On the recordApril 8, 2011
I rise because obviously we are talking a lot today about--and really the eyes of our Nation are looking at what Congress is doing because there is so much negotiating going on. I am one who wants to have a long-term continuing resolution to the end of our fiscal year that makes the responsible budget cuts, that funds our troops and gets us on to the next item of business, which is the one we really must address; that is, the huge debt that is facing our country. That is what we should be doing. We are now in the throes--and I am told there are serious negotiations going on that we hope still will have a result before the midnight deadline. But if everything breaks down, I have a bill that now has 74 cosponsors in the Senate out of 100. That bill is very simple. It says that if everything else falls through, even though everyone I am talking to wants us to have that agreement that will not shut down the government, that does fund our Army, our Navy, our Air Force, our Marines, our Coast Guard, all of those in the Transportation Security Administration, all of those personnel who are waiting to see if their financial lives are going to be disrupted--I want to make the deadline so it will not be. However, I do have a simple bill because there are some people who are not in the United States right now, who are overseas protecting our freedom. They are serving in Iraq. They are serving in Afghanistan. Their loved ones are mostly at home watching what is going on.…
