ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would ask success speption suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: mr. president, i would first ask that the pending motion be set aside and that my motion be sent to the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from michigan ms. stabenow, moves that the managers on the part the senate at the conference on the greeing votes of the two houses on the house amendment to the resolution s. con. res. 11 be instructed to insist that -- ms. stabenow: mr. president i skilled to dispense with the reading. -- skilled to dispensereading i would ask to dispense with the reading. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: my motion would instruct conferees to remove from the budget resolution any medicare cuts that would increase out-of-pocket costs for senior citizens, eliminate garnetted benefits or make structural changes to medicare by turning it into

ms. stabenow? >> aye. >> ms. can't well. >> aye. >> mr. nelson? >> aye. >> mr. menendez? >> aye. >> mr. carper? >> my. >> mr. cardin? >> aye. >> mr. brown? >> aye by proxy. >> mr. brown aye by proxy. mr. bennett? >> aye. >> mr. casey? >> aye by proxy. >> aye by proxy. mr. warner? >> aye. >> mr. chairman? >> no. >> the chairman votes no. mr. roberts? >> i would like to record it as aye. >> aye. >> the clerk will announce the vote. >> mr. chairman, 18 ayes and eight nays. >> the ayes have it, and the amendment is adopted. okay. are there any other senate amendments. >> yeah. mr. chairman? i would like it change my vote to no. >> you want to change -- would it change the outcome? >> it would not. >> no. >> without objection, your vote will be changed to no. are there any further debate on this bill? >> mr. chairman? my understanding is i thought that was on final passage of taa -- >> it was. >> it is. when you asked are there further amendments, are you talking about the next -- >> no, we're enjoying this so much. i want to know -- >> okay, all right. didn't want to foreknow it the possibi

ms. stabenow: mr. president my motion would instruct conferees to remove from the final budget resolution any medicare cuts that would increase out-of-pocket costs for senior citizens eliminating guaranteed benefits or making structural changes to medicare by turning it into a voucher-based system or premium support system. i think one of our greatest concerns in this budget, among many is the fact that when you add it all up, there are $566 billion in medicare cuts in this senate resolution. shockingly it's more than even the house cut. and so i would urge that we stand with people who have paid in to a health care system that works. they've earned these benefits. they are counting on these benefits and seniors and people with disabilities across the country need to know that medicare is an intact guaranteed health care system for them. i would urge support for my motion. mr. enzi: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i'm going to urge my colleagues to reject this

ms. stabenow: thank you mr. president. before my prepared comments i do want to thank the senator from rhode island for his passion his leadership in coming to the floor over and over and over again ringing the alarm bells about what is happening not only to our country but our world. we are paying the price in lives, in dollars we are seeing our farmers pay the price because we not have effectively addressed what is happening to our world in terms of climate change. so i want to thank the senator for his continued passion in reminding us over and over and over again why we need to act right now. mr. president, today 350 airmen from michigan along with 12 a-10 war hogs are deploying to the middle east to take part in operation inherent resolve our nation's mission to eliminate the terrorist group known as isil. this deployment has special significance for michigan. michigan is home to thousands of families community leaders with loved ones living in the middle east who have seen firsthand the devastating effect of isil. as

ms. stabenow: thank you mr. president. thank you. mr. president, i think the american people deserve to see the contrast between how nominees were treated last decade during the bush administration versus how they are treated this decade during the obama administration. when former president bush nominated john ashcroft to be attorney general. it was controversial. i was one of 42 democrats who opposed the nomination. and yet it only took 42 days for john ashcroft to get a vote on confirming his appointment because neither i nor other democrats stood in the way and blocked actually having a vote. now, i agree that was a different time where filibusters were not used every single day on every single issue. unfortunately. but i remember at that time when our republican colleagues came to the floor and said elections have consequences, when a president is elected he or she has the opportunity to put forward their nominees and have a vote. and day after day people came to the floor and said just let us vote. just let us vote. and we did. let

ms. stabenow: i would ask suspension of the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. stabenow: thank you very much madam president. madam president, as we all know, a vote of confirmation for loretta lynch to be our next attorney general has now been delayed 164 days. we're -- for five months, we have seen this qualified woman waiting for a confirmation vote, and we have had at least 51 members, a majority, indicating that they will support her confirmation. now, i remember coming to the floor to listen to colleagues during the bush administration over and over and over again indicating that elections have consequences that presidents have a right to have their nominees voted on, and that that is our responsibility to make sure that if something comes out of committee that we vote on a final confirmation. now, when you look at the fact that we have seen loretta lynch now wait on the floor for a vote combined length of time that equals more than the last seven attorney generals, i really do believe, as the president has said enough is enough. and i remember a time when