Patty Murray

The Senator from Minnesota has requested 10 minutes, and I yield to him 10 minutes. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Minnesota.

I want to thank my friend from New Jersey on his previous work to highlight how our budget impacts children and on his efforts to do so again today. I agree with him that it is important that we have a full accounting of how the Federal…

I withhold my request. I thank the Chair. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Alabama.

I am happy to yield 3 additional minutes to the Senator from Iowa. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from Iowa.

I am very proud of the balance we have put forward in our budget that makes sure all Americans in this country participate in solving the great crisis in front of us in terms of managing our debt and deficit. We are doing exactly what the…

I assume that means the time will be divided equally, which means the Senator from Alabama would only have 1 additional minute.

Our Members have been waiting for 2\1/2\ hours to get to a vote. I know we have had a lot of time to debate. We will have additional time after the votes as well, as the Senator knows, tonight and tomorrow morning. I would respectfully ask…

Over the baseline, which we are very clear in what we are using--we are not hiding the ball, as he is trying to do when he is mixing numbers here--we reduce the budget by an additional $1.85 trillion, absolutely.

Let me be very clear: We have put out a budget that is credible. It is clear, and it is a good, solid approach. I know we are playing with numbers here in terms of baselines. There is no need to do that. We are doing what every single…

This is a matter of semantics. We replace the sequestration, very clearly, because it is very damaging to our country.

As I have stated many times out here on the floor--and our budget is very clear--we replace sequestration with a balanced mix of spending cuts and revenues, exactly as we have stated. There is no reason to misconstrue this. That is exactly…

Let me just respond again. As the Washington Post said in giving this concoction two Pinocchios, the reserve funds the Senator refers to lie within there in order to provide the $975 billion in revenues. So essentially what he is doing is…

If the Senator would withhold, because we have two Senators waiting to talk. I will be happy to answer that. Can we let two of them go on our time?

It is my understanding there are a number of Senators who have come to talk on one of the provisions they would like to offer. I think we will start with their side, with Senator Enzi to be yielded to from their side. If the Senator wants…

I rise to use time in opposition to the resolution. The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator is recognized.

Absolutely. I am happy to get things going here today. Does the manager on the other side have an amendment he wishes to start with this morning?

If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent it adjourn under the previous order. There being no objection, the Senate, at 10:45 p.m., adjourned until Thursday, March 21, 2013 at 9 a.m.

The Senator from Michigan is here. I would like to ask her how much time she would like me to yield to her.

It is really clear that VA and Congress have made some important strides toward addressing the invisible wounds of war but we have a lot more to do.

VA cannot fix this problem alone.

This revealed a complete breakdown in VA's mental health program.

I really appreciate the focus on providing timely access to health care. It is so important for our veterans, for our servicemembers, and for their families.

I cannot help but wonder where additional staff will be placed.

I fear we are going to find ourselves back here again trying to fix the same problem.

We have to implement the Mental Health Care ACCESS Act. We need to meet the goal of hiring 1,600 new mental health care professionals.