mr. durbin, from new york, mr. schumer, from washington, the senator from new jersey, mr. mendez, the senator from michigan, missed stabenow, the senator from kentucky, mr. kyle, the senator from tennessee, mr. alexander, the senator from south dakota, mr. thume, and the senator from texas, mr. cornyn. the members of the committee will exit the chamber through the doors. >> madam speaker, the dean of the diplomatic corps. [applause] >> madam speaker, the chief justice and the associate justices of the supreme court. [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] [applause] >> madam speaker, the president's cabinet. [applause] . .

durbin: mr.president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. durbin: mr. president, before i address some of the issues before us, let me say a word about my friend and colleague from north dakota, who during this recess announced that he's going to retire at the end of this year. senator dorgan and i have served together both in the house and in the senate. he has been such a powerful force and a powerful voice in the senate democratic caucus on so many important issues that we share values on, and i'm not going to bid farewell because i know that this next -- year will be a busy year for you representing your state and being engaged. and your talk just this moment on the floor about issues of concern are clear evidence that you're going to be fighting for your causes and your people in this upcoming year. but i do have to express my regret that you're leaving us and thank you for your many years of fine service to the people of your state and to the house and to the

mr. durbin: madam president? the esnar from illinois. mr. durbin: i ask the quorum call be suspended and speak as if in morning business. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: a speaker on the floor earlier, senator johanns of nebraska, was talking about the tarp program. many of us recall this is a program that was started under the previous administration. president bush and his secretary of the treasury henry paulson came to us along with the federal reserve chairman ben bernanke and basically told us that america's economy and perhaps the global economy was on the edge of an abyss, that we could see what looked like an economic downturn turn not only into a recession but worse if we didn't act and act quickly. and the proposal they made was to go after what they called toxic assets, and so they created a program called the toxic assets relief program, the tarp program. they asked for some some $800 billion, an enormous sum of money, in order to go to financial institution that is were teetering on the brink of collapse and

mr. durbin: madam president, i thank the chairman of the senate finance committee, the senator from montanar yielding five minutes. i've listened carefully to the republican leader on the floor here, and i think he has characterized the last year, leaving out some very important facts, some glaring omissions in his statement. what the republican leader failed to mention is when this president came to the white house, he inherited the worst economic mess in the history of this country since the great depression. he turned to both parties, democrats and republicans, and said, we need to turn this economy around and do it quickly. he personally appealed to the republican members of the senate and house to join him in a bipartisan effort to turn this economy around. and at the end of the day, the president put forward a plan to reinvest in america and recover this economy that didn't draw the presiding officer: the senator from colorado. mr. udall: i'd like to acknowledge the tremendous leadership of senator conrad and senator gregg. their leadership is a breath of fresh air. the amendment befo

durbin all spoke. it was created by act of congress in 2000. this is about one hour. >> mr. president and the guests, welcome to the capitol rotunda as we observe the bicentennial of the birth of our great president abraham lincoln. we are honored to be joined today by the president of the united states, president barack obama. [applause] please remain standing for the opening ceremonies. >> ladies and gentlemen, please remain standing for the presentation of the colors by the united states armed forces color guard and the singing of our national anthem by the united states army chorus. ♪ >> present -- ♪ o say can you see by the dawn's early light what so proudly we hail at the twilight's last gleaming whose broad stripes and bright stars through the perilous fight o'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming and the rockets' red glare the bombs bursting in air gave proof through the night that the flag was still there o say does that star spangled banner yet wave o'er the land of the free and the home of the brave ♪ [applause] ♪ >> ladies and gentlemen, remained

mr. durbin: will the senator yield? mr. specter: i will. mr. durbin: i would ask to say a few words to the senator from pennsylvania and ask that my remarks be placed in the record near his 10,000th vote. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: i want to congratulate him on his 10,000th vote in the united states. he's been a colleague of mine now for my 13 years that i served in the senate and i've enjoyed working with him. occasionally we have been on opposite sides of an issue and at times we've been on the same side. i much prefer the latter. he's an able attorney. a thoughtful and reflective member of the united states senate. i've enjoyed my service with him. i congratulate him on his 10,000th vote and i am particularly pleased that he cast his vote from this side of the senate. i look forward to working with senator specter. i thank the people of pennsylvania for giving us an opportunity to work with him and to serve in this public service for many years. mr. specter: i thank the distinguished senator from illinois for those