Europe remains America's indispensable partner. We need Europe and Europe needs us.

Thank you both for being here, for your service, and we look forward to continuing to work with you.

I hope going forward that we rely on your recommendations, as opposed to--it is one of the reasons that when I ran this past fall, I decided to swear off earmarks.

I think what we're all trying to figure out is how we can avoid this.

At the end of the day really where I'd like to be is, how do we avoid this from happening again?

I interpret these Navy decisions as a reaffirmation and a validation of the importance of the Maritime Prepositioning Force (MPF).

The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is a very important public shipyard in our country.

There is a gap in the modernization of our shipyards in terms of the backlog there.

I was surprised to learn that the Navy plans to place 6 ships of the 3-squadron, 16-ship total MPF for the Marine Corps into reduced operating status beginning in fiscal year 2013.

I want to thank the chairman and the ranking member, Senator Wicker, again because I raised the issue.

Mr. President, I am pleased I could be here to hear our colleague from Florida talking so eloquently about the importance of ending the subsidies we are currently paying to the Nation's largest oil companies and about the importance of…

Last year, following the oil spill, Chairman Bingaman, Senator Udall, and I introduced legislation that would have set aside $25 million a year from oil and gas royalties to fund oil spill R&D activities.

As we are looking at legislation to address concerns about permitting and drilling, one concern I have is that we not repeat the mistakes of the past.

I very much appreciate what you're saying. We would love to have you up to our State to take a look at it.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record. There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be printed in the Record, as follows: S. 982 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of…

Mr. President, nearly 10 years after the September 11 terrorist attacks, our country remains at war with violent extremists who want to kill Americans. Yet the administration has not designated a secure location for detaining…

I thank the Chair. (The remarks of Ms. Ayotte pertaining to the introduction of S. 944 are printed in today's Record under ``Statements on Introduced Bills and Joint Resolutions.'')

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Udall of New Mexico). Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from New Hampshire is recognized.