mrs. hagan: mr. president, we are here debating the government's fiscal deficit today and it's an important topic, one worthy of serious debate. of course, i wish i could characterize the mindless partisanship of the last several months as serious debate, but i fear that this do-nothing debate is distracting us from another deficit that is front and center in the hearts and minds of the american people and that is the jobs deficit. just yesterday, the department of commerce reported that the economic recovery has been far slower than previously thought. our economy grew at a rate of less than 1% in the first half of 2011. now, that's not news to the hard-working families in north carolina, where unemployment statewide is almost 10% and nearly a half a million people are looking for work. they've been struggling since the housing boom went bust four years ago. those people with jobs haven't seen the size of their paychecks increase but their monthly bills have certainly increased along with the cost o

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator hagan. >> thank you, mr. chairman and, general, congratulations on your nomination, well-deserved. i believe i'm the one person standing between you and a very well-deserved break. so i will to be brief. you've had a very distinguished career and i look forward to working with you. let me ask you a few questions i could on the fiscal side. because we find ourselves in, unfortunately, very difficult, economic, and fiscal times. the current chair of the joint chiefs has talked about this. in january he said and i'll quote the pentagon budget has doubled over the last decade and my own experience is that in doubling we've lost our ability to prioritize, to do tough decisions, to make analysis, to make trades. he also issued this quote -- the single biggest threat to our security is our debt. ask a couple quick comments. one, do you agree with him on his famous quote about the debt being our biggest national security threat. second, do you agree with the hard decisions? >> our economic condition is the greatest t

mr. chairman. >> thank you very much, senator hagan. >> thank you, mr. chairman and, general, congratulations on your nomination, well-deserved. i believe i'm the one person standing between you and a very well-deserved break. so i will to be brief. you've had a very distinguished career and i look forward to working with you. let me ask you a few questions i could on the fiscal side. because we find ourselves in, unfortunately, very difficult, economic, and fiscal times. the current chair of the joint chiefs has talked about this. in january he said and i'll quote the pentagon budget has doubled over the last decade and my own experience is that in doubling we've lost our ability to prioritize, to do tough decisions, to make analysis, to make trades. he also issued this quote -- the single biggest threat to our security is our debt. ask a couple quick comments. one, do you agree with him on his famous quote about the debt being our biggest national security threat. second, do you agree with the hard decisions? >> our economic condition is the greatest t

hagan. senator blumenthal. >> thank you: mr. chairman. i want to join in expressing my thanks for not aeration for your great service to the country, the extraordinary sacrifice and services that the men and women who serve under you and your family and look forward to your confirmation encoding. i want to pursue the line of questioning that senator hagan began on the assumption that the packet danny's are not cooperative because they have not proven cooperatives in the past. what additional measures can we take to destroy the source says of ammonium nitrate that has proved so absolutely and horrifically distract kids to the men and women is there our armed forces in afghanistan? general alan, i'd like respectfully to ask you to begin a month at merrill mcraven, if you can follow through with what you expect to happen. >> senator, that an important question. the posturing of our intelligence gathering apparatus, capabilities, isr capabilities, posturing potentially a special operators on the western side of the border to detect infiltrati

hagan. senator blumenthal. >> thank you: mr. chairman. i want to join in expressing my thanks for not aeration for your great service to the country, the extraordinary sacrifice and services that the men and women who serve under you and your family and look forward to your confirmation encoding. i want to pursue the line of questioning that senator hagan began on the assumption that the packet danny's are not cooperative because they have not proven cooperatives in the past. what additional measures can we take to destroy the sourcesays of ammonium nitrate that has proved so absolutely and horrifically distract kids to the men and women is there our armed forces in afghanistan? general alan, i'd like respectfully to k you to begin a month at merrill mcraven, if you can follow through with what you expect to happen. >> senator, that an important questi. the posturing of our intelligence gathering apparatus, capabilities, isr capabilities, posturing potentially a special operators on the western side of the border to detect infiltration of

reid of nevada, johnson of south dakota, kirk, durbin, hagan, bennet, warner, kerry, bingaman, udall of colorado, murray, leahy and whitehouse. mr. johnson: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. johnson: i ask unanimous consent that all time be yielded back. the presiding officer: without objection. the question is -- by unanimous consent the -- the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: we, the 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 waive the points of order under section 303 of the congressional budget act of 1974 for h.r. 2055, any amendments thereto and motions thereon. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is is it the sense of the senate that debate on the motion to waive the points of order under section 303 of the congressional budget act for h.r. 2055 and any amendments or motions thereto shall be brought to a close. the yeas and nays

mrs. hagan: mr. president, i rise -- the presiding officer: senator, we are in a quorum call. mrs. hagan: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hagan: thank you. thank you, mr. president. i rise today to report to the senate on the completion of my north carolina budget listening tour. while people in this town were mired in political gamesmanship that seems to be pushing parties farther apart, i wanted to hear directly from community leaders and business leaders in north carolina about how they think we should be approaching the responsibility that we have to reduce our deficit and our debt. i held listening sessions all over the state from raleigh to greensboro and charlotte to wilmington, and i heard from north carolinians of every kind, small business owners, health care workers, veterans, entrepreneurs and more. and the message i heard could not have been more different from the partisan bickering in washington that's dominating the airwaves. in washington, we see negotiators walking away from the table, refusing any and all comp