ms. ayotte: thank you.i would ask permission to enter into this colloquy with my colleagues. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. ayotte: thank you. it is an honor certainly to speak after the senator from alabama who is the ranking republican on the senate budget committee, and he knows better than anyone else here that as my colleague from south dakota said, if we do a budget for our country, then we don't find ourselves in a situation like this where we're going to put our national security at risk. and it's been over three years since this body has done a budget. i think it's outrageous. having been elected in 2010, i'm so angry about that that i've signed up to support that bill that says we shouldn't get paid without a budget. because where we end up is this sequestration deal which i will tell you i think the lesson from this is when you have an absence of leadership, and the majority leader thinks it's foolish to have a budget, when you have an absence of leadership from our commander in ch

ms. ayotte: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: our troops are fighting and being attacked in afghanistan. iran marches toward the capability of having a nuclear weapon, terrorists have you had inned our diplomats. innocent civilians are being murdered in syria by a despotic regime. mr. president, the world is a dangerous place. president obama, stop leading from behind. president obama, lead an effort. right in our military faces devastating cuts that your own secretary of defense said we'd be shooting ourselves in the head, that webbed undermining our national security for generations. we heard what's happed happening in the world. lead, be the commander in chief. your leadership has been absent. you have been awol on this critical issue and our troops and nation deserves better. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: lucky you to be president today. we live in interesting times. you could receive the nobel peace prize for not being somebody else. four years later almost after the nobel peace p

ms. ayotte: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: mr. president, i ask for permission to follow my colleague from arizona. is the floor still in republican -- the presiding officer: the senator is recognized. ms. ayotte: yes, thank you very much. i want to follow up, mr. president, on the comments of the distinguished ranking republican on the senate armed services committee, who of course through his own service and sacrifice for our country knows too well how important it is for us to stand with our men and women in uniform. and i want to follow up on what he said. this body is about to go out and adjourn next week without passing a defense authorization. it would be the first time in over 50 years in the history of our country. and there's really no plan that we've heard from the majority leader as to when we will take up this incredibly legislation for our country, which, as senator mccain has already outlined, addresses issues like pay for our soldiers and the equipment that they need and benefits that they deserve and they've earne

ms. ayotte: thank you, mr. president.i first want to thank my colleague from south carolina who has really led the effort on this incredibly important resolution. i would also like to thank my colleague from connecticut, senator blumenthal, for his leadership on this issue. the bipartisan nature of this resolution tells you very clearly that this really is the policy of this congress and how important this issue is for our country. this resolution will ensure that we give a clear message to iran that it is not our policy, that we will not accept the world, the world will not accept, the united states will not accept if iran acquires the capability of having a nuclear weapon, because we understand that it will make the middle east a very more dangerous place than it is now, causing an arms race there. in addition, it will also cause us to be in a position where one of our strongest allies in the middle east, israel, is threatened with annihilation because that's exactly what the iranian regime has said, and most importantl

ms. ayotte: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new hampshire. ms. ayotte: our troops are fighting and being attacked in afghanistan. iran marches toward the capability of having a nuclear weapon, terrorists have you had inned our diplomats. innocent civilians are being murdered in syria by a despotic regime. mr. president, the world is a dangerous place. president obama, stop leading from behind. president obama, lead an effort. right in our military faces devastating cuts that your own secretary of defense said we'd be shooting ourselves in the head, that webbed undermining our national security for generations. we heard what's happed happening in the world. lead, be the commander in chief. your leadership has been absent. you have been awol on this critical issue and our troops and nation deserves better. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: lucky you to be president today. we live in interesting times. you could receive the nobel peace prize for not being somebody else. four years later almost after the nobel peace p