franken: thank you. and i want to thank both my colleagues from vermont and from ohio and urge my colleagues to support amendment 3135. thank you, madam president. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask consent -- unanimous consent that i be allowed to engage in a colloquy with the sthr senators from connecticut -- with the senior senators from connecticut and montana. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid reid: madam president,n the american people demanded last november and throughout this year that we make it possible for every northern afford a -- for every american to afford a healthy life, they did so because they know from personal experience just how broken our country's health care system really is. and as the senate has worked to answer that call this year, we've drafted a bill that will save lives, save money and save medicare. many aspects of the current bill achieve that goal. but there's one more thing we can do, closing the notorious gap that arbitrarily c

franken: i am now. i was aware of the general shape of things which is the sort of dearth of substantive amendments offered and sort of the delay, yes, then i'm aware. thank you. mr. president, i -- i ask unanimous consent to speak for 10 minutes as if in morning business. mr. roberts: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. roberts: reserving the right to object, and i will not object to my good friend. but i can't -- i can't let this stand when the distinguished senator from illinois indicates there's only been four substitute amendments and i have three on my desk -- the presiding officer: does the senator from kansas have an objection? mr. roberts: i'm reserving the right to object, mr. president. under my reservation, i would point out to my distinguished friend i'd like to invite him to my office to see the amendments that were the presiding officer: the senate will come to order. the chaplain, dr. barry black, will lead the senate in prayer. the chaplain: let us pray. almigh

franken: thank you. madam president, i rise today to urge my colleagues in the senate to support senate amendment 3135, to replace the proposed excise tax and replace it with a surtax that would affect only those making literally millions of dollars a year. senator brown and senator sanders with whom i will engage in this colloquy have shown tremendous leadership on the issue, and i want to thank them and join them in their efforts. before, let me get into this, though. i just want to answer a couple of things i have seen on the floor. i walked in, my good colleague from south dakota, senator thune, was -- had a chart up, he had a chart up. he said when your taxes will kick in and when your benefits will kick in. so i didn't hear the whole speech, and i feel bad about that, not having heard his whole speech, and i went up to him and i said i department hear your whole speech. he went oh, man, that's too bad. but i said did you actually happen to mention any of the benefits that do kick in right away? and

so i was glad to have senator franken ask me, if i would join him as the lead co-sponsor of this justice for survivors of sexual assault act because i think that this would cut down on backlog of untested rape cases. now, you seem to raise the question as you discussed in your testimony the need to know more about the backlog of untested kits before you would have a concrete recommendation to address the problem. i understand your concerns that we test d.n.a. samples effectively and efficiently. so a few questions along that line. do you believe a requirement that state and local governments provide statistics to federal government on untested rape kits? on the backlog thereof, would be useful? >> i think having that information would definitely be useful. my concern is i'm not sure how difficult it is to require states to provide that. nij and others have been trying to quantify prsicely the existing d.n.a. data base for many years. and so i would just want to be sure that we understand what the barriers have been to getting precise figures before we demand that of states. i certainly a

senator franken. >> thank you, mr. chairman. and thank you, madam secretary. since october, 2003, 104 immigrant detainees have died in our custody. or in the custody of the immigration and customs enenforcement -- enforcement. but were unso i believe. in 2006 a man from ghana died in custody from a heart attack after guards waited 40 minutes to provide him medical attention, let alone open his cell. they wouldn't open his cell for 40 minutes. last year another detainee died after falling and fracturing his skull and after newspaper accounts being shackled and being pinned to the medical floor after he moan and vomited after being left in a disciplinary cell for more than 13 hours. an ecuadorian woman died in a minnesota facility three years ago. ice found that her death was inevitable. but also found that she had not undergone her mandatory medical intake exam despite being detained for two months. you inherited this problem. i know that. and i know that you're trying to fix it. but the first step in improving conditions is identifying the problem. so my quest

franken: thank you, madam president. i actually was kind of feeling bad because i thought i was going to be changing the subject here when senator durbin said i'd be the next democrat to speak because our good colleague from nevada brought up an amendment on medical malpractice liability and the senator from illinois responded to it and i thought the senator from nevada was going to respond to his response with some factual information or something, but completely changed the subject. so i -- you know, i -- to the canadian system, to rationing. he will include his entire statement, which include this, "we don't ration care near the united states -- i mean the government -- we let the private sector do that." and they do a great job of rationing care, the private sector. that's where we ration care in this country. they ration it by cutting off your insurance when you get sick. they ration care by not giving you insurance if you have preexisting condition. but i want to talk about a -- an amendment -- that's when i was go

we have a panel moderated by bob franken. he is an emmy award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and tv political analyst. he served previously as a correspondent for cnn and msnbc. bob franken, who -- whom i've known for a number of years, was recently inducted into the society for professional journalists in washington's hall of fame. our second panelist is margaret brennan, an anchor and reporter for bloomberg television news in new york. previously she was a contributor to cnbc and nightly news as well as msnbc. she is also a graduate of mr. jefferson's university of virginia. alan murray is executev editor on line for "the wall street journal" and author of the papers weekly business column. he has served as washington bureau chief for snbc and "the wall street journal." we are fortunate to have him on our govern n counsel ill here at the university. next we've robert sam uleson, contributing editor at "newsweek" and "the washington post" where he has written about business and economic issues since 1977. his artic

we have a panel moderated by of franklin, and in the award winning journalist -- by bob franken. he is third with cnbc. bob franken, whom i have known from the years, was recently inducted into the society for professional journalists and washington's hall of fame. our second panelists is margaret brennan, an anger and reporter from bloomberg television news in new york. previously, she was a general assignment reporter for cnbc and a contributor to nbc's today's issue -- today show and nightly news. she is also a graduate of mr. jefferson's university of virginia. [inaudible] [laughter] alan murray is the executive editor online for the wall street journal 3 he was previously assistant managing editor for the "wall street journal," and offered a weekly business column. he has served as the washington bureau chief for cnbc. we're fortunate to have al-anon are governing council at the miller center of public affairs here at the university. a distinction of many years. next we have robert samuelson, compared shooting -- i comparative -- a contributing editor to newsweek. his articl

franken: my apologies to senator dodd. i guess i -- as a freshman, i don't -- i'm not necessarily familiar with all the rules. i think that means i must yield the floor. is that right, mr. president? the presiding officer: that's correct. mr. franken: in that case i do to my gd friend from texas. mr. baucus: mr. president, i don't think there is a time limit here. mr. dodd: i made an agreement. i suspect we'll have a lot of time to talk about this. i appreciate the comments of my colleague from minnesota. very well said. mr. franken: thank you. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i want to talk principally about the medicare cuts in this bill and make sure people understand the context in which this takes place and what it means in terms of benefits for seniors. there has been a lot of parsing of language here in a way that i think can perhaps obscure what the real impact of this -- of these proposals are. but first let me just say there is broad agreement that our health care system n

franken: i am now. was aware of the general shape of things which is the sort of dearth of substantive amendments offered and sort of the delay, yes, then i'm aware. thank you. mr. president, i -- i ask unanimous consent to speak for 10 minutes as if in morning business. mr. roberts: mr. president? the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. roberts: reserving the right to object, and i will not object to my good friend. but i can't -- i can't let this stand when the distinguished senator from illinois indicates there's only been four substitute amendments and i have three on my desk -- the presiding officer: does the senator from kansas have an objection? mr. roberts: i'm reserving the right to object, mr. president. under my reservation, i would point out to my distinguished friend i'd like to invite him to my office to see the amendments that were ruled out by the leadership. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. mr. franken: thank you, mr. president. the american dream and its promis

franken: thank you, madam president. i rise to express my support for senator mikulski's amendment for women's health. this amendment is crucial because it's about prevention. prevention is one of the key twhais this bill will -- is one of the key ways that this bill will transform our system of sick care into true health care. it's common sense. you get the right screenings at the right time so you find diseases earlier. this savings lives and it saves money. the senate bill already has several provisions for preventive care, which i strongly support. for example, colonoscopies and screening for heart disease will be covered at no cost. this is a good start. the current bill relies solely on the u.s. preventive services task force to dermine which services will be covered at no cost. the problem is that several crucial women's health services are omitted. senator mikulski's amendment closes this gap. under her amendment, the health resources and services administration will be able to include other important services at

i ask the democratic speakers be as follows: senator franken, senator lautenberg, senator stabenow, senator dodd, senator kaufman. the presiding officer: is there objection? a senator: mr. president? reserving the right to object, and i won't. i just want to make a clarification that we wouldn't object to a couple of the people going without alternating so that we can have a couple of people that also go without alternate. mr. enzi: hopefully we can make some arrangements on the time limits. i like the provision in there that if one goes longer, then the other side can go longer too. with that provision, i have no objection. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. durbin: mr. president, could the chair inform me how much time the senator from nevada used. the presiding officer: 21 1/2 minutes. mr. durbin: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, this is an issue that is very personal and very important. i know a little bit about this because many years ago before coming to congress, i was a trial lawyer. i spent many years defending doctors wh

and on behalf of senator franken and myself, we welcome steve the redding who is our next witness and a minnesotan the. when i became henny pin county attorney, i came in there from the outside without a lot of criminal experience, and i wanted to put someone in charge of the violent crimes division that had the trust of the people in the office, and that was steve redding. he's served well in that role, but most importantly for our hearing today, he is one of the national experts on dna. and this means not only being a tough, smart trial lawyer and being able to convince a jury like so many good prosecutors do, it also means having the willingness and the determination and the intellect to learn the science of dna which is not that easy for so many lawyers to dig in and read all those scientific articles because we have to be as sophisticated as a science and the people on the other side. and he's someone -- his wife suzanne is here as well -- who believes, mr. chairman, that you can use this newfound science not only to convict b the guilty, but also to protect the innocent. steve r

franken: thank you. thank you, mr. president. we've been work this bill for a long time and i'm proud of what we're doing here. every senator has had his or her chance to speak up and help make this a better bill or to make a case against the bill. unfortunately, it's been a bit rancorous and i think that's too bad. there have been accusations flying back and forth, umbrage has been taken. this place as become annum barragan umbragefactory. i even took umbrage once and i feel bad about that. my colleagues across the aisle have taken great umbrage because we've accused them of using scare tactics. well, may i point out that the title of my friend from oklahoma's piece in last wednesday's "wall street journal" is: "the health bill is scary." exhibit a. in our case that the other side has, indeed, used scare tactics, the op-ed entitled "the health bill is scary." but seriously, when you're talking about people's health, there's more than enough fear to go around. instead of scaring people, we should be deba

franken: i do have the microphone, and i thank you for the 16 seconds. i've used it up. i yield my time. the presiding officer: the senator from wyoming. mr. enzi: i ask unanimous consent that a, an article that was discussed earlier and had some objection to it, but that objection has been resolved from from factcheck .org be published in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. enzi: i yield five minutes to the senator from maine. the presiding officer: the senator from maine. ms. collins: thank you, madam president. and i thank the kphaerpbg of the bill. madam president -- i thank the manager of the bill. madam president, i rise in support by the motion offered by my colleague from nebraska to recommit this bill in order to strike the more than $42 billion in cuts in the medicare home health benefit. madam president, you too come from a pretty rural state, so i know that you understand just how important home health care is to the seniors in our states. home health care has become an increasingly important part where -- of our health care system. the

mr franken, aye. mrs,geillearand, aye. mr graahm, no mr grassley, no. mrñgreg, no mrs, hagan, aye.mr harkin, aye. mr hatch, no. mrs. hutchison -- mr.inhosfe, no. mr noway, aye. mr isaacs said, nope. mr.johans, no. mr. johnson,aye. mr. kaufman,aye. mr. careyaye mr. kirk,aye. mr coles, aye mr. pyle,no. ms landreau, aye. mr lautenberg, aye. mr leahy, aye. mr levin ,aye. mr. lieberman,aye. mrs. lincoln,aye. mr. lugar,no. mr. mccabe,no. mrs. castle,aye. mr. mcconnell,no mr. menendez,aye. mr. merkley, aye. ms. mikulskiaye. mr merkowski, no. mrs. mary,aye. mr. nelson of nebraska,aye. mr. nelson of florida,aye. mr. pryor,aye. mr. reed of rhode island,aye. mr. reid of nevada, [laughter] mr. reid of nevada,aye. [laughter] mr rich, no. mr. roberts,no. mr. rockefeller,aye. mr. sanders, mr. schumer,aye. mr. sessions, mrs. shaheen, aye. mr. shelby, ms. snowe,no. mr. spector,aye. mr stabinow, aye. mr. tester,aye. mr thune, no. mr udall of colorado,aye. mr. udall of new mexico,aye. mr.vitter, no. mr.voinivich, no. mr. warner,aye. mr. webb,aye. mr. white house,aye. mr. wicker,no. mr. whiden, aye. m

host: let us show you the exchange between senator franken, in the chair presiding over the senate, andr if i can ask unanimous consent for just an additional moment. >> in my capacitor -- capacity as senator of minnesota, i object. >> really? ok. don't take it personally. >> that is on the floor of the senate. newark, ohio, george, a democrat. health care as political suicide according to kemberly -- of "the wall street journal." do you agree? george? we've got to move on. joe, oceanside, n.y., independent, what do you think? caller: good morning. from the prison i am looking at. i was watching harry reid on tv and there was this look on his face. there is this look of desperation. the last election, the two democratic governors are voted out. americans are catching on. they are fed up. obama, who i happen to like, and wanted bush and cheney out, he has not created the 3 million jobs that he ran on, he has not brought our troops home from the middle east, that he ran on. matter of fact, he sent more troops. now he's got to come up with something because the elections are one year from

at the federal level in 2009 they won 5 of 5 elections and gained two senators with specter and al franken. are the republicans, though, are any of the republicans scared about this or are all of them regretting that they won't the joe wilson, as you said? >> well, david, unfortunately, what governor keene said is half the story. the other half the bad news for the democrats which is losing virginia, losing new jersey, losing the enthusiasm quosh enlt which is so important in elections because there's more enthusiasm and passion right now on the republican side than on the democratic. and just as important is what's happening with independents. first of all, the rise of independents and secondly, the fact that a independents are now favoring republicans over democrats. so there are many problems for both parties. and what is happening more and more is a kind of a disillusionment with the whole political system, the sense that the fix is in and if you're an ordinary american, these are not good times. >> you mentioned the lack of democratic enthusiasm. if that continues, will the right wing

[applause] >> professor powe thank you for that insightful, franken entertaining book report. we have for you a present for joining us at the book festival. it is mr. duly's opinions. [laughter] i will read the last page of his opinion on the supreme court flag cases after the spanish-american war and-- there you have the decision hennesey that ish chaiken the intellect of the nation to their various foundations, or willett they try to read it. it is all right, look over at some time. it is fine sports a few don't care for checkers. some say it leaves the flag up in the air and some say that is where it leaves the constitution. and the house something is in the air but there's one thing i'm sure about. what is that asked mr. hennesey? no matter whether the constitution follows the flag and not the supreme court follows the election returns. [applause] [inaudible conversations] >> lucas powe is a government professor at the university of texas at austin. his books include american broadcasting and the first amendment and the for the state and the constitution. the 2009 texas bo

. -- to said franken -- s enator frankenç çfor bringing attention to this issue. >> i have the honorice laboratory bureau. xdshe oversees biological evidee andç [unintelligible] she is a national leader of forensic science and has lectured at the international çassociation chief of police. she has taught as a professor of forensic biology at the international research institute at florida international university and is a board member of the crime laboratory directors. she received her master's from florida international university. >> good morning. my name is stephanie. i in the crime laboratory director and i am the -- i am the crime director. i also sit on the board of the american society of crime laboratory directors which represents the interests of 500 directors to wrathy country and place a great role in the credibility of these services. i am honored to be asked to speak to you about insuring the effective use of dna evidence to effective use of dna evidence to solve rape cases. ti+ the role of crime laboratories is to provide leads to remove dangerous offenders or exonera

so i was glad to have senator franken ask me, if i would join him as the lead co-sponsor of this justice for survivors of sexual assault act because i think that this would cut down on backlog of untested rape cases. now, you seem to raise the question as you discussed in your testimony the need to know more about the backlog of untested kits before you would have a concrete recommendation to address the problem. i understand your concerns that we test d.n.a. samples effectively and efficiently. so a few questions along that line. do you believe a requirement that state and local governments provide statistics to federal government on untested rape kits? on the backlog thereof, would be useful? >> i think having that information would definitely be useful. my concern is i'm not sure how difficult it is to require states to provide that. nij and others have been trying to quantify prsicely the existing d.n.a. data base for many years. and so i would just want to be sure that we understand what the barriers have been to getting precise figures before we demand that of states. i certainly a

senator franken? >> thank you, madam chair. and i want to thank you and chairman leahy in your leadership on this issue. i want to thank each of our witnesses, ms. smith for your courage and your strength and mr. redding and ms. stoiloff for your expertise and professionalism and ms. howley, for your advocacy. last month i introduced a bill joined my colleague, senator grassley and senator hatch and senator feinstein that would create financial incentives for jurisdiction to process the rape kit backlogs and to make sure that processing then continues to remain prompt. the truth is, i think that this is one of the issues -- those issues in congress where we all can agree on the big picture. rape is a heinous crime and we need to provide our law enforcement agencies with everything they need to prevent it. and bring perpetrator it is to justice. i just want to ask a few questions on this front. mr. redding, in your testimony you need there's a need for improved infrastructure and lab capabilities so that dna evidence can be proc

this is franken year. franken was ahead of coleman at that point in time in distribute as well.the fact we're ahead at all makes us feel pretty good where we are in this election cycle. the september 15th happens. all of sudden now we're back to, we're back to a whole different set of issues because energy is going out the door and everybody is worried about their jobs. so michelle was somebody who voted against both versions of the bailout bills. and, we wanted to explain that vote in terms of why it was she would vote against something. if you remember, right after those votes, there was a lot of talk that was taking place about where special interests once again in control in washington. this is the ad that we put up to show michelle's viewpoint on, michelle's point of view what is taking place in washington and why she is a little different than most of the other republican members of congress. >> seems every day my boss tells me the same thing. get some political pork from michelle bachmann today. so i go to michelle's office to plead with her again. michelle, bail out the

we have a panel moderated by bob franken, an emmy award winning journalist, syndicated columnist andst. he served as a correspondent for cnn and ms nbc. bob franken who i have known for a number of years was recently inducted into the society for professional journalists in washington's hall of fame. our second panelist is margaret brennan, and anchor and reporter for bloomberg television news in new york. she was a general assignment reporter for nbc and a contributor to nbc's today show and nightly news as well as an best nbc. she is also a graduate of mr. jefferson's university of virginia. alan murray is managing editor and executive editor on line for the wall street journal. he was previously managing editor of a wall street journal and author of the weekly business column. he has served as washington d.c. bureau chief for nbc and the wall street journal. we are very fortunate to have alan on our governing council at the madison of public affairs at the university. a member of distinction for many years. next we have robert sanders, contributing editor of newsweek and the washi

vote: durbin, feingold, feinstein, franken. >> mr. reed of nevada, aye. senators voting in the negative. alexander, bohmbach, chambliss, coburn, corker, corn then, demeant, ensign, graham, grassley. hatch, hutchinson. inhofe, kyle, lemieux, lugar, mccain, connor, rich, roberts, sessions, voinovich and wicker. >> mr. byrd, aye. mr. webb, aye. mr. vitter, no. mr. baucus, aye. >> mr. kerry. mr. kerry, aye. mr. schumer, mr. schumer, aye. mr. kaufman, aye. mr. shelby, no. mr. bennett of utah, no. >> mr. lincoln. mrs. lincoln, aye. ms. landreaux. ms. landreaux, aye. >> on this vote, the yeas are 63, and the nay are 55. the motion is agreed. the question is on the motion to concur with the house amendment. sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. clerk will call the roll. [roll call] [roll call] [roll call] mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: may we have order, mr. reid: may we have order, >> leader, may we have order, please the presiding officer: anyone wish to change their vote or hasn't voted? by a vote

franken: madam president, i rise today to speak in support of amendment number 3795 -- 2795, which would repeal the antitrust exemption for health insurance, medical malpractice insurance. i want to thank my colleague, senator leahy, for championing this legislation, which is crucial to health reform and working families around the country who pay too much for health insurance premiums. we are on the verge of expanding health insurance to 31 million more americans, an accomplishment that would be truly historic. but as hardened as i am about the relief this will bring to families, i'm deeply concerned that this expansion could be a windfall for insurance companies if we don't include additional checks and balances. we should be putting significant federal funds towards health insurance, but that money should go towards people afford health insurance, not towards lining the pockets of insurance companies and their c.e.o.'s. as a country we have long understood pot found importance of economic -- understood the profound importance of economic competition. it leads to entrepreneurship, crea

franken: i'll take it. mr. president, i rise today to ask unanimous consent to be added as a cosponsor to senator coburn tofs amendment number 2789 to require all members of congress to enroll in the public option. i'm pleased to cosponsor this amendment because i strongly support the public option, and i will have no qualms at all enrolling in this plan. you know, there's a lot of misinformation about the public option, so i want to be clear about why we need a public option and why i would be proud to enroll in a public health insurance plan. we need a public option because health insurance premiums for minnesota residents have risen 90% since 2000, because 440,000 minnesotans went without health insurance in 1998. we need a public option because insurance executives continue to make bloated, obscene salaries tpr-fplt -- salaries. from twrou-2007 americans saw premiums double. during that same time we saw americans become uninsured. during that same period insurance company profits rose 428%. 428% in eight ye

provisions of rule 1, paragraph 3, of the standing rules of the senate, i hereby appoint the honorable al franken, a senator from the state of minnesota, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: robert c. byrd, president pro tempore. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the leader. , majority leader. mr. reid reid: i ask unanimous consent the time until 1:00 a.m. equally divided and controlled between the leaders or their designees, that senators be permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each, that the mandatory quorum be waived and the majority leader be recognized for the last ten minutes and the ten minutes prior to that, the republican leader be recognized if he chooses to speak. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, those who are following the business of the senate may be surprised to find us a little after midnight in session. this is a decision made by the senate just a few hours ago to postpone the continuation of our session into a new legislative day. the purpose

franken: madam president, i rise today to speak in opposition to the nelson-hatch amendment which replaces the compromise language in the current bill with unprecedented restrictions on women's access to safe and legal abortion services. i think we can all agree that women's health is fundamental to our nation's health. we all know that when women are healthier, families, communities, and countries are healthier. but i also know that the issue of abortion is difficult, no matter where you stand on it. and i truly respect the fact that we have a range of opinions among us here. women have abortions for different reasons. some of these reasons may not seem right to some of us. but even if we disagree, it is better than each woman being able to make her own decision with her doctor. in a perfect world, no woman should have to face the decisions we're discussing today. but the reason we have insurance coverage is to help us deal with the unexpected. no woman expects to have an unplanned pregnancy. no woman expects to end a wanted pregnancy because of fetal anomalies or risk to her own health.

. >> now than under spoon and franken talk about what is health care will take effect. >> i have heard the president talk about reading jobs, number one priority will be created jobs and give incentive to small businesses. i've heard my colleagues on the other side day after day talk about job creation and how important it is. and yet, everything that is coming out of washington, whether it's a form of heavy-handed regulations like this endangerment finding that coming out of the epa, whether it's in the form of a cap-and-trade proposal that's coming through the congress right now, whether it's this massive expansion of the federal government $2.5 trillion expansion of the federal government. to created new health care in this country. all these things, madam president, are raising clouds over the small-business sector of our economy which creates about 70% of the jobs. and were essentially telling small businesses that, you know, you may end up with these massive new energy taxes. you may end up with his employer mandate that's going to cost you up to $750 per employee if you don't of

the problem here is that it needed further improvement but it sounds to me like, as he told senator franken i think on the asylum cases you are looking to release them as soon as possible. often that means they don't return. >> no, senator. and i think those things should not be confused. i think what he was asking about was the adjudication. and they have been bogged down in the system and we are looking to improve that process. now we also have told the congress and the congress asked us to provide an alternative to detention plan. obviously that has to be contingent upon a credible belief by a bat we will have that individual back in court and ready for deportation. as a matter of practice, there are ways to help ascertain not and supervise that. and we do do that on streamlined as i suggested to senator kyl i agree that streamline is very, very useful. we also believe that we have enough detention space identified for the individuals apprehended in the streamlined set hers, which include the larger site there's of the border. >> i hope you will look to expand that streamline process. it

senator franken? >> thank you. mr. chairman. they give madam secretary. 104e october 2003, 104 immigrants detainee's have the c of t custody for custody of immigration and customs enforcement. i am sure some of those were inevitable. but others are likely for, inable. in 2006 one-man from gonna die in custody from a heart attack after guards waited aloinutes to provide medical attention let alone open the sell. they would not open that sell 40 minutes. last year one detainee died after falling and fracturing his gold then being shackled and pinned to the floor as the moaned and vomited then being left in a disciplinary sell for more than 13 hours. one ecuadorian woman died in a minnesota facility three years ago and her death was inevitable but also found she had not undergone herb mandatory medical intake exam despite being detained for two months. you inherited this problem. i know that. i know you are trying to fix it. but the first step to improve conditions is identifying the problem. my question to you is what went wrong?

the problem here is that it needed further improvement but it sounds to me like, as he told senator frankeni think on the asylum cases you are looking to release them as soon as possible. often that means they don't return. >> no, senator. and i think those things should not be confused. i think what he was asking about was the adjudication. and they have been bogged down in the system and we are looking to improve that process. now we also have told the congress and the congress asked us to provide an alternative to detention plan. obviously that has to be contingent upon a credible belief by a bat we will have that individual back in court and ready for deportation. as a matter of practice, there are ways to help ascertain not and supervise that. and we do do that on streamlined as i suggested to senator kyl i agree that streamline is very, very useful. we also believe that we have enough detention space identified for the individuals apprehended in the streamlined set hers, which include the larger site there's of the border. >> i hope you will look to expand that streamline process. it

franken for bringing attention to this issue. we look forward to using -- to enhancing the evidence and bring a response to the victims of crime. >> i am going to introduce stephanie, the commander of the miami police bureau. we tracie evidence and the biological evidence. she is a leader in forensics science. she works for the national institute of justice and the chief of police. she is also the leader of the institute of crime laboratory directors. she has received her bachelor's in science fourth -- from florida university and her master's from 40 university. >> good morning. members of the committee. i am the crab -- the crime laboratory director and i am in charge of the managing operation of the full-service laboratory. those are working for the interests of over 500 crime laboratory directors overseas. the integrity and the ability of a forensic laboratory. i am ever reaching the opportunity to work with you about the effective use of dna evidence for solving these cases nationwide. this provides investigative leads to re

senator al franken. >> senator from minnesota. >> thank you, madame president. i rise today to express support for senator buckles the's amendment for women's health. this is crucial because it's about prevention. prevention is one of the key ways this bill will transform our system of sick care and to true health care. it's common sense you get the right screenings of the right time so you find diseases earlier. this saves lives and it saves money. the senate bill already has several provisions for preventive care which are strongly support for example callosities and screening for heart disease will be covered this is a good start but the current bill relies solely on the u.s. preventive services task force to determine which services will be covered at no cost. the problem is it is several crucial women's health services are omitted. senator mikulski's demint close is this gap and durham and the health resources and services administration will be able to include other important services at no cost like the welshwoman visit, prenatal care and family planning.

along with senator hutchison, this is a bipartisan amendment sponsored by senators franken, whitehouse, and specter. please join us in voting for this. i yield the floor. mr. kaufman: mr. president, i ask consent to speak in morning business for up to 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. kaufman: my colleagues have heard me speak in recent weeks about the troubling trends in our financial markets. the growing use of dark pools and high-frequency trading, increasing market fragmentation and looming potential regulatory gaps in the securities and exchange commission. today i want to talk about an economic threat that encompasses these developments and why i think they are negatively affecting the long-term health of our economy. after suffering through the most severe recession in decades, we are now in the midst of the most fragile of roeufrs. mr. president -- recoveries. mr. president, it's evident to all that we are in a jobs crisis. we need a laser-like focus on innovation policies that encourage industry to create jobs. this challenge comes not just from the fin

. >> senator franken. >> thank you and i want to thank you and chairman leahy in your leadership on thisi want to thank each of our gÑwitnesses for your courage and strength and mr. reading and ms stoiloff for your expertise and professionalism. last month, i introduced a bill joined by my colleague, senator grassley, senator hatch, that would create financial incentives for jurisdiction to process the rate kit backlog to make sure that processing them continues to remain prompt. the truth[sm is,.t thisç, is e issues in congress where we all can agree on the big picture. rape as a heinous crime and we need to provide our law enforcement agencies with everything they need to prevent justice. i want to estimate few questions mr. redding,l;3dnsph,d there as the need for improved infrastructure so dna evidence can be processed as quickly as possible. the national institute of justice study revealed that six out of 10 police departments lacked computerized evidence tracking systems. they rely on paper tracking systems. it is no surprise that when some police department's review their invent

six little mini al frankens going on in districts that don't exist and create 100,000 new jobs, who could find the voters who say we didn't? they'd love it in duluth. they say, thanks for the jobs. this is crazy, this is just kay sy where it's going. i see i've been joined by my friend and colleague from ohio, mr. latourette. this is a report that came out in a newspaper here, the "examiner," inflated jobs by state. it shows drainage ditch number one, i don't know what all these are, but it shows these inflailted job numbers. i would yield to my colleague, mr. latourette from ohio. mr. latourette: i thank my friend for yielding. most people will recognize the united states of america. each of the push pins represents an area where the administration has reported jobs being created or saved and it's kind of interesting, saved is a tough thing to analyze. i'm going to talk about that in just a second, but created or saved. each of those push pins represents either a fictional place that didn't exist, as the gentleman was talking about, or where the jobs that are claimed on recovery.gov were

senator al franken is speaking. and tomorrow president obama is heading to capitol hill. a congressional quarterly reporting that president obama's visit on 2:00 p.m. on sunday could help quell some of the grumbling and dissent from some of the various factions of what is or isn't included in the current versions. the sharpest divisions is how to create a public option that would compete with private insurance plans. the senate will be in session tomorrow at noon eastern. watch live coverage on c-span 2 and c-span.org. >> as the senate continues debating health care, visit c-span's health care hub to read the senate and house versions of the bill. you can also video on demand from the senate and house floors. today on america and the courts, a look at the relationship between the media and supreme court. panelists discuss the nomination of sonia sotomayor. panelists include cnn legal analyst jeffrey tubin and "new york times" reporter adam liptak. america and the courts at 7:00 p.m. eastern here on c-span. house minority whip eric cantor discussed ideas for creating jobs

baucus, leahy, whitehouse, levin, murray, begich, cantwell, pryor, reed of rhode island, kaufman, franken harkin, webb, kirk, and bennet of colorado. mr. reid: madam president, i move to concur on the house amendment with an amendment which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, moves to concur in the house amendment to the senate amendment with amendment number 3248. at the end of the amendment, insert the following. mr. reid: i ask further reading of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. is there a sufficient second? there is. mr. reid: i have an amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 3252 to amendment numbered 3248. mr. reid: madam president, i have a motion to refer with instructions which are at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senato

i note that my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, senators klobuchar, bayh, franken, and lugar from this side of the aisle recently sent a letter in which they said, "independent estimates indicate that this tax could translate into an annual income tax surcharge of between 10% and 30% on medical device manufacturers." think about that. a 10 fo iii to 10% to 30% tax oo are designing things to help us. this was a letter to the chairman of the finance committee. now, i know there are some who argue that lost jobs in the private health care sector will be made up with new jobs in the government, with health care bureaucrats here in washington. wonderful, i say. that is not a good thing. we need jobs in the private sector. that should be our primary goal, and that certainly is what president obama was talking about yesterday when he talked about creating more jobs in the private sector. so, mr. president, in cliewrks i had i've just -- so, mr. president, in conclusion, i've just described three ways in which this legislation through its mandates and new taxes will cripple our abili

franken: thank you, madam president. i rise to express my support for senator mikulski's amendment for women's health. this amendment is crucial because it's about prevention. prevention is one of the key twhais this bill will -- is one of the key ways that this bill will transform our system of sick care into true health care. it's common sense. you get the right screenings at the right time so you find diseases earlier. this savings lives and it saves money. the senate bill already has several provisions for preventive care, which i strongly support. for example, colonoscopies and screening for heart disease will be covered at no cost. this is a good start. the current bill relies solely on the u.s. preventive services task force to determine which services will be covered at no cost. the problem is that several crucial women's health services are omitted. senator mikulski's amendment closes this gap. under her amendment, the health resources and services administration will be able to include other important services