senator brian schatz of hawaii, u.s. senators jeff huntley of oregon, and [speaker not understood] of delaware, they were in san francisco. i had a private meeting with them. i took jim malony with me to that meeting. they all come from ports. they are very supportive. our union has a great relationship with these senators. and it piggybacks on other issues, the harbor maintenance press conference that we're having up in seattle on thursday, july 15th, with the u.s. senator's patty murry and maria can't well. we have 40 united states senators that so far on this bill ~ supported the maritime goods and movement act for the 21st century. and i think it's so important our west coast ports having relationship with u.s. senators. [speaker not understood]. they can make a lot of things happen and they're committed to the ports, the port of san francisco, seattle, oregon, or l.a. ferment and they know right now canada and mexico has an unfair advantage with the harbor maintenance tax and we need an equal plan. so, clearly as we

provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable brian schatz a senator from the state of hawaii, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: patrick j. leahy, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i note 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 have a few matters -- the presiding officer: we are in a quorum call. mr. reid: i'm going to consent to terminate it. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, following leader remarks, the senate will be in morning business until 11:00 this morning. the time until that will be equally divided and controlled between the majority leader and the republican leader. at 11:00 the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the chen nomination to be united states circuit judge for the federal circuit. also at 11:00 there will be a filing deadline for all second-degree amendments to the