Mark Pryor

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that when the Senate completes its business today, it adjourn until Tuesday, February 28, 2012, at 10 a.m.; that following the prayer and pledge, the Journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day; that the Senate be in a period of morning business until 12:30 p.m., 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 hour and the Republicans controlling the second half hour; further, that the Senate recess from 12:30 p.m. until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus meetings.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. If there is no further business to come before the Senate, I ask unanimous consent that it adjourn under the previous order.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I thank Senator Alexander from Tennessee for his leadership on this issue. He is the one who wanted to come here and praise the two leaders for their leadership. Again, they are demonstrating leadership by reaching this agreement and trying to change recent practice around here. They want to set a new standard for getting it done as we are supposed to get it done. So I thank my friend and colleague from Tennessee for all of his hard work, and this is just the tip of the iceberg. He is working on many ways to try to make this institution run better and to make the American people proud of the Senate. So I thank the Senator for that.

Mr. PRYOR. That does go back to the appropriations process, because obviously those things require money, they take investment in our future. But the truth is if we are stymied in our appropriations process, there are a lot of good things that we can't get done. But when they go through, we can take care of the challenges that present themselves around the country. We have a lot of need in this country. I am certainly a promoter of investing in infrastructure, and the ports are very important to our Nation. With that, I yield to the Senator from Tennessee.

Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, I likewise wish to thank Senator Boozman. He keeps calling me the senior Senator. We are partners. He does great work for the State of Arkansas, and I appreciate his leadership. Although he has been here a short time, his presence has definitely been felt in the Senate already, and I look forward to working with him as long as we are both here. I really appreciate him being here tonight because the hour is late in Washington. It is after 6:30 now, and I appreciate him carving out some time. Article I, section 9 of the U.S. Constitution simply states that ``no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.'' Like a lot of things in the Constitution, it is a fairly simple statement, but it is loaded with importance. We can all talk about this clause as a power given to Congress in the Constitution, and I think that is true, but I also classify it as a responsibility. As a congress, it is our responsibility to write annual appropriations laws to fund the government's commitments to its citizens. It is our responsibility to do that. The principle of an appropriation is a basic rule of governing, and I think a lot of people would agree that we have lost sight of many of the basics around here. I believe the basics are important, and I would like to get back to them, which includes the Senate--and hopefully the House--passing the annual appropriations bills through what we call the regular order. This is where I wish to thank the two leaders, Senator McConnell and Senator Reid, because they have a commitment. They have committed to each other--with the chairman and the ranking member of the Appropriations Committee--that we will try to get back to regular order and do things the way we should be doing them around here and should have been doing them around here all along. Regular order is something we talk about in this Chamber, but it is something many Members of the Senate, unfortunately, have never experienced. Last year the Senate Appropriations Committee dutifully passed all 12 individual appropriations bills. Yet, when they came to the floor, gridlock struck and the Senate was not able to pass these one by one as we should have. In fact, the last time we passed them one by one was in the year 2006, and even in that year the Congress did not get them done on time. What the leaders are talking about now is getting them moving through the appropriations subcommittee and the full committee and bringing them to the floor. As we say in regular order, let the Senate debate, amend, and vote on these as we go. Hopefully we will get all of these done on time and in the normal order, as we should. The last time Congress completed all of the appropriations bills one by one and on time was in fiscal year 1995. So we have not done a very good job, and this is one of the things that I think really frustrate the American people. It is beyond time that we get serious about this responsibility. Here again I wish to thank Senators Reid and McConnell for their leadership. I think we see our leaders acting like leaders and trying to get things moving for the fiscal year 2013 appropriations bills, but I must say we all recognize this is easier said than done. We all know that. I want them to know they have many, many of their colleagues who support them in this goal of getting all of the appropriations bills done as we should. We have two very respected and accomplished Senate leaders here on the floor, but we also have two very accomplished and respected Senators who run the Appropriations Committee. We could all talk a long time tonight about the chairman and ranking member, and I am confident that if as a Chamber we stand behind them and stand behind the two leaders, we can break this cycle of inaction here in the Senate. The good news for this year is that we have already enacted into law our top-line spending number--in technical terms, people call that a 302 A allocation--so we know how much money we can spend on discretionary programs under the law. We passed that law last year. Even though we didn't pass a budget resolution, we did pass the Budget Control Act, and that total for spending is $1.047 trillion, and that is $686 billion for security building and $361 billion for nonsecurity. This was supported by 74 Members in this Chamber, 269 Members down the hall in the House, and it was signed into law by the President. It is now the law of the land, so we now have our top-line spending numbers in law, and hopefully that will help us jump-start the fiscal 2013 spending appropriations process regardless of what happens to the budget resolution, which, by the way, totally supports getting a budget resolution passed. Nonetheless, we have this already in law for this year. I would like to end by saying that I believe we can pass all 12 appropriations bills this year, and I think we can do it in a way that gives us ample opportunity for input, debate, and a chance to amend. Whether or not we will pass all 12 spending bills on time this year will depend on whether Members of Congress will have the will to get it done. I think the American people want us to get it done. They want to see us work together. Madam President, if I could ask a question of the Senator from Tennessee through the Chair, I would like to get his reflections, because Senator Alexander has been around this place for a long time, going back to Senator Howard Baker, who was one of the legends in the Senate, and Senator Alexander was able to work with him and for him and see the Senate as it ran differently back in those days. Madam President, I would like to ask through the Chair why Senator Alexander thinks it is so important that we get our appropriation bills back on track.

Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, since we have other Senators on the floor, what I would like to do is withhold my comments until a few of our other colleagues have a chance to speak, if that would be permissible to Senator Alexander?

Mr. PRYOR. If it is agreeable with the Senator from Tennessee, I will ask the Senator from Virginia to say a few words. We understand he has a pressing engagement. I don't think there is anything more pressing than when it is your wife's birthday, so he would like to say a few words, if that is agreeable to the Senator from Tennessee.

Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, I have one thing to say in closing while my two colleagues are still on the floor: Today, Senator Shaheen read Washington's Farewell Address which we have been doing in the Senate since 1888. One of the reasons we do that is because President Washington calls to us through history to do our best. We talk about this issue in South Carolina--deepening the port of Charleston. Certainly President Washington knew about the port of Charleston. It was a huge asset for this fledgling Nation of ours. He had no idea about a Panama Canal. He had no idea about goods coming over from China. He certainly had no idea about goods coming in from the west coast because at that point he was hoping we would get to Appalachia. He had no idea what was going to happen here. But he calls to us from history to do our job and accept the challenges that come our way. The appropriations bills shouldn't be a challenge. That is nuts-and- bolts good government. This week in Arkansas we had five townhall meetings and they were great. I got lots of good questions; a few pointed questions. My colleagues know how it goes because they have participated in those as well. It was great. It is democracy in action. When people can show up in a community and ask their Senator questions, that means the system is working. It is working back home, but we need to get it to work up here. That is what I heard over and over this week in Arkansas, is the expectations for this Congress are very low for this year. We talk about a 10-percent approval rating. I am sometimes surprised it is that high.

Mr. PRYOR

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

Mr. PRYOR. I now ask for a second reading and, in order to place the bill on the calendar under the provisions of rule XIV, I object to my own request.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, for over 50 years, Doyle W. Rogers has been a proud resident of the city of Batesville, AR. Next month, Batesville will honor him by designating March 6, 2012, as Doyle Rogers Day. Through his many endeavors, Doyle has found success through visionary leadership and hard work. It is in that spirit that I rise today to recognize a man I consider a great businessman and an even greater Arkansan. Doyle Rogers was born in Diaz, AR, in 1918, and raised in Newport. After attending Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, Doyle enlisted in the Royal Canadian Air Force to fight in World War II before the United States had entered the war. He then went on to serve in Burma with the U.S. Army Air Corps. His return from the war and transition into civilian life brought him to Batesville, where he started his professional career. Doyle tried his hand in several businesses in those early years, even traveling southern States selling Masonic Bibles, until establishing the Doyle Rogers Realty and Insurance Agency in 1953. This company would later become the Doyle Rogers Company. This company's real estate projects have shaped the Arkansas landscape and the Little Rock skyline. In 1982, Doyle's vision led to the development and opening of the Statehouse Convention Center and Excelsior Hotel, a world-class facility now known as the Peabody Hotel. A few years later, Doyle added the Rogers Building, a 25-story office tower now called the Stephens Building. These projects still stand proud along the Arkansas River in downtown Little Rock and assisted in the rejuvenation of business development in downtown Little Rock. Doyle would go on to purchase Metropolitan National Bank in 1983 and relocate its headquarters to downtown Little Rock. He serves as chairman of the board, and during his tenure the bank has grown to one of the largest in the State. His success with Metropolitan National Bank and his other projects led to his induction into the Arkansas Business Hall of Fame in 2006. With this induction, Doyle joined a prestigious group that includes Sam Walton, William Dillard, and Don Tyson. Many of Doyle's friends speak of his relentless work effort and dedication to the causes he holds dear. Education has been one of those issues over the years. He has served on the board of trustees of Hendrix College as well as advisory boards for the School of Business and School of Law at the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville. He holds honorary degrees from Lyon College and Philander Smith College. I know these institutions and countless students have benefited from Doyle's business acumen and visionary leadership. Doyle attributes much of his success to the love and support of his great family. He married the love of his life, the former Josephine Raye Jackson, in 1941. Together they have been blessed with two children, Barbara Rogers Hoover and Doyle W. ``Rog'' Rogers, Jr., and six grandchildren. He noted in an interview with Arkansas Business: The way you enjoy your life is through your family. Material things are good, but being with your family, watching them grow and prosper is probably the greatest reward. Batesville is one of my State's oldest cities. Situated along the White River, it was used as a shipping point decades before Arkansas was granted statehood. With this history, Batesville has been home to many notable residents, from professional athletes and NASCAR drivers to several former Governors. Doyle Rogers has certainly earned the honor of being listed as a great resident of Batesville. Even with Doyle's business success, he has remained humble to his roots, always believing in the value of hard work and loving the great city of Batesville. In 2004, my good friend and former Congressman Marion Berry said this of Doyle: In a day and age when the presiding belief is in order to grow up and succeed you must escape Rural America, Doyle Rogers and his family lived in Batesville, Arkansas for more than 50 years, proving success comes with hard work, not a change of zip code. I agree with my former colleague. Doyle's life and work are worthy of praise, and I am proud of the legacy he has built. I know that whatever endeavor Doyle chooses to pursue in the future, he will continue to have a positive impact on Batesville and Arkansas. I ask my colleagues to join me in congratulating Doyle Rogers for this honor bestowed on him by the city of Batesville and thank him for a job well done.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, it is my distinct privilege to recognize the work of five Arkansas hospitals that were honored by U.S. News and World Report as among the Nation's best hospitals and classified as ``high-performing'' in a variety of specialties for their outstanding care. These hospitals were judged against almost 5,000 nationwide hospitals and met rigorous standards of medical care, including patient survival and safety, hospital reputation, and care- related factors such as nursing and patient services. The ``high- performing'' designation is reserved for hospitals that rank in the top 25 percent of each category after further standards are applied. These five hospitals are tremendous assets to my State, and I am pleased to be able to praise their hard work and world-class medical care on the Senate floor. The U.S. News 2011-2012 Best Hospitals rankings recognized three hospitals in the Little Rock metropolitan area, which includes Little Rock, North Little Rock, and Conway. The University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, UAMS, was recognized as a high-performing hospital in four specialty areas: cancer; obstetrics/gynecology; ear/nose/throat, ENT; and nephrology, kidney. Baptist Health Medical Center was named high-performing in the ENT and nephrology specialties, and St. Vincent Infirmary was recognized as high-performing in the ENT and orthopedics specialties. The 2011-2012 Best Hospitals list included two additional Arkansas facilities providing outstanding care outside of major metro areas: Sparks Regional Medical Center, in Fort Smith, and Washington Regional Medical Center, in Fayetteville. They were two of only 247 hospitals across the Nation recognized for their exceptional care as regional hospitals. Sparks was listed as ``high-performing'' in the pulmonology specialty and Washington Regional in geriatrics. I ask my colleagues to join me in recognizing the achievements of UAMS, Baptist Health, St. Vincent, Sparks Regional, and Washington Regional. I am thankful for the men and women of these five facilities and all the health care professionals across my State. They are constantly striving to provide Arkansans with the best medical care possible, and I am proud of all their hard work.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Madam President, it is my great pleasure today to recognize an Arkansan and a dedicated public servant on her approaching 75th birthday. Jean Pace, the longtime mayor of Mammoth Spring, AR, will celebrate her birthday on February 11, 2012. Family and friends will gather to celebrate not only Jean's birthday but also her tireless public service that has spanned 37 years. Prior to her time in public office, Jean was drawn to Mammoth Spring for a teaching job. Needless to say, she fell in love with the town and its people and still lives there today. She spent 15 years teaching in the school district and played a significant role in developing the school's gifted and talented program as well as the music and band programs. Jean's love of music extended beyond the classroom as she also taught hundreds of children and adults piano lessons in her free time. Though Jean loved inspiring her students each day in the classroom, she ultimately decided to pursue a greater role in the community and ran for mayor. Jean has now served 22 years in the mayor's office, and the city and surrounding area have seen substantial improvements with her at the helm. Mayor Pace has a reputation for being relentless in her pursuit of grant monies and in her efforts to improve the quality of life for the residents of Mammoth Spring. Her time and efforts have paved the way for such things as a new fire truck for the fire department, funding for the Aquatic Conservation and Education Center at Mammoth Spring National Fish Hatchery, and various improvements at the State Park. Her tenure as mayor also saw Ozarka College open a new location in Mammoth Spring, which has provided additional educational opportunities to Mammoth Spring residents. While her work on behalf of the city is how most people know Mayor Pace, I would be remiss not to mention possibly the toughest and most rewarding job Jean has held. That is the job of mother and grandmother to her wonderful family. Jean's family includes her kids, Suzanne Pace Kimes and George Spencer Pace; their spouses, Curt Kimes and Ellen Pace; and two grandkids, George Sheffield Pace and Dalton Christine Pace. I know they will all enjoy being together to celebrate Jean's 75th birthday next week. Mr. President, I ask all my colleagues to join me in wishing Jean a happy 75th birthday and thank her for her 37 years of public service to Mammoth Spring.

Mr. PRYOR

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

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, as we close out the year, I want to take today to honor the work and career of Tim Massanelli. Last month, Tim stepped down from his position as parliamentarian of the Arkansas House of Representatives, a place where he has worked since 1973--39 good years of valuable public service. When Tim first came to work for the Arkansas House of Representatives, things were much different than they are today. My longtime friend Dale Bumpers was our Governor and Richard Nixon was President. I was in the fourth grade. Upholding the mantra of citizen legislators, the Arkansas House had no permanent employees and only a small support system in the Bureau of Legislative Research. With our Nation and state modernizing, full-time employees were needed in the house, and Tim was in the right place at the right time. He was also exactly the right man for the job. Growing up in Pine Bluff, AR, Tim's family raised him to be civically engaged and active in his community-- traits he has since passed on to his three sons. With a background in small business and politics and an expertise in parliamentary procedure, Tim was a natural fit for the parliamentary position. However, he did not start there. His first session, he worked for the house soundboard. Tim, through his hard work and smarts and charismatic personality, transformed the office and role of parliamentarian. He took on the responsibility for making the house operations run as smoothly as possible, whether the legislature was in or out of session. Naturally, the parliamentarian advises the speaker and all 100 members of the State's house about procedural matters. Tim did a great job of that over the years, but he became much more important to the body than that. During his time of service, 19 speakers of the house, 7 Governors, and over 1,000 members of the Arkansas House came to rely on Tim for his knowledge and skills in navigating the legislative process. In years past, the Arkansas General Assembly was dominated by senior legislators with sometimes decades of experience each. When Arkansas adopted term limits in 1992, members could only serve three terms, so the constant turnover meant dramatically increased reliance on Tim's skills and knowledge. He established a more rigorous orientation for each new class of new legislators that taught them how to be good and effective representatives. Without his experience and insight, the Arkansas House and the current members would not be nearly as strong as they are today. On a personal note, let me say this about Tim Massanelli: I consider him a friend. When I was a 27-year-old freshman representative, I was determined to learn the rules, and Tim was my teacher. You know the old saying that there is no such thing as a dumb question. Well, I put that to the test a few times. But he was a mentor, a counselor, a father figure, and he just took care of me. Truthfully, he made himself available to anybody who needed anything. I suspect that same commitment he has to others and to the institution he loves makes him the best deacon Our Lady of the Holy Souls Catholic Church has ever had. He has helped me in many, many ways over the years, but I think the biggest favor he ever did for me was when he told me that his son Randy would be a good hire in the attorney general's office. We hired a lot of good people in that office, but everybody agrees that Randy Massanelli was the best hire I ever made. He is still the best hire I ever made. The qualities that make Randy so valuable to others were engrained in him by Tim Massanelli, and I bet Dottie had a little bit to do with that as well. Whether it is his sense of humor, wise counsel, or his skills in parliamentary procedure, I know Tim's daily presence will be missed around the Arkansas State House of Representatives. I wish him the best in his transition and thank him for his many years of service to the State of Arkansas. I yield the floor, and I suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I come to the floor today to talk about CPT Samson Luke, 33 years old, who lived in Greenwood, AR. Captain Luke was one of those people who had many options in life. Fortunately for us, he made the decision to serve his country, and he did so with distinction. He was a field artillery officer who served on active duty in the Army from 2000 to 2007. Afterwards, he served in the Arkansas National Guard where he was a commander of the HHB 1-142nd field artillery. Here is a photo of him with his family. His family was very important to him. He had been to Iraq on two different deployments, after which he was awarded the Bronze Star. As I said, he elected to stay on with the Arkansas National Guard. He served with distinction there. He told his wife, who is pictured here, that he felt he was truly at his best when he was leading men. I want to talk about him for a moment because, quite frankly, the bean counters over at the Pentagon are trying to save a little money at his family's expense. So I want to talk about his passing away on January 10 of 2010--less than a year ago. It was a weekend where he was doing his required training weekend. He was authorized, because he lived so close to the post, to spend Saturday night with his wife and his four young children at his home instead of staying on the post. In fact, he wasn't authorized to stay on the post because he was so close to home. He had to be off post. The idea was he would return to the post the next morning and finish up his weekend on that Sunday, but he never woke up. While dealing with this tragedy, his wife was informed that her family would not receive his death benefits. From my standpoint, this is a classic case of getting pencil whipped by the government. The Arkansas National Guard has stepped up. They have done everything they could do. They have run it through all the proper channels. They have been very supportive of making sure that Captain Luke's family gets his death benefits. I feel as though--and people in the Guard do as well--that they are entitled to have the death benefits, but it is out of their hands. The law states that death benefits are allocated if a soldier dies while remaining overnight at or ``in the vicinity of the site of the inactive duty training.'' What I want to do with my amendment I am offering through the Defense authorization bill is clarify Congress's intent and make sure that the very tiny number of people who are in his shoes and his family will be entitled to these death benefits. I spent a year working on this issue with the Army and with the Department of Defense and, again, the Arkansas National Guard has stepped up and they have been great, but we are at a standstill over the DOD's interpretation of ``vicinity.'' This is an important point that I want my colleagues to understand: Had Captain Luke stayed on base or had he stayed at a hotel at the taxpayers' expense or had he been traveling to or from his post--his training--the family would receive these benefits. In fact, the Guard has a policy that if a guardsman lives within so many miles of the post, he or she cannot stay on the post, they have to go home. They don't have arrangements for a person to stay there. They want the person to go home. This saves the government money by not putting people up in a hotel or whatever else they may have to do. When a person is on a National Guard training weekend, as Captain Luke was, that person is under orders for 48 continuous hours. Wherever they are sleeping, wherever they are traveling, whatever they are doing, they are on orders; they are on duty. Captain Luke was on duty when he died. In fact, if his colonel had called him at 1 o'clock in the morning and said get over here, we need your help on something, he would have had to go over there. He was on duty. He was on orders. He would have done that. In fact, he would have gladly stayed on the post had they had provisions for him to do that, but it worked out in this case that he was able, because he lived so close, to stay with his wife and family. Also, let me say this: Had he been on orders and gotten out--which, of course, would never have happened to him--but had a soldier like him gotten out and had he done something such as had a DUI that night, that soldier would have been subject to the code of military justice because he was on orders. But, nonetheless, Captain Luke died when he was on orders, and now the Pentagon is trying to deny him his death benefits. What my amendment does is clarify congressional intent to ensure that servicemembers who live in the area or in the vicinity of their training site can return home to their families in the evening without losing benefits. Again, they are on orders; they remain on orders. This doesn't change anything along those lines; it just clarifies congressional intent. This is a gray area. We are trying to clarify the congressional intent. This amendment will not bring back the Luke children's father and their mother's husband, but it will give them the benefits to which they are entitled. I think we can do better for our soldiers' families. When we look at Miranda, Miller, Macklin, Larkin, and Landis Luke in this photograph, we know that this is a very patriotic family and this is a group of people who should be compensated for his loss. Abraham Lincoln once said: ``To care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow, and his orphan,'' and those words apply in this instance. Captain Luke was serving his country to the fullest and his family should be granted the benefits associated with the death of a servicemember. I am fighting on behalf of Captain Luke and his family and for others in a similarly situated circumstance to clarify that when a person is on orders when they are doing their National Guard training, they are entitled to death benefits wherever they happen to be laying their head at that particular time. One last word on this. We don't know exactly how much this will cost, but it will not be very much money. Someone estimated--I do not think it is an official CBO score, but someone estimated it would probably cost $1 million--that is with an ``m''--over 10 years. This is budget dust. This is so small, it is almost laughable, but it is so meaningful to this family and maybe others who in the future will find themselves in this situation. So I would like to ask my colleagues to consider supporting the Pryor amendment. That is amendment No. 1151. I would love to work with the bill managers to see if we might get it into a managers' package and/ or, if we have to, request a rollcall vote. With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, we are considering some veterans legislation this week. I rise to recognize the men and women who have selflessly served our Nation as part of the Armed Forces. Veterans Day is approaching. It is one way to remind ourselves of the sacrifices so many have made and continue to make for our country. We pay tribute to individuals such as SPC Sarina Butcher. For the past 18 months, she served with valor and distinction in Afghanistan as an automated logistical specialist with the Army National Guard. She earned awards, including the National Defense Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, and the Oklahoma Good Conduct Medal. She dreamed of becoming a nurse, joining the Guard to help her along that path to support her 2-year-old daughter. Last week, at 19 years old, Specialist Butcher paid the ultimate sacrifice. Specialist Butcher was the first female Oklahoma National Guard soldier to be killed during wartime and the youngest Guard member to die in combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. I spoke to her mother, a resident of El Dorado, AR, and she stressed how her daughter loved serving our Nation. All our prayers are with this family. Corporal David Bixler I also wish to recognize CPL David Bixler of Harrison, AR. I recently had the chance to meet David, one of five servicemembers chosen by the USO for bravery and sacrifice. While on foot patrol in Afghanistan, Corporal Bixler stepped on an explosive device while saving the lives of his team members. The explosion resulted in the loss of both his legs. He was awarded the Silver Star for his actions. I was moved by his unwavering strength and courage. I spoke with his young daughter, and it was easy to see the pride she has for her father. These two heroes, Sarina and David, are part of a long list of Arkansans throughout our State's history who answered the call to serve. Their resolve--that same dedication and love of country that brought down Osama bin Laden--was passed down through generations before them. They join the ranks of 2LT John Alexander of Helena, the second African-American graduate from West Point; BG William Darby of Fort Smith, the first commander of the U.S. Army Rangers; and Captain Maurice Britt of Carlisle, the first to receive the military's three highest medals for bravery for a single conflict. Arkansans serving in the military have never wavered when their country called. Whether Active, Guard or Reserves, they have participated in our current efforts abroad and countless previous ones. These efforts continue to this day. For example, the Arkansas National Guard's Agriculture Development Team works with the farmers and herdsmen of southern Afghanistan. The 77th Theater Aviation Brigade worked in Iraq with command and control assets in the south. Little Rock Air Force Base continues to support tactical mobility operations around the globe while training our future airlifters. Today, our country is facing many challenges, from rising unemployment among veterans to ever-tightening budgets. We should not let our current financial difficulties take away the support we owe those who serve. When looking for DOD savings, we must keep in mind that when these individuals joined the service, both sides made a commitment. We must honor these commitments. When looking for ways to save, we should put our focus on improving processes and capitalize on efficiencies where we can. For example, I recently introduced the Veterans Relief Act, designed to reduce the backlog at the Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims. I will continue to look for similar ways to streamline processes, improve efficiencies, and honor the obligations of those who have served. Today, I look at veterans and say: Thank you. Thank you for your service, thank you for your sacrifice, and thank you for your dedication to our country. It is impossible for me to articulate the scale of my gratitude, and I will continue to support measures that honor the veterans of yesterday, today, and tomorrow. With that, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

Mr. PRYOR

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

Mr. PRYOR

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Select Committee on Intelligence be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 5, 2011, at 2:30 p.m.

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on the Judiciary be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate, on November 8, 2011, at 10 a.m., in room SD-226 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Oversight of the U.S. Department of Justice.''

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Foreign Relations be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 8, 2011, at 10 a.m.

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Armed Services be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 8, 2011, at 9:30 a.m.

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions be authorized to meet, during the session of the Senate, to conduct a hearing entitled ``Beyond NCLB: Veiws on the Elementary and Secondary Education Reauthorization Act'' on November 8, 2011, at 10 a.m. in room 106 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 8, 2011, at 2 p.m.

Mr. PRYOR. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the Committee on Energy and Natural Resources be authorized to meet during the session of the Senate on November 8, 2011, at 10:30 a.m., in room 366 of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.