i speak for all members of congress here and for millions across our country and around the world. we pray for you each day as you lead our country. ladies and gentlemen, the president of the united states, barack obama. [applause] ..

still with guests who have traveled so far to be here this morning. your wonderful stories and powerful prayer. to all who are here to provide testimony. thank you so much for having me and michele here. we are blessed to be here. i want to begin by saying a word to mark kelly who is here. we have been praying for mark's wife, debbie guilford's, for many days now. i want the entire family to know that we are with them for the long-haul and god is with them

for the long haul and even as we pray -- [applause] -- even as we pray for gabby in the aftermath of the tragedy here at home we are also mindful of the violence we are now seeing in the middle east and we pray the violence in egypt will end and the rights and aspirations of the egyptian people will be realized and a better day will dawn over egypt and throughout the world. for almost 60 years going back to president eisenhower this gathering has been attended by our president. it is the tradition i am proud to uphold not only as a fellow believer but as an elected leader whose entry into public service was actually through the

church. this may come as a surprise. for as some of you know, i did not come from a particularly religious family. my father, who i barely knew, i've only met once for a month in my entire life, was said to be a non believer throughout his life. my mother whose parents were baptist and methodist, grew up with a certain skepticism about organized religion. and she usually only took me to church on easter and christmas. sometimes. and yet my mother was also one of the most spiritual people that i ever knew. she was somebody who was instinctively guided by the

golden rule. she hounded because subtly about the values like honesty and hard work and kindness. and fair play. it is because of her that i came to understand equal work of the lead women and an ethical life and the necessity to act on your beliefs. it is because of her example and guidance that despite the absence of a formal religious upbringing my earliest inspiration's for a life of service ended up being of a face leaders of the civil-rights

movement. there was martin luther king and the baptist leaders, the ways in which they helped those who had been subjugated to make a way out of no way and transform a nation through the force of love. there are also catholic leaders like theodore hasburg and jewish leaders like rabbi abraham, joshua hassle, muslim leaders and hindu leaders. caracol to fix what was broken in our world, a call routed in faith, is what led me just a few years out of college to sign up as a community organizer for a group of churches on this outside of chicago. it was through that experience with pastors and lay people to

heal the wounds of neighborhoods that i came to know jesus christ for myself and embrace them as my lord and savior. that was 20 years ago and my journey had its twists and turns. it hasn't always been a straight line. i have thanked god for the joys of parenthood and michele's willingness to put up with me. in the wake of failure and disappointment i have questioned what god had in store for me and been reminded that god's plans for us may not match our shortsighted desires. let me tell you these past two years may have deepened my

faith. [applause] the presidency has a funny way of making a person feel the need to pray. abe lincoln said as many of you know, i have been driven to my knees many times by the overwhelming conviction that i have no place else to go. i am not alone in my prayers. pastor friends like joe and and jake's come over to the oval office every once in awhile to pray with me and pray for the nation. chapel at camp david has provided consistent respite and fellowship, the director of our neighborhood partnership office,

joshua do what. the young minister himself, starts my morning with meditations from scripture. most of all i have friends around the country, some who i know and some who i don't know but they are friends who are out there praying for me. one of them is an old friend named k. wilson. we call her mama k. she happens to be malia and s h sas sasha's grandfather and -- godmother. she started small with her own bible study group. once i started running for president and she heard what they were saying about me on cable she felt the need to pray harder. by the time i was elected president she said i couldn't keep up on my own.

and was having to pray nine times a day just for you. so she enlisted help from around the country. it is also comforting to know that people are praying for you who don't always agree with you. tom coburn for example is here. he is not only a dear friend but also a brother in christ. we came in to the senate at the same time. even though we are on opposite sides of a whole bunch of issues, part of what has bound us together is shared face, recognition that we pray to and serve the same god. i keep praying that god will show him the light and he will vote with me once in a while. is going to happen. a ray of light is going to been

down. my christian faith has been a sustaining force for me over these last few years. all the more so when michele and i hear our face questions from time to time we are reminded that ultimately what matters is not what other people say about us but whether we are being true to our conscience and true to our god. speak first his kingdom and his righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well. as i travel across the country folks often ask me what is it that i pray for? like most of you my prayers sometimes our general. give me the strength to meet the challenge of my office.

sometimes they are specific. give me patience as i watch m i malia go to her first dance where there will be boys. have that skirt get longer as she travels. to that dance. will i petition god for a whole range of things there are a few common themes that do recur. the first category of prayer comes out of the air and sea of the old testament and the gospel itself. i pray for my ability to help those who are struggling. christian tradition teaches that one day the world will be turned right side up and everything will return as it should be but until that day we are called to

work on behalf of a god who shows justice and mercy and compassion to the most vulnerable. we have seen a lot of hardship the past two years. another day passed when i don't get a letter from somebody work meet someone who is out of work or lost their home or without health care. reynolds told about his problem, that is a problem lot of americans have gone through over the past couple of years. sometimes i can't help right away. sometimes what i can do to try to improve the economy or curb foreclosures or to help deal with the health care system sometimes it seems so distant

and so remote, so profoundly inadequate to the e enormity of the need and it is my face and then that biblical injunction to serve the least of these that keeps me going and keeps me from being overwhelmed. faith that reminds me that despite being just one very imperfect man i can still help whoever i can however i can wherever i can for as long as i can. that somehow god will buttresses these efforts. it also helps to know that none of us are alone in answering this call. it is being taken up each and every day by so many of you, back home your churches,

temples, synagogues, so many faith groups across this great country of ours. i came upon a group recently called charity water, a group that supports clean water projects overseas. this is of projects started by a former nightclub promoter called scott harrison who grew weary of living only for himself and feeling like he following -- wasn't following price as well as he should. because of scott epps good work charity water has helped 1.7 million people get access to clean water and in the next ten years he plans to make clean water accessible to 1 hundred million more. that is the kind of promoting we need more of. that is the kind of faith that moves mountains.

their stories like that across this room. sometimes face groups can do these on their own. sometimes they need a partner whether it is business or government. that is why my administration is taking a fresh look at way we organize with faith groups. the way we work with faith groups through our office of faith based and neighborhood partnerships. through that office we expand the way faith groups partner with our government. we are helping them feed more kids who otherwise would go hungry. we are helping fatherhood groups give dads the support to be there with their children. we are working with nonprofits to improve the lives of people around world and doing it in ways that are allied with our constitutional principles and in this work we intend to expand it in the days ahead and rooted in the notions of partnership and justice and the imperatives to

helpful for. of course there are some needs that require more resources than face groups have at their disposal. there's only so much a church can do to hope all the families in need. all those who need help making a mortgage payment or avoiding foreclosure or making sure their child can go to college. there's only so much a nonprofit can do to help the community rebuild in the wake of disaster. only so much the private sector will do to help folks who are desperately sick get the care that they need. that is why i continue to believe in a caring and justice sine die -- just society government must have a role to play. our values, our love and our charity must find expression not

just in our family, not just in our places of work and worship but also in our government and in our politics. over the past two years the nature of these obligations, the proper role of government has obviously been the subject of enormous controversy. the debate have been fears. one side's version of compassion and community may be interpreted by the other side as irresponsible expansion of the state or unacceptable restriction on individual freedom. that is why a second recurring theme is a prayer for humility. data and to disperse early on by having me married michele. [applause]

because whether it is reminding me of a chore undone or the wisdom of watching my third football game in a row on sunday, she keeps me humble. in this life of politics, in debates are so bitterly polarized and changes in the media lead so many of us to listen to those who reinforce our existing biases it is useful to go back to scripture to remind ourselves than none of us have all the answers. none of us no matter what our political party work station in life, the full breadth of human knowledge is like a grain of sandor station in life, the full breadth of human knowledge is like a grain of sand in god's hands. there are mysteries we cannot

comprehend. god's voice thunders in marvelous ways. he does great things beyond our understanding. the challenge i find is to balance this uncertainty, this humility with the need to fight for deeply held convictions. to be open to other points of view but firm in our core principles. i pray for this wisdom every day. i pray that god will show me and all of us the limits of our understanding and open our ears and hearts to are brothers and sisters with different points of view. such reminders of our shared hopes and dreams and shared limitations, children of god will reveal a way forward that we can travel together. the last recurring theme that binds all prayers together is that i might work closer with

god and make that what my first and most important task. in our own lives it is easy to be consumed by daily worries and concerns and it is even easier at a time when everybody is stressed and everybody, our culture is obsess with wealth and power and celebrity and often it takes hardship or tragedy to shake us out of that, to remind us what matters most. we see an aging parent withering under a long illness more we lose a daughter or a husband in afghanistan, we watch a gunman opened fire at a supermarket and we remember how fleeting life can be and we ask ourselves how

have we treated others? have we told family and friends how much we love them? it is in these moments when we feel most intensely our mortality and our own flaws and the sins of the world that we most desperately seek to touch the face of god. my per this morning is that we might speak of faith not only in those moments but each and every day. that every day as we go through the hustle and bustle of our lives, whether it is in washington or hollywood or anywhere in between because the we might every so often rise above the here and now and kneel before the turtle so that we might remember the fact that those who wait on the lord will

soar on wings like eagles run and not be wary and they will walk and not fail. i asked the lord to help me do straight by the people and when i go to bed at night i wait on the lord and ask him to forgive me my sins. and look after my family and the american people and make me an instrument of his will. i say these prayers hoping they will be answered and i say these prayers knowing i must work and sacrifice and must serve to see them answered, but i also say these prayers knowing that the act of prayer in itself is a source of strength. to reminder that our time on earth is not just about us.

that when we open ourselves to the possibility that god might have a larger purpose for our lives there's a chance that somehow, in ways we may never fully know the personal god will use as well. may the lord bless you and keep you and may he blessed this country that we love. [applause] [applause]

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♪ [applause] >> thank you so much, alison. it has been quite a warning -- morning. >> we're grateful to our head table guests and visitors from around the world. we are also hope you have something powerful to think about to apply to your leadership challenges wherever you may live. >> per is a powerful thing because we are all connected to a powerful loving god.

we are all brought to this place at this moment for a reason and it is our responsibility to figure out what we can do to spread the message of hope and faith we received today. one of the things we perhaps all have noticed is that the world that god has made, almost always. aware there is tragedy there is also a release of great love. people across the country and around the world have been focused on the terrible, senseless shooting 26 days ago in tucson. it has made us all ask why. why? and examine what we can do to make the world where such things don't happen. >> most of us have said our prayers for the life and recovery of all of the victims

and especially our colleague, gabby giffords. this morning, we get to pray with her husband, capt. mark kelly. >> we break away from live coverage of the national prayer breakfast as the u.s. senate is about to gavel in. they will reconsider and resumed consideration of the faa reauthorization bill. possible votes later on today. roll-call votes. all but also between 1:00 and 3:00 the senate will be in mourning for speeches on the centennial of the birth of president ronald reagan and later today the first floor speech from mr. genius senator joe madden. now live coverage on c-span2. eternal god, whose name is love, draw our senators to you by the cords of your eternal love.

help them to strive to know you cultivating a relationship of peaceful trust in your providential leading. lord, may the experience of being in your presence enable them to better comprehend the role you desire for them to play in fulfilling your purposes on earth. sharpen their vision to perceive your movements in our nation and world. where there is anxiety, give them the poise that comes from a confident faith in you. we pray in your merciful name. amen.

the presiding officer: please join me in reciting the pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. the presiding officer: the clerk will read a communication to the senate. the clerk: washington, d.c., february 3, 2011. to the senate: under the provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable tom udall, a senator from the state of new mexico, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader's recognized. the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

the presiding officer: the majority leader's recognized. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, there's been a minor change in the schedule that's been cleared on both sides. i ask unanimous consent that following any leader remarks the senate proceed to a period of morning business until 10:30 a.m. this morning, senators permitted to speak during that period of time for 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration of s. 223, federal aviation administration bill. currently we have one amendment pending. other senators are waiting to offer amendments. senator wicker is ready to offer his as soon as the bill is recorded. senators should expect roll call votes throughout the day in order to make significant progress on this important legislation. we have a long way to go before our economy is back to normal.

ask any american, and they'll tell you, we have a lot more jobs to create and fill a lot more -- still a lot more homes to save and consumer confidence to recover. i hear from those in nevada that need us to fight for them and i know every senator is the -- hears the same from citizens in their states. there are currently bits an piece of good -- and pieces of good news. there's not enough, for sure. the dow jones opened this morning above 12,000. that's the highest in many years. manufacturing is rising more than expected. consumer spending is beating forecasts also. corporate profits are higher than anyone predicted. we had a decent jobs number. better than economists predicted. not good enough, but decent so it's not all bad news. but i'm not satisfied hearing that things are simply better than we expected. nevada, like every other state, is still hurting. and our job is not to beat

expectations, it's to beat unemployment and beat back the deficit. we can't assume we're back to normal every time we hear encouraging news. we don't have that luxury because it's not true. we can't let our guard down and we can't waste anymore time on symbolic votes. the fight to repeal the patients rights in the health care reform law is behind us, arts have been made, the votes have been counted and like the majority of the american people, the senate has decide that the law of the land is better than the broken system it replaced. i don't want to spend a lot of time talking about health care because the vote speaks for itself. but i'll say this, those who want to deny meanings right to afford a healthy life have their -- had say in 2008 when president obama was elected on the promise of change. they had their say in 2009 when we first passed this law. they had their say in 2010 when we finalized it. now they've had their say in 2011 when they tried to repeal it. each time the votes fell on the

side of the patients, patients' rights, more rights, not fewer he. the senate voted each time to put people, not insurance companies in control. the senate voted each time for health, not sickness. so it's time to move on, mr. president. let's talk about jobs. we're on a jobs bill right now. the federal aviation administration authorization. the aviation modernization act, which is this bill, is to bring to america modern air travel, travel into the 21st century. this legislation will create and protect hundreds of thousands of jobs. not hundreds, not thousands, but hundreds of thousands and that's why we're fighting so hard for this legislation. it's a bipartisan piece of legislation. it's not a democratic bill. it's not a republican bill. it's a bipartisan bill. the same bill passed the senate unanimously last year. so i hope we can come together in the spirit of compromise, we all promised to finish it as

quickly as possible. it will not eradicate unemployment but it will help. it will move us further toward that goal and the quicker we pass it, the quicker 280,000 americans will breathe easier by knowing a good, consistent paycheck is on the way. we're all concerned about the deficit. there's nothing more important than creating jobs though. we can never have a healthy economy when we have 15 million people out of work. we can never have a balanced budget when we have 15 million people out of work. the deficit's something that's very important. jobs will, as i indicated, work toward solving that problem. it's not the only way to strengthen our economy. we need to dig out of the fiscal hole we inherited in the last decade. in the short term we can responsibly cut spending, in the long term we can cut our deficit. there are things that we have to be careful to avoid, like jeopardizing the full faith and credit of our great country.

that's what will happen if we don't raise our nation's debt limit. if we don't act, if we default our our legal obligations, we will send our economy into default for the first time in history. it won't save a single job or encourage the foreign and domestic investment we need to groavment each of these steps is an important stride toward recovery. together it's a powerful leap forward. we might be on the right track and headed in the right direction, but we still have a ways to travel. let's avoid the temptation to get distracted or derailed. let's keep driving toward that goal. if we work toward putting people back to work, soon nevada and every other state won't just read good news in the headlines here or there, they'll see it before their eyes in their workplaces, their wallets, their communities an throughout our -- and throughout our country.

mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader's recognized. mr. mcconnell: this month we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of ronald reagan, our nation's 40 td president. he was -- 40th president. he was born above a tavern in a small town, tampeko, illinois, on february 26, 1911, the values he learned there would carry him through a long and momentous life, a hollywood sound stage and union leader's negotiating table to the governor's mansion, the white house, and the world. 100 years after his birth, 30 years after his inauguration as president, and only seven years after his passing, it's already widely acknowledged by both

sides of the aisle that ronald reagan was a great man and a great president. his role in ending the cold war with american victories and the forces of marksism and lennonism as he put it on the ash heap of history has been assured. you could almost say we're all reaganites now. but, oh, how so much has changed. for when ronald reagan was still in force, actively shaping history and not yet a part of it, he had many fewer friends. one opinion writer in 1986 made his disdain clear when he wrote this, it seemed to us the critics that this man was not terribly bright, not terribly thoughtful or well informed, not terribly honest, and in most other ways, not up to the most important job in the world. but it seemed a lot of people

just didn't understand ronald reagan's vision at the time. not just his communist adversaries, not just his political opponents here at home, even those in his own party and his own staff sometimes failed to see the strength of the man's commitment to freedom or his courage in seeking it. i can think of one prominent example. the words we now think of reagan's most powerful utterance as president were almost never spoken. on june 12, 1987, reagan traveled to what was then west berlin, to make unmistakably clear his commitment to increasing freedom in soviet-dominated eastern europe. as the draft of his prepared remarks was circulated through many layers of bureaucracy that come with a modern presidency, one little phrase kept getting edited out. virtually the entire foreign

policy apparatus of the u.s. government was opposed to what reagan wanted to say. his secretary of state, his national security adviser, they told him he would embarrass his host, west german chancellor, they said he would anger and provoke the soviet premier, they're warned he would arouse falls hopes among east germans unlucky enough to live on the wrong side of the berlin wall. it finally got to the point where reagan had to have a confrontation with his own deputy chief of staff. he said, i'm the president, right? he's reported to have asked. so i get to decide whether the line about tearing down the wall stays in. he sure that he was and he did, reagan said, then it stays in. only after pulling rank on his own staff this way did reagan finally address the crowd of

20,000 gathered at the gate and issued his famous declaration, mr. gorbachev, tear down this wall. two years later, germans, east an west, did exactly that. presaging german unification and the fall of the soviet union. a piece of the berlin wall is preserved today at the ronald reagan presidential library in simi valley, california, to remind us of the power one man's words can have. ronald reagan once said we don't have to turn to our history books for heroes. they are all around us. that's true, even if you don't know where to look. 30 years ago, some dismissed reagan as a man of no great importance. with hindsight, it's much easier to see him for the giant figure in history that he was. and while we are thankful that for the most of us, ronald reagan's vision and accomplishments are still within living memory, his life, his vision of a free america and a

free world and his accomplishments to achieve that are most assuredly in the history books. mr. president, i yield the floor. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington is recognized. a senator: i ask the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 223, which the clerk will

report. the clerk: calendar number 5, s. 223, a bill to modernize the air traffic control system, and so forth and for other purposes. ms. cantwell: mr. president, we are continuing this morning on this important f.a.a. bill which is a very important jobs bill for america. i know my colleagues have been down on the floor. the chairman of the full committee, senator rockefeller and the ranking member, senator hutchison, in doing a good job of explaining why it's so important to move ahead on something that can create hundreds of thousands of jobs, both in the construction at our airports across america and on the implementation of the nextgen system which is really about making a digital conversion to air transportation so that our flights can be safer, so they can be more fuel efficient and so there can be coordination on the ground with the flights and all our transportation systems. so this morning we want to keep moving through this process to get this legislation done so we can get it implemented and start creating jobs and improving our

air transportation safety. so i think, -- mr. president, i think there are amendments to be offered under the agreement, and i will yield to my colleague from mississippi. the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi is recognized. mr. wicker: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to set aside the pending amendment so that i may call up my wicker amendment 14 which is at the desk. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from mississippi, mr. -- mr. wicker: i ask consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wicker: thank you, mr. president. this amendment deals with the notion of collective bargaining by t.s.a. employees.

the transportation security administration was formed approximately 10 years ago by the aviation and transportation security act of 2001, public law 107-71. since that time, transportation security administration employees have fared very well. they are a familiar sight in our airports. they are familiar to any of us who fly and who frequent the airports of the united states. it's a good job and they're well taken care of. during that ten-year period, mr. president, t.s.a. employees have not been allowed to collectively bargain, and there's a reason for that. first of all, under that act which i referenced, as a

compromise back in that day, the under secretary of transportation for security, which is now the t.s.a. administrator, was given the ability to fix compensation in terms thereof, and included in that was the determination about whether collective bargaining rights would be afforded to these t.s.a. employees. in a 2003 minimum owe, the under secretary of transportation for security at that time prohibited t.s.a. security screeners from unionizing with collective bargaining rights. the under secretary wrote, "i hereby determine the employees carrying out the security screening function under section 4401 of title 49 united states code, in light of their critical national security responsibilities, shall not as a term or condition of their employment be entitled to engage

in a collective bargaining or be represented for the purpose of engaging in such bargaining by any representative or organization." the determination was made by the predecessor of the t.s.a. administrator, that in light of their critical national security responsibilities, it was not appropriate for collective bargaining rights to be included. now, we have every reason to believe that under this new administration, that decision is about to be reversed. a decade of -- of experience and practice will be ended unless this congress acts and the appropriate vehicle on which to act is this re-authorization bill before us. wicker amendment number 14 would simply exclude t.s.a. personnel from forming a union with collective bargaining rights.

i would point out to my colleagues that the f.b.i., the c.i.a., the secret service, all who have similar critical national security responsibilities do not have collective bargaining rights either, and so the -- the spirit of amendment number 14 would be to continue t.s.a. employees in that same vein. t.s.a. workers have fared well indeed during the past decade. it's a good job. i enjoy seeing them. i enjoy working with them, and we're glad to have them. but for good reason, they have been excluded from collective bargaining rights. the t.s.a. and the t.s.a. leadership need the flexibility to innovate and to move quickly

during times of national emergency. on issues involving the security of the traveling purpose. and for that reason, i submit that adding the burdensome responsibility of union demands and dealing with collective bargaining demands could limit the ability of those responsible for the very, very important function of security at some of the most high-risk targets and make it harder for our security personnel to do their job. so i will be urging my colleagues during -- during this day and we will be urging the american people to contact their senators and to let their voices be heard. t.s.a. has worked well in this

regard, and we do not need to burden it with extra responsibilities when they need to be concentrating on security. i -- at this point, i yield the floor and would suggest, unless -- unless my friend from washington prefers to -- i yield the floor. i think there are other speakers. a senator: thank you, mr. president. mr. merkley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon is recognized. mr. merkley: thank you, mr. president. for the last week, i have watched the affairs in tehrir square in cairo, as millions of

americans have, and was deeply impressed by the peaceful demonstration of egyptian citizens calling for change in their nation, for change that would respond to the economic plight of ordinary citizens. for change that would give ordinary citizens the opportunity to be a part of the voice directing the chorus of their nation. until yesterday those protests were absolutely peaceful. but that did change yesterday when pro mubarak forces entered the fray. last night i was watching as were thrown from pro mubarak on to protesters below. i watch as thugs proceeded to

stone those protesters. i watched as there was sporadic begunfire in the square. and i watched as a group of horsemen galloped through the crowd whipping people with their whips. this thuggery against citizens peacefully protesting is absolutely unacceptable. now, the united states has had a long and close relationship with egypt. we channel a tremendous amount of economic development aid to egypt. but let me be very clear, what happened yesterday cannot happen again. what happened yesterday with thugs attacking peaceful demonstrators on behalf of the government must not happen again. in no way can america turn a

blind eye to this ruthless assault on ordinary citizens. this morning there were voices from within the egyptian government calling what happened yesterday a fatal error. the prime minister shafiq called it a fatal error. and this morning there were signs that the army, instead of allowing and organizing thution and -- thugs and organizing them on the square, was standing in to protect them. this is a right turn of events. but let it be noted by all who would care to listen that citizens of the united states of america are not going to stand by and support a government that

is attacking peaceful demonstrators in a square in cairo. so if we see a repeat of this violence, america must send a very strong message, there will be no further aid to the mubarak government. we do not know what the ultimate outcome of these protests will be. but peaceful action against government is a hallmark of democracy. it is a hallmark of freedom. and we should ensure that those protests could continue, those peaceful protests calling for a voice for ordinary citizens and that egypt can move towards free and fair elections. thank you, mr. president. and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from missouri is recognized. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent that further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. blunt: i ask unanimous consent to temporarily set aside the pending amendment so i can call up my amendment, which is amendment number 5 at the desk. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from missouri, mr. blunt, proposes amendment numbered 5.

mr. blunt: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blunt: this amendment is an amendment that deals with an issue really going back to the beginning of the t.s.a. screening program almost ten years ago, the end of 2001. we had significant discussion between the house and the senate about how that program would run. in fact, the house that i was a member of at the time and you were a member of at the time passed a bill that said that the screening would continue to be competitive and private and determined by local airports. the senate's view at the time was that this was a new responsibility that would be taken over everywhere by the federal government and the t.s.a. the final determination was that while the federal government would take this responsibility,

that there would be -- allowed to be a pilot -- pilot airports that would be determined -- would be monitored and determine whether a pilot project would verify that another alternative would be a competitive private screening as one of the options available to airports, and, in fact, in 2004, the screening partnership program was created. the pilots had worked. the verification was that the private screeners were performing at a level that was equal to that of the government paid screeners, that the cost was comparable, and that airports in the future would be able to apply to go from the government-run program to a competitive program, and about 16 airports, mr. president, have done that. i think the biggest one is

probably the san francisco airport. the kansas city airport that i use, that i represent may be the second biggest of those, but rochester, new york, is also in this program, as are a number of smaller airports. and, in fact, as recently as a few months ago, the t.s.a. was still telling airports and recommended to four airports in montana, a state where seven of their airports were currently in this program. the t.s.a. recommended to four more airports in montana that they look at this program as a potential better alternative for them. and only in recent weeks did t.s.a. determine in responses to the springfield, missouri, airport, these four montana airports and perhaps as many as a handful of other airports that, no, we think that that program is big enough, and this

is an option no longer available to local airport boards. this amendment would reach the conclusion that the local airport board is still an important determiner of which system works best in their airport. and so essentially, this amendment would tell the t.s.a. that if -- if local airports apply, that the t.s.a. would allow them to become part of the screening partnership program and treat them as they are treating the 16 airports that have been in that program, some of them for as long as almost a decade now since the -- the beginning of screening as we -- as we see it in airports today. and so, mr. president, i'm hoping that we get back to where we actually give authority back or maintain authority at the local airport level to determine

which system works better for them. a competitive system allows flexibility and flexibility allows more adaptability, more innovation, and, frankly, i think encourages the government-run systems to be more competitive and more responsive and, mr. president, that's why i'm offering this amendment. i hope it becomes part of this -- this bill and look forward to working with the committee on this amendment and over the next few days as we continue to debate f.a.a. but this has real impact on a number of the authorities that are under the federal aviation administration. i think this is an important time to solve this problem. it's one that was created, in my view, totally by t.s.a. deciding on their own something that the law never envisioned. i was part of that debate a decade ago. i know what the intention was, and it was not the intention of

the pilot or of the pilot program or of the determination we made at the end of 2001 the t.s.a. would determine for local airport authorities what was best for their airport. this amendment would require the t.s.a. to work with local airports and implement their desire to change from the system that they have at the time run totally by t.s.a. to a system that would be under the screening partnership program, and, mr. president, that is the essence of this amendment, and of course i urge its adoption and inclusion in this bill. and, mr. president, i would yield back. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mrs. hutchison: i note the be a benefits of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll.

quorum call:

quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. rockefeller: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from west virginia is recognized. mr. rockefeller: i thank the presiding officer. mr. president, i have eight -- oh, i ask the order of the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. rockefeller: i have eight unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and these requests be printed in the

record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. rockefeller: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. cicialg: mr. president, today -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call.

mr. kirk: if i could ask consent to proceed. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. kirk: on the whitehouse amendment. mr. president, today i'm pleased to join senator whitehouse, senator boxer and a growing list of my colleagues in support of the whitehouse-kirk-boxer amendment that will improve airline safety throughout the nation. most individuals are familiar with laser pointers that are often used in presentations. what you may not know is there is now a growing danger of these devices pointed at pilots. last month the f.a.a. relesioned nationwide data on lasers pointed at aircraft. from 2009-2010, incidents nearly doubled, from 1,527 to 2,836. to show how quickly this has become a problem, when the f.a.a. first began to track this issue in 2005, incidents were under 300. transportation secretary

lahood has acknowledged this as a serious safety issue. lasers can temporarily blind pilots which are incredibly dangerous and even more so, during the critical time of takeoff and landing. advancements in laser technology are also making the problem worse. certain color variations, such as green lasers, are 35 times brighter than comparable red lasers. this is a particular worry for me and my state's busiest airport, o'hare international. according to the f.a.a., last year, o'hare had the second highest number of laser events in the nation at 98. the whitehouse-kirk-boxer amendment create new penalties for knowingly pointing a laser at an aircraft or at the flight path of an airplane. commonsense exemptions are provided to allow further research and testing activities. current law has not kept up to

date with this new threat. it's time to give law enforcement and prosecutors additional tools to reduce the likelihood of a laser-related tragedy. the amendment is supported by the airline pilots association and the national association of police organizations, which includes the federal flight deck officers association. i thank senator whitehouse and his staff for this leadership on this issue and urge my colleagues to support this bipartisan proposal to help make our nation's pilots and especially their passengers safer. and with that, i yield back the floor and suggest an absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call:

quorum call:

mr. rockefeller: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from west virginia is recognized. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask that the order of the quorum call be reunderstand is. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, we're sitting here, and what's good is that we're not doing health care amendments. what's entad that we're not really doing any amendments.

and the republicans have proffered a number of amendments. we need stood them by pairs so that we can work them out. some of them will be able to be accepted by voice vote. i expect that senator whitehouse is on laser use into pilots' eyes will want a vote. if i were him, i would want a vote because it is important to emphasize the issue. but we need to have democrats -- i know we have some amendments that democrats want to offer, but they're not coming to the floor to make those amendments. so this is my plea, through the distinguished presiding officer, for democrats to please come to the floor and do their amendments. and with that, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. inhofe: i ask that the quorum call in progress be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from oklahoma is

recognized. mr. inhofe: first of all, let me say that the manager has been very kind to me in offering to allow me to come up at some point. i don't really care so much when it is, but i do have two amendments that i've already discussed on the floor. i'd just like to get them in the queue so that sometime we'll be able to do that. so i will just wait until such time that the majority feels it would be appropriate, and then aid be asking if i could do that. mr. rockefeller: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from west virginia. mr. rockefeller: i understand that the senator from oklahoma has a particularly sort of difficult scheduling problem right now, and for most of the afternoon. so putting his amendments in or talking about them, whatever he wishes to do, is important to him, and also is hard to do in terms of his schedule. so that just renews my offer -- my request, my prayer that democrats who have amendments will come down and offer them. it's called the federal aviation bill. it reauthorizes it.

it's monumental. and we're kind of sitting here. so the republicans are sort of doing their part, but the democrats really aren't doing our part. and so please come down, if you have that, because i want to accommodate not just senator inhofe but all others who have amendments, many of which we can probably work out. some will be accepted by voice, others may have to be voted on, but twoaf have amendments before we can really get to any of that. so that was my request. i thank the chair. mr. inhofe: reclaiming my time, first of all, i thank you very much. the ones -- the amendments that i would have i would hope to get into the managers' amendment or somehow have them come up maybe even be voice voted. but they're issues i have talked about in the past quite often. i think we all understand or most of us do that when our good friend, senator glenn, retired, that left me as the last active commercial pilot in the united states senate on a regular basis. so i have some things that -- these two i'm very interested

in. so i'll just yield the floor and when such time comes -- what the senator from west virginia has said was true. right now, because of the prayer breakfast that's taking place, i happen to be hosting the african dinner tonight, so i have groups coming by every 30 minutes throughout the day. i just want at sometime today be able to get two amendments, number 6 and 7, in the queue. i'll yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senior senator from arkansas is recognized. mr. pryor: mr. president, i would ask that my comments be made as if they were in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. pryor: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, today i come to the floor to honor a great man, a great arkansan, and a great american, donald john tyson. don tyson was one of the three iconic arkansan who helped move

our state forward. he helped to transform the northwest part of our styte and made arkansas a mecca for business. when i think of don, one of my -- one of his favorite phrases comes to mind. he would say, "i don't have time to have a bad time." don lived life to the fullest and enjoyed every minute of it. don came to arkansas in very humble circumstances. he was born in kansas but moved to springdale as an infant, when as don liked to tell it, his father's truck ran out of gas. there in spring in dale, don took over the family business when his father passed away and don's hard work helped turn his fearnlings small poultry business into the most successful meat processor in the world. as chairman of the board and c.e.o. of tyson's food, don revolutionized the poultry industry and made protein more accessible to americans. helping create chicken

mcnuggets, chicken tenders, chicken sandwiches and much, much more. he was responsible for developing the rock cornish game hen, smaller birds that weigh only a few pounds, that were more profitable but also immensely popular. under don's leadership, the company's revenue increased from $51 million to more than $10 billion. as "the washington post" said, "for many americans, tyson products became the answer to a daily question: what's for dinner?" even as he rose to great heights, don remained true to his roots. his trademark khaki outfit and tyson uniform with "don" embroidered on the front pocket. he referred to all staff members as coworkers, never employees. don understood that the truck drivers and plant workers were just as successful to-- --essential to tyson's success. don was also committed to giving

back to his community. a noted philanthropist, he created the tyson family foundation, which provides scholarships for students from communities where tyson foods operates, including many communities in arkansas. don was a huge supporter of the university of arkansas, helping fund many of the school's educational and athletic programs. he also was a great friend to veterans. one of his most recent projects was helping preserve the fayet fayetteville national cemetery. a devoted conservationist, don created the billfish foundation which promotes cash-and-release programs for fish to preserve their populations. don's work in a real impact on arkansas and communities across the country. finally, don understood the importance of family. tyson foods has always been and remains a family-run business, started with don's father john tyson, and continuing with his

son john. don's emphasis on family, from his father's-son collaborations, to the way he treated all of his coworkers as extended family, is what what made tyson's food grade. i see a man who loved his business, loved his community, loved his family, and loved life. today i join all arkansans in celebrating a life we will-lived. don, you will be missed. mr. inhofe: will the senator yield? one of the things that's interesting about northwest arkansas is that you were just talking about don tyson. you could just as we will have been talking about sam walton, hunt, and many oh, and i don't what it is about northwest arkansas that these great entrepreneurs that changed the world seem to all come from that area. as the senato senator from arkas knows, i'm very familiar with that area, since my daughter

molly is a professor at the university of arkansas. i have been over there many times. i was just listening to you describe the life of don tyson and how consistent that is with many of the other entrepreneurs. so i salute all of those guys up there and you for bringing that to the floor. mr. pryor: i thank the senator from oklahoma. the presiding officer: the assistant minority leader is recognized. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of president ronald reagan. when ronald reagan was born, his father jack looked at his new little boy and said, "he looks like a fat little dutchman, but who knows? he might grow up to be president someday." in fact, ronald reagan grew up to be not just a president but one of america's most memorable presidents. as we mark the 100th anniversary of his birth, much is being said and writ been his white house years, understandably. but in my state of illinois,

people also remember an earlier time of this iconic american. he is the only american president born in the state of illinois. he entered this world on february 6, 1911, in a little town of tampico in an apartment above a bakery. his father sold shoes to support his wife and two sons. over the first nine years of his life, the reagan family was on the move, from tampico to galesberg to the south idea of chicago before finally settling in dixon, illinois, population 10,000. today the white-frame house at 810 south hennipen street attracts visitors from all over the world. it was in dixon that this shy little boy began to discover his self-confidence and the talents that served him so we will. he acted in the first play in dixon, elected student body president his first year in high school. he went to eureka college near peoria. the tuition was a whopping $180

a year, twice that much with proem and board. more than the reagan family could afford. but ronald reagan didn't let that discourage him. he received a needy student scholarship, waited table, washed dishates at his frat house and helped pay his own way it. once again, at eureka, he was elected president of his senior class. he was working as a radio sportscaster following those great chicago cubs, to spring training in california and slipping away one day to actually visit hollywood and explore the possibility of entering the movie business. two years later, ronald reagan worked up the courage to pack his possessions into a gnash quartable and move to california where he would become a successful actor and later governor of the state. he never forth his illinois roots. in his first inaugural presidential parade, ronald reagan included the dixon high school band. on a visit to eureka college in