if there is no business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn following the remarks of the Senator from Alaska, Ms. Murkowski. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from…

I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 p.m., Monday, March 31, 2014; that following the prayer and pledge, the morning hour be deemed expired, the Journal of proceedings be approved to…

I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. Remembering Ed Muskie

I ask unanimous consent that the Judiciary Committee be discharged from further consideration and the Senate now proceed to S. Res. 395. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The clerk will report the resolution by…

there will be at least two rollcall votes on Monday at 5:30 p.m. ____________________

I ask unanimous consent that the bill be read a third time and passed, and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The bill (S. 2183) was ordered to be engrossed for a…

I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. 2183, introduced earlier today. The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will report the bill by title. The assistant legislative clerk read as follows: A bill…

I rise this afternoon to memorialize one of the great residents, citizens, denizens of this body--Senator Edmund Sixtus Muskie of Maine--who tomorrow, March 28, 2014, would have been 100 years old. I knew Ed Muskie--not well, but I knew…

I ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, and the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The resolution (S. Res. 395) was agreed to…

It would help me to understand the context of this if, for the record, you guys could produce a graph.

I feel that once somebody is in the Service, they have earned what they are entitled to.

If you take us to sequestration, we have already said that is going to be 175,000.

this is a zero-sum game that you're in, in terms of the way the budget caps work

We hope the Army does not go to 420,000, but it is probably going to somewhere in the neighborhood of 450,000.

I think if and when we do change the retirement system, we need to be very clear, right up front with the new cohorts coming in, as to what that retirement system is.

For this year, we have met our recruiting goals.

Are there morale issues in terms of multiple deployments, longer deployments? Is there a stress factor on your men and women?

To the extent we can do that, that to me would be a very high priority.

We need to have our entire combat air forces, 80 percent of that has to be ready in 30 days.

I think it is really important to realize that what we have is a breathing space, not a solution.

Full sequestration would take you to 420,000.

It was designed to be stupid and it succeeded brilliantly.

I hope if we have to make those decisions, you will stand behind us.

Congress has certainly had a major role in creating that situation, and I think we have to own up to that.

Risk equals young men and women's lives.