mr. baucus: i thank my good friend from west virginia. he's a good man. mr. rockefeller: i note 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 new hampshire. mrs. shaheen: i ask that the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mrs. shaheen: thank you. mr. president, i'm here to speak on the legislation that's pending before us. we all know that this country faces big challenges. we face a declining infrastructure that's critical to our businesses. we need safe, reliable transportation if we're going to keep the flow of commerce moving. but, as president obama mentioned in his state of the union address, when american engineers took a look at our transportation infrastructure, they gave it a "d" grade. that's not quite failing, but it's certainly not very good. our declining infrastructure threatens not only our safety but also our global economic competitiveness. america is falling behind economic competitors like

mr. baucus: i yield the floor. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from south carolina. mr. demint: i ask unanimous consent at the conclusion of my remarks that senator johanns be allowed to speak. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. demint: thank you, mr. president. i think any american who just heard the explanation of what obamacare does for americans will realize that the complexity of the health care system, the importance of the patient-fizz relationship cannot be managed from the federal level. i had a difficulty -- i had some difficulty really determining exactly what was being said there, but i do want to talk about health care, but before i do, i need to make a couple of comments about the f.a.a. perimeter rule that is part of the discussion that the health care amendment will be a. -- be attached to. the perimeter rule is a policy that was adopted in the 1960's that prohibits aircraft flying in and out of reagan national originating or departing anywhere beyond an arbitrary 1,250-mile limit. con

mr. chairman bam baucus, chairman frank. you asked that my findings, the light of the findings, and why they were unable to reach unanimous agreement. i joined hennessey and [ inaudible ] we describe the ten essential causes of the financial crisis. our conclusion is that the crisis -- >> can you move your microphone up a little, please? >> better turn it on. >> our thesis is that the crisis was at its core a global financial panic, sip stated by concentrated, correlated housing related losses at large and mid size financial institutions in the united states and europe. let's examine three areas where our findings and conclusions differ from those of the six-member majority. first, our explanation of the crisis begins with a global credit bubble fueled by international capital flows. we do not think that you can understand what happened in the united states without first understanding what was going on in international capital markets. there were a series of credit bubbles occurring at the same time in a variety of asset cla

mr. chairman bam baucus, chairman frank. you asked that my findings, the light of the findings, and why they were unable to reach unanimous agreement. i joined hennessey and [ inaudible ] we describe the ten essential causes of the financial crisis. our conclusion is that the crisis -- >> can you move your microphone up a little, please? >> better turn ion. >> our thesiss that the crisis was at its core a global financial panic, sip stated by concentrated, correlated housing related losses at large and m size financial institutions in the united states and europe. let's examine three areas where our findings and conclusions differ from those of the six-member majority. first, our explanation of the crisis begins with a global credit bubble fueled by international capital flows. we do not think that you can understand what happened in the united states without first understanding what was going on in international capital markets. there were a series of credit bubbles occurring at the same time in a variety of asset classes a

baucus. we are sending a team and we are going to do everything we can to expedite that mr.nunes so we can agree. >> are these matters that are outside the confines of the trade agreement that was signed on may 10 of 2007? >> yes, in many cases they are but i think they are issues that the american public believed our sacrosanct for us. i can, the reason i gave you that recitation about my experience around the country, part of the american public's frustration the biggest thing i've heard is one nobody else plays by the rules with us or goat wasn't just china. they felt like our trading partners were playing by the rules and we wouldn't stand up and force our rights. we have addressed up at the other thing is people's concern that we will sign an agreement with anybody. if somebody somebody has benefited we will sign it and we don't care how they treat their workers or undercut their work richard creates an unlawful plainfield. that is why we think is important to address that not just to find a way to go forward but to begin to get americans confidence that trade works for

mission of your ranking member, again, chairman baucus is going to do down, we're sending a team, we're going to do everything we can to expedite that, mr. nunes. >> aren't these matters outside the confines of the trade agreement signed on may 10, 2010? >> in many cases they are. i think they are issues that the american public believes are sacrosanct for us. again, the reason i gave you that recitation about my appearance arn the country, the biggest thing i shear frustration. nobody plays by the rule but us. they felt like trading partners weren't playing by the rules an we wouldn't stand up and enforce our rights and we've addressed that. the people's other concern is we'll sign an agreement with anybody. we don't care how they teet our workers or if it undercut ours workers or creates an unleavell playing field, that's why we think it's important to address that, to begin to get americans' confidence that trade works for us, we can create jobs here, and we aren't creating incentives to move production to another country that may not preserve the rights of those workers. >> i know president obama is going down to south america and b

baucus is going to go down. we're sending a team. we're going to do everything we can to expedite that, mr. nuÑes, so we can agree -- >> mr.mbassador, aren't these matters that are outside the confines of the trade agreement that was signed on may 10, 2007? >> in many cases they are, but i think they are issues that the american public believed are sacrosanct for us. again, the reason i gave you that recitation about my experience around the country, part of the american public's frustration, the biggest thing i've heard is, one, nobody else plays by the rules but us. it wasn't just china. they felt like our trading partners weren't playing by the rules, and we wouldn't stand up and address our rights. but the other thing is people's concern that we'll sign an agreement with anybody. we don't care how they treat their workers or if it creates an unlevel playing field, and that's why we think it's important to address that. not just to find a way to go forward, but to begin to give americans confidence that trade works for us. we can create jobs here, and we aren't creating incentives to just move production to another coun

baucus is the chairman. this year's deficit would be a record $1.6 trillion under the budget proposed monday by prison obama. in the long term, mr. obama is planned to cut the deficit by $1 trillion over the next two years. in a few moments coming to hear more about their department's budget from defense secretary robert gates and then help and housing service secretary civilians. after that, president obama and the head of the white house budget office, jacob lew. on "washington journal," we will take your questions and comments about the president's proposed budget for the next fiscal year. congressional debate about what to do for the rest of this spending it. our guest will be john cranford , republican representative jack kingston, a member of the appropriations committee, and allyson schwartz, and it is live on c-span every day at 7:00 a.m. eastern. during the briefing on next year's proposed budget, defense secretary robert gates said temporary spending measures for this fiscal year are hurting the military. he also told reporters about the pentagon's plan to cut $78 billion from the 2012 budget. these budget decisions to

mr. baucus, proposes an amendment numbered 75 as modified. mr. rockefeller: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the clerk dispense with the reading of the amendment, and i yield the floor and note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: the presiding officer: the senator from ohio. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i ask unanimous consent to dispense with the quorum call. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent to speak as if in morning business for up to ten minutes. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: thank you, mr. president. i -- i rise to talk about one of america's great institutions, gallaudet university. on july 4, 1861, president lincoln celebrated our nation's independence on the eve of the civil war by declaring to congress the principal aim of the u.s. government should be to elevate the condition of man, to lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all to afford all an unfe

mr. rockefeller: i ask unanimous consent that the senate resume consideration of the baucus amendment number 75 as further modified. this is the amendment for the finance title of the bill that we're on which was reported out by the finance committee last week. further, that the agreement as further modified be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate. the presiding officer: is there objection? without objection, so ordered. ms. cantwell: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from washington. ms. cantwell: mr. president, i come to the floor today to comment. i heard both the chairman and the ranking member giving comments about the f.a.a. bill. first of all, i want to thank them for their hard work and diligence in this legislation. it doesn't just come now, this year. this is something that the chairman and ranking member have been working on for several years. and i had a chance yesterday to talk about the nextgen system and how many jobs are going to be created from really high-wage technology that is going to be used to