klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i'm pleased that my colleague from louisiana, senator landrieu, who has spoken many times in the past about the importance of fair judges and strong judges, and i'm pleased that she's here today to discuss this nominee. ms. landrieu: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i thank my colleague for her passionate remarks about this particular nominee, and i'm happy to join many of my colleagues in supporting a woman that i consider to be really an extraordinarily accomplished woman, and commend president obama for his selection. as the senate judiciary committee prepares for its confirmation hearing, i wanted to come to the floor to express my strong support for this nominee. as we all know, the supreme court

klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i'm proud to stand here today with senator chambliss, the senator from georgia, in speaking out in favor of our bill to bring food safety to this country. it's interesting that we are introducing this bill together because, of course, this latest outbreak that got so much attention nationally with the peanut corporation of america started in georgia. no one knew that at the time as people got sick across the country. and it really ended in minnesota, where after three deaths in my own state, it was the minnesota department of health and it was the university of minnesota working together that once again solved the problem, figured out where the salmonella was coming from. our democratic senator from georgia and the senator from minnesota

klobuchar: madam president, i ask that the quorum call vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. klobuchar: madam president, during these tough economic times, american families expect and deserve that we will do everything we can to get the economy moving again. and of course, that involves investing in our country, investing in our infrastructure, involves getting our financial system in order, involves getting the credit moving again. but we should not forget that one out of eight americans is employed in the travel industry. i chair the subcommittee of commerce that deals with tourism issues and i've cosponsored the bipartisan legislation to bring new visitors and new spending and new jobs to the united states. i want to thank senator byron dorgan for his leadership and hard work on this bill and i also want to thank senator ensign for his leadership. i spoke last week when we first started talking about this bill about the importance of the tourism and travel industry to our economy. tourism creates good jobs that can't be outsou

brady >> no. >> miss klobuchar?>> no, i don't. >> i think miss klobuchar pretty much summarized it. it's good to hear some news not going in the negative direction. you've given us is few things to feel a bit optimistic about and hopefully when we see you next month, we'll have even better news. but thank you very much. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] >> the nation's payroll contracted last month. the unemployment rate rose to 9.4%. the highest jobless rate in almost 26 years. though these numbers are tough, they also -- they're also much more than numbers. behind every one of these job losses is a family, an individual who -- community that's trying to make a through the deepest recession in a decade. and are hurt. hurt badly by it. but there's also some signs of hope today. analysts as you know and many have reported had expected that we would lose more than 500,000 jobs in may. instead, we lost 345,000. jobs. nearly a third fewer than were expected. that's the lowest number of job losses since the past se

brady >> no. >> miss klobuchar? >> no, i don't. >> i think miss klobuchar pretty much summarized it. it's good to hear some news not going in the negative direction. you've given us is few things to feel a bit optimistic about and hopefully when we see you next month, we'll have even better news. but thank you very much. >> thank you. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] >> and as this hearing comes to a close on this friday from the associated press, new government numbers show the unemployment rate jumping to 9.4%, the highest level in more than 25 years. but the labor department also notes that the pace of layoffs is easing with employers cutting 345,000 jobs last month. that's the fewest since september. >> president obama is continuing his overseas trip today. earlier he held a joint news conference with german chancellor angela merkel in dresden. they spoke about relations between the two countries. the president now heads to paris and normandy, france. he'll wrap up his trip with remarks at the

brady >> no. >> miss klobuchar? >> no, i don't. >> i think miss klobuchar pretty much summarized it. it's good to hear some news not going in the negative direction. you've given us is few things to feel a bit optimistic about and hopefully when we see you next month, we'll have even better news. but thank you very much. >> thank you. [captioning performed by national captioning institute] [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] >> later, vice president biden commented on the labor department's job numbers from the white house. >> this morning, we received another reminder of the challenges facing working families. the nation's payroll contracted again last month. 345,000 jobs in the unemployment rate rose to 9.4%. the highest jobless rate in almost 26 years. although these numbers are tough, they also -- they are also much more than numbers. it is a community trying to make it to the deepest recession in a decade. they are hurt badly by it. there are also some signs of hope today in the report. and

klobuchar: of 10,000 lakes. nevada in nevada we don't have five lakes. okay? but, i would love to come and spend some time in minnesota. it's a wonderful tourist destination. in the winter as cold as it is, a lot of great things to do. and in the summer. and as senator dorgan mentioned, we should be promoted our country. so that people like you may have had a father-in-law from duluth or minneapolis or wherever could go visit and have a good time being a tourist. and it is the same in nevada. as i mentioned, new hampshire, illinois. every state in the union is heavily dependent on tourism and the republicans don't seem to much care. this bill is probably finished for the year. and that means 40,000 less jobs. it means this country will go in the red more for not having things -- to stimulating economy and provide money like this. so i just appreciate very much the subcommittee and the committee getting this bill on the floor to -- we thought we would have this love fest because this bill helps every state in the union. it helps every state in the union create

klobuchar: well, thank you very much, mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i ask for recognized? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. ms. klobuchar: i want to thank my colleague, senator shaheen, for her remarks and for her reminiscence of meeting with the judge and her -- once again, the judge showing i was saying that this nominee would bring more federal judicial experience to the supreme court in any justice in 100 years. i notice my exchange in the airport with one person who wondered if she was a worthy of this position and apply the facts and the law. when you look at the experience that she brings, and you compared to any of these other nominees on the supreme court, she stands out. she stands out because of her unique background. she overcame obstacles to get here. she stands out because of her experience. all those years as a prosecutor and federal judge. that makes a difference. amount to a just one other point that has been made about her as her capacity as a judge. i

klobuchar: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from minnesota. cloib cloi i want to -- ms. klobuchar: i want to thank the senator from kansas, and i know that senators feinstein, boxer, and murray will speak -- may have already and will in the next few weeks on this nominee as will many of my colleagues, but i really appreciate this, mr. president. we're very excited for this upcoming hearing and we're glad to be here as ambassadors of truth. thank you, mr. president. i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kansas. a senator: thank you very much. i believe under a previous agreement i have time allotted at the present time. is that correct, if i could inquire of the chair? the presiding officer: the senator may be recognized under cloture. mr. brownback: thank you very much, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to discuss the nomination of judge sonia sotomayor to the united states supreme court. i've had the opportunity to meet with judge sotomayor two weeks ago. i was in the senate when she was

i happen to agree with senator klobuchar. i think it is important that at least one of the nine supreme court justices have that experience. it is a trial judge's out of the day in and day out must apply the legal principles enunciated in supreme court opinions perrin. she also served five years as a local prosecutor and practice law for seven years as a trial attorney with the law firm baron judge sotomayor because of poor experience will be ever mindful of the the need to provide those in the courtroom with clear and practical decisions and more important she will understand how supreme court opinions affect real human beings. as a trial judge, judge sotomayor every day directly based innocent victims of crime from a vicious perpetrators of crime and occasionally an the wrongfully accused. two directly face injured parties seeking silber dress and as a man have made honest mistakes. she had to answer what is the right verdict. what is the right length of incarceration? what is the right level of damages? these are not easy

kent: senators mccaskill, klobuchar, whitehouse, udall, shaheen, kaufman, martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns and risch. the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the resolution on will meet at a time to be determined. the presiding officer: the senate will take proper order and notify the house of representatives and counsel for judge kent. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask in an orderly fashion that senators approach the desk for signing of the resolution. of the impeachment before they leave the chamber. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call : quorum call:

klobuchar: mr. president, i'll be joined on the floor today by some of my fellow women senators to talk about the president's nominee for the supreme court. i will note that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle came to the floor yesterday to, as one news report described it "kickoff their campaign" against her. so we want to take this opportunity to get the facts out, to correct any miscon exceptions, the supreme court confirmation hearings for judge sotomayor will begin on july 13. my consideration of her will not begin then. i began considering her the day she was announced, because of my membership on the judiciary committee, i wanted to learn as much as i can about this nominee. even though there are many questions that will be asked and many areas that we will want to focus on, i'd like to speak today about how judge solomon your appears to me at based on my initial review. after meeting with her and learning about her, i am very positive about the nomination. she knows the cons

i've been working with senator blanch lincoln of arkansas, senator snowe of maine, senator klobuchar of minnesota, to come up with a plan so that the small business owners will be able to afford health insurance. and i'm happy to say that at least at this moment in time there's an indication the finance committee is considering our bill as part of their overall work product. just as important as keeping your health plan, if you like it, if you're a small business owner, you find your health premiums have increased 200% because you have one sick employee or one sick baby born to one of the families of your employees, we want to make sure you're no longer subject to those unfair practices of raising premiums for that kind of situation. in today's system at the end of the contract small businesses are really at the mercy of insurance companies who are in it for profit. earlier this week, i talked about a small business man in springfield, my hometown, who in the span of just a few years have seen his insurance premiums increase by 500% though he's never turned in a claim. he's been forc

the good news is that he has in the klobuchar by his side. i want to thank her for her efforts. i would say this. -- not want to be very careful about offering advice. a lot of what i thought was important -- i think al franken will see the same thing. the customer service aspect, the citizen service aspect. there might be issues to discuss, but helping that mother getting her kid in the middle of a war zone is a pretty big deal. helping a veteran with some work or challenges with the irs. my hope would be that he understands, as i have understood in my public career, the customer service part is really fundamental. we're in the business of taking care of people's problems in meeting their needs. >> and do you think that all franken received the highest number of legally counted votes? >> i believe that the supreme court of minnesota has spoken and we have a united states and interpreted it is time to move forward. >> did you feel the need to hold back the tide of the 60 vote margin for democrats? >> i have not talked to anybody at the national level. i never felt that responsib

chairman. >> senator klobuchar? >> thank you very much, mr. chairman. mr. genachowski, i mentioned i want to talk about one bill that i introduced. i don't want to spend much time on that. but i want your commitment that you're willing to work on us just estimates 90% of broadband installation is digging up the roads and if we can do it at the same time we have an open road because of federal highway projects we could save a lot of money. >> yes, senator. i'd love for the fcc to be a resource for you and senator warner in this idea and others. we're thinking about the communications infrastructure for the country for, you know, the next several decades. and some of it is a real infrastructure issue. and if we can deliver the best bang for the bucks for taxpayers by laying broadband lines at the same time that we're building highways i don't see why we'd want to explore that. >> another quick area is the e911 area. i'm the cochair of the e-911 caucus. the good -- when we had our bridge collapse in our area right in the metropolitan area had done a very good

my colleague from minnesota is here, senator klobuchar, who has

klobuchar: mr. president, i'm here to speak in support of the travel promotion act. i first want to thank the senatosenatordorgan, the senatoh dakota. i have visited the teddy roosevelt park. and i want to thank him for his great leadership on this bill over many years. i also want to thank senator ensign for his leadership. i believe this legislation will help our economy to do better to create jobs without any taxpayer expense. as the chair of the commerce subcommittee that is includes tourism, i recently held a hearing, a well-attended hearing with many senators and people there to examine the state of our tourism industry during these troubled economic times. i want to thank my ranking republican, senator martinez. we did it together. and i also held a field hearing in duluth, minnesota, to highlight the importance of tourism to mid-sized and smaller towns in the united states. during the hearings, we heard the importance of tourism and travel to our economy and the urgent need to increase international travel to the united states. as you know coming from colorad

. >> thank you, senator klobuchar?ank you so much, chairman dorgan, for chairing this and to our witnesses, many of whom, mr. rosenker and i worked extensively on the 35w bridge collapse and mr. scoval, thank you. i was ironically working at the beginning of this hearing having to get a speech done in honor of paul wellstone he and his wife are getting a big award from a mental health association and i had crossed off about the part of their tragic plane accident. as i sat here then listening i flipped over to what we were doing here thinking about that their plane went down. it was a private plane because of icy conditions as well as pilot issues that were not dissimilar to this with training and things like that. so it hit home to me. my colleagues have done a great job of asking some good questions in the areas of fatigue and icing and other things so i thought i would follow-up with some of these ideas i'm trying to get at with the clear problem with the issues and training issues with these pilots. and one of the

>> of course, can i senator klobuchar. >> thank you mr. chairman for having this hearing. the tragedy of the colgan air flight brought this into the public eye and i can tell you for the senator has his personal story and for me it was eerily reminiscent of the crash of paul wellstone is plain. as he knows the senator from minnesota law that was a private plan, the issues were eyes, the issues were pilot training and the issues were fatigue. so when i hear all of this from our hearing last week of under paid pilots, pilots that are tired, and pilots that are turning and of money it reminds me very much of that. in addition to that here you have a factor of pilots living far from their base is leading to long commutes and a lot of time spent waiting in the airports. i know there have been some questions about 58, but i have a question about the reimbursement for hotel rooms in the evenings. i know that some of the larger airlines pay for hotel, so that the pilots in its sleep before ships. and regional carriers, are they doing the same thing? can i senator klobuchar, when p

senator klobuchar? >> thank you very much. i'll be brief here.i just wanted to make one point that i had heard from some of my colleagues here about being uncomfortable because of this unique situation and i just want all the witnesses to know we had hearings like this before that don't involve companies that have received government funds. we had hearings about -- i was thinking back, we had one on the newspaper industry and how we can try to figure out if there is changes to the laws to help them. we had hearings on the delta northwest merger hearings on pro sports player and their pensions, so i just wanted to say to the chairman, i don't think it is uncomfortable to be talking about this. we would rather not. we would rather not be here now, but our job as a commerce committee is to deal with people's jobs and companies and the livelihoods of people. so i just wanted to make that point because people have kept saying about their level of discomfort. this is what we're supposed to be doing. and along those lines, my focus here are on -- i ment

shaheen: madam president, yesterday, along with senators boxer, senator klobuchar and 43 other senators, i introduced senate resolution 187, a resolution condemning the use of violence against providers of reproductive health care services to women. and expressing sympathy for the family, friends and patients of dr. george tiller. unfortunately, the murder of dr. tiller was not an isolated incident. our country has a history of violence against reproductive health care providers. since 1993, eight clinic workers have been murdered and there have been hundreds of additional attempted murders, bombings, death threats, and kidnappings. since 1977, there have been more than 5,800 -- 5,800 -- reported acts of violence against providers and clinics. my own state has been touched by such acts of violence. in december 1994, a man from new hampshire killed two workers at clinics in massachusetts, including a nurse from salem, new hampshire. almost nine years ago, the feminist health center in concord, new hampshire, was burned in an arson attack. these acts of violence are just not acceptable. n

klobuchar for five minutes. >> thank you. good to see you again, commissioner hall. i think when we were talking last month at this hearing you had went through the statistics and increases and indicated that we would continue to see this on employment and one of the things i want to clarify on congressman braley questions is the fact i think since the start of the recession we lost something like 7 million people have lost their jobs. when will you marked the start of this recession, this economic crisis? >> obviously the mbr was chosen by the start of the recession that also coincided with the first payroll job loss. so that's been a pretty good indicator for the recession. >> so december 07 was an entire year before president obama took office; is that correct? >> that is correct. >> we are at 9.4% unemployment rate. just we talked about last month these are real people who've lost their jobs. i mentioned to you stories last time and i think we have to remember this when we use these statistics. i heard this from a woman in minnesota who works to provide residenti

. >> host: senator klobuchar, a democrat from minnesota, was also there. she talked about interoperability with julius genachowski. >> the cochair of the caucus, a former prosecutor. i did that for years and saw first-hand some of these interoperability issues. when we had a bridge collapse and had done a very good job of interoperability because of our shariff and others and then i have seen difficulties in the past and some of our rural areas with that and it seems to me that is just one of the areas of our nation's information for infrastructure, that may continue to luby's, absent some federal action and federal involvements in terms of making our emergency services more interval. is it in trouble? that is a trick question. interoperable? i think that is something you'd be willing to work on. >> very much so. my wife and i were not very far from the world trade center on 9/11. most of my family was in either new york or washington. none of us should be satisfied with where we are on public safety. chairman rockefeller and others on this committee have

. >> senator klobuchar. >> i was going through some of the cases and the concerns that they had and i think a misplaced argument about politization and as you were talking i was thinking what was the most high profile case you have dismissed, white collar cases since you came into office. what would you say that is. >> i'd probably say it was the senator stevens -- >> that would be correct, yes. the republican senator and i was also thinking about a decision you made early on to allow the republican appointed u.s. attorneys to stay in place until new u.s. attorneys was appointed. was that the policies until bush came into office of allowing the previous u.s. attorneys to stay on for a length of time? >> to be honest, i don't know what exactly the policy was. the concern that we had, though, was to maintain continuity in the u.s. attorney's offices and to leave in place those people who were doing a good job. there's been turnover but we have not pushed anybody out. we are starting now to get our nominees before this committee and hope to have them confirmed and in place relatively soo

>> senator klobuchar, when pilots are on duty the minute they check in, their hotel costs on duty are paid for 100% by the company your they also receive a per diem, travel per diem for the same mainline in regional. there is no distinction between the way those policies are done between major airlines and the regional airline's. >> anyone else have something to add on that? >> i would say there is a fair amount of difference, but i think wha what you are going asa pilot getting adequate rest and a place to get adequate rest before he or she begins his first trip out of whatever, so they have been assigned to. and the answer is quite simply know, they are not provided by the airline's. >> so what they do is they fly to start their first trip from somewhere, and there may not be a way for them to get reimbursed for a flight, for a hotel than because it's not in between flights. >> bright. >> was that the case here? because i know she was spending the day in the airport. >> i seriously doubt whether -- in fact, i can say without a doubt they were not given a place to get adequate rest w

i'm proud of senator klobuchar's work on this and i want to thank every democrat in this senate who said "yes," this resolution is worthy of debate and worthy of a vote. i thank you very much and i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. carper: madam president, thank you very much. i want to take the floor for a few minutes to draw the tans ofe attention of my colleagues, the 75th birthday not of a member of the house or senate but the national archives records and administration, 75 years old this year. colleagues may recall the reception we held at the archiving during the orientation for new senators and their spouses back in november, as it turns out -- it was a small group of people able to witness and to visually see and read some of the most famous historic documents in our nation's history, but over a million americans come every year, visitors from all over the world come each year to visit the archives which serves as custodian of some of our country's most precious and historic records and documents. they have been doing this for something like

. >> senator klobuchar, thank you. senator from? >> thank you mr. chairman and gentlemen appearing before us today. i just want to follow-up with mr. rosenker if i can be read in your testimony the back pilot of coal and air 1407u quote the captain had a history of faa disapproval involving flight checks before his employment with colgan to read the captain didn't pass flight test in october 1991 and the commercial pilot's certificate may of 2002 and the multi injun certificate in april, 2004. in each case with additional training the captain subsequently passed the test and was issued a certificate. now i recognize that not every pilot is going to pass various flight tests on the first attempt. my question is what is the general pass failed percentage when it comes to instrument flight ratings, a commercial pilot certificates and multi engine certificates? >> i can't give you the specific. perhaps the administrator would have a better idea but before i turn over to the administrator if that's okay with you, one issue we are concerned about is the c

. >> host: senator klobuchar, democrat of minnesota, was also there.she talked about interoperability with julius genachowski. >> co-chair of the 9/11 caucus, i'm a former prosecutor, i saw firsthand some of these interoperability issues, the good when we had our bridge collapse, an area in the metropolitan area did a good job of interoperability, and then i've seen difficulties in some of our rural areas with that, and it seems to me that's just one of the areas of our nation's information infrastructure that may continue to elude us absent some federal action and federal involvement in terms of making our emergency services more interbl. is it interbl? that's a trick question. [laughter] interoperable. do you think that's something you would be willing to work on? >> very much so. my wife and i were not very far from the world trade center on 9/11, most of my family was in either new york or washington. none of us should be satisfied with where we are on public safety. chairman rockefeller, who stepped out, others on this committee have been leaders

senator klobuchar. >> thank you for being here and your family. i also have warm words. i remember being down there twice now to south carolina and were very gracious. i had quite an expense down there at the fish fry that i will never forget and you are certainly a gracious host. thank you very much. you and i have talked already about the toy safety and the children products bill that was so important to me. we had a four year old boy died from swallowing a ledge are. he did know it was led. mom didn't know it would let. when he died, after the lead going into his bloodstream it was tested as 99% lead. it was from china. and that's what i felt so strongly about getting this bill done. i was pleased we got it done and pass on a bipartisan basis. but as i look back on how some of these problems which i feel very deeply in my stately, we have two of the biggest domestic manufacturers of atvs and minnesota employers and arctic cat. when i look back at it i think, one, it would have been good to have had a more collegial relationship with the agency in terms of working toge

klobuchar: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. ms. klobuchar: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. ms. klobuchar: mr. president, i'll be joined on the floor today by some of my fellow women senators to talk about the president's nominee for the supreme court. i will note that some of my colleagues on the other side of the aisle came to the floor yesterday to, as one news report described it "kickoff their campaign" against her. so we want to take this opportunity to get the facts out, to correct any miscon exceptions,