alas it was not to be. on the cusp -- mr. wyden: would the senator yield for a a unanimous consent request? i think because 5:00 is coming, i think we need to get it done. mr. hatch: i will yield without losing my right to the floor. mr. wyden: i thank my colleague, and certainly when i'm done, you're next to continue your comments. i ask unanimous consent that the pending mcconnell amendment 626 be modified with the demint language which is at the desk and senator hatch or his designee then be recognized to offer amendment 641, that the time until 5:00 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for debate on the mcconnell amendment as modified, that at 5:00 p.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider the following judicial nominations. calendars 169 and 170, that there be 50 minutes of debate

equally divided, that upon the use or yielding back of time, calendar 169 be confirmed and the senate proceed to calendar 170, the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, no further motions be in order to any of the nominations, that any statements related to the nominations be printed in the record, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate then resume legislative session, that upon disposition of the judicial nominations the senate proceed to a vote in relation to the mcconnell amendment as modified, that there be no amendments, points of order or motions in order to the mcconnell amendment prior to the vote on the amendment other than budget points of order and the applicable motions to waiver. that the amendment be divisible, it be subject to a 60-affirmative vote threshold, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table.

the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the senator from utah. mr. hatch: i ask unanimous consent that i put my, the remainder of my remarks in the record so that we can meet this vote pretty much on time. but before we do, i send amendment number 641 to the desk and ask for its immediate consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from utah, mr. hatch, proposes amendment numbered 641. mr. hatch: i ask unanimous consent that further reading be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: madam president, i'm prepared to proceed. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate will go into executive session.

and the clerk will report the nominations. the clerk: nominations. john andrew ross of missouri to be united states district judge. timothy m. cain of south carolina to be united states district judge. mr. leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i'm pleased that we're going to confirm nominations today. they have been pending in the senate for 117 days for no reason for justification. more troubling so, vacancies in courts around the country have remained at or above 90 for over two years. we should be acting on the other 27 judicial nominations reported favorably by the judiciary committee and ready for an up-or-down vote. never during either republican or democratic administrations have i seen a time when

nominations approved unanimously by the judiciary committee, then wait month after month after month to be considered on the floor. nearly 170 million americans are being made to suffer from vacancies as a result of these damaging delays. i'd ask my full consent -- i ask consent my full statement be made part of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, the the -- i will continue because i'm not taking time from anybody on this. time has been reserved for me to talk some more about what has been happening in vermont. i've spoken many times about my may alternative state and what we went through with tropical

storm irene. i was born in vermont. my parents, my family came to vermont in the 1800's. we have nothing in my lifetime that has approached the devastation we've seen in our state. vermonters continue to struggle to regain a sense of normalcy. bridges, railways, roads remain damaged or wiped out. businesses and schools were not entirely washed away but need profound repairs. farmers have been struggling to salvage what they can of their livelihoods. it is late september, mr. president, and in vermont october can bring snow. amid the debris and destruction of this horrific natural

disaster come hundreds of heartening stories of things i've seen firsthand or heard about vermonters rising to the occasion, helped their neighbors, their friends, even strangers to mobilize to recover. i saw a man shoveling out a store. i asked him if it was his store. he said no. i said you live here? he said no, i live two towns over. i said you know the store owner? no. but he said i wasn't damaged, i wasn't hurt. he was. i would hope if i was hurt somebody would help me. vermonters are known for our sense of community. we're known for our plenty determination. our states people have proven this tenfold in the aftermath of this disaster. the western playhouse, where actors around the country come in the summertime, had half of their theater peformance stage wiped out by the floods.

theater groups stripped the entire playhouse, set up a temporary stage so they could perform the upcoming store. the town meeting house in little pitsfield has been converted into a medical clinical. the international guard dropped more than 14,000 meals ready to eat in towns so that those stranded had enough food. in addition to those meals, many others donated meat and other goods. schools helped provide free hot breakfasts to students, vermonters around the state have opened their homes to those that lost theirs during the storm. various fund-raisers including some college students, classmates of my son in college have a group called fish. they did their first live concert in years.

they raised over $1 million. just one thing after the other. but then there's also children having bake sales and car washes to raise money. one way the indomitable vermont spirit endured is through the remarkable efforts of vermont students and schools. school has started. i know grandchildren going to school there. schools faced tremendous challenges opening their doors just days after irene descended on us. many had to delay opening for a few days, but school buildings were serving as community centers for families who lost their homes. children lost everything in the storm. but let me show awe couple of examples of students making the most. look at this "new york times," look at this "new york times" picture, mr. president. this is the barstow memorial school students agenda. this county is down in the

southwest part of our state. they used this trail to navigate on their way to school. they were going to go to school. they were cut off. there is no road to go to school to get to the school bus. these parents, these children said we're going to school. look at the mud on this child's legs. look at the people, look at the marking, carrying things. "we're going to school." washed out route 4 took weeks to fix. so these students slogged along a muddy trail to meet vans and cars half a mile away. whether it was raining, dark or cold or anything else. and these cars carried the students to buses to take them the rest of the way to school. community members helped by chaperoning the children on the trail. the whole community turned out.

they stood there. they passed out snacks and refreshments. these students arrived at school, they were caked with mud. they didn't look like the children who normally come to school, but they were proud of their twice-a-day routine. they made it to school. moretown elementary. this is one town over from where i lived. i had a grandmother born there. they fared worse than many schools in the state. the buildings sustained damage and flooding overtook the school's septic system. the principals and teachers came together, they organized a series of field trips to get the kids out of the devastated town so that they could continue their studies. they visited farms and museums.

and last week with the school still closed, they met, they met. look at that. baseball fields covered by donated tents. this photo is from the web site of vermont public radio. teachers held classes. schools' offices operated from a pop-up trailer. the kids took well to their new school schedule. the teachers there were glad to provide the sport they need. the presiding officer: the senator's time has expired. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'll put the rest of my statement in the record, but i'll say one thing and i'd ask consent for one more minute. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: we americans are spending hundreds and hundreds of billions of dollars to rebuild iraq and afghanistan. let's spend some money to rebuild america for americans. i yield the floor.

a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: we are on judicial nominees? is that right, mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator is correct. mr. grassley: i would like to, first of all, yield whatever time he might consume before i speak to the senator from south carolina so he can speak about one of the judges that are up for nomination. the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. graham: thank you very much, senator grassley. i want to thank you and senator leahy for bringing the nomination to the floor. very quickly, colleagues, this is a confirmation vote for timothy cain to be a federal judge in south carolina. tim was my law partner. i just put my vices right out on the table. he has been a family court judge since 2000 in the tenth judicial circuit dealing with the most complicated, emotional issues in the law. and you will not find one person who's practiced before tim cain as a lawyer will have anything other than high praise for the way he handles himself.

tim has been a prosecutor, a public defender. he was assistant county attorney. he has a very distinguished record in the law. but more important, he's one of the most decent people i ever met. his wife renee, his son martin, one of the most charming, decent people you could ever hope to have. i just want to thank president obama for nominating him. i appreciate the support from senator leahy and senator grassley working this nomination through the process. this will be a big win for the state of south carolina and all who come before judge cain. he is a total package of intellect, character, integrity, common sense and judicial disposition and demeanor. and i could not be more proud. this is probably one of the most satisfying moments i've had as a united states senator to get up and place, recommend to my colleagues the approval of tim cain to be a federal judge in the state of south carolina. and i just can't wait to see him

take over in our courts and administer justice. senator grassley, senator leahy, thank you both. with that, i yield the floor. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: today the senate will vote on the nomination of john andrew ross to be u.s. district judge, eastern district missouri, and also timothy m. cain to be district judge, district of south carolina. both seats have been deemed to be judicial emergencies. with these votes, we have confirmed 36 article 3 judicial nominees during this congress. of these, 23 have been for such judicial emergency type districts. i am pleased that we continue to have great progress in lessening the burden of our overworked courts, particularly concentrating upon judicial emergencies. i'm somewhat surprised in the

delay in bringing these votes that we're going to have today to the full senate. at the majority leader's request, senate republicans cleared these votes nearly two weeks ago with the anticipation that the senate would vote on these nominees last monday, september 12. so i hope everyone understands that these nominees could have been confirmed eight days ago. it was not the republicans then holding up these for the last eight days. as i noted, we continue to make great progress in proceeding to president obama's judicial nominees. these votes today are somewhat a milestone. they are the 99th and 100th confirmation of president obama's judicial nominees. as of today, the senate has confirmed 63% of president obama's judicial nominees since

the beginning of his presidency. earlier today, the senate judiciary committee held its 14th nomination hearing. we have now heard from 82% of president obama's judicial nominees this congress. at this point in the 108th congress, only 79% of president bush's judicial nominees had received a hearing. we have also reported 69% of president obama's judicial nominees compared to 67% of president bush's. i am pleased with the progress and will continue to move forward with consensus nominees. so now i'd like to say just a few words about these two nominees. john ross is nominated to be u.s. district judge eastern district missouri. he presently serves as a circuit judge for the 21st judicial district in missouri. appointed to that position by

the governor january, 2000, judge ross was retained by the voters in missouri in retention elections of 2002 and 2008. during his tenure, judge ross was elected assistant presiding judge by his judicial colleagues in that circuit and served in that office from 2005 to 2009. he was subsequently elected as presiding judge and has served in that capacity from 2009 until now. prior to his appointment to the state bench, judge ross served as county counselor for st. louis county, and in st. louis county's prosecuting attorney's office. he is a graduate of emery university and the emery school of law. the american bar association standing committee on the federal judiciary unanimously

rated judge roswell qualified. going to the next one, timothy m. cain is nominated to be u.s. district judge for south carolina. judge cain presently serves as south carolina family court judge in the tenth judicial circuit. south carolina general assembly elected him to this position in 2000, re-elected him in 2004 and 2010. in 2005, the chief justice of south carolina's supreme court appointed judge cain to serve as chief administrative judge for the family court of the tenth judicial circuit. by designation of the chief justice, judge cain also served as acting associate justice for the south carolina supreme court on several occasions. prior to his judicial service, judge cain had a distinguished private practice in south

carolina. he maintained a general practice and assisted in representing several local governments and municipal clients. during his years of private practice, he also served the public sector, judge cain served as a part-time assistant public defender with the -- with the defender corporation in that state. from 1988-1990, he served as assistant solicitor general for the solicitor's office of the tenth judicial circuit where he represented south carolina in prosecuting child abuse and neglect cases and various criminal cases. in 1992, the county supervisor appointed judge cain as county attorney for that county. he is a dprawd of the university of south carolina and the university of south carolina school of law. the a.b.a. standing committee on

the federal judiciary unanimously rated judge cain qualified. i congratulate both nominees and will yield the floor. the presiding officer: under the previous order, calendar number 169 is confirmed. the question is on calendar number 170. mr. leahy: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? on this this, the yeas are 99, the nays are zero. the nomination is confirmed the senate will come to order. under the previous order, the motions to reconsider be considered and laid on the table. the president shall be immediately notified of the senate's action. and the senate will resume legislative session. the senate will come to order. mr. baucus: mr. president? mr. president? mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. please take your conversations out of the senate. the senate will come to order.

the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i ask consent that there be two minutes equally divided prior to the next vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: my amendment on which we are about to vote would grant to the president something that no president has had since trade promotion authority expired back in 2007. with without trade promotion authority, there will be no other trade agreements. we all know that. if america wants to be the leader of the world in trade, we'd have to have trade agreements. what i have done here is offered trade promotion authority, what we used to call fast-track, as an amendment to trade adjustment assistance. they have been historically linked going back to 1974. i think it is a big mistake for our country, even if we provide

trade adjustment assistance, to just operate as if there are not going to be anymore trade agreements in the united states. we used to be the leader in world trade. my party does not occupy the white house. i want the president of the united states-to-, whoever that is, to have trade promotion authority because i'd like to see us have an opportunity to have trade agreements in the future. all of us competitors are take advantage of the fact that we have not had a trade agreement for years. these three agreements were actually negotiate thed by the previous administration. so if you would like for this president or the next president -- because this would extend t.p.a. to the end of 2013, so it will grant this authority to the next president, whoever that is, noition this president -- if you think we ought to have another trade agreement sometime in the future for the united states of america, i would urge your support for my amendment of. the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i agree with much of what the

minority leader said. i very much believe that we should negotiate pretrade agreements with other cufnlts i think we're behind the curve. other countries are negotiating. we're being left behind. we should negotiate agreements that are good agreements. the provision offered by the senator from kentucky, however, is the 2002 version. a lot has changed in the last ten years. environmental provisions, labor, china -- this is -- very much a competitor. i think it would be unwise to extend t.p.a. because so many changes in the world today that this version does not reflect. it has to be updated to current times. second, if this amendment were to pass, then we wouldn't be getting future trade agreements. the speaker has made it very clear he wants a clean bill. then he'll take up this bill, which many of us support by a larges, large margin. then he'll tank the free trade

agreement. so if this presiden body wants d wants the t.p. a, we have to vote on this at this time. the presiding officer: the question occurs an amendment number 626 as modified offered by the senator from kentucky, mr. mcconnell. is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the clerk will call the roll. vote:

vote:

the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to change their vote? if not on this vote the yeas are 45. the nays are 55. under the previous order requiring 60 votes, the adoption of this amendment is not agreed to. mr. grassley: move to lay on the table. a senator: move to reconsider. the presiding officer: without objection. without objection. mr. grassley: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: i would like to address the senate for about six or seven minutes on a -- i'm sorry. the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. please take your conversations out of the well. the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: mr. president, i

would like to address a trade issue that normally i would be offering an amendment on. i'm not going to offer an amendment during this debate because i think it's very important that we move forward with this legislation so that hopefully the president will stop moving the goal post and send to the senate panama, colombia and south korea. but the reason i address the issue of the general system of preferences is because, quite frankly, i'm sick and tired of a lot of nations that may not be considered developed yet but advanced very rapidly in the last 20 years, taking advantage of our g.s.p. system. and i don't mind them taking advantage of our g.s.p. system, but what really irritates me is a lot of time in w.t.o. negotiations, they are the very same countries that are finding

fault with the united states and europe not giving enough on agricultural issues, as an example, at the very same time that these countries have very high tariffs of our products getting in to their country when they get under g.s.p., get their products into our country duty-free under g.s.p. so, mr. president, i want to you know that i appreciate the facts that we're finally debating the merits of trade legislation. most people agree that one way we can help our economy is by opening up and expanding markets for american-made products. i look forward to the president, as i just said, sending us the free trade agreements. in the meantime much of this discussion has centered on the bill before us, g.s.p. and the trade adjustment assistance

program. while it is important for us to have a discussion on the merits of t.a.a., i do not want my colleagues to overlook the significance of the underlying bill. the bill extends the general systems of preferences. this program provides one way -- and i am to emphasize duty-free access to u.s. markets. so over a period of several decades, we have been awfully good to a lot of countries that we think we ought to help, and we have been helping. the basic principle then behind g.s.p. is to provide certain goods made in developing countries with preferential market access to the united states in the form of this duty-free status. the intention is to help spur economic growth in developing nations. i support the premise that we can help developing countries by

promoting trade. but i can also tell you that our patience is getting very thin with some of these countries, particularly when we see them not reciprocating in a way that they have the capability of reciprocating. our trade relations, however, should increasingly be based upon reciprocity by which other countries will provide the same open access to u.s. exports. in other words, as those countries become more developed, we need to require that they move towards operating on a level playing field with the united states. congress needs to take then a hard look at g.s.p. and to scrutinize whether or not it is helping accomplish the u.s. trade agenda. and i think we would find some of these countries coming up

short. and in another environment on discussing trade, i would be taking a different approach that we would send a clear signal to some of these countries of our impatience, and they're going to have to graduate off of g.s.p. if other nations believe that they will always enjoy g.s.p., then what incentives do they have to open up their markets to u.s. goods? and that's why we ought to very much advance the system of graduating off of g.s.p. with some of these countries. there are nations who benefit from g.s.p. that, quite frankly, have moved beyond what i consider to be developing countries. i continue to question why we provide preferential treatment at all to the products from countries such as brazil and india. these countries have at times

worked against the trade interests of the united states, including resistance to reducing high tariffs on u.s. exports. both of these countries have countless products competing in the global market with the united states products. i am not offering an amendment, as i've already said, to this g.s.p. bill not because i don't think that my position is good, but because i want to see the pending trade agreement submitted and approved by the congress. i'm not interested in raising any barriers that make that task more difficult than the president has already made it. however, i will continue to push for reform of g.s.p. i urge my colleagues to take a close look at this program and consider the points that i've raised in the past and i'm raising right now, but not raising in the form of an amendment that ought to be offered at this time.

i yield the floor. ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i know that the short debate that we had just in the last couple of hours and the votes are important about the senate and figuring out a way to move forward on some of the trade agreements that are pending and the important ways to make sure american workers are not left behind but actually helped and supported. and those issues are very, very important. but i come to the floor today to talk again about another important issue that's pending before the congress right now that's of extreme importance to

millions and millions of americans that are following this debate through the viewing of the procedures here on the senate floor and in the house and also following on twitter and other internet sites and opportunities on their local news and radio stations about what we're doing on disaster relief. and that's a good question, because i think, and many of the senators, democrats and republicans as well on the senate side, particularly ten of my colleagues from the other side that stood with us last week to say it's time to fund the disasters in america today. and we are questioning why the house of representatives is dragging their feet on this important issue, or why the

leadership, the republican leadership in the house would be even hesitating to fund the ongoing needs of fema, the corps of engineers, the department of housing and urban development through community development block grant funding, and agriculture disaster relief, which is so important in disasters sometimes the pictures focus on cities or suburbs, and it's heart wrenching. i'm going to show you some of those pictures now. this is missouri, this is joplin, missouri, just earlier this year. it's just a third of the city was literally destroyed by a group of tornadoes that came through. and some of the weather specialists, mr. president, said they had never clocked winds with this speed and power in the entire time they have been recording this data. they said they believe that some

of the winds exceeded 300 miles an hour. this is horrifying. for those of us that shudder at category four and category five hurricanes which can blow up to 150 miles an hour, the idea of 300-mile an hour winds is just beyond our comprehension, but that's just what happened in joplin, missouri. then here we have the outer banks of north carolina. it's just heart breaking to see the water come up, yes, on barrier islands, but we have many barrier islands where people are trying to live safely. people live on islands all over the world. you know, when the water rises, everybody doesn't just pick up and leave the island forever. you build higher, you build stronger. you use your engineering and your might to come up with better technologies. you invest wisely, and that's what we have to help these families do. the fires -- this could be california, it could also be

texas. texas has had over 20,000, i understand, wildfires this year. and then here is a rural community, i was about to say, sometimes we see the pictures of these urban areas and these coastal areas that make for great television. we don't always see farm communities under water, but this is what's happened around our country. and why the republican house leadership says that now is the time to try to find offsets for these disasters. had we insisted on that for katrina and rita recovery, the gulf coast would still be devastated. but year after year as a country when our people have been harmed by natural disasters, this national government has come together and said yes, we as a nation, a united states of america, not a divided but a united nation is going to come to help our brothers and sisters

that need help. why is this different? and why is it different when some of the house republican leadership can't run fast enough to send money, cannot run fast enough to send money to iraq and afghanistan to rebuild those communities and those cities, but yet when our own people from these communities ask for help, they want to now throw up the smoke screen of what we have to find in offset. let me give you two really good reasons. one, we are eventually going to have to pay for everything the federal government shells out. we're going to have to find the money to pay for it eventually, but, mr. president, we don't have to find it this week, we don't have to find it next month. we can debate that as the process of legislation goes on. and we can say yes to full funding for disaster now. not in -- an inadequate amount

of money, which is what the house wants to do. let me tell you how ridiculous the house position is. not only do they want to partially fund fema and basically fund it for only six weeks, which is the extension of the continuing resolution, they want to basically say we will extend the government of the united states to operate for six weeks at the current level of spending, and we will agree that fema can operate for another six weeks. let me remind them, if they don't already know this, governors and mayors and county commissioners struggling to rebuild communities after disasters like this need a little more than six weeks to do planning. they need a year or two years sometimes to actually come out of the shock, have public meetings with people. i have been through this. i have lived through this. you have to organize community

meetings, neighborhood by neighborhood. sometimes in a community, let's say in joplin, i don't know how many schools they had, if this applies, but in our case of new orleans out of 147 public schools, we had 100 that were damaged beyond repair, that were uninhabitable. we just couldn't decide in four weeks what we were going to do. we had to take a long time, and we needed to know that the federal funding would be there. and this government acted not as quickly as i would have liked but they acted under the prior administration, and finally we got the long-term funding commitments that our governors needed and our mayors needed, democrats and republicans alike, to lay down good and smart plans because they knew what they could count on. why the house doesn't want to do that, i don't know. and secondly, i've heard criticism of the senate approach which i'm leading and proud to lead. they say thing in the press i have read like whoa, the senate

just picked a number out of the air. let me be very clear. we picked no number out of the air. the clerks of the appropriation committees who are very steamed and knowledgeable about what these agencies need now and what they may need in the years ahead, we have crunched the numbers and senator reid looked at those numbers, took them down a bit to try to accommodate the anxiety on the other side of the aisle from spending too much money and came up with a rational, reasonable number for fema, for ag relief, for community development block grant. and i think under the circumstances, that's about the best we could do. do you know what the house of representatives did, which makes no sense what over, and i hope some of the print press are listening to this so you might could write this in the newspaper tomorrow. they took last year's number.

they took last year's number. these disasters are happening now. they took the number that was in the bill before the disasters happened and just plugged that in like they are doing something good for the country and then basically said take six weeks of it and we're out of here, we're going home for the week. so i don't really take kindly to any kind of criticism that the landrieu numbers or the senate numbers might not be crunched or reviewed carefully enough. i have done the best review that i can possibly do and have every confidence that the numbers that i have presented to this senate, which is about $6.9 billion, are as accurate an estimate as i have at my fingertips to say what we're going to need in the next year. at least i'm dealing in reality. what land do they live in? this isn't about a year and a

half ago. this is about now. so their number is wrong, their approach is wrong, their approach is wholly insignificant and inadequate, and it is morally wrong. and i want to present -- i'm not even going to ask the clerks, who do a beautiful job here trying to type everything we say, and sometimes it's very hard to keep up because we don't have everything written down, and i'm not even going to ask them to print this into the record because it's really just too long, but i'm going to read a little bit from this because this is the whole list of projects that the republican house leadership, with all their -- and i'm going to say what it is. it's just shenanigans. these are the projects that they have stopped. now, we all know about big cities like new orleans and chicago and new york. we hear about all these big cities and denver and birmingham, alabama, and new york and -- but we don't hear

about cities like this so often, so i'm going to read them into the record because these taxpayers deserve to have their cities read into the record. that's where these projects are going on that the republican leadership in the house says that you don't really need the money now and you all can wait. well, all these projects have been put on hold. in alaska, we'll start with the a's. there is a little town i have never been to it, may never go, but it's crooked creek, alabama. there is a public building there, a vehicle maintenance shop that's on hold. florence, alaska. i'm sorry, florence, alabama. lisman, alabama. evergreen, alabama. there are five pages for little towns in arkansas that maybe not -- they don't make the front page of the "new york times" or of "the washington post," but they are important communities. they are important to our

country. herber springs. i have never heard of herber springs. i'm sure it's a lovely place to live. they have several projects here that have been held up. and i could go on and on through every state in our country. small towns, counties that have been devastated, roads, bridges, public buildings, water, sewer control facilities. so again, i think people at home are looking and reviewing this debate and saying so let me get this straight. speaker boehner and majority leader cantor rush to fund rebuilding in iraq and afghanistan and didn't require offsets when we went into war in this rebuilding effort, but now we have to stop and debate for weeks and months over finding the proper offsets.

so i hope people will let their voices be heard in the next couple of days. it's very important. now, we had a very important vote on the floor of the senate last week, and we don't often have bipartisan cooperation, but i want to thank by name the ten republican senators that helped on this effort because they said party politics is important and sometimes party politics dictates the way that i should look and vote and feel, but not on this because this is disaster aid that's either going to my state or potentially, in senator rubio's case who has known what disasters are like in florida, said it could happen, he told me, senator landrieu. and if it happens to florida, i most certainly want to come back here and ask the nation to help and not have to be engaged in the debate of finding an offset. i would rather be working with my mayors and my county

commissioners to help find a way to rebuild. i have embellished a little bit of the conversation, but i know that's what was on his mind. i said i just can't even think about what florida would do. and he's right. so senator rubio, senator vitter from louisiana, who most certainly has been shoulder to shoulder with me, helping with our disaster recovery. we have got pages. in fact, jefferson parish just called me the other day, a republican president of jefferson parish, and said he's got $100 million of projects in jefferson parish alone, 100 million stopped up because of this unnecessary debate. we have the two senators from maine, senator collins and senator snowe who most certainly had the effects or felt the effects of hurricane irene up the east coast. we had senator toomey from pennsylvania whose also state

received record amounts of flooding. we had senator blunt from missouri. the people of missouri, not only are they desperate for fema money, they need agriculture help immediately, they need community development block grant funding, and they need corps of engineers funding. is there corps of engineers funding in the house approach? zero, zero for the corps of engineers. so if you're representing a community that's had flooding because your levee failed or you don't have a levee and you need one or because your runoff or streams were not regulated appropriately, you most certainly don't need to call craig fugate. you need to be calling the head of the corps of engineers. when you call them, you are going to know they are out of money. we have grossly underfunded the corps in my view in capital projects year after year after year, and, frankly, both republican and democratic

presidents have been guilty of underfunding the corps of engineers and their budgets because in the old days when we could earmark, we would, mr. president, just add back money to the corps, but those days are over. a, because we're not earmarking and b, because we're on very tight constraints. so the corps of engineers has no emergency funding. so if you're interested in protecting your communities and levees and flood control and you vote against the senate position, you're going to have a lot of explaining to do because even when you go home and pound your chest and say well, i voted for the house number that was last year's number, there is no money in there for the corps of engineers. so good luck explaining that to your constituents. i could not explain it to mine and remain the senator from louisiana. so we need -- and this is an example of what some of my coastal levees look like. the other thing we have got to

battle, but this is a battle for another day, when your levees break up like this, which is your coastal barriers, the corps of engineers is actually technically prohibited from building them better. we have better solutions for this. we're going to try to get that changed, and this is a constant battle and a big issue, not just to the state of louisiana but to the gulf coast, but to the eastern seaboard and the west coast as well. so we'll continue to work in that regard. but let me say, mr. president -- and i ask for five more minutes. i don't see anyone else on the floor wanting to speak. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: but let me show you what some of the republican leaders in this country that are not in the house of representatives are saying, and i think we should listen to them, because this is from the governor of nother, goarch christie, a leader of the republican party, a conservative leader of the republican party. no one would accuse him of not

being a strong voice for conservative philosophy, but he said now is not the time, ladies and gentlemen in congress to argue for weeks and weeks or months or months about finding offsets for these disasters. let's fund them. let's fund them robustly. these are job-creation opportunities for our communities. it's about smart planning and being a reliable partner with the state of new jersey and my counties. he said, let's get about the business. in fact he specifically said, quote, "you want to figure out budget cuts? that's fiefnlt you expect the citizens of my state to wait? they're not going to wait," he said, quks and i'm going to fight to make sure they don't. our people are suffering now. they need our support now. we need the support now here in new jersey and that's not a republican or democratic issue." i just got off the phone with governor christie within the hour. and we talked again.

this is still his position. he said he is not backing down and he is going to continue to give voice to this issue. i wish the republican leaders in the house would listen to him. we've had republican leaders in the senate. i named about six of them, and i want to compliment the other ones later on when i get back to that point. this is governor boc mcconnell from virginia. "my concern is that we help people in need. for the fema money that's going to flow, it's up to them on how they get it. i don't think it's the time to get in the middle of that deficit and debate." now, i really want people to think about this. let's say that we have another hurricane season like we had, i believe it was right before hurricane katrina. i believe it was like 2004, where four hurricanes hit the state of florida -- four in one year.

it was devastating to the state of florida. do you think that it's the right thing to do to get the governor of the state of florida, the senators of the state of florida, the entire congressional delegation to say to florida and every accountant working for every county to come tromp up to washington to go through the federal budget to find where they can cut, right there that week while the winds are just died down, but we've got to get the florida accountants up here to come find an offset so that we can send the help to florida? the argument is ludicrous on its face. i don't want senator lube yow wondering about that. i don't want senator nelson worrying about that. i want them comforting their people. that's what i'd like to see them do because i had to do an awful lot of that. and i am a sure they would do it naturally. i want them going shelter to shelter telling people it's going to be okay. i want them visiting with their

business people. don't pick up your stakes now. invest in florida. we can be a good place for you to come bafnlgt i want them working to save their universities. i had to worng that as well. the last thing they need to be cominand their staff is take oua pencil and their green eye shade and going through the federal budget and saying, let's just eliminate this in colorado. let's just eliminate this -- no hearings, no time for hearings. no time for oversight, because we have to act now. let's just cut out all these programs. that is hogwash. it is ludicrous on its face. it's not the way a government should be run. it's not about conservative or liberal. it's truly stupidity. and it just makes me so aing angry that anyone would suggest this. and, again, let's send the help now. we can find a way to pay for this. we're finding a way to pay for katrina now. we do it through the ordinary budget process. we're finding a way to pay to reduce the deficit

substantially. that's what the committee of 12 is about. that's what awful our debates are about. that's what the appropriations process is about. but not now. tom ridge -- i mean, if you don't think maybe the governor of virginia is an expert on this or the governor of new jersey, i think they're pretty strong public figures, how about the first secretary of the department that oversees disaster response, tom ridge himself? you know what tom ridge said last week when this debate started? "never in the history of the country have we worried about budget around emergency appropriations for natural disasters and, frankly, in my view, h we shouldn't be worried about it now. we're all in this has a country. and when mother nature devastates a community, we may need emergency appropriations and we ought to just deal with it and then deal with the fiscal issues later on."

thank you. that is exactly what we should be doing. so, mr. president, i've tried not, as the leader of this committee, to make this a democratic/republican issue. i have asked and succeeded in getting 10 of my republican colleagues to join the efforts so that this isn't just trying to make one party look good or one party look bad. all we want to do is help disaster victims and help the governors, the mayors, and the county commissioners that believe me right now are just pulling their hair out. they have very limited tools, they're not sure what they can do, people are angry, they are devastated, they're shocked, families are having to bunch in and live together, some people are still in shelters. i mean%, i have a been through this night maimplet i know what they're going through. and then they have to hear from washington, you know, that the eric canter crowd decided that now is the time for us, even

though for 50 years we have been doing emergency funding, that now is the time to decide how to do offsets or where to get offsets before we can send them help. this is no way to run a railroad, and it is no way to fund disaster assistance. i want to make sure that everybody knows, i said earlier this color is too pleasant this green, to reflect what really this map shows. but these are all states in the nation that are experiencing disasters this year. for the first time in a very long time, maybe in our history, we've had presidential disasters declared in all but two states. they're different kind of disasters -- some fires, some floods, some earthquakes. but, nonetheless, devastating to the communities trying to rebuild. so this isn't a texas-louisiana. this isn't just a west coast.

this is an entire nation that is waiting for congress to act to send not just fema money but fema, corps of engineers, agriculture, and community development block grant funding. and for the life of me, i cannot understand why we're having this debate at all. and just to recap, here are -- here's the list. i will not ask it to be submitted to the record because it is too long and comprehensive, very fine print -- of project after project after project that has been now stopped -- stopped -- because fema is operating on fumes. they're virtually out of money. and, yes, the new year -- fiscal year for the federa federal govt started next week. but, remember, the house of representatives only offers six weeks of help based on last year's reality. they're not even taking into

account what actually happened. they're just saying, well, we budgeted $2.65 billion last year. that must be good enough for this next year, not taking into account any of the realties of what i've just talked about and, by the way, you can have basically a six-week rate. no money -- no money for the corps of engineers, no money for agriculture. please, if you hear one thing any of the members of the house that are considering voting for this, please don't try to go home and explain this to your constituents, because hopefully they'll be smart enough by listening to this debate and understanding that you really didn't vote to help them. you voted for some philosophy that's hard to even understand of your party. you did not vote to help your constituents. and one final point. if people on the other side will say, well, i voted for this $2.65 billion and i know it's

not a real number, but it's sort of enough to get everybody through and then we'll pass the regular appropriations -- because, mr. president, i have heard that as we will -- and then when the regular appropriations bills come, this money can be tucked into these bills and help will be on the way -- i want to say again, it's been since 1994 was the last time this congress passed all 13 appropriations bills on time and got them to the president's desk. so that is wishful thinking. that is not going to happen this year, no matter how hard we trievment it hasn't happened since 1994. so don't think you can fool your people and say, well, i voted for this but we're going to help you through the appropriations process. i'm on the appropriations committee. we've had a very difficult time because of all sorts of reasons about getting our process back on track. we're supposed to be finished with all of our bills in november. it's already the end of

september, and we still don't have all of 0 our bills out of committee, and even if we did, even if the house has their bills out of committee, getting those numbers reconciled between the house and the senate sometimes takes months and sometimes, mr. president, as you know, we never get to it and just go to a continuing resolution. and so there is he not enough appropriations in the regular bills. so for all the reasons that i said -- and i want to end with where i started -- let's fund disasters now. let's fund the help to our people now. we're going to be here until friday, potentially our leadership will keep us in until we get this resolved. but, again, the senate has made a great bipartisan effort with senators like senator blunt and toomey and vitter, and the senators maine, other senators from the other side that have joined this effort. i am asking the house, please reconsider your position.

please fund disasters now. we will figure out a way to pay for this over time. we have already made provisions for this in the negotiations that were done a month ago between the republican and house leaders. our people are depending on us to act. so, mr. president, i'm going to submit the rest of my statement for the record and, again, i urge my colleagues in the house, please reconsider your position. join the bipartisan work under way in the senate to get this job done for the people that we represent and the people of our country that are truly desperate for us to act right now. thank you, 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:

mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum

be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent following morning business tomorrow, wednesday, september 21,the senate resume consideration of h.r. 2832, the general trade preference legislation. following the reporting of the bill senator mccain or his designee be recognized to call on amendment 625, that the time until 12:30 be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees for debate on the mccain and hatch amendments. further at 12:30 the senate proceed to vote in relation to the hatch amendment number 641 and the mccain amendment number 625, in that order, that there be two minutes equally divided prior to each vote, there be no amendments, proeurdz or motions in order to each amendment prior to the vote on the amendments other than budget points of order and the applicable motions to waive, that each amendment be subject to a 60-affirmative vote threshold. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the appointment at

the desk appear separately in the record as if made by the chair. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that when the senate completes its business today it adjourn until 9:30 a.m. on wednesday, september 21. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour deemed expired, the time for the two leaders be reserved for their use later in the day. following leader remarks the senate be in a period of morning business for an hour with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each, with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees with the majority controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the final half. following that morning business, the senate resume consideration of h.r. 2832 under the previous order. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: tomorrow there will be two roll call votes at about 12:30 in relation to the hatch and mccain amendments. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask we adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. tomorrow. agues

for on very short notice coming to the senate floor for these brief remarks. madam president, next january following the annual retreat of sllowing the annual retreat of >> and president, next january following the annual retreat of the republican senators, i will

step down from the senate republican leadership. i wl my colleagues have elected me as republican conference chairman three times and i will have completed four years or the equivalent of two, two two-year terms at that d time. my reason for doing that is this. stepping down from the l republican leadership willue liberate me to spend more times trying to work for results on issues that i care the most about. thatlations, r means stopping ry co regulation, runaway spending, but it also means confronting the timidity that allows us to -- that allows health care spending to squeeze out support for roads, support for scholarships and other government functions that make r it easier and cheaper to create private-sector jobs. i want to do more to make the

senate a more effective place to address serious issues. for four years in our caucus my leadership job has been this. tells the leaders succeed to help individual republicans to m look for a consensus within oure caucus and to suggest the message.sena i have enjoyedte that, but there are different ways to offer leadership in the united statesi senate. and i've concluded after nineak years, that this is now the best way for meit to make a body contribution. it really boils down to this. t serving in this body ashe each t of us knows is a real privilege. i am trying to make the best use ofre that time while i am here.w foril the same reason i plan to step down in january from the leadership, i will not be a candidate for leadership in the next do comp.-- congress, but io intend to be more, not less in . the thick of resolving issues and i do plan to run for

re-election to the united states senateus in 2014. these are serious times. every american's job is p on the line. the united states still produces about 23% of the world's wealth even though we only have about 5% of the world's people. but all around the world, people are realizing that there is nothing different about theirthd brains in and our brains and they are using theirtand brain r to try to achieve some the same kind of standard of living that we have enjoyed here. as a result of this, some have predicted that within a decade for the first time since the 1870s, the united states will not be the world's largesthitats economy. they say china will be my goal is to help keep the united states of america thee ae world's strongest economy. madam president there are two other matters that are relevanth toe thefirs decision that i amg today that but i would like to address. s the first is this. when i first ran for unitedis states senate in 2002 i said to

the people of tennessee, and they weren't surprised by this, that i will serve with conservative principles and an independent attitude. i intend to continue to serve in the very same way.see i am a very republicannd republican. i grew up in the mountains of tennessee and still live there in a d e congressional districth never elected a democratic congress since abraham lincoln t was president of the united states. my r great-grandfather was once asked about his politics and he said i'm republican.i' bee i fought for the union. i have been nominated five times by tennessee republicans to serve in public office. i have been elected three times by senate republicans as o conference chair. if i can get a it 100% republican solution, of any of our legislative issues, i would do it in a minute.on o but i know that the senate usually require 60 votes for any

solution on serious issues and we simply can't get that with only republican votes or only democratic votes. o second, by stepping down from the leadership i expect to be more, not less aggressive on the issues. and i look forward toe that.st the senate is created to be the place where the biggest issues producing the biggest disagreements are argued out, and i don't buy for one minute that these disagreements create some sorthe of unhealthy lack of civility in the united states i senate. i think those who believe that theen debates today in our senae are more fractious than the debates in our political history simply have forgotten american history. they have forgotten what adams r and jefferson said of one another. they have forgotten that vicehat president burr killed formeralkg secretary of secretary alexander hamilton. they have forgotten that hungmar that -- congressman houston was

walkingomho down the streets of washington one day and came across the congressman from ohio and started gaining him for which he was censured. they have forgotten there was al south carolina congressman he came over here before the senate andled nearly killed by hitting them from massachusetts. c of and they have forgotten another senator from massachusetts named henry cabot lodge did on th floor of the senate and said of the president of the united states, woodrow wilson, i hate man. they forgot about henry clay's compromises and the debates that were held during the army mccarthy days. and what of the watergate debates and what of the vietnam debates? the main difference today between the debates in washington and the debates in ey history are that todayth because we have so much media, everybody hears everything instantly. t if you would notice, most of thv peoplee who are shouting at ea.

other on television or radio or the internet have never been elected to anything.. it would help if we in the senate knew each other better across party lines. but to suggest that we should be more timid and debating the biggest issues before thend american people would ignore the function of the senate and wouls ignore our history. theiv truth is the united states senators debate divisive issues with excessive civility. so madam president i have enjoyed my four years in the leadership. tim i thank my colleagues for that privilege. i now look forward to spendingti more time working with all senators to achieve results on the issues that i care about the most, the issues that i believel will help determine for our next generation what kind of economyr we will have, what our standard of living will be for our for

families, and what our national security will be. i thank the president and i yeas yield the floor.heren >> madam president? >> the t republican leader. >> madam president i say to my friend of 40 years even though their number of colleagues or ow the floor i think we all agree this is not a eulogy that we are about tangi jim. r but really i think i have a friend is going to run again in 2014 and continue to make an extraordinary. contribution. i when i first met omar, he was ae the white house.nacc i had just come here as aom b legislative assistant to the t newly-elected senator. he had already comp is a lot. we graduated from new york university law school. he had clerked for a well-known circuit judge, been involved in howard baker's first campaign and helped him set up w his firt

office. that was before i metim him. since i have met him, as many of you are already aware, it is hard to thinkrd t of anybody, hd to think of anybody who has done more things well. he went home in 1970 and ran a successful campaign for i think the first republican governor of tennessee elected certainly since the civil war.ell. ran for governor himself in a very bad year in 1974 and it didn't work out toour well. but one of the things we know about our colleague lamar is he is pretty resistant so he tried it again and 78. a elected governor, reelecteder governor in and 82, spectacular record. and thenabou he did a very unusl thing.et i remember knowing about it at the time. i kept up with him since we had met years before when we were in

washington.s he took his entire family and went to australia for six wrohs. he put the kids in school there, and actually wrote a book called six months off, which i readsena then. i don't know how many books were sold or how many books senator alexander sold but it was a fascinating review s of basicaly taking a break, going somewhere else, doing something entirely new before getting back on the career treadmill that if we of course knew he would get that done. once the australian experience was over, his extraordinarily accomplished individual became president of the university of tennessee. that was back when i used to [laughter] and then president bush 41 asked them to become secretary of education so he was the cabinet

member. and oh by o out that his mother's insistence he became quite proficient at pr piano. he is a fabulous piano player and musician. ot myhe mother let me?meut that was the only mistake sheu c made an otherwise perfect job of raising me, but your mother by insisting you continue to take piano gave him that dimension as well. so here we have got a guy who has been governor, president of this university, a member of the cabinet and if that were not enough he went into the private sector and started an extraordinarily successful and business.o i which did very well.at and so, i expect that our colleague from tennessee but hid public career was over, but then

at fred thompson decided he wanted to go do somethinge else and all of a sudden he was in the united states senate.erioof not just in the senate but then becomes a leader ine. the senate in a very short period of time. and we have had an opportunity to get to know any our colleagu. is hard to think of anybody more intelligent or more accomplished and also more likable than lamar alexander. i must say to the my good friend from tennessee, i am relieved senate. this is not a eulogy. but it is an opportunity i thinr for those of us who have known and admired you for a long time to just recount your extraordinary accomplishmentsng during a lifetime of public and service, so it has been my honor to be your friendou and i'm goig to continue toi be your friend and i'm glad you will continue >> madam president i thank the republican leader and a great a leads thankful for his comments.

ind have great confidence in dek dooley. u at they're playing very goodgeora football, and i intend to be in. my usual seats at the georgia game in two weeks. >> madam president? >> the other senator from tennessee. >> madam president, thank you.ns i want to say to my colleague, e have certainly enjoyed your tene comments today and i'm excited for you. i sit very close to you here inu the senate and i'm with you a great deal. i do planh f on keeping a cane r a few days. state i very much appreciate your service and leadership to the republican party here in the united states senate and i think that what you you have done in that position is to bring out the best in all of us.s in the best way that you can. i'm excited for you, and i look at this is a senate, for the united states senate.

this is a great day for our country. a this is a great day for the state of tennessee, and i can tell you based on the cumbre stations that we the way that i know you, the united states senate is going to become very quickly a more interesting place to serve. and for all of us who have been concerned about our lack of ability to solve our nation's greatest problems, i look at what you have done today as ao step in the direction towards ua being able as a body to more responsibly deal with the pressing issues that you outlined in your talk. so i thank you for having the courage to step down from a position that many republican senators would love to have. the i thank you for the way that you serve our country. i thank you for the example that you

have been to so many in your public service in our state and in our country and i thank you for being my friend. is >> thank you. today >> it is a and honor serving the people of the great state of nevada and today i'm speaking on behalf of the first time inke a these chambers in the united states senate. nad before i began,a i would like to take a moment to reflect onto tragic events that have taken place in nevada recently. in carson city our nation lost three nevada national guard members at a local restaurant shooting. those members were major kelly, sergeant first class miranda mcelheny and sergeant first class christian reagan. the other was a horrific crash at the reno airbases this weekend. e

this terrible eventnt not only impacted the communities of northern nevada but the entire station -- stay. having visited the scene where the crash occurred it is difficult to describe the amount of damage that it placed there. our state's first responders ana medical personnel did an amazing job in a very difficult situation. my thoughts and prayers go out to all the victims and a theirut families and wish the injured a quick recovery. i am deeply humbled by the and to address the body as. nevada's 25th senator. nevada is a small state but itn is one that is provided many with a great chance to succeed. most people know that it was in nevada where samuel clemons began tote sign his writings as mark twain and reported on the territorial legislative.itorwa however, the reason samuel clemonss came to the nevada territory was to follow his older c brother, orion clemons .

served as the first and only secretary of the nevadala territory.my svi that position would later become secretaryce of state. a position which i held prior to my service in congress. of like the clemons brothers who sought greater opportunities, it is in a state like nevada where a son of a mechanic and have the opportunity to interact withr those who were responsible for governing the state. for instance, as a boy,ho delivered the newspaper to then governor michael callahan. for a time i went to sundaypu h school with then lieutenant governor harry reid sunset i was educated in the same public high school s. senator bob paul ask all taxol to. our current governor brian sandoval, someone who i used tor play organized basketball with. i want to thank senator laxalt for his report in senator reidar for being here today. and although not a nevadan i also want to thank senator mcconnell for being here ashe fm well. legisla

my father's automotive shop was across the street from the nevada legislature. so many of the legislators were coming into my dad's business.se i spent a lot of time there is a kid working inpi flo that garag, sweeping floors, repairing cars, fixing engines andily. transmissions. in that shop i learned the valud of hard work and responsibility family.dmportance of i am proud of what i learned growing up in nevada. f two great parents, good teachers and nevada values, like faith and god, hard work, honesty and commitment to family. these are the values that i try to bring to washington d.c. every day. although nevada has changed over the years in many ways it isiti very much the same place as when i grew up.n i bring this up today because i recall what it took for my father to keep his business in operation and i think about whae might have happened if he were still in business today.nt

during this time when so many people are hurting, our economy is so fragile and it is important to understand a government that government impacts our economy andh while washington politiciansicua tarnished one another, americans are still out of work.nd my home state of nevada in particular leads the nation inbk unemployment, foreclosures and bankruptcies. nevadans do not want finger-pointing. finger-pointing. they want jobs. nevadans do not want political talking points. they want to keep their homes. nevadans do not want to hear hollow promises. they want ton an pass on a bettr future to their children and grandchildren. job creation andrtunat economicy recovery should be a bipartisanu value.too unfortunately, washington today is paralyzed by politics and ha beenof reduced to sound bites.ss too often it seems we cannot move beyond the politics ofro today.es suc

it appears weh are more interested in press conferences in solving our nation's most pressing problems. issue such as medicare, which is on the verge of instead of strengthening andasho preserving then program, it is often used as a political a weapon. the truth is, washington has nor done enough to get our nation back on track and the american people know it. i recently received a lettert ou from a small-business owner who had this to say. my business had had to cut or spending an unfortunate layoff half of our good many of our customers have lost due tomploand homes government intervention in the housing market and massive mismanagement of our tax dollars. government employment has h gona up, both private-sector over employment has dropped. these are the kinds of stories that i heara from nevadans far too often.h for four and a half years i did weekly telephone town hallt

meetings where i had theca opportunity to speak with thousands of households across my greatll state. and during a recent round ofave phonecalls, had been asking participants if they believe their children and grandchildren would have a better economic future than we have today.urde o more than two-thirds of these respondents said no. many nevadans believe the economic word and of our national debt and the impact it will have on future generations will lead to fewer opportunities and less upward mobility. i am certain that nevada is not alone in this sentiment. do we want to be the first congress enhance her children and grandchildren a lesser quality of life? dishes serve as a wake-up call for a washington. passing a better life to herrs children and grandchildren is ar value and goal we all share as americans.cluo from all corners of nevada and our nation, the message is clear.iggest the status quo was not working.d

we can no longer afford to ignore the biggest problems facing our country, governmenton spending, and the national debt. the choices are clear. we can continue down this path which leads to biggerernment government, higher taxes, less d jobs and rationed health care for our seniors. or we can decrease governmentee spending, create jobs and its fulfill our promises to future generations. washington needs to place his trust in the american people, to re-energize our economy, not the federal government.we hav b and it was reagan who said, from timebe to time we have attempted to believe that society hasve become toorn complex to be manad by self-rule. - that government buying by and a by and a bit group is superior to government for, by and of the people. but if no one among us is capable of governing himself, but who among us had the capacity to govern someone else? are dead will serve as an anchor

on future prosperity if we did not work today to solve thistors problem. business as usual is not an what we do is senators and the decisions we are -- we make ares critically important to thoseee who we wish to represent. sometimes the result of our actions are seen r immediately.d take decades to one full. record deficits, high nio unemployment unemployment and an recovery, inflation, our feeling anxiety over nation's fiscal health. the key to recovery czar created an environment where economic growth can flourish and provide certainty and stability to our what creators. i evaluate legislation through what i call the entrepreneurial standard, or the wire test. w does is build provide more competition with higher-quality and less cost? what would a small businessmen do?

at the federal government approach problems through an entrepreneurial at perspective,e would have a more efficient pro government and less cost to thee taxpayer. unfortunately our government is not providing that certainty today.d a we have a temporary tax code.e over her -- overly burdensomeerm regulations and an ever increasing nationalt debt. there is no question the federal government must stop spending money we do not have. if we are going to keep america exceptional, we have to chart at new direction for our country.ig as families across the nevada struggle to pay their bills and fight to keep their homes, government spending has grown exponentially. this must end if we are going to turn this economy around. we must focus on the long-term health of our economy and remove impediments that have caused economicral stagnation and disad businesses disable businesses from creating new jobs.beha the federal government has been

on a massive spending spree and it is time for this reckless behavior to and. history offers little evidence that massive deficitas financed spending leads to economic recovery.spo as an opponent of the stimulus and the wall street bailout, believe reining in government spending is critical toco econo, recovery in the future of our country. v the unemployment rate, foreclosures, bankruptcies all represent people who have become victims of this recession. there are those who have endured pay cuts to keep their jobs. individuals who are underemployed and seniors on fixed incomes dealing with the increases in in the cost of living expenses. ansr no question, times are tough.tia so the question we must answer pr is, do weob have the courage to overcome partisan divides, work together to solveim our nation's problems?ophy o while we all may not be members of the same political party orie share the same philosophy of

government, i believe we are all here to do what's right. in these difficult times it is more important than ever that w. work together, find common ground and make tough decisions to create jobs and get people back to work. sta every day, i go to work to k advocate for the great state ofh nevada. and everyo day, i let nevadans know there is someone in washington who was on theirat e side.no there is not a day that goes by the day do not think about what can be done to create jobs and get our economy moving again. this is not the first timead. america has endured tough times and it probably won't be theves last. there will be better days ahead. however it is incumbent upon us to effect change in difficult times to create a better futurey today we are at a crossroads, possibly a dividing moment in our nations history where he must change the way weai govern. the window of opportunity is available, but it is growing smaller every day.

mark twain wrote, you are aat ii coward when you back down from a thing you openly set out to do,a so i ask another question, what is it that we set out to do?atio i ran for office to make a gree difference.t. to leave this place better than i found it. we still are the greatest nation on earth, with the greatest form of w government. our best days are yet to come. we have now to return our nation the nation to what made usam great. community, the american dream. we must stop the mindset that wo have all the answers here inthee washington, because i can assure you we p don't. the answers are out there. they are in places like nevada,s alaska, ohio and perhaps kentucky. in small towns and large cities acrossir this country.pp let the american engine fire again. tear down the barriers to growth

and opportunity and launch this great nationhapt to its great nt chapter. idren stand ready to serve and y to bring us all many when my children and s e grandchildren look back many years from now, it is my hope that history shows we rose to the occasion to ensure their future and the future of our great nation. i am confident we can meet those challenges. her strength as a nation is bigger than the troubles of today. . may god bless the statepr of of nevada. may god bless this great country. mr. bersin i ask unanimous consent that the full speech, the full text of my speech be placed in the record. i yield the floor. >> without objection. >> b.s. today the president provided a fiscal plan on paperb that he said reflects his latest fiscal vision for the country. it seems to be about the fourth vision we have hadd this year d

he is said we need to be honest with the american people and talk straight to them. i certainly believe that is correct. and i would share some a thoughs about the president's plan and expressed disappointment that he haswi not been honest and direct with theas american people, hasd not discussed in should fish and depth in my opinion the nations need to reduce spending because our dad is surging larger than it ever has in our history day d present a danger today and in the future. the president needs to talk more about that. if we are going to ask the american people to reduce theirw spending, to take less from theb government, to tighten the belt's, then we need to know why and i do believe that he has not been sufficiently informative

and his conversations, because many of them emphasize various programs and spending programs that he has abdicated. but with regard to the plan that was w introduced yesterday, he claims that would increase the fiscal year 2012 deficit by 300 lien dollars. next year it would increase the debt $300 billion.n t but he says it would reduce deficits over the next 10 years in the out-yearst wh by $3.2 trillion.ending .. t and promises to raise revenue in the future become less certain as each year passes by. but assuming this is true, assuming we would actually do in the next ten years the kind of things that would pay for this

short-term spending, i would advise my colleagues that the fundamental claim the president is making, assuming his numbers are correct and we do the things he suggest, it overstates by $1.8 trillion the amount of the $1.8 trillion the amount of the $1.8 trillion of the savings, ad 1.8 reduced from that and you are looking at about savgs $1.4 trillion in savings and 3.2.re that's w the fact i share with . colleagues, the fact of that. he how did it happen?washingtost" there is a bill of "the washington post" beingimmicks aa criticized. the first gimmick, the war

funding who get. $1.1 trillion over ten years ane savings from putting a cap on spending but those costs are going to decrease as the war effort unwind as whether or noti this proposal is in place or non the president's proposed caps og the spending manipulate baseline concept to show the savings that have been planned as new, wee something he came out with this week i new policy chooses which inflats the spending cuts and plans and other words, if in fleets the amount of spending that he's cut by $1.1 trillion. with congress has dealt with this git

little gimmick and the budgetar, process i serve as a rankingth committee and we wrestled with the baselines and scoring possibilities. but that a gimmick, theted $1.1 trillion gimmick was debt g rejected during the recent debt ceiling raising the debt limit.s we just talked about that and didn't do it because it's not an accurate explanation of cuttingn of spending. we don't have any plans to continue to spend in iraq andghd afghanistan $158 billion we spend this year. year. ten years give me a b break that's never been our plad and shouldn't be assumed of theb baselinease that spending andons haiming credit for notnalyze continuing the way to analyze ct how much we cut spending some have said paul ryan and the th houseey republicans, when they pass their budget included the t $1.1 trillion. spe

when they said they reducedby spending by $6.2 trillion. they proposed a budget to cut pe $6.2 trillion. they also proposed the tax that reduction plan that would create economic growth knittinglion in $4 trillion of actual savings. but paul ryan and his committeed didn't check the numbers. consir hi did not consider, w $1.1 trillion of war savings which no one has disputed schmidle kirk falcon moerenhout he did not encourage that in an the. a he did have an alternative that, analysis that showed that and people have seized to find that to say his fundamental proposal of the 6.2 spending reduction included. it did not. often another big name gimmick, one that has been used too often ina

this body is what we call the dak fix, the america balanced si budget act and the proposed red substantial reductions physian physicians please and after the ye years have gone byar have becomd more and more planet that doctors cannot sustained more fees for doing medicare work. money back in but it's part of the plan of the long-term budget the statute has not been changed. so every year it's this little g doctors 22% or awarded cuttingoo the doctors 22%? we don't want to cut the doctors that much. it's too much.oo big that is a big cut for them so wd filed the money some way every

but the president's plan assumes money will be found for the fixt and the will do it over ten years for the $293 billion.nts this metric council highest spending as a given rather thany as a policy choice that needs to be offset and the health care pa savings of 320 billion that the plan suggests looker that is 320 billion from health care and we all seek to hundred 93ecause because of this gimmick because it is on paid for there is nodet source of income to pay for thil assumption that we will pay thee 293 billion then we only save 27 billion health care, not 320t this is a truly honest and fairs analysis of the president'srect,

proposal.then the is it's incorrect to put it kindly. then there's another little. gimmick when the president talked about cutting spending, we are cutting spending.de in what does he include? we are counting their reductiont of the net interest effect of the proposed policy changes evee though the interest costs ared the secondary effect of the proposed tax hike. for example, if you raise taxesn and don't cotut spending andn spending hasn't been cut in this plan you raise taxes and reduce we -- projected deficits we thinkt $1e about $1.4 trillion under the plan less than half of what was projected then you don't pay asu much interest because you don't ask include as much debt and you don't include interest on thethe debt s that's not accrued.

they are scoring that as if thea cut spending we're really the national by-product of increased tax. when ng accounting trick and the washington genex that has contributed to this country in the fiscal condition that we are in, you are left with half oflin de the 3 trillion-dollarfi deficit reduction out, but also claims the president's plan is $2 of spending cuts for every 1 dollar of tax hikes. $2 of spending cuts for every 1s dollar of tax increases and early in the years he suggestedd we should have a plan that would be $3 of spending cuts for every 1 dollar in tax hikes but is is it trueg that we are achievia

$2 in spending cuts for 1 dollar of tax hikes? elina if you eliminate the genex you will see that this is absolutely ft true. total under the plan the total federal spending including the the jobs plan stimulus bill, the new stimulus bill would increase under the president's plan notal be true. total federal spending will increase, not decrease. no cut in spending on balance there isn't a penny of net spending that is cut, on am proposing real serious cuts of spending. the $1 when you include the 1 trillionl in the cuts that i've already signed into law these would be n among the biggest cuts in that is just not true.

it's not accurate. rch i don't think it bodes well fore us to be able to reach an agreement on theseis very serios issues that the president is pretending that is kutz to the war cost cut interest that shouldn't be counted or proposes that we fixed it without any wi. money to fix it with.s those are the kind of things that get us in trouble. the substantial increase on the' taxation unders the plan deficit wouldn't be tamed and at noe nex point over the next ten yearsoud with deficits be smaller in nominal terms than thepresidenth $459 billion recorded before he became president. that's the highest deficit in history. that time he was. being criticized for that.

the lowest deficit under today's planned a long list over ten yearsul would be 476 and in thet out years going back again undey the plan they proposed to the 565 billion-dollar bill in 2021. and by the way the last three years have been 1.3 trillion, 1.2 trillion this year $1.4 trillion in debt, 1,400,000,000,000.acly so next year's deficit will actually surge beyond current projections. we are hoping they would come down but because of the need in this plan pop it would be addedt to the deficit next year prettiness such well over a trillion dollars in debt againt deficit again next year deficit

the plan would be to increasemor andfina uncertainty and the financial musters year. over ten years deficit would6.4r total $6.4 trillion federal debt will grow by 9.7 trillion falconetti rick healey come. the debt will grow by $9.7 trillion, exceeding the debt total over 24 trillion in 2021 when we have about a 13 trillion-dollar debt.ver our that would keep us over our debt being over the actual amount of

that production proposed by thes president is 1.4 trillion. consisting of $146 billion in t spending increases that would increase the debt, and $1.5 trillion in tax increases.w we may have raised a few weeks t ago the legal debt limit and -llowed us to run more debt but- we have breached the economic l debt limit and america's $14.5 trillion gross debt thatte we have today is 100% ofrom taricani praised by secretary ri debt reaches 90% of gdp it loses on average loa percentage pointe more in gdp growth at year.ear.

our debt is depressing growth. our debt is now 100% of gdp and the growth is unexpected slow this year. could that be part of the problem? c someon economists say no but iti certainly consistent with the projections in the plan. p so, the gimmick upon gimmick added up to a little more than a tax hike camouflaged as to fiscal restraint r and the spending control is nowhere to , be found. when you are in a crisis he musr be honest with the american people and you f must present te fact along with a credible solution and call on the peoplee to respond and sacrificeent, together. americans hardworking people, who will accept a difficult choice isn hs given to them an honest terms,eh but the white house is trying tn

be clever at the expense of thes incredible period her off.toda ghe debt is ry,es itoring jobs y i believe and the figure to restore confidence and growth,, credibility and the president t and congress is one asset we one cannot afford to borrow against. i thank the chair and would yield the floor. open to middle and high school students. to make a video documentary five to eight minutes long and tell us the part of the constitution

that's important to you and why. be sure to include one point of view and a video of c-span's programming. entries are due by january 20 if in 2012. this $50,000 in total prize is and the grand prize is $5,000. for the details, go to studentcam of. >> more leaders continue to travel to new york city to participate in the united nations earlier today several meetings took place about the political transition in libya. here are comments from a pair of european leaders, first french president nicolas sarkozy and the british foreign secretary william hague. together they are about 15 minutes.

>> translator: in the 21st century has not left many good surprises. since we've entered the century we have had to manage only further new crisis in the economic crisis, financial crisis, under related crisis, poverty related crisis throughout we see only further challenges and complications. there is with good news though the young arab people who went

out to the streets and it was one that we had not imagined. this leads to say down with the west down with francois, down with of the united states, down with israel they entered the streets to say we want jobs, we want democracy, we want freedom, and i must say when we saw the people take to the eda streets to call for liberty and say we took some time to respond as we were astonished at what we were seeing him given these considerable changes, which is the major piece and then there

was to nisha, there was egypt and then libya. but who in this room would have fought that the libyan people, the young the libyan people would have been capable to bring down a dictator regime that had left, who could have imagined that? the specialists? no, the specialists were not telling us that it [inaudible] the young libyans -- [speaking

french] >> translator: there were arab brothers and, libyans, there were the emirate's and the secretary-general before you the arabs had intended the courtesy to assist their libyan brothers for us that would've been much more difficult because who could imagine that this was the assumption of colonialism? we have drawn the lessons today. this is a free libya, and the

entire world is now turning to the libyans and no one else to decide what will be the future of libya. we ask ever u.k. friends and partners in the coalition we will stay as long as they will need it but if something was demonstrated which is that revolution may have than one, but it took not only troops, the libyans themselves telling our libyan friends and tell us how long you want us to stay and stand with you and we will do that. we want to speak [inaudible]

the entire world is watching you, and perhaps the greatest competition for which she stayed with you side-by-side was to see that we were not wrong because when you arrest cut off the he will be tried it and hold accountable they will have the right to defend themselves. that's how you will rebuild the future of libya and all the libyans will take part in this rebuilding and the government will be put in place this democracy will be in place and let me conclude by saying bon there are many people who were asking us he essentially did you

not fear that in the future there will be a regime worse than the one hand you've removed in libya? i would like to respond to that fear is not good with that kind of reasoning would keep the communist dictatorship for years with this kind of logic in the european countries tolerated regimes we never should have tolerated. freedom comes not without risk, but dictatorship is brings certainty and i have faith in the future of libya. there will be ups and downs, but no one would um want to go past that.

those who free themselves there is one other responsibility to be shown as the societies are moving toward freedom so let's remain cautious for what has gone on for six years should not place in the building of the democracy in muslim countries. not only have the people mistreated as in the arab countries, but they wouldn't condemn any form of flexibility and i tell you ladies and gentlemen pleased having been a member of the coalition and if we were to do this again we would do the same. it will not be the cambodia murdered there wouldn't be the

new massacres and the secretary-general, the international community has had the courage to react. let's not all the lessons from this. of the dictators around the world should know that the international community does not condemn to just speaking but will take action when necessary with weapons in their hands in the service of democracy. [applause] >> david cameron and six months ago the tank approached he predicted that his opponents would be like rats but he hadn't counted on the courage of the libyan people, the principal stand of the arab league and the results of the international

community. in the u.n. human rights council, the european union, the arab league, nato and here in new york, we show that the nation's can successfully apply the concerted diplomatic economic and military pressure that is needed to protect the lives of thousands of civilians. the doomsayers who predicted the protracted stalemate or chaos and humanitarian catastrophe when the tripoli was liberated have also been proved wrong and tripoli and benghazi last week we saw the great progress that libya has made a matter of weeks and the delight and release of the libyans to stand for freedom. the libyan people have done what many said was impossible, and they have done it without a foreign occupying force and under their own leadership. i congratulate taking up lydia's general assembly this week and for the growing number of countries that now recognize them as the government of libya.

there are three priorities i believe we should be clear about today. first, we must send a clear message to gadhafi and his remaining supporters that the time is up. the fighters should lay down their arms and as for gadhafi himself, he must be brought to justice in the libyan and the international law. no country should consider giving both told to them from justice. the man wanted on charges of crimes against humanity and any giving him sanctuary should remember there is no expiration date for the charges he faces. second, we look to the in tce to continue to shoulder the responsibility to get libya back on its feet. i applaud the president and the prime minister and their colleagues in nd ntc for the swift implementation of plans to meet lydia's immediate needs and bring security deliberate the towns and cities, and for their commitment to the and was a bad

representative future for libya that upholds human-rights. we hope the ntc will also meet its commitments to credit representatives accountable structures to take action to investigate allegations of human rights abuses and to ensure justice rolf libyans. a third and finally, we as representatives of the international community must reaffirm our commitment to support the new libya. we must help libya become a state where freedom can take hold, where the law and rights are respected and where the profits of economic development and of the beah's abundance of natural resources are shared for the benefit of all of its people. as we must set in trade the technical work and international coordination necessary to help stabilize the country where such assistance is requested. the libyans must be in the lead with you in bringing together a wide range of international support. we in the united kingdom will continue to do our part, providing humanitarian

assistance peaking places available in the hospitals for the critically ill when the income on freezing assets to help the ntc pay for the essentials services, deploy them of the treaty to help advise on the security and providing the funds for the weapons disposal and the clearing of land mines. we stand ready to provide forensic to help gather and preserve evidence of human rights abuses and as the prime minister has said we will continue with our allies to implement u.n. security council resolutions 1970 to 1973 for as long as the safety and security of the libyan people remain under threat. the libyan people can be proud of what we have achieved and we can be proud of what we've done to halt them already. ..