. >> senator daniel inouye, a democrat from hawaii s reading the lost symbol by dan brown and the fiery trial by eric foreign. >> visit booktv.org to see this and other summer reading lists. >> so i began two years before the bombs began to fall on cuba, exactly two years, in fact, to the day. april 15, 1959. that evening fidel castro arrived in the united states for a visit. this was his first visit to the united states since he'd taken over cuba at the start of the year. dwight eisenhower was still president, richard nixon was vice president, john kennedy was still a junior senator from massachusetts. castro came to deliver a speech to some newspaper editors, but the visit was something more like an invasion in its own right, a charm offensive. he and his bearded entourage arrived in washington loaded with cuban cigars and cases of cuban rum, and castro spent most of his visit hugging and smiling and saying all the right things. there were some americans, including some in the eisenhower administration -- including dwight eisenhower himself -- who had pretty serious concerns about eis

daniel inouye, the senator from hawaii... it's a great story. world war ii medal of honor winner, heost anrm in the war and we're going around and i'm showing him this and he says "you mean to say this is going to be ready ten yrs to the day from the event?" and i id yes, thinking "he's going to criticize me. he says "i don't t it. it took us 40 years to do the pearl harbor memorial and 50 years for the world war ii memorial. all of the work that goes on before you ever get to ground level, the digging and basement, that's all... people can criticize and say, oh, no, nothing's happening. all of that was getting done. once you get to ground level, steel goes up very fast. the onworld trade center which is this 1,776 foot tall building... >> rose: it's called one world trade center. >> it goes up a floor a week. then the criticism is once the steel's up and outside's done, nothing is happening. it takes years to fit it out. so i think we have to have more perspective and time but the message of sending to theity and to the country and the world th

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in morning business. during that period of time senators will be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. there will be no votes today. i'm working with the house to find out what they can work with us on. we know we have the f.a.a. bill which expires next friday. the highway bill expires at the end of this month. those are the two primary things we're working on in addition to the fema bill we have in virginia as well as the around of the country. we're going to make a decision on what we're going to work on but i need to hear from the house first. i applaud the bipartisan approach taken by the president last night in his jobs act. he described it and described it well. it's really a commonsense plan. this plan will cut the middle class -- it will be a tax cut for middle-class families and small businesses. it will put teachers and first responders back to work. it will put construction workers on job sites around the country to

speaker, second lieutenant daniel inouye who received a battlefield commission in 1944 was one of these brave men. gravely wounded -- wounded in april of 1943, the lieutenant received the distinguished service cross. it is fitting and proper that our distinguished colleague in the other poddy sponsored this legislation and i'm honored to speak in support of it here today. i asked my colleagues to support this resolution authorizing yause of emancipation hall in november for this congressional gold medal for this ceremony and i reserve the plans of my time. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman reserves. the gentleman from pennsylvania. mr. brady: i yield myself such time as i may consume. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. brady: on october 5, 201 -- 2010, president obama signed the law granting the 442nd combat team and military intelligence service the congressional gold medals. this concurrent resolution authorizes the use of emancipation hall for the ceremony in recognition of the dedicated service in world war ii. the 100th infantry battalion, 442nd regiment

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i would ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will be in morning business for an hour. the majority will control the first half. the republicans will control the final half. following that morning business, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.j. res. 66. this legislation is the vehicle that we need to do the fema funding. the senate will recess, as we always do, on tuesdays, from 12:30 until 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings. madam president, this week, the republicans sent a message to victims of devastating hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes. that message was tough luck. last night, we tried to move fo

but neither thad cochran nor daniel inouye can predict a year and a half out what the disasters are goingo be and budget accordingly. so even if you can't motivate yourself -- some people here to vote for people because they need help, just look at the argument on the finances. you really don't know in advance. now, we could set aside some money, maybe more than the the $1.8 billion that we have, i don't disagree there, but we still would have missed it every year except for two. even if we had put $5 billion in the base budget, we would have still missed it. you just can't predict it. should we set aside $25 billion every year? should we set aside? so the point is when disasters happen, just fund what we have committed to, which is a base benefit package to people. as i said, $2,000. no one is going to get rich off of that, and $30,000 to help people get themselves started. hopefully, their insurance comes in, nonprofits step up to help, they can maybe dig into a little bit of their savings. but this is just as much a jobs bill, it is as much a business bill as it is a bill that's the ri

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: republicans will control the first half and the majority will control the final half. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to h.j. res. 66, which is now a resolution regarding burma sanctions and the legislative vehicle for fema funding. we expect to begin consideration of this legislation today. we also hope to consider f.a.a. and highway extension which we received from the house yesterday. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. madam president, the house sent us a package, and i appreciate that very much. it funds the highway bill for six months. it funds the fema bill for four months. that's terrific. now we should move to this just as quickly as we can. however, we're told this is going to be held up by the republicans. if someone wants to have a vote on an amendment that relates to this, i'll be happy to discuss this with the republican leader to see if we can work something out. in the instance i'm talking a

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: madam president, following the morning business, following morning business the senate will resume consideration of h.r. 2832, the g.s.p. bill and the vehicle for trade adjustment assistance. at approximately 12:30 p.m. there will be two roll call votes in relation to the hatch amendment regarding the effective date of trade adjustment assistance and the mccain amendment regarding a two-year extension of that program. additional roll call votes are expected during today's session. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. under the previous order, the senate will be in a period of morning business for one hour, the time equally divided and senators permitted to speak therein up to 10 minutes each. mr. durbin: madam president. the presiding officer: the majority will control the first half, the republicans the second half. the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: this morning we learned that the republican leaders of the house of repres

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president.residing officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business, senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. there will be no votes today, and the next vote will be on monday, september 19, at 5:30. we begin we'll begin consideration of the trade adjustment assistance bill on monday. we're working on procedures to get to that today. we have a lot to do. next friday, we have to have a continuing resolution passed in this body. we had a good week this week. we were able to get the highway bill extended for six months, federal aviation administration for four months, and of course we were able to have that significant vote on the fema legislation so vitally important to the entire country. it's interesting to note that the president has had emergency declarations of disasters in 48 states. the presiding officer's state is one of those that did not have one, as the state of michigan. h.r. 2587 is due for a second rea

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i would yield to my friend, the junior senator from delaware. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware is recognized. mr. coons: thank you, mr. president, thank you, leader reid. i rise simply to give honor and gratitude that this morning our opening prayer was offered by the reverend dr. silvester s. beaman of a.m.e. zion on the east side of wilmington, a great voice for justice in my home state. it is a critical part of our nation's tradition that we begin every session with prayerful reflection. i'm thrilled that today he's able to be joined by his wife, renee, a registered nurse, and to be able to comment for a moment that reverend dr. beaman, born in niagara falls, new york, who started his mission work and his service in hamilton, bermuda with his wife. early on saw the challenges of h.i.v.-aids and the risks and opportunities for worship and for mission that this pandemic provides to our community. he's

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president stph-p. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: following leader remarks there will be an hour of morning business. republicans will control the first half, the majority will control the final half. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of the america invents act. there will be four roll call votes starting at about 4:00 p.m. that time could move a little bit but not much. and we're doing that in order to complete action on this patent bill that's been so important to the country. it will be the first revision of this law in more than six decades. senators should gather in the senate chamber about 6:30 this evening to proceed as a body to the house for the joint session with president obama. when we return this evening there will be an additional roll call vote on the motion to proceed to s.j. res. 25, which is a joint resolution of disapproval regarding the debt limit increase. as i indicated to everyone last night, if the motion to proce

signed: daniel k. 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 and the republicans will control the first half. and the majority will control the time half. following that morning business the senate will be in consideration of h.r. 2832, which is the generalized system of preferences act. that is a vehicle for trade adjustment assistance we're going to be working on. we're going to recess today from 12:30 to 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings. at 2:30 today, senator heller will be recognized to deliver his maiden speech in the senate, work through amendments to trade adjustment assistance. we'll notify senators when votes are scheduled. madam president, i see on the floor today my friend lamar alexander from the great state of tennessee. and i just received a news flash that he was going to relinquish his leadership position and stay in the senate and run for re-election. i don't know all the reasons for his doing this, but i want to record to be spread with the f

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: i'd like the senators from rhode island to have the privileges of the floor at this time. the presiding officer: without objection. the senator from rhode island is recognized. mr. reed: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise to thank and commend senator whitehouse for inviting rabbi leslie gutterman here to deliver the prayer. les gutterman has been an extraordinary figure in our state. a man of great wisdom and compassion and kindness who has, since 1970, contributed extraordinarily to the state of rhode island and to the people of rhode island. his ministry goes far beyond denominational lines. he literally is the rabbi for everyone around. in fact, he is my rabbi, and i'm pleased and proud to say that. so, mr. president, again, i'm delighted to welcome rabbi gutterman here today. mr. whitehouse: mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from rhode island. mr. whitehouse: it's a great honor and a g

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, if any, there will be an hour of morning business with the majority controlling the first half, republicans controlling the final half. following that morning business the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to the america invents act. the senate will recess from 12:30 until 2:15 for weekly party conferences. at 2:30 there will be 30 minutes for tributes to the lake senator mark hatfield of oregon, and i would indicate if people are unable to come during that 30 minutes, i would solicit their statements so that we can put them together as we often do in these situations so they're in a nice little book let that people can look at at a later time. i would say, madam president, i had the god fortune -- the good fortune of being able to serve with mark hatfield. a treasure of a man. i don't know of anyone from oregon -- they have had great leaders from oregon -- but he is equal to any of the

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks, the senate will be in morning business until 4:30 p.m. today. at that time, the senate will resume consideration of h.j. res. 66. at 5:30, there will be a cloture vote on the motion to proceed to h.j. res. 66. at 5:50, members will gather in the rotunda to proceed to the 9/11 remembrance ceremony at the east front of the capitol. mr. president, i remember tuesday, september 11, very, very clearly. 219 is where senator daschle held his tuesday morning leadership meeting which started at 9:00. i was the first senator in that room, and john breaux of louisiana came in a short time later and he said something is going on in new york, flip on the tv, and we did. there was a tower burning. how could an airplane run into that tower? we basically didn't pay any attention to that tv. we turned it off because there was a meeting there. we assembled for our meeting. senator daschle called it to order. just a short time after the meeting was started, he got a n

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following any leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business. senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. following morning business senate will resume consideration of h.r. 2382, the trade assistance legislation, tied in with the g.s.p. bill. at 5:30 there will be a cloture motion to proceed on h.r. 2832. we'll move to consideration after the vote. i ask unanimous consent that morning business be extended till 5:00 p.m. today so senators can speak regarding the tributes they wish to make to former senator charles percy of illinois. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i am told we would like to end morning business at 4:45 so i ask unanimous consent morning business expire at that time. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i was saddened to hear the terrible accident on friday which killed ten people and injured many more. we just received word an hour ago another person had died in

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will proceed to morning business until 5:00 p.m. today. during that time senators will be allowed to speak for up to five minutes each. i'm sorry, ten minutes each. pardon me. at 5:00 p.m. the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the nomination of bernice bouie donald of tennessee to a united states circuit judge for the sixth circuit. there will be 30 minutes of debate equally divided prior to a vote on confirmation of the nomination. upon disposition of the donald nomination the senate will resume consideration and vote on the motion to proceed to invoke cloture on that patent reform bill. senators should expect two roll call votes this evening at about 5:30 p.m. mr. president, first of all, i welcome the presiding officer and everyone back to the senate after the august recess. my good friend, the republican leader, and i look forward to the number-one priority we have, and tha

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president?presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 4:30 p.m. today. at the time, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to concur can in the house message to accompany h.r. 2608. filing deadline for second-degree amendments to the house message is 5:00 p.m. today. at 5:30 there will be a cloture vote on the motion to concur in the house message with the reid of nevada amendment. mr. president, two weeks ago the senate passed a bipartisan bill to fund the federal emergency management agency known as femme mavment and for two weeks house republicans have been sitting on that bill taking into afntle the howrnt refused to on a bipartisan bill that funds fema for the next year. not only have they not moved that bill in any way, but they've left town. the house of representatives as we speak on the eve of the government shutting down next saturday, just a few days from now, and fema on the verge of

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i'm going to in just a moment note the absence of a quorum. there will be no speeches until the republican leader and i have a chance to visit and determine what we're going to do this morning. we expect a vote very quickly. we're waiting for a message from the house. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: recognized. mr. reid: i'm sorry, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, the leadership time is reserved. mr. reid: mr. president, i apologize to all members for not being able to be here more quickly but we've done the best we can. i've been waiting here for the speaker for the last half oregon so and he -- har oregon so and he hasn't called. i ask unanimous consent that at 11:ed 20, not withstanding the message not received with the house, the house mess