mr. franken: certainly. mr. durbin: i wonder if you're aware that we've been debating health care reform for 19 days and in that time there were four republican amendments to change the bill, six motions to commit the bill back to commit, stop the -- committee, stop the debate on the floor and that is the sum total of all of the effort on the republican side to date. we don't choose the amendments, the leadership chooses it on the republican side of the aisle. i ask the senator from minnesota, are you aware of it? mr. franken: i am now. i was aware of the general shape of things which is the sort of dearth of substantive amendments offered and sort of the delay, yes, then i'm aware. thank you. mr. president, i -- i ask unanimous consent to speak for 10 minutes as if in morning business. mr. roberts: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. roberts: reserving the right to object, and i will not object to my good friend. but i can't -- i can't let this stand when the distinguished senator from

mr. franken: thank you. and i want to thank both my colleagues from vermont and from ohio and urge my colleagues to support amendment 3135. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask consent -- unanimous consent that i be allowed to engage in a colloquy with the sthr senators from connecticut -- with the senior senators from connecticut and montana. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid reid: madam president,n the american people demanded last november and throughout this year that we make it possible for every northern afford a -- for every american to afford a healthy life, they did so because they know from personal experience just how broken our country's health care system really is. and as the senate has worked to answer that call this year, we've drafted a bill that will save lives, save money and save medicare. many aspects of the current bill achieve that goal. but there's one more thing we can do, closing the notorious gap that arbitrarily c

mr. franken: thank you. madam president, i rise today to urge my colleagues in the senate to support senate amendment 3135, to replace the proposed excise tax and replace it with a surtax that would affect only those making literally millions of dollars a year. senator brown and senator sanders with whom i will engage in this colloquy have shown tremendous leadership on the issue, and i want to thank them and join them in their efforts. before, let me get into this, though. i just want to answer a couple of things i have seen on the floor. i walked in, my good colleague from south dakota, senator thune, was -- had a chart up, he had a chart up. he said when your taxes will kick in and when your benefits will kick in. so i didn't hear the whole speech, and i feel bad about that, not having heard his whole speech, and i went up to him and i said i department hear your whole speech. he went oh, man, that's too bad. but i said did you actually happen to mention any of the benefits that do kick in right away? and

mr. franken: is there any objection? mr. enzi: reserving the right to object, would it be possible for the senator from arizona to do a five-minute speak and then have you do five minutes plus the four? mr. lautenberg: all right. we have been patient, i think, if we can be assured that the senator's speech will not take more than five minutes, i would consent. that then includes a unanimous consent for me to have up to ten minutes. i see our colleague from michigan here, and i don't know whether that would disturb her. ms. stabenow: if i might just -- mr. enzi: mr. president, i'd be willing to let her then go as well, and then we'll make up the time on our side after that. ms. stabenow: if i could ask my friend a question. do i understand then it would be the senator from new jersey, then the senator from arizona and then myself? mr. enzi: the senator from arizona, then the senator from new jersey, then yourself. the presiding officer: without objection? mr. kyl: thank you. i want to thank both of my colleagues very much for

mr. franken: certainly. mr. durbin: i wonder if you're aware that we've been debating health care reform for 19 days and in that time there were four republican amendments to change the bill, six motions to commit the bill back to commit, stop the -- committee, stop the debate on the floor and that is the sum total of all of the effort on the republican side to date. we don't choose the amendments, the leadership chooses it on the republican side of the aisle. i ask the senator from minnesota, are you aware of it? mr. franken: i am now. i was aware of the general shape of things which is the sort of dearth of substantive amendments offered and sort of the delay, yes, then i'm aware. thank you. mr. president, i -- i ask unanimous consent to speak for 10 minutes as if in morning business. mr. roberts: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. roberts: reserving the right to object, and i will not object to my good friend. but i can't -- i can't let this stand when the distinguished senator from

mr. franken: my apologies to senator dodd. i guess i -- as a freshman, i don't -- i'm not necessarily familiar with all the rules. i think that means i must yield the floor. is that right, mr. president? the presiding officer: that's correct. mr. franken: in that case i do to my gd friend from texas. mr. baucus: mr. president, i don't think there is a time limit here. mr. dodd: i made an agreement. i suspect we'll have a lot of time to talk about this. i appreciate the comments of my colleague from minnesota. very well said. mr. franken: thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i want to talk principally about the medicare cuts in this bill and make sure people understand the context in which this takes place and what it means in terms of benefits for seniors. there has been a lot of parsing of language here in a way that i think can perhaps obscure what the real impact of this -- of these proposals are. but first let me just say there is broad agreement that our health care system n

mr franken, aye. mrs,geillearand, aye. mr graahm, no mr grassley, no. mrñgreg, no mrs, hagan, aye. mr harkin, aye. mr hatch, no. mrs. hutchison -- mr.inhosfe, no. mr noway, aye. mr isaacs said, nope. mr.johans, no. mr. johnson,aye. mr. kaufman,aye. mr. careyaye mr. kirk,aye. mr coles, aye mr. pyle,no. ms landreau, aye. mr lautenberg, aye. mr leahy, aye. mr levin ,aye. mr. lieberman,aye. mrs. lincoln,aye. mr. lugar,no. mr. mccabe,no. mrs. castle,aye. mr. mcconnell,no mr. menendez,aye. mr. merkley, aye. ms. mikulskiaye. mr merkowski, no. mrs. mary,aye. mr. nelson of nebraska,aye. mr. nelson of florida,aye. mr. pryor,aye. mr. reed of rhode island,aye. mr. reid of nevada, [laughter] mr. reid of nevada,aye. [laughter] mr rich, no. mr. roberts,no. mr. rockefeller,aye. mr. sanders, mr. schumer,aye. mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby, ms. snowe,no. mr. spector,aye. mr stabinow, aye. mr. tester,aye. mr thune, no. mr udall of colorado,aye. mr. udall of new mexico,aye. mr.vitter, no. mr.voinivich, no. mr. warner,aye. mr. webb,aye. mr. white house,aye. mr. wicker,no. mr. whiden, aye.

mr. mccain: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, it seems that as much as i'd like to put the last presidential campaign behind me, we seem to be continuing to dredge it up in a false -- totally false manner time after time. i would ask unanimous consent that my campaign paper -- position paper on a specific plan of action lowering health care costs be made a part of the record at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: then i would ask to be made part of the record the factcheck.org of november -- of october 20, 2008, that says -- "false -- obama's false medicare claim," which were the attacks on me which were not based on fact, and i quote from factcheck.org --" these claims are false based on a single newspaper report that says no such thing. mccain's policy director states unequivocally, no benefit cuts are envisioned. mccain does propose savings." et cetera, and i did, and i did propose savings, and we

mr. franken: thank you. thank you, mr. president. we've been work this bill for a long time and i'm proud of what we're doing here. every senator has had his or her chance to speak up and help make this a better bill or to make a case against the bill. unfortunately, it's been a bit rancorous and i think that's too bad. there have been accusations flying back and forth, umbrage has been taken. this place as become annum barragan umbragefactory. i even took umbrage once and i feel bad about that. my colleagues across the aisle have taken great umbrage because we've accused them of using scare tactics. well, may i point out that the title of my friend from oklahoma's piece in last wednesday's "wall street journal" is: "the health bill is scary." exhibit a. in our case that the other side has, indeed, used scare tactics, the op-ed entitled "the health bill is scary." but seriously, when you're talking about people's health, there's more than enough fear to go around. instead of scaring people, we should be deba

mr. franken: thank you, madam president. i rise to express my support for senator mikulski's amendment for women's health. this amendment is crucial because it's about prevention. prevention is one of the key twhais this bill will -- is one of the key ways that this bill will transform our system of sick care into true health care. it's common sense. you get the right screenings at the right time so you find diseases earlier. this savings lives and it saves money. the senate bill already has several provisions for preventive care, which i strongly support. for example, colonoscopies and screening for heart disease will be covered at no cost. this is a good start. the current bill relies solely on the u.s. preventive services task force to dermine which services will be covered at no cost. the problem is that several crucial women's health services are omitted. senator mikulski's amendment closes this gap. under her amendment, the health resources and services administration will be able to include other important services at

franken: i'll take it. mr. president, i rise today to ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor to senator coburn tofs amendment number 2789 to require all members of congress to enroll in the public option. i'm pleased to cosponsor this amendment because i strongly support the public option, and i will have no qualms at all enrolling in this plan. you know, there's a lot of misinformation about the public option, so i want to be clear about why we need a public option and why i would be proud to enroll in a public health insurance plan. we need a public option because health insurance premiums for minnesota residents have risen 90% since 2000, because 440,000 minnesotans went without health insurance in 1998. we need a public option because insurance executives continue to make bloated, obscene salaries tpr-fplt -- salaries. from twrou-2007 americans saw premiums double. during that same time we saw americans become uninsured. during that same period insurance company profits rose 428%. 428% in eight ye

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, following leader remarks the senate will resume consideration of the conference report to aaccompany h.r. 8288, with the time until 9:30 a.m. equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. at 9:30 a.m. the senate will proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the conference report under an agreement last night the vote on adoption of the conference report will occur tomorrow, sunday, december 13. mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority whip. mr. durbin: mr. president, does the clerk need to report the bill? the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order the senate will resume consideration of the conference report to accompany 3288, which the clerk will report. the clerk: conference report to accompany h.r. 3288, an act making appropriations for the departments of transportation and housin

mr. mccain: madam president, as is the agreed upon procedure by the two leaders, i now send a motion to commit to the desk with instructions as part of the side-by-side procedure that's been agreed to by the majority leaders and ask for its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from arizona, mr. mccain, moves to commit the bill h.r. 3590 to the committee on finance with instructions to report the same back to the senate with changes that include applying the amendments made by section 3201-g. mr. mccain: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mccain: madam president, the motion i'm offering would simply commit the bill back to the finance committee for a short period to apply the same grandfathering provision in this legislation to all medicare advantage beneficiaries. now, the provision in the bill as it is specifically drafted to prevent the drastic medic

speaking earlier on minnesota public radio, mr. franken said he was only following orders to keep the health care debate moving when he cut off joe lieberman's speech saying that majority leader harry reid had instructed him and others taking their turns presiding over the senate yesterday to hold speakers to 10 minutes. intelligence officials say a suspected u.s. drone missile strike killed three militants in pakistan's travel. medaaf afghan border. it was the third such attack in the past 25 -- 24 hours in area of north waziristan. are arriving earlier in afghanistan today, admiral mike mullen, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, told a group of enlisted troops he is confident the country will hold elections march 7 and the u.s. drawdown will begin on schedule that month. the election was postponed from january but admiral mullen said that will not change u.s. plants. an update on the auto industry. general motors said it would wind down saab operations after talks of a deal collapsed. those are some of the latest headlines on

vote: durbin, feingold, feinstein, franken. >> mr. reed of nevada, aye. senators voting in the negative. alexander, bohmbach, chambliss, coburn, corker, corn then, demeant, ensign, graham, grassley. hatch, hutchinson. inhofe, kyle, lemieux, lugar, mccain, connor, rich, roberts, sessions, voinovich and wicker. >> mr. byrd, aye. mr. webb, aye. mr. vitter, no. mr. baucus, aye. >> mr. kerry. mr. kerry, aye. mr. schumer, mr. schumer, aye. mr. kaufman, aye. mr. shelby, no. mr. bennett of utah, no. >> mr. lincoln. mrs. lincoln, aye. ms. landreaux. ms. landreaux, aye. >> on this vote, the yeas are 63, and the nay are 55. the motion is agreed. the question is on the motion to concur with the house amendment. sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: may we have order, mr. reid: may we have order, >> leader, may we have order, please the presiding officer: anyone wish to change their vote or hasn't voted? by a vote

senator franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, madam secretary. since october, 2003, 104 immigrant detainees have died in our custody. or in the custody of the immigration and customs enenforcement -- enforcement. but were unso i believe. in 2006 a man from ghana died in custody from a heart attack after guards waited 40 minutes to provide him medical attention, let alone open his cell. they wouldn't open his cell for 40 minutes. last year another detainee died after falling and fracturing his skull and after newspaper accounts being shackled and being pinned to the medical floor after he moan and vomited after being left in a disciplinary cell for more than 13 hours. an ecuadorian woman died in a minnesota facility three years ago. ice found that her death was inevitable. but also found that she had not undergone her mandatory medical intake exam despite being detained for two months. you inherited this problem. i know that. and i know that you're trying to fix it. but the first step in improving conditions is identifying the problem. so my quest

senator franken? >> thank you. mr. chairman. they give madam secretary. 104e october 2003, 104 immigrants detainee's have the c of t custody for custody of immigration and customs enforcement. i am sure some of those were inevitable. but others are likely for, inable. in 2006 one-man from gonna die in custody from a heart attack after guards waited aloinutes to provide medical attention let alone open the sell. they would not open that sell 40 minutes. last year one detainee died after falling and fracturing his gold then being shackled and pinned to the floor as the moaned and vomited then being left in a disciplinary sell for more than 13 hours. one ecuadorian woman died in a minnesota facility three years ago and her death was inevitable but also found she had not undergone herb mandatory medical intake exam despite being detained for two months. you inherited this problem. i know that. i know you are trying to fix it. but the first step to improve conditions is identifying the problem. my question to you is what went wrong?

a senator: mr. president? reserving the right to object, and i won't. i just want to make a clarification that we wouldn't object to a couple of the people going without alternating so that we can have a couple of people that also go without alternate. mr. enzi: hopefully we can make some arrangements on the time limits. i like the provision in there that if one goes longer, then the other side can go longer too. with that provision, i have no objection. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, could the chair inform me how much time the senator from nevada used. the presiding officer: 21 1/2 minutes. mr. durbin: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, this is an issue that is very personal and very important. i know a little bit about this because many years ago before coming to congress, i was a trial lawyer. i spent many years defending doctors when they were sued for medical malpractice, and i spent as many years representing plaintiffs who claimed to be victims of medical malpra

it is mr. duly's opinions. [laughter] i will read the last page of his opinion on the supreme court flag cases after the spanish-american war and-- there you have the decision hennesey that ish chaiken the intellect of the nation to their various foundations, or willett they try to read it. it is all right, look over at some time. it is fine sports a few don't care for checkers. some say it leaves the flag up in the air and some say that is where it leaves the constitution. and the house something is in the air but there's one thing i'm sure about. what is that asked mr. hennesey? no matter whether the constitution follows the flag and not the supreme court follows the election returns. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> lucas powe is a government professor at the university of texas at austin. his books include american broadcasting and the first amendment and the for the state and the constitution. the 2009 texas book festival hosted this event. form reclamation visit texas book festival.org. >> a lot of

mr. baucus: reserving the right to object. i certainly agree with the basic underlying import that we should know what we're voting on here. i must say to my good friend from oklahoma, i cannot certify that members of the senate will understand what -- what they're reading. that presumes a certain level of -- of perception on my part and understanding in delving into the minds of the senator, that not only do they read, but take the time to understand? what does understand mean? understand the first, second levels of questions? i think it is impossible to certify that any senator fully understood. they hey read, but not fully understand for a variety of reasons. iú -- mr. coburn: i would clarify my request. that the individual certify themselves. i'm not asking some group of senators to certify some other senator. i'm saying tom coburn tell his constituency i've read this puppy, i've spent the time on it, i've read the manager's amendment, and i, in fact, certify to the people of oklahom

mr. kaufman: mr. president, i ask consent to speak in morning business for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaufman: my colleagues have heard me speak in recent weeks about the troubling trends in our financial markets. the growing use of dark pools and high-frequency trading, increasing market fragmentation and looming potential regulatory gaps in the securities and exchange commission. today i want to talk about an economic threat that encompasses these developments and why i think they are negatively affecting the long-term health of our economy. after suffering through the most severe recession in decades, we are now in the midst of the most fragile of roeufrs. mr. president -- recoveries. mr. president, it's evident to all that we are in a jobs crisis. we need a laser-like focus on innovation policies that encourage industry to create jobs. this challenge comes not just from the financial crisis and the recession that followed, the american economy has slowed in its efforts to create jobs for the past decade. according to the bureau of labo

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. , majority leader. mr. reid reid: i ask unanimous consent the time until 1:00 a.m. equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees, that senators be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each, that the mandatory quorum be waived and the majority leader be recognized for the last ten minutes and the ten minutes prior to that, the republican leader be recognized if he chooses to speak. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, those who are following the business of the senate may be surprised to find us a little after midnight in session. this is a decision made by the senate just a few hours ago to postpone the continuation of our session into a new legislative day. the purpose is parliamentary so that a motion which we have filed can be voted on. it's an important motion. it's a cloture motion. we often have them. it's a motion that closes debate on the floor and moves us forward

i want to thank each of our gÑwitnesses for your courage and strength and mr. reading and ms stoiloff for your expertise and professionalism. last month, i introduced a bill joined by my colleague, senator grassley, senator hatch, that would create financial incentives for jurisdiction to process the rate kit backlog to make sure that processing them continues to remain prompt. the truth[sm is,.t thisç, is e issues in congress where we all can agree on the big picture. rape as a heinous crime and we need to provide our law enforcement agencies with everything they need to prevent justice. i want to estimate few questions mr. redding,l;3dnsph,d there as the need for improved infrastructure so dna evidence can be processed as quickly as possible. the national institute of justice study revealed that six out of 10 police departments lacked computerized evidence tracking systems. they rely on paper tracking systems. it is no surprise that when some police department's review their inventories, they discover stores of untested kits. angeles. m r reading and ms st

mr. franken: thank you, madam president. i rise to express my support for senator mikulski's amendment for women's health. this amendment is crucial because it's about prevention. prevention is one of the key twhais this bill will -- is one of the key ways that this bill will transform our system of sick care into true health care. it's common sense. you get the right screenings at the right time so you find diseases earlier. this savings lives and it saves money. the senate bill already has several provisions for preventive care, which i strongly support. for example, colonoscopies and screening for heart disease will be covered at no cost. this is a good start. the current bill relies solely on the u.s. preventive services task force to determine which services will be covered at no cost. the problem is that several crucial women's health services are omitted. senator mikulski's amendment closes this gap. under her amendment, the health resources and services administration will be able to include other important services