signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, leadership time is reserved. the majority leader. mr. reid: that was a quick prayer. i missed that. mr. president, following leader remarks, the senate will be in executive session to consider the nomination of richard cordray to be director of the consumer financial protection bureau. at 10:30, there will be a cloture vote on the cordray nomination. if cloture is not invoked, the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to the middle-class tax cut. as a reminder to all senators, cloture has been filed on the motion to proceed to s. 1944. unless an agreement is reached, that vote will be tomorrow morning. mr. president, shortly the senate will vote in the confirmation of richard cordray to lead the consumer financial protection bureau. again, consumer financial protection bureau. i stress consumer. by now, we all know my republican colleagues will filibuster mr. cordray's nomination. they have said they will. this is no

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore.vene for the second and reconvene for the second that wraps up today's senate pro forma session. no legislative business having taken place. we'll see another such session every three business days to prevent the president from making recess appointments. more live senate coverage when the gavel comes down here on c-span2. and our coverage of road to the white house continues now is former house speaker newt gingrich is speaking in des moines iowa at cafÉ mob. this is getting started and we have coverage live on our companion network c-span. later former pennsylvania senator rick santorum will be in marshalltown, speaking at the legends american grill. we have that live at 6:30 p.m. eastern also on c-span. mike huckabee won the republican iowa caucuses but dropped out of the race just two months later. see what a caucus looks like with videos from previous years on line with the c-span video library and now through tuesday are c-span cameras are following the 2012 republican candidates

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 be in a period of morning business. the majority will rule the first 30 minutes. republicans will control the next 30 minutes. expect to consider the omnibus spending bill within the next 24 hours, or 36 hours. we will also continue to work on an agreement to consider the payroll tax compromise. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. as a reminder to all senators, cloture was filed on the motion to proceed to h.r. 3630, the house republican payroll tax bill. unless agreement is reached, that vote will occur saturday morning, tomorrow morning. h.r. 3094 is at the desk and due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of the bill for the second reading. the clerk: h.r. 3094, an act to amend the national labor relations act with respect to representation hearings and the timing of elections of labor organizations under that act. mr. reid: i would obje

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the expwroarl is recognized. mr. reid: following leader marks we will be in a period of morning business for an hour, the republicans will control the first half, the majority the final half. following that morning business the senate will be in executive session as the order indicates last night to consider the nomination of morgan christen of alaska to be united states circuit judge for the ninth circuit. there will be 30 minutes of debate on that. at a time to be determined later today there will be a vote on confirmation of that nomination. we are almost certain that we're going to consider today the department of defense authorization conference report. the issue on that is how much time people need but i think we can work that out very quickly. we've done enough, mr. president, back and forth, the republican leader and me, staking out our positions and our positions are fairly clear to the american people. we're going to try to do during the next few hours

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president. be in a period of morning business. the republicans will control the first 30 minutes, the majority the next 30 minutes. a vote is expected on the cord ray nomination tomorrow morning. madam president, 70 years ago today, the attack on pearl harbor changed our country forever. it also hardened our resolve to become a better, stronger nation, and that we have become. an example is the u.s.s. nevada. the great battleship epitomizes the resiliency of our country. while in the port of oahu, november 7, 1941, the battleship nevada was hit by many bombs and a torpedo. 60 american sailors died. less than a year later, that great battleship returned to service and served valiantly our country during world war ii. today we honor the living pearl harbor veterans for their courage and their sacrifice. here in the senate, we, of course, refer to our medal of honor winner dan inouye, senator akaka and frank lautenberg, all three served in world war ii. we also remember the nearly 2,400 americans w

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 until 11:00 a.m. this morning. following morning business the senate will resume consideration of the defense department authorization bill. this will be postcloture debate. we expect to complete action on the defense bill today. we may give everyone as much notice as we can when we have votes that are coming. additionally, yesterday i filed cloture on a motion to proceed to s. 1917, middle-class tax cut, if no agreement is reached the vote will be tomorrow morning. there are six measures, mr. president, at the desk due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the titles of the measures for the second time en bloc. the clerk: s.j. res. 30, joint resolution extending the cooling off period under section 10 of the railway labor act and so forth. s.j. res. 31, joint resolution applying certain conditions to the dispute referred to in executive order 13586, and so forth. s.j. res. 32, joint resolut

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: i note the absence of a quorum. presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks -- the presiding officer: the senate is in a quorum call. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be terminated. following morning business, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 11:00 this morning. the majority will control the first half, republicans the second half. i would ask consent that the order be changed to allow both sides a half an hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: following morning business, the senate will be in executive session to consider the nomination of caitlin halligan to be a judge for the district of columbia circuit. at noon, there will be a cloture vote. i ask to make sure the consent i just asked doesn't change that at all. there will be a little less time to debate that, but i think that would be sufficient. at noon there will be a cloture vote on halligan. following

signed daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: and under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 9:30 a.m. on friday, december 23, 2011. >> we will take you back live now to the british inquiry on phone hacking with piers morgan testifying. >> i simply say the people are doing it, the circle is very wide, and certain income the high and the low end, of the supposed newspaper market. so you were saying there, weren't you, that your newspaper was doing at? >> doing what? >> phone hacking amongst other things. >> no. if you listen to the tape, i played it the other day to remind myself, i go to entry question in the and she cuts me off because i know exactly where she's going and she's talking about the kind of what i guess would be described as the dark arts of newspaper investigations, whether that's paparazzi photography. and i was responding in general terms. you could hear the tape back in real-time you can see that. i didn't hear her say phone tapping. i certainly wasn't alluding to phone ha

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: following leader remarks the senate will be in a period of morning business for two hours. the republicans will control the first half and the majority will control the final half. following morning business the senate will be in consideration of s.j. res. 10 and s.j. res. 24. both resolutions regarding the balanced budget amendments. the republican leader and i yesterday arrived at an agreement that we would have eight hours of debate on this matter. i think it should be good debate. people have been looking forward to this debate for some time. some are more interested than others, and this should give them ample time to say whatever they feel about this issue that's ripe for debate here in the senate, and certainly votes we'll have tomorrow morning. the senate will recess from 12:30 to 2:15 for our weekly caucus meetings. h.r. 1633 is at the desk and due for second reading. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the title of

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president, i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, today following leader remarks, if any, the senate will be in morning business until 4:30 today. following that morning business, the senate will be in executive session to consider four united states district judges. at 5:30 today, there will be a roll call vote on confirmation of the ramos nomination. we hope the rest of the nominations can be confirmed by voice vote. mr. president, last week, my friend, the republican leader, tried to convince us, republicans realized it would be disastrous to raise taxes on the middle class. here on the senate floor, he quoted half a dozen news reports as evidence the senate republicans support an extension of payroll tax cuts for 160 million american work

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 until 4:30 this afternoon. following that morning business the senate will be in executive session to consider nominations of norman eisen to be ambassador to the czech republic and mari aponte to be ambassador to el salvador. i ask unanimous consent that john d. tealy from the state department be granted floor privileges for the eisen and apone nominations. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: the senate will vote on norman icen to be ambassador and mari apont spe, they're in their positions. these nominees are qualified public servants who will continue to represent their nation with distinction. for our republican colleagues, being qualified and dedicated doesn't seem to be enough. last week they blocked the nap nation of a brilliant legal mind, caitlin halligan to the district court of appeals. obviously they don't mind there are vacancies paws republicans were in the majority in that court. so de

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order, the senate stands adjourned until 11:00 a.m. on until 11:00 a.m. on >> you can watch live coverage here on c-span2. >> here's a look at some of tonight's primetime programming across the c-span networks. is losing ground to texas congressman ron paul according to some recent polls. they join mitt romney as the top three candidates in the iowa polls. and our coverage from iowa will continue later today as we send our cameras to an occupied des moines meeting and a reminder that for all things campaign related we have got got a clearinghouse available for you on line. you can watch events from the trail, stump speeches and town hall meetings and also links to the candidates and related editorials and endorsements all that c-span.org/politics. spin michele bachmann is here though i understand, and she is thinking about running for president. which is weird because i hear she was born in canada. [laughter] yes michelle this is how it starts

signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: under the previous order the leadership time is reserved. the presiding officer: the majority leader. 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, as happens once in a while here, we don't have a final score on part of the payroll tax issue we have the legislation. joint tax, c.b.o. said they'll have the score by 10:00 today. therefore we're going to reverse the order of what we're doing. we're going to vote on the matters relating to the omnibus first. however i ask consent if the reid-mcconnell substitute is not agreed to, the payroll tax issue, the senate's action with respect to the conference report to accompany 2025 and h.r. 3672 be vitiated and the majority leader be recognized. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. corker: mr. president, -- the presiding officer: the