considered at the conclusion of the colloquy, are senators ayotte, baldwin, johnson, casey, cochran, bozeman, and myself. mr. president, we've debated the perkins loan several times on the floor of the senate, and twice i have opposed -- i have objected to the house bill to extend the perkins loan program. this is a program that was set to expire in 2012. since the 1998 reauthorization of the higher education act, that date wasn't extended the last time we reauthorized the higher education act. so this is a program that in 1998 the congress and the president decided would expire in 2012. the expiration of the loan program shouldn't have been a surprise to anybody. it hasn't received appropriations since 2004. the department of education reminded institutions of that earlier this year, and i objected to the extension on the grounds that the current federal loan program, one that all students are able to use, not selected students, has a lower interest rate rand a better repayment program than the per canes loan program. i objected because i believe there should only be one federal loan program for undergradu

cochran, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm glad we are having this meeting here today as mentioned at the beginning of the hearing, over 300 members of congress are sponsoring the legislation. so it hasn't been a close call for most of us. there is a competing, not a competing bill, but a bill that encompasses the provisions. and this bill also goes to geo location. and i'm wondering, mr. cook, the doj recently enacted a policy requiring a warrant before depl deploying like a stingray to locate a suspect using their subpoena. does the year association support that policy? >> the answer to that of course is yes, that use of a stingray or trigger fish simulator under certain circumstances would trigger fourth amendment protections. that is to say a warrant or one of the exceptions, and there are many katss where law enforcement uses a sting ray and it does so under the emergency aid or in circumstances, et cetera. >> if you support this absent the exception, which we are not arguing against, would you consider that a warrant

cochran, for five minutes. >> thank you, mr. chairman. i'm glad we are having this meeting here today as mentioned at the beginning of the hearing, over 300 members of congress are sponsoring the legislation. so it hasn't been a close call for most of us. there is a competing -- not a competing bill, but a bill that encompasses the provisions. and this bill also goes to geo location. and i'm wondering, mr. cook, the doj recently enacted a policy requiring a warrant before deploying a cell site similar like a stingray to locate a suspect using their cell phone. does your association support that policy? >> the answer to that, of course, is yes, that use of a stingray or trigger fish cell site simulator under certain circumstances would trigger fourth amendment protections. that is to say, either a warrant or one of the exceptions -- and there are many occasions where law enforcement uses a stingray and it does so under the emergency aid or in circumstances, et cetera. >> if you support this absent the circumstance exception, which we are n

mr. cochran: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from mississippi. mr. cochran: mr. president, i am pleased to recommend approval of the senate of the omnibus appropriations and tax relief bill that will soon be considered by the senate. this bill is consistent with the budget act that was enacted in november. it funds the operations of the federal government for the remainder of this fiscal year. it provides funding for the department of defense and the state department along with the f.b.i., customs and border protection and u.s. immigration enforcement provisions. it provides a $2 billion increase for the national institutes of health. it also funds improvements to our nation's water and surface transportation infrastructure. i deeply appreciate the good work and active leadership of our committee's vice chairwoman, the distinguished senator from maryland. she's been a pleasure to work with. she's been very helpful in producing this bill. i also want to thank the very able staff members of the committee who have been very diligent and professional throughout this

mr. cochran and i worked across the aisle to get the job done. i would like to thank him for the leadership he provided the committee, for his professionalism and for the ability of the fact we could work together and are staffed to work with civility and candor. for the third year in a row we had no appropriations bill behind. the negotiated that capitulation of the principles. it's a strong tradition of the appropriations committee. as we bring the bill to the floor i urge all of my colleagues to vote for this bill. on the basis of content and on the basis of merit i want to tell you what this bill does. first of all it does a lot to protect the united states of america. we know that right now america feels on edge and needs to provide clarity and specificity but most of all we need to provide the resources to the institutions that protect the country with the resources that they need. in this bill we have $606 billion in the national defense of the united states of america to support and train and equip our troops to deal with the new threats