Would the Senator be willing to take care of the 560,000 veterans who are Federal employees, many of whom have now been furloughed?

I rise to speak in support of two individuals whose nominations will be voted on at 5 p.m. We haven't set any records in the Senate in the last 5 weeks for productivity. We passed one major piece of legislation, which the Senator from…

I announce that the Senator from Pennsylvania (Mr. Casey), is necessarily absent.

I will soon introduce, along with Senator Flake, a resolution condemning the Westgate attack and reaffirming U.S. support for Kenya.

let me start off by acknowledging an article which appeared in today's New York Times attributed to the Senate Chaplain, Dr. Barry Black, who led us in prayer to open the Senate's session. It is entitled ``Give Us This Day, Our Daily…

I picked up the newspaper, at least went online to look at the newspapers from Illinois this morning, and two stories jumped right off the page. One was in the Bloomington Pantagraph. What a great story it is and makes me so proud to be…

I intend to introduce legislation requiring the administration to present its Somalia strategy to Congress with benchmarks for progress.

reserving the right to object, the junior Senator from Texas launched this government shutdown with a 21-hour presentation here on the floor of the Senate. It is clear from the actions of the House and his actions today that he is starting…

I would say to my colleague from Texas, some of the language which he has used in this debate relative to impugning motives of Members may have crossed the line. I am not going to raise it at this point, but I ask him to be careful in the…

I wish to thank the President pro tempore, as well as the majority leader for their comments this morning. I am wearing a button, as many of my colleagues are, that says thank you to the Capitol Police. The one I am wearing is not one that…

reserving the right to object, I am going to offer to the Senator from South Dakota an even better deal. Not only will we help the reservists, not only will we open the Veterans' Administration, but out of the two million federal workers…

there are two sides to every story. Before he leaves the floor, I would like to say to my friend from Texas--and he is my friend--I was at the World War II Memorial yesterday with an Honor Flight from Illinois. There were no barricades…

on behalf of the one-half million veteran Federal employees, one-fourth of whom are disabled, I object. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Objection is heard. The Republican whip.

reserving the right to object, I am going to make a counteroffer to the Senator from Missouri which is even better. It is going to open the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control, and all of the medical research at…

I ask unanimous consent there be a period of morning business for debate only until 2 p.m., with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10…

the unanimous consent request made by the Senator from the State of Washington is eminently sensible. It basically says: Why hold 800,000 Federal employees hostage while we go about the negotiation of our future budget? The majority leader…

there were two headlines in most of the major newspapers across the United States this morning. I saw it in Financial Times as well as the Wall Street Journal. The headlines noted: ``Americans flock to insurance exchanges.'' It was the…

I ask the time used in quorum calls during this period of morning business be equally divided between Democrats and Republicans. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

I will respond to the Senator from Iowa and then yield the floor back to him, and I see the Senator from New Hampshire waiting. Our last best hope in this debate is that moderate Republicans will step up and say, Enough. This is not what…

That is correct. As of midnight, the notice went out that the government agencies were closed. There are some that are doing important jobs that are absolutely essential--air traffic control, for example--but the agencies of government…

The Senator from Iowa has the special responsibility of the authorizing and appropriating committee that deals with health and education and the National Institutes of Health, and so he understands medical research better than most. I am…

I would say to the Senator from Iowa, we better not push our luck asking for both the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control from Senator Cruz. In all honesty, we are not sending any letters. This is reckless and…

I suggest the absence of a quorum and ask that the time that is consumed under the quorum call be equally divided between the Democrats and Republicans, and all subsequent quorum calls be equally divided between the two parties. The…

we were notified just after lunch of the new strategy that is coming out of the Cruz control that we are facing on Capitol Hill. It turns out that Senator Cruz is going to pick and choose those departments of government that he wishes to…

I ask unanimous consent that there be a period of morning business for debate only until 5 p.m., with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees and with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to…