mr. cardin: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i understand that, although the republicans still have time left under the division, that with their consent that it's permissible to proceed with the time for the majority. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. cardin: mr. president, i take this time to emphasize the need of our nation to move forward with an energy policy. i know that the presiding officer shares that commitment on working very hard on the environmental and public works committee to produce legislation that will solve the three major issues we have in this nation with energy. one, to create jobs. we need to create good, clean energy jobs here in america, not lose them to overseas. we need that. we also understand we need an energy policy for our national security. we've got to become energy-secure here in america. and we need to do it for the sake of our

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: stphoupl maryland. mr. nanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: mr. president, i rise in support of the bill currently before the senate which would provide for temporary extension of unemployment benefits, cobra coverage and prevent a severe cut to providers' reimbursement under medicare. the underlying bill would also extend the national flood insurance program which is set to expire -- which expired on march 28 at midnight. each of these provisions is important in its own right and each will help our economy move forward. the long-term unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of people in the workforce who have been out of work for more than six months and are still looking for jobs. that rate reached 4.3% of the workforce in march. 4.3% of the workforce out of work for six months, cannot find employment. our nation's overall unemployment rate is still at 10%. maryland's unemployment rate continues to rise, reaching 8.3% in februa

mr. cardin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from maryland is recognized. mr. cardin: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i rise today to express my congratulations to israel on its 6 2nd anniversary of its independence. this week america's closest ally in the middle east, israel, commemorated independence day one day after memorial day and one week after holocaust remembrance day. while independent day is about celebration for the people of israel, this memorial day was marked by somber ceremonies and national grief over the loss of their soldiers. nationwide, sirens and moments of silence emphasized the sacrifices all israelis have made living in their thriving, free and democratic state. these intensely personal losses in such a small country underscores the continuing threat faced by israelis. the scale of their efforts, and the importance of a jewish homeland. i commemorated last week's observance of yom mishoa in baltimore where i joined fellow members in a movie to commemorate the 50th anniversary of adolf ikeman's capture and trial. he was a premier

mr. cardin: i ask unanimous consent that the quorum call be dispensed with.the presiding officer: without objection. mr. cardin: madam president, let me just express to my colleagues how disappointed i am that we were unable to move forward with the debate on wall street reform. i think people in this nation should know that what was on the floor that we recently voted on was a motion to proceed so a bill could be brought to the floor of the united states senate for debate. it did not at all speak to how that bill would be considered on the floor. it's open to amendment. and each member of the senate would have the opportunity to submit amendments for the -- for consideration. the bill that senator dodd has brought out of his committee is a bill that establishes the types of reforms of wall street that is necessary. strict new regulations to stop wall street gambling so that we have a clear, responsible -- responsibility in the regulatory framework so each of the financial institutions understand the clear roles in which they must operate under and how those

mr. cardin: hank president. mr. president, i -- thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i take this time to commemorate the 40th anniversary of earth day that we celebrate today, april 22. i think we first need to acknowledge that we've made a lot of progress since the cuyahoga river in ohio caught fire in 1969. made a lot of progress since the uncontrolled air pollution that killed 20 people and sickened 7,000 people over just a few days. that happened in denora, pennsylvania. we've come a long way since the expose on the new york love canal where toxic waste was dumped into neighborhood streams. we've made a lot of progress. i think the most important symbol of that progress of that environment is now in main street america. it's mainstream politics. it's way of life for us. and that is really good news. it has given us the political strength to pass important environmental laws. we've passed the clean air act, the clean water act, the super fund law. i'm particularly pleased about the chesapeake bay program. i remember when we started that program over 30 y

mr. cardin: i would like to thank senator warner for taking this time to bring to the attention of our colleaguesa very serious problem. one of the most fundamental responsibilities for a member of the senate is to advise and consent on the president's nominations. and there are literally hundreds of appointments that are going to require our confirmation, more than that. thousands actually, that we have to confirm. that's our responsibility is to take the appointments that the president has given us, evaluate them and then to act, either to confirm or not confirm. and the american people depend upon these individuals being in office to perform the services that they need, whether it is the services that come forward in the department of treasury in dealing with the economic issues of this nation, the regulatory functions that are important to protect consumers in america, to be able to give those who have been wronged and opportunity in our judicial system to have courts that can handle their dockets in a timely way. all of that is dependent on the united states senate carrying out its responsib

cardin? >> president clinton and mr. gates, thank you for everything you have done, and thank you for beale here. your presence helps in the challenge that senator kerry pointed out about getting the type of support and also the type us focus and priority to this issue. i want to thank you personally. i want to underscore the point you made mr. capacity. it is sometimes to get support to build up the internal capacity of a country. we have a little better time with specific programs. i think the strategy was to use those programs to be able to get the type of activity in that country to build its capacity so it could take care of its own needs. i applaud you for

mr. chairman. >> thank you. by the way, that question about the yankee record, is that because the cardinals are having a better start? >> the cardinals are doing phenomenally well. knock on wood. >> there is always september. >> that's what happened last year. so but for now, i'm enjoying it, you know? >> justice thomas and justice breyer, the floor is yours. your written testimony will be presented in the written record and proceed to make whatever oral statements you want to make and then we'll have some quells. >> good morning, chairman serrano, mrs. emerson, members of the committee. justice breyer and i are pleased to return. we will pass along your kind wishes to our colleague, justice stevens, and we will certainly miss him. a wonderful man. we have with us today a number of members of the supreme court staff. we have the clerk of the court, mr. bill souter. we have marshall pamela talkin. and the counselor to the chief justice, jeffrey maneer. and make sure i'm looking in the right direction. and we have our public information officer, kathy arberg. and our acting budget manager, bonita akers. as i sai

mr. obama names his supreme court nominee next month. live from the hill, steve handelsman, news4. >> steve, thank you. >>> controversial cardinal will not participate in a celebration saturday of the latin mass that will be held at the basilica of the national shrine in northeast d.c. that announce many comes after pressure came from advocates for victims of sexual abuse by priests. that group is upset because of the letter that cardinal hoyos wrote in 2001. in that letter, he congratulated a french bishop for protecting a priest convicted of raping minors. the pope agreed to find a replacement for the event this week. pope benedict publicly addressed the sex abuse can't skals today for first time. in front of hundreds of people in st. peter's square, the pope promised to take what he calls church action to protect children and the abused. the announcement came after a meeting with several men who said they were abused by priests as children. the pope says he told thoe those men the church would do everything in its power to bring those priests to justice. >>> a frantic search sunday way for 11 missing oil rig workers off the coast of l

kerry, senator voinovich, senator brown of ohio, senator cardin and others have joined me in considering this resolution. i come to the floor, mr. president, with a heavy heart. i express my sympathy to the people of poland to the ambassador becky who is here representing them. i shared a moment with him earlier this are morning when i heard the news of this tragic loss, my thoughts went back immediately to 47 years ago when we lost our president, john kennedy, and what it meant to our nation, how devastating it was. this city ground to a halt on that day and the bells began to peel in the church towers all across washington every hour on the hour as our nation reflected on this great loss. it was a time of great sadness as it should have been in our history as i'm sure it is now as people reflect in poland that on the morning of saturday, april 10th, a plane carrying polish president, lech kaczynski, his wife maria and 94 other high-ranking government military and civil leaders crashed while traveling to a memorial service in russia that was to recognize and memorialize the dreadful katyn massacre. the tragic accident is a dev

have shone greene also with the sba was special adviser spirit cardinals could not be here with us today so we are very grateful to have mr. greene. let's begin with their opening statements of mr. chairman if we can begin with you, i'm pleased that this administration has made a broadband policy for this nation a priority. there've been billions of dollars invested so far in a tremendous amount of interest and thank you for being with us this morning. [inaudible] [inaudible] >> and if i may although over a shorter opening statement that focuses on broadband and small businesses. sorry, i apologize if i wasn't heard. broadband can indication is rapidly becoming an essential platform, it's not our most essential platform for job creation and economic growth in the 21st century, necessary for the global competitiveness in the u.s. it enjoyed direct to do the fcc to achieve universal broad and and to tackle important issues such as entrepreneurial activity investment job creation and economic growth. now small businesses really are our nation's understandable driver of job creation and economic growth. and the evidence is cl

mr. chairman. >> thank you. by the way, that question about the yankee record, is that because the cardinals are having a better start? >> the cardinals are doing phenomenally well. knock on wood. >> there is always september. >> that's what happened last year. so but for now, i'm enjoying it, you know? >> justice thomas and justice breyer, the floor is yours. your written testimony will be presented in the written record and proceed to make whatever oral statements you want to make and then we'll have some quells. >> good morning, chairman serrano, mrs. emerson, members of the committee. justice breyer and i are pleased to return. we will pass along your kind wishes to our colleague, justice stevens, and we will certainly miss him. a wonderful man. we have with us today a number of members of the supreme court staff. we have the clerk of the court, mr. bill souter. we have marshall pamela talkin. and the counselor to the chief justice, jeffrey maneer. and make sure i'm looking in the right direction. and we have our public information officer, kathy arberg. and our acting budget manager, bonita akers. as i sai

mr. lipinski: father coughlin was appointed house chaplain for former speaker, dennis hastert, on a recommendation of cardinal francis george. announcing his joyce, former speaker hastert predicted that daniel coughlin would bring to the house a caring and healing heart. this past 10 years has shown that he was undoubtedly correct. i know this from my own time in the house having seen and experienced this. my own experience with father coughlin range from the opportunity i had with him five years ago this week in rome to be a part of the inaugural of pope benedict xvi. and also in many conversations i had with father coughlin, on what's currently happening in father, including how his mother and her chicago cubs are doing. i think this connection, being a catholic from chicago, has really especially made our relationship close over these five-plus years i have been in the house. mr. speaker, father coughlin's devotion to his faith and spiritual welfare to fellow men and women is an inspiration to everyone. i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution. the speaker pro tempore: the gentleman fr

mr. president, that it has 32 cosponsors. interestingly enough, 22 of them are republicans, 10 are democrats. they are senator barrasso, bennett of utah, burr, cardin, chambliss, corker, crapo, demint, grassley, harkin, hatch, hutchison, inhofe, isakson, landrieu, leahy, lincoln, mccain, mikulski, risch, thune, vitter, and wyden. that is quite a cross-section of political views in favor of bringing transparency to the fed. mr. president, what my amendment will do -- and we intend to bring that amendment to the floor during this debate -- is, in fact -- would require the federal reserve to release all of the details about the more than $2 trillion in zero interest loans the fed provided to large financial institutions, and also it would call for a g.a.o. audit of the fed. and the bottom line there, mr. president, is that it is imperative that the g.a.o. conduct an independent and comprehensive audit of the federal reserve within one year, and that's what our amendment does. it requires the federal reserve to disclose the names of the financial institutions that received over $2 trillion in virtually zero interest loans since the start of the recessi