pryor: mr. president, while we're waitin waiting for r senators, i would suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. kyl: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kyl: thank you, mr. president. throughout this day, a lot of our constituents back home have been watching the debate, and i wonder maybe if they're a little frustrated. i talked early this morning about flowing rotten apples at each other. there's been a lot of that here today. i suggested this morning that one of the things we could do while we're waiting to see whether or not an agreement can be reached to fund the government through the end of this fiscal year was to try to shed some light on the process, which undoubtedly is a bit confusing to people. what exactly is it that we're arguing about? how did we get here and what do we have in the future? we talk add lit

finest moving developments of the arab revolution which completely took the major powers part of pryor's what do you think about that just getting on the tail end of this year go ahead john you're talking you're done you're talking as if this was free masterminded. in a some kind of an order to intervention will intervene in one way or another and something nice is do some course some master plans for long term first of all libya i can assure you will serve as a model an example to anybody around the area that would have tend to suppress their people and their brutal fashion they get that if you regime has i mean you know i have actually. you mean you are a you surely i live you are saying that the the us didn't simle timelessly agree to intervene in libya but also to pack the saudi question of the rain in the bahraini revolution but that's what's happening now there's no debate and i lived through this whole entire process. i have lived most of the american astronaut are of the age of the revolution in thirty years square so there's no point in lecturing me about your personal participa

pryor: thank you, mr. president. i want to talk just for a few minutes about an incident that's unfolding in arkansas that i'm sure is unfolding in other states as well about, say, less than two weeks ago, a 73-year-old woman and her husband received a letter from fema and fema demanded that this couple pay back $27,000 in fema assistance they had received three years earlier and that they do it within 30 days or face penalties, interest, et cetera. well, this is devastating news for her. these are social security recipients. they lost everything in a flood. and let me back up and tell the full story and tell the rest of the story. three years ago, arkansas had some floods on the white river and the folks in the mountain view area, some of them experienced very severe flooding. fema came -- actually came to this couple's house, walked around, told them on the spot that they were eligible to receive fema assistance for the flooding. and the maximum you can receive is $30,000. they filled out the paperwork. in fact, fe

richard pryor. >> right. but i could not be the person that i am today. and i didn't see that person. but not speaking allowed me... and walking allowed me to go on this journey and to find myself as a human being-- not a black person, not a white person, not a person of color, but a human being. >> hinojosa: not even an american. >> not even an american. >> hinojosa: because you crossed borders. you walked all across south america. >> hinojosa: yeah, and that was the connection to find that, you know, we're connected to each other all the way. and my walk across the united states allowed me... and i studied. i got my masters in montana and a ph.d. in wisconsin. but what... my education, my informal education of listening and being with so many people, i realized that even though... when i stopped riding in cars, i thought environment was about trees and pollution and endangered species and all those things. and in my formal education, that's what it was. but my informal education taught me that we're all part of the environment. and if we want to treat t

with it even democrats are joining the chorus people like senator kent conrad joe manchin and mark pryor so when even the president's own party doesn't want to tell the white house line to pass a clean debt does that mean that they've completely lost this political fight here of this concert with me as politicos. they thank you so much for being here tonight like i said a couple of months ago except for some tea partiers you even had john boehner you had republican leaders that were saying this is going to be catastrophic we can't let it happen we can't even toy with the debt ceiling and suddenly it's fair game hey it's just something you throw in there every day what happened i think you saw the political environment and by the way i mean democrats you're right a lot of them thought that this was going to be an easy vote for them they'd be able to vote for this up or down there wouldn't be a controversy they have the votes they still the majority in the senate but i think the political calculus now because of all the concern about the deficit that they're hearing from their constituents

choices in the first instance and they say that the cours can do this because the courts can do this in pryor knew sans cases. but this case is nothing like an instance in which one state is complaining that another state has dumped sewage into a body of water. >> how many states does it take? three states have made that allegation. i don't know exactly how you draw the line between a case like tennessee-copper and this case. >> it's not a question of the quantity of states. this task is different because of the global nature of the phenomenon. >> i'm more receptive to this kind of ak argument if i knew where we were going with our standing. i don't want to make it difficult on you. but i take it that these arguments also go to whether there is a cause of action on the mayor. >> exactly, your honor. and whether we should expand the common law. it makes it different because ever sector of the economy worldwide produces gas nature and there's no geographic case between the source of the emission and the victim that claims the harm. and that changes what the court has to do it means any court or

pryor: mr. president, we find ourselves in dangerous territory while republicans and democrats continue to point fingers and hold fiery press conferences, a government shutdown is quickly approaching. the blame game is like quicksand. it has the ability to drag down not just the senate and the house but our entire economy and even our country. no matter how you look at it, a shutdown would be reckless and irresponsible. we can get this short-term budget problem resolved if all parties would turn off the rhetoric and stop the campaigning. a few extreme partisans stand in the way of progress, blocking a good-faith effort of many others seeking common ground. i ask them to take to heart what it says in the book of eye disciia, "come now, let us reason together." we need to overcome this budget impasse and live up to the oath we took and to the people we represent. larger challenges await our attention. it is not in our best interest to see a government shutdown, and i don't think it is in the best

who started around 2003 and they perform a function very similar to a jewish comedian, and richard pryor and eddie murphy and chris rock facing head-on discrimination for comedy and arab-american communities sold-out a theater on broadway about four or five months ago it was the first time they managed to sell out a broadway theater and was a great moment, and soon after that we began to hear questions should they identify more or should they be canadians -- should they be pigeonholed and that is constantly de dial am i and for a certain amount of time you do need to identify and work within the so-called pigeonholes because you want to present these diverse spaces but sooner or later you ought to be accepted as arab-american comedians and for the comedian in the muslim community we are not there yet. >> on that point that is the question i was going to ask when we see faces on television often you will see those of certain ethnic backgrounds they would be talking about those specific issues related to their ethnic background, and i think it was brought up earlier by the panel is there a

who started around 2003 and they perform a function very similar to a jewish comedian, and richard pryor and eddie murphy and chris rock facing head-on discrimination for comedy and arab-american communities sold-out a theater on broadway about four or five months ago it was the first time they managed to sell out a broadway theater and was a great moment, and soon after that we began to hear questions should they identify more or should they be canadians -- should they be pigeonholed and that is constantly de dial am i and for a certain amount of time you do need to identify and work within the so-called pigeonholes because you want to present these diverse spaces but sooner or later you ought to be accepted as arab-american comedians and for the comedian in the muslim community we are not there yet. >> on that point that is the question i was going to ask when we see faces on television often you will see those of certain ethnic backgrounds they would be talking about those specific issues related to their ethnic background, and i think it was brought up earlier by the panel is there a

senator mark pryor, senator john boozman, senator michael bennet, senator max baucus, senator johnny isakson, senator mark kirk, and senator tim johnson. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: that brings the total to 58. senator casey has been a wonderful supporter in this. he is the lead cosponsor. 58 united states senators have stepped up to the plate and sa said, this is not an option for us to equivocate for one minute. so, mr. president, i'm waiting to get two more cosponsors which will show that we have 60 and that we want to act as a united states senate, and i am hoping that senator casey and i could get the ability to bring our bill up and pass it. very simple, very clear. military pay and those who are serving our military in civilian capacities will not be delayed because they're going to report to work and they need to have the peace of mind to know that the mortgages that they have, maybe our direct lines to the mortgage companies, are going to be covered. that is the very least that we could do as we are arguing about whose fault it is going to be if

who started around 2003 and they perform a function very similar to a jewish comedian, and richard pryor and eddie murphy and chris rock facing head-on discrimination for comedy and arab-american communities sold-out a theater on broadway about four or five months ago it was the first time they managed to sell out a broadway theater and was a great moment, and soon after that we began to hear questions should they identify more or should they be canadians -- should they be pigeonholed and that is constantly de dial am i and for a certain amount of time you do need to identify and work within the so-called pigeonholes because you want to present these diverse spaces but sooner or later you ought to be accepted as arab-american comedians and for the comedian in the muslim community we are not there yet. >> on that point that is the question i was going to ask when we see faces on television often you will see those of certain ethnic backgrounds they would be talking about those specific issues related to their ethnic background, and i think it was brought up earlier by the panel is there a

who started around 2003 and they perform a function very similar to a jewish comedian, and richard pryor and eddie murphy and chris rock facing head-on discrimination for comedynd arab-american communities sold-out a theater on broadway about four or five months ago it was the first time they managed to sell out a broadway theater and was a great moment, and soon after that we began to hear questions should they identify more or should they be canadians -- should they be pigeonholed and that is constantly de dial am i and for a certain amount of time you do need to identify and work within the so-called pigeonholes because you want to present these diverse spaces but sooner or later you ought to be accepted as arab-erican comedians and for the comedian the muslim community we are not there yet. >> othat point that is the question i was going to ask when we see faces on television often you will see those of certain ethnic backgrounds they would be talking about those specific issues related to their ethnic background, and i think it was brought up earlier by the panel is there a point yo

289 as modified, pryor number 278, merkley number 272, and landrieu number 234. that there be no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the votes other than the demint second-degree amendment to the paul amendment, that each amendment be subject to a 60-vote threshold and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, or that the vitter amendment number 178 and the pryor amendment number 229 be withdrawn. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from maine. ms. snowe: reserving the right to object, i have an additional amendment that i'd like considered on this list, and i thought that we had an agreement that there would be an even number of amendments offered on both sides, and now i understand under the agreement that's put forward by the majority leader there are six amendments on the democratic side and four amendments on our side. i would like to ask consent because i thought our -- my amendment, the snowe amendment 299 would also be included in the amendment, so i'm asking unanimous consent that the order be modifi