mr. reed: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, i would ask to dispense with the calling of the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: mr. president, i would also ask unanimous consent that aaron hernandez of my staff be granted the privileges of the floor for the remainder of this week. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to talk about the regrettable and avoidable looming debt crisis. avoidable if we take appropriate and timely steps beginning today and continuing over the next few days, as we continue to work to get our economy out from under a protracted and painful recession and on a more robust path of growth and job creation, not having an agreement to pay our country's bills has severe consequences. defaulting could mean not only a potential stoppage of social security and veterans benefits checks, but even more worrying than what happens to the

mr. reed: thank you, mr. chairman. i rise today in support of an amendment that i asked my colleagues on both sides of the aisle and that which mr. higgins from the other side of the aisle has joined me on this amendment but all due respect to the chairman of the appropriations committee, the subcommittee chairman, i believe this amendment is wise, it is an appropriate amendment and that is because what we are talking about here with my proposed amendment is taking $41 million in funding to nondefense environmental cleanup, to take that money from multiple administrative accounts and utilize the money for in the field cleanup activity for sites such as that which exist in my district, known as the west valley nuclear demonstration project in western new york. my hope is that by doing this amendment we will stop money from being funneled more into the d.c. bureaucracy but rather be funneled and put out into the field and into the nuclear waste sites so that the sites can be remediated once and for all. the department of

reed: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. reed: mr. president, i join my colleague, senator whitehouse, in welcoming bishop wolf to the senate today, and i commend senator whitehouse for his invitation. bishop wolf is not only a pastoral leader in our community, she is also a great community leader. she not only preaches the gospel, she lives the gospel. as senator whitehouse indicated, she went on the streets of providence, the mean streets -- and there are mean streets in every town in this country -- to experience firsthand the travails and the troubles of people just trying to get by. that experience informed her ministry and informed her public positions, and we thank her for that. and she has a global vision as well as a vision in rhode island, and that global vision is a world inspired by american actions that is peaceful and progressive and provides opportunity for all. so on behalf of the people of rhode island, we want to thank her fo

reed reed i -- mr. reed: i offer an amendment, which is a bipartisan amendment to this appropriations bill with the intent to return funding to the forest health management account under state and private foffers try. what we are intending to do is to move money from the d.c. bureaucracy and i anticipate there will be a concern raised about the offset of the line that we're using to cover this increase in the forest health management account from the secretary's account. but i firmly do believe that our taxpayer dollars are better spent not on the bureaucracy of the secretary's office here in washington, d.c.,, but more importantly on the front lines and into the states that can benefit from these programs. this program that we're trying to take care of with this amendment is to restore the funding for the purposes of weeding out invasive species which threaten many industries and our environment across the nation. essentially, invasive species threaten economies and environments in every state and every dis

mr. reed: yes, mr. speaker, i rise with a motion to adjourn. the speaker pro tempore: the question is on the motion to adjourn. those in favor say aye. those opposed, no. the motion is agreed to. accord

. >> mr. reed is recognized. i guess i and the newest member to the committee so i get the last question. i enjoyed the testimony and i find it very informative from the panel today. i want to focus on a very limited area. one thing i hear as they go to my district from younger folks is that the college tuition that they are facing is going through the roof. i would be interested in any inside on providing subsidies through the tax code with student loan deductions, what impact if any do you see them having with regard to tuition growth? would anyone like to -- >> you are raising an important issue. what kind of education are you getting for the money you are paying. ? questions are not being raised about the education sector and there are rules in place. if a high proportion of graduated students default on their loans, those universe is could not get those loans in the future. perhaps we should consider on a revenue neutral basis, shifting away from this low structure toward an alternative way. we could use som

leader of the senate mr. reed was for that. i was for it. the vice president was for it. but unfortunately we couldn't proceed on that discussion. in a successful way at least. because the gentleman observed and his colleagues observed that as long as their revenues attached to that it wouldn't be acceptable to your side of the aisle. notwithstanding that every bi-partisan commission that dealt with this issue indicated it needs to be a balanced package, it needed to include substantial cuts and needed to deal with discretionary spending, defense spending and entitlement spending and tax expenditures. the gentleman says we want to balance revenues with expenditures. the problem is you keep cutting revenues you will be chasing yourself down. obviously you want to bring revenue rates down. i hope we can do that but if we bring them down to a place where we don't have the money to pay for what we buy which is what happened in this past decade that we can be confronted with the surge to ration the gentleman wants to avoid which is raising the debt limit. what we have done in

an amendment by mr. reed of new york. amendment number 65 by mr. holt of new jersey. amendment number 68 by mr. royce of california. amendment number 43 by mr. broun of georgia. an amendment by mr. schiff of california. amendment number 48 by mr. broun of georgia. an amendment by mr. shimkus of illinois. an amendment number 47 by mr. broun of georgia. the chair will reduce to two minutes after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on amendment offered by the gentleman from utah, mr. matheson, on which further proceedings were postponed and on which the ayes prevailed by a voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. matheson of utah. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in

for example, the shoe bomber mr. reed, am merstam, the diaper christmas day bomber, the london liquid, the yemen tonor. the last count i had, well, we had under 100 t.s.a. personnel overseas. it was really 54 when i checked. do you know what the number is now? >> i don't know off the top of my head. i'd have to get that to you. >> contact with the secretary of state and others in trying to increase the presence of t.s.a. overseas? >> we work with overseas countries. >> could you provide the latest contacts with the department of state and others to the committee? because you said the threats coming -- whole body imaging equipment, which we spent $500 million on, and the deployment -- we're probably in the billion dollar range. if this march 16 hearing, i asked the question -- we know that terrorists are moving to body cavity inserts and surgical implants. does the whole body imaging equipment direct this kind of attention? can it detect this kind of threat? the answer from all of the experts was it does not. >> it will de

mr. reid of new york, and amendment -- reed of new york, and amendment by mr. scalise of indiana. the chair will reduce to two minutes the time for any electronic vote after the first vote in this series. the unfinished business is the request for a recorded vote on the amendment offered by the gentleman from michigan, mr. clarke, on which further proceedings will postpone and on which the noes prevail by voice vote. the clerk will redesignate the amendment. the clerk: amendment offered by mr. clarke of michigan. the chair: a recorded vote has been requested. those in support of the request for a recorded vote will rise and be counted. a sufficient number having arisen, a recorded vote is ordered. members will record their votes by electronic device. this will be a 15-minute vote. [captioning made possible by the national captioning institute, inc., in cooperation with the united states house of representatives. any use of the closed-captioned coverage of the house proceedings for political or commercial purposes is expressly prohibited by the u.s. house of the chair: on this vote

mr. reed, if you do not like our plan, where is your plan? mr. president, where is your plan? >> there is a gain of two other 34 members of the house, a bipartisan day of 2 1/3 for members to pass a bill, cut, cap and balance. we believe it is important to our economy and protecting our excellent aaa credit rating. we're ages for the senate to take action. -- we are anxious for the senate to take action. >> this is a pivotal time and our history. we are at the edge of a financial cliffs, if you will. we are looking down over the side of the cliff. no person wants our nation to default, by what has happened to the house, we have put forward our plan. cut, cap and balance. we know what we have to do come to the american people know we have to do. the senate now has to do with the house has done or offer their own plan. it is a common- sense, measured plan, bipartisan plan that is put forward by the house republicans with quite a bit of support by democratic counterparts as well. we call on the senate tax act and save our country. put us on the right path to physical prosperity i

. >> mr. reed is recognized. >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. i guess i am the newest member of the committee, so i get the question. i find it very informative from the panel today, and i do want to focus on a very limited area, and if we could. one thing we hear, as we go from a lot of younger folks, the college tuition that they are facing is going through the roof, and the loan and the debt associated with that commission burden, so i would be interested with anybody on the panel. do the subsidies, what impact, if any, do you see them having in regards to tuition that has been clearly demonstrated over the past few years? would anyone like to -- >> this does not give enough attention. what are you getting for this sort of money that you are paying, and questions are increasingly being raised about some part of the education sector, and there are rules in place. a high proportion of grudge with the default on a loan, then that institution is no longer to get new loans for its applicants, but these rules seem to be not particularly effective r

mr. reed: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. reed: mr. president, senator whiews and i have come to the floor today to pay tribute to governor bruce sundland. he passed away last week. it is important that my colleague is here because he was the director of policy for governor sundland and many of the achievements in the administration were a direct contribution of senator whitehouse's extraordinary efforts. first i am here as a rhode islander to say on behalf of the people of my state how much we appreciate the leadership, the vision, the determination of governor bruce sundland. he was elected in the midst of the worst financial crisis in the history of our state since the great depression, the collapse of a private credit union system. he got through that crisis as only he could. then he went on to reconstruct our airport to reform our workers compensation system, to make lasting contributions to the people of rhode island. so as a rhode islander, i come here to salute an extraordinary offer. when governor sundlun was elected to the st

and another thing since that trillion dollars in war costs is scored the way mr. reed scored reed scored that, which is spent on money. a is not a real reduction in baselineion government spending. i always consider it to the extra war emergency spending.ngs on this money, another 200 billions and now you have gotigt about $1.2 trillion right there overstating his cuts in the war elimination of the war. speaker boehner does notea do that. his numbers are farhis num more accurate and honest and realistic. really the only account for them. another thing i would point out is that when you talk about spending and how y you account e it, you have to know what the baseline is. one reason this country is roqui roque -- broke and in financial crisis is because we claim we are cutting spending when we are increasingendi spending. the way it works is, the congressional budget office produces anna assumption that we will increase spending at the otherf inflation or some rate over a period of years. you and then if you reduce that rate of increase a little bit, theve politicians c

mr. reid -- reed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this bill. as a proud member of the freshmen class that came to washington, d.c., in november of 2010, i can tell you the culture of thici is changing. when i hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put forth the argument that because we've raised the debt ceiling 102 times and seven times under president bush that mehow it makes it right for us to raise the debt ceiling without dealing with the problem that's causing it to exist in the first place and that is the uncontrolled spending that has gotten us to this point of $14.4 trillion of national debt. as a member of the freshmen class, we have changed the culture of this place because now the debate is happening on the floor of this house and we're going to have to -going t take it to the senate so they take it to the ploor of the senate and for once openly and honestly debate the issues of the day. but yet they still in the senate have not heard that call. but through this process they

mr. reid -- reed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this bill. as a proud member of the freshmen class that came to washington, d.c., in november of 2010, i can tell you the culture of this city is changing. when i hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put forth the argument that because we've raised the debt ceiling 102 times and seven times under president bush that somehow it makes it right for us to raise the debt ceiling without dealing with the problem that's causing it to exist in the first place and that is the uncontrolled spending that has gotten us to this point of $14.4 trillion of national debt. as a member of the freshmen class, we have changed the culture of this place because now the debate is happening on the floor of this house and we're going to have to -- going to take it to the senate so they take it to the ploor of the senate and for once openly and honestly debate the issues of the day. but yet they still in the senate have not heard that call. but through this proc

mr. reid -- reed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this bill. as a proud member of the freshmen class that came to washington, d.c., in november of 2010, i can tell you the culture of this city is changing. when i hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put forth the argument that because we've raised the debt ceiling 102 times and seven times under president bush that somehow it makes it right for us to raise the debt ceiling without dealing with the problem that's causing it to exist in the first place and that is the uncontrolled spending that has gotten us to this point of $14.4 trillion of national debt. as a member of the freshmen class, we have changed the culture of this place because now the debate is happening on the floor of this house and we're going to have to -- going to take it to the senate so they take it to the ploor of the senate and for once openly and honestly debate the issues of the day. but yet they still in the senate have not heard that call. but through this proc

mr. reid -- reed. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from new york. mr. reed: thank you, mr. speaker. i rise today in support of this bill. as a proud member of the freshmen class that came to washington, d.c., in november of 2010, i can tell you the culture of this city is changing. when i hear my colleagues on the other side of the aisle put forth the argument that because we've raised the debt ceiling 102 times and seven times under president bush that somehow it makes it right for us to raise the debt ceiling without dealing with the problem that's causing it to exist in the first place and that is the uncontrolled spending that has gotten us to this point of $14.4 trillion of national debt. as a member of the freshmen class, we have changed the culture of this place because now the debate is happening on the floor of this house and we're going to have to -- going to take it to the senate so they take it to the ploor of the senate and for once openly and honestly debate the issues of the day. but yet they still in the senate have not heard that call. but through this proc

mr. chairman. >> senator reed? >> thanks very much, mr. chairman. and mr. gruenberg, the chairman early a few months ago, weeks said that the federal reserve is committed on rulemaking on the so-called living wills for large institutions by late this summer. what is the fdic's schedule with respect to this rulemaking? >> late this summer we've been working in tandem with the fdic. we're really near -- we issued a joint rule earlier this year. i think we are near completion of the final rule. and we do expect to issue the final rule in august. >> very good. thank you so much. you are the primary regulator at community banks and there is -- they are vital to our economy and they usually are the ones who are doing the most aggressive lending to small business and have the best record in terms of the lending to small business and that creates jobs. your view of the impact of the dodd-frank on the community banks and the community bank and many of the provisions of dodd-frank were explicitly excluded from application of small banks given one they were not the ma

mr. reed: mr. president, these are challenges, indeed dawpting times.while we're coming out of the worst economic crisis since the great depression, with continued high unemployment, our economy still remains extraordinarily fragile. the fragility is not simply a macroeconomic phenomenon. it affects every family in this country who are worried about their employment, worrying about the future of their children, worrying about whether their parents will still enjoy adequate coverage under medicare, will still be able to draw some sustenance from social security checks. all these worries are the daily lot of all americans, and we have to respond to it. the most salient fact that affects most americans is the dramatic loss of employment beginning in 2007-2008 as the financial crisis engulfs this country. the united states economy has lost about 8.7 million private sector jobs just in 2008 and 2009 alone. these were times when the republican president was continuing to accumulate huge deficit spending, most of it initiating and beginning with tax cuts which

kasim reed is the mayor of atlanta. >> mr. mayor, welcome to "nightly business report." >> glad to be with you. >> tom: you were recently successful in closing a budget gap, overhauled pension obligations, including a new 401(k) type plan for new employees as opposed to traditional plans. how's that gone over? >> i think it's gone over well. we passed it at the end of the day after a very tough debate with 15 votes, but it's going to yield $270 million in savings over 10 years, $500 million over 30 years. it's freed up between $22 million to $35 million in the budget. we were able to balance our budget and finish it in pretty good fiscal shape. we also put $20 million in reserve. >> tom: how about hiring? is it going to allow you to hire more, or will it hurt hiring because it's not a traditional pension anymore? >> tom, we're seeing the number of applicants who apply for every opening we have is very high. we don't see that in the short term at all, just because of the overall economic environment. >> tom: okay. >> we're able

reed. senator sessions. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you, general dempsey for your leadership and your commitment. your willingness to serve in harm's way. i noticed just looking at your bio, i looked at it because i remember seeing you in iraq and coming back and you were still there. i noticed you were there the first tour 16 months. came home to germany and were deployed there for ten months and back for 21 months. that's the kind of deployment that a number of our military people have made serving their country in dangerous areas of the globe. i just want to personally thank you for your commitment, and i think it reflects the kind of commitment many other enlisted people, many of our leaders in the military have exhibited. miss dempsey, good to see you and thank you for being the good partner in those difficult years. i just want to follow up on senator mccain's comments about the budget. we've had a lot of people believe that the deficit is caused by the war in afghanistan and iraq. it certainly was not inexpensive. it's bee

reed. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good to see you all. congratulations to you and your families. general allen, something that's always bothered me is the lack of other countries fulfilling their commitment with regard to helping train and get up to speed obviously the afghan army and police. how do you think that the -- with the current shortfall of about almost 500 trainers, the withdrawal of 10,000 troops will effect the training mission? >> we'll continue, senator, to ask our partners for trainers. we're going to continue to work if i'm confirmed through nato and through isaf to the nonnato nations to continue to provide the kinds of trainers necessary and to build the capacity of the afghan national security forces that we all need in the end to accomplish our objective. it is no secret that that's been difficult to do. it's no secret that we have made it very clear that the current commander has made it very clear, the current supreme allied commander of europe, and the nato leadership has made it very clear that we need more traine

reed. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good to see you all. congratulations to you and your falies. general allen, something that's always bothered m is the lack of other cuntries fulfilling their commitment with regard to helping train and get up to speed obviously the afghan army and police. how do you think that the -- with the current shortfall of about almost 500 trainers, the withdrawal of 10,000 troops will effect the training mission? >> we'll continue, senator, to ask our partners for trainers. we're going to continue to work if i'm confirmed through nato and through isaf to the nonnato nations to continue to provide the kinds of trainers necesry and to build the capacity of the afghan national security forces that we all need in the end to accomplish our objective. it is no secret that that's been difficult too. it's no secret that we have made it very clear that the current commander has made it very clear, the current supreme allied commander of europe, and the nato leadership has made it very clear that we need more trainers. and

reed. senator sessions. >> thank you mr. chairman. thank you, general dempsey for your leadership and your commitment. your willingness to serve in harm's way. i noticed just looking at your bio, i looked at it because i remember seeing you in iraq and coming back and you were still there. i noticed you were there the first tour 16 months. came home to germany and were deployed there for ten months and back for 21 months. that's the kind of deployment that a number of our military people have made serving their country in dangerous areas of the globe. i just want to personally thank you for your commitment, and i think it reflects the kind of commitment many other enlisted people, many of our leaders in the military have exhibited. miss dempsey, good to see you and thank you for being the good partner in those difficult years. i just want to follow up on senator mccain's comments about the budget. we've had a lot of people believe that the deficit is caused by the war in afghanistan and iraq. it certainly was not inexpensive. it's bee

inouye, coons whitehouse boxer casey sanders lautenberg brown of ohio, reed of rhode island, feinstein merkley cardin, levin, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president i now move to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion to proceed. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction, the department of veterans affairs and so forth and for other purposes. mr. reid: i have a cloture motion at the desk, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the under undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 91, h.r. 2055 an act making appropriations for military construction the department of veterans affairs and related agencies for the fiscal year ending september 30, 2012, and for other purposes. signed by 18 senators as follows. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent that the reading of

dakota, inouye, landrieu, murray, reed of rhode island, nelson of nebraska, pryor, tester, leahy, kirk, hutchison, mcconnell, murkowski, blunt, hoeven, coats, cochran. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: first of all, i want to express my appreciation to the chairman of the committee, the ranking member of the committee, subcommittee, for the work they did on this bill. it took a little longer than we wanted but we got it done and they have been excellent managers of this most important piece of legislation. it's our first appropriation bill. senator mcconnell and i want to do other appropriation bills. it would be a new day here to get these bills rather than having some big omnibus bill. so this is a step in the right direction. again, i express my appreciation to the two managers of this legislation. as indicated, there will be no roll call votes today. more roll call votes today. tomorrow i'm going to move to proceed to the bill that we call the cut, cap bill received from the house today. under the rules of the senate, a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to the bill will occur on saturday. i expect a

, schumer, lautenberg, franken, rockefeller, reed of rhode island, whitehouse, brown of ohio, sanders, kerry, merkley, stabenow, inouye, leahy and cardin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: i withdraw my motion to proceed to s. 123. the presiding officer: the motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: i move to proceed to s.j. res. 20. the presiding officer: the motion is before the senate. mr. reid: i ask consent that the time until 5:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, that any time spent in quorum call be equally divided, and there is already an order in effect that republicans will be limited to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. a senator: mr. president. rhett the -- the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: mr. president, international trade is one of the best ways to create good-paying jobs for our people. as long as our workers and our companies are tre