this year, i am grateful to have the support of senator pat roberts a former marine who introduced the same bill in the senate s. 504. with his help i'm hoping this will be the year the senate supports the house position and joins in bringing proper respect to the fighting team of the navy and marine corps. the navy and marine corps have operated as one entity for more than two centuries and h.r. 24 would allow the name of their department to illustrate this fact. this legislation is not about changing the responsibilities of the secretary of the department, reallocating resources between the navy and marine corps or altering their missions. redesignating the department as the department of the navy and marine corps is a symbolic gesture, but it is important to the team. over the years, i have been encouraged by overwhelming support from so many members of the armed forces of the united states have written me letters. last month, i received a letter from retire mad rein corps giles kaiser who expressed his support for h.r. 24. he wrote, and i quote, as a combat commander of marines and

deal with the very discussion we just had, debate and if we can resolve that with language that pat robertsas submitted that would deal with a good substantial number of those amendments. this evening if further work can occur, hopefully the remaining ones could either be resolved or have a finite number to deal with title ii with the hope that is tomorrow we'll convene at 10:30 for two hours to try to finish up title ii and then over the weekend i'll be instructing staff to begin to work as they have already, i know, i think there are 171 amendments that have been proposed to the prevention title, title iii of the bill and the work on those amendments over the weekend so that we convene on monday we can hopefully have whittled down that number in the prevention section and my intention would be to start on monday and i believe we come in -- monday we have time? we have an executive session at noon for members to sit

this year i'm also grateful to have the support of senator pat roberts, a former marine, who introduced the same bill in the senate, s. 504. with his help, i'm hopeful that this will be the year the senate supports the house position and joins in bringing proper respect to the fighting team of the navy and marine corps. over the course of the marine corps history, including their present day service in afghanistan and iraq, those three words, and marine corps, have been earned through blood and sacrifice. the navy and marine corps have operated as one entity for more than two centuries and h.r. 24 would allow the name of this department to illurate that fact. this legislation is not about changing the responsibilities of the secretary of the department, reallocating resources and admissions. this change is all about respect and gratitude to the marine corps. as symbolic as this change might be, the marine corps has earned the right to be recognized in the department's name. over the past several years, this change has received support from three former navy secretaries, the marine corps

pat leahy. harold hongju koh, state department legal advisor, like the interior department, the state department, secretary clinton wants a lawyer there. a lawyer with the huge most important office -- no. robert groves nominated to be the director of the corner cens. and there are 20 others. just republicans recklessly refuse to confirm our new ambassador to iraq, listen to what they're doing now: they're holding up lieutenant general stanley mcchrystal, imminently qualified soldier who president obama and secretary gates chose to be our new commander in afghanistan. i met him in my office the other day. this is a man whose military is in his blood. his father was a great general. his father won five silver stars fighting for our country around the world. stanley mcchrystal is an expert in counterinsurgency which we need so badly in afghanistan. but, no, we're not going to get him approved. at least for now. republicans are so opposed to everything they even oppose putting people in some of the most important positions in our government. we believe, the majority believe, democrats believe, those who have chosen to serve our country must be able to work without delay. mr. president, republican