mr. barrasso: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be suspended. i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be suspended. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. barrasso: the house of representatives is prepared to pass the energy tax, the american clean energy and security act. the act, therefore; known as american clean energy and security act -- acs. that is the right thing to call this bill because it gambles, it gambles with the future of the american people. in blackjack, the dealer might have an ace that's showing but one card in the dealer's hand is always hidden. in this case, the hidden card is the card that shows the real costs of this bill to the american taxpayer. what the taxpayer doesn't know is that the game is rigged. the taxpayer is going to lose no matter how many times the majority adds to this hand another give away to special interests, another tax break to offset the monumental costs of this bill, the end will be just the same: the taxpayer goes bupt and washington will win. aces is the property of a su

mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south dakota. price barrasso i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be dispensed. .the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. thune: i ask unanimous consent i be allowed to speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, the quorum call is dispensed with. the senator is recognized. mr. thune: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, there is a disturbing pattern that is emerging in washington, d.c., which i don't think is being lost on the american people. we've seen since the beginning of this year with the new administration coming to power, the new congress taking control of the leadership in both the house and the senate, an enormous, unprecedented amount of spending, borrowing, and taxing and i think that the -- to bear that out, i guess this piece of information has been used before -- if you look at the numbers, you have to go back a long ways in american history, back to the foundation of our country, back to 1789 and take it up through today

klobuchar, whitehouse, udall, shaheen, kaufman, martinez, demint, barrasso, wicker, johanns and risch. the majority leader is recognized. mr. reid: the resolution on will meet at a time to be determined. the presiding officer: the senate will take proper order and notify the house of representatives and counsel for judge kent. mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask in an orderly fashion that senators approach the desk for signing of the resolution. of the impeachment before they leave the chamber. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call : quorum call:

mr. ensign: i recently had the privilege of visiting guantanamo bay. i went down there with senators barrasso, brownback and johanns. i would like to start out by saying how proud i am of the job of the men and women in uniform who are stationedded down there are doing. admiral dave thomas and his staff are doing an outstanding job and their efforts need to be recognized much these are the kind of individuals who make america great and who keep us safe. this was the type of facility where you don't have a true understanding of how well run it is until you go down there and see it in person for yourself. i would actually encourage our president to go down and see firsthand what guantanamo bay is really like, what the facility is like, how the prisoners are treated down there. as we are all aware, six months ago president obama set an a an arbitrary timeline of january of 2010 to close gitmo. it is now june and it appears he is no closer now than he was in this year's january in identifying what his plan is. we have still seen little more than political rhetoric and no concrete plan with how to

mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. barrasso: i would ask that the quorum call be rescinded. officer without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you. i would like to speak on two -- mr. burris: thrieblgd speeg on two different issues on morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. bur is: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to applaud senator lincoln and senator snowe for their leadership and commitment in introducing senate bill 1222. this legislation would revise and extend existing empowerment zones, renewable community and enterprise community rules. it seeks to make these programs more effective and ensure that the incentives work as intended. i'm proud to be a cosponsor of this important measure. congress created empowerment zones, renewable communities, and enterprise communities to spur economic growth and create job opportunities. cities like east st. louis and chicago, illinois, have received tax incentives for $5.3 billion. these incentives encourage businesses to open or expand and to hire lo