mr. president. mr. wyden: mr. president, i would ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to a half an hour. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. wyden: mr. president, the senate has now moved to the marketplace fairness act. i say that frankly a little dubiously because i think it really ought to be called the shop canada or shop mexico act because it really is going to make it attractive for businesses located in the united states to set up shop overseas because the coercion that is applied in the united states will not affect foreign retailers. but what i want to do tonight is speak for just a brief period of time because we're going to have an opportunity throughout the week to discuss this in hopes that the points that i highlight tonight will help start a bipartisan effort to try to fix what i think are the most serious problems with the marketplace fairness act. and the essence of my concern, mr. president, is coercion and discrimination are not what america is all about, but

mr. president. mr. president, a recent "washington post" headline has grabbed national attention. it reads, "the united states government spends $890,000 on nothing." it almost sounds like a bad joke, but, mr. president, this is no laughing matter. the post reported that this year, the government will spend at least $890,000 on service fees for bank accounts that have nothing in them. at last count, uncle sam has 13,712 such accounts, each with a balance of zero. now, mr. president, the american people are no strangers to reports of excessive government waste, from robotic squirrel research to moroccan pottery classes. this latest example, however, comes at a particularly frustrating moment, as thousands of americans are stuck waiting for hours in airport terminals with delayed flights. the result of the federal aviation administration's decision to furlough thousands of air traffic controllers due to sequestration. if you are a federal worker on furlough this week or an airline passenger delayed by fede

mr. president and mrs. obama, president and mrs. carter, president and mrs. george h.w. s. clinton and president and mrs. bush, i have the honor of introducing a number of global leaders, national leaders and texas state leaders who have come to join us on this momentous occasion. as your name is called, may i ask you to stand and may i ask the audience to hold your applause so we can acknowledge our global leaders together. president of the republic of georgia, former president of spain, president aknar, the former president of ghana, john kufor, the former president of south korea, le man bok, and mrs. kim. former president of el salvador, former prime minister silvio berlusconi of italy. former prime minister tony blair and mrs. sharee blair of the united kingdom. former prime minister and mrs. john howard of australia, former prime minister and mrs. ehud olmert of israel, former secretary general -- current secretary general of nato, mr. fogg rasmussen. his royal highness of saudi arabia, abdul al-khalifa of bahrain, former ambassador to the united states, ambassador

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senior senator from oregon is recognized. mr. wyden: i ask unanimous consent to vacate the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. wyden: i think for the next half an hour senator merkley and i are going to have the opportunity to outline specifically how this affects small businesses in the real world. and that has always been our concern. one of the proponents of the bill earlier today talked about, you know, big businesses and big businesses getting a free ride and all this. that's not what this debate is all about, if you're from oregon or montana or new hampshire, what you're concerned about is your small businesses. these are innovators, people without lobbies and political action committees. they're small businesses, someday they'd like to be big, but they're trying to compete in a nationwide, you know, marketplace, and they are overwhelmingly in opposition to this bill and for understandable reasons. they hear that this is all about states' rights and then they actually look at what this bill

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: mr. president, thank you. we are on the verge of a historic vote that will determine whether we make america safer and assure that we do everything possible as senators and citizens to assure there are no more newtowns. on the evening of december 14 when we left the firehouse at sandy hook, there was a vigil at a church in newtown, st. rose of lima presided over by father bob, who is monsignor robert weiss, a very moving and powerful experience. the church was filled, people stood at the windows to hear what was going on. the governor spoke and so did i, and i said that evening the world is watching newtown. and, in fact, the world was watching newtown, as we knew from the horror of that afternoon when many of us arrived at the church, and first at the firehouse to see families emerging and learning for the first time that their children, their babies, would not be coming home that evening. it was an experience that will stay with me forever. the sights and sounds of that afternoon filled

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new jersey. mr. menendez: i ask unanimous consent to speak up to six minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. menendez: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i am pleased to rise in support of the confirmation of patty schwarz to the third circuit court of appeals, a nomination which has finally come to the floor and the time has come to confirm judge schwarz and i express my full support and urge my colleagues to do the same. i'm happy that we were able to work out the vote on this nominee without a cloture vote which is incredibly important. i want to refer to my distinguished colleague, the ranking member of the judiciary committee, who mentioned home state senator and that happens to be me. and to clarify some issues. i've always taken the role of advice and consent for judicial nominations very seriously as i'm sure we all do. appointments to the federal bench are lifetime appointments, and the circuit court is often the last stop before the united states supreme court. and that

mr. president. some industrious reporters took this particular tax form, and they found that a typical citizen -- this was worked on by democrats and republicans -- can fill out their taxes with this form in under an hour. now to illustrate how complicated the code has become, let me just refer briefly to capital gains. the income tax currently imposes at least nine different effective tax rates on capital gains, depending on the taxpayers' regular rate, how long an asset was owned, the type of asset and whether the taxpayer owes the alternative minimum tax. for this, the i.r.s. provides three different work sheets. one with 37 lines to help taxpayers calculate their tax on capital gains. comprehensive reform should make things easier for taxpayers by allowing a percentage exclusion for long-term gains and applying regular tax rates to the rest. that simple change, mr. president, could just have an exclusion for a measure of capital gains that have been earned and then a progressive rate structure fr

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: mr. president, i ask that the proceedings under the quorum be dispensed with. i have 12 unanimous consent requests for committees to meet during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders. i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. warner: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today in support of the legislation that is on the floor in support of marketplace fairness act. i rise on this as somebody who spent 20 years in the technology business, helping to fund and develop online businesses understand the importance they play to our economy, and applaud the enormous growth of internet-based businesses. but i also rise in support of this legislation because in addition to being a technology investor, i also was a governor and know the importance that sales tax plays in funding of so many critical state and local fu

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. murphy: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, it goes without saying that we all do our jobs here that we seek a seat in the united states senate for a reason. we decided to run for this high office because of issues that we deeply care about, whether it be more affordable health care or better housing or lower taxes. in a job like this you're driven to find the issues that move you. and then sometimes there are issues that find you. when i was elected to the united states senate last november, i never imagined that my maiden speech would be about guns or about gun violence. just like i could never have imagined that i'd be standing here in the wake of 20 little kids having died in sandy hook or six adults who protected them. but sometimes issues find you. and so here i am. i'm so pleased to have the majority leader and the majority whip and so many of my colleagues on the floor with me here today. i want to start, though, with the unpleasant part. i think it's important for all of my colleagues to unders

mr. preside mr. president, this legislation i believe would do nothing to prevent such tragedies going forward. the harsh but unavoidable fact is that no amount of government intervention can prevent irrational people from doing terrible things. therefore, we should not react to these tragedies in an irrational manner here in the senate that would erode a fundamental right of every citizen in the united states. mr. president, the second amendment states, as you well know, unambiguously -- and i quote -- "the right to keep and bear arms shall not be infring infringed." it makes plain to criminals that their targets have the right to defend themselves, their families, and their property. and since criminals do not follow the law, never will follow the law, new restrictions will hinder only the law-abiding among us, i'm afraid. and make no mistake, mr. president, this is just the first assault on the second amendment. more background checks today, gun registration tomorrow. who knows what will follow aft

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from delaware. mr. coons: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the proceedings under the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coons: i ask unanimous consent to speak for up to mi the inr: wut objection. . coons: mr. president, today is earth day and so i wanted to come to the floor and reflect on some of the changes that our earth is experiencing and to talk at some length about how those changes are affecting my home state of delaware and how the delaware community is studying, planning, and preparing to deal with these important changes. the recent national climate assessment has said the last decade in the united states was the hottest on record and that the last year was the hottest year ever recorded through the united states government. we're waking up, mr. president, to fewer mornings with frost on our windshields, to less snow cover, warmer oceans and to more frequent and intense storms, waves, floods and droughts and these changes are affecting human health, agricul

mr. president. mr. warner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr.sident, let me first of all say that i also am down here on the floor today because today is april 16, the sixth anniversary of the horrible shootings at the campus at virginia tech. i think every virginian and every american -- i can tell virginians at least, we all remember when we first got those news reports of the violence that was perpetrated by cho seung-hui. and i have to say to my colleague and friend, the senator from virginia, that in the 33 years that we've known each other, i have valued that friendship and appreciate his intellect, grace, and knowledge in so many ways. but there was never a moment that i was prouder of then-governor tim kaine than those moments after that tragedy. he had gone off -- and i don't know if in his comments he made this. he had gone off on a trade mission to asia when these incidents happened. and barely had landed when he turned around, and he and his wife ann got back on an airplane and flew back, and with virtually no rest -- and as a govern

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from oklahoma. mr. coburn: i ask that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. coburn: i wanted to spend a minute -- we've had a lot of discussions over the pain that's being caused by the american traveling public and business on the f.a.a., and we heard the majority leader say we couldn't do the sequester because we still have the same amount of money and there's no way we could cut the $40 billion over the next six months out of our budget. so i thought i'd just draw a little comparison for us so we can actually see what the federal budget is and then we make a comparison to the average family budget. here's the federal budget. this is last year's federal budget. we spent $3.7 trillion. we took in $2.46 trillion. we had a deficit of $1.32 trillion. we added to our total debt, so we've come to a total debt now of $17.57 trillion. and the sequester cut

mr. thune: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. mr. thune: madam president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. thune: madam president, at long last today, we have received the president's budget. it's several weeks, actually months overdue. it was supposed to have been out on february 4. it's generally used to steer or guide the budget debate that we have here in washington, d.c., but in this case it's -- it's going to be a reaction to, it's going to be after the fact discussion of the budget because the house and senate have both passed budgets. the senate for the first time in four years, the house has passed their budget every year on time, and so you would hope at least that the president's budget would serve as a bridge between the house and the senate perhaps at this point in the process because it is so much after the fact, so late in the game that the president's budget has come to us, but regrettably much of the budget, the president's budget is going to rely on

mr. president. the president of the mormon church said this, "live's journey is not travel on a freeway devoid of obstacles, pitfalls and snares. rather, it is a pathway marked with forks and turns. decisions are constantly before us to make them wisely, courage is needed. the courage to say no th." the courage today to say yes. "life's travel is not travel on a freeway devoid of obstacles pittfalls and snares. rather, it is a pathway marked with forks and turns. decisions are constantly before us. to make them wisely, courage is needed. the courage to say no." the courage today is to say yes. today our decision will determine the decision of our country. today i choose to vote my conscience, not only is harry reid a united states senator but also a a husband, a father, a grandfather and i hope friend of lots and lots of people, i choose to vote my conscience because, if tragedy strikes again, i'm sorry to say, mr. president, it will, if innocents are ung.a.o.d down in a classroom, theater or restaur

mr. president. don't stand. that wouldn't be right. good evening. thank you. mr. president, mrs. istinguished members of the press and bon jovi. yes. it's an honor to share this stage with the president. when you think about it, the president and i are a lot alike. we both went to harvard. we both have two children. and we both told joe biden we didn't have extra tickets for tonight's event. we also have something else in common like the president i too recently got in some hot water by talking about a public official's good looks. it was the time i wouldn't shut up about that stone cold fox, secretary of transportation ray lahood. oh, man, i like the cut of his jib. but president obama, he had some great jokes. it was a pleasure watch you can stand up here and do what i do. so now it's only fair that i get to do what you do. that's right, ladies and gentlemen, for the next 15 minutes i'll be mired in a tense, dysfunctional standoff with congress. this is going to be fun. now right away i'd like to formally congratulate the president on his re-election. congratulations. >> thank y

mr. presidented a mrs. bush and president as mrs. obama, president and mrs. rter, all the representatives here of the other previous presidents, the ford, nixon, johnson families. i told president obama that this was the latest grandest example of the eternal struggle of former presidents to rewrite history, and i want to take my hat off to president bush. this is a beautiful library. the exhibits are great. the work of the bush institute is inspiring, and i congratulate him on the platinum leads rating for his library. i think this is the second building in the federal system that has it, and i want to say, mr. president, once again, you got the better of me, twice in the last few weeks. my library has a platinum leads rating but it was open for a few years before we could afford to achieve it, and you've beat me to be a grandfather, and i congratulate you and laura for it. you know, starting with my work with president george h.w. bush on the tsunami and the aftermath of katrina, people began to joke that i was getting so close to the bush family i had becom

mr. president. we have 2013 as the year of the child in san francisco. >> we have a founding as well as the brown act finding -- >> mr. president, mr. president, please excuse my interruption. that was not the imperative item. that was the item -- >> tia margarita. >> yes. it was a resolution declaring 2013 as it a margarita day. in the city and county of san francisco. >> colleagues, we have the resolution described by the clerk purely recommendtry brown act finding. supervisor mar made a resolution to adopt the resolution. second that, seconded by supervisor campos. is there any public comment on this item? seeing none, colleagues, can we take this item same house same call? without objection, this resolution is adopted. [gavel] >> madam clerk, could you read the in memoriams? >> yes, mr. president. today's meeting will be adjourned in memory of the following individuals on behalf of supervisor cohen for the late mr. robert chris man. on behalf of supervisor yee for the late ms. becky lee. on beha

mr. president. >> so he's going to give the president a piece of his mind. >> i love it. >> don't you loveolutely love it. that takes some guts. because i think most people would just be like hello, mr. bulievhi >>nde's go it twice because louisville will come to the white house because they won the championship. >> absolutely. and brianna, it's funny because we were talking about how there's a lot of celebrities here, there's a lot of politicians but like kevin ware who's kind of become this pop culture icon, there's a lot of as well and -- sentativere >> her we go. >> yes, i know. yes, don, i said it. i was excited to meet the "duck dynasty" family. i was excited to meet willie robertson. and i did meet him. but i wasn't the only one. my photographer jay wasited him. and here's what he told us about beingfirst-timert the white house correspondents' dinner. >> and i love that you like party on top and business at the back. >> yeah, i'm kind of -- i kind of mix and match. put together things that fit. and whatever didn't we just scrambled last minute and we're here. this is very humbling t

the presiding officer: mr. leader. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, my friend here from oklahoma is on the floor. i would ask if he would be kind enough to -- i'm going to say a few words. i'm going to withhold offering the consent for senator schumer to take five minutes before i offer the consent agreement. what would that be appropriate for the senator from oklahoma? okay. madam president, the arbitrary spending cuts in the budget control act were designed to be painful, so painful both parties could come together to find a bipartisan way to reduce the deficit. thus far, it hasn't worked. we've reduced the debt by doing a number of different things, some $2.5 trillion worth. we've cooperated in that regard. the deep cuts required though by the sequester have failed to bring the republicans to the negotiating table to find more savings or more revenue. even after both the house and senate passed budget resolutions, th

mr. president, all members are present >> ladies and gentlemen please join us in pledge of allegiance. i pledge allegiance to the flag of the united states of america on >> could i have a motion to approve those minutes. without objection those minutes are approved >> no remarks mr. president. >> if a member objects a issue can be separated. >> we'll comment on items 1 though 7. >> clerk calling roll. there are 11 >> item 8 new business. >> it's a an ordinance appropriating 6 hundred and seven hundred thousand for the general fund. pursuant this appropriation is subject to two-thirds vote from members of board >> thank you very much. mr. president, and members i want to thank the members of the budget committee as well as a number of my colleagues who have been discussing this item with our public defenders office. and want to thank our public defenders and the board of supervisors. i'm going to make a motion to send this back to committee >> supervisor has made a motion to send back to committee. there any further discussion? i support the motion i think it's the right thing to do. th

mr. president? mr. president, earlier this afternoon, i had the opportuni opportunity, the honor to chair a hearing of the senate judiciary committee on which we serve to consider the president's nomination of a highly qualified lawyer to serve on the d.c. circuit court of appeals. and i'm encouraged by what the majority leader has just said about the very real possibility we will get a vote on the floor of this senate on vital and important issues affecting guns, immigration, and other issues. but what i speak to today is the absolutely essential role that this senate must fill of voting on qualified judges who've been nominated to the circuit courts of the united states. earlier today in this hearing, ten of our colleagues, republicans and democrats, asked thoughtful questions and mr. -- and there were thorough and thoughtful answers. i came away that he has the background, the skills and most importantly the temperament to serve as a circuit court judge. and i was encouraged by comments of both democr

mr. president. mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i understand the passion of my colleagues from oregon. oregon is one of five states with no sales tax. i know that they have voted down a sales tax by statewide referendum repeatedly by margins of two to one, i'm told. it is clear they have a passionate feeling about no sales tax in oregon. here's the good news. the bill that senator enzi and itch introduced and want -- enzi and i have introduced and want to pass in the senate will not impose one penny of sales tax obligation on anyone living in oregon, whether they're purchasing over the counter or purchasing over the internet. not one penny of sales tax liability. their states' rights are protected. their passion against sales tax is honored. the same is true in alaska, montana, new hampshire and delaware, all the other no-sales tax states. but this is what it really gets down to. this isn't about the people in oregon paying a sales tax. it's about the businesses, internet businesses in oregon that want to sel

mr. president, after the economic downfall of 2008, the education budget has felt the effects of the situation cutting education causes more problems down the road and puts the u.s. behind in global ranking. theudget cuts probably have biggest disadvantage for americans for needs that are not being met, we have to be able to make education and other resources if used effectively to support high-quality instruction can be effective in terms of student learning abo. >> for investments sake and sharing that clearly, that makes my point that investment is what drive jobs and our economy. farragut middle school along with schools across the country are facing a budget crisis. here at farragut middle school, we are faced with many budget challenges. one day, we have a lack of updated technology and resources that have become a necessity for modern education. >> of this technology, teachers are unable to give their students the best knowledge and opportunity. >> every time we have budget cuts and a budget crisis, it seems like the number of students in our average classism goes up. when you have more

mr. president and mrs. a, president -- i have the honor of introducing a number of global leaders, national leaders and texas state leaders who have come to join us on this moe mentous occasion. as your name is called, may i ask you to stand and may i ask the audience to hold their applause so we can acknowledge our global leaders together. president the republic of georgia, form president of spain, former president of ghana, the former president of south korea and wife, former president of el salvador, former prime minister of italy, former prime minister tony blare and wife of the united kingdom, former prime minister and wife of australia, former prime minister and wife of israel, former secretary of general -- current secretary general of nato, his royal highness of saudi arabia, former ambassador to the united states, ambassador of india, current ambassadors to the united states kuwait, indonesia, afghanistan, ambassadors of bat swa na, please join me in acknowledging and welcoming our global leaders. [

mr. president. mr. president, if you know somebody that is a criminal or if they've been declared mentally insane by the courts, they're not going to like this bill, mr. president. and that's exactly what we have tried to do. i want to go through so many of this, but i want my friend, senator pat toomey, and i appreciate him so much. we have sister states, west virginia and pennsylvania. especially western pennsylvania. me and my family grew up in farmington and fairmont and northern west virginia. we had the same twang. so pat and i understand each other. but at this time i would like for senator toomey, if he would, explain the part that is so near and dear to him and me also. senator toomey. >> mr. president,. >> thank you, mr. president. >> i would like to begin by actually taking a moment to inform the members of this body and people who may be listen, of you weren't aware, it appears that a tragedy has struck at the boston marathon. and bombs have gone off, and there are injuries that we know of, c

mr president welcome to r.t. hello. mr president what subjects did you discuss with the russian president vladimir putin during your meeting with him. first of all i'd like to thank artie's arabic channel for what it's been doing for the arab world as a whole and yemen in particular this is my first visit to russia since i was elected in two thousand and twelve i came to thank the russian government and mr putin for supporting the people of yemen at the time of the crisis in twenty eleven yemen was on the brink of civil war but its political forces the ruling party of zisha and parties together with our social youth and women's organizations agreed that we should take the way of peace and stop the civil war that had been raging in our capital city center for more than a year we all agreed that we were going to act according to the gulf cooperation council initiative and its implementation mechanism we then held an early election on february twenty fourth two thousand and twelve a compromise president was elected and we

mr. president? the presiding officer: the assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i know pending is the firearms legislation which america is watching very closely and which we will speak to at length as we proceed to this measure. i, of course, will come to the floor at that time to address some of the issues which were brought up in the senate judiciary committee. one of the bills that is being brought forward under this firearms act is one related to straw purchases, purchases by an individual who can legally purchase a gun so that that firearm can be given to someone who could not because of a felony conviction, for example, or perhaps mental instability. those third-party straw purchases have welcome become the scourge of many communities. one of them is the city of chicago, illinois which i represent. we found that about 9% of the guns confiscated, crime guns co

mr. president? the presiding officer: assistant majority leader. mr. durbin: i ask consent the quorum call be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the rules committee be discharged from further consideration of s. con res. 10 and the senate proceed to its consideration. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. con res. 10 authorizing the use of emancipation hall in the capitol visitors center for an event to celebrate the birthday of kamehameha. the presiding officer: is there objection to proceeding to the measure? without objection the committee is discharged and the senate will proceed. mr. durbin: i ask unanimous consent the concurrent resolution be agreed to, the motion to reconsider laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin:

mr. president, your hair is so white, it could be a member of your cabinet. he can handle it. of the cabinet, the president recently picked his new treasury secretary. gives me great to say it's not l him, it's me. the president is the coolest guy in the room. that's what everybody says. he's the coolest guy in the room. here is my question, who else is in that room? not hard to be the cool one when the other guys in the room are biden, hagel and kerry. i would be cool, too, showing how to do the harlem shake. now i made some jokes about the president this evening and i'm looking forward to my audit. it's coming. i know, sir. it's coming. but i would like to take a moment here and change gears and say something to the president regarding the events of the past few weeks. some of you may not know this, i grew up in boston. my parents still live there and my brother, luke, raised his family in watertown. i would like t take this opportunity to thank you, mr. president, for visiting that great city and helping its people begin to heal with your inspiring words that made a huge di

the presiding officer: without objection. mr. mcconnell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the republican leader. mr. mcconnell: something truly remarkable happened in the senate last night. it was sort of late in the day, so for those who missed it, here's a little recap. late yesterday afternoon the majority leader handed to us a hastily crafted bill and then asked if we could pass it before anybody had seen it. apparently someone on the other side realized they had no good explanation for why they hadn't prevented delays we have seen in airports across the country this week, so they threw together a bill in a feeble attempt to cover for it. it's really pretty embarrassing. it actually proposes to replace the president's sequester cuts with what's known around here as okay o.. -- as oko. let me provide an explanation provided by joe lieberman in a letter he signed with dr. coburn just last year. here's what senator lieberman said about oko. the funds allocated for oko, or war savings, are not real. and every member of congre

mr. president. thank you for giving us the encouragement to continue to carry on. obviously, it goes without saying, when i talked to the president right after his reelection about the fact i was very conflicted about this job, not about the job, but about the fact that i've would like to stay, but i told him kathy and i have been married 46 years, and she wins out. he said, and give me her cell number, i will call her. i said, i did not want you to do that. i do not want you to hear these arguments she will make to you. [laughter] but conflicted about this, it is the right decision for our family. we have been in public service 35 years, and we think we have done it the right way. we have done it in a bipartisan way, in a way that reflects the best values of america. the final pages of my book of service i think will be remembered for bipartisanship, for serving in one of the most historic administrations in the history of our country. i am so pleased the president gave us an opportunity to have a f

mr. president. mr. president, i rise -- yesterday i came to the floor to oppose the cloture motion on the motion to proceed to the so-called main street fairness act. i, of course, would like to properly name is the internet tax collection act because that's what it is. i strongly oppose this bill, which has very serious flaws to it and very serious ramifications for not only businesses in my state, on-line businesses, where we've seen great growth, but also business -- on-line businesses across this nation. and i strongly disagree with the decision to fast-track this bi bill, to skip the regular markup process of the finance committee that both the chairman of the finance committee, senator baucus, and the ranking republican on the finance committee, senator hatch, had opposed going to this bill without the committee doing its work. why? there's a number of concerns that have been raised by this bill by members on both sides of the aisle. at a very minimum, we believe these concerns warrant a thorough v

mr. president. thank you for really giving us the encourage to continue to carry on. so obviously it goes without saying when i talked to the president right after his reelection about the fact that i was very conflicted about this job, not about the job but about the fact that i would like to stay. i told him kathie and i have been married 46 years and she wins out on this one. he said give me your cell number i'm going to call her. i said no, mr. president, i don't want you to do that and hear the arguments she is going to make to you. so i am conflicted about this but it is the right decision for our family. we have been in public service 35 years and we think that we have done it the right way. we have done it in a bipartisan way, in a way that reflects the best values of america. so the final pages of my book of service i think will be remembered for bipartisanship, for serving in one of the most historic administrations in the history of our country. and i am so pleased that the president gave

mr. president, i can relate. and now we see president bush the grandfather just beginning to spoil his brandt new granddaughter. so we know president bush the man, and what president clinton said is absolutely true, to know the man is to like the man because he's comfortable in his own skin. he knows who he is. he doesn't put on my pretenses. he takes his job seriously but doesn't take himself too seriously. he is a good man. written by people just like you. you want to be sure the money you're about to spend is money well spent. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. hey everybody, hi mom... streaming live with a tour of my new place... knowing you can still reach out. ... and now you've seen it. that's powerful. verizon. get mom a lucid 2 by lg for free. if you have high cholesterol, here's some information that may be worth looking into. in a clinical trial versus lipitor, crestor got more high-risk patients' bad cholesterol to a goal of under 100. getting to goal is important, especially if you have high chole

mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from nebraska. mrs. fischer: i ask unanimous consent that the quor be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mrs. fischer: mr. president, i rise today to deliver my maiden speech as united states senator from nebraska. i'm humbled by the trust placed in me by nebraskans and inspired by their confidence to confront the great challenges before us. our nation's story began when bands of patriots fought a revolution to secure independence from an out-of-touch king residing an ocean away. the framers believed a representative government closer to the people would be more responsive and better able to provide opportunity for individuals. from the start, leaders of goodwill and strong views disagreed over economic theori theories, the size of government and foreign policy. importantly, though, these divergent beliefs have been a source of national strength, not weakness. and through vigorous debate about the proper size and role of government, we have built a powerful nation. but a

mr. president and mrs. obama, president and mrs. carter, president and mrs. george h.w. s. clinton and president and mrs. bush, i have the honor of introducing a number of global leaders, national leaders and texas state leaders who have come to join us on this momentous occasion. as your name is called, may i ask you to stand and may i ask the audience to hold your applause so we can acknowledge our global leaders together. ofsident of the republic georgia, former president of spain, president aknar, the former president of ghana, john kufor, the former president of south korea, le man bok, and mrs. kim. former president of el former prime minister silvio berlusconi of italy. former prime minister tony blair and mrs. sharee blair of the united kingdom. former prime minister and mrs. john howard of australia, former prime minister and mrs. ehud olmert of israel, former secretary general -- current secretary general of nato, mr. fogg rasmussen. his royal highness of saudi arabia, abdul al-khalifa of bahrain, former ambassador to the united states, ambassador sen of india.

mr. president and mrs. ton and now former secretary clinton, to presidents george h.w. bush and mrs. bush, to president and mrs. carter, to current and former world leaders, and all the distinguished guests here today, michelle and i are honored to be with you to mark this historic occasion. this is a texas-sized party and that's worthy of what we're here to do today, honor the life and legacy of the 43rd president of the united states, george w. bush. when all the living former presidents are together it's also a special day for our democracy. we've been called the world's most exclusive club and we do have a pretty nice clubhouse. but the truth is, our club's more like a support group. last time we all got together was just before i took office and, i needed that because as each of these leaders will tell you, no matter how much you may think you're ready to assume the office of the president it is impossible to truly understand the nature of the job until it's yours, until you're sitting at that desk. tha