mr. president. mr. president, my state of vermont has been hit very, very hard by hurricane irene. widespread flooding caused a number of deaths. the loss of many homes and businesses and hundreds of millions, perhaps a billion, dollars in damage to property and infrastructure. i have visited many of the most hard-hit towns, and i have been shocked and moved by the extent of the damage that i saw. irene will go down in history as one of the very worst natural disasters ever to hit the state of vermont. let me just share a few facts with you about the extent of the damage. already more than 5,200 vermonters have registered with fema. remember, we're a state of only 630,000 people and approximately 200,000 households and yet more than 5,200 vermonters have already registered with fema. mr. president, more than 700 homes were severely damaged or completely destroyed -- 700 in a state which has about 200,000 households. between 1,500 and 2,000 families have been displaced, their housing uncertain as we appro

mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i now move to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 2608 with an amendment. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: the senator from nevada mr. reid moves to concur on the house amendment to the senate amendment to h.r. 2608 with an amendment numbered 656. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask for the yeas and nays on that. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i have a cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: cloture motion, we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to debate on the motion to concur to the senate amendment to h.r. 2608 with an amendment numbered 656 signed by 17 senators as follows. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection.

mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to 2887. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 167, h.r. 2887, an act to provide an extension of surface and air transportation programs and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask that the three votes that will be coming soon be limited to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. under the previous order, there will be ten minutes of debate equally divided between the senator from kentucky, mr. paul, and the senator from nevada, mr. reid, or their designees. mr. paul: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from kentucky. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent to call up en bloc my amendments 621 and 622. the presiding officer: without objection, the clerk will report the amendments by number. the clerk: the senator from kentucky, mr. paul, proposes en bloc amendments numbered 621 and 622. mr. paul: i ask unanimous consent that the amendments be cons

mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. hatch: mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from utah. mr. hatch: mr. president, i'll only be a minute or two. i rise to speak in support of the amendment filed by my colleague from south dakota. this amendment deals with an important issue, namely, the cost of delay when it doms free trade agreements -- when it doms free trade agreements. the president's desire to increase spending on trade adjustment assistance at a time when taxpayers are struggling to make ends meet during a recession makes no sense to me. his strategy to link passage of the f.t.a. to renewal of this expanded t.a.a. program is equally perplexing. t.a.a. is meant to assist workers who have allegedly lost their jobs due to trade but the administration has repeatedly stated that the three pending trade agreements will create jobs, not cause people to lose them. according to the business round table, the passage of the three pending trade agreements will support 250,000 american jobs. and since jobs will be created rather than

mr. president. mr. president, i have come to the floor many times, as we all do, to discuss issues that are important to our states. in my case, the state of nebraska, and issues that are important to our nation. many times, those comments deal with what seems to be the constant regulatory assault on our nation's job creators. in meetings across nebraska -- and i did 15 town hall meetings in august -- the second and third questions i often get, if not the very first, concern the regulatory burden that our federal agencies are placing on our job creators. this administration has generated nothing short of a mountain of red tape, hundreds of new regulations. of these, at least 219 have been categorized as significant. what that means is that they will cost more than $100 million per year. $100 million taken out of our economy to finance regulation. the administration doesn't even dispute the mountain of red tape, nor does it dispute the size of the mountain that is created. in a letter from the president t

mr. president. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. ent, i ask that the quorum required under rule 22 be waived and that at 5:30 p.m. monday, september 19, the senate proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on this matter. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, first of all, i want everyone within the sound of my voice to understand that i do not like the colombia free trade agreement, the korea free trade agreement or the panama free trade agreement. i will vote against them. but i have been asked on numerous occasions to move these trade matters to the floor. and that's what i have agreed to do and i'm going to do that. but it is very difficult for me to understand when my republican colleagues who they, their chamber and commerce and others support these trade agreements, they want them done, and now they want to move to them. i can't. it's pretty hard for me to comprehend we have to file cloture on a motion to proceed to the agreement that we have, an agreement that we have if we're going to do th

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from california is recognized. mrs. boxer: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. boxer: i ask to speak for 20 minutes. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i come here frustrated, angry, disturbed, that our republican colleagues are holding up three crucial bills. and america needs to hear this. they are stopping us from completing our work on our emergency fema bill. the moneys are needed throughout this country to rebuild the damage from the storm. a lot of it infrastructure, sewer plants, water plant, roads, bridges, highways. we see pictures of what is happening in places like vermont, where as senator leahy told us yesterday, a woman that he talked to has to drive an hour plus for her chemotherapy because the road is gone and it used to take her five minutes. we need to fix that road. we need to fix the roads, the bridges, the highways, the sewer systems, the water systems, the schools that get harmed in t

mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to address the palestinian efforts to gain statehood at the united nations, all of that occurring this week. as most of us are aware, palestinian authority president abbas has signaled that he intends to ask the united nations for acceptance as a full-member state. several of my colleagues, and i might add, from both sides of the aisle have expressed grave concern over this palestinian initiative. president obama has indicated that if this initiative is brought to a vote before the security council, the united states plans to veto it. i support that. however, even if the veto occurs, president abbas may then choose to ask the general aseemly to upgrade palestinian status to that of a nonvoting observer state. if allowed to become a nonvoting observer state, palestinians could then participate on u.n. committees and bring allegatio allegations, bring allegations against israel to the international criminal court and international court of justice. recognizing a p

mr. president. the presiding officer: the junior senator from nevada. mr. heller: i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. heller: thank you, mr. president. it is an honor serving the people of the great state of nevada and today i'm speaking on their behalf for the first time in these chambers in the united states senate. before i begin, i'd like to take a moment to reflect on two tragic events that have taken place in nevada recently. in carson city, our nation lost three national guards members at a local restaurant shooting. those members were major heath kelly, sergeant first class miranda mcelleny, and sergeant first class christian reggie. the other was an horrific crash at the air races this weekend. this terrible event not only impacted the communities of northern nevada but the entire state and the nation. having visited the scene where the crash occurred, it is difficult to describe the amount of damage that took place there. our state's first responders and medical personnel did an amazing

mr. president, i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: i want to thank my colleague from ohio for highlighting what has to be our focal point as we return to this senate, and that is the unemployment picture across america and the desperate situation that many families are facing. as i visited my home state of illinois, i found what he did in ohio, that many people have really been desperately trying to find jobs for a long, long time. it's becoming increasingly difficult, and the hrofrpbg it goes on -- the longer it goes on the more difficult it becomes. it turns out the national statistics which i read over the weekend suggest that it's primarily males who are out of work -- not exclusively, about 60% males; 40% female. and more and more not in minority populations. they're just having a difficult time. and i'm glad that the senator from ohio focused on getting us back on track as we should be on this issue. i read with interest when republican leader mcconnell wrote an opini

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president, i rise today to bid a fond farewell to a man who's been a fix tour in the united states senate for 33 years, tim owe keating of the senate disbursing office is retiring after more than three decade of service to his country. known to many as a loyal friend and well-liked by everyone he has met in these halls, including most of my colleagues and thousands of senate staffers. he will be greatly missed. tim began his career with the disbursing office in the u.s. senate in 1978. every senate employee becomes familiar with that office early in their tenure because that is the office in charge of the senate payroll. as well as everything relating to an employee's compensation, payroll deductions, retirement, life and health insurance and other benefits. the disbursing office used to be located in the capitol when tim started. in fact, it was located in s. 233, which is now part of the republican leader's office. during tim's early years on the job, staffers and sena

mr. president, and i yield the floor. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'd like to speak as if in morning business. mr. president, this afternoon we held a hearing in the constitutional subcommittee of the senate judiciary committee on new voting laws that are passed in many states. it was, i think, one of the first hearings on capitol hill on the subject, and i thank you very much for attending as a member of the subcommittee. we had an array of witnesses starting with members of the senate and members of the house of representatives, expressing various points of view on this issue. what we discussed was the new laws in states that are establishing new standards for voting in america. it is, i think, essential for us on this subcommittee with our jurisdiction and responsibility to focus on this issue of voting rights. as i've said so many times, there is no more important right in america. the right to vote is a right that people have given their lives for. and as we look at th

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from texas. mr. cornyn: mr. president, i'd like to offer a bipartisan proposition to my colleagues here on -- in the nature of this amendment. the reason that i say that it enjoys -- that this idea enjoys bipartisan support, 47 senators, democrats and republicans, have joined together in a letter to the administration asking that the administration grant a sale of f-16 c and d models to our ally taiwan. this amendment would compel that sale because unfortunately the administration has declined to make that sale yesterday, notwithstanding the fact that the taiwan relations act, signed by jimmy carter, passed by a bipartisan congress, requires the united states to provide taiwan with defense articles necessary to enable taiwan to maintain sufficient self-defense capabilities. they have lost that capability, as demonstrated by this chart taken from defense department records. currently, the people's republic of china has about 2,300 operational combat aircraft to taiwan's 490. the presiding officer: sen

mr. president? mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oregon. mr. wyden: mr. president, my home state of oregon has many towering and majestic places, such as our iconic mt. hood and our beautiful state tree, the douglas fir. senator mark o. hatfield, who passed away on august 7, stood head and shoulders above all of them. last night the senate passed senate resolution 257, a resolution in respect of the memory of senator hatfield. this afternoon senator merkley and i, with colleagues of both parties, would like to reflect on the extraordinary legacy of our special friend, senator mark hatfield. mr. president, for me, senator hatfield's passing this summer, just as it seems that the congress has become embroiled in a never-ending series of divisive and polarizing debates and battles, drove home that senator hatfield's approach to government is now needed more than ever in our country. senator hatfield was the great reconcileer. he was proud to be a republican with strongly-held views. yet, he was a leader who when voices were raised and doors were slammed and p

mr. president. i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. kirk: mr. president, i want to take some time today to talk about my views on afghanistan and why we should rethink aid to pakistan. i just completed my third two-week reserve assignment in afghanistan, and while many members of congress get a firsthand look at the situation on fact-finding missions, my time provided me a more in-depth view with a focus on the countermarkets objectives of nato's isaf mission. first the good news. the work of our soldiers, marines, sailors and airmen is nothing short of amazing. serving in one of the poorest, roughest and most remote parts of the globe, they have crushed al qaeda's training bases, they have driven the taliban from government, they fostered a new elected government and welded 47 allies into a force for human rights and development and education, especially for girls. 42% of afghans live on just $1 a day. only one in four can read. malnutrition is a serious problem and infant mortality is the third highest of any country. according to the united na

mr. president. mr. esident, i ask consent that the motion to proceed to the vote by which cloture was not agreed to, the motion to proceed to h.j. res. 66 be agreed to and that the motion to reconsider be agreed to, that the time until 4:15 p.m. be equally divided between the two leaders or their designees, and that at 4:15, the senate proceed to proceed to vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to h.j. res. 66. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. reid: mr. president, i know there are a lot of things going on on capitol hill this afternoon, so we'll be very, very thoughtful in making sure that people have ample time to vote, as long as someone doesn't carry it to some real extreme, but we want to make sure people have the opportunity to vote. the presiding officer: the senator from california. mrs. boxer: mr. president, i just wanted to ask the majority leader before he leaves the floor, because i couldn't hear all he said, is this the fact that we're going to

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i know that the short debate that we had just in the last couple of hours and the votes are important about the senate and figuring out a way to move forward on some of the trade agreements that are pending and the important ways to make sure american workers are not left behind but actually helped and supported. and those issues are very, very important. but i come to the floor today to talk again about another important issue that's pending before the congress right now that's of extreme importance to millions and millions of americans that are following this debate through the viewing of the procedures here on the senate floor and in the house and also following on twitter and other internet sites and opportunities on their local news and radio stations about wh

mr. president. >> if we could go to our consent agenda, items one through eight. these items will be acted on by a single role call vote. if a member requests discussion of a matter, it shall be removed and considered separately. >> colleagues, would anyone like to receiver any items? role cahill vote? >> on items 1-8. mirkarimi aye, wiener, aye. avalos aye. campos aye. president chiu, eye. supervisor chu. aye. supervisor cohen aye. yell aye. farrell aye. kim, aye. mar, aye. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: these ordinances are passed and approved. >> item number is the ordinance limiting the amount of over time work to 20% and to require written reports to be submitted by the departments implementing this ordinance. >> i want to thank the members of the various labor unions that have met with me for a second time to confer. we had a number of questions that we need to receive from city staff. i would like to ask to continue this item to the first meeting in september. september 6th. supervisor c

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. hatch: mr. president, i would yield to the distinguished senator from tennessee, and without losing my right to the floor, i ask unanimous consent that i be allowed to make my remarks immediately thereafter. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. corker: thank you, mr. president. i certainly appreciate the courtesy of the senator from utah. i'll be very brief. it's actually propitious in many ways i'm here at a time when the senator from virginia is the presiding officer. i want to say there was a focus last night on a short-term stimulus. i want to thank the senator from virginia and the senator from georgia who have led efforts over many months in trying to deal with our longer-term issues. i think there are many of us in this body and i think in the house of representatives that really believe the best way for us to deal with our short-term economic situation is to deal with the long-term structural issues that are affecting our country so much. i'm here today just to hope th

mr. president. mr. president, last month's dire economic news is a call to urgent action to get america working again. in august, our nation produced no net new jobs. productivity fell, home sales fell, construction spending fell, the manufacturing index declined, unemployment is stagnant at 9.1%, and consumer confidence is plummeting. businesses, our nation's job creators and the engine of any lasting economic growth, have been saying for some time that the lack of jobs is largely due to a climate of uncertainty, most notably the uncertainty and cost created by new federal regulations. mr. president, the regulatory time-out act, which i am introducing today, with 14 of my colleagues, provides job creators with a sensible breather from these burdensome new regulations. this would give businesses time to get back on their feet, create the jobs that americans so desperately need, and enhance the global competitiveness of american workers. now, let me make clear that we also need to reform the process for i

mr. president, i just want to comment -- mr. nelson: mr. president, i just want to comment before the senator from louisiana leaves the floor that it's kind of like we've se this movie before. if recalit was friday the senator from louisiana and i were out here with this chart talking about the same thing, showing all of these paths of hurricanes and how those folks that live along the gulf and the atlantic coast understand what natural disasters are. are playing with people's live when we threaten not to fund fema that can respond to all of these. and how many of these do we have to have to get through to these decision-makers that are blocking the funding ofema because of some ideological position that there are people out there that are hurting in tuscaloosa, alabama, in joplin, missouri, all throughout new england, through the atlantic coast,nd who knows what's going to happen? hurricane season goes until the end of november. and so i want to tell the senator from louisiana how much i appreciate her bringing this to everybody's attention

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sessions: i would like to share a few thoughts on the passing of senator chuck percy. among other things, he did in his remarkable life, successful in business and politics, he had a connection to mobile, alabama my hometown. i believe he was born in pensacola, florida and was connected to thomas horde heroindon, who was a congressman from alabama and resided in mobile and was well-known and i'll a distant decendant of congressman herndon and i can always remember as a young person -- particularly my great-aunts talking about him and they followed his career. and i began to follow his career. maybe he was a factor factor of my become a republican. he was successful and young and vibrant and created a great image for public service and it filtered down to this young guy in rural alabama in a positive way. so i just say, senator rockefeller, we've lost a great american. he had a tremendously successful career. a man of integrity and drive and commitment and good spirit. and i just think

mr president last week a major and long awaited advantage happened in politics at the united russia convention you suggested that lead him or putin should run for president mia wondering what your motives for your approval rating is high and you're a young energetic politician with a good reputation what was the primary motive behind your decision usually presidents see cory election you're a politician and politicians are ambitious people what was your ambition in making this decision so children were shown it's there with the bush let it be my biggest ambition is to be useful to my country and my people this may sound a bit pretentious but it's true unless you have this ambition you shouldn't go into politics you should focus on something else instead of politics or government service that's for my reasons on the one hand they're obvious on the other hand there are many questions about them i'd like to stress that both for me and vladimir putin the top priority is to be of use to our homeland our nation. we both belong to the same political force but both lidia putin and dmitri medvedev were

mr. president? >> objection is heard. >> mr. president? >> the majority leader. >> first of all, my friend i'm sure understands that this great piece of legislation that was sent us to by the house received 36 votes over here. it was tabled on a bipartisan basis. mr. president, the matter that's now before the senate is really a nice piece of legislation, funds the government from november 18th. that's what the house wanted. it also has money in the bill to take care of fema, and we recognize that even though we passed a bill here with bipartisan support that have $6.9 billion which we believe is a corporate figure, in an effort to compromise in this cr, we have the numbers that the house thinks is a better number. that is what is bever us, and -- before us, and so, mr. president, my suggestion to my friend, and he is my friend, is that the two democratic leaders, reid and pelosi, two republican leaders, mcconnell and boehner, should just cool off a little bit, work through this. there's a compromise here, and the compromise is now before

which of we mr president you are the only person at the top of the united russia federalists how much are you personally going to be involved in complaining who else or what else will united russia u.s. for its complain and do you expect tough competition during this campaign it is that no one is accusing that i should indeed i am of the top of the united russia list which the party asked me to do this and it's a serious choice for me at the same time let me remind you that i am still president i have a lot of responsibilities both domestically and internationally person actually are not going to take a vacation and i will not occupy myself with any special campaign activities i will be performing my duties of the same time i'm sure there will be tough competition competition will be tough but hopefully proper and we have the necessary legal mechanisms to ensure that we can use. the speaking of society mr president elect he quit his dismissal or the united russia convention all of that didn't go down well with the russian goes here as an active internet user do you feel any pressure f

mr. president, all members are present. supervisor chiu: thank you. ladies and gentlemen, could you please join me in the pledge of allegiance? supervisor chiu: madam clerk, are there any communications? >> there are no communications. supervisor chiu: let's go to our consent agenda. >> items 1 will have 22 come price the concept agenda. these items will be acted on by a single roll call vote. supervisor chiu: i understand our deputy city attorney would like us to receiver out item number one. are there any other items to receiver out? >> item 8, please. supervisor chiu: if we could take a roll call vote on its 1-2 without 1 and 8. >> campos, eye. chiu eye. chu eye. cohen eye. elsbernd eye. farrell aye. kim aye. mar aye. mirkarimi aye. wiener aye. avalos aye. there are 11 ayes. supervisor chiu: those ordinances are finally passed. item 1. >> ordinance amending the strnls administrative code to create a recreation and parks gift fund. update the medicare emergency relief fund, changing thed administering agency. >> supervisor chiu: i under we have a sm

mr. president? other than the lure of new york city, why have we converged at the united nations general assembly? pakistan is here because it believes in multilateralism. each september, we return to this great city and this grand scheme so we can reaffirm the presence pls and values of multilateralism. it is and has been one of the abiding central points of our central policy. we are committed to the deal of the united nations. to us, the ideal is very simple. we can do more together than we can apart. we can solve complex problems by consensus rather than by yiewn unilateralism. multilateral cooperations deals with global challenges, old and new in our independent world. as we grow more than and more dependent on each other, the space for unilateralism and unidimensional question is strengths. those skeptical of the future of multilateralism are living in the past. our future, collective future, is bright, and it's the nations in multilateralism that safeguard this future. mr. president, pakistan

mr. president, i yield the floor. the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. kirk: i ask unanimous consent to suspend with the time limitation and continue for 8 tphopbts eulogize -- 8 minutes to eulogize senator percy. spoeup without -- the presiding officer:. mr. kirk: i want to eulogize senator percy who we lost on saturday, great and one of the most successful illinois senators. senator percy dedicated much of his life to serving our nation first in the u.s. navy and then for 18 years here in the united states senate. i think i'm the only member of the senate who actually voted for senator percy and volunteered in his campaign along with my mom when i was only 12 years old. senator percy, we knew, was a focused and disciplined leader who succeeded at nearly everything that he put his mind to. he graduated from my alma mater, nuture high school and also lived in kenilworth, illinois, my hometown. he later went tour of duty of chicago. after getting a bachelors degree in economics, he joined a small camera company called bell & howell. he then led bell & howe

mr. president? the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: first of all, my friend, i'm sure understands that this great piece of legislation that was sent to us by the house received 36 votes over here. it was tabled on a bipartisan basis. mr. president, the matter that's now before the senate is really a nice piece of legislation. it funds the government till november 18. that's what the house wanted. it also has money in the bill to take care of fema, and we recognize that even though we passed a bill here with bipartisan support that had $6.9 billion, which we believe is an appropriate figure, in an effort to compromise in this c.r., we have the number that the house thinks is a better number. that's what is before us. and so, mr. president, my suggestion to my friend -- and he is my friend -- is that the two democratic leaders, reid and pelosi, the two republican leaders -- mcconnell and boehner -- should cool off a little bit, work through this. there's a compromise here, and the com

mr. president. ladies and gentlemen, israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago. on behalf of israel and the jewish people, i extend that hand again today. i extend it to the people of egypt and jordan with renewed friendship for neighbors with whom we have made peace. i extend it to the people of turkey with respect and good will. i extend it to the people of libya, tune easea, with admiration for those trying to build a democratic future. i extend it to the other peoples of north africa and the arabian peninsula. with whom we want to forge a new beginning. i extend it to the people of syria, lebanon, and iran, with all the courage of those fighting brutal repression. but most especially, i extend my hand to the palestinian people with whom we seek a just and lasting peace. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, in israel our hope for peace never wanes. our scientists, doctors, innovators apply their genius to improve the world of tomorrow. our artists, our writ

mr. president. ladies and gentlemen, israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago. on behalf of israel and the jewish people, i extend that hand again today. i extend it to the people of egypt and jordan, with renewed friendship for neighbors with whom we have made peace. i extend it to the people of turkey, with respect and good will. i extend it to the people of libya and tunisia, with admiration for those trying to build a democratic future. i extend it to the other peoples of north africa and the arabian peninsula, with whom we want to forge a new beginning. i extend it to the people of syria, lebanon and iran, with awe at the courage of those fighting brutal repression. but most especially, i extend my hand to the palestinian people, with whom we seek a just and lasting peace. [applause] >> ladies and gentlemen, in israel our hope for peace never wanes. our scientists, doctors, innovators, apply their genius to improve the world of tomorrow. our artists,

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. sanders: madam president, as i suspect you know, the state of vermont has been hit very, very hard by hurricane irene. the storm caused widespread flooding resulting in a number of deaths, the loss of many homes and businesses and hundreds of millions of dollars to property and infrastructure that were damaged. i have visited many of the most hard-hit towns in the past week, including gludlow, mooretown and waterbury, and i was shocked and moved by the extent of the damage that i saw. many towns still have limited access because the roads and brinls that link them to the world have been destroyed. this disaster will go down in history as one of the very worst natural disasters in the history of the state of vermont. let me take this opportunity to personally thank the emergency rescue teams and all those aiding the victims of the floods for their outstanding work. local crews along with the v

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: if there is no further business brf the senate i ask that it adjourn following the cloture motion to read on h.j. res. 66. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. conrad: i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from maryland. mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the motion to proceed to calendar number 154, h.j. res. 66, a joint resolution approving the renewal of import restrictions contained in the burmese freedom and democracy act of 2003, signed by 17 senators. by unanimous consent the mandatory quorum call has been waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate

mr president last week a major and long awaited event happened in politics at the united russia convention you suggested that lattimer putin should run for president what was the primary motive behind your decision usually presidents see korea elections you're a politician and politicians are ambitious people what was your ambition in making his decisions. but. my biggest ambition is to be useful to my country and my people this may sound a bit pretentious but it's true unless you have this ambition you shouldn't go into politics but you should focus on something else instead of politics or government service we both belong to the same political force both putin and dmitri medvedev were nominated for the presidency first him then me under the current model of power by the united russia party. was number one in the united russia slate and yours truly is this time. so we really represent the same political force we belong to the same political force and the views of very close so sharing the same views should we compete against each other should we argue and fight with each other i've read a

mr. president? president mazzucco: that's a good question. whenever we calendar it. that wasn't necessarily the end of the calendar year or end of the fiscal year. just whenever

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from louisiana. ms. landrieu: mr. dent, i'd like to speak for up to 15 minutes and may extend my time as the debate goes. the presiding officer: without objection. ms. landrieu: thank you, mr. president. i'd like to follow up on the remarks of leader reid by reminding everyone how this unfortunate but in some ways necessary situation is that we're in. this whole debate which, in my view, is worth having, it's unfortunate that it's so close to the end of the year because the senate actually offered a bill, as you may remember, earlier in september to try to avoid getting to this last minute. but this whole controversy started when republican leader cantor just a few days after hurricane irene had raked the east coast and wreaked havoc from north carolina through connecticut into vermont and new hampshire, which people are still reeling over, a few days after that the way this controversy started was when representative cantor said, "before we can provide help, we need to find an offset in the budget." in other words, be

mr. president. ladies and gentleman, israel has extended its hand in peace from the moment it was established 63 years ago. on behalf of the zero, i extend that hand again today. i extended to the people of egypt and jordan -- jordan with renewed friendship with neighbors with whom we have made peace. i extend it to the people of turkey with respect and good will. i extended to the people of libya and tunisia with admiration for those trying to build a democratic future. i extend it to the people of north africa and the arabian peninsula with whom we want to forge a new beginning. i extend it to the people of syria, lebanon, and iran with all the courage of those fighting repression. but especially, i extend my hand to the palestinian people with whom we seek a just and lasting peace. [applause] ladies and gentlemen, our hope for peace never wanes. our scientists, doctors, innovators apply their genius to improve the world of tomorrow. our artists, our writers in rich the heritage of humanity. -- en

mr. president. it's always a pleasure to have you. in a minute, former vice president dick cheney. >> schieffer: and we're back now with the former vice president during the bush administration, dick cheney. mr. cheney, you heard what former president clinton just said about you. he said, shocking, that you might be playing politics and that perhaps you were just trying to stir up trouble when you were so complimentary to hillary clinton. >> no, i just thought, bob, that the democrats ought to have as much fun on their side as we're having on our side in figuring out who is going to run so i made the suggestion. i'm glad to see that he thought there was some merit to the idea. he didn't endorse it obviously but he had to think about it. >> schieffer: mr. vice president, you had very good luck with your new book that's out. my understanding it's now number one on the "new york times" best seller list. >> that's right. >> schieffer: the other side of it is, it hasn't gotten very good reviews from some of your colleagues in the bush admin

mr. president? other than the allure of new york city, why have we converged at the un general assembly? pakistan is here because it believes in multilateralism. each september we return to this great city, and this grand stage so that we can restate and reaffirm the principles and values of multilateralism. it is and has been one of the abiding central tenets of our foreign policy. very idea of the united nations. to us, this idea is simple. we can do more together than we can apart. we can solve complex problems by consensus rather than by unilateralism. multilateral cooperation can help us deal with the spectrum of global challenges, old and new, in our interdependent world. as we grow more and more dependent on each other, the space for unilateralism and uni- dimensional answers to the most difficult questions shrinks. those who are skeptical of the future of multilateralism are living in the past. the future, our collective global future, inshaallah, is bright. it is the united nations and mult

mr. president, the same can be said of you. ur time as president and the years since, deeply committed to embracing and strengthening our common humanity. [applaus [applaus [applause] >> mr. president, we all thank you for what you've done and what you continue to do. let me ask you recognize the man responsible for bringing our country together at a time when it could have been torn apart, for making it clear that america could not be brought to her knees and helping us stand tall and strike back. president george w. bush. [applaus [applause] >> through the darkest, from the darkest our of our generation, your voice and leadership, mr. president, helped us find our way. and for that, you deserve our gratitude for a long, long time. [applaus [applause] >> and i saw now to the families who have gathered here today, i know what it's like to receive that call out of the blue, like a bolt out of the blue. and i know this is a bittersweet moment for you. i want to tell you, you have a lot more courage than i had. you have a lot more

mr. president. he outset, allow me to express my sincerest thanks to the ambassador upon his election to the presidency of this session of the general assembly of the united nations. i also would like to express my thanks for this excellency ban ki moon for his re-election as secretary-general. i stand today before you, excellencies, feeling sadness for the loss of more than 30,000 martryrs. they sacrificed their lives in my country. their sacred blood was shed to y for a new histor for th the new libya. by the same token, i bow to the mothers, who today know that their sons sacrifice was just and rightful. had events been repeated, mothers, fathers, sons and daughters would have done the very same to write the same history. from this rostrum, let is a moot, all those martyrs whose blood was shed, all mothers and fathers and john kasich. i salute the wounded in hospitals inside and outside libya. mr. president, ladies and gentlemen, two years ago. in this very hall, in this very spot, moammar gaddafi

mr. president. if i lose money on my investments, a good possibility, you only allow me to deduct $3,000 a year. therefore my risk in investing is substantial. now you want to up the anti-on my winnings but you don't say how much because the stock market will go nuts if you do. with all due respect, the tax the rich deal is bogus as i will demonstrate in a moment. one more thing, mr. president, in august of 2009, you said this: >> the last thing you want to do is to raise taxes in the middle of a recession because that would suck up, take more demand out of economy and put businesses in a further hole. >> bill: correct. so let me ask you. what's changed in two years. the economy is still awful. unemployment is even higher. why have you, mr. president changed your mind about a tax increase on the affluent and business. here is the unintended cons sequence of mr. obama's revenue enhancing plan. i must tell you i want the feds to have get more revenue. i don't want to starve them as some do. we need a

mr. president. the presiding officer: the senator from new york. mrs. gillibrand: ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. gillibrand: hurricane irene and tropical storm lee left a trail of devastation across new york state. i saw firsthand the impact they left on our communities, hundreds of families living in shelters, complete homes destroyed, belongings piled up on people's front yards. small businesses, uncertain whether they would even reopen, worry about whether they could hire back their employees. farms who had no feed for livestock for days, crops and livelihoods vanishing without any trace in a single day. crumbling bridges, washed-out roads, heating oil soaking into buildings and the ground. i was born and raised in upstate new york, and i can tell you we've never seen this kind of devastation, certainly not in my lifetime. america has always stood by those who have suffered greatly from disaster, and we have always helped them to rebuild. we have an obligation to these families, businesses, f

mr. president? the presiding officer: objection is heard. mr. reid: mr. president?siding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: first of all, my friend, i'm sure understands that this great piece of legislation that was sent to us by the house received 36 votes over here. it was tabled on a bipartisan basis. mr. president, the matter that's now before the senate is really a nice piece of legislation. it funds the government till november 18. that's what the house wanted. it also has money in the bill to take care of fema, and we recognize that even though we passed a bill here with bipartisan support that had $6.9 billion, which we believe is an appropriate figure, in an effort to compromise in this c.r., we have the number that the house thinks is a better number. that's what is before us. and so, mr. president, my suggestion to my friend -- and he is my friend -- is that the two democratic leaders, reid and pelosi, the two republican leaders -- mcconnell and boehner -- should cool off a little bit, work through this. there's a compromise here, and the compromise

that's not pushing it in here mr president who last week a major and long awaited apparent happened in politics at the united russia convention you suggested that lead him or put in should run for president mia wondering what your moves for your approval rating is high and you're a young energetic politician what it would reputation what was the primary motive behind your decision usually presidents seek reelection you're a politician and politicians are ambitious people what was your ambition in making this decision so children were here and it's ever the bush let it alone and with a looming my biggest ambition is to be useful to my country and my people this may sound a bit pretentious but it's true unless you have this ambition you shouldn't go into politics you should focus on something else instead of politics or government service we both belong to the same political force but for dimia putin and dmitri medvedev were nominated for the presidency first him then me under the current model of power by the united russia party that he may have put in was number one of the united russi