inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the presiding officer and all senators should understand we have a new sheriff in the senate now, and we wish elizabeth mcdonough well. she's certainly well-qualified thor this job and she's proven in the decade she's been here her fairness and astuteness of the senate rules. following morning business, the senate will be in a period of morning business for an hour. the republics will control the first half. the majority will control the final half. following that morning business, we'll resume consideration of the stock act. mr. president, it is my understanding the republicans are going to have a luncheon today. i hope they discuss what they want to do here on the senate floor. last night we had a situation where two of our fine senators, senator lieberman and senator collins, they have a reputation of being fair and bipartisan, and they did their best to work through some amendments, to set up votes on them. and they couldn't do it because we had senators who offered amen

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid:, mr. the senate will be in a period of morning business until 12:30 today. republicans control the first 30 minutes, the majority the final 30 minutes. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. for our weekly caucus meetings. we'll begin consideration of a number of matters including the surface transportation bill during today's session. in this country, owning a home means more than a roof over your head. it's the centerpiece of the american dream. for many responsible americans, the dream of homeownership has become a nightmare. when wall street collapsed in 2008, the housing market also collapsed. that meant free-falling home prices and foreclosures. california was hit extremely hard, michigan, arizona, florida. for five consecutive years nevada led the nation in foreclosures. the foreclosure rate in nevada is 400% the national average. behind those statistics are people, whether it's nevada, arizona, florida, michigan, or anyplace else in the country. statistics

inouye, president pro tempore. reid mr. president?residing officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in morning business until 11:00 this morning. the majority will control the first half, republicans the second half. following morning business, we'll resume consideration of the stock act. mr. president, we've worked very hard until late in the evening last night to try to come up with an agreement to complete action on this bill. i will notify senators when those votes are scheduled. we hope that can be done. would the chair announce the business for the day? the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, there will now be a myria be a periodg business until 11:00 a.m. with senators permitted to speak therein 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. th

mr. reid: i have spoken to senator inouye, the chairman of the appropriations committee, and he is beginning with senator harken, the process where administration officials report to the individual subcommittees. and senator inouye thinks that come late april we can start moving some of these bills to the floor. we have to wait until the house does something because otherwise we get into procedural hurdles but the house, i'm told, wants to move these quickly also so i hope we can get these bills done and, mr. president, the first real good experience i had here in the senate was working on a -- as a conferee on individual appropriation bills. that's fun. that's what legislation is all about. and we've gotten away from that and i hope we can get back to doing some good things in that regard. mr. president, when president obama took office three years ago, the auto industry was on a life support system. it was in really bad shape. i'm sorry to say that life support system that the detroit auto industry was surviving on, the republicans wanted to pull the plug. one man who is now seeking the re

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business until 11:00 a.m. the majority will control the first half. republicans will control the final half. following that morning business the senate will resume consideration of s. 1813. at 2:00 there will be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to tproed that legislation. -- proceed to that legislation. we've been in consultation with the republican leader and his staff and we may have another vote this afternoon. so we may have more than one vote this afternoon. s. 2079 is due for its second reading, mr. president. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 2079, a bill to extend the pay limitation for members of congress and federal employees. mr. reid: mr. president, i would object to any further proceedings. the presiding officer: objection is heard. the bill will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president? the

inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. today. following that morning business, the senate will begin consideration of the conference report on the f.a.a. reauthorization act. at 5:30 there will be a roll call vote on adoption of that conference report. mr. president, s. 2064 is at the desk and due for a second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second time. the clerk: s. 2064, a bill to amend the internal revenue code of 1986 to terminate certain energy tax subsidies and lower the corporate income tax rate. mr. reid: mr. president, i would object to further proceedings with this bill. at this time. the presiding officer: the objection having been heard, the matter will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: mr. president, today i'm pleased that the senate will pass the aviation jobs conference report. this measure is the first long-term reauthorization the federal aviation admi

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will be in morning business for an hour, the republicans control the first half and the majority the second half. following that morning business, senate will resume consideration of the highway bill. we continue to work on a process to complete action on this bill. we're going to have to do that. if we can't get an agreement to move forward on this bill, i have no alternative but to try to stop the filibuster that is taking place. i hope we don't have to do that. we've agreed to work on amendments that aren't relevant or jer main, senator durbin, the whip, has worked on side by sides and other amendments, so we're ready to move forward but we can't do it unless we get some basic cooperation and it's a shame if we can't move forward on this bipartisan bill. i ask consent floor privileges be permitted to andy reamo and jesse holiday during today's session of the senate. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the lea

mr. boozman: thank you very much. madam president, i'm also here to compliment my senate colleagues, senator inouye and senator cochran and members of the appropriations committee as well as majority leader reid and the republican leader, mcconnell, as they commit to do their best to pass all 13 apreparations bills. and i also want to thank the senior senator from tennessee and my senior senator from arkansas for making this possible. i do think it is very, very important. each one of us in this chamber owes it to the american people to work together, to help our country today and build a path for success in the future. our founding fathers laid the foundation that allows the senate to function effectively and efficiently, but it requires working together. the american people are tired of the fingerpointsd finger-pointis spelled most of the work they sent us here tovmentd again, i aplawrd majority leader reid, republican leader mcconnell, -- determining how we spend our hard-earned taxpayer dollars is a basic responsibility for congress. we know tough choices will have to be hade in the appropriations bills but moving

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr.lowing leader remarks, senator shaheen will be recognized to deliver washington's farewell address. this is the 150th anniversary of that tradition. and we are very pleased that senator shaheen is going to do this. no one could be more exemplary of his service than her. following the address, the senate will be in morning business until 4:30 p.m. today. at 4:30 p.m. the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of margo brodie to be united states district judge for the eastern district of new york. at 5:30 the senate will vote on confirmation of the brodie nomination. i ask consent following the vote and resumption of legislative session the senate be in morning business for up to an hour with the time equally divided and controlled by pryor and alexander or their designees. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, last week nevada lost a great statesman, and i lost a friend and a mentor. william raggio was the longest serving state s

inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: 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: mr. president, we all know the inconvenience of a few potholes as we drive down the street. it's an inconvenience. for companies that ship $10 trillion worth of goods across the country every year, these disintegrating roads are more than an inconvenience, are more than a nuisance. a crowded train ride to an office or broken escalator at a station where you're trying to pick up a subway or what we call here metro may be a hassle, but for 51 million americans who have disabilities, most of whom rely on some type of public transportation to get around, outdated stations, overcrowded trains are more than a minor inconvenience. mr. president, this country's deteriorating infrastructure is something we should be very concerned about. this great nation of ours has an infrastructure that is falling apart. our highways, our roadways, our bridges, our dams, our railways, the

mr. inouye: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from hawaii. mr. inouye: i ask the quorum call be rescinded. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. inouye: i rise today to speak against the toomey amendment that would impose a permanent ban on congressional initiatives or earmarks. madam president, the constitution grants to the congress the power of the purse. there is no authority more vital to the separation of powers than the one that prevents the executive branch from directly spending the tax dollars collected from the citizens. depriving the congress of the ability to direct money to specific projects does not save money or reduce the deficit. it simply gives additional power to the president and weakens the legislative branch. madam president, as i stated when i announced the initial moratorium on appropriations earmarks last february, i continue to support the constitutional right of members of congress to direct investments to their states and districts under the fiscally responsible and transparent earmarking process that we have e