John Cornyn

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk) and the Senator from Alabama (Mr. Shelby).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, on behalf of the Senator from Illinois, we are offering an alternative to the Sanders amendment that failed earlier today. The Sanders amendment called for a substantial increase in the minimum wage, an action that the Congressional Budget Office has told us could kill up to 1 million jobs. The Kirk amendment takes a different approach. It reaffirms the ability of the individual States to raise the minimum wage above the Federal level, but only if they choose to do so at their own volition. It also calls for policies that will result in higher wages for all Americans, progrowth tax relief and the elimination of burdensome mandates such as ObamaCare. I urge my colleagues to support the Kirk amendment.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, this amendment is a reaffirmation of the 10th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. I ask for the support of our colleagues.

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senators are necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz) and the Senator from Illinois (Mr. Kirk).

Mr. CORNYN

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I say to my friend that this is the President's proposed budget. Senators can vote yes or no. I am glad to hear the ranking member of the Budget Committee, Senator Sanders, is going to vote no. I will vote no, and I encourage all Senators to vote no.

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, do I have any time remaining?

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, President Obama's budget has gotten some pretty rough coverage in the media recently. For example, the Los Angeles Times called the President's annual budget ``. . . a strange, almost fictional document.'' An article in Politico said, ``As he prepares to deliver his budget on Monday, President Barack Obama is lurching to the left.'' Another Politico article said, ``It's a progressive's dream version of Obama, untethered from earlier centrist leanings. . . .'' The President's budget has not had a great voting history in the Senate. Since 2011, there were only 2 votes for the President's proposed budget and 1,023 votes against it. This is an opportunity for all Members of the Senate to express their views on President Obama's proposed budget. I recommend and ask that my colleagues vote no on this budget.

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. The following Senator is necessarily absent: the Senator from Texas (Mr. Cruz).

Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, before the Senators from Arizona and South Carolina leave the floor, I want to say a couple of words about their contribution to our collective efforts on the budget. As I said a moment ago, the No. 1 priority for the Federal Government is national security. And while we are all concerned about runaway spending--and the chairman of the Committee on the Budget has been quite determined to rein that in by producing a balanced budget over the next 10 years--it is due to the leadership of the Senator from Arizona and the Senator from South Carolina, along with our other colleagues on the Committee on the Budget, who also happen to serve on the Committee on Armed Services, who I think have led us to a much better place--a place where we can all feel better that we are closer to making sure our military has the resources they need in order to meet the commitments we have asked them to make. We maybe have a few things we need to still talk about, and we will keep talking until we get it right, but the fact is, without the leadership of the Senators from Arizona and South Carolina and others on the Committee on the Budget, we wouldn't be where we are today and able to hold our heads up high and say we believe in our duty to our men and women in uniform, we believe in America's leadership role in the world, and we will not shrink from that.

Mr. CORNYN. I suggest the absence of a quorum.