mr. udall: thank you, madam president. i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment so that i may call up my amendment number 49 which is at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new mexico, mr. udall, proposes amendment numbered 49. mr. udall: i ask unanimous consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to insert my statement on this amendment in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: madam president, i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment so that i may call up another of my amendments, number 51, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from new mexico, mr. udall, proposes amendment numbered 51. mr. udall: madam president, i ask una

mr. udall: mr. president, i'm proud to join my colleague, the senior senator from alabama, to abusive legislation today that would amend the united states institution to require a balanced budget. the idea of requiring a balanced federal budget seems like common sense to most americans. americans have to balance their checkbooks. nuclear weapon these hard times, they are wondering why the federal government doesn't have to do the same. in fact, the united states has only balanced its budget five times in the last 50 years. we heard the senator from alabama point out that the federal government has operated at an even balance only twice in our history. mr. president, the budgets of nations are not the same as family budgets, and since the great depression of the 1930's, we have known that national emergencies sometimes require deficit spending, but we are fast approaching a tipping point where our debt threatens this economic orthodoxy. we're approaching a tipping point where an unprecedented level o

udall? >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, gentleman, thanks for being here today. let me start by speaking to the profits of the oil companies. it is -- it has come to my attention that exxon just announced it's profits for the last part of 2010 were over $9 billion. it's a 50% increase from earlier. exxon is not alone. most if not all of the major oil and gas are going to report huge profits for 2010. mr. diwan and mr. burkhard, what will the major u.s. oil companies like exxon do with these record-setting profits? for example, how much of those net profits would you estimate that the major u.s. oil companies are investing or will invest in domestically produced clean and renewable fuels, the price of which are not set by opec. >> i think that some context for that one oil companies are price takers, not price makers. the revenues reflect the global oil markets. in terms of their spending, you know, oil companies a very large oil companies are capital expenditures can range from roughly 15 to $25 billion. so it's a constant -- it's a treadmill that they are on to

udall? >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, gentleman, thanks for being here today. let me start by speaking to the profits of the oil companies. it is -- it has come to my attention that exxon just announced it's profits for the last part of 2010 were over $9 billion. it's a 50% increase from earlier. exxon is not alone. most if not all of the major oil and gas are going to report huge profits for 2010. mr. diwan and mr. burkhard, what will the major u.s. oil companies like exxon do with these record-setting profits? for example, how much of those net profits would you estimate that the major u.s. oil companies are investing or will invest in domestically produced clean and renewable fuels, the price of which are not set by opec. >> i think that some context for that one oil companies are price takers, not price makers. the revenues reflect the global oil markets. in terms of their spending, you know, oil companies a very large oil companies are capital expenditures can range from roughly 15 to $25 billion. so it's a constant -- it's a treadmill that they are on to

udall. senator manchin. >> mr. chairman, thank you. and to general austin, and ambassador jeffrey, thank you for your appearance. as one of the new people on the committee and new to the senate, i also want to see why for -- thank you for bringing us up to speed as quickly as you could. as a person that comes from the state of west virginia, that is extremely patriotic, we thank you for your service. sir, the attack on the 9/11, we knew at that time that al qaeda was our enemy, and that was our direction force, if you will. who have you identified as our enemy today that we are fighting in the middle east, whether the afghanistan or correct, and what is the strength of the force of that any? -- afghanistan or iraq, and what is the strength of the force of that enemy? >> iraq remains a very complex environment. if there are a number of elements at play in iraq that oppose not only our efforts, but most importantly, the government of iraq's efforts. if we have spoken about tighter earlier. -- we have spoken about al qaeda earlier. they a

over now to senator udall because i have to leave for a few minutes as well, but we're going to try to keep going right through that the best we can. senator hagan. >> thank you, mrhairman. i will cut my own question short because i have to preside on the senate floor admin. but i too want to say to all three of the individuals here come the thank you so much for your service and your testimony and the excellent work that you do for our country. and i just want to agree with senator reid and senator graham on the concern and secretary gates inoperable and how can learn about the funding for the state department. i think it's critically important and it certainly was evidence to what has taken place just recently in egypt. i did want to talk a little bit about the help of the special operations forces. admiral mullen, in your prepared remarks to his knowledge to continued support on the dangers of conflict. last week admiral olson, u.s. command told in industry group the difficult and repeated deployments of specialized operations personnel are causing some fraying around the edges of the force. and admiral olson also made the point that demand for national operat

mr. secretary, i wanted to say thank you to you for coming by my office earlier this week to meet with the and senator udall and continue problem. i won't take time here except to say thank you for your efforts to remind you again of how important it is for us to address this issue for the health of our forest and the help of our watershed. not just ours in colorado but in the rocky mountains region. i wanted to raise one of the issue that's important to colorado before get into some of the line of questioning. that is, the inability of our potato producers to sell into mexico. and i wonder if you might give me an update, give us an update about where those discussions stand. i know you have been trying to. >> i traveled down to mexico in december of last year, and met with secretary barr got to talk about a variety of issues. and potatoes was one of them. what we agreed to do was have our team essentially need to see if there was a way in which we could innocent immediate this 26-kilometer barrier that we are trying to tear down. he expressed a willingness to do this. and there have been meetings, committe

mr. udall: mr. president, i ask consent that my pending amendments -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. udall: pardon me. i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. udall: mr. president, i ask consent that my pending amendments number 49 and 51 be modified with the changes that i have at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the amendments are so modified. mr. udall: thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. mr. inhofe: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. inhofe: i have the same request. i call for regular order with respect to amendment number 7. i send a modification to the desk. the presiding officer: the amendment is so modified. mrs. hutchison: mr. president? i have a second-degree amendment to the inhofe amendment at the desk and i ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. mrs. hutchison: i ask that

udall amendment number 51 as further modified. without objection, that amendment is agreed to. the question occurs on the coburn amendment number 80 as modified. mr. coburn: i ask for the yeas and nays. i move to table. i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second on the motion to table? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or to change their vote? order, please. are there senators wishing to vote or change his or her vote? if not, the ayes are 34, the nays are 65, and the motion to table is not agreed to. the question is on the amendment. the presiding officer: without objection, the amendment is agreed to. mr. reid: move to reconsider. lay that on the table. mr. president? the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would ask unanimous consent the next vote -- the presiding officer: there will be order, please. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the next votes be ten minutes in duration. the presiding officer: without objection. the pres

hereby appoint the honorable tom udall, a senator from the state of new mexico, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will resume consideration of the federal aviation administration bill. there will be up to two hours for debate equally divided and controlled between the proponents and opponents of the inhofe amendment prior to a vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the inhofe amendment as modified. the filing deadline for second-degree amendments to this bill is 10:00 a.m. today. as a reminder, cloture was also filed on the bill. that cloture vote will occur upon disposition of the inhofe amendment. senators should expect roll call votes to occur throughout the day in an effort to complete action on the f.a.a. bill. i ask unanimous consent that the previous order for senator coats to be recognized at 1:00 p.m. be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: we are at a point where we can finish the f.a.a. bill after all these many years of trying to get t