in the senate -- in the senate, senator lieberman and senator graham offered an amendment. i believe it was accepted without dissent. there is an overwhelming view in the senate that these photographs should not be released. consequently, i'm perplexed that it appears as if there's some sentiment on the other side of the capitol, maybe even majority sentiment, given the nature of the markup to this point, that the amendment be deleted. i would like for you to have the opportunity to hear from the chairman of the senate intelligence committee, who also happens to be a member of this committee, and is sitting right down the table, to further underscore the bipartisan nature of support for the amendment guaranteing that our troops not be endangered by this sort of gratuitous act of releasing detainee photographs that none of the people leading our troops feel would do anything other than endanger the lives of our soldiers. i don't know if i have the ability to yield to the senator from california, but i'd like to suggest that she be called upon for a few moments. >> thank you.

we were still able to complete the senate consideration, and the senate confirmed john roberts as chief justice of the united states 72 days after he was initially designated to be the associate justice. we did this despite the fact that the initial nomination was withdrawn and only shortly before his hearing he was renominated to serve as the chief justice of the united states, and we did this despite the terrible aftermath of hurricane katrina, where everybody, republicans and democrats alike, agreed that we should hold back a week on the hearings so that we could all concentrate the nation's resources on hurricane katrina, and so that required a week's delay, and then 72 days after, we followed the same schedule, 72 days after judge sotomayor was designated to join the supreme court, and without the week we had with katrina. both republicans and democrats ask questions, raise concerns, evaluate the nominee. our republican colleagues say they intend to ask her about her judicial philosophy. now, it doesn't take four months to prepare to ask these questions. in fact, most have already

senator sanders? >> no by proxy. >> senator brown? senator casey? senator hagen? senator murkley? senator whitehouse? >> senator gregg? >> aye. >> senator also expander? >> aye by proxy. >> senator isakson? >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator hatch. >> aye. >> senator roberts? >> aye by proxy. >> chairman kennedy? >> no by proxy. >> the vote is ten ayes, 13 nays. >> the amendment is defeated. senator murkley. >> thank you. i'm pleased to offer murkley amendment number one. this is po focussed on facilitating the ability of mothers to continue breast feeding after they go back to work. there are two fundamental reasons that this is very important. the first is that a very high percentage of mothers are working. and the second is breast feeding is of huge value to the health of our children. so let me address those points in just a little bit more detail. currently 72% of mothers work full time. the fastest growing segment of the u.s. workforce is women with children under 3 years of age. many women are in a situation where they need to return to work in

daschle and senator dole, senator baker and senator mitchell. demise said at a breakfast meeting for members to meet with them to have a discussion about their various ids which could be helpful and do that maybe in the middle of next week and see how things are moving along and chat with mike enzi in terms of timing. but let me turn to senator mikulski and thank her immensely for the job that tom harkin and jeff bingaman and patty murray have done all along with others in developing these ideas and quality prevention coverage as well as workforce issues. i'm going to ask senator mikulski to lead the debate on this and we recognize her. >> thank you very much senator dodd and good morning to all of my colleagues here this morning we are taking up title to, the quality section. and after that i believe senator dodd it wants to proceed and prevention. these two titles go hand-in-hand and even interface with each other. once you hear the conversation we've had over the last several days has been related to the cost of health care. there is no doubt

sorry, senator from north dakota. >> madame president, the senate is not in order. >> the senate will be in order. senator from north dakota. >> madame president i asked senator durbin be recognized following my presentation. >> without objection. >> madame president i just want to compliment senator don for his work on this bill and senator enzi and so many others. i want to make sure the record notes something we just agreed to today. symbol wondered what has happened to the legislation i indicated i would offer on this piece of -- on the bill of which we had a cloture vote. the real importation of prescription drugs. now, i intended to offer on this. i have received from the majority leader a commitment that put on the calendar under rule 14 and brought to the u.s. senate for a vote and he will do that very soon. on that basis, i voted for cloture. i know my colleague senator snowe, senator mccain and senator stabenow and many others feel very strongly about this, as to why. we've been at this eight or ten years. it's been a long, long time and the support allowing theory importati

chairman, i was moved by both the senators, senator mcconnell and senator alexander's discussion of this issue, you described it as a house matter. i believe the house has made its own decision. i think we'll see by a vote that it's different than that which you are concluding. unless aisle mistaken that the second circuit has already acted, they've upheld the lower court's decision, i can't speak for the aclu, but i can speak for my members in the house we feel strongly that this bill was designed to be a bill to support the troops and without this amendment, i think we're going exactly the wrong direction. i urge that members at least on this side to support ms. granger's amendment. >> does the gentleman -- is the gentleman from california saying he'll vote for the bill if this amendment is in the bill? >>ville to see what else -- >> the greatest danger we face is not passing this bill. we have money for the shortfall, we have money for military pay shortfall stop-loss t.b.i. not passing the bill is the greatest danger. it has to be passed by july 1. we don't have the votes in the hous

. >> senator hagen? >> no. >> senator enzi? >> know. >> senator gregg? >> no. >> senator alexander? >> no by proxy. >> senator byrd? >> no by proxy. >> senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator coburn? senator roberts? >> no. >> aye by proxy. >> did senator coburn vote? has he voted? >> no . >> senator bingham votes no by proxy. >> senator sanders, did you get that? >> yes. >> did you get that? all right. >> vote is ten ayes. >> it is not agreed to. all i can say is my nose counting was correct. >> it sure was. where are we here at this point now? are there any additional amendments? >> mr. chairman? >> senator casey. >> i just wanted to get back to the fraud and abuse section for a couple of moments. i know senator enzi had some comments before. we were dealing with senator mccain's amendment so i wanted to just respond to a couple of things. first of all, i wanted to commend the way senator enzi, along with our chairman has conducted himself in this whole process over these many days and weeks, and grateful for the way he approached this bill, as difficult as it is. and as much

under the previous order the president shall be notified of the senate's action and the senate will return to legislative session. the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 84, h.r. 2918, an act making appropriations for the legislative branch for the fiscal year if ending september 30, 2010 and for other purposes. mr. reid: madam president, there will be at least one more vote today. members are advised. senator nelson should be here momentarily to start managing the legislative branch appropriations bill. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. nelson: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. nelson: madam president, it is my understanding there is an amendment already at the desk. the presiding officer: that is correct. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nebraska, mr. nelson, proposes an am

a senator: will the senator yield? the presiding officer: the senator from california. [inaudible] mrs. boxer: i would wonder if she could expand her request and say upon finishing if i could have just about five minutes. mrs. shaheen: i'm delighted to do that for the -- my colleague from california. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. [inaudible] the presiding officer: the senator from california has requested five minutes. a senator: i've been waiting for awhile. [inaudible] a senator: go ahead. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: i would make an apology to my colleague. we're here quickly to speak about a very important issue, a murder of a doctor. i didn't want it to be interruptive. but can i make another u.c. that following my remarks, that senator carper be recognized for -- mr. gregg: well, madam president, reserving the right to object. as i understand it, we're supposed to be moving to the supplemental and that there's a unanimous consent agreement which

and senator coburn and senator hatch is coming with one as senator wyden and senator bennett which has republican as well as democratic support which would be a better place from which to begin this discussion. as we have been sitting today what we hope our goals and i think the chairman is right, our goal sometimes sound pretty similar. if i ever listing them i would say as we go to work on health care these were the things i like to be able to say to the american people, we're interested in all 300 million of new, not just the 47 million who don't have health insurance. we want to make sure each has a health-care plan you can afford. we want to make sure is a plan in which you and your doctor made the decisions, not washington d.c.. we want to make sure is a plan that emphasizes prevention and wellness. we hear a lot of that here. we want to make sure it's a plan that gives low-income americans the same kind of health plan that most americans already have usually to their employer. we would like to make sure that it doesn't make it harder for american businesses to compete in the wor

the senate, mr. president, functions on comity and cooperation, and the majority leader and i are a big part of that every day, trying to respect each other's needs and try to make the senate function appropriately. here the democratic majority is proceeding, in my view, in a heavy-handed fashion, completely unnecessary, and is basically being dismissive of the minority's legitimate concerns for a fair and thorough process. there's no point in this. it serves no purpose other than to run the risk of destroying the kind of comity and cooperation that we expect of each other here in the senate, all of which was granted in the case of chief justice roberts and justice alito. so let me be clear, mr. president, because of what our democratic colleagues are doing and the way they are doing it, it will now be much more difficult to achieve the kind of comity and cooperation on this and other matters that we need and expect around here as we try to deal with the nation's business. i would hope they'd reconsi

officer: senator nelson, the senate is currently in a quorum call. mr. nelson: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed. .the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. nelson: thank you. i rise to discuss a sense-of-the-senate resolution that i proposed with several colleagues to address the government's recent move to take significant ownership stakes in two icons of american business: chrysler and general motors. joining me as cosponsors are senators collins, landrieu, klobuchar, and mil and mccaskild makes clear the federal government is a temporary shareholder in g.m. and chrysler. and that it should divest its shareholder position as expeditiously as possible. no one ever wanted the government to be in the car business but the alternative was worse and the turmoil in the auto industry extends far beyond detroit as most machines know. dealerships -- as most americans know. dealerships across my state alone are feeling the impact of decisions made by auto dealer somes. chrysler is terminating franchise dealerships wi

enzi, senator bunning, senator coburn, senator hagan. in fact, an amendment offered by senator enzi and i reached an agreement on that, and regrettably -- hopefully we can fix it another time. that's an example of what happened when we weren't able to get the unanimous consent to go forward. nonetheless, i would hope the substitute would be adopted, cloture would be invoked and we could schedule a vote for final passage, as i believe we will, in the next day. this is important. a lot of work has been done on this bill. senator durbin, our friend from illinois, just pointed out, this is work that has gone on for a decade between republicans and democrats. it is a bipartisan bill. we spent two days on markup, despite the efforts of over the last seven or eight years in the "help" committee, considering amendments, adopting some, accepting some that brought us to the position we are in today with this legislation. as i've said over and over again over the last number of weeks, as we've considered this bill this is an unprecedented action th

i'm worried about think the senat senator, senator mikulski said well established principles and i'm talking about cer, obviously. and nobody could be opposed to that. and the senator, she and i have worked on nurse legislation and ever since i've had the privilege of being on this committee. and on other committees, i have nothing but the highest regard for her and who could be opposed to well established principles? who sets these principles? who does the research to basically come up with best practices? that defines what's in that pasture of accepted practices and what is not? as senator henrik stensonsenato why i said pasture because he's from wyoming. if the cer well established principles are within this framework. that provider knows if he or she strays into the next pasture in which he or she thinks that the patient and because of that person's experience and medical profession, should be done, they're not going to do it for fear of several things. i don't know what cms is going to do to them that if fact, well, number one, you don't get paid, but number two, i hadn't though

. >> senator reed? senator brown? senator casey? >> aye. >> senator haguen. >> senator murkley. senator enzi? >> aye by proxy. >> senator alexander? >> aye. >> senator burr? senator isakson? senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator coburn? >> no. >> senator roberts? >> aye by proxy. >> chairman kennedy? >> aye by proxy. i want to recommend that all future amendments be offered by senator sanders. very good, senator. lamar alexander, you're up. >> thanks, mr. chairman. i have an amendment to title three, section 311. the purpose of it is to make sure that the right choices program which is in that title doesn't require the states to spend any money on it, and this is a relatively small item, probably, but i would like to make a larger point in making my proposal, if i could say just a word about it. >> certainly. >> we have talked a lot here about cost and usually the cost is described in terms of cost to the federal government, and the cbo, congressional budget office, score has said that the kennedy bill even without three of its major points would add $1 trillion over ten y

. >> senator sanders? senator brown? senator casey? senator haguin'? senator berkeley? >> no by proxy. >> senatorwhitehouse. >> senator gray? senator alexander? >> aye by proxy. >> senator isaacson? >> senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator coburn in. >> aye by proxy. >> senator roberts? chairman kennedy? >> no by proxy. >> the vote is 10 ayes, 13 neys. >> the amendment is defeated. and you were very persuasive. i'm shoe there will be more work done on this before we're through. senator alex and her an amendment. i know senator sanders has an amendment and senator harkin has amendment number two which goes to the investment of funds. since we're on that subject matter as his -- here's what i'm going to do. it's noon. the idea would be -- we'll go into the half hour. we won't have any -- i won't ask for -- unless we can wrap the things up in 20 minutes. senator coburn has three amendments. others as well. i point out again that thanks to the work of senator harkin and senator enzi's staff and others involved in this. there were 50 amendment that's were agreed to out

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mr. schumer: i just want to confirm and agrgr with the majority leader and our chairman in terms of what they said. bottom line here: this is a nomination that should be easy to study up on. the record is public. the record has been ailable from the day her name was nominated. and there are not thousands and thousands of pages that we given to us at the end of the day, as i kno my colleague, the chairman, has said. i'd like to make one other point here. i know that my colleague, our ranking minority member, mr. sessions said, alito took some 90 days. that is true. but that included both the thanksgiving and christmas breaks. if you look at the actual working days, it was much shorter as it has been for every other justice. and let me just repeat, if we were to do what the minority ader asked and not vote on this nominatn until well after the september break, it would be the longest nomination proceeding that we've had for the most public, most available, most conci record. this is not som

senator enzi, senator murkowski, senator roberts, who were involved in that and their staffs, respectively. what i'm going to do is a couple of these were as modified but i will ask consent that the amendments as identified by senator mikulski be considered. without objection, so ordered. the amendments are adopted. that includes the seven we did this morning, so that's about 20 amendments. there were 59 introduced originally but we're moving on this. granted, it's not luke skywalker speed, senator roberts, as you mentioned earlier today, but we're moving here. pretty good pace. we have a vote that's just started and i will be -- in fact, i entertain another amendment to at least be offered and we can start for a few minutes the conversation, then come back after the vote. >> isakson number one. >> johnny? >> thank you, mr. chairman. i think there's a copy, everybody has a copy. >> good job. thank you. >> this amendment simply requires that upon signing up and becoming eligible for medicare, that every recipient will show proof of having exercised an advance directive legal in the state ei

the senator from oklahoma, senator inhofe, has made some comments on the floor of the senate that are either wrong on facts or, i think, wrong in terms of the judgment politically. and i want to say up front, as my colleague has said, i enjoy my conversations and my relationship with the senator enormously. we're both pilots. he flies often, much more frequently than i do these days, but we both share a passion for flight and for different types of airplanes, and i love talking to him about them. i wish he were really up to state-of-the-art with respect to the science on global climate change. he made a number of comments on the floor of the senate which senator boxer and i just have to set the record straight on. number one, suggesting that the science is somehow divided -- that is -- that's myth. it's wishful thinking, perhaps, on the part of some people. and i suppose if your definition of "divided" is that you got 5,000 people over here and two people over here who want to put together a point of view that is usually encouraged and in fact paid for by a particular industry or some

. >> senator sanders. >> no, by proximaty. >> senator brown. >> no. >> senator casey. >> senator higgins? >> no, by [roll call] [roll call] >> the amendment is defeated. >> mr. chairman that includes the coley section. their three outstanding, one we want to get clarification on coburn 12, with the sentiment of the committee to take coburn 12. senator enzi and ire are working out in the number six, and i believe we are very close to coming to an accommodation with the senator and senator isakson and i have a chunk of homework to do together coming to see how we can promote the advanced directives among seniors. >> i thank my colleagues for that and again i would urge is to try and reach some agreement on these. i spoke to tom brief the moment ago and got answers for senator coburn on that. >> could i inquire of the chair that this is a complex topic. if we close here, are we going to be precluded come if we see something new and the steady this that we can come back? >> absolutely. >> i thank the chair. >> we know each other pretty well around here and i'm aat

i've been working with senator blanch lincoln of arkansas, senator snowe of maine, senator klobuchar of minnesota, to come up with a plan so that the small business owners will be able to afford health insurance. and i'm happy to say that at least at this moment in time there's an indication the finance committee is considering our bill as part of their overall work product. just as important as keeping your health plan, if you like it, if you're a small business owner, you find your health premiums have increased 200% because you have one sick employee or one sick baby born to one of the families of your employees, we want to make sure you're no longer subject to those unfair practices of raising premiums for that kind of situation. in today's system at the end of the contract small businesses are really at the mercy of insurance companies who are in it for profit. earlier this week, i talked about a small business man in springfield, my hometown, who in the span of just a few years have seen his insurance premiums increase by 500% though he's never turned in a claim. he's been forc

. >> senator enzi. >> aye. >> senator gregg. >> aye. >> senator bird. >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain. >> aye by proxy. >> senator coburn? >> aye by proxy. >> 13 nos and ten yays. >> 13-10 was the vote. the subject is open to further amendment. i think senator hatch has number 8. we adopted an amendment before you arrived. we adopted a hatch amendment while you weren't here? >> no, that's a blessing. we're on number eight. >> am i on -- >> you're up, sir. >> we included your chiropractor immunity -- >> that means a lot. that means a lot. i'll call amendment number 8 on comparative ektiveness research. the purpose of the amendment, to summarize -- >> which number is this? >> number eight. number eight. >> staff will please distribute the amendment if it hasn't been already. >> okay. >> go ahead, orrin. >> thank you, mr. chairman. the purpose is to prohibt the use of comparative effectiveness research by providing the standard of care in state and federal courts. now, what i'm concerned about, i believe patients and providers should better understand their care and be confident of its e

to the senator. the secretary will note the names of the senators who have been sworn and will present to them for signing a book which will be the senate's permanent record of the administration of oath. i remind all senators who were administered this oath that they must now sign the oath book which is at the desk before leaving the chamber. on behalf of myself and the distinguished republican leader, mr. mcconnell, i send to the desk a resolution that provides for the issuance of a summons to judge samuel b. kent, for judge kent's answer to the articles of impeachment against himself and for a replication by the house, and ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the resolution. the clerk: senate res. 202, to provide for issuance of a summons and for related procedures concerning the articles of impeachment against samuel b. kent. the presiding officer: the question is on agreeing to the resolution. all those in favor say aye. opposed nay. the ayes have it.

there's a bipartisan proposal that senator wyden and senator bennett have offered, and senator hatch, a former chairman of the committee, is working with a number of senators on a proposal that seems to me to be a much better base for beginning. as we go to work on health care reform, these are the things that we should keep in mind. we would want to be able to say to the american people that we're interested in all 300 million of you, not just the 47 million uninsured. that our goal is to provide for each one of you a health care plan that you can afford, a plan in which you and your doctor, not washington, d.c., makes the decisions. a plan that emphasizes prevention and wellness. we want to give low-income americans the same cientd kind f health plan that most americans already have. we don't want -- we do not want to make it harder for american businesses to compete in the world marketplace by adding to their costs. and we do want a plan that your children and your grandchildren can afford so that they're not saddled with a massive debt that devalues the dollars they earn and the q

senator corker? >> i'll let him ask his first question and come back. >> he thinks so highly of you. very smart of you, senator warner. >> i'm learning, mr. chairman. i'm learning. but we pressed -- we were very concerned and i think a lot of folks were very concerned about the whole aig situation. we were concerned about the fact that 100% payoffs with the counterparties with aig, and no haircut taking and secretary geithner said he didn't have authority and now there's a precedent set and consequently even if we tried to give him authority perhaps it couldn't be fully utilized. that brings me to what senator schumer raised earlier, which is as we think about a repayment pattern from the financial institutions that received t.a.r.p. funds, we know they want to pay back these dollars. we know many of them want to pay them back as soon as possible. secretary geithner said as these banks start paying back, at least initially was his attempt to take back not only -- let them repay but also kind of wash

other cosponsors are senator dick durbin, senator judd gregg, ted kennedy, richard burr, chris

i strongly agree with senator balk and senator grassley, we need a bipartisan bill. many democrats and republicans, we need a bipartisan bill. my fear is if we don't have a bipartisan bill we will not be successful. while there's -- most of the media coverage of the health care debate is focusing on the conflict, should we have a public plan or not? tax exclusion? what portion of our benefits should be excluded from taxation? should there be employer mandate? setting that aside, but there is huge agreement on a bunch of things that are important that are going to save money, save lives, reduce costs and provide better health care. make it possible for businesses, large and small, but especially small businesses, to get interest a purchasing pool to be able to take advantage of lower rates and better choices of benefits for their folks. moving toward chronic care. to make sure we're -- people who have diets do not have to wait until they are really sick and have to have arms, legs or feet amputated but take care early on. the purchasing pools that we will create under

senate or the u.s. house of representatives so that the public may be informed as to what is going on on these public matters. in the arguments to the supreme court are open to the public and only a very few people have an opportunity to see them first not easy to come to washington and sign and so many people would then come to washington are allowed to be their only a very human its ear in a the with the marvels of television in this proceeding appears in the homes of many americans on c-span 2, the house is televised on c-span, and many of our hear

that's where this senator stands on the issue. senator brown. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i support mccain amendment and oppose any second degree amendment. i've been through this as john as 1 1/2 decades working with john on these and patent issues, too, that pharma seems to, even when we went to battle they seem to win the war. any weakening language does two things. one, it denies these cost savings to consumers and second, it's got something about public safety as john points out. it denies savings to consumers and only doesn't save us the money it would save if we were to do this right. for years, several years when what is in the house of representatives, i represented a district in northern ohio about four hours from windsor, ontario. i used to take bus loads of ohio consumers, mostly elderly, but not all, to canada to buy drugs. it was a peculiar thing for a federal official in one country to take people to another country to buy prescription drugs, the same prescription drugs they could have bought in a local drug store, same brand names, same box even, the same -

. >> senator enzi. >> aye. >> senator gregg. >> aye. >> senator bird. >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain. >> aye by proxy. >> senator coburn? >> aye by proxy. >> 13 nos and ten yays. >> 13-10 was

senators sar bain -- senator sanders, i think, answered that clearly. how well these programs are managed is very important. i authentic your analogy to use the suggestion where fraud and abuse is occurring is misplaced. department of labor is a key enforcement agent. as of may 2009, a month ago, they initiated 768 and 207 criminal investigations obtaining monetary penalties of more than $205 million. they currently have 73 civil and 60 criminal investigations that are ongoing. criminal activities often organized crime operations result in employers and individuals losing millions. organized crime is not employees of medicare or medicaid, it's the people taking advantage of the system and scamming it at the disadvantage of people who count on these programs. the criminal division to the extent i'm aware -- there may be exceptions of this and if there are, it's important for us to know it, are investigating employees of the department of health and human services or the medicare program itself. i suspect most of these cases are focusing on nongovernmenta

senator mikulski, have you finished ma'am? >> senator roberts? >> thank you, senator mikulski for your willingness to work with us and staff to get to some kind of understanding about this where we could agree. i think that you have counter language, i think we have counter language. but we will see where we go. i am not concerned and i can't speak for dr. colburn but i think that he would agree about the center being prohibited from mandating. my concern is prohibiting cms from using information to mandate doctors' decisions and treatments and if i might, a mandate is not the same thing as a prohibition. a mandate means to force or blind, prohibit means prevent and the language on page 323 that the distinguished senator points to says that the reports and recommendations of the center for health outcomes research and evaluation which will be conducting the needed i might add and i'm very supportive of that comparative effectiveness research there's no reason why they can't inform doctors and disseminate the information, but that language says sh

. >> senator murray. >> no, by proxy. >> senator reed. >> no. >> senator sanders. >> no. >> senator brown. >> -- >> senator casey. >> no. >> senator higgens. >> no, by proxy. >> senator murphy. >> no. >> senator whitehouse. >> no. >> senator enzi? >> aye. >> senator greg. >> aye by proxy. >> senator alexander. >> aye by proxy. >> senator burress. >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator mikowski. >> aye by proxy. >> senator roberts. >> aye. >> chairman kennedy. >> no, by proxy. >> the ayes are 10, nays are 15. i thank our colleagues. are there further amendments to title two? >> i think senator coburn. >> tom? >> could i inquire. senator mikulski was very straightforward and honest about what was really intended in the cer stuff. and when she was asked by senator greg in our kind of roundtable about what their intention were to really tell a difference between, you know, i just have some questions so i can understand. i think we use -- i can't remember the examples. maybe it was claritin and allegra. i think he used one of the other. let's say cer comes out and says

i have met with senator bill nelson. iaanderstand how concerned he for creating the website so people can write in, and also for the work that they have done with the epa, the centers for disease control to test the chinese drywall. what i'm hearing also is that they haven't concluded what the problem is in terms of -- it inconclusive interbred environmental test. and we need to work collaboratively on this, and if confirmed, i would like to work with you to draw a resolution to find out what is causing the respiratory and what it was, the type of elements in the gypsum of the chinese product. understand that the counterpart agency in china, the counterpart to the consumer product safety commission is working with the commission to resolve this. and that chinese leaders are very aware of it and trying to address it. but it is a very real problem causing people great hardship physically, as well as damage to their property rendering their homes worthless. and i will assure you that if i am confirmed it will be a top prior

particularly to senator dodd. i boil this issue down to almost one sentence: i remember sitting in front of the "help" committee in the house of representatives many years ago and seeing the tobacco company executives stand in front of us, raise their right hand and swear to tell the truth and they didn't exactly tell the truth when they talked about nicotine not being an addiction but i learned one simple concept that we have known this number for years, 400,000 americans die every year from tobacco-related illness. that means on the average more than 1,000 americans die every single day from tobacco-related illnesses. no if you are a tobacco executive, mr. president, what you think about is this: you've lot 4 hundred dho 400,000 custou need to replenish your base much what do you do? you need to find 400,000 new customers every year. you don't go to people of senator dodd's and my generation. you don't go, even to my children's age group, they are in their late 20's. you aim your marketing campaign at the young

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from tennessee. a senator: mr. president, i thank the leader, for reading the letter i sent to him some time ago and i want to thank him for actually trying to bring forth an appropriations bill. i hope that we can figure out some resolve to this. i think it's very important to our country that we actually go through an appropriations process that's thoughtful and i thank you for attempting to do that today. mr. reid: will my friend yield for a brief moment? mr. corker: yes. mr. reid: i want to go to the bill. i want to follow regular order. that's what i was asked to do. and i'm happy to have my staff work through night to see if we can agree on a finite list of amendments. but senator nelson is the man to do that. he's a wonderful person, i've already said. i'm just disappointed that it is such a struggle to get things done. mr. corker: mr. president, if i could talk back to the respected leader. i thank you for bringing it forth. i do think it's important that we work through eight bills before the recess ends o

signed senator byrd. reid the senate will be in morning business until 10 p.m. with senators allowed to speak four ten minutes each, and the time will be equally controlled with the republican controlling the first half and the majority the next half. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 1256, family smoking prevention tobacco criminal act. time until 2:30 will be divided and controlled as indicated, that is, from 2:00 to 2:30 between senators dodd and enzi and at 2:30 we will vote on passage of the bill. madam president, there are two bills at the desk due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 12312 to amend the federal food, drug and cosmetic act with respect to the importation of prescription drugs and for other purposes. 2751, an act to accelerate motor fuel savings nationwide and so forth. mr. reid: madam president, these are the drug reimportation legislation that has been around for a number of years and we're trying to move forward on t

page -- "senate g.o.p. still saying no." republican senators said this last week, one of the newspapers that covers capitol hill, roll call. and i quote, democrats need to know when they bring the bills up, we're going to extend debate as long as we can, even if we can't win it. end of quote. so i say to this republican senator and automatic republican senators, this isn't a game. i say to those watching and listening today, the next time republicans try out their stale, standard talking points about congressional approval ratings or the inefficiency of government, pay attention to see whether they also quote the fellow republican senator who admits they're not here to work. these partisan tactics have consequences. these consequences will be evident on every kitchen table, every family budget and every american's peace of mind. mr. president, i encourage republicans to finish this legislation. i've said if there are germane amendments they file under, we'll -- even though we have no obligation to do that,

>> well, thank you, senator. it would be premature and we talked about this in the office to take a position on whether the law needs to be amended. but i hope that my tenure at the commission will be seen as a tenure where we worked with people to exercise commonsense in a regulatory manner. acting chairman moore has said that we need to wait till the commission is fully formed to collectively make decisions and i am a collaborator. i want the input of my fellow commissioners as well as the staff and also in conversation with you to talk about can we go ahead and implement some areas of the law or will there be areas that are unclear. as soon as we can get guidance clear. as soon as we can get guidance and regulations in place, industry will not what to do. i know there are some areas like tracking labels that industry is wondering what are we going to do about this? as soon as we can get guidance in place in all these areas working with industry and consumers their concerns are heard, the less i believe you wil

the senator who made those remarks was then a senator obama. he spoke those words in january 2006 on this floor when the senate was debating the confirmation of justice alito. it is our duty to thoroughly review all of the nominees. this review should be thorough and fair. it should cover various backgrounds and judicial records. the senate must also work to ensure that the nominee will decide cases based upon the bedrock will law as opposed to their own personal feelings and political views. part of this confirmation process, i have the opportunity to meet with judge sotomayor. i agree that she has an impressive background as well as a compelling personal story. what we have to do is look at the record. when it comes to understanding the constitution, as it relates to the second amendment to bear arms, that is an area where i have significant concern. ossining on the second quarter of appears -- appeals, she has a narrow view of the second amendment. she has little explanation or reason. for example, she has ruled twice that the second amendme

over on that aisle on thursday, we had a discussion, senator reid, senator mcconnell, myself, senator martinez, and then back and forth in the cloakrooms, we offered amendments back and forth that -- just to get started on the bill. there wasn't a list that said here's the end-all. it said, let's just try get started. and all five of the amendments offered by the minority, we said, fine. have nothing to do with the bill but that's fine. you want to offer them? offer them. but don't come to the floor on monday saying that the majority's obstructing your right to offer an amendment for which we said you could offer. i mean, how do you explain in contradiction? and, again, my point, if this congress can't even agree on tourism, how's it going to agree on the -- how are we going to make progress on health care? how are we going to make progress on comprehensive energy legislation or climate change or a range of difficult international situations? how are we going to reach some sort of understanding that we represent one interest in this country? that ought to be the public interest in the

brown. >> no. >> senator casey. >> no. >> senator occasikagen. >> no, by proxy. >> senator murphy. >> no. >> senator whitehouse? >> no. >> senator enzi. >> aye. >> senator staalexander. >> aye by proxy. >> senator bird. >> aye by proxy. >> senator mccain? >> aye by proxy. >> senator mikulski? >> aye by proxy. >> senator kennedy? >> no, by proxy. >> i thank the clerk. further amendments, senator robert, you had an amendment you wanted to raise or senator enzi. >> i have one i would like to discuss based on what we discussed over the weekend. that would be enzi amendment number 2. >> clerk will distribute that amendment list. >> this is something i've been working on with senator bachus for a long time and he and i have agreed on a bill and it gets into the same area of liability. we need to make sure that there's some reasonable about the for people that have been injured to get paid and to get paid quickly, but there also needs to be some protection for the doctors to make sure they stay in the field. so we've come up with an award of grants to the states development implementation a

-- and the senate proceed to s. res. 142. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 142, designating july 25, 2009, as national day of the american cowboy. the presiding officer: without objection, the committee is discharged, and the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the resolution be agreed, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to s. res. 171. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 171, commending the people who have sacrificed their personal freedoms to bring about democratic change in the people's republic of china and so forth. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. reid: i ask that a resolution be a a-- agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i a

much, senator rockefeller. your position ss chairman of the -- as chairman of this committee is one that gives us encouragement that we can achieve the goal of ours of having a more important rail leg tour transportation system. we thank you for your encouragement. senator hutchison. >> thank you, mr. chairman.

earlier today the senate voted to move forward with this nomination. 65 senators recognized the extraordinary qualifications mr. koh will bring to the state department. in the last few weeks some senators on the other side of the aisle have done everything they can to slow down the work of the senate, even going so far as to delay the consideration of the bill to promote tourism in america. a noncontroversial bill with 11 republican cosponsors but a bill that could get only two republican senators to support it when we asked to move it forward. untphorpbl, the same thing is happening with the -- unfortunately the same thing is happening with the nomination of mr. koh. this is a nomination that is noncontroversial. 65 supported going forward. yet the republicans are insisting, as they have the right to do under senate rules, that we delay for maybe up to 30 hours before we actually get to the vote. if we're going to waste that much time on a noncontroversial nomination for a person to become legal advisor to the state department, the people of this country have a right to ask what is the goal

the president sent a letter to senator baucus and senator kennedy saying that health care reform must not add to our deficits of the next few years. he said we should only spend a dollar we say. are we to assume that pay go should apply to the health care reform bill? >> the estimates over a 10 year time frame are a bit difficult . ongoing concerns and it's something i think the chair man shares is currently there is no scoring for instance for any prevention and wellness strategy. i am not sure there is an expert who believes it won't save money, and yet it is small scored. so whether or not the kind of transformational health reform will actually have a dollar for dollar set off on day 1i can't tell you -- >> so paygo doesn't apply to the bill we are considering? >> senator, i think it does. i haven't seen the outlines exactly what the president is proposing. i know there was discussion of whether or not what is the year ten for instance for the health reform bill? is it ten years from today it starts or the date passes? and if it is there's lively debate about strategies whether th

we meet daily, i do with other senators, particularly, key senators, especially, senators on the republican side who i think -- who i know are trying to find a solution here to see how we, you know, thread that needle. but it's -- that letter is just to be honest about it, it's an indication -- it's somewhat -- i don't want to overstate this because somebody will jam this down my throat but somewhat positioning in getting ready for the resolution that we come up with but we'll find a resolution. >> time for one more question in the back there. >> gary, national minority quality reform. in 202040% of the u.s. population is going to be african-american. >> i'm sorry, i can't see you. sorry. >> in 2020, 40% of the u.s. population is going to be african-american or hispanic. when you look at clinical trials last point 6% of the clinical trials african-american, about 3% hispanic. how do you do comparative effectiveness in that environment? and even more importantly, how do we prepare the healthcare system for a diverse population with patient variability? >> well, clearly, the comparison analys

senator pryor? >> thank you. i would like to pick up where senator hutchins finished off. she was talking about newspaper ownership of broadcast media. i would like to ask you about the minority ownership of broadcast media. we've made progress in that area. i would like to ask you, do you think it's a good public policy that we should encourage more minority ownership of broadcast media? >> my understanding, senator, is that's the policy of the communications act, to ensure the widest possible dissemination of licenses and to pursue diversity in ownership. it's been a value that's been widely shared for a long time. and the dat thata that i've sees not leave one with a good taste about ha wr we stand now as a country on that. >> do you have ideas what we can do to try to make ownership of broadcast outlets more possible for minority interests? >> i think the first thing possibly is to make sure that we understand what's actually going on out there. i've been told that the data with respect to ownership now is not satisfactory and there's work that can be done to understan

now one last thing before i close and that is the chairman who senator rockefeller and senator hutchison, the ranking member have asked all senators to get their questions for the record in today by 6:00 pm. that's good news for you because that means what they are hoping is we'll be able to move this nomination quicker. normally we leave the record open for a couple of weeks but they would like to get the questions into today if possible so i'm just telling that so all the staff will hear. miss tenenbaum, we really, really appreciate your interest in public service and your willingness to take on this commission, and we've enjoyed our time together and your responses to the question and thank you and we look forward to working with you as you're the chairwoman of the consumer product safety commission. with that, we'll adjourn the hearing. >> thank you. ion. with that we will adjourn the hearing. [inaudible conversations] >> the state department has expanded the list of countries that may not be doing enough to combat human trafficking. including more than 50 countries mainly in africa,