patrick leahy of vermont chairs the judiciary committee. this is an hour and 45 minutes. ...

senator sessions. >> thank you, chairman leahy. i am firmly of the view that we are not as a nation investing enough money in the kind of forensic evidence gathering capabilities that can help us reach the best way to fight crime, particularly crime like rape which tends to be repetitive, people tend to be repeat offenders, and i really believe we should do a lot more about that. i am not happy, frankly, with our state and local governments. it's always been frustrating to me that we do, have increases in law enforcement, but not enough for our forensics. and it's not just dna. i mean, there's fingerprints, there's forensics for the guns and firearm cases and all kinds of other scientific evidence that often backlogged leaving cases unsolved and not going forward. even simple drug analysis cases that often delay prosecutions for months, many months simply waiting on a chemist report to determine the substance, the individual had was illegal. so i guess, mr. chairman, i really think that we're on to something that's important. i'd l

leahy: snp? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: madam president, i understand the senator from california needs some time. i will yield her five minutes beginning now. mrs. feinstein: thank you very much, mr. chairman and madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. feinstein: i rise to speak in support of jacqueline nguyen to be a federal district court of california and i'd like to urge her confirmation. judge nguyen is a successful judge with a proven track record. she will be the first vietnamese american on the federal bench. her nomination comes about this way: i have had for a long time a bipartisan judicial selection committee in california to advise me in recommending judicial nominees to the president. the committee gave judge nguyen its unanimous recommendation and then i recommended her to the president for his nomination to the federal district court. i believe she's going to be an excellent federal district court judge in the central district. judge nguyen was born in south vietnam.

. >> thank you chairman leahy, senator sessions, members of the committee. securing our borders in enforcing immigration laws is made top priority for the department, and security. over the past year, we have taken the unprecedented action to achieve our goals and the results have been striking. as part of the southwest border initiative we have added more manpower, technology and resources to the border. wit implemented a southtown strategy to prevent illegal weapons and cash from crossing the border into mexico supporting a large drug cartels there and expanded our partnerships with their federal, state and local wittstock was border and mexico and mexican law-enforcement. compared to last year, seizures and all categories, drugs, smuggle cash, illegal weapons are up dramatically as a result of the southtown strategy. as noted, apprehensions are also at decade lows, down 23% this year, and senator sessions i agree with you, interior and enforcement as part and parcel of immigration enforcement. we have in the last year identified and removed criminal alien

byrd, conrad, dodd, dorgan, feingold, feinstein, harkin, inouye, kerry, kohl, senator lautenberg, leahy, 11, mikulski, murray, reid, and senator specter. i would hope these members would continue to support senator kennedy's amendment from 1995 today. clearly the issue of medical liability reform is even more pressing than it was back in 1995. we, as americans, spend more money on lawsuits than any other country in the world. and more than twice as much as all but one other country. and, according to a recent nonpartisan study, the direct cost of health care lawsuits is around $30 billion a year. that's a direct cost to our health care system is around $30 billion a year. now, these costs are multiplied by indirect costs, especially doctors ordering costly tests out of fear of being stewed. estimated money spent on unneeded tests range frdz dz 100 billion annually to $250 billion a year annually. let me repeat the numbers. in unnecessary tests, the estimates are as high a as $100 billion to $250 billion in unnecessary tests by doctors annually. most of those because of out of fear of la

this was turbot patrick leahy and there was a hearing looking into the hearing last summer. qi]cracksthis has been the centerpiece going against domestic violence against women. it passes the single achievement and i am glad to say senator kaufman from delaware because his predecessor who now has another job in government, joe biden, was of course instrumental in passing of vawa. the landmark walk filled a void. to many victims -- too many victims. it had strong bipartisan support. i would compliment senator biden and senator orrin hatch, who were chairman and ranking member respectively who works so hard to get this passed. of a fort to working with members of the committee and -- i look forward to working with members of the committee. the victim of service providers. most importantly,ht the women ad families who were threatened with violence. we have an extraordinary panel with us. first will be catherine pierce. see is the acting director at the justice department. of course karen tronsgrard- scott, who i've known for many years. she is the leader in for montan vermont. i mention

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. mr. bennett of utah, no. this is a hutchinson,no. mr. cochran,no. mr. bennett of colorado,aye. [no audio] mr. sessions,no. [no audio] [no audio] [no audio] [applause] mr. sanders -- [laughter] >>yes? >> mr. sanders, aye. mr. shelby -- no. [no audio] [no audio] >> and the other senators wishing to go toward change their vote? the amendmen

madam secretary. >> thank you chairman leahy, senator sessions, members of the committee.securing our borders in enforcing immigration laws is made top priority for the department, and security. over the past year, we have taken the unprecedented action to achieve our goals and the results have been striking. as part of the southwest border initiative we have added more manpower, technology and resources to the border. wit implemented a southtown strategy to prevent illegal weapons and cash from crossing the border into mexico supporting a large drug cartels there and expanded our partnerships with their federal, state and local wittstock was border and mexico and mexican law-enforcement. compared to last year, seizures and all categories, drugs, smuggle cash, illegal weapons are up dramatically as a result of the southtown strategy. as noted, apprehensions are also at decade lows, down 23% this year, and senator sessions i agree with you, interior and enforcement as part and parcel of immigration enforcement. we have in the last year identified and removed criminal aliens

senator leahy's amendment gives us the opportunity to further the american ideal of competition. and help working people in the process. i urge my colleagues, on both sides of the aisle, to bring this amendment up for a vote and a vote to repeal antitrust exemption. this issue is just too important for us to wait any longer. thank you, madam president, and i yield back the remainder of my time. thank you. a senator: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from arizona. mr. mccain: madam president, i -- i rise to speak on the bill -- the pending bill before us. one of the great pork barrel earmark-billed pieces of legislation that i seen come before this body. i'd like to quote from abc news by jonathan carl and def inn -- devin pryor, this is the season of pork, i quote -- "before returning to their -- excuse me. "just weeks before returning to their districts for christmas, congress is poised to give the gift of pork, roughly $4 billion of it. more than 5,000 earmarks were included in the $447 billion omnibus bill, funding pet projects of key members of congress from

[laughter] i was really disappointed in sherman leahy. i wish that his opening statement to judge sotomayor had gone like this. judge sotomayor, we have got the votes to confirm you no matter what you say, so tell us the truth. [laughter] but, instead, you get the absurd, the ability to block, as if that is a statement about something. what is law that you have that fidelity to? or roberts, the job of the supreme court justice is just like an umpire in baseball. i assumed roberts knows the american league and the national league have different strike zones. [laughter] and that it isn't a strike until i call it a strike. you know, there is, you bring something to being a supreme court justice. what robert springs, what alito brings his experience in the reagan justice department and their catholocism. if you can combine to things, the catholic religion and conservatism, you get somebody who will not vary on the key issues that republicans care about at the supreme court, first and foremost abortion and to a lesser extent now race. and that

. >> thank you chairman leahy, senator sessions, members of the committee.securing our borders in enforcing immigration laws is made top priority for the department, and security. over the past year, we have taken the unprecedented action to achieve our goals and the results have been striking. as part of the southwest border initiative we have added more manpower, technology and resources to the border. wit implemented a southtown strategy to prevent illegal weapons and cash from crossing the border into mexico supporting a large drug cartels there and expanded our partnerships with their federal, state and local wittstock was border and mexico and mexican law-enforcement. compared to last year, seizures and all categories, drugs, smuggle cash, illegal weapons are up dramatically as a result of the southtown strategy. as noted, apprehensions are also at decade lows, down 23% this year, and senator sessions i agree with you, interior and enforcement as part and parcel of immigration enforcement. we have in the last year identified and removed criminal aliens

leahy: mr. president, division f of the omnibus provides funding for the state department foreign operations and related programs. provides $48.8 billion discretionary funding, funding, $3.3 billion decrease from the president's budget request. $1.8 billion below the fiscal year level. the -- one of the reasons why the president has said that he would fund these programs on budget, not through supplemental gimmicks, and i agree with him on that. now, some senators made speeches about earmarks even though, of course, a lot of the earmarks have been requested by some who make the same speeches against them. i just want you to know that my budget, my appropriation, the state foreign operations conference, does not contain any earmarks, as defined by the appropriations committee. we fund many programs that are priorities for both democrats and republicans alike, including assistance for countries like afghanistan, pakistan, and iraq, long-standing allies like egypt, jordan der, -- jordan, israel, an

i along with senators leahy, klobuchar, schumer. again this provision benefits not just delawareans but all americans. the national health care antitrust association conservativively estimates that 3% of all health care spending, some $72 billion, is lost to health care fraud in both public and private health care plans. $72 billion lost in health care fraud in both public and private health care plans. other estimates place the figure as high as 10%, over over $220 billion. fraud hits every one of us in every corner of our nation where we can least afford it, our health care premiums, while simultaneously driving down the quality of and our trust in our health care system. this amendment increases funding to fighting fraud in public programs. it improves screening of providers and suppliers and requires implementation of meaningful compliance programs. this section tightens requirements for claim submissions and provides new tools to deter fraud and abuse in the private insurance market. it also strengthens criminal investigations

. >> thank you, chairman leahy. i have firmly of the view that we are not, as a nation, investing enough money into the kind of forensic evidence gathering capabilities that can help us reach the best way to fight crime, particularly crime like rape which tends to be reeb pet tiff. people tend to be repeat offenders and i really believe we should do a lot more about that. i am not happy frankly with the state and local governments. it has always been frustrating to me that we have increases in law enforcement, but not enough for forensics, and just not just d.n. a. i mean, there is fingerprints. there is forensics for the guns and firearms cases an all kinds of other scientific evidence and all this backlog leaving cases unsolved and not going forward, even simple drug analysis cases that often delay prosecutions for months, many months, simply waiting on a chemist's report to determine the substance the individual had was illegal, so i guess, mr. chairman, i really think that we are on to something that is importan

leahy: while you have your agreement on this, is there any possibility knowing that those traveling in the midwest are going to face horrendous problems, we'd have that vote this evening? it will affect a lot of senators, republicans and democrat alike, who have to fly through the midwest to get where they're going. the presiding officer: regular order has been asked for. there are now two minutes equally divided prior to a vote on the motion to table the appeal of the ruling of the chair. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, upon passage of the honest leadership -- mr. baucus: mr. president, the senate is not in order. the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, upon passage of the honest leadership and open government act the majority leader said and i quote -- "i believe last november americans asked us to make government honest. we have done that. this is the toughest reform bill in the history of this body as it relates to ethics and lawmaking. mr. president, t

leahy: madam president, have the yeas and nays been requested on this nomination? the presiding officer: they have not. mr. leahy: i request the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the question is on the nomination of jacqueline nguyen to be united states district judge. the clerk will call the roll. vote: test test test test test vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any senators in the chamber wishing to vote or change their vote? if not, the ayes are 97, the nays are zero. the nomination is confirmed. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid upon the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate's action, and the senate will resume legislative session. under the previous order, the senate will stand in recess until 2:15 p.m. it also costs more than $200 billion less than the house bill. we expect debate and votes on amendments throughout the week as health care dominates the floor proceedings this month. follow live senate coverage as members debat

that's why senato senator klobud i and leahy, kohl, and harkin, enforced 2792. ms. klobuchar: what i like about this amendment is that it will increase our protection of help for americans in the -- we decided that people shouldn't be thrown off of health insurance by preexisting condition. the way that we make sure that the funds are there to help peep sl by doing things like increasing the tools that we need to prosecute these kinds of cases. these criminals scheme the system to rob the american taxpayers of money that should be used to provide health care to those that need it most. we must put a stop to this and we are doing with this amendment. it provides straightforward, but critical improvements to the federal sentencing guidelines, to health care fraud statutes to for fit iewrks money laundering, obstruction statutes, would strengthen the prosecutor's ability to combat health care fraud. as a prosecutor, when we had these type of cases, every tool you you could use to push someone to plead guilty to make sure that you could get the maximum sentence that you

. >> thank you, chairman leahy. i am firmly of the view that we are not as a nation investing enough money into the kind of forensic evidence gathering capability that can help us reach the best way to fight crime, particularly crime like rape which is repetitive, people tend to be repeat offenders and i believe we should do a lot more about that. i'm not happy with our state and local governments. it's always been frustrating to me that we do -- have increases in law enforcement for this and that, but not enough for forensics. and it's just not d.n.a., there's fingerprints and forensics for the guns and firearm cases and all other scientific evidence that often backlog and don't go forward. even simple drug analysis cases that often delay prosecution for months, many months simply waiting on a chem is report to determine if the substance that the individual had was illegal. .

. >> senator leahy is always working to be effective in helping his constituents and there are some problems with this farmworkers' policy that we have. let me just say fundamentally what i think we have a problem with andre the last two proposals of comprehensive reform it basically allowed people to come to work temporarily for three years to bring their family and read up again. that is clearly not a strategy that would be effective in the sense that they -- it has no real potential to see them return home. they put down roots children start going to school than -- if we are going to have the agricultural program i think it clearly has to be on a temporary basis where if a person wants to come for a season or in the case of garrey maybe they would have people that work in months in that fashion but the idea that we would call a temporary worker program and program in which people come from multiple years with their families with the ability to extend is an immigration policy and puts us in a very difficult position. so many tough questions on these immigration issues but that is one of th

exemption, for those who are not familiar, is a proposal, the lead sponsor of it is senator patrick leahy, a judiciary chairman from vermont. it would repeal an anti-trust exemption the insurance industry has enjoyed for i think for decades. there is a lot of support for that in the senate actually -- a co-sponsor on the bill said he would like to have seen it on the bill. although he did not included in the base bill that he unveiled in late november. the regent -- reason why is among the moderates, specifically nebraska's ben nelson, there is not the support for it. senator ben nelson was, in addition to being nebraska's governor he was the state insurance commissioner and he kind of brings back perspective on the table. because his book is so critical to democrats getting sick devotes and getting it through the senate it seems unlikely there would be this support to put back in just from a practical standpoint because that would lose a critical vote that they do in fact made. just from a procedural standpoint, that passed the point in the senate debate where they are able to take her w

boxer, senator casey, senator conrad, senator feingold, senator inouye, senator klobuchar, senator leahy, senator lincoln, senator mccaskill, senator sanders, senator snowe, senator stabenow, senator thune, senator bingaman, senator brown, senator collins, senator durbin, senator grassley, stphorb johnson -- senator johnson, senator kerry, senator kohl, senator levin, senator johnson, senator shaheen, senator specter, senator tester. widespread bipartisan support for legislation which says let's end the absurdity of the american people having to pay substantially more for the same exact medicine that is sold in other countries around the world. let me just take a look at some of these charts. to begin with, we all understand that when you deal with the drug companies in the pharmaceutical industry, you are dealing with some of the most powerful lobbyists and forces right here in washington, d.c. these people spend huge amounts of money on campaign contributions, huge amounts of money in lobbying. just recently in order to make sure that they got in under the wire, in case there was some

earlier this month i introduced along with senators leahy, specter, kohl, schumer and klobuchar an amendment that would protect our increased national investment in the health of americans by improving fraud enforcement. everyone believes in fraud enforcement, and this amendment does that. it's no secret that fraud represents one of the fastest-growing and most costly forms of crime in america today. in no small part our current economic crisis can be linked to financial fraud starting with unchecked mortgage fraud generated by loan originators, through securities fraud that hastened the eventual market crash and maximized its impact on main street and average american investors. in response, this body passed the fraud enforcement recovery act,fera which directed critical tools to antifraud efforts. fear was passed in response to an unprecedented financial crisis, but americans should expect congress to do more than simply react to crises after their most destructive impacts have been felt. we owe it to our constituents to identify and address problems when they arise so that we can prevent

, boxer, byrd, conrad, dodd, dorgan, feingold, feinstein, harkin, inouye, kerry, kohl, lautenberg, leahy, levin, mikulski, murray, reid, and specter. all 21 of these senators voted for caps on attorneys' fees. that would at least do something. that would help get the ball rolling on medical liability reform, but the same thing that they've done with medicare, saying that they are going to keep medicare savings in medicare, that they haven't done, not real. nor gregg has a real amendment to fix that. i have a real amendment to fix the medical liability reform that hopefully will be voted on later as well, but at least let's go for a little bit of a compromise right now. mrs. hutchison: will the senator from nevada yield? mr. ensign: i will be happy to yield. mrs. hutchison: i have real statistics. we hear the other side saying we're going to lower the cost. that's what health care reform is about, lowering the cost of health care reform so -- health care so more people will have access to affordable options, and yet the main one that is clearly available is medical malpractice reform, tor

. >> thank you and i want to thank you and chairman leahy in your leadership on this issue.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 inventories,

. >> thank you, chairman leahy. i have firmly of the view that we are not, as a nation, investing enough money into the kind of forensic evidence gathering capabilities that can help us reach the best way to fight crime, particularly crime like rape which tends to be reeb pet tiff. people tend to be repeat offenders and i really believe we should do a lot more about that. i am not happy frankly with the state and local governments. it has always been frustrating to me that we have increases in law enforcement, but not enough for forensics, and just not just d.n. a. i mean, there is fingerprints. there is forensics for the guns and firearms cases an all kinds of other scientific evidence and all this backlog leaving cases unsolved and not going forward, even simple drug analysis cases that often delay prosecutions for months, many months, simply waiting on a chemist's report to determine the substance the individual had was illegal, so i guess, mr. chairman, i really think that we are on to something that is importan

appropriations act for fiscal year 2010, signed by 17 senators as follows: inouye, reid of nevada, 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 instruction

be 60 minutes of debate with respect to the nomination, time equally divided and controlled between leahy and session ors designees, on the use of debrissing back to time, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table, no further motions be in order, the president be immediately notified of the senate's action and the senate resume legislative action. the presiding officer: is there objection? mr. mcconnell: reserving the right to object. i want to be sure that the senator is aware, that the subs treat amendment will be -- substitute amendment will be limited to an actual amount when it is offered. mr. reid: that's right. and if there's any amendments here that would pass, it would be be a part of it. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: reserving the right to object. i wonder why under that consent is propounded whether the secondary amendments would be in order to the orders on that list? mr. reid: no. mr. baucus: i suggest the absence of a -- i do not object. the presiding officer: hearing no objection, so ordered. the republican leader

affordability care act, signed by 17 senators as follows -- reid of nevada, dodd, udall of colorado, leahy, akaka, durbin, brown, shaheen, kerry, reed of rhode island, harkin, whitehouse, gillibrand, merkley, lieberman, boxer, and stabenow. mr. reid: i now withdraw that motion. the presiding officer: motion is withdrawn. mr. reid: i now move to recess until 10:01 a.m. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, parliamentary inquiry. the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: before we proceed to the vote, i'd just like to make a parliamentary inquiry. i believe it is the case that a simple motion to recess or adjourn is not amendable. is that correct? the presiding officer: the republican leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: further inquiry, i also believe that a motion to recess or adjourning to a time certain is amendable with time changes. the presiding officer: the republican leader is correct. mr. mcconnell: i'll not offer an amendment to change the time to convene until later tomorrow, but just so everybody will know with regard to their own personal schedules, you know, this vote