Patty Murray

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. The budget already includes a deficit reduction reserve fund for the elimination, consolidation, and reform of Federal programs to achieve savings. Our budget goes even further to instruct committees to review the GAO report on duplication and asks committees to use this information to reduce overlap and identify efficiencies. The budget does not single out individual programs because we believe that sorting through duplication should be the role of our authorizing committees. That is why we have specifically instructed committees to review GAO's findings on duplication in their high-risk list. Therefore, I urge my colleagues to oppose this amendment.

Mrs. MURRAY. I yield to the Chair of the Finance Committee.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote and lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, before going to the next amendment, I have one unanimous consent request. Senator Sessions and I have been able to clear Durbin-Moran amendment No. 525. I ask unanimous consent that it be agreed to.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I yield to the Chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the Senator from Vermont.

Mrs. MURRAY. It is late--early in the morning. I want to take this opportunity to thank my colleague Senator Sessions for a vigorous debate and for all of our colleagues participating in this debate. I am very proud of my colleagues. I urge a ``yes'' vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Madam President, the Senate has passed a budget. I want to thank all of my colleagues. I especially want to thank our staff who have literally spent weeks and weeks and days and hours on this--Evan Schatz and Mike Spahn and John Righter and the others who are sitting behind us tonight--as well as Senator Sessions and all of his staff. It is a tribute to their hard work and my lost voice that we are sitting here tonight ready to take the next step to get our country back on a better fiscal path. I thank the Presiding Officer and yield the floor.

Mrs. MURRAY. I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, it is my understanding that Senator Ayotte and Senator Baucus, who are next, are not going to call up their amendments. The question now is on the Durbin amendment, as amended.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, the next amendment that is in order is my amendment. I would like to yield to Senator Collins to speak on the amendment following mine, Amendment No. 144.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, how much time remains on both sides?

Mrs. MURRAY. May I ask the Senator from Alabama if the Senator from Virginia may speak for 10 minutes? I see the Senator has some speakers on his side?

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote.

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

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that motion on the table. The motion to lay on the table was agreed to. Amendment No. 152

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I join my colleague in opposing this amendment. I ask for the yeas and nays.

Mrs. MURRAY. I would answer the Senator, we are working through between the majority and minority as fast as we can. I don't think anybody here will say I have not been working very hard to get up their amendment. We are doing our best to get everybody considered from both sides. If we keep going, I am happy to do this.

Mrs. MURRAY. May I make a suggestion?

Mrs. MURRAY. I yield to the Senator from Illinois.

Mrs. MURRAY. I am amenable to a voice vote.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I wish to pay tribute to a great American governor, dedicated public servant, and community leader from the State of Washington, Governor Booth Gardner. He was born August 21, 1936 in Tacoma, WA and was a leader of tremendous compassion, dignity, and bravery whose service to our State will live on far into the future. Booth was generous in sharing his wisdom and his time, and I will never forget the lessons he taught me when I was just beginning my political career in Olympia many years ago. I learned so much from Booth because he was a man that led by example. He demonstrated governing was about the people you served and served with, by learning everyone's name, what issues they cared deeply about, and by taking the time to work with anyone who shared his desire to make Washington State a better place to live. Booth also showed compromise and compassion were not competing ideals by being pragmatic when he needed to be, but by always working to protect the needs of the most vulnerable. Governor Gardner passed away on March 15, 2013 in Tacoma at the age of 76, after a long battle with Parkinson's. While I am deeply saddened by his passing, Booth's imprint on our State will long be seen in our classrooms and the many open spaces he fought to protect. Up until the very end of his life, Booth remained a fighter for the issues he cared most about. Those of us who knew him couldn't have imagined it any other way. I miss him greatly. I ask my colleagues to join me in paying homage to Governor Booth Gardner. He lived a full life, and the people of Washington State will always be indebted to him for his role in shaping the future of our State. Our thoughts are with his loved ones at this time of great loss.

Mrs. MURRAY

Mrs. MURRAY. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on March 22, 2013, at 11 a.m., in S-216 of the Capitol, to conduct an executive business meeting.