casey, coons, tester, cardin, udall of new mexico, shaheen, stabenow, murray, conrad, durbin and manchin. mr. reid: i now move to proceed to calendar number 75, s. 679, the efficiency and streamlining act. the presiding officer: the motion to proceed is now pending. mr. reid: madam president, i want to say a word before i leave the floor to -- to and about my friend, the senator from california. as i've indicated, chair of this most important committee, the environment and public works which i had the good fortune of chairing on two separate occasions. she has been tireless in bringing legislation to this floor and attempting to. she has been talking about this bill for months about how good it is, and when she sat down and reminded me of the merits of this legislation, i thought this should be a good one. a job-creating measure. we need that right now. and i have been very disappointed that we haven't been able to move forward, but it is not because of any lack of effort on her behalf. she and i came to washington together many, many years ago and served together in the house of representat

to what happened on the senate floor yesterday when senator manchin talked about what he wants to see from the president on afghanistan. >> mr. president, we can no longer cut services and programs at home, raise taxes. or -- this is important -- lift the debt ceiling in order to find afghanistan. 10 years ago, it was a just and rightful mission to seek out and destroy those responsible for the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and the deaths of thousands of innocent americans. we overthrew the taliban government. we hunted down and killed osama bin laden, as well as most of the senior members of this terrorist group. the question the president faces and we all face is quite simple. will we choose to rebuild america or afghanistan? in light of our nation's fiscal perils, we cannot do both. host: senator john mccain came to the floor after senator manchin made those comments. here is what he had to say. >> i feel compelled to respond to the statements from the senator of west virginia that carries the isolationist withdrawal, lack of knowledge of history attitude that seems to be on the rise of america. in case the senator from west

manchin and john mccain debated u.s. strategy in afghanistan. this is a half hour. >> mr. president, i rise in total support of mr. leon panetta. as the new secretary of defense. he's an outstanding public servant, he's been tremendous in every role he's held. with that being said, i rise to speak on the war in afghanistan. very soon our nation, this esteemed body, and particularly the president of the united states will address o -- address two of the greatest challenges. the first is afghanistan. the second issue is raising the debt sealing -- debt ceiling and the spending and debt. afghanistan and raising the debt ceils may seem unrelated. they with whereby in fact, directly related. they are directly related to the hard fiscal and strategic choices our nation must make to remain safe and security in the coming decades. with respect to raising the debt ceiling, the budget realities that we face are striking and frightening. mr. president, while some may choose to ignore the threat, mere words cannot give wait to the fiscal peril our nation faces. only numbers can. since 1992, we have raised the debt ceiling 16

mr. manchin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from west virginia. mr. nchin: i rise in total support plaintiff -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. manchin: i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. manchin: mr. president, i rise in total support of mr. leon panetta as the new secretary of defense. he is an outstanding public sraerpbt and is a -- servant and has been a tremendous leader in every role he has held. that being said, i rise to talk about the war in afghanistan. the president will face two of the greatest challenges our nation faces. the great -- the first is the war in afghanistan. the second issue is the nation's debt. to the average person, 2002 may seem unrelated but they are in fact directly related. they are directly related to the hard fiscal and strategic choices our nation must make if we are to remain safe and secure in the coming decades. with respect to the debt ceiling, the budget realities we face are striking and frightening. mr. president, while some may cho