mrs. emerson: thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans' affairs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. mr. bishop: thank you, madam speaker. thank you to the gentleman from washington for yielding. madam speaker, today marks the end of the f.y. 2011 process. a process that should have been completed a long, long time ago. failing to stop a government shutdown, would have destroyed the american people's confidence in the ability of congress to govern. thankfully with only minutes to spare last week the house, senate, and white house came together to avoid a government shutdown, striking a compromise to keep our federal government running for the remainder of f.y. 2011. this bill is by no means perfect. i'm particularly concerned about the impact o

mrs. emerson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized. mrs. emerson: i rise in support of this resolution and really want to express, i believe, the opinion of all of us that we do not want the federal government to shut down because doing so means abrogating our responsibility. our responsibility to serve the american people from both the legislative and executive bramblings. we've -- branches. we've all talked about how it means the men and women in uniform will face the uncertainty of serving without pay. your phones must be ringing like mine are because we are hearing from so many military families we represent, they're facing uncertainty on top of uncertainty, posted overseas or with a family member away on active duty, in harm's way, they're trying to keep their households intact. and the president would veto such a piece of legislation? and so, this measure achieves two important goals. it assure ours military operations and the pay of our military and the pay of our military members are not interrupted and provides us another week to co

mrs. emerson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized. mrs. emerson: i rise in support of this resolution and really want to express, i believe, the opinion of all of us that we do not want the federal goverent to shut down becausdoing so means abrogating our responsibility. our responsibility to serve the american people from both the legislative and executive bramblings. we've -- branches. we've all talked about how it means the men and women in uniform will face the uncertainty of serving without pay. your phones must be ringing like mine are because we are hearing from so many military families we represent, they're facing uncertainty on top of uncertainty, posted overseas or with a family member away on active duty, in harm's way, they're trying to keep their households intact. and the president would veto such a piece of legislation? and so, this measure achieves two important goals. it assure ours military operations and the pay of our military and the pay of our military members are not interrupted and provides us another week to contin

mrs. emerson: thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized. mr. dicks: i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans' affairs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. mr. bishop: thank you, madam speaker. thank you to the gentleman from washington for yielding. madam speaker, today marks the end of the f.y. 2011 process. a process that should have been completed a long, long time ago. failing to stop a government shutdown, would have destroyed the american people's confidence in the ability of congress to govern. thankfully with only minutes to spare last week the house, senate, and white house came together to avoid a government shutdown, striking a compromise to keep our federal government running for the remainder of f.y. 2011. this bill is by no means perfect. i'm particularly concerned about the impact o

mrs. emerson. the speaker pro tempore: the gentlelady from missouri is recognized. mrs. emerson: i rise in support of this resolution and really want to express, i believe, the opinion of all of us that we do not want the federal government to shut down because doing so means abrogating our responsibility. our responsibility to serve the american people from both the legislative and executive bramblings. we've -- branches. we've all talked about how it means the men and women in uniform will face the uncertainty of serving without pay. your phones must be ringing like mine are because we are hearing from so many military families we represent, they're facing uncertainty on top of uncertainty, posted overseas or with a family member away on active duty, in harm's way, they're trying to keep their households intact. and the president would veto such a piece of legislation? and so, this measure achieves two important goals. it assure ours military operations and the pay of our military and the pay of our military members are not interrupted and provides us another week to co

mr. baucus: i ask unanimous consent that the following staff be allowed on the senate floor duration of the debate on srz 493. lucy emersonandijan none obe oberdean. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: mr. president, today more than 47 million americans rely on medicare for their health care. for more than 45 years seniors have had access to affordable, dependable health care that medicare provides. we all recognize the cost of health care. we know it's growing and growing too rapidly. the landmark health real estate form law that we passed recently took broad steps t to rein in costs and i'm willing to work to root out fraud and waste. last week the chairman of the house budget committee, congressman paul ryan, proposed a play that would end medicare as we know t rather than providing affordable health care paid for by medicare, as is the case today, under the ryan plan seniors would receive a voucher to purchase private het insuranc--health insurance. not get benefits provided under medicare but, rather, receive a voucher to purchase private health insurance from private health insurance companies. unf

mrs. emerson: thank you, madam speaker. i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from washington is recognized mr. dicks: i yield three minutes to the distinguished gentleman from georgia, mr. bishop, the ranking member of the appropriations subcommittee on military construction and veterans' affairs. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman from georgia is recognized for three minutes. mr. bishop: thank you, madam speaker. thank you to the gentleman from washington for yielding. madam speaker, today marks the end of the f.y. 2011 process. a process that should have been completed a long, long time ago. failing to stop a government shutdown, would have destroyed the american people's confidence in the ability of congress to govern. thankfully with only minutes to spare last week the house, senate, and white house came together to avoid a government shutdown, striking a compromise to keep our federal government running for the remainder of f.y. 2011. this bill is by no means perfect. i'm particularly concerned about the impact of