leahy: wouldn't have to give the full amount -- mrs. boxer: it's a tax write-off to give to charity. all i'm saying is that's certainly another option if my friend wanted to change it. i just think it's simple. it's simple. we just want to be treated the same as other federal employees, and that's how i've structured it. i spoke about this this morning. i offered -- i wrote this amendment with the support of senators casey, manchin, nelson of nebraska, bennet, warner, wyden, coons, stabenow, merkley and rockefeller. i think there's a growing consensus that we want to avoid a shutdown at any cost, and i'm hoping that we will avoid it. there could come a moment where it is forced upon us. there's lots of stories. who will get the blame for this, that, and the other. to me, that's not important. what's important to me is that we sacrifice. we here in the united states senate, in the house as well. i'm hopeful, if we get this done, we send this over to speaker boehner, that he'll get it through his body over there, and then we can get this

leahy: i yield. mr. grassley: supporting what the chairman has just said, outside the fact that there might be one or two controversial nongermane amendments to this legislation, we have to look at the underlying product. the underlying product is very bipartisan. most economic interests within our country are supporting this patent reform legislation. everybody agrees that it's something that probably should have been passed in a congress ago, and i would join my democratic manager and the chairman of the committee in urging republicans on my side of the aisle that have either germane amendments or nongermane amendments to come to the floor and offer them so that the underlying piece of legislation can be passed and sent on to the house of representatives. i yield the floor and -- oh, i'm sorry. mr. leahy: madam president, i also wish to associate myself with the distinguished senior senator from iowa. he has worked very hard on this. he has worked very hard to help us get to the floor. and with the eno

leahy: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont is recognized, and we're in a quorum call. mr. leahy: madam president, just want to be recognized. so i can ask unanimous consent to call off the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. leahy: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the immediate consideration of h.r. 662, the surface transportation extension bill. the bill will be read three times, the senate proceed to vote on passage of the bill, the motion to reconsider be laid on ththethe table with no interveng action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. the clerk will report the bill. the clerk: h.r. 662, an act to provide an extension of federal aid highway, highway safety, motor carrier safety, transit and other programs and so forth and for other purposes. the presiding officer: the clerk will read the bill for the third time. the clerk: h.r. 662, an act to provide an extension of federal aid highway,

leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i'd ask consent that the pending amendment now be set aside and that the managers' amendment be the pending amendment. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. a senator: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: i rise to speak to the america invents act. this bill is about creating jobs. it is about protecting and promoting american ingenuity and giving american ideas the opportunity to become american products. the america invents act is about restoring american competitiveness and leadership in our global economy. mr. coons: america has been at the forefront of global innovation throughout our nation's great history. we invented the lightning rod, the thrasher. edison invented the el

leahy: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum -- no, mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, are we in morning business? the presiding officer: morning business closed at 5:30. we've returned to the measure. mr. leahy: mr. president, then we're back on the american invents act. we brought this about a week ago. this reflects several years of work, and for my colleagues, i understand that we have an excellent chance we will be voting on this in a very, very short while. and i would hope the vote would be as overwhelming as the cloture vote was yesterday. i want to emphasize this is legislation that should promote innovation, it will help create jobs, it will help energize the economy as we continue our recovery. legislation can be a key part of a jobs agenda. it can help unleash innovation. we can promote american invention. we can do all this without adding a penny to the deficit. it's

leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont is recognized. mr. leahy: mr. president, i understand we have the feinstein amendment number 133 at the desk. i ask unanimous consent that the feinstein amendment number 133 be modified with the changes that are at the desk. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, i want to thank the distinguished senator from arizona for his words here this morning. he -- he was part of the small group of republicans and democrats who've worked very, very hard over the last couple of years on this bill with the idea of giving us something that would allow inventors, entrepreneurs and innovators in america to compete with the rest of the world. i'm one american who feels we can compete with anybody, anywhere provided we've got a level playing field. and other counties have set us enough barriers to us of their own, we shouldn't be setting up barriers here in the united states. and one thing we can do is to take a ma

senator leahy? >> thank you. thank you folding the sink i think it's external important and i'm glad this is the first hearing you and senator graham are going to have with the subcommittee. we know that the fbi directors testified before this committee and others the past few years. there's been a dramatic increase in activities about domesticate groups. some of these activities are the result of targeting the american muslim community. to make matters worse, some leaders as senator durbin pointed out have sought to sow fear and divisiveness against american muslims. claiming the claims of hate against those with different traditions runs contrary to our american values. remember, our nation was founded in large part of the importance of religious freedom. i welcome the renewed focus by some in our fundamental charter, the constitution of the united states, but are right and by the constitution is not a menu with options to choose based on the political whims of the moment. instead, it's a constitution set forth

leahy: mr. president snr sneer sneer the distinguished senator from vermont. -- the presiding officer: the distinguished senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that an article written for "the hill" by the distinguished secretary of commerce, garry locke, dated march 2 this year, be included in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: and, mr. president, i was -- it's interesting -- i don't want to embarrass the person i wish to speak about at all. but it's interesting. i was listening to my dear friend, senator durbin, speak about his time at georgetown law school. both he and i are -- graduated from the georgetown law school. he talked about a classmate of his who was in patent law. he realized this was a complex subject, one that is not the sort of law that he -- durbin was going to go into anymore than i would. but i also think of another graduate of georgetown law center, an engineer, had a degree in engineering, studied patent law, b

leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider the following nomination, which the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, james emanuel boasberg of the district of columbia to be united states district judge. the presiding officer: under the previous order, there will be one hour of debate equally divided and controlled between the two leaders and their designees. mr. leahy: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: mr. president, i ask consent the call of the quorum be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. leahy: mr. president, today the senate wi

i want to commend senator leahy. he has gone the extra mile for this bill for many years, and i'm proud and glad that he is seeing his work come to fruition as we finally debate the bill on the floor and passage of the bill is in sight. i also want to commend the ranking member of the judiciary committee, senator grassley, who worked with him, as well as senator kyl who has taken a leading role on the republican side for their hard work in crafting a bill that effectively modernizes the patent system while paying attention to the many and varied demands that different sectors of the economy exert upon it. i'm particularly pleased that the chairman has decided to adopt the schumer-kyl amendment on business method patents into the managers' amendment. it's a critical change that this bill finally begins to address the scourge of business method patents that's currently plaguing the financial sector. business method patents are anathema to the protection that the patent system provides because they apply not to novel pr

leahy: i ask for the yeas and nays on the leahy-grassley leahy-grassley-kyl et al. managers' amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there is a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: the presiding officer: any senators wishing to vote or change their vote? on this, the ayes are 97, the nays are 2. the amendment is agreed to. a senator: move to reconsider. mrs. boxer: lay it on the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. the senate is not in order. please take your conversations out of the senate. the senate will come to order. the senate is not in order. the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, i would ask consent for one minute for each side to explain this next amendment. equally divided. one minute each side. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection. mr. baucus: mr. president, the next amendment is the vitter amendment 112 which essentially says that the united states must pay its interest debts and soc

before the california state assembly, judiciary committee, and provided written testimony to senator leahyfor the uniting of american families act. the irc, in making their recommendations to the mayor and board of a supervisors, to improve and enhance the quality of life into the participation of all the grim immigrants in the city and county of san francisco must include the plight of same-sex couples and by-national relationships. at the four of any immigration reform discussion, particularly for this city, the current immigration law fails so many immigrants and families. yes, same-sex relationships stand on prejudicial ground when compared to their heterosexual counterparts. without specific language such as that in the united families act which seeks to have permanent partners, same-sex by dutch national couples will remain victims to the law that compels discrimination against lgbt couples, including the right to sponsor a spouse, and with no right to a k1 same-sex visa. we are advised that took schumer will introduce same-sex reform in january 2010. we are also told that passage by

leahy: the senate c.r. provides $1.68 billion for refugee assistance, which is equal to fiscal year 2010, and $662 million above provided in h.r. 1. i have many, many other examples. we ought to listen to former republican presidents and democratic presidents, former republican secretary of state and crefnts ones and know the need for this. i thank the chair, and i thank my distinguished friend, the senior citizen from new mexico for his courtesy. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. bingaman: mr. president, first i'd -- i have six unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. these have been approved by the majority and the minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bingaman: mr. president, i'd ask consent to speak for up to ten minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bingaman:

leahy: the senate c.r. provides $1.68 billion for refugee assistance, which is equal to fiscal year 2010, and $662 million above provided in h.r. 1. i have many, many other examples. we ought to listen to former republican presidents and democratic presidents, former republican secretary of state and crefnts ones and know the need for this. i thank the chair, and i thank my distinguished friend, the senior citizen from new mexico for his courtesy. the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. bingaman: mr. president, first i'd -- i have six unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. these have been approved by the majority and the minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in of the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bingaman: mr. president, i'd ask consent to speak for up to ten minutes as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bingaman:

leahy: mr. president, i suggest the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll quorum call: a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i ask that the proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. warner: mr. president, i rise today to add my voice to the debate that has been going on in this chamber about spending proposals and how we get through the balance of this current fiscal year and ensure that we don't end up with a government shutdown and some of the repercussions thaltd come about from that. mr. president, i represent a state that has not only disproportionate share of federal employees but also has a large number of private-sector employees that rely upon predictability from the government. and, unfortunately, these kind of lurching from two-week extensions, we are not providing that predictability. mr. president, as you know, i strongly believe that this is a moment in time for this body and co

we also think that both of these can be used to change these are challenging the bill now senator leahy put forward a lame duck session like i said this is a trans national organization now why do you think it took so long for the pirate party to really become more of a discussion here in the united states. i'm going to sure how to answer that to be honest i mean i only got into it plainly got acted in a year ago to one form or another. i think it's difficult for any third party to start i have no background in the green party here and i was the two thousand and two into their two thousand and two and two thousand and six candidates for treasurer of the commonwealth of massachusetts. so i have some background in this which i think is helps in moving it forward in massachusetts but i think there's a lot of people. who will work hard for this issue because it is important we are a youth party which i think sets us differently such as apart from the democrats and the republicans and so we're more willing to take risks and be innovative and challenging system that we have for our games i th

holder first floated on meet the press but it really didn't seem to go anywhere i talked to senator leahy's office i guess last month it was and they said that they had not really heard from the administration proposals for how to change something it was dead in the water. but. you know this was just something that fix that was taken. back in back in december it was really started because you know i could name two suspects about the new york times square bomber and the christmas day bomber who both were mirandized obama was really highly criticized for that by the republicans and obama defended that and said that we still got all the information that we needed to from these men and said that he believes in the miranda system so how quickly things change for even twenty also because you didn't hear the same thing as him during the bush administration when. it was the shoe bomber was put into this million court system that wasn't something that we really had much of a debate on and i mean miranda rights are pretty pretty widely known i mean anyone with watches an episode of law and order can

reid: i now ask unanimous consent to withdraw the pending leahy and bennett amendments. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i call my amendment which is number 143, which is at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 143. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask further reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i now call up a second-degree amendment which is numbered 152. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada, mr. reid, proposes an amendment numbered 152 to amendment numbered 143. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask that -- i ask consent that the reading of the amendment be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, so everyone knows what this amendment does. we -- what we did is looked at what national science foundation does regarding a program called f-score. a number of sparsely populated states really are disadvantaged with this. however,

leahy: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: i ask unanimous consent that our remaining morning business time be yielded back. the presiding officer: without objection. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 23, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 6, s. 23, a bill to amend title 35 united states code to provide for patent reform. mr. leahy: mr. president, before i begin, i note that i applaud the senior senator from massachusetts for his statement about how we should be spending money on innovation, be spending money on energy and so many other areas. i worry that we ofttimes ignore some of the basic causes of the huge deficit here. we went into an unnecessary war in iraq, a war some said we had to do because of weapons of mass destruction when we had many of our intelligence agencies are telling us there were no weapons of mass destruction. but worse than that, for the first time i

senator leahy saying this is not good for civil liberties. >> that's right. i mean i think people see it as a mixed bag. they're still studying it but the under lying reality is that guantanamo stays open, that some of the people there will be held indefinitely without trial. and others will face military commissions which even with the improvement some civil libertarians don't like. >> brown: scott shane of the "new york times". thanks very much. >> thank you. >> woodruff: again, the major developments of the day. pro-qaddafi forces launched air strikes on rebels in libya, and the opposition fighters pushed west toward tripoli. and crude oil futures reached nearly $106 a barrel, prompting u.s. officials to consider tapping the strategic petroleum reserve. and before we go, an update on a story we aired recently about a 20-year-old police chief in a small mexican town on the u.s. border. marisol valles garcia was fired for apparently abandoning her post after receiving death threats. she reportedly went to the united states for personal matters, and did not r

ll senator leahy, you know what that is all about. these are kids from the poorest families in america for themilyh first time in their family theye have a chance to graduate have u college but they can't make it. a he don't have enough money. we give them a helping hand andt the republicans to get away. what what do? llege and rock island illinois they told me what it i meslant.t it it meant the 5% one out of every 20 students would go home and not finished the school year. every 20 that's what the house republicam cut means. tining, to to cut job training, to cut education. we have 15 million people out ot work or are they thinking? not bad enough. i went to medical school and mys home town ofit springfield, it d southern illinois, we are so proud of it and that with theedl researchers. they get a few million dollars each year to do medical research to read and fields of cancer therapy, dealing with kurdish use of the complaints of the veterans returning, but to the housely c republicans do, they closed down medical research.t e is

leahy: i would just ask consent to put my full statement in the record. miss jackson is one of four nominees to the vacancies that have plagued the district court of the district of columbia for years. and this should have gone last year but i'm glad it's going this year. i strongly support -- i strongly support miss jackson and put my full statement in the record and yield back any time i have. the presiding officer: all time is yielded back. the minority leader. mr. mcconnell: i ask for the yeas and nays. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be a sufficient second. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote: vote: the presiding officer: are there any other senators in the chamber wishing to vote or to change their vote? if not, the ayes are 97. the nays are stkaoe roerbgs and the -- nays are zero. under the previous order, the motion to reconsider is considered made and laid on the table. the president will be immediately notified of the senate and the senate will resume legislative session. the senator from massachusetts.

i will recognize senator leahy and gramm. i think is appropriate to hold this on what is called the constitution does the first freedom, a freedom of religion. many of our founders fled religious persecution and played great importance on religious freedom. he summed up the prevailing view in "and this light of liberty, it is the boast that aslant's the list and that's what forfeit the protections of the law. despite the best intentions to our history, many religious minorities have faced and tolerance. the lynching of leo frank in 1950 is one infamous example. and anti-semitism continues to be significant in america. often prejudiced has been directed at religions of recent immigrants. in the last century, it was catholics from places like ireland, italy, my mother's country of origin whose loyalties were questioned. i brought to this hearing a family treasure. 100 years ago in 1911, my grandmother landed in baltimore, maryland, she brought with us -- she brought with her mother, two years old, and my aunt and uncle. the cam

. >> i ask concept to speak -- i ask consent to speak up to two minutes and senator leahy to follow. >> without objection. >> mr. president, i wouldn't mind the chart from my friend from nevada kept up because it makes my point in a minute. in a few hours we'll hold a vote. the republicans scorchedded spending with critical priorities like defense, cancer research, and food safety inspectors. it is a trojan horse, and we will not be fooled by it. it speaks in the name of deficit reduction, but the dirty little secret about the republican spending plan is once the dust is settled, it decreases the deficit by $5 billion in fiscal year 2011. when you look at the cbo's score of the continuing resolution we're operating under and compare that to the house spending bill, the difference by cbo only amounts to $5 billion in fiscal year 2011. we're talking of a difference of $1.63 trillion under the current cr1 versus 3.55 billion under the republican proposal. much as my colleague from nevada's chart has shown. in other words, all of the cuts that the republicans are currently proposing will

leahy is the support of cornyn, grant and turbine. so as i say, the committee has passed us before, but they're going to try to begin. >> there is a question not there. >> d.c. experience talks about courtrooms didn't allow devices and there was a great tv in the room. media in the room. what was the rationale and was that the judge in the particular case didn't want to go there? it personally find it troubling because that's what we do. but i just wonder why? >> the question deals with electronic devices, why they were allowed in some parts and not others. go ahead. >> it's the culture of the court and it's also the individual judges. a lot of judges find electronic devices to be very distracting in the courtroom. a lot of judges are concerned that you can flip a switch and all of a sudden you are connect it to the internet to your broadcasting, which is a violation of judicial -- >> so real-time blogging this broadcasting? >> no, they're not in the courtroom. >> by broadcasting, you mean actual sound or picture? >> audio, video. >>

leahy is the support of cornyn, grant and turbine. so as i say, the committee has passed us before, but they're going to try to begin. >> there is a question not there. >> d.c. experience talks about courtrooms didn't allow devices and there was a great tv in the room. media in the room. what was the rationale and was that the judge in the particular case didn't want to go there? it personally find it troubling because that's what we do. but i just wonder why? >> the question deals with electronic devices, why they were allowed in some parts and not others. go ahead. >> it's the culture of the court and it's also the individual judges. a lot of judges find electronic devices to be very distracting in the courtroom. a lot of judges are concerned that you can flip a switch and all of a sudden you are connect it to the internet to your broadcasting, which is a violation of judicial -- >> so real-time blogging this broadcasting? >> no, they're not in the courtroom. >> by broadcasting, you mean actual sound or picture? >> audio, video. >>

. >> senator leahy and other says this means it will probably never close. guest: never is a long time, but we do need a place to keep these folks. some of these cannot be tried. those that can be tried, we have options of military commissions for article 3 courts. i think the president is making use of all of the tools the law gives him to deal with a very difficult problem. host: phone numbers on the bottom of the screen for michael hayden. wanted to get your reaction to a story that is really hard to figure out, but it comes from libya. cnn and others are suggesting the opposition is saying that muammar gaddafi is working on a deal to step down. true or not true? guest: i can only imagine what is happening at my old agency. someone else is asking the same question, is it true or not true? when you of things like things that are going on in libya, it is very difficult to get trthe truth. you need to be very careful about extending the report, truthful as that might be coming to the entire circumstances in situation. my instinct is that is probably not true

it's the same thing with patrick leahy and barney frank. those guys, all they do is things force by and they laugh. they laugh because they can get it done. those are the people who are responsible. host: ed on the line for independents in fort myers, florida. caller: there's plenty of blame to go around for all parties. you could make a case for all of them. i contend that most of the blame should be leveled on the democrats for a simple reason. had this budget been done on a timely basis when it was supposed to be done, they would have had the votes in the senate, the house, and the president. we would not be talking about this today. host: "the hill" reports that if a temporary federal government shutdown occurs, which party would benefit politically? people said 14% democrats. 18% said the gop would benefit politically. 16% said both. 45% said no one would benefit. someone on twitter rights -- twitter writes -- bonnie on the line for republicans. good morning. caller: this is her husband. my thought is that if you reduce the salaries, a

senator baucus, senator cochran, senator grassley, senator hatch, senator inouye, senator leahy, senator levin and senator lugar. they all were original sponsors of this bill. i hope they are proud. in their careers, they have probably sponsored many bills. i hope they are proud of this one because it's done its job, and it really has helped america to continue to honor our entrepreneurs and our inventors. as i mentioned, senator rudman was a republican from new hampshire, once a member of our committee, was a senate champion. he was a true statesman, a man of vision with regard to the importance of technology to our economy. i just want to quote him as we begin this debate. he said this. the issue addressed in senate bill 881 at the time is one which plays an underlying role in the ability of this nation to maintain its security, to achieve energy independence, increase productivity and preserve the quality of life we all enjoy. our national strength and confidence in these areas, he said, depend upon maintaining a leading role in technological superiority. this is what he said in his o

guest: one of my disappointment as a senator -- i came here and worked with senator leahy and senator grassley. i share your concern that not much has been done. as you say, bernie madoff. people not going to jail. people went to jail during the savings-and-loan crisis. one of our problems, by the time we got the people in there, the trail was pretty cold. what happened after september 11 -- it was the right thing to do. the fbi agents, prosecutors moved over to look at terrorism. we had only about 250 booking at financial fraud. when the financial front hit us, we had about 1000. we put the money in the congress. congress had to put the money -- when i was in the senate, clearly -- i do not know if you saw this subcommittee on investigations. there were hearings on washington mutual. the inspector general for the treasury said that this was a financial fraud environment. so, no, it is disappointing that more people did not go to jail or fined. host: you may remember ted kaufman was a senator from the state of delaware from 2009 to 2010, replaced joe biden when he became vice presiden

senator leahy, you know what that's all about.these are kids from the poorest families in america, many of them for the first time in their family have a chance to graduate from college but they can't make it. they don't have enough money. we give them a helping hand and the republicans take it away. what will it do? the president of augustana college in rock island, illinois, told me what it meant t. meant that 5% o, one out of every 20 students, would go home. that's what it means. to cut job training, to cut education. when we have 15 million people out of work, what are they thinking? not bad enough. i went to a medical school in my hometown of springfield, southern illinois university school of medicine -- we're so proud of it -- and met with the researchers. they get a few million dollars each year to do medic research in fields of cancer therapy, dealing with heart issues, dealing with the complaints of veterans who are returning. what do the house republicans do? they virtually close down the research for the remainder of

in his statement, for the record, the chairman of the committee, senator leahy stated -- quote -- "nearly one out of every eight federal judgeships is vacant. this puts at serious risk the ability of all americans to have a fair hearing in court." end of quote. however, what the chairman neglected to mention is tha thet that president obama has not put forth a nominee for every vacancy the court currently faces. in fact, of the 95 judicial vacancies, the senate only has 45 nominees. that's 53% of the vacancies without a nominee from the white house. today we vote on a nominee to sit on the western district of north carolina. while this is an important vacancy, a vacancy we need to fill, it is not a judicial emergency. however, there is a judicial emergency in the eastern district of north carolina. that seat, which has been vacant since 2005, does not have a nominee currently pending. president bush nominated thomas alvin farr to that seat twice, but he was nerch afforded a -- never a forded a hearing, let alone an up-or-down vote. i'm happy that this side of the aisle is not repeating th

. >> senator leahy and other says this means it will probably never close. guest: never is a long time, but we do need a place to keep these folks. some of these cannot be tried. those that can be tried, we have options of military commissions for article 3 courts. i think the president is making use of all of the tools the law gives him to deal with a very difficult problem. host: phone numbers on the bottom othe screen for michael hayden. wanted to get your reaction to a story that is really hard to figure out, but it comes from bya. cnn and othersre suggesting the opposition is saying that muammar gaddafi is working on a deal to step down. true or not true? guest: i can only imagine what is happening at my old agency. someone else is asking the same question, is it true or not true? when you of things likehings that are going on in libya, it is very difficult to get trthe truth. you need to be very careful about extending the report, truthful as that might be coming to the entire circumstances in situation. my instinct is that is probably not true, but we

before recognizing senator klobuchar i'd like to place in the record the statement of pat leahy, he refersto quote one thing. professor mcdonnell's own writings included the advocacy for re-examining the first amount free exercise, the establishment clause, jurisprudence, strong opposition to roe v. wade, and clinic access law, and testified that the violence against women is unconstitutional. his writings on the action of federal district court in accounting according protesters could not be read as in addition other than phrase for the extralegal behavior of the department and the judge. and he was confirmed and remembers on this side gave him the benefit of the doubt. >> madam chairman, i appreciate that. i don't dispute. i believe judge the did what he said. voting to confirm the nominee who doesn't do what they promise to do. and so that is the -- that's the quandary that we find ourselves in. >> well, i don't want to have a back and forth. professor liu can be appointed and there's no way to measure he has said he would. >> again, thank you for allowing me to just briefly respond. we

leahy: thank you very much.adam president, i thank the distinguished senior senator from illinois, and i -- the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. leahy: and i thank the distinguished senior senator from illinois who has been an invaluable member of the judiciary committee all the time i have been there, and it's very, very helpful. i appreciate what he has said. i find interesting the list of patents from his home state of illinois, and i think each one of us can point, some with pride, and it's -- but if we're going to stay competitive with the rest of the world, we have got to get this bill passed. we have got -- it's been 50-60 years since we have updated our patent law, and we are way behind the rest of the world, we have to be able to compete, so i thank the senator. and, madam president -- and i have cleared this with the senator from iowa -- i ask unanimous consent that notwithstanding the adoption of the leahy-grassley amendment number 121, as modified, i ask that the amendment be modified