landrieu: thank you. madam president, under the previous agreement that we reached last evening -- and i want to really thank both leaders, senator reid and senator mcconnell who have worked so hard with senator snowe and myself to try to bring our caucuses to conclusion points on this very important bill, the small business investment bill -- small business innovation bill that we have been negotiating now for almost two weeks, and it's a very important program that deserves to be re-authorized. this bill will reauthorize this program for eight years. we've been operating for the last four years six months at a time. madam president, you representing new york, many of your small businesses have accessed this program. many of your universities, to achieve or to acquire or to reach cutting-edge technologies that not only our federal agencies need but taxpayers benefit directly from this program. this program is a job creator. it's an innovative program and it's a job creator. and so, i really appreciate th

landrieu: thank you. i'm going to speech just for two or three minutes in a brief introduction and then turn it over to my colleague from louisiana. and we are both very excited and enthusiastic to present to the senate and to congress work that we really have been -- work that's been underway for almost a year. mr. president, as you know, next week, on april 20 we will be marking the one-year anniversary of the deepwater horizon explosion which killed 11 men. they are still in our thoughts and prayers and their families to this day, injured dozens of others and shocked millions with the explosion that occurred a year ago next wednesday. there are many steps that our nation has to take and must take to respond to that horrific incident, and senator vitter and i are on the floor today to introduce the restore the gulf coast act of 2011 which we believe is one of the most important things that needs to be done in response to this incident. and is frankly, mr. president, long overdue even before this tragedy

once he invited a special dance show because it wasn't like anything outrageous it was a beautiful landrieu style show can you tell us about the presents that mr berlusconi gave. silvio gives presents to all women not to man he has special scarves. and he gives them to women like a memento of visiting berlusconi might be a pin or a ring nothing expensive or a scarf everything is made especially for him so that he can give his own presents . who could benefit from the scandal getting growth going is being attacked by a special media campaign but when you say it's the communists of course it's who else would benefit they want to get rid of him as fast as possible by any means i don't know they might even bring something from the moon and say that berlusconi gets something there what little we need right now. if you would like to watch this interview in full you can do so when i say use you tube channel. four news today violence is once again flared up. these are the images. from the streets of canada. without a live from moscow and turning our attention to siberia where an unprecedented warm

landrieu: i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the -- the leader -- the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, are we in a quorum call? the presiding officer: we are. mr. mcconnell: i ask consent that a quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, just a brief observation about the vote that we just had. i would say to our colleague, the senator from kentucky, senator paul, the issue of the american effort in libya is a legitimate discussion for debate, i think a legitimate issue for debate, that's a debate we need to have, and i will be talking to the majority leader about the appropriate time to do that. a number of senators are talking among themselves on a bipartisan basis about what kind of resolution would be appropriate, and certainly the senate speaking on this issue is something we need to do in the very near future. i yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding offic

chairman landrieu has been so patient in helping us move this forward. in addition, the text of the long-term c.r. has been filed in the house and is available for everyone's review. it's on the internet and people can read it there also. we expect to receive it from the house on thursday. senators are encouraged to come to the floor to debate it tomorrow. senators will be notified when votes are scheduled. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask the following adjourn under the previous order. mr. reid: if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order, following the remarks of senator harkin, which will not exceed 15 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. test. mr. harkin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. harkin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that amy groson, rosy a mano be granted for -- floor privileges for the remainder of today's session. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. harkin: mr. president, there is on

it was something called the "newseum," there is a news clip where mary landrieu is talking about money she just got from congress. anderson cooper put it down and says,you can lk about making deals with politicians, but there are people suffering." it was a very yahoo! tight moment. a senator has to deal with congress set and make relationships. >> he really emerged after the coverage. bless him, months after the storm i love the fact that he ke coming back. he would not leave. he made something happen, which sort of speaks to o topic. he became an advocate for the little guy, the faceless said a socitizen. i feel that in the course of doing that, his brand as run amok. now you do not see the faceless citizen, you see him advocating. he does more good than not. >> i am not totally sure that is bad. one thing i have tried to work across a bunch of different media is that each one does one thing well. no one brings depth and perspective in a way that works on paper or worse on a screen -- writinis the best way to learn something. but television does a hugely better job of connecting us w

president, senators mikulski and murray, senator cantwell and shaheen and stabenow and landrieu. i'm going to really name every single democratic woman. they - have been unbelievable. our republican friends in the house have insisted this debate is about spending. well, i've got to tell you, we went all the way to them about 70% plus on spending cuts. we understand we have to cut, but we're not going to cut foolishly. we're not going to cut into the heart and soul of our country, and that includes women's health programs. women's health programs, mr. president, title 10, planned parenthood funding. for every dollar of taxpayer funds they yield $4, that's how great the prevention is. and, yet, still what do they want to do? you see these two riders. these two votes we have to have until they would allow us to have a vote on keeping the government open. they pounded the table and say we have to have two riders. what was it? was it some big budgetary item that maybe we joaferred looked? was it -- overlooked? was it some move that would say to the taxpayers that aren't paying their t

it was something called the "newseum," there is a news clip where mary landrieu is talking about money she just got from congress. anderson cooper put it down and says, "you can talk about making deals with politicians, but there are people suffering." it was a very yahoo! tight moment. a senator has to deal with congress set and make relationships. >> he really emerged after the coverage. bless him, months after the storm i love the fact that he kept coming back. he would not leave. he made something happen, which sort of speaks to our topic. he became an advocate for the little guy, the faceless said a socitizen. i feel that in the course of doing that, his brand as run amok. now you do not see the faceless citizen, you see him advocating. he does more good than not. >> i am not totally sure that is bad. one thing i have tried to work across a bunch of different media is that each one does one thing well. no one brings depth and perspective in a way that works on paper or worse on a screen -- writing is the best way to learn something. but television does a hugely better job of conne

president, senators mikulski and murray, senator cantwell and shaheen and stabenow and landrieu.i'm going to really name every single democratic woman. they - have been unbelievable. our republican friends in the house have insisted this debate is about spending. well, i've got to tell you, we went all the way to them about 70% plus on spending cuts. we understand we have to cut, but we're not going to cut foolishly. we're not going to cut into the heart and soul of our country, and that includes women's health programs. women's health programs, mr. president, title 10, planned parenthood funding. for every dollar of taxpayer funds they yield $4, that's how great the prevention is. and, yet, still what do they want to do? you see these two riders. these two votes we have to have until they would allow us to have a vote on keeping the government open. they pounded the table and say we have to have two riders. what was it? was it some big budgetary item that maybe we joaferred looked? was it -- overlooked? was it some move that would say to the taxpayers that aren't paying their ta

landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous to -- i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the roll call. ms. landrieu: i ask that we resume consideration of s. 493, set aside the pending amendments that i may call up the following two amendments en bloc. that would be cardin 240 and snowe 253. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from louisiana, ms. landrieu proposes en bloc amendments 240 and 253. ms. landrieu: i ask that the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to 10 minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: i want to thank senator cardin for his patience and senator snowe as we've worked through the last hour or two on their two proposals. both of them have to do with perfecting our contracting programs. while not specific to the sbir program and sttr program, they are very relevant to the work that we do on the small business committee. so i really appreciate all the members that allo

that senator landrieu or her designee be recognized to call the following amendments -- demint number 300, paul 199, carpo 289 a modification which is at the desk, pryor 278, merkley 272, and landrieu 234. the demint second-degree amendment number 300 be agreed to. the time until 2:15 be equally divided between the two leaders or the designees. at 2:15 p.m., the senate proceed to votes in relation to the following amendments in the order listed below -- cornyn 186, paul 199 as amended, hutchison 197, cardin number 240, snowe 253, pryor 289 as modified, pryor number 278, merkley number 272, and landrieu number 234. that there be no amendments in order to the amendment prior to the votes other than the demint second-degree amendment to the paul amendment, that each amendment be subject to a 60-vote threshold and the motions to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table, or that the vitter amendment number 178 and the pryor amendment number 229 be withdrawn. the presiding officer: is there objection? the senator from maine. ms. snowe: reserving the right to object, i have an add

quorum call: -- nor landrieu -- i ask unanimous consent to lift the quorum call. i ask unanimous consent to add senator landrieu as a cosponsor of senate bill 724. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. hutchison: mr. president, that makes 78 now members of the united states senate who are sponsoring this bill for our military. thank you, mr. president. i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: 1:15 -- the presiding officer: senator, we are in a quorum call. mr. blumenthal: i ask that the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. please proceed. mr. blumenthal: i ask unanimous consent, mr. president, that the period for morning business for debate only be extended until 11:15 p.m., with senators permitted for up to ten minutes each, with the majority leader to be recognized at 11:15 p.m. the presiding officer: is there an objection? without objection, so ordered. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. mr. plume that will: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum