mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. and thank you to the distinguished senator from delaware for those very important and insightful comments, both on the navy expeelz on the small -- both on the navy seals and on the small business legislation that's pending before this body. i want to begin, first of all, by saying i have seven unanimous consent requests for committees to met during today's session of the senate. they have the approval of the majority and minority leaders, and i ask unanimous consent that these requests be agreed to and that these requests be printed in the record. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. as my colleague and the distinguished senator from delaware has mentioned, over the last 36 or so hours, our nation and allies around the globe have rightly celebrated an extraordinary military triumph, a great victory in the war on terror, a turning point perhaps toward peace. osama bin laden, the heinous mastermind of the 9/11 attacks that murdered thousan

mr. blumenthal: madam president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i ask for permission to extend my remarks to 15 minutes, if necessary, if there is no objection. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. madam president, we all have a shared commitment to our nation's veterans. that shared commitment is reflected in many of the programs that are supported by yourself and my colleagues in this body every year. i deeply respect the knowledge and dedication that my fellow senators have brought to this critical issue. each of my colleagues, almost without exception, has supported measures that have helped our veterans over the years, and i rise today to introduce my first piece of legislation, a bill to help our nation's veterans. our nation must keep faith with the men and women who have served and sacrificed for our nation. unfortunately, and unconscionably, america is still failing them and their families by tolerating unemployment, homelessness, inadequate health car

mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i rise today to voice my strong support for the nomination of susan carney to serve as an appeals court judge on the second circuit court of appeals, one of our most distinguished appeals court panels among the federal circuit. and i hope that the united states senate will move swiftly to confirm her to fill one of the open seats on this critically important court. ms. carney has truly impressive credentials for appointment to the federal bench. she graduated couple laud from harvard and magnum mum laud fr from -- she then went to clerk for judge levin campbell. she serves as deputy general counsel for yale university. one of country's great institutions of higher learning and previously served as an associate general counsel for yale. in her capacity at yale she advises the university on a wide range of legal issues, some of them complex and challenging, relating to intellectual property, international transaction and commercial matters. ms. carney's time at yale has exposed to her a

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i ask to speak as if we are in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i rise today to support the nomination of professor goodwin liu's nomination to the ninth circuit complete court of appea. very simply, america deserves and nieds the best of our legal profession on the best, the best americans on the best, and goodwin liu is really an extraordinary american and an exceptional lawyer, and he will serve with distinction on the ninth circuit court of appeals, if he is confidence by the united states senate, as i -- if he is confirmed by the united states senate, as i urge he should be. he's qualified by reason not only of his really remarkable intellect but also his professional experience, his life experience, which are really important to anyone who serves on the federal bench. as demonstrating his intellect, he graduated with honors from stanford university in 1991, he was a rhodes scholar, graduating with honors also f

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. as my colleague and the distinguished senator from delaware has mentioned, over the last 36 or so hours, our nation and allies around the globe have rightly celebrated an extraordinary military triumph, a great victory in the war on terror, a turning point perhaps toward peace. osama bin laden, the heinous mastermind of the/11 attacks that murdered thousands of americans, has been final brought to justice -- has been finally brought to justice and we are rightly celebrating the extraordinary service, bravery, skill of the navy seals who was the tip of the spear, an american military that has brought to justice one of the criminals, one of the war criminals of our time. and we celebrate not only, of course, the navy seals but all of the men and women who have given their lives and their service over the past years and their families, and we celebrate also the intellectual and intelligence community, the intellectual gifts that they have brought to bear, the intelligence that they have

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. the lives of those families have been changed forever. their children are young adults. some of them have their own children now. their lives have moved on. some have remarried and some have come to peace. but their lives, like the lives of the emergency responders who ran into the building, the firefighters and police and their families, have been changed forever. the lives of our veterans who have fought and served and sacrificed in the war on terror have been changed forever. and we owe it to them never to forget, even as we celebrate this victory, we owe it to our veterans who have served and sacrificed to honor that service not just in rhetoric but in deed and to make sure that we leave no veteran behind in education and jobs and health care, to provide for them what we have obligated and promised to provide. and while we hope for peace from this day forward, we must do everything we can to support the brave men and women who continue to serve in the war on terror that now continues and those of our allies, whose relentless service a

mr. blumenthal: thank you, madam president. i want to thank the senator from washington state for her leadership on this issue and for her eloquent remarks just now as well as other senators who have championed this cause, as i have, over years when we have fought rising gasoline prices in the state of connecticut relentlessly and tirelessly and now rise here in support of legislation, "the close the big oil tax loopholes act," which would fundamentally restore fairness to our markets and tax system. over the last drkd the big-five oil companies have taken home about $1 trillion in profits while enjoying tens of billions of dollars in taxpayer subsidies and giveaways and sweetheart deals and preferences, which undermine the credibility of our tax system and our economy in the eyes of ordinary americans. ordinary americans in fact are still struggling to make ends meet storks stay in their homes, to keep their families together, to find jobs n connecticut, the price of gasoline now has risen to more than $4.25 a gallon from abou

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to voice my concerns about a great deal of the controversy surrounding a complaint issued under the national labor relations act against the boeing company. boeing recently decided to open a new plant in south carolina. the national labor relations board's acting general counsel, lief solomon, issued a compliance because of evidence this decision was made in retaliation for recent strikes at the boeing plant in the puget souped area. souped -- puget sound area. now, i hope that there is no dispute about a couple of points. first, boeing is a highly reputable company that produces great products valued around the world and great jobs. not just jobs but good jobs. and there should be no doubt also about the importance of public debate, robust criticism of government agencies, including the national labor relations board when it makes decisions that spark disagreement. and i have the greatest of respect for my colleagues on both sides of the aisle who may have bee

thank you, senator. >> senator blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you to the members of this panel for being here today. professor corn, reading your, your law review article i was struck by your observation and i think there's a lot of agreement with it that, essentially, the military extraterritorial jurisdiction act has been largely ineffective. and, in fact, you observe in the one of the footnotes that there has been, there have been virtually no prosecutions during the iraqi era. and i wonder if you could expand on the reasons that you see for that lack of activity under this law, whether it is weaknesses in the law or purposeful decisions in the exercise of discretion that we just shouldn't prosecute for whatever reasons relating to intelligence or national security? >> well, first off, i should note that the law review is a couple of years old, so i think there's been good movement on the implementation of meja. as i said in my opening statement and in the statement for the record, i think meja was a critically important statute to enac

blumenthal. >> thank you, mr. chairman. thank you, senator coburn. i want to focus on the very broad area or issue of trust that mr. davidson raised, which i think goes to the core of much of what you do with the consent and acquiescence of consumers and most particularly the practice and the goal of building a wireless network maps, both apple and google are engaged in that business activity, are you not? >> yes. >> in particular i want to ask some questions about the google wi-fi experience scandal from all three terms have been used to describe it. in particular, as you know and now we all know, for three years, google intercepted and collected bits of user information payload data, e-mails, passwords, browsing history, and personal information while driving around taking pictures of people's homes on the streets and the st. programs. the company first denied that it was collecting this information, did not? >> we did not know that we were. >> and then it denied that it was collecting it intentionally, is that true? >> i think we still believe we

mr. chairman. cementer blumenthal? >> thank you, senator frank and for your leadership and again, senator leahy for your championing many of the privacy issues over decades literally and provide a model of that kind of leadership for us. and i want to thank the witnesses for being here also apple and google and the consultants that we have in this profoundly important hearing, and what ever the kind of challenging questions we may ask i would hope that we are all on the same side of this cause because right now what we face in my view is literally a wild west so far as the internet is concerned. we can debate the legal nice and technicalities of the ftc statute that prohibits unfair and deceptive practices don't provide the kind of targeted enforcement opportunity that i think is absolutely necessary, and i know the department of justice is going to be seeking additional authority which is absolutely necessary in this one area pertains to young people, children, which we haven't discussed so far today but which obvious

mr. eadie, please proceed. >> good morning chairman white house and senator blumenthal. thank you for the opportunity to appear before you on behalf of the center of excellence for the prescription monitoring programs at brandeis university. we thank you for the honor of testifying in on the critical matter. the center of excellence seeks to help end the prescription drug abuse epidemic without compromising pain management or the legitimate prescribing of controlled substances and a collaboration of the alliance of states with prescription monitoring programs the senate provides academically sound and practiced relevant information evaluation and expertise to the prescription monitoring programs and of the stakeholders. it is funded by a grant from the department of justice bureau of justice assistance. the urgency of our work is based upon the knowledge that 50 people in our nation by a from unintentional overdoses and 20 times that number are admitted to hospital emergency departments for overdoses. we believe we must improve our methods for identifying and interdictin

blumenthal, sessions and cornyn. so senator franken, you are up next. >> thank you, madam chair. mr.pportunity speak to you in my office and read your writings. and i really believe you're one of the finest minds of your generation, and i hope that we as a nation can be lucky enough to have you as a jurist and a public servant. what i think is remarkable about your nomination is not its strength but its diversity of support. a lot of people mentioned ken starr -- ken starr's letter supporting your nomination, and i will get to that in a moment. but the one that caught my eye was a lengthy blog post that went up today from the university of minnesota professor, richard painter. this guy is a great law professor, and he is no liberal. he works to support the confirmation of john roberts and samuel alito, and served as president george w. bush's chief ethics officer. and anyone who has any doubt about your nomination should i think read this article. so, madam chair, with your permission, madam chair? with your permission i ask that article be entered into the record. [inaudible] >> i w

blumenthal. >> thank you. i wanted to focus on the area of trust that mr. davidson race, which think goes to the core of much of what you do with the consent -- that mr. davis and raised -- that mr. davidson raised. the goal of building a wireless network maps. apple and google are engaged in that business activity, are you not? >> yes. >> i want to ask some questions about the global wi-spy experience, scanner, debacle. google intercepted and collected bits of user information payload data -- e- mails, passwords, browsing history, and other personal information while driving around and taking pictures of people's homes on the streets. the company first denied that it was collecting this information, did not? >> we did not know that we were. >> then it denied it was collected it intentionally. is that true? >> i think we still believe we are not collecting it intentionally. >> in fact, this personal data and the interception and the downloading of this personal data is contemplated by a patent application that is been submitted by google to the u.s. patent

leahy, cole, feinstein, franken, coons, blumenthal, klobuchar, whitehouse, brown of ohio, udall of colorado, durbin, carper, sanders, rockefeller, shaheen, schumer. mr. reid: mr. president, i ask consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and then proceed to a period of morning business with senators permitted to speak up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that a time to be determined by the majority leader in consultation with the republican leader, the senate proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 61, there be three hours of debate equally divided in the usual form, that upon the use or yielding back of that time, the senate proceed to vote without intervening action or debate on calendar number number 61, the motion to reconsider be considered made and laid on the table with no intervening action or debate, that no further statements be in order to the nomination, these statements related to the nomination be printed in the record, that the

nevada, leahy, schumer, blumenthal, akaka, franken, durbin, whitehouse, feinstein, merkley, coons, begich, globe cher, boxer, reed of rhode island, stabenow, and brown of ohio. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, i also ask unanimous consent the senate resume legislative session and proceed to a period of morning business for debate only with senators permitted to speak for up to ten minutes each. the presiding officer: without objection. a senator: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from ohio is recognized. mr. brown: mr. president, thank you. yesterday the white house announced that it will not submit three pending free trade agreements, the f.t.a.'s with south korea, colombia, and panama, until -- until congress reaches a deal on reauthorizing the trade assistance adjustments -- the trade adjustment assistance for workers program, the so-called t.a.a. i applaud president obama for putting workers first before we do these trade agreements. the trade agreements are very controversial, as they always are. the promises are always that the

mr. chairman, for your work in this area. >> let me thank my colleague, senator brown, senator klobuchar, and senator limassol for participating in the hearing. -- senator blumenthals abating in the hearing. let me wrap up by saying how impressed we have been by the information we have heard about the epidemic nature of the prescription drug problem and the rapid rate at which it is growing and affecting our emergency rooms, families, schools, communities. the areas that appear to need further attention and effort include public awareness. i was glad the director, mr. bill kerlikowske -- gil kerlikowske, was here to talk about that. we need to coordinate resources. it does appear the prescription drug motrin programs stand out as a growing and effective state-based vehicle for addressing the problem. it is one that could be strengthened with further integration with electronic. carving -- with electronic prescribing and health records, the v.a., department of defense, and indian affairs, and improved a. in -- and improved interoperability was states. that seems to have come out of the hearing. we do not seem to be a good place yet with respect to the disposal of u

appoint the honorable richard blumenthal, a senator from the state of connecticut, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. mrfollowing leader remarks, if any, the senate will be in a period of morning business until 3:00 p.m. today. during that period of time, senators will be allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each. at 3:00 p.m., the senate will resume consideration of the motion to proceed to the patriot act. the time until 5:00 p.m. will be equally divided and controlled so at 5:00 there, will be a roll call vote on the motion to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the patriot act. mr. president, this will be a busy week in the senate. we have to renew the patriot a act. it's not a perfect law but it plays an important role in keeping our country safe. we also have to reauthorize the f.a.a. bill, the federal aviation administration. we all know what will be the focus of this week's biggest debate and biggest headlines. the primary conversation this week will be about the republicans' plan to kill medicare. people are talking a lot about that plan because there's a lot people have to fear. the r

blumenthal, a senator from the state of connecticut, to perform the duties of the chair. signed: daniel k. inouye, president pro tempore. the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: the ceremony will take place very shortly. the senate will be in morning business until 4:30 james cole to be deputy attorney general at approximately 5:30 there will be a cloture on the cole nomination. we were able to enter a nomination on edward chen. i note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. mr. reid: mr. vice president? the presiding officer: the -- the vice president: the majority leader. mr. reid: i ask that the call of the quorum be terminated. the vice president: without objection. the chair lays before the senate a certificate of appointment to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of former senator john ensign of nevada. the chair -- excuse me -- the certificate the chair advised is in the form suggested by the senate. if there is no objection, the reading of the certificate will be waived and it will be printed in full in the record. if the senator designee will present himself at the desk the chair will administer the

mr. blumenthal blumenthal: mada, i'm very pleased and honored to join my colleagues, my distinguished colleagues, most recently yourself, today as we pledge to continue the fight to stand up for women's health care and to fight the devastating cuts that are incorporated in the house republican budget. this fight against these cuts is essential, not only for the health of millions of women across the united states but also for our health care system. and even for the effort to cut the debt and the deficit, which has to be one of our most important goals. in the end. these cuts are as far from cost-effective as any could possibly be. in the end, they will actually raise the costs of health care in this country because they will deny millions and women and girls and men the health care -- preventive health care that saves money in the long run. preventive health care enables everyone from avoiding the more costly consequences. costly in terms of pain and suffering and worry and concern, as well as in dollar and cents, that come from failure to diagnose and treat problems earlier rather than later.