mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i rise today on an issue that concerns -- the presiding officer: the senator is notified we're in a quorum call. mr. blumenthal: i ask that the quorum call be lifted and i ask that this be as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. speaker. privacy is a fundamentally and almost a uniquely american value. it is the reason the colonies rebelled, one of the major reasons they rebelled against the british. the invasion of our homes by british soldiers without court approval, the lodging of those soldiers in our homes without permission, the invasion of the fundamental rights of privacy were one of the basic reasons that this nation sought independence from the british. and so throughout our history, privacy has been a value, a fundamental right, affirmed again and again in our courts, enshrined in our constitution, ingrained in our way of life. that is a reason that so many of us were offended and regarded as reprehensib

mr. blumenthal: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from connecticut. mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i'm honored to follow my distinguished colleague from new york and his very powerful and eloquent words on a subject that concerns all of us not only in new england, but really across the country. i have heard from countless students in connecticut, where we have some of the best educational institutions in the country. i know that my colleague, senator shaheen from new hampshire, who has been very much in touch with the people of her state, and particularly young people there striving, as they are in connecticut, for more affordable education. we're talking really about the future of our country. and there should be knob contentious, certainly nothing partisan about this issue of financing the future of education and particularly student loans. there ought to be a common cause here, and it ought to be bipartisan. i believe eventually it will be because we need to come together on this issue for the sake of young people whose lives are very directl

mr. blumenthal: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quor be -- the quorum call be lifted. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. blumenthal: i am pleased to follow senator harkin, one of the chief authors of the f.d.a. bill, and to thank him and senator enzi for this truly bipartisan, monumental work on a measure that is essential to the future of the health of our nation as well as our economic security. this bill is a big one. it's a big bill with complex provisions and an essential purpose: to safeguard the public, to protect patients and encourage innovation and invention, which are so important to treating and curing diseases in this country as well as other problems. and this measure is revolutionary in many ways. it contains complex, new provisions with bipartisan support, and truly the bipartisanship in support of this bill makes it noteworthy as well. i'm pleased to say that it includes the gain act, which i helped to author and champion with my colleague, senator corker, and 20 other senators who have joined in this effort to incentivize the development of

mr. romero. >> thank you, senator blumenthal. officer gale, i must take some time to visit your fair city of denver because it doesn't look like any of the major cities i visited in 11 years as director of the aclu. with all due respect, you will forgive me for having to point that your assertion that all is well has not borne out by the data that we already have. let my give you data that we think very well in new york city, the country's largest police department. there were, from 2002 to 2011, there were more than 4.3 million street stops. 4.3 million. 88% of those -- that's nearly 3.8 million -- were of innocent new yorkers. that means they were neither issued a summons or arrested. let's break it down place by place. new york is not a good place for people who are african-american or latino. in 2011, a record 685,000 people were stopped by the new york police department. 88% were totally innocent of any crime. 53% were black. 34% were latino. 9% white and a remarkable number of guns were found on 0.2% of all stops. now, with

mr. ramiro, please proceed. >> good morning, senator durbin, ranking member graham. thank you for having me this morning. senator franken, senator blumenthal. i'm delighted to testify before you today. i am the national director of the american civil liberties uni union. a nonpartisan organization with over half a million members, hundreds of thousands of additional activists and supporters, and 53 state offices nationwide dedicated to the principles of equality and justice set forth in the u.s. constitution and in our laws protecting individual rights. for decades, the aclu has been at the forefront of the fight against all forms of racial profiling. racial profiling is policing based on crass stereotypes instead of facts, evidence, and good police work. racial profiling fuels fear and mistrust between law enforcement and the very communities they are supposed to protect. racial profiling is not only ineffective, it is also unconstitutional and violates basic noermrm of human rights b at home and abroad. my testimony lays out how race, religion, national origin, are used as proxies by suspicion in three key areas of national security, of

mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 468 submitted earlier today by senator blumenthal the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: s. res. 468 recognizing may as national pediatric stroke awareness month. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. brown: madam president, i ask unanimous consent the resolution be agreed to, the preamble be agreed to, the motion to reconsider be laid on the table with no intervening action or debate and any related statements be printed in the record as if read. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. brown: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to the consideration of s. res. 469 submitted earlier today. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. s. res. 469 honoring the entrepreneurial spirit of small business concerns in the united states during national small business week which begins on may 20, 2012. the presiding officer: without objection, the senate will proceed to the measure. mr. brown: it's my understanding we're ready to act on this resolution. the presidin

bingaman, coons, levin, wyden, nelson of nebraska, shaheen, blumenthal, boxer, feinstein, whitehouse, merkley, rockefeller and johnson of south dakota. mr. reid: i now move to legislative session. the presiding officer: without objection the senate moves to legislative session. mr. reid: i move to proceed to executive session to consider calendar number 647, jerome powell of maryland, to be a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the nomination. the clerk: nomination federal reserve system, jerome h. powell of maryland to be a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. mr. reid: i send a cloture motion to the desk with respect to that nomination. mr. reid: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we the undersigned senators in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the nomination of jerome h. powell of maryland to be a member of the board of governors of the federal reserve system. signed by 18 senators as follows -- mr. reid: mr. president, i

mr. president, as well as from senator blumenthal of connecticut and many other people from across the senate this bill will help the f.d.a. take the lead in working with pharmacy groups, drug manufacturers, and health care providers to better prepare for impending shortages, more effectively manage shortages when they occur, and minimize their impact on patient care. and that is why i'm pleased that the early notification provision from my bill is included in the food and drug administration safety and innovation act, the one that senator coats and i were just discussing, and that we are debating today. i want to thank senator harkin and senator enzi for their leadership on the "help" committee in bringing this legislation forward and including my provision. in a bipartisan manner, the "help" committee brought together several working groups to address a wide range of issues, from medical device innovation to drug shortages. in the drug shortage working group, we spoke with experts from patient groups, providers, drug manufacturers and the f.d.a. to try and find an appropriate solution. ulti

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. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 396, h.r. 2072. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 396, h.r. 2072, an act to reauthorize the export-import bank of the united states and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, we're now on the motion to proceed to the export-import bank reauthorization bill. i ask unanimous consent that the hour following my remarks and those of the republican leader be equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: and i would also ask, mr. president, as part of that that the majority would control the first half and republicans the final half. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: at 11:15 the motion to proceed will be adopted and there will be up to two hours of debate on the bill. there will be up to five amendments. at 12:30 sena

lieberman, klobuchar, murray, begich, blumenthal, nelson of nebraska, leahy, conrad, johnson of south dakota, brown of ohio, cardin, whitehouse, kerry, akaka, and harkin. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent that the mandatory quorum under rule 22 be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: madam president, this is the -- i have spoken before, madam president, abouts the importance of the f.d.a. bill, something we have to get done. literally, people's lives dpep depend on it. it addresses so many things with the f.d.a. to make it a better position. we have to get this done. as i've said before, if my republican colleagues don't like the bill, offer an amendment, offer an amendment to take that out, put something in, if you don't like it. but i would hope that we don't have to go through voting on cloture on monday night. we should be legislating this coming monday. so i am stunged that once again our motion to proceed when there's been an agreement that we would proceed to this with relevant amendments, which everybody says that that's what they want to do -- it's not germane amendments, which is very narrow;s it relevant amendments. it gi

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. mr. reid: mr. president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. reid: i move to proceed to calendar number 396, h.r. 207 26789 the presiding officer: the clerk will report the motion. the clerk: motion to proceed to calendar number 396, h.r. 2072, an act to reauthorize the export-import bank of the united states and for other purposes. mr. reid: mr. president, we're now on the motion to proceed to the ex-im bank bill. we're working on an tkpwaeplt to begin -- on an agreement to begin consideration of the bill. at 4:30 today the senate will proceed to executive session to consider two of the united states district judges from maryland and illinois. at 5:30 there will be up to three roll call votes. the first two will be con confirmation of russell and tharp and the third will be on the motion on cloture to proceed to the ex-im bank bill. there was a time a bill to reduce the deficit to support hundreds of thousands of jobs would fly through the senate with bipartisan support. not

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: thank you. we're now considering the motion to proceed to the stop students loan interest rate hike. at 4:30, the senate will proceed to executive session to consider three judicial nominations, the nguyen nomination, the baker and lee nominations which are two district court nominations from arkansas and illinois. at 5:30 there will be up to three roll call votes on confirmation of the nominations. mr. president, a woman from nevada by the name of amy reilly, a single mother from las vegas, was devastated when she was laid off three years ago because of her employer having little work. she wasn't in love with her job doing bookkeeping for a local construction company but she loved the steady paycheck. so looking back on the pink slip, amy views it as, of course, a setback in one sense but really she feels very good about the fact that it gives her a second chance. like many resourceful americans who lost their jobs after the financial and housing markets collapsed, amy took the