mr. markey: and i seek recognition to speak on this nomination. the presiding officer: the senator recognized. mr. markey: thank you. and i rise just to speak briefly, to say that dr. murthy is about as well-qualified to be surgeon general as anyone as ever been. he brings a unique set of skills, background, perspective that is going to serve our nation very well. and it is my hope that the senate will take this great opportunity to ensure that he is given the position to serve our country with his incredible background in a way that i know all americans are ultimately going to come to be very proud of. and so i just want everyone to know that up in massachusetts we're very proud of him. we can tell you that he has developed a skill set which is much-needed for the 21st century, much-needed in an era where diseases cross international boundaries, where there is re-combinant d.n.a. of disease that increasingly, because of the global nature of the world that we live in, is coming back here to the united states, and it gives us an opportunity to put

mr. markey? >> aye. >> mr. corker? >> no. >> no by proxy. >> mr. rubio? >> no. >> mr. johnson? >> no. >> mr. flake? >> no by proxy. >> mr. mccain? >> no by proxy. >> mr. barrasso? >> no by proxy. >> yes. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> please record me as no. >> mr. chairman the ayes are five, the noes are 13. >> is there anyone else willing to offer an amendment? if not, the vote is on final passage of the aumf as amended. clerk will call the roll. >> aye. >> aye. >> ms. shaheen? >> aye. >> mr. coontz? >> aye. >> mr. durbin? >> aye. >> mr. udall? >> aye. >> mr. murphy? >> aye. >> mr. kane? >> aye. >> mr. corker? >> aye. >> mr. rubio? >> no. >> mr. johnson? >> no. >> mr. flake? >> no by proxy. >> mccain? >> no by proxy. >> mr. barrasso? >> no by proxy. >> mr. paul? >> no. >> mr. chairman? >> yes. court will report. >> mr. chairman, the yeas are ten, the nees are eight. >> i ask the staff be able to make changes before reporting to the senate, is there any objection? none so order. and danny, we've already feeded -- feted you before, but here's a resolution signed by every member of

mr. markey? >> aye. >> mr. corker? >> no. >> no by proxy. >> mr. rubio? >> no. >> mr. johnson? >> no. >> mr. flake? >> no by proxy. >> mr. mccain? >> no by proxy. >> mr. barrasso? >> no by proxy. >> yes. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> please record me as no. >> mr. chairman the ayes are five. nays are 13. >> is there anyone else willing to offer an amendment? if not, the vote is on final passage of the aumf as amended. clerk will call the roll. >> aye. >> aye. >> ms. shaheen? >> aye. >> mr. coontz? >> aye. >> mr. durbin? >> aye. >> mr. udall? >> aye. >> mr. murphy? >> aye. >> mr. kane? >> aye. >> mr. corker? >> aye. >> mr. rubio? >> no. >> mr. johnson? >> no. >> mr. flake? >> no by proxy. >> mccain? >> no by proxy. >> mr. barrasso? >> no by proxy. >> mr. paul? >> no. >> mr. chairman? >> yes. court will report. >> mr. chairman, the yeas are ten, nays are eight. >> the aumf will be reported favorably to the senate. i ask unanimous constent the staff be allowed to make technical and conforming changes before reporting to the senate. is there any objection? none so order. and danny, we

mr. markey? >> aye. >> mr. corker? >> no. >> mr. rubio? >> no. >> mr. johnson? >> no. >> mr. mccain? mr. barrasso? >> no. >> yes. >> mr. chairman? >> recorded as a yes. >> any other amendments? >> yes, this is paul amendment number three. this amendment would set geographic limits on this aumf. it reads, nothing in this joint resolution shall be construed as authorizing the use of force against the islamic state outside of the geographic boundaries of iraq and syria, and no action may be taken outside such area without congressional authorization. now, many have made the argument that we've added too many limitations. there should be no limitations, and they've argued historically that we haven't done this. the national security network looked back at all of the uses of authorization of force since the beginning of the republic, and they found that 60% of those actually did have a geographic limitation on them. some would say, well, you know, we just don't need this. it's too confining. the problem is when you look back at 2001, we are now using it to mean anything. the words have be

mr. markey: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to add my words of admiration for this great person, for this great legislator and just to tell a brief story. it was back in 2006 in a lame-duck session -- just like this -- and the democrats had won and were about to take over senatthe senate. the democrats had just won and were about to take over the house. a different passage in time. but throughout all of 2006, even in the minority, mary landrieu was moving a bill to open up a vast new area in the gulf of mexico for drilling for oil and natural gas. i was over in the house. i was from massachusetts. i did not want this bill to pa pass. i wanted to actually save it for 2007, when the democrats were in control and we could pass an energy bill by the end of 2007. which would have included this provision. and mary passed it through the senate, bipartisan, as usual. if you look up "bipartisan" when you google mary's picture actually comes up. and over in the house, because of all of her momentum, i lost and that bill

markey? >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, mr. secretary, for your excellent work on behalf of our country. we thank you for your incredible service over these last two years. i am one of the few members of congress who voted for the authorization of military force in 2001 and who voted for the authorization of military force in 2002. when i look back at that, i never contemplated that it would offer us 2.5 million american military personnel to go to iraq and afghanistan. i never would have envisioned that 670,000 of them would now be declared officially disabled, that 270,000 of them would be treated for post traumatic stress syndrome, that the health care bills would now have risen to over a trillion dollars, separate from the trillions spent on those conflicts. so it is a very timely debate that we're having. for all of us. we need to just turn the page and move on to this next stage, because the use of those old authorizations do a disservice to this institution, and to this country. so, from my perspective, obviously, we are

appoint the honorable edward markey, a senator from the commonwealth of massachusetts, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mrid: mr. president, following my remarks and those of the republican leader the senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment h.r. 3979. mr. president, that's the defense authorization bill. very important piece of legislation. i would hope that senators would understand the quicker we get this done, the sooner we can get to the omnibus and the tax extenders and other things we have to do before we leave. i would note that it seems very likely that we'll have some votes this weekend. everyone should understand that. if we can work a way not to have them, we won't. but i just want to put everybody on notice that if they're not here this weekend, they can miss votes. mr. president, when the senate convened for the first time in april of 1789, there was a lot to do and that's an understatement, but not the least of which was to establish a system of rules to govern proceedings in the united states senate. the first few weeks and mon

mr. reid: u. reid, menendez, leahy, heinrich, reed of rhode island, feinstein, udall of new mexico, cardin, nelson, boxer, carper, merkley -- markey, americay, tester, durbin, and schumer. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i now pro move to proceed to legislative session. the presiding officer: question is on the motion. a senator: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not you the vote i 52 yeas, a 41 naissments the motion is agreed to. mr. reid: mr. president, if i can have everyone's attention. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to h.j. res. 131, which is a short-term continuing resolution that will go until wednesday, december 17, which was received from the house and is at the desk. further, that the joint resolution be read three times and the senate now proceed to vote on passage of the joint resolution with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer