Barbara Mikulski

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, reserving the right to object, I will not, I just want to seek clarification from the Senator from Texas. About how long will the Senator seek recognition?

Ms. MIKULSKI. That is more than agreeable. We know the topic and we are anxious to hear it.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I want to tell my colleagues and anyone watching that just because Senators are not speaking on the Senate floor doesn't mean nothing is going on. I am incredibly impressed by the cooperation on both sides of the aisle as we try to get a finite list of amendments, as well as the proper sequence of those amendments in order to complete the business of moving to the continuing resolution. So there is a lot going on in other offices. These are not back rooms; they are not deal cutting. This is the workman-like way a parliamentary democratic institution does business. There are Senators who have ideas to improve the bill. Senator Shelby and I think our bill needs no improvement. We think we ought to just move to it, do it, send it to the House, and avoid any kind of gridlock of a government shutdown. However, Senators do have the right to offer amendments, and they have now offered their amendments. People are scrutinizing the amendments to make sure they understand the policy consequences and also that we don't have unintended consequences. Although it looks as though there is no debate going on here on the floor, there is a lot of discussion going on in Member offices. We hope that in a very short time we will be able to move to amendments so we can discuss and dispose of those amendments in a way that satisfies both parties. I just wanted people to know that. When we talk to folks back home, they say: I watch C-SPAN, all I hear is Senators' names called out in alphabetical order. They also may know that there might not be an official hearing going on, though we do know some are going on today. I just wanted to talk about some of what is going on and that this is part of the process. This is a big bill, and I hope that a big bill-- one that includes every aspect of the Federal funding--is not done this way in fiscal 2014. I want to continue the cooperation that has begun between Senator Shelby and myself and the mutual leadership. For the funding bills, we wish to move them in a regular order. For instance, the two biggest departments are the Department of Defense and Labor, Education, Health and Human Services. We want to go through them and look at what is the appropriate funding level and is there any way we are going to achieve more frugality and more value. The Senator from Oklahoma is on the floor, and he is my red-team guy. He often takes a look at the bill and has pointed out some things that cause heartburn. This is the way a democracy should work. I want to get back to a regular order where we know what we are doing and the American public understands what we are doing. We are moving expeditiously. I would dearly love to be able to bring this bill to a closure tonight. I am not sure it is possible. That is why we are scrutinizing and scrubbing these amendments now. We cannot proceed to any other amendments until we see the whole package and look at the best way to organize it and sequence it. I wanted to share this with my colleagues who are watching from their offices and committee rooms. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. The CR is on the floor. Does the Senator wish to speak in morning business?

Ms. MIKULSKI. How long does the Senator wish to speak?

Ms. MIKULSKI. It could be.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I note the absence of a quorum so we can discuss how we are going to proceed on the debate.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I also ask unanimous consent that the pending Inhofe amendment, No. 29, as modified, be agreed to; and that upon disposition of the Inhofe amendment, Senator Toomey or his designee be recognized to call up amendment No. 115.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, we note the Senator from Pennsylvania is coming to offer his amendment. While we are waiting for him to get ready to proceed, I would like to thank Senator Inhofe, Senator Boxer, and all who worked on a satisfactory resolution of the Inhofe amendment. It shows if the Senate takes a minute or two, keeps its powder dry and sticks to the issues, we can move this bill forward. We now look forward to a discussion on Toomey No. 115. I note the Senator from Pennsylvania is on the floor to offer his amendment. I yield the floor.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, on behalf of Senator Landrieu and myself, I object to the Senator's request.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, before we proceed to debate on the Toomey amendment, I say to my colleague from Ohio that his strong advocacy for working people is appreciated. From the standpoint of discussion, the Senator has some excellent ideas, and I hope he and the Senator who chairs the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee can talk about how we can reach some type of consensus to generate jobs, retain the integrity of a professional workforce, and keep our economy going. I salute him for the work he does every day in that area.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I rise to speak on the Toomey amendment. I want to reiterate what my colleague from Illinois said about this amendment. Senator Durbin chairs the Subcommittee on Defense. He recently took this over with the passing of Senator Dan Inouye. Senator Dick Durbin has now assumed the Chair. It is a committee we are now looking at funding. I too have met with the Department of Defense--whether it was Secretary Hagel, Deputy Secretary Ash Carter. I have talked things over with General Dempsey. When they talk about what are the big-buck expenditures in defense--is it guns? Is it bullets? Is it body armor? Is it tanks or planes? The exploding costs are in the area of military personnel. We have to pay our people, so we agree with that. Then there is the issue of providing health care. Wow, after a 10-year war where we have asked too much from too few for too long, people are coming back with the permanent wounds of war. All are coming back with the permanent impact of war. Health care problems are showing up among them. But to my surprise--I was not surprised about that--I was surprised that one of the largest expenditures in DOD is energy. I already knew that DOD is the Federal Government's largest energy consumer and that the Congressional Research Service notes that since early 1990, the cost of buying fuel has increased faster than any other DOD budget category. Isn't that a surprise, that it is increasing faster than health care? I actually believed health care would be the fastest because of what our troops and their families have endured. But it is the fastest growing category. Some numbers. I know a lot of our colleagues are numbers people. Between fiscal years 2005 and 2011, the Department's petroleum use actually went down. Their use of petroleum went down by 4 percent. You would think their costs went down. But guess what. Their spending on petroleum rose 381 percent in that same period. What an amazing number. When your use goes down but your cost goes up 381 percent, it is time to take a new look and begin to find new ways to deal with this challenge. Our Department of Defense went right to work. DOD tells us that for every 25-cent increase in the price of a gallon of oil, the Federal Government and DOD incur over $1 billion in additional fuel costs. Every time a gallon of oil goes up 25 cents, the Federal Government ends up spending $1 billion more at only DOD. That is $1 billion that could go a long way in either making sure we have modern weapons or for our returning troops--and they are returning--to have the health care they need. We need to modernize the military. Senator McCain has challenged us. We need to make sure we don't hollow out the military. We need to make sure we address the new emerging threats not only in geographic areas but in cyber space. I am on the Select Committee on Intelligence. Those cyber threats are eye-popping when you study the issue. We need to do something about our cost of fuel. The Navy had planned to spend close to $200 million on advanced biofuels between fiscal year 2009 and 2012. The $60 million we are talking about is a small fraction of the Navy's annual cost for petroleum-based fuel--approximately $4.5 billion in fiscal year 2011. Secretary of the Navy Mabus has talked about how energy security is a growing national security issue not only for our country but also specifically for the DOD. What is the answer to that? We have to be able to look at funding for the advanced biofuel program. As Senator Durbin said, the Senate has already voted twice in support of DOD's biofuels programs. The Department continues to spend money in fiscal 2012 for biofuels. The fiscal 2013 year will maintain funding to pursue the program in future years. I hope we understand what are the real costs facing the Department of Defense. Just because you do not like a program--let's look at these programs in terms of the challenges facing our military. We think the challenge facing our military is terrorism, and it is al-Qaida. Gosh, when one thinks about those marines up there, as we speak, in the mountains of Afghanistan, it just gives you chills. When they are up there fighting for us, they need to have resources. They need to have the weapons, they need to have the armor to protect themselves, but they also need to have the fuel to get around. As Senator Durbin said, they are often incredibly at risk because they are riding over roads loaded with these mines. We have come a long way in learning how to deal with IEDs, but the hurt locker continues to exist. We have to do something to protect our military, protect those in the military who support the frontline troops. That means they need to have the fuel on which the DOD will continue to run. We need to look for alternative sources. The policy is a good one. I think the amendment of Senator Toomey is well intentioned, to fund operations and maintenance, but operations and maintenance is really also having the right fuel, which means we have to develop alternatives to what we have now. I wanted to comment on this. As I have taken over the chair of the full committee, I have learned a lot more about the funding of the Department of Defense and the challenges they face. The more we scrutinize it, some of the really big-buck expenditures that support the troops are not visible in the public eye, but they are visible as we look at our expenditures. We need to support our military, and we need to do it not only in the way we are supporting them today, but to have the new technologies for the kind of support they will need in the future. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, that also takes me to the fact that there are these growing issues in the area of health care that we need to take a look at. There are a variety of challenges facing the Department of Defense that we need to look at and address, but let's do it through the regular order, through our appropriate authorizing committee, and through our appropriate Appropriations Committee. I yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, to my colleague and friend from Illinois, through you, I also express my condolences to the Athens family. Andy was a good friend to me. We had such a warm, cordial, affectionate relationship. But he made that easy because of the kind of man he was--a real entrepreneur in that immigrant sense, starting with very little and really creating a business. But along the way, he not only built a business, he raised a family and he built a community. And I enjoyed so much working with him on the issues. Yes, we did work on Cyprus, the fact that Cyprus is yet to be unified and is still occupied in northern Cyprus. But was the Senator from Illinois aware of his work in creating health services in Russia and in the Orthodox community there--he was like a one-man NGO in what he did. Was the Senator aware of that?

Ms. MIKULSKI. I am going to put that in neon here this evening, yes.

Ms. MIKULSKI. What did he pass away from?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Absolutely. I am so pleased, if I may comment, that the Senator brought this to the attention of the full Senate. I will submit my own statement. We would welcome to know how to get in touch with the Athens family. But let me say it to the Senator.

Ms. MIKULSKI

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Ms. MIKULSKI. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Mr. President, I note the absence of a quorum.

Ms. MIKULSKI. Would the Senator withhold?

Ms. MIKULSKI. Madam President, thanks to the cordiality and cooperation of Members on both sides of the aisle, but particularly those who initially had an objection to us going forward, we now can move forward. We are waiting for the junior Senator from Texas, Mr. Cruz, to come to the floor. He will be offering the first amendment. As soon as he gets here, we are off and running. I am going to thank everybody for getting us to this point: Senator Shelby for working with me on the bill, Senators Reid and McConnell, and particularly now Senators McCain and Coburn. We have a way of addressing their concerns. So we are ready. We are waiting for the Senator. I note the absence of a quorum.