mr. durbin: mr. president, let me close briefly. i would say to my colleagues, i know this is a complex and in some ways controversial amendment, but i can't think of a better way for us to establish a reasonable standard that debit cards, which are now becoming more common and are equivalent to a check, are going to be charged against the merchant that honors the card only in a reasonable and proportional way by the same agency we used under the consumer credit card reform bill of just last year. i urge my colleagues if they are listening to small businesses across america trying to survive, trying to add new employees, give them a helping hand by voting for the durbin amendment so they can have reasonable choices for the credit cards and debit cards at their establishment. i urge the passage of this amendment and i yield back the balance of my time. the presiding officer: is there a sufficient second? there appears to be. if all time is yielded back, the question is on the durbin amendment number 89 -- 3989 as modified. the yeas a

mr. durbin: mr. president, america was alarmed to learn that times square was closed for business because of the potential of a bomb threat. a vehicle was discovered with smoke coming out of it, some alert people on the sidewalk, some surrenders called it to -- vendors called it to the attention of some police, and determined that the contents of the vehicle included elements that could have killed many people. all they had to go on was the vehicle itself and the fleeting glimpse of the person who might have been responsible, leaving, changing his shirt as he left that vehicle. it was a frightening situation where many innocent people who were visiting our largest city in america could have been killed just as in 9/11. what happened? 53 hours later our government arrested the prime suspect, the man who has conceded that he was responsible for that vehicle in times square. 53 hours. i listened to some of the criticism from those who come to the floor and say we should do this better. we should be more

mr. durbin: thank you. madam president, i ask unanimous consent when the senate completes its business today, it adjourn until 10:00 a.m., tuesday, may 4. following the prayer and pledge, the journal of proceedings be approved to date, the morning hour be deemed expired, the time for the two leaders reserved for their use later in the day, and the senate proceed to a period of morning business for one hours with senators permited to speak therein for up to ten minutes each with the time equally divided and controlled between the two leaders or their designees, with the majority controlling the first half and the republicans controlling the final half. that following morning business, the senate resume consideration of s. 3217, wall street reform, and that the senate recess from 12:30 until 2:15 p.m. to allow for the weekly caucus luncheons. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. durbin: madam president, if there is no further business to come before the senate, i ask that it adjourn under the previou

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois is recognized. mr. durbin: mr. president, i don't know if there's ever been a perfect law. maybe that law that was written on the stone tablet and brought down the mountain by senator moses was a perfect law. ever since then human beings have tried to write laws, and maybe the laws will have to be revisited and revised. i think that humility comes with this job because this is an imperfect process. we try to make compromises, we make consensus. virtually every time, you would say, that isn't what i would have written but that is what the senate as a body decided to move forward with. so now we're debating this law, 1,400 pages lodge, called the financial stability act. why are we doing a bill that looks like a telephone directory? we're doing it because of the recession. the recession that hit america harder than anything since the great depression. $17 trillion taken out of the american economy. that is more than the value of all of the goods and services produced in the united states in one year, $17 t

mr. durbin: would the senator yield for a question? mr. merkley: certainly. mr. durbin: as i understand the republican amendment amendment, it goes back to the old days where there was virtually no consumer financial protection. the bill that we have before us here that senator dodd and the banking committee brought has the strongest consumer financial protection law in the history of the united states. it has an agency with independent authority to protect americans, but more importantly, to empower americans to make the right decisions when they're taking out a mortgage, a loan for the car, a home loan, a student loan, and what the republicans are suggesting in the shelby amendment is to go back to the old days where there was no protection, there was no authority, and i ask the senator, the argument that's made about the fact that, well, when it comes to mortgages, they weren't the problems. the problems were wall street. but at the heart of the issue on wall street was the mortgage being signed by the family in springfield, illinois rs and portland, oregon. i

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, i'm hoping that later this afternoon there will be a unanimous consent request that relates to an amendment which i've introduced, amendment number 3989. i'd like to take a few minutes now, since there's no one else seeking recognition on the floor, to describe this amendment in the hopes that when it comes up later, we can move to it very quickly and to a vote very quickly as well. i've spoken on the floor of the senate several times about the amendment because it is complicated in one respect. this amendment is, relates to the fees charged by credit card companies like visa and master card to the retailers and businesses that accept the credit cards. so, if you are a customer of a shop and when you purchase something, you present the credit card, there are two transactions taking place at least. one transaction is between you and your credit card company because you put the credit card out there and you have to pay the bill later on. and the other transaction relates to t

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr.esident, i want to join my colleague from the state of oregon in speaking on behalf of nurses across america. we know with the baby boom generation that we're going to need more nurses than ever. and with these nurses we're going to have the professional medical care that we need across the nation, but we better get busy. we're falling behind. we don't gra graduate enough nus to take care of those needs. we have been poaching nursing talent from other poor nations from around the world. filipino nurses in chicago play a major role in many hospitals, particularly inner city hospitals and nurses around the world. many times the philippines generates more medical professionals and expect that they will serve overseas. but some places in africa lose their best medical professionals for higher, and more predictable pay in places like the united states, england and france and germ niche we have to reach -- and germany. last year in illinois 2,000 qualified nursing applicants were turned down

mr. durbin: both sides of the aisle, i hope we can work to accomplish that. mr. mccain: we have to ask our leader, but yes, that's fine. our two leaders say it's fine. thank you. mr. dodd: and i thank the senator from arizona. and we have senator sanders' pending amendment, which i think we have reached a lot of consensus on. i'd like to see us get a vote on it. i know there are some issues that -- i won't mention it at all, but my hope is our colleagues might let us go to this. is there any chance of that at all? would someone get back to me? well, i would move -- i would move the sanders' amendment. the presiding officer: is there sufficient second? there appears to be. mr. dodd: is there a sufficient second? the presiding officer: there is not a sufficient second. mr. sanders: point of order? how many hands do you need up? the presiding officer: we need 20. the presiding officer: the order of the yeas and nays does not force a vote on the amendment. ordering the yeas and nays does not force a vote on the amendment. the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: vo

mr. durbin: thank you. and i suggest the absence of a quorum. he presiding officer: the clerk will call the roll. quorum call: mr. barrasso: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator wyoming. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. i ask that the quorum call be vitiated. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. barrasso: thank you, mr. president. mr. president, i come to the floor today -- and the republican leader has already addressed you and this body to discuss the issues of health care in this country about new revelations, in information that has come forth in terms of the specifics of the cost of the health care bill that has been signed into law. the costs that far exceed what was ever anticipated. and so i come to the floor as someone who's practiced medicine in wyoming for 25 years orthopedic surgeon taking care of families all across the state of wyoming was also a medical director of the wyoming health fairs, tndz it is a -- and it is a program provided low-cost health screenings to people all across the state of wyoming.

mr. durbin: mr. president? the presiding officer: the senator from illinois. mr. durbin: mr. president, let me basically set the stage what we're doing in the senate today and why it's so important. this bill which senator dodd of connecticut has worked on for months with his staff, 1,407 pages, is basically a bill which has been designed to create financial stability in the united states. this great economy that we have and all the great financial institutions and businesses notwithstanding, this recession has brought us economic pain that many of us have never seen in our lifetimes and only remember vaguely from our parents and grandparents describing the great depression. and so what senator dodd and the banking committee sat out to do was to basically change the law to establish more oversight of financial institutions to make sure we never get into this mess again. it took quite a few pages to do it, and now this week we start considering amendments to this bill. efforts to improve it, change it, delete sections. it's the senate in its historic role as a deliberative bod

mr. durbin: i want to thank my completion for raising this important issue.and i would say that all the many amendments which will be offered, this is clearly a game changer. and i am supportive of this amendment, even though i know that some of my frendles in the banking -- some of my friends in the banking industry won't be happy with that. what they're talking is about dealing with the concentration of wealth and the concentration of economic power to a level which can literally bring the economy down. that's what we went through leading into this recession. that's what led to the massive taxpayer bailout. and that's what the brown-kaufman amendment addresses four sp foursquare. soy congratulate them. i'd like to spheek a separate issue. 99 years ago a boat pulled into the harbor in baltimore, maryland. it had come over, passenger ship, from germany. and down the gang plank walked three individuals: my grandmother, my uncle, my aunt and my mother, two years old, in the arms of my grandmother. they had come from lithuania to the united states of america. an

mr. durbin: i thank the senator from rhode island and i'm happy to join him as a cosponsor.it wasn't that the senator wouldn't remember. when we had a debate on the floor about credit card reform, and people across america said, you know, there are some things going on with credit cards that just aren't fair and right. we need you to police these credit cards and make sure they don't do outrageous things and charge people unreasonably. i think we made some progress in the law that we passed, but we made one critical error. we gave the credit card companies a long grace period to adjust to the changes. and if you noticed over the last year or so, you will receive notices -- i got them at my home in springfield, illinois, from the credit card companies, saying in almost every instance, they were going to raise the interest rates on the credit cards before the new law went into effect. my wife saved all of them and said mr. smart senator, how did you let this happen? well, it turned out that we had no control over those interest rates during that period of time and very little

mr. dodd: the next three amendments, durbin, franken are not members of the banking committee. mr. dorgan: i only opening -- i've been here a fair amount. if the senator would object now, he has the right to object. but i will be back. and if i'm in the next tranche, the senator from connecticut announces, that's fine, then i'll be able to offer an amendment. but between now and then, i guess i'd like to understand how the system is going to work because i will continue to come and ask consent to be able to offer this amendment. and when we do debate it, i will have a real debate because i think this is the heart and soul of trying to the shut down a system that is unbelievable speculation in this economy that poses great danger to the economy. by the way, i might, madam president, point out, you know, the -- we should not always assume that we're in safe territory here on all of these issues. i mean, you probably saw the news this morning. last month's federal budget deficit is $83 billion. take a look at what the trade deficit is. i just mentioned, by the way, in the midst of all

mr. president, i have offered this amendment on behalf of quite a number of senators, senator reed, senator kaufman, senator durbin, senator harkin, senator leahy, senator levin, senator menendez, senator whitehouse, senator freng frankenfranken,senator feingoldr merkley and myself. this amendment provides that the decisions of the supreme court of the united states limiting claims under the securities act for aiding and abetting will be overturned by this legislation. this amendment is very similar to an amendment which was offered in the 107th congress by senator shelby, the ranking member of the banking committee. for many years, the federal law provided a private right of action against aiders and abettors. as of 1994, every circuit in the federal courts of appeals had concluded civil liability in a private lawsuit under the securities act. in a radical departure in 1994, the supreme court held in central bank of denver that aiders and abettors are not liable in private suits. the court's 5-4 decision in stonebridge in 2008 complicated the matter even further where the supreme court held that if the defendant

mr. president, let me also, if i may, ask unanimous consent that the durbin and franken amendments be considered withdrawn and that the durbin amendment 3989 and the franken amendment 3991 be considered called up in their place. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: mr. president, i ask unanimous consent that the senate now resume consideration of the landrieu amendment 3956 and the crapo amendment 3992. that the landrieu amendment be agreed to and the motion to reconsider be laid upon the table. that the crapo amendment unfunded mandate 3992 be modified with the changes at the desk. that the amendment as modified be considered and agreed to and the motion to reconsider be made and laid upon the table. the presiding officer: without objection. mr. dodd: mr. president, again, i want to take a moment and express my gratitude to our colleagues. i want to thank senator landrieu. she was involved in a lot of this. and i want to thank her immensely for her contribution. she chairs the small business committee of the united states senate. she and my very good friend from georgia, johnny i