mr. murray, thank you for your leadership on this. we are excited about this to no end.after monday's ride on that a slower sailboat, being passed by id ac -- by the ac 45's, it was really exhilarating. i have been tried to think about how to explain this sport to a novice. as i was thinking about the ac 45's, and as they were crossing the us, and as i saw the teams on that boat, doing everything they had to do to keep the sales in place, to keep balance, i can only think of two other analogous sports. at least on the 45's, and i expect it will be as dramatic as on the 72's, you need the ability of a professional basketball player to be able to function. you have to have the precise this of a 40 niner super bowl team in order to do well. then you also have to have the execution of a world series giants seemed to be able to win the competition. with all of that, i know all of these skills will be necessary for each of these teams to be able to compete well. and to be on a fast-moving boat, with the waves and wind going in all different directions, and to beat the other bo

mrs. murray: mr. president, our nation is less than two weeks away from a potentially facing what federal reserve chairman ben bernanke has been called a calamitous outcome. unless we act, the united states of america for the first time in history may face the prospect of defaulting on our loans and not make good on the promises we've made to millions of americans. madam president, this outcome is unthinkable, and we should be doing everything we can to avoid it, which is why i am so disappointed that instead of working with us to tackle this issue seriously, the republican-led house of representatives has chosen to put politics ahead of everything else and has sent us a bill they call the cut, cap, and balance. well, first of all, madam president, this is a colossal waste of time at a critical time for our country. the republican house send us a bill that may appeal to their extreme base but now the american people are looking for results, not more rhetoric. "the washington post" reported that this b

mrs. murray: mr. president, if there is one thing in this long difficult debate there is no question about, one thing that all of us have long known, one simple truth that we must get past if we're going to avoid default, it's that any bill to get us out of this crisis will need democratic and republican votes. there is no partisan solution, no other path, no magic trick at the 11th hour. there is just compromise. after all the bluster and back and forth and posturing, there is just the bill that we have before us today. it's a bill that doesn't have everything that all of us want. it's not the bill that any one of us would have crafted if we had our way. but it is a bill that can and should be passed to avoid an economic catastrophe that would leave families in every single one of our states reeling. now, mr. president, i understand that compromise has been hard to come by in these negotiations no matter how hard we try but with senator reid's bill we have taken the republicans at their word. we have

mr. murray trying to make the case that it's not just him. >> these are industry-wide inquiries, and i think-wide process with the police and these criminal investigations are industry-wide, and i think that's really a question for the industry, for other papers, for other people to really come to grips with. and it's really for them in terms of their practices and how they do it. >> is everybody to blame, or is he just trying to say everybody's to blame? >> oh, no, there's more than enough blame to go around here. these two inquiries, one of them is into the hacking, the other is in to payments to police. it's widely believed that most of the other tabloid newspapers, at some stage, have paid off the police for tips. and that, of course, is not unique in the uk. that's also alleged to happen in other countries. but also, this hacking scandal, it's widely believed other papers have dipped their toe into that nasty bit of business. what murdoch is doing is justifying the reason for closing a paper of 160 odd years' age, putting more than 200 people out of work, and saying he's doing it all in

mrs. murray: mr.president, i have ten unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval -fl majority and minority leaders. and i ask unanimous consent these requests be agreed to and printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, we are now one week away from the unthinkable. the prospect of the united states of america defaulting on its loans for the first time in our history and not making good on the promises that we've made to families and veterans and senior citizens across the country. i am deeply disappointed we've gotten to this point. if we can't come to an agreement by august 2, the consequences for our nation and our economic recovery will be dire. a few weeks ago the bipartisan policy center put out a report that was actually authored by a former bush treasury official about what would happen if congress failed to act and if the administration was forced to m

mrs. murray: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. mrs. murray: mr. president, there is no question that we are at a point where we have to take substantial and painful steps to get our nation's fiscal house in order. that's why we are rightfully working to tighten our nation's belt at a time when american families are doing the same all over the country. but today i'm here to talk about one major difference in the way republicans have proposed to go about addressing our budget and the way american families who understand shared sacrifice and equal burden, have done it. today i'd like to point out one glaring omission in the republicans' plan amid all their tough talk about fiscal responsibility. i'm they're ask republicans why they are asking everyone to sacrifice except those who can afford it the most. i want to ask them why they are not only willing to risk defaulting on our nation's debt, but also the benefits or veterans rely on, pay for the troops, social security benefits, and the medicare our seniors are defending on. all to defend tax breaks

mrs. murray: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. murray: madam president, there is no question that we need to make smart decisions to tighten our belt and reduce or nation's deficit and debt. american families have done it and we owe it to them to get our fiscal house in order. but there's also one group of americans that we owe an even greater promise to, a group who we can never allow to become pawns or fall through the cracks or be forgotten altogether in these budget debates, and that is our men and women in inn form and the veteran -- in uniform and the verptses who have protected our nation for decades and that's why i'm here on the floor. in the midst of thewhile wind -- in the midst of the whirlwind debate on deficit and debt, no matter how divided we may be over approaches to cutting our debt and deficit, no heated how heated the rhetoric et goes, we have to keep our commitments to our veterans and service members and we

mr. murray spoke about. we also need to realize there's no solution without engagement. we need to hold what we have, even if we recognize the limits of the positive action we can do. thank you. >> your answers are helpful in terms of pulling back and seeing the larger picture as to both the reasons for concern here, whether they manifest themselves in maritime stability, the potential spread of terrorists activity and to the neighborhood of horn of africa, as well as the thing that is transcend that, such as humanitarian concern. seems as though we have contrarian views. not having the full benefit of your testimony earlier, i appreciate you raising different perspectives in that regard. if we could, before i conclude, let's just go back to one key point that you raise, ambassador shinn, regarding the spread of al shabaab into the surrounding neighborhood or it's affiliation , potentially with other groups who could leverage this -- i don't quite call it ungoverned space, but assemblance of ungoverned space for destabilization purposes, ideology and destabilization purp

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

mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that a murray amendment which is at the desk be agreed to the bill as amended by the murray agreement be agreed to -- sorry, the bill as amended be read a third time and passed, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the bill be placed in the record at the appropriate place as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. whitehouse: mr. president, i now ask unanimous consent that the judiciary committee be discharged from further consideration of senate resolution 87 and the senate proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: senate resolution 87, designating the year of 2012 as the international year of cooperatives. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. whitehouse: i ask unanimous consent that the preamble be agreed to, the resolution be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table with no intervening debate and any statements

boxer, levin, harkin, cardin, schumer, durbin, leahy, warner, murray, coons, blumenthal, brown of ohio, conrad, begich, kerry, stabenow. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a second-degree amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 590 to amendment numbered 589. mr. reid: i have a motion to refer the house message to the budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to refer the house message to the senate budget committee with instructions to report back forthwith with an amendment numbered 591. mr. reid: ask for the yeas and nays on that motion. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the yeas and nays will be ordered. mr. reid: now, mr. president, i have an amendment to my that is also at the desk. -- to my instructions that is also at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. r

mr. rieckhoff. that her james hosek. >> thank you. i would like to thank chairwomen murraynd the committee for the opportunity to testify. during the tenure since 9/11, 2.2 active and reserve members have been deployed. hallmarks of the air are the growing public recognition of distresses when they servicemembers and their families in the invisible wounds second half servicemembers who deployed. in my written testimony, i'd give an overview of rand studies on the planet this morning i hope to highlight the select finance. these touch of the following topics. the importance of total month deployment and understanding the effects, the prevalence of the had major depression of those who have deployed, barriers they face an important or providing evidence-based and unemployment. in our research, we found that extended length of deployment can a family and societal impacts ranging from the financial and emotional as it increased to four straight, academic and emotional consequences for children to burdens of reduced reimbursement within the armed services. here are some specific

south 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

follows: reid of nevada durbin, murray 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

mrs. murray: mr. president, i come to the floor this afternoon to oppose the amendment that has been offered by the senator from oklahoma that would undo decades of policy on how we treat veterans who are suffering from diseases associated with agent orange exposure, and that violates the promise we have made to a generation of veterans. mr. president, the legacy of agent orange exposure among vietnam veterans is one of tragedy, roadblocks, neglect, pain, and then more roadblocks. it's the legacy of our merit spraying millions of gallons of poissonous herb -- poisonous herbside indiscriminately without any repercussions. the time of the vietnam war and for far too long after it the u.s. government neglected to trash agent orange exposures. then in the decades following the war, our government stonewalled veterans who developed horrible aiments, ailments of all kinds from those exposures. and to further compound the problem, for decades our government failed to fund any research on agent orange and any