vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber who wish to vote or to change a vote? if not, on this vote, the yeas

are 79, and the nays are 17. the bill as amended is passed. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: this will be the last vote of the week. we have a lot of work going on in the committees, and that will continue on monday. the next vote will be tuesday morning. i'll confer with the distinguished republican leader as to what time we're going to do that and what it's going to be on for sure. we think we know. there will be a vote tuesday morning. i've already -- everyone has been notified, but just make sure that people understand, when we come back after the july 4 recess, we're going to be in session for five weeks. the house will be in session for only four weeks. we have five weeks. and we're going to work really hard during that period of time. i've had requests from the

managers of the bill, the health care bill -- senators baucus and dodd -- that we need every day of that break. and so there's only going to be one monday that there will be no votes. fridays and mondays there will be votes. it's july 17 -- friday, july 17. now, mr. president, and the first day we get back, we're going to have a monday morning vote just to show everybody that we're serious about this. the day we get back there will be a monday morning vote. we have a tremendous amount of work to do. we not only have health care, which is going to take so much of our time, we're in the appropriations process. the house is going to pass all their appropriations bills by the end of the july recess. now, i don't know if we can meet that schedule. it's somewhat doubtful, but we're going to pass some bills. we're going to try to get to one this work period. so we're not going -- without going into more detail, the next work period is going to be

extremely long, arduous and extremely important. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: will the leader withhold his quorum call? mr. reid: yes. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico is recognized. mr. bingaman: mr. president, i wanted to propound a unanimous consent request. i ask unanimous consent that the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 97, the nomination of hilary chandler tompkins to be solicitor of the department of interior, that the nomination be confirmed, that the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table, that no further motions be in order, that any statements related to the nomination be printed in the record, that upon confirmation, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and that the senate then resume legislative session. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. cornyn: mr. president, reserving the right to object. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: with all due

respect to my colleague from new mexico, i'm advised the nomination has not been cleared on this side. we're going to keep working on it, but at this time i must object, and i do object. the presiding officer: the objection is noted. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i know my friend, the distinguished senator from texas, wishes to speak for up to 20 minutes. is that right? we have a number of senators here on this side -- mr. president, what we will do -- mr. president, what i would ask consent to do, senator bingaman be recognized for up to three minutes, senator cornyn be recognized for up to 20 minutes, and then i'll be recognized following his statement for -- following me senator dorgan be recognized. the presiding officer: is there any objection? mr. reid: mr. president, i

would ask that we now proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each with the exceptions i've just noted. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. bingaman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. bingaman: mr. president, let me just state that i am disappointed to see that objection is still raised to the confirmation of hillary tompkins to be the solicitor for the department of interior. she is extremely well qualified. no one has raised any question about her qualifications. our former colleague, now secretary salazar, needs a solicitor in the department of interior. we reported her nomination out of our committee on the 30th of april, nearly six weeks ago now. and there has been something of a rolling hold on her nomination. i know senator bennett had an objection at one point. that has been satisfied. senator coburn had an objection. that has been satisfied. senator bunning had an

objection. that has been satisfied. now i'm informed there are additional objections. i hope very much that my colleagues on the republican side will go ahead and approve her for confirmation quickly so that secretary salazar can get on with the business, important business of the department of interior. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i want to spend a few minutes talking about the importance and challenge of health care reform, something that's on the fast track here in the senate. recently, as i traveled my state of 24 million people, i heard many similar themes from my constituents. what they told me is that our top priority ought to be reducing the cost of health care. because, of course, by reducing the cost, it becomes more affordable by more people, and we attack what is one of the

other principal concerns and certainly one of mine, and that is too many people who are uninsured in this country. we know cost is one reason why 46 million people are not insured in this country, some of whom have good jobs that pay well. but they're young, they would rather put the money in their pocket rather than pay for health care. others have different circumstances. maybe small businesses that are priced out of the market. but it is a fact that american families have seen their health care premiums double -- double -- over the last ten years. my constituents and the american people generally also are very concerned about our future as they see so much borrowing and so much spending here in washington, they worry about the fact that medicare, which is the health care program for seniors, has an unfunded liability of $38 trillion. so just to