mr. baucus: i thank the chair. mr. president, we're now voting on the panama f.p.a., to provide lucrative new opportunities for america's farmers. panama -- the presiding officer: the senate will be in order. take your conversations out of the chambers. the senator from montana. mr. baucus: it will level the playing field for american exporters. it will do a lot of stuff. let me tell you what it is all about. basically, mr. president, we have -- we accept virtually all of panama's products duty free, virtually. panama has significant tariffs on u.s. products going into panama. this is really a free trade agreement. it's a freebie. i urge members to vote for this. it's good for america so now we can export more products to panama with this agreement. the presiding officer: who yields time? the senator from iowa. mr. brown: i rise to speak against this agreement. if we just wanted to get rid of tariffs and level the playing field, we would pass about three pages of tariff schedules and build in labor rights so that all o

mr. baucus: mr. president, we are now on the colombia free trade agreement and i can take a lot of time, i think most senators know how they're going to vote on this. let me say i've visited colombia, i'm extremely impressed with the progress colombia has made. colombia was a failed state, failed country about ten years ago. with america's plan, colombia, the assistance we've given the narc owe traffic is down, clearly we don't want one laborer or anybody killed in colombia. but the fact is there is tremendous progress in colombia. colombia is so important to the geopolitical future in south america. if we cut and run, colombia is going to wonder where is the united states, it will not -- it will go to other countries, venezuela and china and so forth. i urge my colleagues who are on the fence, who are on the fence to vote for this because that's a vote for the future. the glass is half full. the presiding officer: who yields time? the senator from ohio. order in the chambers. the senator from ohio.

mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. order in the chambers. mr. baucus: i ask consent to speak one minute or two minutes evenly divided on this amendment -- the presiding officer: is there objection? seeing no objection, the senator from montana. mr. baucus: we all agree the federal government should, if the contractors who contract with the federal government should pay their taxes. i don't think there is any dispute on that. there's also agreement we should not overburden small business who are paying their taxes. the bill before us to repeal the provisions scheduled to into effect in 2013, require withholding 3% of payments from the u.s. treasury to government contractors. there are two flaws in this legislation. one, it lets all government contractors off the hook even those who refuse to pay taxes they owe. those contractors would not be subject to the mechanism to make sure they pay. second, this is paid for by rescinding $30 billion of appropriated funds which, frankly, is contrary to an agreement which was reached to the president on defici

mr. baucus: i ask further proceedings under the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. baucus: on another matter, i'd like to speak against the amendment offered by the senator from arizona, senator mccain, amendment number 740. mr. president, this chamber approved three free trade agreements last week and did so with overwhelming support. but for many, that support hinged on passage of a robust trade adjustment assistance otherwise known as t.a.a. last month the senate approved trade adjustment assistance and during floor consideration an amendment similar to the one offered by senator mccain was rejected. why was it rejected? i'll tell you why. because a majority of senators in this chamber want to help small businesses. they want to help small businesses improve their competitiveness, and we want to help small businesses take advantage of the opportunities that trade provides. with this amendment would end trade adjustment assistance. it would end the only program specifically designed to help manufacturers hurt by import

mr. baucus: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from montana. mr. baucus: mr. president, the english poet thomas gray once said "commerce changes the fate and genius of nations." the united states has always understood that commerce improves our fate and sharpens our genius. we know that opening the channels of commerce creates new opportunities. it creates new ideas and forms new partnerships. we know that global commerce makes us more competitive, more innovative, more productive. it's also sometimes more difficult. today the senate has an historic opportunity to build on this legacy by approving our free trade agreements with colombia, panama, and south korea. these agreements will increase exports of u.s. goods and services. they'll create tens of thousands of good-paying american jobs. they'll bind us even more closely to three important allies. colombia, especially, has returned from the brink of becoming a failed state to being the third-largest economy in latin america and one of its most respected leaders. it is astounding, mr. president, just how far

these results are arrested down were in other parts of this time stream all indicative of the baucus makes him mr crow it's a callous remains to be seen but it will be argued for you here. one of the major grievances uniting protesters across the us is i europe a government for putting corporate welfare above that of citizens now that you pick up by watching much of the u.s. mainstream media but activists are getting creative to get across the point is our he's got it. chickie on reports. their discontent flower seeds. and graphic thousands of americans have resorted to banners and t. shirts to get their message across that a frustration with what they see is the government acting on behalf of big corporations rather than the people message which the protesters say their media have failed to deliver the media feels like these kinds of events don't deserve coverage sometimes all you get when you do something this is a photograph and so it's very important for the message to be seen those simple oftentimes handwritten messages that people carry on their chests have often been subject to mockery wha

mrs. lisa krause. senator max baucus and miss melody haynes. udible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ambassador armalon revere and philip revere. the honorable timothy geithner and mrs. geithner. ms. carla a. robinson mr. guy -- [inaudible conversations] mr. henry h. kang and ms. cassie hearn mihalik. [inaudible conversations] the honorable ann stock and mr. stewart c. stolt. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] ms. janelle monet and mr. nathaniel irvin. janelle monet is one of the performers this evening at the white house, following the white house state dinner. the other performers will be be on trio from seoul korea who were educated at juilliard in new york. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] mrs. janet berman. [inaudible conversations] [inaudible conversations] mr. spencer arthur overton and mrs. leslie collins overton. ms. linda nathan and mr. roger h. browne. mr. james biden and ms. sarah biden. [inaudible conversations]

mr. chairman, i'll submit answers in the record. thank you. >> senator baucus. >> thank you, mr. chairman. secretary darcy can he last appeared here, i asked the core to reassess the situation, not to reassess the levees. you said you take that under consideration, you would consider reassessing that decision not to pay. you tell me now the result is that reassessment? >> reassessment -- the results are that we will continue to not appeal to pay for it the assessment for certification of the levees and the server knows we have budget constraints and it's one of those missionaries that we will not be able to fulfill. >> do you have a sense of the hardship it causes these communities, miles city, granddad, great falls? many communities have to have floodplain maps. they have to have them certified. earlier party 2008 the court did pay for certification. suddenly the core with true, leaving these communities and having the resources to make sure they get certification of levees so that the maps can be -- can delineate and be -- so that people cannot they live in an area that has a c

mr. camp, for the work he did with senator baucus in order to get the t.a.a. re-authorization in the place it is today. i think it was additionally helpful. may i have 30 seconds. mr. mcdermott: the gentleman is extended 30 second. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman is recognized. mr. kind: as i mentioned in the markup, i think the ways and means should have jurisdiction, were to hold some hearings as we move forward on ways we can improve the efficiency and the outcome of the t.a.a. program. any program is worthy of change and for improvements. i think this is right for that. my concern is this is only a three-year re-authorization. i hope we can contain -- continue bipartisan support to continue this beyond three years so it's not having to be linked to other trade agreements but i think our committee has some work to do to improve a very successful program. i encourage my colleagues to support it and i yield back. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman yields back. the gentleman from michigan. mr. camp: i would reserve. i would just say i have no other s

senators inouye, murray, udall of new mexico, begich, franken, johnson of south dakota, baucus, tester, and bingaman. mresident, native women across the country suffer from severe threats to their safety. according to a safety study by the department of justice, two in five girls and women in native communities will suffer domestic violence, and one in three will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime. can you imagine looking through the loving eyes of your daughter, sister or mother and know that one of them will probably be abused in their lifetime? this is the terrible reality of life for native women and their families across the country. it is an epidemic. it is unacceptable. and we must stand against it. this is why i'm introducing the save native women act. most of those who commit these terrible crimes against native women are not native themselves. yet currently tribes have no ability -- no ability -- to prosecute nonnatives for domestic violence and sexual assault in their own communiti communities. this has resulted in a sense of lawlessness and leaves native women with few places to turn. m

baucus. this is an hour, 50 minutes. >> the hearing will come to order. mr. secretary, this morning you were quoted as saying the biggest risk we take is financial institutions not taking enough risk. secretary geithner, with all due respect, i'm not sure off clear picture of reality. as it relates to not only the thousands of pages of restricting regulations that have been imposed on financial sfougses but also the daily drum beat of the fdic and other agencies directing the banks not to take risk. if you want a dose of reality, sit in my office or the office of other members of this committee and listen to the stories related to them by main street bankers. talking about the restrictive regulations imposed. and who do you think has a responsibility to encourage the banks to make more isn't it the regulators? the regulators that make up -- if it is, they need look in the mirror. if in fact you are correct, and banks are not taking enough risks, i would submit to you the problem does not lie with the loan offers in regional banks, it lies in the very members

mr. blum is responsible for overseeing the medicare prescription drug program and formerly worked as an adviser to one of our good friends and colleagues, senator max baucus on the finance committee. you're the finance committee staff? our final witness is louis saccoccio, there we go, louis saccoccio. very good. executive director national health care antifraud association. mr. saccoccio and his group worked to increase awareness and improve direction of health care fraud. i also understand mr. saccoccio his former navy jack dwyer and graduate of the u.s. naval academy served for eight years, including a state legal carrier of the u.s., is that correct? good for you. good old navy guy. silly we are in good company. thank you for that service and ask for being here today. folks, you know the drill. we ask that you take five minutes for a statement. if you go but that's okay. if you go way over that's not okay. mr. kutz carmelita saskia >> ranking member of sherrod brown thank you for the opportunity to discuss medicare part d. in 2090 testified before the subcommittee and doctor shopping and medicaid. today's testimony highlights the results of our invest

mr. blum oversees the prescription drug program and was an adviser to one of our good friends and colleagues, senator max baucus. our final witness is louis saccoccio and executive director of the national health care antifraud association. he and his group worked to increase awareness and improve the protection and prevention of health care fraud. i also understand that he is former navy jag lawyer and graduate of the naval academy and was a tour as a legal officer on the carrier of the usst-hawk. is that correct? good for you. a navy guy, a jag guy next to me. we're in good company. thank you for that service and thank you for being here today. folks, you know the drill. take five minutes for the statement. if you go over a little, that's okay. if you go way over that's not okay, and we'll bring you back in. >> thank you for the opportunity to discuss medicare part d. in 2009 i testified before this committee on doctor shopping with medicaid. this testimony will highlight the results of the investigation of doctor shops in medicare part d. two parts first i'll discuss the findings and second i'll discuss reco

baucus, job well done. thank you so much. i don't know if anyone else is here to speak at this time. senator grassley? mr.grassley: madam president. the presiding officer: the senator from iowa. mr. grassley: well, can you believe it? we're finally here. after several years of waiting for these trade agreements to come to the congress, it looks like we're going to be able to vote on them, pass them and the president sign them and to become law. quite frankly, i thought soon after may 10, 2007, we would be voting on the colombian trade agreement because president bush was anxious to send it to the hill, but the democrats took over the congress after the 2006 election, and the way that it was negotiated by the bush administration, it wasn't good enough, wasn't enough negotiation to go far enough on labor and on environment, so the new democrat-controlled congress said we have got to do more on those negotiations for environment and labor, so more was renegotiated. and on may 10, 2007, there was a news conference announcing a bipartisan -- announcing bipartisan results between the bush administration and the

mr. speaker, we need to support this rule, we're going to have debate going into this evening and we're going to have debate throughout the day tomorrow. the finance committee chairman and senator max baucus. it is an hour. >> the meeting has come to order. >> the meeting will come to order to consider the trade agreement. the committee will consider more trade nominees. john quincy adams once said patience and perseverance have a magical effect. but for which, difficulties disappear and obstacles vanish. our free trade agreements with colombia, panama, and south korea are at the end of a long journey. they have faced difficulties and obstacles along the way. thanks to the patience and perseverance of many, we overcame them. we are now giving our final approval to these agreements, which will create tens of thousands of american jobs. they will give our -- that will give our ranchers, farmers, and workers fast- growing markets. they will increase u.s. exports by $13 billion. they will boost our gdp by more than $15 million. they are what our economy needs right now. the journey of these agreements began during the bush administration, negotiated for open markets for american manufactured

because senators baucus and grassley looked at our original bill and worked with us on suggestions as to how to change it to make it just as effective but within the rules of w.t.o. mrrtunity to help put middle-class americans back to work and, amazingly enough, in a bipartisan way. today we stand together to defend american jobs against market-distorting, job-killing, exchange rate policies that subsidize foreign manufacturers at the expense of american manufacturers. these currency policies artificially raise the price of u.s. exports and suppress the price of chinese imports into the united states. undermining the economic health of american manufacturers and their ability to compete at home and around the globe. china is by far, by far the biggest exploiter of predatory currency practices, but our bill doesn't target china or any one country. our bill rather says that there will be consequences for any country that engages in currency manipulation to gain an unfair advantage over american businesses. mr. president, it's been ten years since china joined the w.t.o. in those ten years, the economic policy institute estimates that 2.8 million american jobs were los

mr. president, by ask that this agreement be modified to make sure that senator baucus has 20 minutes and that senator bruin has one hour. -- brown has one hour. and senator sanders has one hour. the presiding officer: could the majority leader please claire fi which senator brown? mr. reid: and if the republicans wish additional time they can do that. it's brown of ohio. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i'm sorry about that. mr. president, i have just spoken to -- mr. president, just so everyone understands, there has been some discussion that we had in my caucus on tuesday and i just spoke to the -- with the house and i've been given -- i've given a guarantee from the speaker that the trade adjustment assistance bill will pass next week with these matters. i ask unanimous consent that on tuesday, october 11, 2011 at 5:30 p.m. the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar 250, two minutes for debate, that upon the use or yielding back of that time senate proceed to vote with no intervening action or debate on calendar number 250. the motion to reconsider

because senators baucus and grassley looked at our original bill and worked with us on suggestions as to how to change it to make it just as effective but within the rules of w.t.o. mr. president, today we have an opportunity to help put middle-class americans back to work and, amazingly enough, in a bipartisan way. today we stand together to defend american jobs against market-distorting, job-killing, exchange rate policies that subsidize foreign manufacturers at the expense of american manufacturers. these currency policies artificially raise the price of u.s. exports and suppress the price of chinese imports into the united states. undermining the economic health of american manufacturers and their ability to compete at home and around the globe. china is by far, by far the biggest exploiter of predatory currency practices, but our bill doesn't target china or any one country. our bill rather says that there will be consequences for any country that engages in currency manipulation to gain an unfair advantage over american businesses. mr. president, it's been ten years since china joined the w.t.o. in those ten years, the economic policy institute estimates that