mr. conrad: i thank the chair. today the majority leader filed cloture on the motion to proceed to s. 3412, the middle-class tax cut act. if no agreement is reached, that vote will be on wednesday. if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previous order. the presiding officer: the senate stands adjourned until 10:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. mr. reid: mr. president, this afternoon the senate pauses to remember those killed in last week's horrific shooting in colorado. among dead was 26-year-old jonathan blunc, a graduate of hud high school in reno, nevada. a navy veteran, father of two. my heart goes out to his loved ones, to all the victims and their families as they struggle to make sense of the senselessness. how can you make sense of something that's so senseless, mr. president? we may never know the motivations behind this terrible crime or understand why anyone would target so many innocent people. friday's events were a reminder that nothing in this world is cer

mr. conrad: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. conrad: mr. president, before i talk to the matter at around i would like to remember officer chestnut and officer gibson. i do not have a chance to know -- i didn't have a chance to know officer gibson,gy have a chance to know j.j. he had a the house of representatives. i wasn't familiar with where the room was and j.j. took me right to it. and a delightful man, and it was tragic that his life was taken. i'll never forget the funeral. it was one of the most remarkable outpourings i've ever seen. we remember with enormous respect officers chestnut and officer gibson. mr. president, i come to the floor this morning -- first of all, i've got to respond to the republican leader. what a fountain of misinformation. what a fountain of misinformation. he repeat repeats this canard to budget action has been taken here for four years. well, what about the budget control act that was passed last year, with more than 70 votes here in the united states senate? that was passed instead of a budget resolution.

mr. conrad is a managing dirt.i just got a copy complaining that we've restricted ability of the federal regulators to intervene and save an institution to matc. but i appreciate your point. if a large institution failed you, you would have no option under the law. and if anything had to be done to put it out of this as, you would get the money back from the banks. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. secretary. i don't quite understand your answer concerning the fed views -- the new york fed's use of libor. on the one hand, i think you have said that quote, we had very early in response. we were worried about it. we were concerned about it, but it appears the early response was to keep using it, which means it appears you treated it almost as a curiosity or something akin to jaywalking is supposed to highway robbery. i think i just heard you earlier in your testimony say quote unquote it was their best choice. there are other interest rate indexes out there. how can a number that

mr. conrad, a managing director of bain, complaining that we have restricted the ability of the federal regulators to intervene to save an institution to much. but i appreciate your point. if a large institution fails, you would have no option under the law but to have it fail and if anything had to be done to put it out of business, you would get the money back from the banks. thank you. >> mr. chairman. good morning, mr. secretary. i do not quite understand your answer concerning the fed's use of libor. i think you have said that we acted very early in response. we were concerned about it but it appears that the early response was to keep using it which means it appears you treated it almost as a curiosity or something akin to jaywalking as opposed to highway robbery. i think i heard you earlier in your testimony say "it was our best choice." there are other interest rate index is out there. how can a number that you know has been manipulated possibly be the best choice? >> we were concerned about this and we did the important consequential thing of bringing it to the attention of the full compl

mr. conrad, a managing director of bain, complaining that we have restricted the ability of the federal regulators to intervene to save an institution to much. but i appreciate your point. if a large institution fails, you would have no option under the law but to have it fail and if anything had to be done to put it out of business, you would get the money back from the banks. thank you. >> mr. chairman. good morning, mr. secretary. i do not quite understand your answer concerning the fed's use of libor. i think you have said that we acted very early in response. we were concerned about it but it appears tt the early response was to keep using it which means it appears you treated it almost as a curiosity or something akin to jaywalking as opposed to highway robbery. i think i heard you earlier in your testimony say "it was our best choice." there are other interest rate index is out there. how can a number that you know has been manipulated possibly be the best choice? >> we were concerned about this and we did the important consequential thing of bringing it to the attention of the full complem

mr. conrad, a managing director of bain, complaining that we have restricted the ability of the federal regulators to intervene to save an institution to much. but i appreciate your point. if a large institution fails, you would have no option under the law but to have it fail and the banks. thank you. >> thank you. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. secretary. hensarling. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. i do not quite understand your answer concerning the fed's use of libor. i think you have said that we acted very early in response. we were concerned about it but it appears that the early response was to keep using it which means it appears you treated it almost as a curiosity or something akin to jaywalking as opposed to highway robbery. i think i heard you earlier in your testimony say "it was our best choice." there are other interest rate index is out there. has been manipulated possibly be the best choice? >> we were concerned about this and we did the important very consequential thing of bringing it to the attention of the full complement of regulatory authorities

mr. conrad, managing director of bain, just got a copy sent me to me by "the national review" complaining we have restricted the ability of the federal regulators to intervene to save them too much. i appreciate your point. if a larger institution failed you would have no option under the law but to have it fail. if anything had to be done to put it out of business you would get the money back from the banks? thank you. >> thank you. mr. hensarling. >> thank you, mr. chairman. good morning, mr. secretary. i'm, still don't quite understand your answer concerning the fed's use, new york fed's use of libor. on the one hand, i think you have said that quote, we acted very early in response. we were worried about it. we were concerned about it. but it appears that the early response was to keep using it. which means that it appears you treated it almost as a curiosity or something akin to jaywalking as opposed to highway robbery. i think i just heard you earlier in your testimony say, quote, unquote, it was our best choice. there are other interest rate indexes out there. how can a number that

vacancies have resulted from the -- vacancies of conrad wu and brian larkin. i understand mr. seeking reappointment. with that, we can take any questions. commissioner avalos: are any of the candidates here? mr. larkin? commissioner farrell: given that these are generally supported by district, has commissioner chiu expressed any preference here? >> no, we have not heard confirmation. commissioner avalos: since we do not have mr. larkin here --nñ did have a conversation with commissioner mar. he was open to mr. larkin but other folks as well. maybe we should continue this item to the next plans and programs committee and hopefully have mr. larkin here next week or other candidates who are here for the district 1 seat and district 4 seat. commissioner kilet's go on to pt for item five. >> good morning commissioners, i am a member of the citizens advisory committee district 2. i have known brian larkin for many

to add on to the whole bizarre thing, and now we are talking about conrad murray who is extending an invitation to mrsson, and would she take him up on that? something she invited? >> well, you know, this gets bizarre when conrad murray is brought into the picture, fred. this is the last thing that katherine jackson wants to deal with this week, but conrad murray is inviting her to meet with him in prison. he released a statement to cnn through the lawyers, that i am told that she has a desire to speak to me before she departs the life, and because she is up in age, and questionable health and mother of the dear and departed friend it would give me great pleasure to sit down with her one-on-one and answer any questions that she might have, and he thinks that a meeting between them would put katherine at peace, and of course, with the very public family battles, this is probably not on the top of her things the do list. >> well, this is odd timing and especially for her. >> yes, absolutely. but we have to see, because this case, this story is so bizarre and maybe the next report is that she is going to

meantime, conrad murray, the man convicted in michael jackson's death is inviting the pop star's mother to visit him in jail. his attorney said mrmurray would answer any of her questions. >>> by now most of you probably know about 50 shades of grey. what you might not know is a number of couples are crediting their pregnancies to having read it. nearly 150 women have posted messages on babycenter.com saying they got pregnant after reading the book. it's a fictional love story with some kinky twists in it. >> i believe that's a mild -- >> twists and turns in it. >> you know this guy, rob schneider. he's been making people laugh many years on the big screen and "saturday night live." >> now he is making a return to stand up. and wisdom is with him and will chat live with rob to see where you can find him in our area. time now is 9:25.  >>> there's a new food gadget on the market. it's called trongs. they're made for eating things like buffalo wings and barbecue ribs without all the mess. just clamp them onto the side of your favorite food -- what? >> no, no, it's good. like ripping the ribs apart. yeah, go ahead. >> keeps

conrad murray has reportedly asked katherine jackson to visit him in jail. murray is the doctor accused of accidentally killing the singer in 2009. he said he wants to put mrsson at peace by answer any questions she may have. a represent for mrs. jackson says she is unlikely to accept the offer. >>> a dangerous infection may have come from a traveling medical technician. michelle miller reports for wjz. one victim is now speaking out. >> reporter: officials say david quikowski was a serial infector. >> he was working through kind of a temp agency that would send people from place to place. so he worked in many different hospitals, probably a half dozen different places over the last couple of years. >> reporter: one of his alleged victims spoke to cbs affiliate wbz. >> my daughter just got married. she's going to have children in the future. who knows if i'll be around for them. >> reporter: quikowski, 33 years old, is believed to have tested positive for hepatitis c in june 2010. he was last employed as a lap -- lab technician in exeter, new hampshire, where authorities say he stole fentanil, a powerful painkiller, and also exposed patients to the virus. i

mr. biden. so, why do african-americans still overwhelmingly support president obama? joining us now from washington, bishop harry jackson, the senior pastor it of hope christian church and here in studio, reverend conrad tiller, the senior minister at the nazarene congressional united church of christ. reverend, let me start with you and say 14.4% when we talks about the young people it's just obscene. so, if that's the case, how do you explain, except for racial loiltd, the black vote at 92%? >> well, first of all, let's not act as though catholics were not very excited when john f. kennedy was elected president. you get the first latino president. the excitement in the latino community is going to be great. so, obviously that dynamic is there. but, african-americans have suffered disproportionately under every administration. we have unique challenges and that's why people like cornell west said we can ill afford to just take a vacation from challenging the president and challenging the white house advocating on behalf of african-americans but, listen, the election comes down to a choice between two people. and african-americans like the philosophy of the obama administration as opposed to the romne

mr. speaker, senate bill 2039 is a bipartisan bill sponsored by senators from north dakota conrad and hoeven which passed the senate by unanimous consent in january of this year. this bill will provide a great deal of help to the citizens of our state. the text of 2039 allows for a process of building permanent levees on federal land in north dakota. with the approval of fema and the army corps of engineers. i want to highlight the unique situation we have in north dakota. and this legislation tends to address just that. first of all, fargo, north dakota, it's faced repeated flooding along the red river which runs through the heart of the city. the city is constructed to permanent -- has constructed a permanent levee. however, over the years some properties have been bought out along the river bank with federal funds. as a result, we have a patchwork of properties that exist along this levee system with gaps in the system. recurring flooding along the red river requires temporary levees to go up nearly every year only to be taken down. and what happens repeatedly over and over is the taxpaye

mr. president, this legislation is about the debt. it's about the debt. we have to do something aboutut the debt, and we've tried mightily to do that. tha we've tried mightily.we we had the conrad-judd gregg legislation. seven people who are republicana senators co-sponsored that anded adopted the leader's philosophy that the most important thing wr can do is defeat president obamn for re-election. then we went to bowles-simpson which was the program we put together that we couldn't get that legislation that was so s good by judd gregg and kent conrad. and bowles-simpson didn't makehd it. of then we had a series of talks with the president and thespea speaker. always we could never quite get it done. why? even though my friend, and i care about him, john boehner, said i want to do big things,o not little things, one of the t little things he couldn't do is get his caucus to agree just acs little wit of revenue -- bit of revenue so we could make a deall then we tried the biden talks. the majority leader in the house and the senate walked out onit thosey talks.alke then we had the supercommittee. and about a week before i got report by statute, patty murrayy and her troops were s

mr. president, this legislation is about the debt. it's about the debt. we have to do something about the debt, and we have tried mightily to do that. we have tried mightily. we had the conradjudd gregg legislation. seven people who were republican senators who cosponsored that wouldn't vote for it and allow me to get it on the floor because they had adopted the republican leader's philosophy that the most important thing we can do is defeat president obama for re-election. then we went to simpson-bowles, which was a program we put together when we couldn't get that legislation, it was so good, by two of our best financial minds in the senate, judd gregg and kent conrad, and simpson-bowles didn't make it. then we had a series of talks with the president and this speaker. always, we could never quite get it done. why? even though my friend, and i care about him, john boehner, said i want to do big things, not little things. one of the little things he couldn't do is get his caucus to make just a little bit of revenue so we could make a big deal, the grand bargain. then we tried the biden talks. the majority leader of the house of representatives walked out on those talks. th

mr. president, this legislation is about the debt. it's about the debt. we have to do something about the debt, and we have tried mightily to do that. we have tried mightily. we had the conrad-judd gregg legislation. seven people who were republican senators who cosponsored that wouldn't vote for it and allow me to get it on the floor because they had adopted the republican leader's philosophy that the most important thing we can do is defeat president obama for re-election. then we went to simpson-bowles, which was a program we put together when we couldn't get that legislation, it was so good, by two of our best financial minds in the senate, judd gregg and kent conrad, and simpson-bowles didn't make it. then we had a series of talks with the president and this speaker. always, we could never quite get it done. why? even though my friend, and i care about him, john boehner, said i want to do big things, not little things. one of the little things he couldn't do is get his caucus to make just a little bit of revenue so we could make a big deal, the grand bargain. then we tried the biden talks. the majority leader of the house of representatives walked out on those talks. t