mr. dorgan: i would be happy to yield. the presiding officer: the senator from vermont. mr. sanders: i thank my friend from north dakota on his efforts on the important issue of tourism but for consistently standing up for consumers sick and tired of paying artificially high prices at the gas pumps. i want to take this moment, if i might, just to explain what my amendment is about. mr. dorgan: madam president, rather than yield for a question let me yield the floor and ask him to explain the amendment and then get the floor back. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. sanders: this amendment enjoys widespread supports from a very diverse coalition of organizations throughout this country who shared the common concern that the price of gas and oil is soaring and they don't understand request. but what they do know, it is hurting consumers especially in rural areas like north dakota, vermont, throughout this country, and it is hurting business groups throughout this country. these groups, among others, include the poem markets association of america, it incl

mr. reid: i enter a motion to reconsider the vote by which cloture was not invoked on the dorgan amendment. the presiding officer: the motion is entered. mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the cloture petition on the bill be withdrawn. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: note the absence of a quorum. the presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. reid: madam president? the presiding officer: the majority leader. mr. creed: i ask unanimous consent the call of the quorum be terminated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. creed: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed -- mr. reid: i ask unanimous consent the senate proceed to calendar number 140. the presiding officer: without objection. the clerk will report. the clerk: nomination, department of state, harold hungu ko of connecticut to be legal advisor of the department of state. mr. reid: mr. president, i send a cloture motion to the desk.. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisi

mr. dorgan: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask consent the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan: mr. president, i want to visit about two things today, the first of which is a bill that we passed out of the senate energy committee earlier this morning, and i want to give a little context of what we've done, because what we've done will perhaps not get as much notice as it should but it will be headed to the floor of the united states senate to deal with energy policy and it affects everybody virtually all of the time. all of us who get up in the morning, we in most cases use our hands to flick a switch and turn something on, or we plug something in or we turn a key and we have an engine, w we hava light bulb, we have a toaster, we have an electric razor. in every way, energy affects our lives in a very profound manner. and what we did today has a significant impact on that. first let me describe

mr. dorgan: mr. president, i ask consent that the quorum call be vacated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dorgan: mr. president, we are to report the pending legislation. the presiding officer: morning business -- excuse me. morning business is closed. under the previous order, the senate will resume consideration of s. 1023, which the clerk will report. the clerk: calendar number 71, s. 1023, a bill to establish a nonprofit corporation to communicate the united states entry policies and otherwise promote leisure, business and scholarlily travel to the united states. the presiding officer: the senator from north dakota. mr. dorgan: mr. president, the legislation that is now the business of the senate on which we will have a cloture vote at 5:30 today is legislation that probably demonstrates once and for all that agreement is near impossible in this body. if you can't agree on tourism, what can you agree on? tourism ought not be the subject of very substantial controversy, and yet it is

mr. dorgan: mr. president, as this country tries to pull itself out of a very significant economic crisis, in which millions of americans have loss their jobs, lost their homes, lost hope there are a number of things that we have to do that also threaten the future of this country in addition to trying to restore some economic health and those are health care, to be

mr. dorgan: i withhold. mr. cornyn: the presiding officer would like to speak for five manipulates and i ask unanimous consent following the senator from virginia being recognized to for up to five minutes, i be recognized to speak. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. cornyn: thank you. mr. warner: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from virginia. mr. warner: thank you, mr. president. i'm sure sure we're in a quorum call. the presiding officer: we are not. mr. warner: mr. president, i rise today to discuss bipartisan legislation that i'm cosponsoring with my colleague, senator corker, considering the federal government's recently acquired ownership stake in a number of private companies. i think we all know that taxpayers have been on a roller coaster ride for the past nine months. from their perspective each twist and turn has left us more deeply invested in troubled markets and oftentimes troubled companies. americans are concerned about getting their money back and want to

mr. dorgan: mr. president, the piece of legislation that was just described by my colleague, the travel promotion act, is a piece of legislation i want to explain some. the travel promotion act is a bipartisan piece of legislation that i have introduced here in the united states senate with senator ensign, senator inouye, senator klobuchar, senator reid, senator martinez, and many, many others. i believe in the last session of congress when we introduced this we had over 50 cosponsors here in the united states senate. let me describe what the purpose is, travel promotion. who can be against travel promotion? except here is what happened with our country with respect to jobs and economic growth that comes with foreign travel and destination in the united states. we have had a significant impact on our travel, that is, the travel to the united states by foreign travelers as a result of measure that's were put in place quickly after the 2001 attack on 9/11. we obviously wanted to be very careful about w

mr. dorgan: just prior to lunch we had a vote on a cloture petition. the vote was 90-3. it was not some significant piece of public policy that will shake the earth. it was a vote on the question of whether we could actually proceed to something called "the travel promotion act." for those that don't know how the senate works, you have to have a motion to proceed. norm lail, a motion to proceed on a bill like that would be done by unanimous consent and take just a nanosecond, no problem. a motion to proceed approved, proceed then to the bill, have a debate on the bill, and en this vote on the bill. but this is something called the travel promotion act, which i'll describe. it's bipartisan. i have authored it along with senator john ensign, a republican from nevada. the two of us, along with many, many other cosponsors -- republicans and democrats in the senate -- have believed this is an important piece of legislation for the u.s. senate and for the congress to pass. despite that, we had to have a vote this morning on the motion to proceed. shall we proceed to this? a cl

mr. chairman. chairman dorgan, senator demint, members of the committee take you for the opportunity to appear before you today. we commend you and chairman for focusing on these critical safety topics. we submitted a register statement and i will summarize. i am here today representing the flight safety foundation. i also speak you as a pilot who has served for 22 years as a director of engineering and air safety. although i don't speak, more than 50 accident investigation so these issues are near and dear to my heart. a flight safety foundation was founded 60 years ago. at a neutral to share information, ideas and best practices for safety. today we represent over 1000 organizations from 142 nations. as of the committee requested our testimony is focused on specific measures that may be appropriate to improve pilot training, prevent errors from fatigue and address aircraft icing hazard. and after sometime i would like to highlight for the committee to topics that need particular attention to these topics cut acr

mr. rosen curd thank you very much. finally we will hear from john o'brien, a board member of the flight safety organization. misstroke ryan we will be pleased-- >> chairman dorgan, senator the men and members of the committee thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. we commend you mr. chairman and the committee for focusing on these critically keeshan safety topics. we submitted a record statement. i'm here today representing the flight safety foundation but i also speak to you as a pilot u.s. are for 22 years as director of air safety frugal deroy don't speak-- and participated in more than 50 x and investigations of these issues are near and dear to my heart. the flight safety foundation was founded 60 years ago, a neutral forum where competitors and work to sure information, ideas and best practices for safety. today we represent over 1,000 organizations from 142 nations. as the committee requested artis money is focused on measures that may be appropriate to improve pilot training prevent errors from crew fatigue ayn grass issing hazards but in the interest of time i would highlight for the committee to topics that the particular attention.

mr. cohen, you may proceed. >> chairman dorgan and members of the subcommittee, i am roger cohen, president of the regional airline association. i want to express our deepest sympathies to the lives of the passengers and crew of flight 3407 that were lost, and for the families affected by the crash. we deeply share in their grief. i also want to express today not only for our member airlines but for our 60,000 highly trained professionals, our total, unwavering commitment to safety. as we work towards ensuring this, let's make sure this post accident process does not have to be repeated. we will take whatever steps are necessary so that our flight crews and our aircraft are as safe as humanly possible. the safety of our nation's skies is a shared responsibility. at monday's faa summit, 5 of our regional airline ceos joined with federal agencies, major airlines, and union representatives to candidly explore all of the issues making headlines over these past few months. regional airlines have but one objective, and that is to prevent any future accidents. as we do that, it is important to kee

dorgan amendment occur at 5:30 p.m. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: i finally ask that the filing deadline for first-degree amendments be 3:30 p.m. on monday. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: mr. president, because we were unable to reach an agreement to begin the amendment process on the travel legislation, i filed cloture on the dorgan amendment, as i've just announced. the underlying bill, in order to move along the process. we hope to be able to reach an agreement on amendments prior to the cloture vote on monday. if there's no further -- well, mr. president, i just want to say this brief word. it's now approaching 4:00. the presiding officer has been in that chair since 12:00 noon. that's a long time. i have stlat for awhile but -- i have sat there for awhile but never as long as 3 hours and 40 minutes. i have commented in recent days about the senator from oregon's brilliance, the speech he gave on health care. there's been a lot of good speeches given here but no one has given a better speech, more informative than the

mr. babbitt, you may proceed. [inaudible] i am sorry. chairman dorgan, senator demint and members of the full committee, thank you for inviting me here today to discuss the faa's role in the oversight of air carriers. let me start by saying that we faa more tragic loss of kuhlman air flight 3407 and as well as the families and crew members aboard the air france for 47. this is an agency that is dedicated to air safety. and the loss is felt keenly by all of us and our sympathies go out to both the families of 3407 and air france for 47. as you noted senator this is my first appearance at a hearing since i was sworn in as at the eight administrative and i want to thank this committee again for both your support and your confidence in me. we do have an ambitious agenda and i think i have discussed some of that with you at the left confirmation, and i intend to work very hard to achieve the state the goals we have set forth in the challenge of the faa. since the mid 1990's there has been a requirement for one level of safety that all regional carriers must

dorgan. >> thank you. i'm going to support both nominees. mr. mcsdou el, of course, is nominated for a second term, and i'm pleased to support him. and let me associate myself with remarks from the senator of nebraska. you have a perfect background to assume the chairmanship and i would be happy to vote for you. let me say, however, it seems to me you will lead a rather unhealthy agency. we've been through a period of substantial secrecy. some of the research studies don't match someone's impression of what should have come out of the studies. a lot of serious questions were raised about the stewardship of the sec. i'm pleased we have an opportunity now for a new direction. mr. copps has done a fine job in an acting capacity. but, you know, we need more transparency, more openness in policy development. you're going to have to develop a national broadband plan, which is a big, big issue and has so many important considerations. poll soins spectrum, what spectrum lies fallow, sfwhie how much of it. why is it not used? what can we do about that? t

mr. chairman? >> senator mccain, this is the same amendment offered as the mccain-dorgan-snow language? >> i think the senator from north dakota would prefer to call it dorgan. >> i apologize but that is the same amendment. i know the issue has been raised by senator enzi. that is the question of whether or not, whether it was the cochran or roberts language -- is it part of this bill or not? i don't know the answer to that? >> according to senator mccain's staff, it is not in here. they put safety provisions in there. they always mention that. i have gotten a copy of the cochran-roberts language which places some requirements for safety certification before the bill can go into effect, which is what we've always passed when this bill has come up. at some point they figure that with that amendment in there, it's a worthless bill. but i would ask unanimous consent to be able to offer this second degree amendment to the mccain amendment. >> mr. chairman, it's fine with me. let's have no doubt who wrote that, pharma and no doubt about the effect of it. it will kill the bill. you can vote f

>> thank you so much, chairman dorgan, for chairing this and to our witnesses, many of whom, mr.ker and i worked extensively on the 35w bridge collapse and mr. scoval, thank you. i was ironically working at the beginning of this hearing having to get a speech done in honor of paul wellstone he and his wife are getting a big award from a mental health association and i had crossed off about the part of their tragic plane accident. as i sat here then listening i flipped over to what we were doing here thinking about that their plane went down. it was a private plane because of icy conditions as well as pilot issues that were not dissimilar to this with training and things like that. so it hit home to me. my colleagues have done a great job of asking some good questions in the areas of fatigue and icing and other things so i thought i would follow-up with some of these ideas i'm trying to get at with the clear problem with the issues and training issues with these pilots. and one of the things that i thought about a lot was that the regional carriers and senator dorgan are both in s

mr. ellison: let me open the floor back to congresswoman schakowsky. we have a website www .progressivecongress dorgan these are people who want to talk to us. and doesn't employer-funded health care help to make american business less competitive globally? would you like to respond to this question? ms. schakowsky: if you think about the cost of an automobile, which a lot of people do think about and you know, we certainly want to encourage people to buy american cars, but there is now more cost for health care than there is for steel in that car. that's how much it is. now, when you want to sell your cars around the world and be competitive and you're competing against countries where they have a national health care system and they control their costs of health care, then it's pretty hard to do when employers are facing these double-digit, rising costs in health insurance every year for their employees, those employers who are good enough to provide it or they have negotiated with their workers to provide health care benefits. so clearly, we have to find a way to get these health care costs under c

mr. reid: w we have been trying for two days to move forward on germane amendments. i have had several conversations with senator dorgan. i know how important he feels. i voted with him and you every time this matter has come up. and i would be happy, ace indicated here earlier, to work out some kind of an agreement on this. but at this time, until we get some ability to vote on the germane amendments, it just doesn't seem like the right thing to do. i'm willing, as i've indicated to my friend, senator dorgan, to work out some arrangement for him to offer this amendment. this is something that should have been done, i'm sorry to say, years ago, not weeks ago. and so i will work with the distinguished senator from arizona on this drug reimpure takers which is important. but at this stage we just simply can't -- i know of no way to get from here to there. but as i did say -- and the manager of this bill is here -- if we can work something out over the next -- by monday, i'm happy to try to work something out. no one is trying to stop you from offering this amendment. we just have to have some agreement to move forward on

mr. reid: following leader remarks, the senate will be in period of morning business. senators will be allowed to speak for up to 10 minutes each. there will be no roll call votes today. senators dorgan and martinez, the managers of the travel bill that's before the senate, have indicated that they're ready to move forward on amendments being laid down. we'll have a series of votes monday night. and we'll move toward completing that legislation as quickly as possible. important legislation it is. we look forward to completion of that legislation. as the debate escalates over the best way to ease the crushing burden of health care, it is easy to become sidetracked by misrepresentations or attemp teo point fingers. when we do those things, we lose sight of what is at the heart of this debate: this reform. i want to remind all of us what this is all about -- the health care debate. it's about hard-working americans. they deserve better than to be casualties of misleading politics. the millions of americans without health care, this is a concrete and critical crisis that affects children, families, small businesses, big businesses every single day. it's about the parent who can't take a

mr. henderson and i appreciate the times you visited my office but in the phone calls i've had in the last three days it appears that what snoort dorgan said was correct there's a dis proportionate closure of dealerships so the question of are they dispro morgs natalie and two what is the rational for sfiring your workforce? and i look forward to hearing the answers to both. thank you. >> as you, senator. senator martinez. >> thank you, very much and ranking member hutchison for holding this hearing at a very, very important time. i will echo the remarks of so many of my colleagues about the importance of dealerships to communities and also the very question that senator just asked without a sales force how do you remain viable? but where i want to zero in and the questions i would like answered are very, very specific, which are two examples of dealerships that are closed in the state of florida. one is mr. press, miami tammy amy jeep dodge. he told me his dealership was perhaps the top seller in the south florida area and top in the country seems like the kind of dealership you would want to see continueed the other is in central fl

mr. cohen, thank you very much for your testimony. next we will hear from captain john freighter, the president of the airline pilots association. >> thank you chairman dorgan. we commend his committee for calling this hearing to take a closer look at some of the critical issues affecting airline pilots and our charges. many of these issues, pilot screening and hiring standards, training and mentoring were at the top of the agenda at the faa's call to action summit in which we participated on monday. while this meeting was a critical first step toward developing solutions to these problems, we encourage the faa to take a more structured approach in working with the airlines and labor to establish and agree to implementation plan for all parties to adopt. in recent years, we have to look more at the system. the major airlines have come to rely heavily on coal chaired arrangements with the so-called regional airlines to connect large, midsize and small cities in the u.s., and canada, and mexico to their international hubs are this is resulted in the exponential growth of the regional sector of the industry. still the major carriers exert a great deal, almost

mr. reid: madam president, these are the drug reimportation legislation that has been around for a number of years and we're trying to move forward on that. with senators dorgan, mccain, snowe and a number of senators are very interested to that legislation and we will try to work it out and have this on the floor administration early as possible. the other is the so-called cash for clurchgers. i object to any further proceedings with respect to these bills en bloc. the presiding officer: the objection is heard. mr. reid: madam president, yesterday -- the presiding officer: the bills will be placed on the calendar. mr. reid: madam president, yesterday this city and our country experienced a terrible and horrifying tragedy. a man by the name of stephen johns went to work every day for six years at our most moving museums, a living memorial to one of our world's more horrific atrocities, the holocaust museum. while standing guard yesterday at that united states holocaust museum, mr. stephen johns was killed protecting thousands of others who were inside the building. protecting them from the same fate that he suffered. his death is shock, upset and anger for th

mr. henderson and i appreciate the times in my office on the way, but in the phone calls i have had in the last three days it appears what senator dorganere's a disproportionate closure of a world dealerships and is the way it appears the main so i think the question of are they disproportionately close general areas and never to what is the rationale to fire your sales force need to be answered at this hearing and mr. chairman i look for to hearing the answers to both, thank you. >> thank you pericenter martinez at. >> mr. chairman thank you andç thinking ranking member hutchinson for holding this hearing at an important time. i will echo theç remarks of so many of my colleagues about the importance of dealerships to kinase and also the very? that senator isakson just asked without a sales force had we remain viable but where i want to zero in and the questions i want answered are very specifigç which are two examples of dealerships that are closed in the san of florida. one is inç crisis and cheap doe and his dealership was perhaps a top seller and one ofçç the tp 100 in the country. and seems to me the kind of dealerships you'd

mr. dorgan: i ask that the quorum call be vacated. officer without objection. the clerk will invoke the motion to invoke cloture. the clerk: cloture motion: we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close debate on the dorgan amendment, number 1347, to s. 1023, the travel promotion act of 2009, signed by 17 senators. the presiding officer: by unanimous consent, the mandatory quorum call is waived. the question is, is it the sense of the senate that debate on amendment number 1347 offered by the senator from nevada, mr. reid, to s. 1023, the travel promotion act of 2009, shall be brought to a close? the yeas and nays are mandatory under the rule. the clerk will call the roll. vote: vote:

mr. dorgan and mr. rockefeller, proposes an amendment numbered 1347. mr. reid reid: i ask further reg of the amendment be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: it's my understanding that there is a cloture motion at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report the cloture motion. the clerk: cloture motion. we, the undersigned senators, in accordance with the provisions of rule 22 of the standing rules of the senate, do hereby move to bring to a close the debate on the dorgan amendment number 1347 to s. 1023, the travel promotion act of 2009. signed by 17 senators as follows -- mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask consent that further reading of the names be waived. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. reid: but die ask for the yeas and -- but i do ask for the yeas and nays on the amendment. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. there is. the yeas and nays are ordered. mr. reid: i have a second-degree amendment at the desk. the presiding officer: the clerk will report. the clerk: t

dorgan be recognized. the presiding officer: is there any objection? mr. reid: mr. president, i would ask that we now proceed to a period of morning business with senators allowed to speak for up to ten minutes each with the exceptions i've just noted. the presiding officer: without objection, so ordered. mr. bingaman: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from new mexico. mr. bingaman: mr. president, let me just state that i am disappointed to see that objection is still raised to the confirmation of hillary tompkins to be the solicitor for the department of interior. she is extremely well qualified. no one has raised any question about her qualifications. our former colleague, now secretary salazar, needs a solicitor in the department of interior. we reported her nomination out of our committee on the 30th of april, nearly six weeks ago now. and there has been something of a rolling hold on her nomination. i know senator bennett had an objection at one point. that has been satisfied. senator coburn had an objection. that has been satisfied. senator bun