Sherrod Brown

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the immediate consideration of S. Con. Res. 26, submitted earlier today.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Senate proceed to the consideration of S. Res. 240, submitted earlier today.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motions to reconsider be laid upon the table, with no intervening action or debate, and any statements related to the matter be printed in the Record.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 28; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate be in a period of morning business for 1 hour, with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the Republicans controlling the final half; further, that following morning business, the majority leader be recognized.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I understand there is a bill at the desk and I ask for its first reading.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the time during the quorum call be divided equally between the two parties.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, as we debate the best way to get our fiscal house in order, we must avoid, first of all, defaulting on our obligations while also working to make our economy stronger. While our debt has been rising for several decades--and there is enough blame to go around--it has been exacerbated by the economic crisis that has all too often turned workers and taxpayers into collectors of unemployment insurance, housing assistance, and health care assistance. We must not forget that the economic crisis was brought on by a financial crisis that pulled our economy into a deep recession. Some people in this Chamber--conservative politicians in Washington-- like to forget this financial crisis ever happened. But throughout the United States--in places such as Cleveland, Dayton, Chillicothe, and Zanesville--fast-talking mortgage brokers in America steered Americans into unfair loans that helped put our economy on the brink of collapse, costing millions of Americans their homes and jobs. While Wall Street has regained its footing, millions of Americans are still struggling to finds jobs, stay in their homes, and afford health care coverage. Businesses are struggling to access credit so they can hire new workers. Thankfully, 1 year ago, we passed Wall Street reform. The President signed the landmark legislation that was aimed at providing consumers with protection from abusive rates, fees, penalties in mortgages and credit cards. The centerpiece of the bill--one of the centerpieces of the bill is the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is aimed at giving consumers a voice as loud and powerful as Wall Street; frankly, something this city is not used to. Richard Cordray will be that voice. He is one of Ohio's most talented public servants, who is strongly committed to protecting Ohio consumers and investors. As Ohio's attorney general, he was a strong voice for Ohioans who struggled during these tough times to stay in their homes, consumers who faced unfair practices by big Wall Street banks who had deceived consumers. He has targeted institutions--including Fannie Mae--that hid material information from investors, in the process undermining pension funds that provide retirement security for teachers, secretaries, police officers, and janitors. Coming from Ohio, he has seen firsthand how unscrupulous actors steered Americans into unfair subprime loans that helped push the economy to the brink of collapse, costing millions of Americans their homes and jobs. Rich took the unscrupulous actors, but he also worked closely with Ohio banks, which are supporting his nomination to advocate the Consumer Protection Bureau because he played it straight and fair. He worked closely with them to promote financial literacy and craft effective, targeted legislation distinguishing traditional banks--those that lend and are the lifeblood of any economy--from those banks engaged or those companies or Wall Street institutions that are engaged in predatory lending. As he has been throughout his career, Rich will be a strong voice for consumers as the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau carries out his mission. It is a mission of bringing oversight and transparency to checking accounts, credit cards, mortgages and student loans and ensuring that our financial system continues to support job creation. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is already starting to make a difference. It is working to make sure credit card terms and loan contracts are written in ways that regular people can understand--in plain English. It has earned rave reviews from industry and consumer groups alike for the substance and process involved in creating a new model mortgage loan disclosure form. The Consumer Product Financial Protection Bureau is helping our men and women in uniform, preventing them from being targeted by bad actors committing fraud and engaging in deceptive financial practices. You can see them like vultures surrounding military bases as they do it--at Wright-Patterson Air Force base in Dayton and other places. When Rich was attorney general of Ohio, he was the first State attorney general in Ohio to take on unscrupulous bankers and sue a mortgage lender over foreclosure fraud. He recovered billions of dollars for Ohio. I am proud to have worked with him to identify financial predators that prey on homeowners facing foreclosure. When he was Ohio treasurer, he worked across party lines to strengthen Ohio's finances. Besides being a five-time Jeopardy winner, Rich is a great human being and a devoted family man. The challenges he will face in his new position are great, but I know he will be strengthened by the support of his wife Peggy and twins Holly and Danny. I urge my colleagues to support Richard Cordray to be head of the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. It will help consumers, banks, and our economy. I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Madam President, I thank the Chair. I heard what the Senator was saying about Medicare. Am I right about this? I know what some conservative politicians in this town think about Medicare. In 1965 when Medicare passed, it was a lot of conservative Republicans who opposed it. Later--I was in the House then. Senator Harkin was in the Senate. But the first chance that Speaker Gingrich with the new Republican majority had in the mid-1990s, they tried to privatize it. Remember, Speaker Gingrich talked about it withering on the vine. Am I right, with the Ryan budget they tried to privatize Medicare again and the public rose up against it a few months ago, so is this sort of a backdoor way of going after Medicare? They do not want to acknowledge to their constituents they do not like Medicare because 90- some percent of Americans like Medicare and benefit from it. This is this sort of backdoor approach to put these limits on spending so it will force the privatization and unraveling of Medicare and ultimately Social Security and these programs we care about?

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. If the Senator will yield again, imagine what would have happened in 2003 and 2004 with the Senator in the Senate and a lot of people all over the country--including a lot of Republicans all over the country, but not elected Republicans, when we were fighting the privatization of Social Security in 2004 and 2005--imagine what would have happened if so much of Social Security had been turned over to Wall Street. Imagine what would have happened if, in 2005, people would have put all this money in Wall Street instead of their secure lockbox, if you will, the Social Security fund, where nobody is missing Social Security payments and people know what they are going to get. It is predictable, it is always there and always will be. If we put it in these private accounts, there goes the predictability and there goes the solidness of Social Security, right?

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, earlier today, in the early morning hours before sunrise, humankind once again touched the Earth after exploring the universe. On the day when 42 years earlier, Ohio's Neil Armstrong became the first human to walk on the Moon, I rise to honor the men and women of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's, NASA, Space Shuttle Program on reaching the historic milestone of the 135th and final flight of the Space Transportation System, STS. I especially honor the men and women of NASA Glenn in Cleveland, OH, for their achievements with the Space Shuttle Program, thereby advancing the human exploration of space, driving scientific advances and technology development, and enriching the lives of all people throughout the United States and the world and inspiring our next generation of explorers. The first firing of a hydrogen/oxygen rocket engine occurred in 1953 at the NASA Lewis Flight Propulsion Laboratory, now known as NASA Glenn Research Center. Early design work and testing of turbopumps, seals and bearings, main combustion chamber injectors, baffles, heat transfer testing, development of the electroforming process, and testing of nozzle shapes and lengths was all performed by NASA engineers in Cleveland, OH. These research and development activities led to the current design of the Space Shuttle Main Engine. Three space shuttle main engines combined delivers more than 37 million horsepower, the same amount of energy as 13 Hoover Dams. NASA Glenn is also a leader in fuel cell research and development. Scientists performed vital research to improve the performance and efficiency of the fuel cells to generate electricity for the space shuttle. Today, that work continues as NASA Glenn is a leader in alternative energy, from fuel cells to wind turbines to batteries that are now changing the way Americans live and work. In the 1970s and 1980s, NASA Lewis ran aerodynamic wind tunnel tests on scale models of the solid rocket boosters, orbiter and external tank, and complete scale models to gather data for the new Space Transportation System. Some of the models even had gaseous hydrogen- oxygen rockets and solid propellant booster rockets, which were fired in the wind tunnel to test their behavior during ascent. These activities helped NASA to catalogue important flight characteristics of the Space Shuttle for launch and landing. NASA Glenn not only fostered the Shuttle program's achievements, but it also comforted its setbacks. After two unfortunate accidents--the Challenger, STS-51L, on January 28, 1986, and the Columbia, STS-107, on February 1, 2003--Glenn engineers performed many shuttle safety improvements and aided the return to flight. And as the Space Shuttle Program progressed through breakthroughs and heartbreaks, numerous microgravity experiments have been designed, built, and operated by NASA Glenn and conducted on-orbit on the space shuttle. The results of NASA Glenn experiments have been used to improve fire safety, emissions reduction, energy efficiency, healthcare, and electronics. On the ground Ohio's NASA engineers explored the universe with Ohio astronauts on-orbit. Nineteen astronauts from Ohio flew on the space shuttle, some multiple times. Former astronaut-turned-U.S. Senator John Glenn flew on STS-95, and STS-70, the ``All-Ohio Crew,'' flew in 1995 with four Ohio natives on the crew, and the fifth crewmember was made an honorary Ohioan. As we congratulate NASA on the Shuttle Program and honor all those involved in its success, the true measure of the importance of the STS Program will be where NASA goes next. I have had the privilege to meet many of the scientists, engineers, and workers at NASA Glenn. They are dedicated and compassionate, guided by the scientific patriotism that displays a nation's pursuit in understanding the world in which we all live. The space shuttle has enabled the United States to continue its leadership in space, science, and technology. I am proud of NASA Glenn's role in the design and testing of the space shuttle, and especially of its leadership in numerous scientific experiments that have been conducted on the space shuttle. I am confident that both NASA and the United States will refocus to continue to push the boundaries of science--fueling technology advancements and inspiring our children to become the next generation of scientists, engineers, and explorers. NASA Glenn and Ohio will continue to play a major role in that effort. Our Nation is defined by the spirit of discovery, pushing westward on land, navigating the oceans, and sending humankind into what was once a mere vision seen only through Galileo's eye. We are a nation of explorers. And we all have a responsibility to safeguard that defining American spirit and to inspire a new generation of American explorers.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Would the assistant majority leader yield?

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. I appreciate the Senator's comments about where we were. About 10 years ago, we had a budget surplus in this country, as you recall. We had a number of years of quarter after quarter of economic growth, and we know that when you have economic growth, obviously the budget gets in a better situation. But then it was the tax cuts in 2001 and 2003 that I believe the Senator opposed, as I did when I was in the House of Representatives, that went overwhelmingly to the wealthiest taxpayers; and then the two wars the Senator talked about that the people enthusiastically--some, not the Senator--voted for but didn't see a reason to pay for them; and then this Medicare bill, which was basically a bailout to the insurance and drug companies in the name of privatizing Medicare, and we are in a situation now where we are simply trying to pay the bills. I appreciate the Senator's thoughts and comments about where that takes us. It seems to me it is not like raising your credit card debt limits. These are obligations we have, and we have to be responsible elected officials, as we would as responsible citizens, and pay the debts and the obligations we have incurred as a nation, correct?

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I am here today to celebrate a friend and a statesman, a former Member of the Senate, a marine aviator, a pioneering astronaut, a beloved family man, and an American hero. Today is the 90th birthday of John Herschel Glenn. I was 10 years old when John Glenn observed three sunsets, three sunrises, and the wonder of the universe in just under 5 hours while orbiting the Earth. I was 16 years old when John Glenn presented to me and another couple dozen Eagle Scouts in Mansfield, OH, our Eagle Scout Award, teaching us yet again about community service and community pride. When I was 54, in one of the most memorable moments of my professional life--with John's wife Annie and my wife Connie in the gallery--John Glenn escorted me into this Senate Chamber to be sworn in as a Senator from Ohio. As a grandfather and a father, a husband and a Senator, I continue to be inspired by the example of a life well lived--a life in public service, a life fighting for the public good. Born in Cambridge, OH, 150 miles east of Dayton, where the Wright brothers first figured out how to fly, he attended public school and became an Eagle Scout in New Concord. It was there where he would meet his childhood sweetheart and future wife Annie. As children, they literally shared a playpen. John says: ``She was part of my life from the time of my first memory.'' On April 6, 1943, Annie and John married. Since then, they have earned the adulation and admiration from people around the world for their accomplishments and for their devoted love. By 1941, he had studied mathematics at nearby Muskingum College and earned his pilot's license. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, he dropped out of college to enlist in the Navy and after 2 years of advanced aviator training was reassigned to the U.S. Marine Corps. John Glenn flew 59 combat missions with the Marines in World War II and 90 combat missions with both the Marines and Air Force in Korea. On some of these flying missions, he had baseball great Ted Williams on his wing. John Glenn was awarded numerous commendations and citations for his heroic military service. In 1959, he was selected by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as one of the original Mercury Seven astronauts. In 1962, President Kennedy made John Glenn the first American to orbit the Earth, and 35 years later, John Glenn was asked by another President, Bill Clinton, to fly into space for a second time as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Discovery. At the age of 77, he became the oldest human being to fly in space, conducting a series of scientific investigations into the physiology of the human aging process and exploring the effects of space flight and aging. By the 1960s, Glenn's service to his country had expanded into a career in politics. He was with Senator Robert F. Kennedy that fateful day in June in California, and he served as a pallbearer a few days later at Arlington National Cemetery. In 1974, John Glenn was elected to the Senate from my State of Ohio, serving four consecutive terms until his retirement 24 years later in 1999. He served as chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs. He was the chief author of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978. Throughout the years, he continually championed the advancement of science and technology, especially NASA, so much that 12 years ago, the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland--the only NASA facility north of the Mason-Dixon Line--was officially renamed the NASA John H. Glenn Research Center. After his retirement from the Senate, he and Annie founded the John Glenn School for Public Affairs at The Ohio State University saying: ``If there is one thing I've learned in my years on this planet, it's that the happiest and most fulfilled people I've known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self-interest.'' Whether he was flying in the air or floating in space, walking the campaign trails or in this Chamber, he remained grounded in his New Concord roots and always by the steady hand and constant love of Annie. When my family and I decided I should run for the Senate in the fall of 2005, the first people we called were Annie and John Glenn. Annie's advice to Connie then and now has been to ``be yourself and not allow others to tell you who you should be.'' Connie, who was a noted writer in Ohio, writes for the Cleveland Plain Dealer--Connie had this to say about Annie: ``Annie Glenn refuses to draw attention to herself, which is one of the reasons so many of us cannot get enough of her. She is that rare person who is genuinely interested in whomever is standing right in front of her. You will never capture her looking over your shoulder searching for someone more interesting, more important. If you are looking into the eyes of Annie Glenn, you have just become the most fascinating person in the world. This is not to suggest Annie is a wallflower. She was won many honors, changed many lives, through her advocacy. She is as engaging as she is generous, full of opinions earned by living life at full throttle, even when she was scared to death. And that is a crucial truth about Annie: Americans rightly ooh and aah over John Glenn's courage in space. But let us never forget the hero of a wife who gave her public blessing, and then privately prayed until his safe return.'' John and I traveled across Ohio on the campaign trail, hearing each other so often that we could finish each other's speeches and roll our eyes at the same jokes we would tell. John and Annie teach all of us about our own capacity for selflessness and to have the confidence to serve with humility and with honor. They are dedicated public servants and trailblazers whose sense of humor and smiles brighten any room and in whose presence we better understand the meaning of love and compassion. It is a love and marriage that everyone from lifelong New Concord friends to U.S. Presidents, to colleagues in this Chamber have described with affection. Barack Obama said during a campaign stop in Columbus: The thing I admire most about John Glenn is his relationship to his wife, Annie. They have been married for 65 years-- That was then. Now it is 68-- and you should see the way he treats her. He's in love. Sixty-five years later he's still in love. And no wonder, because she is a remarkable woman. Through John and Annie's remarkable American lives, we reveal and remember the greatness of our country, our capacity to love and to wonder and to see something greater than ourselves. My wife Connie and I are fortunate to call Annie and John friends, and they remain trusted mentors and role models for us and so many. When his country was attacked, he enlisted. When his President asked, he served. When his country needed it, he instilled a confidence in the American spirit of scientific discovery. When his State needed his leadership, he represented the people of our State with honor. Happy 90th birthday, John Glenn. Your life tells our Nation's story in the 20th century, our triumphs and our turbulence, and it tells how our Nation's spirit of discovery could be found in the humility of a hometown hero from New Concord, OH.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to speak for up to 10 minutes as in morning business.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I appreciate the comments of the senior Senator from Florida about Social Security. In my State--and it is not much different in Rhode Island, the State of the Presiding Officer--the average Social Security benefit is $14,000 a year. A huge percent--I think about half--of Social Security beneficiaries in Ohio rely on Social Security for more than half of their income. When I hear proposals here, which Senator Nelson also was speaking against, to make significant cuts to seniors who are getting $1,000 a month from Social Security and letting off hedge fund managers who are paying significantly lower tax rates than most people in the middle class--that the sacrifice is aimed toward the middle class and aimed toward seniors and not spread more evenly among people who are the most privileged of society--it bothers me, as it does, I know, the Presiding Officer. I rise today about a similar issue, about a Social Security issue also, calling on my colleagues in the Senate and in the House of Representatives to practice what we preach. Presently, the Congress and the White House are working to find agreement on ways to balance the budget, as we should. I was part of the effort in the 1990s. During the Clinton years we balanced the Federal budget. In fact, during those 8 years, we took a terrible deficit and high unemployment, and even though taxes for upper income people were raised to 39 percent, we saw 21 million private sector jobs created, we saw incomes going up, and we saw that President Clinton left office with the highest budget surplus in American history. We saw the policies of the next 8 years and what they did to our country: tax cuts for the wealthy, deregulation of Wall Street, bad trade agreements, a giveaway to the drug and insurance companies, and two unpaid-for wars and where that got us to this budget situation-- exacerbated by this recession in the last 3 years. So we clearly need to move forward in balancing the budget. Some Washington politicians want to balance the budget by cutting the Social safety net upon which millions of hard-working Americans rely. I oppose those efforts. In a time of fiscal belt-tightening, Members of Congress should also share the burden of reducing that deficit. That is why I have introduced the Congressional Retirement Age Act of 2011. The bill is simple. As Congress and the White House seek an agreement on a deficit reduction package, Members of Congress cannot permit themselves to receive benefits denied to ordinary working Americans. While the wealth of Members of Congress varies, there is no doubt we receive a healthy salary and benefits compared to millions of American families who do not. Members of Congress also have an added benefit. We can access our Federal retirement benefits early, whether we serve as few as 5 or as many as 25 years. Millions of seniors--who have worked their lives in factories or have worked their lives in construction or have worked their lives walking the floor of retail outlets, department stores or diners--millions of seniors cannot do the same. For too many Americans, Social Security has become their retirement plan, as pensions disappear and 401(k)s plummet. All Members of Congress are able to collect their pensions at any time--starting at age 50--if they have served 25 years. Most have not by the age of 50, obviously, but once they have served 25 years, they can receive full pensions. If they have served as few as 5 years, they can collect their pensions beginning at age 62. So with 25 years of congressional service, Members of Congress can receive pensions immediately upon retirement. If they have served 5 years, they can receive a pension--not a large one at that point but a pretty decent pension--at age 62. But what about a Youngstown steelworker, what about a Columbus store clerk, what about a Cincinnati nurse, what about a Toledo sheet metal worker, what about an Akron worker in a rubber plant? Do they get that option? Of course not. They have to wait until age 65, or age 62 at a discounted amount, to receive retirement benefits. No longer should any Congressman, no longer should any Congresswoman, no longer should any Senator be treated differently from other Americans. That is what the Congressional Retirement Age Act of 2011 would ensure. This bill would amend the Federal Employees Retirement System and the Civil Service Retirement System to directly tie current and future Members of Congress' access to their Federal retirement benefits to the Social Security retirement age. It is that simple and it is bipartisan. Senator McCaskill of Missouri, a Democrat, Senator Johnson of South Dakota, a Democrat, are cosponsors. The House companion, introduced by Representative Bobby Schilling of Illinois, a Republican, has seven Republican cosponsors. This idea is endorsed by the conservative National Taxpayers Union, that calls it ``one of the few serious attempts to reform Congressional pensions in recent memory.'' I do not agree with the National Taxpayers Union on that many issues; they are too willing to cut benefits for the middle class, in my view. But together, on this issue, we share the belief that Members of Congress should be treated as any other citizen. There is no reason that the benefits of being a Member of Congress should be more generous than being a member of the middle class. According to reports, 13 sitting Senators and 31 Members of the House of Representatives today have accrued annual pensions worth at last $50,000, if they were to retire today. Meanwhile, American workers age 65 or older receive a median private pension payment of about $8,000 a year. Elected officials do not, frankly--I think you look around this body and you know that most House Members and Senators, at least a number of them, simply do not know enough people who work in construction, who work in a retail store, who work at a diner, who work at a manufacturing plant, who work in a hotel cleaning rooms, who stand up all day as a cosmetologist or as a barber, working in jobs where their bodies simply cannot work until the age of 70. Members of Congress, dressing like this and doing what we do, can often work--obviously, if the voters say so--can, obviously, work into our 70s. It is not that hard for most of us. But while we go to work in a suit and tie, tens of millions of American workers work in factories and mines and fields and diners and hotels and their bodies simply cannot work until the age of 70. So when I hear my colleagues say we should raise the Social Security retirement age, I think of people working in the service industry, I think of people doing demanding work in agriculture and on shop floors and in construction and hairdressers, and all that. Why should they wait longer for their retirement security--albeit it is too small to begin with in many cases; it is minimal, often, at best--but why should they wait longer for their retirement security than Members of Congress? So for those who think about raising the retirement age for Social Security, think about raising the retirement age for ourselves. There is simply no reason we, as Members of Congress--no matter how many years of service--should be able to retire at full pension before Social Security beneficiaries in this country. Why should Members of Congress be treated better than a steelworker or a store clerk or a nurse or a hotel worker? Mr. President, I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. We hope to get an agreement to begin consideration of the Military Construction appropriations bill early tomorrow.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, if there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. BROWN of Ohio

Mr. BROWN of Ohio. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 14; that following the prayer and the pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that following any leader remarks, the Senate proceed to a period of morning business for 1 hour with Senators permitted to speak therein for up to 10 minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the Republicans controlling the first half and the majority controlling the second half; that following morning business, the Senate resume consideration of the motion to proceed to H.R. 2055, the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs and Related Agencies appropriations bill postcloture; further that all time during adjournment, morning business and recess count postcloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 2055.