states because he does not want to deal with this before his campaign. >> we are joined by broad blakeman, johby brad blakeman and marianne. jon kyl is retiring but he says the president is way too focused on it. >> you heard kay bailey hutchinson say it's time for the posturing to stop. any republican that is opposing a two-year term is playing politics. any republican opposing a deal without revenue in it is playing politics. that is exactly where the congress is right now. they would like to have this debate two or three more times during this election. the more time we have to debate the debt the more we focus on jobs. martha: it feels to me, brad like we are in a stalemate

mr. president, the president of the united states, in the presence of senator mcconnell, senator durbin, senator kyl, and the house leaders said to all of us, no president in history has spent as much time as i have in a complying basis meeting wh leaders trying to come up with some effort on this budget problem we're having today. the president has spent hours of his time, days of his time, weeks of his time working on this. as we know, he believed that he had, as as i understand it, two tentative agreements with t speaker. the speaker backed out of both of those. the president, i haven't spoken to him this morning but i talked to him several times yesterday, he's willing to work with anybody that will give him a proposal. and that's my point today, mr. president, as i've said earlier. the letters coming, terrific, saying -- i haven't received it yet but i'm sure it's coming that the republicans say they will vote for my piece of legislation -- they won't vote for my piece of legislation. what will they vote for? do they have any ideas? let me know. we have gone so far as even to accept the republi

mr. brooks was mistaken and the premise. in other words, the fact that he was relying on to offer this opinion or not there, and i know for example senator kyl, the republican whip, said actually there has been quite a bit of discussion about revenue raisers, user fees, the sale of federal property to raise money coming in so to the extent that mr. brooks has perhaps gone one side of the facts, i think it is probably a flawed opinion piece. host: next call comes from new york city. allen, a democrat. caller: thank you very much. i do not even know where to begin. number one, the whole disparity of income, it is like 100 years ago were you have a tiny number of people controlling more and more of the economy. taxes are very low. corporate taxes in this country are almost the lowest in the world. it seems as if all your angling to do is the story obama's presidency and the rest of us along with obama. -- is the story obama presidency and the rest of us along with obama. -- destroy obama presidency and the rest of us along with obama. people making more should pay higher taxes. 30 years ago we had a booming economy. i do not understand how you

mr. president, i would say before my friend leaves the floor his leader, my friend the senior senator from kentucky and i are representing the senate along with senator kyl and senator durbin at the white house. we've been there many, many days now. and we understand all of us there, democrats and republicans republicans, the significant adverse next huge debt has on our country. everyone there is trying to arrive at a point where we do something about that. we're not there yet. it's difficult to do. we understand it's going to take a mix of -- we believe a mix of spending cuts and some way to generate some more revenue. we're working our best to get this done. my friend is right the debt is a drag on the economy. there's no question about that. and once we're able to raise the debt limit, i think you're going to see some energy on this economy that we haven't seen in some time. but we're not there yet. i wish i could report to my friend from alabama and the rest of the senate and the country that we have completed our negotiations but we're not. we're going to go back again tomorrow. the president said 3:45 and i said a.m. or psm p.m., and it's 3:45 p.m

mr. chairman, the senate was scheduled today at 5:00 to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the bipartisan libya resolution which was sponsored by senators kerry, mccain, levin, kyl, durbin, feinstein, graham, and others. i've spoken with the republican leader just a short time ago, and we've agreed notwithstanding the broad support for the libya resolution, the most important thing for phos focus on this week is the budget. so we'll work to recipient a vote on -- to set up a vote on the sense of the senate resolution that i have offered on shared sacrifice and perhaps the republican alternative as well. and meetings are in process now and will continue on the debt limit and the larger debt matter throughout the capitol and i'm confident everyone knows the white house is involved in these. so i ask unanimous consent that the cloture motion with respect to the motion to proceed to proceed to s.j. res. 20 shall vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i withdraw my motion to proceed to s.j. res. 20. the presiding officer: the motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 93, s. 1323. the presiding officer: the clerk wi