Mr. President, shortly, we hopefully will be voting on a budget agreement for this fiscal year, and that will start the process of the debate on the next fiscal year. What we are about to do is more than pass a budget agreement; we are…

I appreciate your recognition of that. The problem is that what AID has been doing over time is taking from the Latin America accounts whenever it faces a challenge.

I look at Congress's language, as it relates to the economic support funds for Cyprus, and find that they go to bicommunal projects aimed at reunification measures to reduce tensions and promote peace and cooperation between the two…

That is not acceptable.

I would like to support a country that is making strides in a secular, more democratic direction--respecting the rights, for example, of Coptic Christians.

I don't know how you get to bicommunal efforts if you don't have conversations and engage the Cypriot Government.

Mr. President, this is a time to make sure there is a vote on this Senate floor on a budget that ends the fiscal year, that encapsulates the $78 billion in cuts, that strips out social riders that have nothing to do with the budget, that…

Mr. President, I rose yesterday to talk about the consequences of a budget shutdown, and I rise again today--hours away from facing that reality. What I cannot understand for the life of me is after having agreed to $78 billion in cuts…

I ask unanimous consent to speak for 15 minutes. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection? Without objection, it is so ordered.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that there be a period of morning business until 5 p.m., with Senators permitted to speak for up to 10 minutes each. The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, it is so ordered. The Senator from Utah…

Mr. President, I rise to express my strong concerns about the direction Republicans and the tea party want to take our country, beginning with an irresponsible Government shutdown simply for the sake of pursuing a social agenda and…