The resolution is agreed to. Mr. Reid mr. President , could we have order . The president pro tempore the senate will be in order. The senate is not in order. The senate will be in order so the majority leader can be heard. Without objection. Mr. Reid mr. President , could we have people stop talking . The president pro tempore i ask senators to please cooperate so the majority leader can be heard. If the conversations in the well and throughout the senate could cease. The majority leader. Mr. Reid were going to have one more vote tonight. The next vote will be on sandy and matters related to sandy monday night at 5 30. We expect i have spoken to the chairman, new chairman of the will soon be the chair of the Foreign Relations committee, and Ranking Member corker. Were going to have a vote after the business meeting sometime on tuesday on the new secretary of state. The presiding officer the question is on Senate Resolution 16. Are the yeas and nays requested . The yeas and nays have been requested. Is there a sufficient second . There is a sufficient second. The clerk will call the roll. Vote the presiding officer are will any senators in the chairman per wishing to vote or wishing to change their vote . If not, on this vote, the yeas are 86 and the nays are 9. Twothirds of those voting for adoption having voted in the affirmative and the resolution is agreed to. [inaudible] the presiding officer without objection. Vote the presiding officer the majority leader. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business, senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid i now ask unanimous consent that at 4 30 p. M. Monday, january 28, the senate proceed to the consideration of h. R. 152, the supplemental appropriations bill to provide Disaster Assistance for hurricane sandy, that the only only amendment in order to the bill be a lee amendment, the text of which is at the desk, that there be an hour of debate on the amendment and the bill to run concurrently equally divided between the two leaders or their designees. Prior to a vote in relation to the lee amendment. Upon disposition of the lee amendment, the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill as amended if amended. That the lee amendment and the bill be subject to a 60vote affirmative vote throashed. Finally, that no other amendments be in order. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid mr. President , i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to s. Res. 17. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk Senate Resolution 17, to constitute the majority partys membership on certain committees for the 113th congress or until their successors are chosen. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. Mr. Reid thank you, mr. President. I ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there being no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to consideration of s. Res. 18. The presiding officer the clerk will report. The clerk Senate Resolution 18, making Minority Party appointments for the 113th congress. The presiding officer without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. Mr. Reid i now ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, there being no intervening action or debate. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid mr. President , h. R. 325 has been received from the house and is at the desk. I would ask the clerk to read this matter if the president so advises. The presiding officer the clerk will read the title of the bill for the first time. The clerk h. R. 325, an act to assure the complete and timely payment of the obligations of the United States government until may 19, 2013, and for other purposes. Mr. Reid i would ask for a second reading but object to my own request. The presiding officer objection is heard. The bill will be read for the second time on the next legislative day. Mr. Reid mr. President , i now ask unanimous consent that the appointments at the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid i now ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 2 00 p. M. On monday, january 28. That following the prayer and pledge, the morning business be deemed expired, the journal of proceedings be approved to date and the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 4 30 p. M. , that senators be permitted to speak during that period of time for up to ten minutes. Further, following morning business, the senate proceed to h. R. 152 under the previous order. The presiding officer without objection, so ordered. Mr. Reid there will be two roll call votes at 5 30 p. M. On monday to comete action on hurricane sandy. If there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. The presiding officer the Senate Stands adjourned until Senate Stands adjourned until without getting into the nittygritty, what does this mean for the senate . It means harry reid can get onto those much quicker. Its one of the can thursday raised with republican obstruction at the beginning of the debate and also other changes as well such as movie into conference negotiations with the house after the senate has passed legislation. Recent changes to lower tiered nominations both on the judicial site as well as executive side, preventing what is seen as extremely dilatory tactics in certain situations. Overall it does not eliminate the filibuster. Republicans are anyone can filibuster when they i want, boat would read has been mostly concerned about is the pervasive use of dilatory tag eggs when the senate has expressed its will and shown extreme willingness in virtually vast majority of folks to move forward. The situations will be reduced in the future and he sees this as an opportunity to ease the gridlock pervasive in the senate over the last several years. Why would Mitch Mcconnell agreed to limit his possibility to sotos assertion . What you get out of it . One concession is they have at least two amendments taken off her on the floor. Republicans say the reason for the gridlock has agreed himself. Hes been blocking amendment like no other leader has before him and they were willing to go on to something someone if they have her ability to offer amendments on the floor. This would only work in situations which they agree to see their beginning of the debate and go immediately forward to bring a bill directly to the fly without procedural votes. They would need to be some bipartisan compromise in order for republicans to a chance to offer. The republicans now there would be some changes. Reid was threatening to change all the rules and go much further with the 51 vote majority. Thats the Nuclear Option because it would circumvent the usual way, which is 57 votes. , have much less leverage than read, so we got a lot of what he wanted to find a package. Harry reid and Mitch Mcconnell had an agreement that bert work cooperatively with each other and restrained use of the filibuster, but that only lasts a short time. What are the prospects and current agreement to work effectively Going Forward . They did not change with that situation. In this situation they are. Some will only last for this congress and from permanent changes to the rule. That is one aspect. This is a sign that, if youre our kind please in terms of the rules. Senator can block legislation still. But, when read, a lot of leeway to show the obstruction inside. It will change much at all. They can make things worse in some ways. It remains to be seen how much different the senate will be in a combat theyre still going to be a slowmoving body and will be difficult to get legislation through. I appreciate your time. Thank you. Whats the best training for a policeman . The best training you can get to be coming to Police Officer and understand what its all about is on the street. I will say that till the day i die. You learn how to develop sources, use intelligence information. You learn how to leverage relationships. People in the community trustee. Theyll tell you when things are happening that are not yet signed so you can intervene and tell you all about how to go about doing it. I learned most of my career from those relationships. I defense secretary lampkin not an chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, Martin Dempsey moved to allow my men to serve in combat. Mr. Panetta said while everyone will not be a combat soldier, everyone is entitled to the chance. This is 40 minutes. Good afternoon. One of my priorities as secretary of defense has been to remove as many barriers as possible for talented and qualified people to be able to serve this country in uniform. Our nation was built on the premise of the citizen soldier and our democracy i believe it is the responsibility of every citizen to protect the nation and every citizen who can meet the qualifications of survey should have that opportunity. To that end, ive been working closely with general dempsey and the joint chiefs of staff who been working for well over a year to examine how could we expand the opportunities of women in the armed services. Its clear to all of us that women are contributing in unprecedented ways to the militarys mission of defending the nation. Women represent 15 of the force, over 200,000. Were serving in a growing number of critical roles on and off the battlefield. The fact is that they have become an integral part of our ability to perform our mission. For more than a decade of war, theyve demonstrated courage, skill and pastry to some. 152 women in uniform have died serving this nation. In iraq and afghanistan. Female Service Members have faced the reality of combat, proven their willingness to say and died to defend their fellow americans. However, many military positions, particularly in Ground Combat units still remain close to women because of the night to 94 direct Ground Combat definition and assignment rule. Military and civilian leaders of the superman had been taken a hard look above rule based on the experiences of the last decade. In early 2012, we announced a series of modifications to that rule, which opened up more than 14,000 new positions to women, including positions that are colocated with Ground Combat units in certain positions in Ground Combat units below the battalion level. These changes have been implemented in the experience has been very positive. Every time i visited the war zone, every time ive met with troops, reviewed military operations and talk to Wounded Warriors, ive been impressed with the fact that everyone, men and women alike, everyone is committed to doing the job. Theyre fighting them there dying together and the time has come for our policies to recognize that reality. The chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and i believe that we must open up Service Opportunities for women as fully as possible and therefore today, general dempsey and i are pleased to announce that we are eliminating the direct Ground Combat exclusion rule for women the way are moving forward with a plan to eliminate all unnecessary genderbased barriers. In a few moments after we speak, we will both sign a memo that will resend the 94 barrier. Our purpose is to ensure that the mission is carried out by the best qualified in the most capable servicemembers regardless of gender and regardless of creed and beliefs. If members of our military can meet the qualifications for a job, and let me be clear, not talking about reducing qualifications for the job. If they can make qualifications for the job, then they should have the right to serve regardless of creed or color, gender or orientation. Having conducted an extensive review, the joint chiefs of staff has developed a thoughtful approach to integrating women into occupations across the force. I strongly agree with their Guiding Principles in the specific milestones they propose. We are all committed to implementing this change without compromising readiness or morale or were fighting capabilities. Positions will be open to women following service reviews. Using the joint chiefs Guiding Principles and following congressional notification procedures established by law. But this change in policy to succeed, it must be done in a responsible, measured and coherent way. I would general dempsey describe her plan of action in greater detail. The bottom line is further integration of women will occur expeditiously. Even as we recognize the need to institutionalize changes of this importance. The steps we announced today are significant. In many ways they are an affirmation of where we been having a state department for more than 10 years. Nevertheless, it will take leadership and professionalism to effectively implement these changes. I am confident in our ability to do that because i am confident in the leadership that general dempsey in the joint chiefs of staff have demonstrated throughout this process. This has truly been a team effort and i deeply admire the extremely arrowing considerate approach theyve taken. I want to express my deepest thanks to Marty Dempsey for his leadership in all the Service Chiefs who have been working on this issue and as a group, came forward with the recommendation we are implementing today. Our men and women in uniform have not asked for more than a leaders in uniform. I fundamentally believe our military is more effective and success is based solely on ability and qualifications and performance. When i look at my grandson and my granddaughters, ive got six grandchildren, three grandsons and three granddaughters, i want each of them to have the same chance to succeed at whatever they want to deal. Life as we are now, there are no guarantees to success. Not everyone is going to be able to be a combat soldier. The everyone is entitled. By committing ourselves to that principle, we are renewing our commitment to the American Values are servicemembers stay and die to defend. As secretary, i go to bethesda to visit Wounded Warriors to bury our dead there is no distinction thats made between the sacrifices of men and women in uniform. They served their wended and a guy right next to each other. The time has come to recognize that reality. By opening up more opportunities for people to serve in uniform, we are making our military stronger and we are making america stronger. We honor, we deeply honor all of those past generations. Combat soldiers and marines who fought and died for freedom. In many ways, their sacrifice has ensured that the next greatest generation will be one of men and women who will fight and die together to protect this nation. That is what freedom is all about. Thank you, mr. Secretary. Today we are acting to expand opportunities for women to serve in the United States armed forces and better align our policy is with the experiences weve had over the past decade of work. Ultimately we are acting to strengthen the joint force. Congress acted first by legislating that women became a permanent part of the armed forces. Blaster is the secretary mentioned we acted to open thousands of Mission Essential occupations that were echelons and in more units. After months of work, we recently submitted to the secretary are unanimous recommendation to resend the rule and so we are acting to eliminate all unnecessary genderbased barriers to service. The joint chief share, cause on the need start this now and to do it right. Were committed to a purposeful and principled approach, specifically to extend opportunities to women in a way that maintains readiness, morale and unit cohesion. Well preserve our war fighting capability to defend the nation will uphold the trust and confidence of the American People as we go forward. Our nation demands no less. But integrate women in a way that enhances opportunity for a run. Setting clear standards of performance for all occupations based on what it takes to do the job. It means ensuring standards are genderneutral and occupations open to women. As we open to close a occupations we must make sure theres a sufficient number of females entering the career field already assigned to the related commands and leadership to sustain success of her time. Our Service Women and men deserve no less. These principles will guide the work ahead. Services and special Operations Command will expand the number of unit and women assigned to those units this year. They will continue to assess, develop and validate general neutral standard civic and start assigning personnel to previously closed occupations and take the time needed to do the work without compromising the principles i just just mentioned. In fact, adherence to the principles may lead to an assessment that some should remain exceptional. In such cases they will bear the responsibility for providing what is best for the joint force in the women who serve in it. At the same time, women will serve at distinction throughout armed forces in and out of combat on land and not see clearly outweigh are the same uniform and fight the same weapons and most importantly we all take the same old. Thank you. The secretary and i will now send the document. [applause] okay, now onward. Go ahead. Mr. Chairman, based on that experience, a little bit about what you think is realistic as you know that the next couple of years, as you consider the physical demands of some of the jobs, do you expect it shall ever see anywhere near 100 of jobs open . What are the realistic expectations that you have bas