[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 13 (Wednesday, January 30, 2013)]
[Senate]
[Page S407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 UNANIMOUS CONSENT AGREEMENT--H.R. 325

  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following 
leader remarks tomorrow, Thursday, January 31, the Senate proceed to 
the consideration of Calendar No. 7, H.R. 325; that the following 
amendments, the text of which is at the desk, be the only first-degree 
agreements in order to the bill--Portman, dollar for dollar cuts, S. 43 
text; Portman, government shutdown prevention, S. 29 text; Toomey, full 
faith and credit; and Paul, prohibition of F-16s to Egypt; that the 
only motion to commit in order to the bill be a Vitter motion to commit 
regarding spending cuts; that the time until 12:15 p.m. be for debate 
on the amendments, motion, and the bill, to run concurrently and be 
equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, prior to 
votes in relation to the amendments and the Vitter motion in the order 
listed; that upon disposition of the amendments and the Vitter motion, 
the Senate proceed to a vote on passage of H.R. 325, as amended, if 
amended; that the amendments and the Vitter motion be subject to a 60-
affirmative-vote threshold; that there be no amendments in order to any 
of the amendments or the Vitter motion prior to the votes; finally, 
that there will be 2 minutes equally divided prior to each vote and 
that all after the first vote be 10 minutes or less.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there objection?
  Mr. INHOFE. Reserving the right to object.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Oklahoma.
  Mr. INHOFE. First of all, let me make a comment, if I could, to the 
Chair. It is my hope that we don't have sequestration with the 
military, with the Defense Department. I have been very much concerned 
about that. I am going to do everything I can to preclude that from 
happening. In the event that did happen--we are looking at about a 
month from now--I have an amendment I wanted to put on this bill. I 
could do it another way too, but perhaps as a freestanding bill. I wish 
to explain what it is, and then I wish to ask the distinguished 
majority leader a couple of questions.
  The amendment I had, or that could be in a freestanding bill, would 
give the Secretary of Defense the flexibility to implement the cuts 
under the sequestration in the least harmful way possible, that would 
authorize him to have the power to make adjustments within the confines 
of the sequestration so if there would not be any more money, it would 
not change that. It would allow the Chiefs to examine and determine 
whether they could make some changes to make something that could be 
catastrophic maybe less catastrophic. I have supplied a copy to the 
leader's office.
  What I wish to do--I don't want to object to this, because I want to 
make sure this continues. I wish to ask if I could have some latitude 
to help me to get this before the Senate so we could accomplish this.
  I would say this, through the Chair, to the leader, that I have 
already talked to not just the Chair of the Joint Chiefs but all of the 
Chiefs. They all say that in a period of 1 month, quite frankly, they 
are starting right now to see if there is something they could put 
together to make it less onerous should we have to have that.
  So I would like to ask if there is something that could be done 
through the leadership to help me get this done if the worst should 
happen and we should be faced with sequestration a month from now.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The majority leader.
  Mr. REID. Through the Chair to the distinguished Senator from 
Oklahoma, the ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, as the 
leader for the Republicans on that committee, he understands the 
importance of the military and what sequestration would do. I have 
spoken to the distinguished Senator previously--and, in fact, as late 
as this morning we talked--and there are Democrats who also believe 
there should be some relief given in regard to sequestration. The issue 
we have to work through is how we have a balance between the cuts in 
defense and nondefense.
  So there are many different ways we could approach this, but I am 
committed to approaching it. I have said, and I will continue to say, 
sequestration was a last resort. We thought we would do better with the 
supercommittee. We didn't. So this is what we are faced with. I hope we 
can all work together to lessen the burden on defense spending and, of 
course, nondefense spending. That is what sequestration is all about. I 
am committed to doing that.
  I am happy to work with my friend from Oklahoma. If he can't find 
enough allies, either Republicans or Democrats, I will be happy to 
continue to work with him to figure out a way we can have this issue 
brought before the Senate.
  Mr. INHOFE. Through the Chair, I would make a comment that many times 
the distinguished leader has been helpful, such as with the highway 
bill and the pilots bill of rights and others, and I have to say I 
would not have been able to get them through without that support. What 
I would ask for is the same support to help me overcome some of the 
problems that would come with sequestration.
  To give an example, sequestration would cancel flying operations for 
four out of nine aircraft carriers, which would take about 9 to 12 
months to restore at a cost of two to three times as much. What they 
could do with this bill, which I plan to introduce tomorrow, is have 
the latitude, while spending the same amount of money, to keep the 
flying hours where they are so they would not have to be restored in 
another vehicle. Little things such as that are significant.
  It also would address the problems we hear of every day from the 
Secretaries in the military--the various departments and the Chiefs--
having to do with the other problems on the CR. So this would address 
both of them and give latitude and make it better.
  I would just say I hope the leader could assist me in getting this 
bill through in a timely fashion that I will be introducing tomorrow.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I think it is my choice, and I am confident 
the choice of the senior Senator from Oklahoma, to avoid sequestration. 
We need to do this through some type of balanced plan, and I am 
committed to doing that.
  Mr. INHOFE. I appreciate that very much, Mr. President. I do not 
object.
  Mr. REID. Mr. President, I would finally say it is not as if the 
Senator from Oklahoma is asking that the actual amount of dollars be 
lessened. He is just saying they should be rearranged. So I appreciate 
his good will on this legislation.
  We need to get this bill to the President. So it is my intention, 
after the use or yielding back of time, to move to table these 
amendments and the Vitter motion.
  We expect to have one vote tomorrow prior to the Senate recessing for 
caucus lunch meetings, and the remaining votes will occur after the 
caucus meetings. Again, I express my appreciation to the Senator from 
Oklahoma. I know how strongly he feels about the military and that he 
wants to try to relieve the pain in some way.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Without objection, the request is agreed to.

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